Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  The stout vendor, Old Hou, looked at the tall and thin stranger who had returned to his stall, sighed, and said with a regretful face: "It's all gone, if there were any left, I would definitely sell them to you."

  That skull-like strange man frowned, his weird face showing a few points of depression, muttering to himself: "Just short of this point, and going to those shops to buy, but they are all large pieces that won't be sold in small quantities, what can I do?"

  Old Hou looked at the strange man's expression, and his heart moved slightly. He had been running a stall in Nan Tian Men, Liu Yun City for several years, and he was familiar with the surroundings. In his mind, he knew that there were indeed some stalls selling Huang Jing Shi. However, who would be so kind-hearted as to tell him such information without any reason? On the contrary, if he went to buy a piece of Huang Jing Shi at a low price and then sold it to this person, he might even make a profit of one or two Ling Jing.

  He was hesitating whether to call out to the strange man, and when he went out to help him find it, he suddenly heard a voice from beside him say: "Boss, I want to buy this small can."

  Lao Hou took a glance and immediately turned pale, only to see the young man who had entangled himself with him for a while earlier return. He let out a cold snort and said, "I've already told you, I'm not selling. Kid, scram and don't block my business."

  Shen Shi smiled and didn't say much, but glanced at the strange man beside him who looked like a skull. He suddenly turned his head to Old Hou and said, "Boss, I remember you used to have a piece of yellow crystal stone here. Is it still around?"

  Lao Hou's face suddenly turned black, while at the same time, the strange man unexpectedly turned his head to look at Shen Shi for a moment, but didn't say much. As for Shen Shi, he was calmly looking at the stall owner with a calm expression.

  The old man's expression changed, his eyes narrowed, staring at Shen Shi, a hint of ferocity already visible in his eyes. However, Shen Shi seemed completely unaware, calmly looking back at him. After a moment, the old man spoke in a low voice: "The Huang Jing stone has been sold."

  Shen Shi let out a soft "oh" and gazed at Old Hou, though he didn't say anything explicitly, nor did he glance again at the strange person beside him. His eyes simply drifted back to the small jar with a faint gaze.

  Then, he pulled out a crystal from his bosom and smiled, saying: "Boss, do me a favor and sell this thing to me."

  Under the South Heaven Gate, a sea of people surged and swirled. At a glance, there were at least two to three thousand cultivators gathered here, creating an extremely lively atmosphere. Everyone was immersed in this noisy and bustling scene, hoping that they could have a pair of extraordinary discerning eyes to pick out one or two dusty treasures from the countless ordinary objects.

  In the past, there were similar legends in Nantianmen from time to time, where people bought heavenly treasures and earthly jewels at extremely low prices, becoming rich overnight and never seeing the difficult days of the past again. This is one of the dreams of many scattered cultivators.

  So when Shen Shi casually held a small, coarse jar in his hand and quickly merged into the crowd, there was no ripple in this "river" filled with restless atmosphere. In an instant, his figure disappeared from view.

  At that stall, Old Hou withdrew his gaze with a hint of resentment, composed himself, and let out a dry laugh. He looked up at the strange man standing in front of him, who had an inexplicable expression, and forced a smile: "Sir, would you mind waiting for a moment? I'll go ask around, maybe some friends of mine have smaller yellow crystals?"

  That strange man hesitated for a moment and nodded his head.

  Shen Shi didn't continue to linger around the South Heavenly Gate, he still had some sense of propriety. After quickly leaving there, he headed straight for the Nantianmen branch of the Divine Assembly Hall in the south. Along the way, he occasionally turned his head back to take a look, confirming that the stall owner hadn't followed him, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

  The Immortal Gathering's branch in Flowing Cloud City was as crowded as ever, seemingly even more bustling than the one at South Heaven Gate. After all, it was a time-honored brand that had been passed down for many years, and there was no other place like it in the entire Hongmeng world. As the first choice for buying spiritual materials for cultivation, business was naturally booming.

  Shen Shi waited for a short while outside the shop, and soon saw the butcher come out of the hall, looking around as if searching for someone. Shen Shi hastily went up to him and called out loudly, "Uncle, I'm over here."

  The butcher saw his shadow, smiled slightly, and immediately his gaze fell on the small pot in his hand. "What's this thing?" he asked curiously.

  Shen Shi smiled and said, "Just now I was wandering around everywhere, saw that this thing looks pretty good, so I bought it."

  "Not bad, huh..." The butcher looked up and down at the small jar, but all he saw was a worn-out, weathered, old, broken thing that was an eyesore. Where did this kid get off saying it was "not bad"? Guess when you've got a rich dad from a young age, you don't really care about money, huh?

  The butcher grinned and asked, "How much did you pay for this thing?"

  Shen Shi stretched out one finger and said, "One Spirit Crystal."

  The butcher fell silent for a moment, thinking that this Ling crystal was quite unjust, but after all, it was Shen Shi's own idea, and he didn't bother to say much more. He simply waved his hand and said, "Alright, it's getting late, let's go back and get some rest early. We still have to get up early tomorrow to visit the Immortal Rock."

  Shen Shi nodded and smiled: "Okay."

  All the way back to his residence, everything was calm and peaceful. It seemed that although Old Hou, the stall owner, looked unwilling and had a hint of anger in his eyes, just as Shen Shi had expected earlier, with so many people in this Flowing Cloud City, finding him would be like looking for a needle in the ocean. Moreover, after tonight, he would follow Butcher to pay respects at Bai Xuan Rock and enter Ling Xiao Sect to cultivate. At that time, with his identity as a Ling Xiao Sect disciple, Old Hou was just an ordinary scattered cultivator, what could he do to him?

  Back at the residence, strolling around for a day, Butcher looked as spirited as ever, without a hint of fatigue. On the other hand, Shen Shi had been strolling in Nanbao Alley for half a day and hadn't practiced any Taoist magic, his physical body was still that of an ordinary young man, with a thread of exhaustion hanging on his face.

  The butcher looked at him and then let him go back to his room to rest, also reminding him not to go out again today, after all tomorrow's trip to Bai Xian Rock is a big deal.

  Shen Shi nodded naturally and agreed, then returned to his own room alone, closed the doors and windows, sat down at the table in the room, and placed the small jar on the table.

  With his fingers lightly touching the small jar, a rough feeling came from the fingertips. Shen Shi rubbed several places where the mud was stuck, and the fine dust and sand fell off, revealing the inside of the jar. Unfortunately, they were all severely eroded and could not be identified as their original appearance.

  Shen Shi carefully examined the jar, wiping away all the dirt that had stuck to it, but in the end, he could only conclude that the small jar had indeed been buried in the soil for a long time, and nothing else was visible.

  At this time, Shen Shi's heart was already somewhat uneasy and felt even more so, thinking to himself that he might have been too clever for his own good and ended up buying a completely useless ordinary small pot.

  He rubbed his eyebrows and smiled wryly to himself, but his gaze still fell on the bottom of the small jar. Although it was also severely eroded, about 30% of the area could barely make out a half-pattern of chrysanthemum flowers, which was the most important reason he had insisted on buying it after much hesitation.

  This floral pattern is really what I saw in the ancient books, the seven-leafed golden chrysanthemum emblem of the demon royal family from thousands of years ago...

  Shen Shi stared at the incomplete pattern for a long time, still unable to make a clear judgment. After a while, he suddenly gritted his teeth and thought, "Forget it, I've already bought it anyway." He opened it to see what it was. If it was indeed useless, then he could only consider it a lesson learned from spending a spirit crystal.

  He had made up his mind, but when he decided to open the small can, he encountered another problem. The small can had been sealed from the beginning, and although it was unknown how many years ago it was an antique, the lid of the can seemed to be integrated with the body of the can. No matter how hard Shen Shi tried to turn and pull it out, the lid didn't budge.

  This... is really troublesome, Shen Shi's expression at this moment also couldn't help but turn a bit gloomy. He had been struggling with this unremarkable small jar for half a day, yet he still couldn't open the thing, it was really frustrating.

  He clenched his teeth and grabbed the small jar, thinking that he might as well smash it to the ground and shatter it. However, just as he raised the jar halfway, a sudden thought flashed through his mind, causing him to inhale sharply. This jar was said by Old Hou to have been excavated from an ancient tomb, where they had encountered some malevolent spirits and ghosts in the burial chamber. What if this wasn't just a simple jar? What if it was actually a magical artifact that contained a powerful and malevolent entity within?

  If this were to be released, would it devour itself on the spot...

  As soon as this thought arose, Shen Shi immediately became uneasy. Although he somewhat understood in his heart that the ghost stories he had heard on the streets when he was young were mostly nonsense, but... wasn't it the case that one shouldn't be afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of the one possibility? Moreover, back in the day in Yinzhou, the Xuanyin Gate wasn't a completely upright and honest cultivator sect either. It was said that there were some cultivators inside who were skilled at controlling ghosts and spirits. This rumor had been circulating in Xilu City without stopping, and it wasn't without reason.

  If there really is a sealed ghost in this jar, it must be an old one. I heard when I was young that ghosts and monsters like to eat children and youngsters the most.

  After some deliberation, Shen Shi gradually felt a chill run down his spine, and the small jar in his hand seemed to have become heavier, almost slipping from his grasp.

  After hesitating for a moment, he slowly placed the small jar on the edge of the table, and in the end did not smash it to the ground, but instead slowly sat down beside the table, feeling deeply troubled in his heart, and could not help but let out a long sigh.

  I went through great lengths to buy this small can back home, but I didn't expect it would be such a troublesome thing.

  He casually leaned his head on the table, silently staring at this small can, dazed and distracted, turning over countless thoughts in his mind, but not having a single idea.

  It was at this point that he didn't know how much time had passed, when his head started to ache from thinking, that a butcher's shout suddenly came from outside the house: "Xiao Shi!"

  Shen Shi suddenly felt a jolt and stood up subconsciously, saying: "I'm here, what..."

  Before he finished speaking, he stood up quickly and bumped the table heavily. The small vase that was originally placed on the edge of the table shook violently and fell to the ground with a loud "crash". The vase shattered into pieces.