Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

the other side.

As Qu Ye left Cicada's Cry Mountain, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her heart.

Since killing that Sun family disciple, although he couldn't say he lived in constant fear, he couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious.

Of the three people who now know their whereabouts, Hu Si is dead; Hou Youde has been reduced to a mortal and has little time left to live; and Wang Meng, being a participant, naturally cannot reveal it.

All hidden dangers have been eliminated.

Not only that, he also acquired many spiritual items.

Aside from the obvious gains from the Hou family, he still hadn't had time to check Hu Si's and Zhao Haiqiong's storage bags.

Qu Ye looked around and, finding no one, landed in a secluded mountain stream and took out the two people's storage bags.

"Hmm... whose car should we drive first?"

A happy kind of trouble popped into Qu Ye's mind.

"You're the one, Hu Si."

He took out Hu Si's storage bag and probed it with his divine sense.

There weren't many things inside. Besides some miscellaneous clothes, there was only a low-grade protective talisman, a Rejuvenation Pill, and two spirit stones.

Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, no matter how small.

Qu Ye had anticipated this.

Hu Si, a hopeless gambler, spent a fortune on the Bewitching Separation and Flame Burst Talismans; he'd be lucky to have two spirit stones left.

Besides, Hu Si's longsword magic weapon was still in his storage bag. Although it was only a low-grade magic weapon, it would still be worth six or seven spirit stones if he sold it.

After putting away the usable items from Hu Si's storage bag, Qu Ye took out Zhao Haiqiong's storage bag.

A quick scan revealed a much richer information than Hu Si's.

There are sixteen spirit stones, a mid-grade magic weapon, three Qi-boosting pills, and a mid-grade entanglement talisman.

After all, Zhao Haiqiong has a family, and the fact that she has sixteen spirit stones in her storage bag means that she has probably saved them up for several years.

As for the mid-grade magic weapon, Qu Ye held it in his hand, sensed it carefully, shook his head, and put it away.

This magical artifact is shaped like a spear, and the engraving on it is "Earth Protection," making it a typical earth-attribute magical artifact.

Qu Ye happened to lack an earth elemental root, so he couldn't use the spear and had to save it for later, selling it along with Hu Si's longsword.

After taking stock of all the spoils, Qu Ye glanced in the direction of the market.

Yumen Market is located right in the middle of the route from Chanming Mountain to Machang.

"Should we go to the market?"

Qu Ye pondered for a moment and felt that going to the market now would be more in line with his future plans.

Firstly, I have a potential connection to observe the current activities of the Sun family in the market.

Secondly, we need to quickly exchange the things we don't need for resources, and also buy a map of other markets.

After all, judging from the Sun family's behavior, they'll eventually break ties with the Hou family.

We should make plans early.

After thinking it over, Qu Ye's face became ordinary, his eyes and brows softened, and his aura dropped to the third level of Qi Refining. He then headed towards the Jade Gate Market.

The familiar bluestone path, the familiar gate, and the many independent cultivators still coming and going.

However, compared to the past, there was an extra disciple of the Sun family guarding the gate, casually observing the cultivators coming and going.

When Qu Ye entered, the disciple glanced at him, but after discovering that he was only at the third level of Qi Refining, he turned his head away and stopped paying attention.

Qu Ye breathed a sigh of relief after successfully entering the market.

"Hidden fusion is really useful."

However, judging from the current situation, the largest-scale investigation has already passed, and with no results for several days in a row, the Sun family has probably relaxed a bit.

His expression remained unchanged, and he continued walking towards Ziyunfang.

It has been more than a month since the horse farm evaluation. Although I spent a few days in the mountains, I managed to condense six pieces of spiritual essence.

As usual, he sold the spirit essence at Ziyunfang, and together with the three extra pieces condensed by the queen bee, he had a total of nine spirit stones.

He wasn't in a hurry to sell the bee jelly; it had healing properties, so he kept some on hand in case of emergencies.

After leaving Ziyunfang, Qu Ye went to Tianxiangge.

"Fellow Daoist, what do you need?"

The waiter came to greet him.

"Let me take a look at the attack artifact."

Qu Ye nodded, his voice low.

"Alright! This way, fellow Daoist."

Seeing this, the waiter led Qu Ye to a quiet room in the back hall, brewed a pot of tea, and then turned and left.

A moment later, Chen Rong pushed open the door to the quiet room and walked in, sitting down opposite Qu Ye with a smile:

"Welcome to Tianxiang Pavilion, fellow Daoist. May I ask what grade and type of attack magic weapon you require?"

Qu Ye thought for a moment and realized that he was quite comfortable using the White Light Sword, so there was no need to change the form of his magic weapon.

"Medium grade, sword type."

Chen Rong nodded, took out two boxes from her storage bag, and laid them out in front of Qu Ye.

"Fellow Daoist, please forgive me. One of the mid-grade swords was sold two days ago, leaving only two."

Seeing that Qu Ye did not react, she opened the first box and took out a three-foot-long sword.

The scabbard was bluish-black, and when drawn, the sword blade resembled a pool of cold water, with an extremely thin edge.

"This sword is called the Frost Pattern Sword. It is forged from cold iron and patterned silver, and is engraved with two restrictions: 'Frostfall' and 'Attachment'. It is sharp enough and easy to wield. The price is thirty spirit stones."

Qu Ye reached out and took it, weighed it briefly, and then used his magic to examine it slightly.

This Frost-Patterned Sword is pretty good; it comes with a slight control and slowing effect, which is quite suitable for my tactical system.

Let's look at another one; if that doesn't work, then this sword will do.

"What about the other one?"

Chen Rong then took out a second one.

This one is slightly shorter than the previous one, with a dark blue-green blade and fine, fish-scale-like patterns along the edges.

"Fellow Daoist, take another look at this Azure Scale Sword. It is engraved with two restrictions, 'Scales Resilience' and 'Iron Wall,' making it exceptionally tough. Even after multiple collisions, it is not easily damaged. It is priced at twenty-eight spirit stones."

Qu Ye tried to hold it and found that when he activated the sword, the flow of spiritual energy within the blade was slightly sluggish.

While the difference isn't obvious, it would be slightly slower if used for sword-wielding to kill enemies.

"Give me that Cold Pattern Sword."

Upon hearing this, Chen Rong put away the Azure Scale Sword, placed the Frost Pattern Sword into a box, and handed it to Qu Ye.

"I'll give you thirty low-grade spirit stones."

After handing over the spirit stones, Qu Ye put the Cold Pattern Sword into his storage bag.

He didn't leave immediately, but instead looked at Chen Rong and asked, "Fellow Daoist, does your Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion accept magical artifacts?"

Chen Rong's eyes lit up: "Fellow Daoist, are you a weapon refiner?"

Qu Ye shook his head.

"They are all second-hand ritual implements."

Chen Rong remained unfazed: "It's alright, fellow Daoist. Our Tianxiang Pavilion will also accept second-hand magical artifacts."

"However, I must remind you, fellow Daoist, that the purchase price for intact secondhand magical artifacts is halved. If there is any damage, the price will be reduced even further."

So dark?

Qu Ye joked, "Does that mean if I just bought this Frost-Patterned Sword, and now I'm thinking of not wanting it anymore, I'll have to pay half the spirit stones?"

"There's nothing we can do, fellow Daoist," Chen Rong sighed softly. "It's the same for all the shops. Our Tianxiang Pavilion already offers the highest purchase price, but Ziyunfang is only willing to offer 40% of the original price."

You two can just slander each other.

Qu Ye said no more, nodded, and turned to leave the quiet room.

This price is indeed too low, and the magical artifact I have is not some kind of shady stolen item, so there is no need to sell it at a low price.

I was just planning to go to the black market in Yumen Market to see if there were any maps of the surrounding markets, and then I'd try selling them there.

Of course, not now.

The black market usually takes place at night, and is a melting pot of all sorts of cultivators, selling both good and bad items.

If you're lucky, you might even find fragments of magical artifacts among a pile of junk.

Bad luck! I took the magic artifact I just bought home and used it for a few days, and then I found that all the internal restrictions had disappeared.

The three families had made stern pronouncements about cracking down on the black market, but each time it turned out to be all talk and no action.

It must be profitable.

Qu Ye and the original owner had frequented the market for many years. They had even gone in out of curiosity and bought some spiritual items, so they were fairly clear about the ins and outs of it.