Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

After leaving Tianxiang Pavilion, Qu Ye looked at the sky; it was still some time before dark.

He continued walking slowly along the streets and alleys, stopping from time to time to look at the goods in other shops, like an ordinary wandering monk.

As we strolled along, we arrived at North Street. The management here was not as strict as that of Tianxiang Pavilion, and many vendors were hawking their wares on both sides of the road.

"Fresh white cloud grass, guaranteed to have been picked today!"

"Look, look! This old man's family heirloom sword can cut a hair in two; it's comparable to a magical artifact!"

...

"A map for the Foundation Establishment stage, a genuine map for repairing your cave dwelling... What? What if it's fake? I, Zhao Lao Er, here it is, guaranteed authentic!"

You can be anyone, but you are definitely not Zhao Lao Er.

Looking at the scene before him, which resembled that of an ordinary, bustling marketplace, Qu Ye felt a rare sense of relief.

After walking a few more steps, he saw Wang Meng's family's shop.

Qu Ye remained expressionless and continued forward with the flow of people, but his gaze naturally swept across the street.

Sure enough, in front of that small shop, Wang Meng was sitting behind the counter, fiddling with a few odds and ends.

He would occasionally look up to greet a guest, seemingly no different from usual.

Qu Ye glanced at it once, then looked away and walked straight past the shop without stopping.

Checking on Wang Meng's current situation is enough.

As time passed, the flow of people in the market gradually changed.

The rogue cultivators who had been setting up stalls and hawking their wares during the day began to pack up their stalls, while the number of cultivators in restaurants and teahouses gradually increased.

Qu Ye sat for a while at an inconspicuous tea stall, ordered a pot of the cheapest "Baiyun Tea", slowly drank it, and only left when it was completely dark.

He turned into several side alleys, circled around, and finally stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary alley.

The alleyway was dark, with only a dimly lit lantern hanging on the wall, swaying slightly in the wind.

Without hesitation, Qu Ye put on a veil and stepped inside.

At the end of the alley was a gray wall.

Qu Ye walked closer and gently tapped the left side of the gray wall three times, then paused for a few breaths.

A moment later, a wooden door on the left side of the gray wall creaked open, and a pair of cloudy eyes stared at Qu Ye.

"What are you doing banging around here so late at night?"

Qu Ye calmly replied, "Looking for something."

"What are you looking for?"

"Red tail, green hair, white fur, and blue teeth."

"Come in."

The door opened completely, revealing an old man on the second floor of the Qi Refining Sect, whose lower half of his face was covered.

Qu Ye went inside the house, and the old man led him to the courtyard and opened a hidden door.

"You understand the rules, right?"

Qu Ye nodded, took out a spirit stone from his storage bag and handed it to the old man. He then used his divine sense to search the hidden door and found no danger.

So he went through the hidden door and went down the passage behind it into the underground.

The alleyway returned to silence.

……

Qu Ye walked along the passage for a while, estimating that he had reached a depth of several tens of meters underground, when the passage suddenly became flat and extended straight ahead.

Stepping out of the passage, a huge cave appeared before Qu Ye's eyes.

There are several similar passageways around, and people come and go from time to time.

Inside the cave, there was a faint light, revealing a bustling night market with stalls scattered on either side, each adorned with a different style of dim yellow lamp.

The stalls sell a much wider variety of items than the daytime market, including fragments of magical artifacts, talismans of unknown origin, scattered spiritual materials, and old elixir bottles.

Most of the cultivators who came and went concealed themselves, either wearing bamboo hats or hoods, or, like Qu Ye, changing their appearance.

Qu Ye slowly walked around the stalls, but didn't find any useful spiritual items, so he went deeper into the area.

Several shops have been open for a long time in the latter part of the cave.

It is said that whether you are gathering intelligence or buying some strange and unusual items, you can always find something here.

Soon, he stopped in front of a small shop with a wooden sign that read "Baibaozhai".

A sign hanging next to the wooden sign reads: "All things are available."

They're quite arrogant.

Several broken magical artifacts were displayed at the entrance of the shop, and a gaunt cultivator with the fourth level of Qi Refining sat behind the counter, wiping an old sword with his head down.

When Qu Ye came in, he only raised his eyelids slightly.

"Selling things?"

Qu Ye nodded, and without saying a word, took out Hu Si's long sword magic weapon from his storage bag and placed it on the counter.

The gaunt cultivator regained some energy, picked up the long sword, examined it carefully, channeled his magic power into it, and felt it deeply.

After a moment, he put down his long sword and shook his head.

"It's a low-grade first-tier magic weapon. The blade is somewhat damaged, and the restriction is just a common 'Heavy Edge'. I can only offer two spirit stones."

Qu Ye glanced at the gaunt cultivator, picked up his longsword, and turned to leave.

"Hey, fellow Daoist, are you still haggling? Don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Qu Ye stopped in her tracks.

"Ten spirit stones."

"Fellow Daoist, aren't you making things difficult for me? Even if this magic artifact is intact, it's worth at most fifteen spirit stones."

Nine pieces.

"Stop, stop, stop." The gaunt cultivator waved his hand. "Alright, I won't lie to you. Let's settle for a flat price of eight spirit stones, okay?"

That's reasonable.

Qu Ye nodded, the handover was complete, and he checked the spirit stones handed over by the gaunt cultivator.

After confirming that everything was correct, he took out the spirit wine given by Hou Youde, the magic weapon from Zhao Haiqiong, and the White Light Sword.

"Take a look at these items as well."

The gaunt cultivator was taken aback. He glanced at Qu Ye a few times before picking up the three items and examining them carefully.

"This spear is intact and well-maintained, but unfortunately the restrictions are more defensive, so it's just average. Twenty spirit stones."

"This spirit sword is quite good, very suitable for cultivators who urgently need long-range attacks, but it is slightly worn. I'll give it to you for nine spirit stones."

"As for this low-grade spirit wine, fellow Daoist, I don't accept just anything... Never mind, I'll keep it for myself. I'll give you two spirit stones."

The offer was quite fair, and the tone was even a bit gentler.

Qu Ye secretly found it amusing, thinking that this person probably mistook him for a powerful cultivator.

But he maintained a cold demeanor and accepted the spirit stone.

"Fellow Daoist, is there anything else you wish to sell?"

The gaunt cultivator looked at Qu Ye expectantly.

Qu Ye shook his head and said:

"That's all, but I still have some needs. Do you have a map of the nearby market area?"

The gaunt cultivator was startled. Had they finished their raid on Yumen Market and were now preparing to move on to another location?

However, he still smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, this is a shop that buys and sells things. If you want to inquire about anything, you'll have to go next door."

"OK."

Qu Ye left Baibaozhai and walked to another shop next door.

The shop was even smaller, and didn't even have a name. There were no lamps inside, and you could vaguely see a middle-aged man.

"What do you want to know?"

"Market Map"

"There are only routes to the surrounding towns and markets; there are no routes further out."

"It's alright, let's check the surrounding area first."

The middle-aged man bent down, rummaged through the table and pulled out a wooden box. He fiddled with it for a while and took out a roll of yellowed old paper.

He didn't rush to hand it to Qu Ye, but instead unfolded a corner of it first.

"Fellow Daoist, please take a look."

By the light of the lamp hanging nearby, Qu Ye looked down.

Several winding routes were drawn on the old paper, with the locations of mountains, waterways, and markets marked along the way. Although not very detailed, the general directions were still discernible.

"This map records the three nearest wards around Yumen Ward: Qingxi Ward, Wuliu Ward, and Shiling Ward."

"Is that all? What about Yunyang Market?"

Qu Ye asked.

"Fellow Daoist is joking. Yunyang Market is far from here, how could we possibly have a precise route map?"

"Even if they existed, they wouldn't be something we minor refining technicians could afford."

The man shook his head, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Qu Ye: "If you really want to go to Yunyang Market, there is a way."

"How so?"

"Occasionally, large merchant caravans will come to Yumen Market. You can spend some spirit stones to follow them."

"Or we could use a more cumbersome method, following the general direction and going from one market town to another."

"Then forget it."

Qu Ye was somewhat disappointed and had no choice but to temporarily abandon his plan to go to Yunyang Market. Instead, he bought a rubbing of the map in front of him for three spirit stones.

"If you wish to inquire about caravan news in the future, you may come to me again."

Qu Ye waved his hand, said nothing more, and walked out of the shop.