"An accident? You're the one hatching accidents. How on earth would anything happen to me at home?!"
Zhou Sui retorted irritably.
"Ahem ahem, misunderstanding. A real misunderstanding. I must really watch my tongue. Please forgive me." Zhang Cheng apologized profusely, "Anyway, what have you gone out for today?"
He looked embarrassed. After all, he was the one who spoke out of turn.
"Just out to buy a few things."
Zhou Sui couldn't be bothered to chat with him and took his leave.
As Zhou Sui left the street, his neighbors seemed to have all come out, each looking puzzled at the departing figure of Zhou Sui.
"Can't be, Zhou boy is still alive? Wasn't he supposed to have been leeched by that demoness?"
Someone was absolutely astonished.
Because according to his estimation, Zhou Sui should have been dead by now. Who would have thought that he was still alive and kicking?
If he hadn't seen it himself, he wouldn't have believed it.
"Indeed, it's strange. Could the female cultivator not be after him for leeching, but rather to become Taoist companions?"
"Impossible. This youngster's cultivation is too low. How could a beautiful, powerful female cultivator take a liking in him? Cut the crap."
"I also can't believe this. But the thing is, facts speak louder than words. The youngster has no issues, but his cultivation has increased."
"It's all fake, totally false. Don't let the demoness fool you. Perhaps she found Zhou's cultivation too low and wanted to fatten him up before killing."
"It's indeed possible. If it's only at the first level of Qi cultivation, even if she drains him completely, there won't be much benefit to it. It would be better to enhance Zhou Sui's cultivation and then drain him, which is even more beneficial."
Everyone was murmuring with speculation.
They would never believe that the beautiful female cultivator was genuinely into Zhou Sui. They thought that she was going to fatten him up and then reap the benefits.
If it wasn't for that, nothing else could explain what was going on.
...…
It wasn't long before Zhou Sui confidently arrived at the Pill Medicine Pavilion in Misty Cloud City. This store not only sold all types of pills but also various types of medicinal herbs.
The owner of Pill Medicine Pavilion, Zhao, was an old acquaintance of Zhou Sui's parents, having known each other for over a decade.
"Little Zhou is here. What kind of pill do you need today?"
Shopkeeper Zhao smiled slightly.
"No, I'll be getting some spiritual medicines, like the ten-year Wine Snake Grass. Do you have it?"
Zhou Sui stated his requirement directly.
The reason why he needed Wine Snake Grass was that it was the main ingredient for brewing Wine Bug, and he wanted to refine this special Gu insect to earn Spirit Stones.
As for the Wine Bug, it lived in wine and possessed an incredible power over alcohol.
Even an ordinary liquor would be transformed into spiritual wine under the power of the Wine Bug.
You should know that a pot of regular first-level spiritual wine is worth at least forty to fifty lower grade Spirit Stones, which is even more expensive than ordinary pills.
The reason for this is that compared to pills, spiritual wine has fewer toxic components and can purify the spiritual power in the body, making it very popular among cultivators.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to brew spiritual wine, and the output is scarce, causing spiritual wine to be in constant short supply. Even with enough Spirit Stones, it's not always available for purchase.
Once the Wine Bug is refined successfully, Zhou Sui can use its power to convert ordinary wine into spiritual wine.
This is equivalent to transforming worthless wine into spiritual wine worth tens of lower grade Spirit Stones. This is simply a nightmaric profit, similar to a money printing machine.
In fact, previously Zhou Sui had also planned to refine the Wine Bug first to earn a large amount of Spirit Stones.
However, he knew that if he really did this, even if Misty Cloud City was incredibly safe, he would be killed the next day by other cultivators who would rob him of his Spirit Stones.
After all, cultivators refrain from acting only because the benefits are not significant enough.
If the benefits are indeed big enough, they could kill him and easily escape from Misty Cloud City.
Even if Misty Cloud City tried to apprehend them, they could simply never return to Misty Cloud City in the future.
With a large number of Spirit Stones, the world is huge and there are no places they cannot go.
That's why he did not dare to refine the Wine Bug.
But now it's different. He has a Taoist companion who's reached the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation by his side. Even if he earns an enormous sum of Spirit Stones, he can easily protect this massive fortune without worrying about the coveting of others.
"Wine Snake Grass? Yes, it's a key ingredient in making spiritual wine. However, a portion of Wine Snake Grass is worth a hundred lower grade Spirit Stones. Are you sure you want to buy it?"
Shopkeeper Zhao said.
"A hundred lower grade Spirit Stones? Why is it so expensive? Wasn't it just seventy lower Grade Spirit Stones last month?"
Zhou Sui frowned. He wasn't a fool, so he wouldn't purchase overpriced spiritual medicine.
Is this Zhao trying to exploit him knowing he's easy to bully?
"Young Zhou, I am not fleecing you,"
Shopkeeper Zhao explained, "Perhaps you're not aware, but recently the prices of pills, talismans, spiritual medicine, and so on in Misty Cloud City have all been rising. In perhaps a little while, the prices may get even higher."
"What do you mean?"
Hearing this, Zhou Sui was stunned because the price in Misty Cloud City has always been very stable and rarely fluctuates so much.
Have some sort of changes occurred in Misty Cloud City?
"Don't you know yet? This has been quite the talk of the town."
Shopkeeper Zhao said gravely: "Recently, the Immortal Mist Sect found a Red Gold Mine and a Spirit Stone mine in the Misty Mountains, which exceeds a hundred thousand tons in output. Now, the whole Immortal Mist Sect is ecstatic.
To exploit these mines, the Immortal Mist Sect has dispatched a large number of personnel to the Misty Mountains. Along with them are various cultivator families who rushed over.
The Misty Mountains are complex in terms of topography, always shrouded in fog, and filled with numerous magical animals, making development difficult. Thus, the Immortal Mist Sect invited numerous cultivators to join in the exploitation.
And it's because of this that a large number of foreign cultivators have been pouring into Misty Cloud City recently. Haven't you noticed the poor security situation in Misty Cloud City recently? Incidents involving homicide and treasure snatching occur frequently.
If it were the previous Misty Cloud City, such things would not happen at all. But because there are so many foreign cultivators, the city's law enforcement team simply can't handle it.
Even if the law enforcement team wanted to regulate, they couldn't, as all these foreign cultivators are ferocious and brutal, with some even having Foundation Establishment families as their backers. Faced with these illegal acts, the law enforcement team can only turn a blind eye."
What?!
Hearing this, Zhou Sui was shocked. He hadn't expected that within just a month, such changes had occurred in Misty Cloud City.
Over the past month, he was mostly immersed in his cozy home, never bothering about what was happening in the outside world.
He hadn't imagined that such great chaos would emerge in Misty Cloud City within just a short month.
No wonder he always felt that there were a lot more cultivators on the street recently, each of them emanating the aura of killing intent.