Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The prey, skewered on sticks, quickly turned golden brown as the flames licked it, dripping with grease and exuding a mouth-watering aroma.

In this wilderness under the starry sky, a group of people sat on the ground, enjoying the cool breeze of summer and fresh game. If it were another time and place, it would truly have a certain wild charm.

Unfortunately, no one was in the mood for it.

"Everyone be careful, someone is coming!" Zhang Yan warned, his face tense, "Shu, stand behind me when the time comes."

"Dad, we have the uncle with us," Zhang Shuniang said.

Just as Wang Qing picked up the child, he looked toward Chen Li, "Fellow Daoist Chen, is everything alright?"

Chen Li put down the beast leg he had been gnawing on, looked up and said, "Don’t worry, it’s fine!"

The newcomers weren’t just one person, but a group of more than ten, all with covered faces, joking and laughing as they approached. Despite their good cover, the occasional nervousness they showed gave them away.

Chen Li couldn’t be bothered with idle talk and suddenly raised his hand, causing his palm to light up.

"Snap!"

A loud noise.

A bolt of lightning struck just in front of the group, three or four meters away, exploding in a blinding flash of electric light.

"Scram!" Chen Li bellowed.

The crowd jumped in fright and hurriedly stopped in their tracks. The next moment, various defensive talismans lit up and they cursed out loud. The leading Loose Cultivator slapped on a Golden Light Body Protection Talisman, feeling emboldened, and said with a cupped fist and a smile, "Fellow Daoist, you’ve really misunderstood us, this time we... ah!"

He was cut off by a short scream.

A dazzling bolt of lightning instantly shattered his Golden Light Protective Shield and struck his body, electrocuting him to a charred corpse.

The atmosphere turned deathly silent.

"Scram!" Chen Li shouted again.

Everyone was so frightened that they turned pale and, regaining their senses, they quickly scattered.

"Some people, you try to talk to them nicely and they just won’t listen," Chen Li said to Zhang Yan helplessly.

He hadn’t wanted to kill anyone; it was this damn world that had forced his hand.

"Heh, right? Isn’t it?" Zhang Yan replied with a dry laugh, wanting to ask about the high-level technique just used, so similar to the Palm Thunder, but he swallowed his words before they left his lips.

"Uncle did the right thing, they were bad people, and bad people deserve to die!" a little brat nearby said loudly, eyes gleaming.

Wang Qing clenched her teeth, feeling an itch in her palms. If the time and place had been right, she would have smacked his bottom until it broke.

That troublesome child, Chen Li smiled wryly and stood up, saying to Zhou Hong, "I’ll go check the bodies."

Zhou Hong replied, "Be careful!"

Chen Li nodded and walked over to the charred body.

The Max Level Palm Thunder, comparable to a level eight technique and on par with the Golden Light Body Protection Talisman, but even within the same tier, there was a clear difference—the Golden Light Protective Shield was instantly smashed by the Palm Thunder.

He gave the corpse an extra stab with his sword before searching it.

He took the storage bag and the magic artifacts from the body.

It had to be said, "murder and arson bring in the gold," and indeed, that day alone he had collected six storage bags and over a dozen bulging sacks. Although he hadn’t counted them, it was clear there wouldn’t be a lack of contents.

This time, the Loose Cultivators had practically plundered Luoluo City, amassing incalculable wealth.

As long as they took part in the pillaging and survived, they would all be overnight riches.

...

The whole night was endlessly chaotic.

Like hyenas scavenging for food, people came and went, leaving behind one or two corpses each time.

Screams of agony and roars of rage echoed in the distance, unceasing throughout the night.

Until the sky gradually brightened.

And peace returned at last.

As the sun rose, a new day began.

Chen Li climbed to a nearby hilltop to take a better look. The entire wilderness was littered with bodies in all directions, and the tented areas in the distance were smoky—what had happened there?

...

With the fall of the Longevity Sect, the era of Returning True Sect had arrived.

Not long after dawn, with the arrival of a squad from the Returning True Sect, order was finally restored. By the time Chen Li and his companions made it back to the tented area, the fire had been extinguished, leaving devastation in its wake.

They passed a group of corpse collectors.

On several single-wheeled carts, bodies were piled high and full.

"Isn’t that... Liu?" Zhang Yan noted keenly, pointing to one of the bodies on the cart.

Chen Li looked at the white-haired corpse on the single-wheeled cart and indeed it was Liu. The corpse’s eyes were wide open in fury, tongue sticking out, and facial features swollen and purple; his neck bore the marks of a rope—this was clearly not homicide.

It was suicide by hanging.

Remembering the erratic figure from not long ago, he sighed inwardly.

"Who are you calling Liu? Just a remnant of the Longevity Sect," one of the corpse collectors snickered, overhearing him. "Keep talking nonsense and I’ll slap you."

Zhang Yan’s face turned embarrassed, and he dare not speak any further. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Once they had moved away from the corpse collectors, Zhang Yan grumbled, "Such bullies."

Zhang Shuniang hastily tugged at Zhang Yan’s sleeve, "Dad, don’t talk anymore, be careful someone hears."

"Let them hear," Zhang Yan retorted, though his voice was considerably lower.

Zhang Yan and his blabbermouth, Chen Li thought sourly to himself.

Soon, the group arrived at their doorstep.

"We owe a great debt to Fellow Daoist Chen for this," Wang Qing said gratefully. "Without you, my son and I would not have known how to survive this calamity."

"We’re all neighbors; we should stick together and help each other out. Talking about this would be unnecessary. Go back quickly and see if anything is missing from your home?" Chen Li said with a smile.

...

After a brief chat, everyone went back to their respective homes.

The front door of the homes had been broken into, and the insides were a complete mess. The following details of Chen Li and Zhou Hong cleaning up and repairing the doors are not mentioned further.

Having lived in this world for many years, Chen Li had been forced to become quite versatile.

...

After being busy all morning, it was only in the afternoon that Chen Li finally had time to sort through his gains.

In the underground chamber, goods were piled up like a mountain.

Magic Artifacts, robes, Spirit Stones, Spirit Grass—you name it, almost one corner of the chamber was filled to the brim.

Chen Li sorted and identified the various goods, meticulously categorizing them.

There were eight storage bags.

Seven were Single Storage Bags, and one was a tri-storage bag.

There were 108 Magic Artifacts, among which eight were of top quality.

There were 58 sets of robes, including four of top quality.

In terms of Spirit Stones, he had a total of 325 Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Additionally, there were various talismans, medicinal pills, herbs, and materials for Artifact Refining—all sorts of things, dazzling to the eyes.

Chen Li even saw a Demon Core.

It was slightly larger than the one he had.

Because there were so many items, many of which he couldn’t recognize, Chen Li only roughly estimated the value of the items he could identify. Even so, the total value exceeded two thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

"Hiss!"

He even took a sharp intake of breath at the figure he estimated.

"It’s just that these things can’t be sold for the time being. We’ll need to delay for a while and sell them off in batches," Chen Li thought to himself.

It didn’t take much thinking to know.

The following days would surely see an extended period of low prices for various goods.

"It’s actually a good opportunity to buy low, a chance that’s hard to come by. Once things stabilize later on, such an opportunity won’t be available," Chen Li couldn’t help but feel eager. Then, he put all the items into his Five Directions Storage Bag, ready to go out and check the trading conditions.

He left the basement and informed Zhou Hong with a word.

Then he went out, making his way to the Loose Cultivators’ market.

As expected, the place was incredibly lively, buzzing with people, shoulder to shoulder, as if it were a festival.

In the past, the transactions here were mostly mundane items, but now, Magic Artifacts, medicinal pills, and talismans were openly displayed for sale at the stalls. Chen Li, however, looked around and found that what was being sold was mostly low-quality items, so he hurried to the market in Luoluo City, only to find the situation was the same.

"Those who are in a rush to sell today are probably down-and-out Loose Cultivators who are strapped for cash. Those with surplus are probably waiting to sell later," Chen Li thought to himself.

Fortunately, he was in no hurry.

Take it slow.

Value investing is all about patience.

To stay calm under pressure.

...

"Do you know how much we gained this time?"

At night, after several turns of events.

Afterward.

Chen Li, holding Zhou Hong in his arms, lying in bed, whispered their private conversation.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hong made an effort to sit up, curiously asking, "How much?"

"Around two thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones," he replied.

Zhou Hong was dumbfounded, "How can it be so much?"

"That’s just how much it is!" Chen Li chuckled and said, "All those people desperately scrambling and killing—it all ended up benefiting me."

"You were a bit reckless yesterday. Watching you fight, my heart was in my throat the whole time, afraid something might go wrong!" Zhou Hong lay down again and nestled close, whispering softly.

"This time, I took action not for wealth, but because the Yu Family has shown kindness to me, and I had to help. In fact, every time before I make a move, I have a clear understanding of the situation; I only act when I’m confident, so it’s not as dangerous as you imagine."

After pondering for a moment, Chen Li said, "You may not know, but two years ago, during the migration, had it not been for the old ancestor of the Yu Family scaring away a terrifying Evil Wraith, I fear I would have died long ago. To say it was a life-saving grace is no exaggeration."

"Ah!" Zhou Hong was alarmed and then felt a wave of fear after the realization, "You never mentioned this to me."

"That’s in the past; why bring it up now! It’s just a pity that the Yu Family nearly faced extermination this time. The fate of the Yu Family’s old ancestor is unknown, and it’s highly likely he’s dead..."

Zhou Hong hugged Chen Li tightly, "I don’t care about others, as long as we are safe and sound."

"Wanting safety is incredibly difficult; even those at Foundation Establishment can suddenly die," Chen Li sighed.

Zhou Hong quickly covered his mouth, "Don’t talk about such unlucky things."

...

The Golden Core Ancestor of the Returning True Sect arrived the third day.

Chen Li knew of this because the other party made no attempt to conceal his presence; the high-speed flying light and the pressure of the Golden Core openly declared his arrival. The previously noisy slum area became dead silent in an instant.

He felt an inexplicable fear in his soul, staring closely at the fast-moving flying light as it swiftly headed towards the mountaintop.

"So this is a Golden Core; truly a terrifying existence!"

Thinking back to the direction he came from.

It was the same direction from which the Longevity Sect’s Flying Boat had departed.

Chen Li suddenly realized, "The Longevity Domain, no, it should be called the Returning True realm now, must have completely settled the conflict with those rebellious forces."