"Sigh... let’s go, Brother Mu."

"Time to look for work again."

"The Marketplace has been expanding repeatedly lately, bringing in a lot of outside Cultivators. Finding work is going to be tough now!"

Hou Cheng was obviously worried. He patted Chu Mu’s shoulder, a dejected look on his face.

The other clerks standing nearby wore expressions no different from Hou Cheng’s.

Those who managed to scrape by day after day in the Marketplace were mostly people who had accepted their reality and grown accustomed to a stable life. Now, that stability was suddenly shattered, and the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace was changing by the day.

How many of them could possibly face such a change with composure?

"Our shop is closing for the day. We ask for your understanding, esteemed customers..."

A voice drifted from a nearby shop. Next to Li’s Trading House, a storefront that had just opened for the morning was slowly closing its doors as several Cultivators walked out.

And it wasn’t just this one shop closing. The several shops on either side of Li’s Ore Materials all closed their doors this early in the morning, as if by prior agreement.

On this bustling Marketplace street, for an entire section of shops to suddenly close was jarringly abrupt.

’Those are Sun Family properties...’

Surveying the several closed shops, Chu Mu’s gaze flickered as he became lost in thought.

Before him, a total of eight shops had closed, all next to each other. Aside from Li’s Ore Materials, which was a private business, the other seven were, without exception, all Sun Family properties.

’Longevity Sect...’

Chu Mu pursed his lips, once again recalling his previous plans for the future.

Before, it was just a thought—and could only be a thought. After all, from what he had gathered, the Longevity Sect had no presence near Jade Emperor Valley, or even for hundreds of miles around. It was all Sun Family territory.

But now...

Chu Mu glanced again at Li’s Ore Materials before him, pondered for a moment, and then headed straight for the Marketplace’s housing rental office without lingering.

In six months, he had earned two hundred and twenty Broken Spirits, plus the three Lower Grade Spirit Stones he received as severance.

His total earnings over six months came to twenty-five Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Although he had spent quite a bit researching Spiritual Food over the past six-plus months, it was still a mass-produced, artificially cultivated product sold by weight. It wasn’t precious like Spirit Medicine, which was cultivated for years and valued by its age and potency.

When researching Spiritual Food, buying even a small amount of each type was considered a lot.

For some types, Chu Mu bought only a dozen or so individual pieces. No matter how high the price per pound, buying just a few to study wouldn’t be too expensive.

Over the six-plus months, he had added twenty-three types of Spiritual Food to his Wooden Box, having bought nearly every kind available in the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace. In total, he had spent ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

With a total income of twenty-five and an expenditure of ten, he was left with fifteen Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

The rent for a house was one Spirit Stone a month, paid every three months.

In just one morning, another three Lower Grade Spirit Stones were gone. His entire fortune was now down to just twelve Lower Grade Spirit Stones.

Chu Mu held his belongings in his arms and a dark gold Token in his hand.

Engraved on the Token were the words "Zone A3, Number 56," indicating his new rental.

Although Chu Mu had never lived in the expanded part of the Marketplace, he was extremely familiar with its layout.

After all, whenever the Marketplace expanded, he would inevitably come over to observe. Chu Mu was quite interested in the Array Restrictions laid out in the newly constructed houses.

Although he hadn’t learned anything particularly useful, it had broadened his knowledge, and he now knew the layout of the new Marketplace district like the back of his hand.

Zone A3 was a block of houses on the Southwest side of Jade Emperor Lake—the large lake within Jade Emperor Valley—located near the shore.

Number fifty-six...

’Oh, it’s even a lake-view room...’

From a long way off, Chu Mu identified the location of the house and couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

The front door of the house faced the shore, while the rear was built on stilts over the lake. There was no special layout; it was just a simple, single room, with rows of similar houses extending to either side like storefronts on a street.

As he got closer, however, Chu Mu’s pupils suddenly contracted. He glanced around, confirmed he wasn’t mistaken, and stopped in his tracks.

In his line of sight, the crossed white seals on the door of Number 56 were glaringly conspicuous.

The words "Jade Emperor Valley Law Enforcement Team" written on the seal were also perfectly clear.

’The house I rented... was sealed by the Law Enforcement Team?’

Chu Mu was shocked and suspicious, but he quickly realized what must have happened. It was more likely that the previous tenant had committed some serious crime, which was why the house had been sealed.

After a moment of contemplation, Chu Mu didn’t approach the house. Instead, he turned around and headed back toward the rental office.

About a quarter of an hour later, Chu Mu returned. With him were two others: a Steward from the housing rental office and a Cultivator from the Law Enforcement Team.

As for why the house was sealed, the reason was just as Chu Mu had guessed: the previous tenant had broken the law and been executed by the Law Enforcement Team.

What crime he had committed, Chu Mu couldn’t find out. Inquiries were met with vague answers, clearly indicating there was a secret involved.

Only after the Law Enforcement Team’s Cultivator personally removed the seal and both accompanying Cultivators had left did Chu Mu slowly walk up to the door.

He tentatively infused some Magical Power into the Token. With his Divine Sense Perception, he could clearly detect an invisible ripple emanating from the Token as the Magical Power flowed in.

As it entered the door, it was as if a switch had been flicked, and the tightly shut door suddenly swung open.

Chu Mu looked at the Token in his hand and then at the open door with some curiosity. ’This Array Restriction is pretty smart!’

Stepping into the room, he could see everything at a glance.

"This is..."

Chu Mu’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch as he stared at the utter mess before him.

It was supposed to be a newly built house, but the inside looked like a war zone—a complete, chaotic disaster!

The wooden bed was overturned, closet doors hung open, clothes were scattered all over the floor, and the ground was covered in stains. Just from this scene, Chu Mu could almost imagine what had happened here.

’The previous tenant was killed, the Law Enforcement Team traced him to this room, burst in for a violent search, and left this mess behind...’

’What could they possibly find in the room...’

Chu Mu grumbled to himself. What Cultivator didn’t carry their important belongings with them? Who would leave them in a rented room in the Marketplace?

Grumbling was one thing, but the previous tenant’s affairs had nothing to do with him. He still had to clean up.

After working for a long time, Chu Mu finally restored the room to its original state. He had to admit, the previous tenant had excellent taste; the room’s rear directly faced the lake.

Through the two rear windows, he had a clear view of the valley’s main street on the other side of the lake. He could even see the entire waterfall at the far end of the valley.

’If someone really wanted to do something illegal, this room would be a perfect surveillance spot.’

After all, the bustling heart of Jade Emperor Valley was in the valley across the lake, including the various Government Offices of the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace.

Furthermore, all the exits from Jade Emperor Valley were situated around the lake, meaning that from this room’s vantage point, anyone leaving the valley could be seen with perfect clarity.

"New here?"

A voice came from the doorway. Chu Mu turned to see a woman in red peeking in.

"And you are?"

Chu Mu frowned.

"My name is Chang Hong’Er. I live next door."

Sensing Chu Mu’s displeasure, Chang Hong’Er pointed to the house next door and quickly said, "I saw you piling all this stuff by your door and came to give you a heads-up. There’s a rule here that trash has to be collected in a designated spot, just around the corner up ahead..."

"All the residents here have to pay a disposal fee of one Broken Spirit every two months. Otherwise, you’ll get fined..."

Hearing this explanation, Chu Mu’s expression softened slightly. He nodded, and just as he was about to say something, Chang Hong’Er’s eyes lit up as she held out her hand:

"You can just give me the fee for these two months. I handle all the trash disposal for Zone A3. From now on, you can just leave your trash at the door, and I guarantee I’ll take care of it for you."

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow. "Give me a reason to trust you."

Chang Hong’Er’s expression froze for a second. She pouted, pulled a Token from her robes, and tossed it to Chu Mu.

Zone A3 Waste Disposal: Chang Hong’Er.

Chu Mu glanced at it. The words were perfectly clear, as was the insignia of the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace in the top-left corner.

Chu Mu recalled a specific crime listed in the book of laws: forging the Jade Emperor Valley insignia, whether as a principal offender or an accomplice, resulted in the fate of having one’s soul drawn out to light a lamp!

A single Broken Spirit was clearly not worth committing such a heinous crime.

If there really was such an idiot, Chu Mu figured he could live with the loss.

"Here."

Chu Mu took out a Broken Spirit and tossed it back to Chang Hong’Er along with her Token.

"Alrighty."

Catching the Broken Spirit, Chang Hong’Er bit it and then beamed with joy. "Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure all this trash is disposed of without a trace!"

Chu Mu asked tentatively,

"By the way, do you know anything about the previous tenant of my house?"

"When I first got here, I saw the door was sealed. Did he get into some kind of trouble?"

Chang Hong’Er blinked, then held out her hand again. "One Broken Spirit, and I’ll tell you."

Chu Mu decisively shut the door.

"Hey, wait! Half a Broken Spirit! Just half, okay? Half..."

"Fine, I’m feeling generous. I’ll tell you for free."

The door opened again. Chang Hong’Er shot Chu Mu a glare, seemingly dejected that she hadn’t managed to earn a single Broken Spirit.

After a long moment, she finally began to speak slowly.

With every sentence she spoke, Chu Mu’s expression remained calm, but a deep gravity had clearly settled into his eyes.

’This situation seems to have far greater implications than I guessed!’

...