Qin Lu stared at the dilapidated gate, feeling his head swell to the size of a bucket. He slightly opened his mouth but ultimately suppressed the urge to curse.

The wooden door itself was easy enough to fix. Just replace the door panels and crossbeams.

The tricky part was the array installed at the entrance to isolate spiritual presence. That thing was a bit difficult to manage.

Without the array, even if the door was intact, if he hid inside, anyone could simply probe with their spiritual energy to detect his presence without any hindrance.

So fixing the broken door wasn’t the key issue. Reinstalling the small spiritual isolation array was the real priority.

“What should I do if debt collectors come knocking tomorrow?”

This question flashed through Qin Lu’s mind. He couldn’t help but lower his head to look at his own fist…

“Fight them? Violently refuse to pay?”

“No, no…”

The thought had barely formed before he immediately rejected it himself.

From his memories, his creditors’ cultivation levels were not low, most being at the mid Qi Refining stage.

That meant between the fourth and sixth layers of Qi Refining.

Dealing with a small shrimp like him at the second layer of Qi Refining wouldn’t require much effort at all.

If he fought recklessly, he’d likely end up either dead or severely injured.

“Run away directly?”

“That won’t work either. Outside the market are demon beasts and sinister creatures. Without other cultivators traveling together, I probably wouldn’t get far before dying miserably in the wilderness…”

Qin Lu shook his head, rejecting this idea as well.

“Use other valuable things to stall for a bit?”

This thought suddenly crossed his mind. Qin Lu’s eyes lit up, and he quickly turned around, starting to rummage through the house.

After a thorough search of every chest and cupboard,

spending nearly half an hour, Qin Lu had sorted out every item in the house that held any value.

Excluding pots, pans, bowls, dishes, tables, chairs, benches, and other daily mundane items, the things in the house with Spirit Stone value were as follows:

Over twenty jin of spirit rice.

Three jin of raw demon beast pork.

Four low-grade talismans.

One set of exquisite gambling tools.

One Yellow-grade low-grade longsword.

Two medicinal pills.

Over twenty jin of gold.

Three old books: “Novice’s Guide to Talisman Crafting,” “Mystic Sun Mantra,” and “Simple Spell Cultivation Methods.”

Staring at these items, Qin Lu sifted through his memories, investigating their specific worth.

The spirit rice and demon beast meat needed no explanation; their value was quite clear. These food items together were worth about five or six Spirit Stones.

But they were essentially unsellable. Whether it was spirit rice or demon beast meat, the market had fresh supplies. No one would buy these used ones.

Then there were those few tattered books and several talismans, also common as dirt, not worth much money at all.

“The sword…”

Qin Lu looked at the longsword before him. The blade was three chi and six cun long, forged from mysterious iron, extremely thin, emitting a faint, cold light. The hilt was carved with a blue ice pattern, appearing incomparably clear and cold.

This was his personal weapon, his only magical artifact, named the [Shangqing Sword].

“No…”

Qin Lu sighed, muttering to himself, “No matter what, I can’t sell this.”

In such a dangerous place, not having a weapon for self-defense would be like walking naked on the street, with no sense of security whatsoever.

His gaze moved down again.

“And this gold, it’s not worth much either…”

Gold, in his previous life, was a valuable treasure. But in a cultivation market, it was merely the lowest form of currency, also the most commonly used money among impoverished loose cultivators.

Exchanging for Spirit Stones, the general rate was one low-grade Spirit Stone for seven or eight jin of gold. This amount was only worth a few Spirit Stones, utterly useless.

Looking back and forth, Qin Lu finally settled his gaze on that set of golden-yellow gambling tools.

It was a brand-new collector’s set of gambling tools, packaged in an exquisite gift box, containing various commonly used gambling implements.

Five-wood chess, dice, hidden treasures, Go, dominoes, and more.

From his memories, he learned this set was won by the original owner in a gambling session where his luck exploded, winning hundreds of Spirit Stones in one go. Then, after being persuaded by a salesman, he ultimately spent over a hundred Spirit Stones to buy it.

The original owner cherished these items immensely, treating them as precious treasures. He often took them out to play with, practicing his gambling skills, refusing to sell them even when he couldn’t afford food.

“Eliminate gambling addicts, starting with me!”

Qin Lu picked up this exquisite gambling set, his resolve firm.

Now that the body had a new soul, the gambling tools the original owner treasured so deeply were utterly worthless in Qin Lu’s eyes.

……

The night sky carried a hint of chill. The originally mixed and chaotic slums had lost the bustle of daytime, becoming exceptionally quiet.

Qin Lu moved the broken wooden door aside and cautiously peeked outside.

This was his first time stepping out of the room since transmigrating two days ago.

The chaotic market in his mind, along with the original owner who died miserably at home, all warned him he must proceed with caution.

Seeing no one around, Qin Lu patted the talismans hidden in his robe, checked the [Shangqing Sword] fastened at his waist again, and sensing everything was ready, he picked up that exquisite gambling set and heaved a heavy sigh.

He stepped out the door.

“Huh? What’s this strange smell?!”

Just outside the door, a foul stench of urine assaulted his senses, mixed with a reeking odor of excrement, making Qin Lu almost vomit.

“What the hell, do these people just relieve themselves anywhere? Isn’t there even a toilet?!”

“Pah! Pah!”

Qin Lu spat forcefully twice, covered his nose to endure the stench, turned to loosely close the door behind him, and then carefully headed towards the market center.

His self-built hut was located at the edge of the market. Those living here were all impoverished loose cultivators with no money, leading to a mix of all sorts, a complete mishmash, extremely chaotic. It was called the market’s “Slums.”

This was also the place with the highest crime rate in the market.

Qin Lu walked slowly along the muddy path, his eyes sweeping over the surrounding buildings.

What met his eyes were rows of very crude huts. The streets had no planning whatsoever; large and small earthen houses were scattered haphazardly along the roadside.

The scene resembled the ancient villages he’d seen on television.

This left Qin Lu speechless.

He felt these cultivators were living worse than dogs, with such terrible living conditions.

Being in such a state, it would be better to return to the mortal world and be a great immortal revered by commoners!

At the very least, there’d be no worries about food and clothing, living in luxury.

Qin Lu grumbled to himself as he walked forward.

Although it was late at night, there were still quite a few loose cultivators moving about on the road. Faint, shadowy figures brushed past each other on this narrow dirt path, each face carrying a hint of wariness.

Clearly, everyone knew about the chaos in this area.

In the dead of night, any kind of evil deed happening wouldn’t be strange.

This environment also made Qin Lu apprehensive. Cold sweat unknowingly broke out on his body, and his hand remained constantly on his sword hilt.

If the situation turned bad, he would unleash the Turtle’s Random Stabbing Sword Art.

After all, recalling memories, fights and brawls in the slums were commonplace; bleeding and maiming were frequent, and even corpses lying in the streets were not rare.

Being cautious definitely wouldn’t be wrong.

The slums weren’t far from the market center, living right next to it. After walking for less than fifteen minutes, Qin Lu saw the market’s city wall.

The tall, gray-white wall was about four meters high and several hundred meters long, with a two-meter-wide opening in the middle for pedestrians to pass through.

Above the city wall, there was a transparent, glowing canopy enveloping the entire market, clearly indicating the presence of an array.

A market was a city where cultivators gathered. Within the city, one could exchange their Spirit Stones for all kinds of items, including magical artifacts, pills, Qi Refining materials, medicinal herbs, talismans, demon beast materials, and so on.

It could be said to have everything one could need.

The place where Qin Lu was located was called Wuji Market, a transit market situated in a border region.

As he gradually approached Wuji Market, the foul smell of the slums slowly dissipated, making Qin Lu’s brow unconsciously relax.

“I must move into the market to live once I have money. The slums really aren’t a place to stay long. Sigh, never thought I’d come to another world and still face the pressure of housing prices…”

There were no guards at the market entrance; people could come and go freely.

As the number of cultivators around him increased, Qin Lu steadied his mind, forced himself to appear calm, lowered his head, and followed the flow of people into the market.

Qin Lu walked slowly through the gate arch, finally getting a clear view of the market’s layout. Gazing at the street scene before him, both familiar and strange, his eyes began to sweep across his surroundings.

Inside the market, the ground was paved with dark blue stone slabs, clean and bright. Shops lining both sides of the street sold all manner of goods, though at this late hour, well past midnight, many were already closed, lending the place a somewhat desolate air.

Qin Lu looked around curiously, finding this place no different from the ancient cities he had seen on television.

Clutching the exquisite gambling set close to his chest, Qin Lu relied on the memories in his mind and began walking down one of the streets.

He had bought this gambling set inside a casino. If he took it back to sell there, he might fetch a decent price.

But Qin Lu, buried under a mountain of debt, dared not go anywhere near a gambling den now. After all, eight out of ten of the people chasing him for money were gamblers themselves; the odds of running into them at a casino were far too high.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, he planned to head to a pawnshop and sell off this useless collector’s item.

After navigating a long and winding route, he soon arrived at his destination.

Seeing the three characters for “Exchange Pavilion” written on the signboard, Qin Lu glanced left and right. Making sure no one was paying him any attention, he stepped inside.