Knowledge was expensive, and people guarded it jealously.

While spending a large amount of Spirit Stones, he also had to make a series of Dao Heart Oaths.

In the end, after spending several Spirit Stones to rent a stall, Chu Mu displayed the spoils from his recent venture.

A Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact Flying Sword and a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact scimitar.

The prices weren’t high, about ten percent lower than the market rate.

As for the Vein Nourishing Pills, at such a sensitive time, there was no need to bring more trouble upon himself.

The two Magical Artifacts would be enough to earn several hundred Spirit Stones, barely covering his deficit.

Perhaps because the prices were lower than the market rate, both Magical Artifacts were sold one after the other in just over an hour.

For the next few days, Chu Mu spent his time wandering through the Jade Emperor Black Market. Whenever he saw something he liked, he would spend the Spirit Stones to acquire it.

The system of knowledge he envisioned was gradually taking shape, piece by piece, as he spent his Spirit Stones.

By the eighth day, he had accomplished most of his goals for this trip to the Black Market.

However, the legacy of Artifact Refining Skill knowledge he had been longing for was still nowhere to be found.

In his Storage Talisman, over a thousand Lower Grade Spirit Stones lay quietly, but he couldn’t find a way to spend them.

It seemed his luck with finding the legacy of Artifact Refining Skill knowledge had been completely used up after that first encounter at Fengming Mountain.

Stopping on the street, Chu Mu glanced at the road behind him. After a moment of contemplation, he turned into a side alley.

He stopped again at the end of the alley, turned around, and looked back at the empty passage, waiting silently.

He had a suspicion that needed to be confirmed.

Before long, a figure appeared at the mouth of the alley. After a glance around, the person also walked into the alley.

Chu Mu’s suspicion was undoubtedly confirmed.

From the moment he entered the Black Market and spent his first Spirit Stone, he had clearly felt that he was being watched.

A horse doesn’t get fat without night fodder, and a man doesn’t get rich without a windfall.

This was obviously a normal occurrence.

But it was also obvious that those who spied on others usually did so stealthily, doing their best to hide their greedy intentions.

They would never be so bold as to follow and watch someone almost openly.

And yet, this time, he had encountered just that.

From the moment he spent his first Spirit Stone, a figure had been following him around the Marketplace almost openly.

Even if he changed his appearance midway, as soon as he started spending Spirit Stones again, he would be openly watched. Moreover, the person watching him was different each time.

And their Cultivation levels were mostly around the Qi Cultivation Fourth and Fifth Layers.

When things are out of the ordinary, there must be something strange afoot.

Chu Mu didn’t mind testing his theory.

"Speak. What do you want?"

Chu Mu questioned the approaching Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer Cultivator.

"This humble one saw that Senior has been lingering in the market for several days. Is there something you wish to buy but cannot find the means to do so?"

"What, you have the means?"

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow and asked.

"In three days, there will be an underground auction. If Senior is interested, you may go and have a look."

The man respectfully handed over a dark gray Jade Token.

Chu Mu didn’t reach out to take it. Instead, he retorted, "So, this is how you find your customers?"

"Please forgive me, Senior. This is merely my duty."

"Hah."

Chu Mu let out a soft laugh and took the Jade Token. He didn’t press the issue further, and the man before him respectfully retreated.

The Jade Token was unremarkable. It was made of dark gray jade, about the size of a palm. The number ninety-six was inscribed on the front, which seemed to be its serial number.

On the back was an arrow and a red dot.

Obviously, it was meant to guide him to the location of the underground auction.

Chu Mu looked up in the indicated direction. Based on his memories from wandering the Black Market these past few days, he had a rough idea of where this so-called underground Auction House was located.

「Three days passed in the blink of an eye.」

On the third day, Chu Mu arrived on time at the location indicated by the Jade Token.

It was a low-rise building, identical to the other buildings in the Marketplace.

But from time to time, Cultivators could be seen entering the building and disappearing without a trace.

Clearly, this building was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

After a moment of thought, Chu Mu went forward and pushed open the door. The layout inside was similar to that of an ordinary house, except for two men dressed in black standing to one side.

A brief scan with his senses revealed the clear Magical Power fluctuations of the Qi Cultivation Thirteen Layers.

"Fellow Daoist, please present your Jade Order."

One of the men held out his hand.

Chu Mu handed over the Jade Token. The man glanced at it, and then both men in black took a step to the side.

Behind them, the original wall seemed to shed its disguise with their movement, transforming into a wooden door.

"Please."

The man handed the Jade Token back and gestured for him to proceed.

Pushing open the wooden door revealed a passageway extending underground.

The tunnel was very long, its end invisible to the naked eye. Fluorescent Stones were embedded in the walls on both sides, brightly illuminating the passage.

Chu Mu hesitated slightly, but in the end, he didn’t dawdle and proceeded down the tunnel.

After a distance of about two hundred meters, the end of the tunnel came into clear view.

Finally, a Stone Gate at the end appeared before him.

Without hesitation, he pushed open the Stone Gate. What greeted him was not the vast, open space he had expected, but a deep, curved corridor.

Outside the door, a woman in a palace gown seemed to have been waiting for him.

"Fellow Daoist, this way, please."

The woman gestured with her hand.

Led by the woman, Chu Mu eventually stopped before another door.

The woman pushed the door open and gestured again.

This time, it was a room, and...

Staring at the scene before him, Chu Mu was somewhat stunned.

The room was not large, perhaps ten feet square, but the far wall was not made of stone. Instead, it was a floor-to-ceiling window that took up the entire wall.

Through the crystal-clear glass, he could see a circular, domed ceiling, much like the one in the Black Market above.

Beneath the dome, the entire cavern wall was lined with rings of rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, just like his, circling all the way down to the ground.

And at the bottom of the cavern was a raised, circular, red platform, upon which several Cultivators could be seen busily at work.

Chu Mu looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the surrounding rooms. The crystal-clear glass seemed to be inscribed with some kind of isolating Restriction, allowing a completely unobstructed view from the inside out, while looking in from the outside revealed only a blur.

"May I ask, Fellow Daoist, if you have any items you wish to entrust to our house for auction?"

Outside the door, the woman in the palace gown asked, as if it were a routine question.

Chu Mu was about to refuse, but then he looked around the room.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling window was a table and chairs, on which were laid out fruits and fine wine.

The entire room was also clearly protected by some kind of isolating Restriction that could block the prying of Divine Sense.

In other words, while he sat in here, the other guests wouldn’t know who he was.

The only ones who knew anything, the Auction House, only knew his false identity.

And out in the Marketplace, out of habitual caution, he had changed his appearance multiple times.

This meant that even the Auction House didn’t know his true identity.

’As for using other means to peer through the disguise of the Illusion God Mask... if they had tried, it’s impossible that I wouldn’t have noticed.’

’Since I didn’t notice anything, it means the Auction House hasn’t done so.’

’And considering the scale of this Auction House, the likelihood that someone like the Zhao Tang that Wang Mazi mentioned—or even his father, that Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator—could exert any influence here is clearly not high.’

’Even if news were to leak later and have some effect, by then, I would surely be long gone from the Black Market...’

"Can this... be auctioned?"

With this in mind, Chu Mu casually tossed out a Jade Bottle.

Ten One-Patterned Vein Nourishing Pills. At market price, they were worth over six hundred Spirit Stones.

And he... had over forty of them.

"Pill Patterns... Yes, of course."

The woman in the palace gown was visibly surprised, and her gaze toward Chu Mu now held a hint more respect.

"Let’s auction three bottles, then."

His mind made up, Chu Mu didn’t hesitate and tossed out two more bottles.

’This Auction House, right beneath the Black Market... to be able to put on such a grand display, the power behind it is clearly not small.’

’There might be many rare items that are usually hard to come by.’

’But in my pockets, I only have a little over a thousand Spirit Stones.’

’Thirty One-Patterned Vein Nourishing Pills, if auctioned, should fetch at least two thousand Spirit Stones.’

’My bidding capital would be much more substantial.’

’If I really see something I want, I won’t have to miss out again because of a lack of Spirit Stones!’

"Fellow Daoist... no, Senior, please wait a moment."

"Our house’s Alchemist will be here shortly. After he confirms the Elixirs, we will sign a contract with you, Senior."

The woman clutched the three Jade Bottles tightly, her speech becoming a little flustered.

"As... as per our house’s rules, we will take a five percent commission from the final auction price..."

"Fine."

Chu Mu nodded, pulled over a chair, and sat down to wait quietly.

After only a moment, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the corridor.

It was followed by a rushed and expectant voice.

"One-Patterned Vein Nourishing Pills? And three bottles at once?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Quick, quick, let this old man have a look!"

...