9: Chapter 9 Unexpected Wealth

Upon returning to his shack in Bitter Water Alley, the first thing Gu Shen did was not to count his spoils, but to quickly take off the black robe stained with cold air and the scent of blood, toss it into the stove, and burn it completely.

The leaping flames reflected on his slightly pale face.

Only when the black robe turned to ash did he turn to check the doors and windows.

The hair was still there, the incense ash undisturbed.

After confirming he was safe, Gu Shen slumped onto the meditation cushion like a deflated ball.

Only then did the fear, suppressed by adrenaline, come rushing in like a tide.

His hands trembled slightly, and a sharp, tearing pain radiated from the webbing between his thumb and index finger—the recoil from exerting too much force when he struck the spiritual energy shield just moments ago.

"Qi Refining Stage 4..."

Gu Shen looked down at the 'cold iron kitchen knife' at his waist.

This industrial product from the Wasteland world now had two grain-sized chips on its blade.

After all, it was forged from common iron; despite its hardness, it was far too strenuous to hack at a Spell shield without the enhancement of spiritual energy.

If that strike hadn't been an ambush, and if the knife hadn't been sharp enough, he might have been the one dead.

"I still need to replace my Magical Artifact."

Gu Shen put away the kitchen knife and reached into his robe to pull out the heavy Storage Pouch.

This was a grey Low Grade Storage Pouch, embroidered with a crooked scorpion pattern; it was clearly the personal item of that Cultivator-robber.

The mouth of the pouch had a faint layer of spiritual light—a Restriction, which was the Divine Sense imprint of the original owner.

In the past, Gu Shen could only sigh in frustration or spend a large sum of money at the Ghost Market to have someone erase it.

But now, with the man dead, the imprint had become rootless, and his own Divine Sense, at Qi Refining Level 3 and nourished by the 'essence white dew', was far more refined than other Cultivators of the same stage.

"Break."

Gu Shen mobilized his Divine Sense like a sharp needle, stabbing fiercely into the scattered imprint.

Pop.

With a faint crisp sound, the Restriction dissipated.

Gu Shen tipped the pouch opening downwards and gave it a gentle shake over the tabletop.

Clatter.

A pile of miscellaneous items tumbled out, filling the small wooden table.

The first thing that caught his eye was a small pile of Spirit Stones.

Gu Shen's eyes lit up, and he counted them one by one.

"One, two... twelve!"

There was also a large handful of scattered spirit crystals, about two hundred or so, equivalent to two Spirit Stones.

A total of fourteen Spirit Stones!

Gu Shen's breathing grew heavy.

Adding what he had left before, his wealth instantly surged to fifteen Spirit Stones.

Being a Cultivator-robber was indeed a lucrative trade; this counter-kill was worth two years of hard work in the marketplace.

After putting away the Spirit Stones, Gu Shen looked at the remaining miscellaneous items.

Two bottles of Medicinal Pill; one was Low Grade hemostatic powder, with half a bottle left.

The other had no label, and when he pulled the stopper, a sweet, fishy stench rushed out.

"A deadly poison that kills upon contact with blood."

Gu Shen carefully covered it and set it aside.

Besides these, there were a few changes of clothes, some beast-skin maps of unknown origin, and that dark blue dagger.

This dagger was a Low Grade Magical Artifact.

Its blade was dark blue, clearly quenched with deadly poison, and because of years of killing, it was shrouded in an unsettling Evil Qi.

"This thing is 'stolen goods'."

Gu Shen frowned.

Such a Magical Artifact with obvious personal characteristics was too eye-catching in the marketplace.

If he took it to sell, it would be easy for the robber's accomplices or enemies to recognize it, inviting trouble.

But it would be a pity to throw it away.

A Low Grade Magical Artifact, even second-hand, was worth three or five Spirit Stones.

"I wonder if I can..."

A thought crossed Gu Shen's mind, and the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] between his brows trembled.

He reached out and grasped the dagger.

[Detected Low Grade Magical Artifact "Blue Scorpion Dagger", contains deadly poison, material is cold iron mixed with copper essence.] [Stained with Karmic Evil Qi, can be refined.]

It really could!

Gu Shen did not hesitate at all and directly commanded: "Refine!"

Hum—

The dagger disappeared into thin air.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the phantom fire of the Great Furnace blazed.

The dagger disintegrated rapidly in the furnace fire.

First to be stripped away was the layer of dark blue toxin, which turned into a cluster of deep blue poison mist; then came the black Evil Qi, which was burned away completely by the Great Furnace; finally, the metal melted, and the copper essence separated from the cold iron.

A moment later.

Gu Shen reached out, and two things appeared in his palm out of thin air.

A lump of silvery-white metal mud the size of a fingernail—this was extremely high-purity refined iron; although the amount was much less, the quality was excellent, and without its original shape, no one could recognize that it had once been a dagger.

The other item was a small, deep blue bead.

[poison evil bead (one-time use).] [After detonation, it can release a cloud of deadly poison within a radius of one zhang, and Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivators will collapse upon contact.]

"Good stuff!"

A bright light flashed in Gu Shen's eyes.

The hot potato of stolen goods had turned into two useful treasures in the blink of an eye.

This refined iron could be kept for repairing the kitchen knife or refining a new Magical Artifact later, while this poison evil bead was a Sharp Weapon for underhanded tactics, a hundred times better than lime powder!

Most importantly, the Divine Sense imprint and Karmic Evil Qi on the dagger had all been burned clean by the Great Furnace.

Now, even if the robber's father came, he wouldn't recognize this as his son's relic.

After dealing with all the miscellaneous items, Gu Shen sent the empty Storage Pouch into the Great Furnace in his Sea of Consciousness and burned it to nothing.

This kind of marked Storage Pouch was also a hazard and couldn't be kept.

After doing all this, only a thin booklet remained on the table.

Golden Light Finger.

This was the "useless" Spell he had picked up at the Ghost Market tonight for one Spirit Stone.

Gu Shen picked up the booklet and opened it again.

The stall owner had said before that this Spell consumed a lot of energy and had little power because the Geng Metal Qi extracted by Cultivators with mixed Spiritual Roots was impure.

"Then let's try it and see what happens when driven by pure spiritual energy."

Gu Shen sat cross-legged and, following the Qi Circulation route in the booklet, mobilized the non-attribute spiritual energy in his Dantian that had been transformed from the "Qi Gathering spiritual liquid".

The spiritual energy flowed like water, surging through his Meridians towards the Shangyang acupoint on his right index finger.

There was no resistance.

Pure spiritual energy possessed extreme plasticity, and as it passed through the transformation runes of Golden Light Finger, it was instantly dyed with a layer of extremely sharp Geng Metal Qi.

Zzzzz.

A dazzling point of golden light suddenly lit up at the tip of Gu Shen's index finger.

The light was concentrated like a bean, yet it emitted a sharp whistling sound that cut through the air.

"Go!"

Gu Shen pointed at a blue stone in the corner of the wall used to press pickles.

Whoosh!

There was no earth-shattering sound, only a thin golden line that flashed and vanished.

Pfft.

On the hard blue stone, a small hole appeared, transparent from front to back.

The edges of the hole were as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been cut by a hot knife through butter.

"Such strong penetrating power!"

Gu Shen was overjoyed.

If this hit a person, even with a protective spiritual light, they probably wouldn't be able to block the penetration of this finger.

However...

Gu Shen felt his Dantian.

With just one finger, he had consumed ten percent of his spiritual energy.

"It really is a mana-guzzler."

Gu Shen gave a wry smile.

An ordinary Qi Refining Level 3 Cultivator would be exhausted and defenseless after firing at most ten such fingers.

No wonder no one practiced this Spell.

But he wasn't afraid.

He touched the bottle in his robe containing the "Qi Gathering spiritual liquid" and thought of the endless monsters in the Wasteland world.

Even if he pointed his finger until it broke, his spiritual energy would be enough.

"I have the Golden Light Finger for offense, the Vajra Talisman for defense, the poison evil bead for underhanded tactics, and lime powder for cover."

Gu Shen closed the book and let out a long breath.

This night, although thrilling, had been incredibly fruitful.

In this cruel Cultivation World, he had finally established his own set of "means to protect the Dao".

The wind and snow outside the window had stopped.

Gu Shen looked at the sky; there was still an hour before dawn.

He didn't plan to sleep.

The "rusty iron shard" he had seen at the Ghost Market stall had become a thorn in his heart.

The Great Furnace's intuition wouldn't be wrong.

"Since I have money now, and the power to defend myself..."

Gu Shen's eyes flickered.

No one had asked about that stall, and the iron shard had been used as a paperweight for a long time; it shouldn't be bought by anyone immediately.

But he couldn't wait.

A long night brings many dreams.

"Should I go to the Ghost Market again tomorrow morning?"

No, the Ghost Market only opens at the Hour of the Ox and closes at the Hour of the Tiger.

If he rushed over now, he might still catch the tail end of the market closing.

But he had just killed someone; it was too risky to go back now.

Gu Shen forced himself to calm down.

"Stay steady."

"Since the stall owner has been displaying it for three years without selling it, one more day won't make a difference."

He closed his eyes again, began to meditate to recover his spiritual energy, and simultaneously rehearsed the exertion techniques of the Golden Light Finger in his mind.