Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 29: Selling Stolen Goods

Li An was not wearing the disciple robe of the Xuan Yang Sect today, but instead a light blue casual outfit, making him inconspicuous as he walked on the street.

He casually wandered around the market for two rounds, making sure that no one was following him. Then, in an empty alley, he quickly changed into a dirty gray outfit, put on a bamboo hat, covered his face, padded his shoes and shoulders, and only then did he leave.

Even if he passed by acquaintances like Tan Qingxue, it would be difficult for them to recognize him unless they observed carefully.

Then, he quickly left the main street of the market and arrived at a low-rise residential area in the north of the market.

Compared to the bustling main street, this place was quite deserted with few people.

Li An entered one of the houses, where four people were already sitting, three men and one woman. Li An was the fifth person.

Like Li An, the other four were also wearing bamboo hats or veils to conceal their identities. Only the leader, a big man, did not cover his face, but Li An guessed that he must be wearing a human skin mask.

"Everyone is here," the big man spoke, "According to the rules, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, the five of us will show what we want to trade or buy in order. After everything is shown, we can proceed with the transactions."

—This kind of transaction is usually participated by cultivators who do not want to reveal their identities, so names are not asked for. They address each other according to their seating arrangement, which corresponds to gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Li An sat in the water position.

Above the gold position was a middle-aged cultivator with gray hair hanging down his ears. He lowered his voice and said, "I'm selling three pieces of first-grade meteorite iron and three pills of first-grade restoration pill. The meteorite iron can be exchanged for a first-grade protective artifact, or I can accept spirit stones."

As he spoke, he displayed three pieces of black meteorite iron and a small jade bottle.

Above the wood position was a thin young man with a hoarse voice. He said, "I'm selling a set of first-grade artifact, Thorn Armor. This armor has extremely strong defense and can also release spiritual thorns to counterattack when being attacked. It requires forbidden materials for exchange."

His storage bag flashed with spiritual light, and a black metal armor appeared in his hand!

Li An said, "I'm offering four first-grade spiritual medicines, Fire Spirit Fruits."

As he spoke, he displayed the Fire Spirit Fruits.

Suddenly, everyone looked at him with surprise.

Beside him, the woman with a white veil on the fire position couldn't help but ask eagerly, "Fellow Daoist, do you have any second-grade Fire Spirit Fruits? If you do, I can buy them at a high price!"

Fire Spirit Fruits are second-grade spiritual fruits, well-known to all.

Moreover, it is one of the ingredients for the Foundation Building Pill!

Li An shook his head, "I'm sorry, I only have these."

Upon hearing this, the woman couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Don't disrupt, continue!" the big man with the human skin mask sitting in the earth position said in a deep voice.

The woman with the white veil on the fire position said, "I'm selling three pills of Spirit Refining Pill, which can be used for a breakthrough in the mid-stage of Qi Refining. I accept spirit stones."

Finally, the big man in the earth position said, "I'm selling a first-grade treasure sword, and I only accept spirit stones!"

Next, they began the process of negotiating prices with each other.

"Fellow Daoist, the quality of your Fire Spirit Fruits is very high, almost reaching the level of second-grade spiritual fruits. Do you really not have any second-grade ones?" the woman with the white veil asked again.

Li An said, "I'm sorry, I really don't have any."

The woman sighed and said, "Alright, I wonder how much you're selling these Fire Spirit Fruits for? I'll take them all."

Li An said, "Fixed price, 200 spirit stones."

The woman said, "I only have one hundred spirit stones on me. How about using one Spirit-Boosting Pill as the equivalent of one hundred spirit stones?"

Li An readily agreed.

The exchange was successful.

Li An then looked at the thin young man before him and said, "Fellow Daoist, I wonder if you accept spirit stones for this Thorn Armor?"

Li An was lacking in magical treasures, but general defensive treasures were not very useful to him. The effect of his Iron Tree Decision was stronger.

If he could obtain a first-grade superior treasure, it would be quite good.

Therefore, he stared at the Thorn Armor in the man's hand, looking at it again and again, feeling quite tempted.

The man shook his head, "Sorry, I only want restriction materials, regardless of the type."

Li An was helpless. Restriction materials were special materials used for setting up restrictions and formations. Unless one was a formation master or a restriction master, it was rare for ordinary people to have them.

However, he vaguely sensed that the young man's aura was not strong, seemingly only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. He shouldn't have touched formations or restrictions...

After all, learning and making formations and restrictions required a huge amount of mental energy. Cultivators in the early and mid-stages of Qi Refining couldn't handle it at all!

At least the late stage of Qi Refining was needed to start learning.

Li An also had some involvement in formations. In his previous life, due to his aptitude, he couldn't cultivate pills or artifacts, so he chose formations and talismans. With the accumulation of resources, he had achieved quite a bit in these two paths.

But he wasn't too surprised. The other party might have concealed their cultivation level.

He casually glanced at the young man a few times.

...

The exchange was completed.

The group of people didn't disperse immediately, but exchanged information.

"I have some top-secret news about demonic cultivators. Three days ago, a highly dangerous incident occurred in the Liuyang River market, targeting the Xuanyang Sect..."

The old man in the golden position spoke in a deep voice, "Five spirit stones."

News could also be sold!

As long as you wanted it.

Everyone was very interested in this news, and two people immediately gave the old man spirit stones and received the secret note he provided.

Li An also calmly spent money to buy a copy. After all, in this world, information was always the most important.

The other news was relatively trivial, and the gathering quickly dispersed.

...

Leaving the trading location, Li An found a place without people and changed into his blue clothes, blending into the crowd while leaving no traces.

At night, he returned to his residence and opened the secret note he bought from the old man.

The news written on it made Li An's eyebrows jump!

—Three days ago, a vicious incident occurred in the Liuyang River market, where a demonic cultivator attacked and killed the Xuanyang Sect's pill shop!

According to the description, the demonic cultivator infiltrated the market without being noticed and caused a conflict when purchasing pills at the Xuanyang Sect's pill shop. The demonic cultivator killed people on the spot and took away a lot of spiritual medicines.

The key point was that the demonic cultivator escaped unscathed!

Li An pondered. If this news was true, wouldn't it mean that even the market was dangerous?

The fact that a demonic cultivator could infiltrate the market indicated that either the demonic cultivator's cultivation level was outrageously high, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, or the demonic cultivator cultivated some kind of unique technique.

Li An believed it was the latter.

After all, if a Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivator appeared, they could easily sweep through the entire market!

And what's more, what worried him even more was that the other party actually robbed the Pill Shop of the Xuanyang Sect...

This is a bit outrageous, not even giving face to the Xuanyang Sect?

He felt a hint of danger.

Is this news true or false? Unable to discern.

But it's always necessary to be prepared.

"I still have too few cards in my hand..."

Li An was a little anxious.

In this kind of situation, it's not afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of the unexpected.

Living comfortably in the market, his tolerance for danger was extremely low.

And his strength was too low, Qi Refining Fourth Layer. Facing a demonic cultivator who could plunder the Liuyang River Pill Shop, even if he used all his means, it would be difficult to resist.

Although he obtained a Spirit Boosting Pill, it couldn't help him for the time being. The Spirit Boosting Pill needs to be used after reaching the peak of Qi Refining, increasing the chance of breaking through.

"I need to prepare more killer moves, at least when facing the later stage of Qi Refining, I can have the ability to survive."

"The most suitable for me at the moment... is the formation!"

He pondered.

Formations are a great weapon for low-level cultivators!

But the shortcomings are also prominent. Firstly, they are expensive, and secondly, once set up, they can only work in a fixed location, and maintenance requires a large amount of spiritual stones.

Generally, only immortal cultivation families or powerful wandering cultivators with fixed caves would purchase such things.

...

The next day, Li An went out again. He sold the remaining Tree Spirit Mushroom and Parasitic Spirit Vine Fruit on his body.

Only the second-grade Ghostly Radiance Lotus was not sold. This kind of thing is hard to come by and is strategic resources. Li An would not sell it unless absolutely necessary.

At present, he already had four hundred and twenty spiritual stones in his hand.

It can be considered a small fortune.

He immediately went to the formation shop of the Xuanyang Sect.

For the people of the Xuanyang Sect here, three years is quite familiar. After entering the shop, the shopkeeper Zhang Shouye saw him and immediately smiled and said:

"Senior Li, what wind blew you here?"

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, I want to see the formations."

Li An got straight to the point.

Seeing this, Zhang Shouye whispered, "You're here to see formations again... Did you also receive the news?"

Li An leaned closer and asked, "What news?"

Zhang Shouye said, "Don't pretend with me. The demonic cultivator plundered the Liuyang River market. Today, several cultivation families' shops in the market came to inquire about formations..."

Li An's heart trembled. It seems that there is some truth to it!

"In fact, there is no need. That demonic cultivator just caused trouble, he will definitely hide for a while. Moreover, the sect has sent out experts to patrol in all directions. It won't be long before the demonic cultivator is captured..."

The formation shop was the most idle, so Zhang Shouye had nothing to do and was quite talkative. He had a lot to say, and Li An learned more news from him.

That demonic cultivator killed three people in the Liuyang River Spirit Medicine Shop, one of whom was a Qi Refining Sixth Layer expert!

The Foundation Building stage cultivator stationed at the Liuyang River activated a large formation to seal it off, and searched for several days but still couldn't find that demonic cultivator.

Li An quickly assessed that this demonic cultivator must have a cultivation level of at least the sixth stage of Qi Refining, definitely a master in the later stage of Qi Refining.

Perhaps even at the peak of Qi Refining!

After all, they were able to quickly escape after killing someone, their movements were too fast.

Moreover, they must be practicing some kind of secret technique that can conceal their aura.

The more Li An thought about it, the more he felt the need to be prepared. He immediately asked, "Do you have any protective formations? I want to take a look."

Zhang Shouye pointed to the display cabinet and said, "Low-level formations can block cultivators in the early stage of Qi Refining, one hundred spirit stones; intermediate-level formations, three hundred spirit stones; high-level formations, nine hundred spirit stones..."

High-level formations can resist cultivators in the later stage of Qi Refining.

But Li An didn't think much of them and shook his head, saying, "I want a top-quality one!"

Zhang Shouye said, "Oh, Li Fu Shi is quite wealthy..."

He immediately took out a book, "The lowest level is a formation for the early stage of Foundation Building, three thousand spirit stones."

Formations of this level are not in stock at the formation shop. If you want one, you have to pay a deposit first and then have it custom-made by the sect.

Li An's mouth twitched.

Seeing Li An's expression, Zhang Shouye couldn't help but laugh. He stroked his beard and said,

"Well, since we're acquaintances, I do have a good item that is of high quality and cheap. Would you like to take a look?"

Li An's interest was piqued and he nodded.

Zhang Shouye turned around and took out a dusty white jade formation disc from a display case. He blew on it heavily, causing dust to fly everywhere, and handed it to Li An, saying,

"This is made by Elder Luo of the Formation Hall when he was promoted to the second rank formation master. Its power is stronger than that of a high-level formation of the first rank, and it is almost a guaranteed kill against cultivators below the Foundation Building stage!"

"Of course, it has a small drawback, it can only be used once... but it's cheap!"

Li An frowned and carefully examined it, inwardly sneering.

This Zhang Shouye is not a simple person... he only told half the story.

The biggest problem with this formation disc is that it cannot actively defend or attack enemies, it requires one to control it themselves!

The need for personal control means it requires a large amount of spiritual consciousness or mental power, which means that cultivators in the Foundation Building stage would not be interested, and those in the Qi Refining stage would not be able to use it.

It's quite useless.

Zhang Shouye wanted to trick Li An into buying it.

"This quality is not good... how much does it cost?" Li An asked casually.

"Since we're old acquaintances, I'll give you a discount, eight hundred spirit stones!"

Li An turned and walked away.

"Don't go, Li Fu Shi, the price is negotiable, seven hundred and eighty is also fine..."

But Li An was already far away.

He wasn't in a hurry to buy it. One reason was that the price was still too expensive, he didn't have that much money. Secondly, buying it directly would raise suspicions.

That night, Li An returned to the talisman shop and was refining talismans.

"Li Junior Brother, are you there?"

Tan Qingxue knocked on his door.

...

(End of this chapter)