38: I opened the stall myself, so I can just slack off.

Nine golden patterns, like living creatures, swam across the stall cloth, finally settling into their respective positions in the Nine Palaces, outlining a profound and mysterious array diagram.

They were not simple lines; each pattern seemed to be forged from countless tiny runes, their brilliance restrained yet exuding an ancient majesty that could suppress all ages.

The moment the golden patterns appeared, the entire stall's aura abruptly changed, no longer appearing as a worn-out piece of ordinary cloth, but rather like a condensed Dao field embodying the essence of heaven and earth.

"This... this is..." Su Qingzhu's breath hitched, and the notebook in her hand clattered to the ground. The scene before her transcended all her previous understanding of mysterious events.

This tattered cloth was actually a magical artifact with its own will, constantly evolving?

Gongshu Yin reacted the fastest. With a flick of his finger, the bronze bird puppet named "Karma Ledger" flapped its wings again, its eyes glowing fiercely red as it attempted to scan and analyze the structure of the nine golden patterns.

However, the moment the red light touched the golden patterns, the bronze bird seemed to be struck by an invisible, immense force, letting out a mournful cry. The precise gears on its wings "clacked" loudly, and several cracks appeared. It stumbled back to Gongshu Yin's shoulder, its red eyes completely dim.

"Don't waste your energy," Zhang Xuanyi's voice was still lazy, but he had sat up straight, his gaze more solemn than ever, and the pile of melon seed shells in his hand had stopped growing at some point.

"This is not something you can see through, nor is it something I can draw. This is 'rules'."

"Rules?" The Iron Lady frowned deeply. She could feel that the aura emanating from the nine golden patterns made even her, a battle-hardened anomaly, feel a pang of trepidation.

It was a suppression stemming from a fundamental level of life, like an ant gazing up at the sky.

"Yes, rules," Zhang Xuanyi picked up a melon seed but didn't crack it, merely toying with it between his fingers. "Dao Market, Dao Market, there's a market only if there's a Dao. Before, it was just a stall; now, it has established its own rules. These nine golden patterns are its 'Dao,' and also the threshold for it to screen 'destined individuals.'"

No sooner had he finished speaking than, at the center of the stall, the "Dharma Protector Vow Power Pool" that had just opened seemed to resonate with the nine golden patterns.

A visible golden ripple silently spread out from the stall's center.

This ripple was not an energy impact; it passed through rocks and brushed past trees without causing any physical changes, yet it was like a warm spring breeze, accurately caressing the hearts of everyone who had ever benefited from the stall.

Down the mountain, in that dilapidated shack, the young man who had been paralyzed for years suddenly twitched a finger.

His long-despairing mother happened to witness this, and tears immediately streamed down her face, thinking she was seeing things, but then she saw her son's eyelids also tremble.

A flame named "hope" reignited in her deadened heart.

In the dark alley of the urban village, the old blind man who had received three Lightning Talismans was carefully navigating the uneven blind path with his cane.

Just as the golden ripple passed, the blind path's paving stones beneath his feet seemed to be smoothed by an invisible force, and a glass bottle maliciously placed ahead silently rolled to the side.

The old blind man only felt that tonight's journey was exceptionally smooth and secure.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, in an underground anomaly bar.

The three masked men who had tried to snatch the compass earlier in the day, but ended up kneeling and begging for talismans, had taken off their masks and were recounting their bizarre encounter over a bowl of clear water.

The leader's face was still bruised, but his eyes were filled with awe and fanaticism.

"I'm telling you, that wasn't just any ordinary stall! It was a true immortal manifesting! I've never seen such pure Fist Intent in my life. Just by being touched by the mist from the fist soul candy, my Eight Extremities Fist bottleneck, which I'd been stuck at for three years, actually loosened!"

"Exactly! And those mung beans, they didn't hurt our eyes, but they seemed to take root in our souls, extinguishing all the greed and evil flames in our hearts! We originally went to steal things, but standing in front of that stall, we could only think of one thing—our home was in turmoil, and we needed a Home Pacifying Talisman!"

Their voices weren't loud, but everyone present was an anomaly with sharp senses.

For a moment, the entire bar fell silent, and all eyes converged on them.

"At the foot of Mount Longhu?" "Is it really that miraculous?" "Gifts without seeking anything in return? Unheard of!" A tide of discussions erupted.

The news, as if sprouted wings, spread at an astonishing speed throughout the anomaly circles around Mount Longhu and even further.

The news of a mysterious Dao Market stall that possessed its own will, could discern good from evil, and bestowed opportunities without asking for anything in return, was in itself a bombshell thrown into a calm lake.

In front of the temple, the night grew deeper.

Su Qingzhu silently picked up her notebook, meticulously recording everything that had just happened. Her pen trembled, not from fear, but from excitement.

She had a premonition that she was witnessing the dawn of a new era.

Gongshu Yin, meanwhile, was painstakingly repairing his bronze bird, muttering to himself, "Unfathomable, incalculable... This has gone beyond the scope of 'Karma Ledger'; it is... it is creating karma."

A Yuan, at some point, had again brought a handful of fresh soil from a corner and carefully sprinkled it into the cracks around the stall, as if strengthening the connection between this land and the stall in his own way.

The Iron Lady crossed her arms, leaning against the stone pillar of the mountain gate, and spoke coldly, "Zhang Xuanyi, you'd best think clearly. Incense offerings are the most tempting thing in the world, and also the most poisonous. Today, people come seeking talismans; tomorrow, monsters and demons might come wanting to swallow you and your stall whole. This 'Dharma Protector Vow Power Pool' sounds nice, but if the vow power is impure, mixed with greed, anger, and ignorance, then when it backfires, you, the nominal 'stall owner,' will be the first to suffer."

Zhang Xuanyi, uncharacteristically, didn't retort. He looked up at the temple plaque illuminated by the moonlight, the three characters "Purple Cloud Palace" appearing particularly ancient.

He let out a long sigh, tossed the uncracked melon seed into his mouth, and bit it with a crunch.

"You're right about everything." He patted his backside and stood up, walking to the stall and gently stroking the stall cloth, which had transformed completely.

Where his fingertips touched, the golden patterns rippled like water, and a gentle yet undeniable intention flowed from his fingertips into his mind.

That intention had no words, no images, yet it made him instantly understand many things.

He understood why this stall had chosen him.

It wasn't because he was strong, nor because his bloodline was special, but simply because he was "lazy" enough, "desireless" enough.

Precisely because he desired nothing, he wouldn't interfere with the stall's self-operation, and thus could become the most perfect "conduit" and "observer."

"All methods return to the heart, not to authority."

He finally fully understood the meaning of this sentence.

The ultimate goal of power is not control, but to return to one's original heart.

This stall was, in its own way, expounding this most ancient truth to the world.

"It seems... I won't even be able to save on electricity and water bills anymore," Zhang Xuanyi shook his head with a wry smile. "Who knows, I might even have to pay out of my own pocket to restock it."

Just then, a faint rustling came from the foot of the stone steps outside the mountain gate.

The first figure appeared.

It was a middle-aged man in a suit, looking haggard, clutching a cracked jade pendant tightly in his hand. He didn't ascend the mountain, but merely knelt slowly at the first stone step outside the mountain gate, gazing from afar in the direction of the stall.

Immediately after, came the second, the third... There were severely wounded, dying rogue cultivators, anxious women holding children possessed by evil, and young anomalies with arrogant expressions who, upon seeing the golden light from the stall, shed all their pride.

They seemed to be blocked by an invisible boundary, no one daring to step onto the final path leading to the temple, only silently kneeling in a scattered group at the foot of the stone steps outside the mountain gate.

What they brought was not just incense offerings, but also their respective karmas, desires, and heavy destinies.

The night wind blew, the mountain forest was silent, only the nine golden patterns on the stall glowed under the moonlight, like nine divine eyes overlooking all living beings.

The incense had not yet burned, but the vow power, like mountains and seas, pressed down heavily.

Zhang Xuanyi looked at the ever-growing crowd outside the mountain gate, knowing that from this night onward, he would no longer be able to leisurely recline in his bamboo chair and crack melon seeds.

The darkness before dawn is the deepest.

And in this darkness, the stone steps leading to the Purple Cloud Palace on Mount Longhu were being filled inch by inch by figures surging from all directions.