Carefree Path of Dreams

“Truth be told, we did receive a thousand-year Dragon Tendon, but this item is extraordinarily precious. Even Nascent Soul and Immortal Patriarchs can make use of it. Therefore…” Madam Luo said after frowning a little.

“I only want this. You can ask for any price!” Fang Yuan waved his hand generously.

“Thousand-year Dragon Tendons can’t be measured with ordinary spirit stones, and most are bartered!” Madam Luo showed an embarrassed look. “However, since Senior wants it, I will try my best to negotiate for you. Please wait a day. Is that okay?”

“Well… All right!” Fang Yuan was slightly upset as he left.

“What’s the matter?” The shopkeeper frowned. “I don’t recall there being any Nascent Soul seniors who want this Dragon Tendon. Wouldn’t using this to make him owe us a favor be a great idea?”

“Hmph… When it comes to figuring out how people think, you’re still a level lower than me!” Madam Luo giggled. “This item is obviously very important to that person. How could I give it away so easily? I must whet his appetite. Only then will he believe that we are capable. Maybe we’ll even obtain some gratitude from him.”

“But we’ll be in big trouble if he finds out!” Lao Shetou looked around nervously

“What’s there to be afraid of? An Immortal arranged the restrictions here. If we don’t want it to happen, who could eavesdrop?” Madam Luo laughed charmingly. “Besides… even if he knows, would he dare provoke the city masters?”

“This…”

The Miscellaneous House was the property of Qingfeng City, and behind it were a few Nascent Soul city masters.

Furthermore, these five Nascent Soul city masters were skilled in a Five Elements Formation that had once withstood ten blows from an Immortal, making them famous.

Fang Yuan had just arrived, evident from him buying a map, and was clearly not from a powerful influence.

Madam Luo would naturally not think much of such an itinerant cultivator.

“Although it makes sense, going through all that trouble merely to raise the price?” Lao Shetou was slightly hesitant.

“Of course not… Have you forgotten the orders of the city masters?” Madam Luo winked. “Didn’t the higher-ups want us to gather Golden Core cultivators? It’s just nice that his cultivation level is enough… The thousand-year Dragon Tendon can be his reward… When the time comes, we could even not take his spirit stones. He’ll still owe us a favor!”

“Eh?” Lao Shetou’s eyes brightened. “That’s true! But the mission must be extremely dangerous for the city masters to recruit outside cultivators instead of local ones. If he manages to return alive, it would be best to waive the cost of the thousand-year Dragon Tendon!”

“I’m well aware of that.”

Madam Luo’s slightly angry appearance was breathtaking, and even Lao Shetou felt slightly dazed. He immediately turned around, not daring to look anymore.

…

“Hmph!” Unknownst to them, Fang Yuan was hiding in the void and coldly witnessing their discussion. “They’re playing me for a fool! Looks like… I’ll have to show them the methods of the world’s best godly thief!”

If these two had been sincere and honest, he would not have minded making a real purchase.

However, now that they wanted to use the thousand-year Dragon Tendon as bait to trick him into doing something dangerous, he was truly angered.

“If they had told me honestly, I wouldn’t have minded. After all, despite how vast the world is, there aren’t many places that can trap me… But intentionally deceiving me?”

Fang Yuan sneered coldly and used his spiritual will to probe the storage bags of Madam Luo and Lao Shetou.

“Not here. Looks like it’s in the level above!”

He waited a moment before following behind Madam Luo and reaching the treasure room one level above.

Numerous treasures were neatly displayed on rows and rows of wooden shelves for customers to browse.

“Each of these drawers actually has a powerful restriction. Only the token in Madam Luo’s storage bag can open the restrictions… Even her token has a limitation on how many times she can use it each day!”

Fang Yuan understood most of the array’s principles after slightly probing. “Too bad… this array master’s accomplishments in space are still too shallow.”

Having reached large success in the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws, he was qualified to look down on ninety-nine percent of this world’s array masters.

As long as the array did not reach his level, it would be no match for his Illusion Realm magical power.

“Found it, the thousand-year Dragon Tendon!”

Fang Yuan searched through many drawers, and his eyes lit up when a translucent yellow tendon appeared on his hand.

This was the essence of a thousand-year earth dragon. Most importantly, its energy was incredibly gentle, and even an ordinary person could consume it. After consumption, one’s physique would immediately remold. Their skin would be able to withstand weapon strikes, and their strength would increase to fifty thousand kilograms.

Of course, no cultivator would be so lavish. The true use of a thousand-year Dragon Tendon was in conjunction with other medicines for certain body refining techniques.

“If I only steal this, it’d be as good as admitting that I was the thief!”

Fang Yuan’s thoughts moved.

Instantly, one treasure after another appeared in the Pantheon Palace.

Gold Ingot was extremely familiar with the process. He checked each one carefully before classifying them and putting them away.

“Hmm?” Madam Luo rubbed her eyes. There was a Green Jade Dragon Flower in front of her just a second ago.

This exotic flower was the size of a bowl and the main ingredient in refining the Nascent Breakthrough Pill.

However, it had vanished before her very eyes with a ‘poof’!

“Ahh!!!” Her scream spread throughout the Miscellaneous House.

“What happened?” Lao Shetou was the first to arrive. His face drained of color after looking at the shelves. “Where are the treasures?”

“G-gone!” Madam Luo was sitting on the floor with a pale face and disheveled hair.

“There’s trouble in the treasure room!”

“Hurry!”

A few rays of light arrived shortly after, among which was even a Nascent Soul Patriarch.

“House Master!”

The patriarch had the appearance of an immortal. His long white eyebrows draped down, and his face was a healthy pink. He was one of the five Nascent Soul cultivators of Qingfeng City and the master of the Miscellaneous House.

“What happened?” After looking around the treasure room, his expression changed.

“H-House Master… that flower was just in front of me… and suddenly vanished!” Madam Luo stammered.

“Hmm?” The Miscellaneous House Master stepped forward and checked the restrictions. “The restrictions are untouched. It must have been someone extremely familiar with the array…”

“It wasn’t… wasn’t me!” Madam Luo was dripping with cold sweat.

“Your token can only take out a maximum of three items each day, so of course it wasn’t you!” The Miscellaneous House Master’s expression was grim. “However, you must bear the blame for the loss of so many treasures. From today onward, you are no longer the master of this room. Go to the Torture Hall and receive your punishment!”

Madam Luo shivered at the mention of the Torture Hall and broke out into tears. “Mercy, Patriarch! Have mercy, Patriarch!”

“How much is your life worth?” The Miscellaneous House Master waved his sleeve. Although he was distantly related to his woman, even he was in big trouble now that someone had stolen a huge fortune from the Miscellaneous House. He could no longer care about this descendant. “Would you rather have your soul disintegrate and become unable to reincarnate?”

“I am willing to receive the punishment!” Madam Luo shivered, not daring to plead any further.

After dealing with Madam Luo, the Miscellaneous House Master looked gloomily at the almost empty treasure room. “What happened? Even if an Immortal could forcibly break the restrictions, they couldn’t have done so without a trace… If it was an Immortal proficient in the Array Dao, why would he play such a trick on us!”

He could not help start worrying.

Fang Yuan’s name and ability were only discussed discreetly among the Orthodox Dao and Demon Dao’s Immortal circles. Since the masters of Qingfeng City were only at Nascent Soul, and coupled with the short amount of time since Fang Yuan’s act, they were completely ignorant about him.

Otherwise, he would have probably made the connection.

…

“Not bad, not bad at all. The haul from this treasure room almost matches half an Immortal…”

Fang Yuan’s Torch Dragon clone continued strolling through Qingfeng City while his main body was in the Pantheon Palace, going over his loot.

“Everything is decent. Most importantly, I’ve finally managed to fill some of the holes in my low and mid-tier materials.”

Although he had taken a lot from many Immortals, he had the awkward problem of the materials being too high tier, and they were not really suitable for him since he had just advanced to the Primordial Core realm.

The resources from the Miscellaneous House could help resolve this issue, and he would also no longer run into the trouble of having to buy everything using high-grade spirit stones.

As for Qingfeng City? He was not concerned at all.

A few mere Nascent Soul cultivators, which was the equivalent of the Apotheosis realm, would be courting death if they tried to fight him.

“I can’t help feeling that… if this continues, I will become corrupt!”

Fang Yuan looked at the numerous materials and the spirit stone hill lying on the floor of the palace, feeling some worry. “If I get used to freebies, will I still make fair deals in the future?”

Things like treasure vaults and restrictions were useless against him.

No matter what he lacked, he could simply go and take it. It was indeed very convenient.

If it were a novice cultivator, this kind of cycle would eventually break their psyche. They would think that they could take anything they wanted in the entire world. This would truly be digging their own grave, as they would eventually kick an iron plate.

“Look like I’ll have to change this kind of behavior. At least… I will place some spirit stones after taking the items! Then it wouldn’t be theft but a transaction, albeit against their wills. It’s an entirely separate concept from stealing and looting!”

Fang Yuan made his own rules for his behavior and did not really care if the original owners wanted to sell. “This way, I will feel much better.”

Seeing that Gold Ingot was still busy, he looked at the map.

Although the shopkeeper had said that it was a rather simple map, the main mountain ranges, rivers, and even national forces were detailed.

“This map places Gu, Mang, and other countries at the center. South of them is the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and the rest is unknown. North of them are a dozen or so countries that are roughly equal in size to Gu and Mang. Further north of them is a giant country called the Great Sage Immortal World?”

Fang Yuan checked some books. “Compared to the Great Sage Immortal World, even the Hundred Thousand Mountains is considered a small country. As for Gu, Mang, and a dozen or so other countries, they are nominally subordinate to the Great Sage Immortal World and obey one of the cultivator Holy Lands—the Heavenly Circuit Immortal Sect.”