Tongtian Square, grain store.
Chen Mu changed his appearance and bought two hundred catties of Yellow Bud Rice, which was his food for a month.
After leaving the grain store, he walked toward the east gate of Tongtian Square while casually looking around.
He quickly noticed that there were many more patrollers in gray clothing on the streets.
“What’s so special about Dong Cheng?”
“Worthy of the Inspection Courtyard to investigate like this?”
On the surface, he appeared nonchalant, but his peripheral vision kept stealing glances at the gray-clothed patrollers.
“Such a wide-ranging search by the Inspection Courtyard means they haven’t grasped any clear clues,” Chen Mu thought, feeling somewhat relieved.
He couldn’t help but blame Dong Cheng, “Why did you have to provoke me?”
“Now look what’s happened, you’ve gone missing and made everyone anxious.”
“Can’t even rest in peace when you’re dead,” Chen Mu sighed.
“I better stay at home and focus on farming and cultivating these days.”
Just as he was contemplating a low-profile cultivation plan for the future, he saw two patrollers suddenly stop a burly man over two meters tall.
“Song Wei?”
“Me?” The burly man was baffled.
“Do you know Dong Cheng?”
The burly man’s face instantly turned to rage, “I’d recognize that bastard even if he turned to ash!”
“Are you patrollers?”
“Has he committed a crime?”
“That’s great! I want to report him! He set me up!”
“What are you saying?! You want to turn Dong Cheng into ash? How damn cruel!” one of the patrollers said, looking at the burly man with a surprised expression.
“No, did you actually hear what I said?” the burly man said, completely baffled.
“Don’t move!” The two patrollers restrained the burly man’s hands, one on each side.
“Dong Cheng’s disappearance must be related to you!”
Without waiting for the burly man to struggle, the two patrollers firmly controlled him and quickly dragged him into a side alley.
Chen Mu: “…”
Has the situation gotten this serious?
The patrollers have started arresting people at random?!
He immediately found a dim alley and stored the Yellow Bud Rice in the Five Ghosts Bag.
After changing his appearance and clothes again, he returned to the grain store and bought four hundred catties of Yellow Bud Rice in one go.
“For the next three months, I better not go out as much as possible.”
What if some patroller got lucky and caught him?
Just then, he saw the burly man reappear, looking indignant and as gloomy as if his face could drip water.
Did he clear his suspicion that quickly?
Before he could understand the situation, the two patrollers also appeared at the entrance of the alley, each fiddling with a White Jade Coin.
“Seizing the opportunity to extort?” Chen Mu realized at once.
Hmph! Such rotten tricks are inescapable no matter where you go!
…
Low Hill Courtyard
“It looks like this thing is a treasure,” Chen Mu said, carefully examining a white jade plate the size of a human face.
The plate was an inch thick, the bottom was as smooth as a mirror, and the front was carved with complicated patterns, with a round depression in the center.
If it weren’t for the fact that the depression didn’t go all the way through, Chen Mu would have thought it was an oversized White Jade Coin.
This object came from Dong Cheng’s Mustard Seed Talisman and was placed at the very bottom of a wooden cabinet.
At that time, it was carelessly wrapped in a piece of velvet cloth and placed among a pile of unpolished jade ores.
In that cabinet of his, aside from White Jade Coins, everything else was unidentifiable ores and medicinal items.
Chen Mu had thought this jade plate was some special material, but now it seemed not so simple.
“At the very least, it’s a Magic Artifact.”
“Dong Cheng was just a peddler involved in buying and selling goods.”
“He must have some sort of treasure on him!”
“One that enabled him to become an apprentice in the Lower Courtyard.”
“One that caused the Inspection Courtyard to search so vigorously.”
Chen Mu focused on the patterns on the jade plate.
“Is this where a White Jade Coin should be placed?” He ran his hand over the center of the plate and immediately took out a White Jade Coin and stuffed it into the depression.
The next moment, the star patterns on the White Jade Coin suddenly began to flicker with white light.
Chen Mu’s heart skipped a beat.
This might really be a treasured jade plate!
…
Three days later.
Low Hill Courtyard.
Chen Mu sat under the wooden shelter, silently chanting the True Sun Scripture Scroll.
On the side table next to him, a White Jade Plate lay. A White Jade Coin flickered with luminescent specks at the center of the plate.
After a good while, Chen Mu opened his eyes, carefully comparing the experience across various skills.
The Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique had improved three points in one hour!
The True Sun Scripture had improved ten points in one hour!
Chen Mu felt the cool sensation coming from the silvery pattern between his eyebrows.
“Earth Spirit Vital Energy?”
Ever since obtaining the White Jade Plate, Chen Mu had been continuously trying to probe its secrets.
He found that as long as he placed a White Jade Coin into the indentation of the plate, the concentration of Earth Spirit Vital Energy within a three-meter radius would increase exponentially.
In the past, by the well, the space between his eyebrows felt as if light rain was sprinkling down, bringing a slight coolness.
But now, far away from the well, that spot felt as if there was a droplet of ice placed on it.
This allowed the Spirit Armor Technique, which originally improved only by one point per hour, to jump straight to three points.
Looking at the White Jade Coin on the plate shimmering with light, Chen Mu had a strange look on his face.
“What is this? Spending money to buy Earth Spirit Vital Energy?”
“Why is there a sense of déjà vu, like purchasing a data plan in my previous life?”
As he was thinking, the light from the White Jade Coin at the center of the plate grew weaker and weaker until, after a few flickers, it completely went out.
Chen Mu picked up the White Jade Coin. The starry silver thread pattern, which had been clear before, had now become dim.
“It’s not spending money to buy Earth Spirit Vital Energy.”
“It’s that the coins themselves contain Earth Spirit Vital Energy!” Chen Mu realized.
White Jade was merely the carrier; Earth Spirit Vital Energy was the key to the value of White Jade Coins!
The Jade Plate could extract the Vital Energy within the White Jade Coins, artificially creating an area with an extremely high concentration of Vital Energy.
“Absolutely cannot let anyone find out about this thing!” Chen Mu narrowed his eyes.
As long as he had the plate in hand and White Jade Coins on him, he could cultivate rapidly anytime, anywhere.
“No wonder the Inspection Courtyard spent so much capital!”
Chen Mu’s heart chilled as he once again recalled the process before and after he took action.
Thinking about how he even used the Five Ghosts Bag like a vacuum cleaner to sweep through Dong Cheng’s entire household.
Only then did he let go of his worries and looked eagerly at the Jade Plate.
…
A month later.
Inside the Low Hill Courtyard, under the wooden shelter.
Chen Mu sat in the rocking chair and slowly opened his eyes.
With a thought, a gray wall appeared.
Writing: 5560/10000/Second Rank;
Painting: 5967/10000/Second Rank;
Cooking: 3395/10000/Fourth Rank;
Pharmaceutical Technique: 2867/10000/Fifth Rank;
Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse: 6951/10000/Seventh Rank;
Shapeshifting Technique: 3947/10000/Fourth Rank;
Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique: 5673/10000/Seventh Rank;
Planting: 5270/10000/Second Rank;
True Sun Scripture: 1/10000/Second Rank;
With the assistance of the Jade Plate and practicing the Sand Containing Technique.
The True Sun Scripture had finally made a breakthrough in the first stage.
Stay connected through empire
In his mind, a spherical web connected by starry threads lay beyond the mists, radiating faint points of light.
The once dense fog had become increasingly thin and translucent.
The Soul Strength of the Blue-eyed Golden Ape Shape Cultivation Technique had completely merged into the center of the Divine Intent Diagram.
“Zhuang Fu said, for the Jade Seed to achieve greatness, it must form into a Primordial Pearl, lustrous and as clear as jade.”
“Mine is at best a net-like sphere.”
“Clearly, I need to keep practicing,” Chen Mu realized as he looked at the indicator for the second phase after the True Sun Scripture, his heart becoming clear.
“So the unification of Spirit and Soul is not the endpoint; the three treasures, Essence, Qi, and Spirit, need continued investment.”
It was just a matter of grinding for more experience, Chen Mu shrugged his shoulders..
In another three to five days, the Sand Containing Technique could also reach the next stage.
The proficiency of the Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique was also more than halfway there.
“The experience indeed rises quickly, it’s just a little pricey.” Chen Mu looked at the White Jade Plate helplessly.
Over the past month, the plate had consumed two White Jade Coins every single day.
His assets had already been halved!
This wasn’t cultivation; it was burning money!
“I better not burn through all my wealth before I even master the Jade Seed.”