Cultivation begins with harvest.

Jinyuan Inn is the only inn designated by multiple shops to use the access token.

The decor was lavish and opulent. Seeing Chen Guang carrying a large bag of things, the waiter understood what was going on. Once inside the room, the waiter pointed to a tall, simple wardrobe and said, "Sir, if you have any special requests, just open this wardrobe."

Then he respectfully closed the door and took his leave.

A quick inspection revealed no surveillance equipment in the room.

Chen Guang then walked up to the wardrobe and examined it carefully. He didn't know what material it was made of, but there was a token-shaped groove on the wardrobe that fit perfectly with the pass token in Chen Guang's hand.

The token was placed into the groove, and the round thread fit perfectly with a very slight "click." One side of the wardrobe opened naturally, and Chen Guang went around to take a look.

A tall conical hat covered with a layer of transparent black gauze, a pale white mask, and a clean, wide white robe all exuded spiritual energy, clearly indicating that it was a spiritual artifact.

Upon closer inspection, a piece of paper was found stuck to the chest of the robe.

"After the curfew, wear this clothing and leave the guest room through the secret passage without a pass token, and close the door with a stone talisman; any damage to the three spiritual artifacts must be reported immediately. Anyone whose spiritual artifacts are found to be damaged when entering the market, or who fails to return them to the wardrobe after leaving the market, will be punished."

A special stone talisman was inside the pocket beneath the paper.

Chen Guang understood, but he didn't rush to put on the magical artifact that concealed his presence. Instead, he returned to his bed and continuously circulated his qi. After circulating his cultivation technique for two cycles, he suddenly opened his mouth, and a somewhat transparent cyan stream of qi appeared. However, its size and influence on the surrounding area had decreased significantly, now only about one-twentieth of its original size.

But the complete true qi is like this; it will not dissipate until it is exhausted.

He carefully collected the pure spiritual energy. Although it was exhaled from his mouth, it did not actually enter his stomach. Strictly speaking, this pure spiritual energy was much cleaner than any other part of Chen Guang's body.

After gathering his strength, Chen Guang finally took out a Nightwalker Pill and swallowed it. A chilling sensation surged through his body, which he could only endure silently. After more than ten breaths, Chen Guang couldn't help but shiver, and the chill disappeared. When he felt his own aura again, only a very faint trace of pure spiritual energy remained.

"This level of concealment is sufficient to hide it with this set of face-covering magical artifacts."

Chen Guang walked around for a while, satisfied, before putting on the masking artifact. He looked at himself in the bronze mirror, which revealed every detail. Both his physique and temperament had changed significantly, and he couldn't tell anything even after looking at himself several times.

"I am Chen Guang—" Chen Guang opened his mouth, his voice becoming much deeper and heavier, like the voice of a muscular middle-aged man.

Chen Guang was having a great time and tried it a few more times. He could do it for men and women, for old and young people, which was quite interesting.

In the end, the original sound was chosen. Maintaining the magic power of this magical artifact only requires a small amount of magic power, and most of the time it just operates on its own, only needing to be used when changing the sound.

After trying it, he found that he couldn't take the pass token without putting all three magical artifacts back in their original places. He couldn't help but marvel at this, and then he calmed down and silently studied the alchemy scroll, waiting for curfew to begin.

As soon as the curfew gong sounded, a conspicuous wall in the room opened by itself, revealing a dark passageway with only a few dim lights flickering in it.

Chen Guang stood up with a "whoosh," let out a long breath, picked up the bag of spirit rice used to disguise the Thousand Water Gourd, and walked into the secret passage. The door to the secret passage behind him closed naturally. Holding the stone talisman, Chen Guang naturally received a message: to open this secret door again, only this stone talisman could be used.

"It's really complicated, and quite a lot has been invested."

After adjusting to the dimly lit passage, Chen Guang glanced at the signpost and followed it downwards. The passage was initially very narrow, but gradually he entered a corridor with other cultivators. The corridor was large enough for four people to walk side by side, and masked disciples of the Punishment Hall were on duty. Continuing along the corridor, a spacious underground market appeared before him, brightly lit. He noticed that the distance between the ground and the dome was a full three zhang (approximately 10 meters).

The top was inlaid with round, bright pearls, which illuminated the underground market as brightly as daytime.

Chen Guang was slightly startled. He had imagined it many times, but he was still amazed by the ease with which an underground space could be transformed. Only by seeing it in person could he truly appreciate the shock.

A string of torches was placed at the entrance to the market, followed by disciples of the Punishment Hall wearing only masks. Here, apart from disguised cultivators like myself, the Punishment Hall disciples were the most numerous and common.

In the middle of the wide avenue, there were two rows of cultivators quietly queuing up, wearing black straw hats and white robes. They all looked pretty much the same, and no one could sense their aura or tell their physical outlines. Only those who kept looking around revealed some differences – they were newcomers.

Chen Guang walked out of his passage and found that there were actually five such entrances. Each entrance connected to more than one inn and more than one passage. The other entrances also corresponded to their respective inns, all of which converged in this underground market.

Despite the threshold of 1,100 catties of spirit rice, the underground market was still bustling with activity. There were hundreds of cultivators at the entrance of this market alone, and some were still on their way and others had already entered. Tonight alone, there were several hundred cultivators in the entire underground market.

After obediently joining the queue, the disciples of the Punishment Hall would conduct a simple check on these cultivators—whether their face-covering artifacts were damaged, and whether there were any characteristics that even the face-covering artifacts could not conceal. Further confirmation was needed.

As soon as Chen Guang entered, he attracted everyone's attention, and they naturally recognized the bag of spirit rice he was carrying.

It's not that no one carries things like that; those might be early-stage Qi Refining cultivators who don't yet have storage bags. But carrying spirit rice is truly rare.

The establishment of the Mianfang Market is a humane consideration by the sect. They knew that everyone had items of dubious origin and that everyone needed a higher-end market, which is why the Mianfang Market was created.

You need at least 1,100 catties of spirit rice to sell rice?

Some experienced cultivators glanced at him and then looked away, not taking it seriously. This method might be to conceal something valuable, but it did make Chen Guang more noticeable.

The procession moved quickly. When it was Chen Guang's turn, he was given a quick check and simply told not to cause trouble before being allowed to pass.

Who would dare?

Chen Guang glanced at the inside of the market. Numerous stalls had already been set up, and the area was simply divided. Although there were no more disciples from the Punishment Hall in the market, it still blatantly exuded the aura of a high-level formation, so no one would want to cause trouble for themselves.

Chen Guang walked briskly along the way, and the sights along the way were dazzling.

Spirit beasts, spells, talismans, spiritual plants, materials...

Chen Guang even saw second-tier spiritual plants, and there were two cultivators selling the Linquan Pumpkin, which he used as his signature product. There might not be a second competitor on an entire street outside, but here there were two at once, and they were only in the same area. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had been hesitating about how to get the Linquan Pumpkin and how much to take out, but now he suddenly had an idea.

Chen Guang was also tempted by some rare spiritual plants. He withdrew his gaze, quickly found an empty stall, took out a piece of fine silk and spread it on the ground before taking out the items one by one.

The items included a thousand-water gourd, bottled Crimson Melting Pills, Qi-Nourishing Pills, and ten Linquan pumpkins. While the variety wasn't extensive, the quantity was considerable. Chen Guang had placed three bottles of each of the two types of pills.

The noodle shop was much more primitive, with few tables and chairs. Chen Guang simply sat cross-legged on the ground, sitting upright and waiting for the customers.

No sooner had he sat down than a dozen breaths later, a cultivator approached Chen Guang's stall, staring at the Thousand Water Gourd for several moments: "So this is what you hid inside your spirit rice? It's a storage artifact? I've never seen it before!"

Chen Guang knew that this person had been watching him since he was in line. Seeing him take other things out of the storage artifact, he knew that it was a storage artifact.

"The Thousand Water Gourd is a low-grade spiritual artifact that can store three portions of spiritual liquid without it spoiling." After giving a brief introduction, Chen Guang shut up.

"It stores spiritual liquid, but its function is rather singular." The cultivator who asked the question looked at Chen Guang's Linquan Pumpkin, somewhat tempted, but ultimately shook his head and left.

No sooner had the first cultivator left than another arrived. After asking Chen Guang, the second cultivator picked up a bottle of Crimson Fusion Pills, opened the seal, examined it closely, and smelled it repeatedly. His voice was like that of a child: "Crimson Fusion Pills, what's the price?"

"Sold by the bottle, seven hundred catties of spirit rice per bottle, that's very cheap," Chen Guang said.

The Crimson Fusion Pill was already expensive due to its powerful functions, with a single pill worth at least two hundred catties of spirit rice. Recently, with the Qi Hall's conquest of Snow Peak, its price has also increased significantly. Chen Guang had done his homework on this.

It's a pity that the Crimson Fusion Pills given by the reward group were all of excellent quality; otherwise, I would have dared to ask for a higher grade.

"Seven hundred... I want five bottles. If you can produce them, I'll take them," the baby-voiced cultivator said impatiently.

Chen Guang didn't care. He quickly reached into his sleeve and took out two more bottles of Crimson Melting Pills.

After checking everything, the monk with the baby voice paid 3,500 silver dollars. Once Chen Guang had counted the money, he left quickly without lingering.