I am grinding experience in another world

At dusk, the alluring scent of food once again wafted from the backyard of Hesheng Hall.

Chen Mu, clad in Jie Jia armor, ate his meal in silence and with great speed.

Both men had hearty appetites, and the spread of dishes before them was swiftly devoured.

Soon, black smoke billowed, and the bowls and utensils were left spotlessly clean.

In the corner, black smoke enveloped the wooden trash bin. A pile of bones and vegetable juice fell into it.

Jie Jia gazed at Chen Mu with a complex expression.

"What's wrong?" Chen Mu glared at Jie Jia, spreading his hands. "Isn't this very convenient?"

Jie Jia couldn't help but nod in agreement.

But still, using a Magic Artifact like this... the feeling was truly... indescribable!

Chen Mu rolled his eyes.

"The ghosts outside the city are gone now, aren't they?"

"They've dispersed." Jie Jia nodded as he took the tea cup Chen Mu handed him.

"The waterway from here to Lijiang Guard City is also safe now, right?" Chen Mu's eyes lit up.

"The ghosts were only around Nanyang Prefecture City before. There weren't any on the Lijiang River..."

As Jie Jia spoke, his hand holding the tea cup suddenly froze.

This guy doesn't want to run now, does he?

"Then I'll leave tomorrow!" Chen Mu said excitedly.

Although Nanyang Prefecture was temporarily safe, what if someone like Li Tianwang came after Chao Tianwang had left?

The less he stayed, the better.

Jie Jia put down his tea cup, his eyelids drooping.

Without the evil spirits, he wasn't needed to personally escort Chen Mu.

There went a business deal...

"Right, do you recognize this thing?" Chen Mu suddenly said, as though something had occurred to him.

A black staff, accompanied by black smoke, appeared.

Jie Jia glanced at the black staff on the table, a glint of recognition in his eyes.

"This is..." He began, but suddenly stopped midsentence.

His eyes narrowed, glancing toward Chen Mu's left arm.

"Here, here, here!" Chen Mu rolled his eyes and took out ten silvers to give to Jie Jia.

Jie Jia slowly lowered his head to look at the silver, then gradually extended his right hand, opening it wide.

"Fifty... fifty silvers?!"

"Hey! You're getting greedier, huh?!

"You used to open your mouth for two silvers, now why the price hike?!" Chen Mu glared at Jie Jia.

Jie Jia calmly looked at Chen Mu without uttering a word.

"Speak up!" Chen Mu gritted his teeth and took out another forty silvers.

Carrying a massive debt on his back, he wished he could stretch a single silver to serve as two, but Jie Jia had just conned him out of fifty silvers, wiping the smile off his face.

Jie Jia leisurely rolled the silver beads.

The fee for escorting him was gone, but here came the fee for information consultation!

...

"Soul-Calming Stake."

"Take the heartwood of a locust tree that is over a hundred years old, and refine it with Secret Techniques."

"This one..." Jie Jia's fingers gently brushed the black staff: "At least three hundred years old."

"This thing is made of locust wood? You're kidding me, right?" Chen Mu caressed the black staff, which felt more like jade or glass, in disbelief.

Can the heartwood of a locust be black? And so hard?

That evening, as he had hidden in the rafters and suddenly struck,

the Sleeve Sword Technique that could pierce through Shell Soul couldn't even scratch the Soul-Calming Stake.

"The Thousand Mountains Sutra specializes in refining bizarre Magic Artifacts. Changing their properties is not unusual."

"Your paper man may look fragile, but isn't it unbreakable?"

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat.

"Thousand Mountains Sutra?"

Jie Jia gave Chen Mu a sidelong glance: "Making a fuss over nothing."

"The Thousand Mountains span vast distances, overpowering all directions."

"This saying refers to the vast and widespread secret techniques of the Thousand Mountains Sutra; you'll understand in time."

Chen Mu nodded. He had been in this world for three years and had seen or heard of no more than a handful of Magic Artifacts.

And yet, two of those came from the Thousand Mountains Sutra; indeed, its reach was wide.

"The Soul-Calming Stake is a tool used to confine and cultivate ghosts as part of ghost-nurturing strategies." Jie Jia continued: "It can be used to detain and nurture ghosts."

Ghost-nurturing strategies? Raising ghosts?!

Chen Mu's eyebrows raised.

The Thousand Mountains Sutra was indeed no orthodox object.

Five Ghosts Bag, ghost-nurturing strategies, Soul-Calming Stake; the names alone were sinister.

"A lone Soul-Calming Stake isn't very useful, at most it can be used to disperse ghosts." Jie Jia handed the staff back to Chen Mu: "You could also use it as a weapon."

As the black smoke thickened, Chen Mu quickly stashed the staff away.

He didn't want to be located.

This thing was a tool associated with ghost-nurturing strategies; it could surely be sensed by those who control such strategies.

Chao Tianwang must possess the knowledge of such ghost-nurturing strategies,

otherwise, he wouldn't have ordered a search in the North Market.

"Thankfully, I hid this stick in the Five Ghosts Bag." Chen Mu sighed in relief.

"Don't worry," Jie Jia lifted his teacup for a sip and said indifferently, "he will soon craft a new Soul-Calming Stake."

"To ensure the efficacy of the soul-nurturing plan?"

"Hmm."

Chen Mu shrugged, "Let's keep it hidden a while longer then."

He wasn't lacking in weapons, nor did he know any staff techniques.

And he still had forty-one Zuming Talismans.

No need for the Soul-Calming Stake to dispel ghosts… Wait a minute!

"The Soul-Calming Stake can dispel ghosts?" Chen Mu asked without betraying his emotions.

"Yes," Jie Jia blew on the floating tea leaves in his cup, "wouldn't raising pigs require a pigpen?"

"This thing is like a pigpen, a fence."

"Hmm, and it comes with thorns, too."

Chen Mu's heart lurched, but his face remained as serene as undisturbed water as he pretended to sip his tea.

"The Zuming Talisman business has been good lately, right? I'm leaving tomorrow, so it looks like you won't be able to see me off? After all, we can't delay your money-making, can we? Ha ha…" Chen Mu said teasingly.

"Give me enough silver, and I'll see you off," Jie Jia replied impassively.

Chen Mu chuckled and shook his head, "I can't afford your loss."

"How much is a Zuming Talisman going for these days?"

Jie Jia's eyelids lifted slightly, a hint of amusement in his eyes, "Three thousand, five hundred."

Chen Mu's eyebrows shot up.

"Cough cough!"

He took out thirty-one Zuming Talismans from his bosom and silently pushed them across to Jie Jia.

"Help me sell them."

"To make it worth your while, I'll give you a commission of one hundred silvers for each."

Jie Jia: "..."

I sell them to you for two thousand, five hundred each,

and you want me to sell them for three thousand, five hundred each?

Do I look like I need those extra one hundred silvers?!

What I'm missing is a thousand silvers!

Jie Jia's eyelids abruptly lifted another notch.

The silver beads he was rolling in his hands almost got crushed!

...

The next day, after eating breakfast, Chen Mu was in high spirits as he counted his silver notes.

After selling the thirty-one Zuming Talismans and deducting Jie Jia's commission, he profited twenty-seven thousand, nine hundred silvers.

Subtracting the debt remaining for the last ten, he was left with two thousand, nine hundred silvers.

This month he also sold quite a few Blue Medicine Pills.

All told, Chen Mu's net worth had skyrocketed to thirteen thousand, two hundred silvers.

His personal wealth had surged!

"With this money, I could reside in leisure at the Lijiang Guard City until the end of time!" Chen Mu thought cheerfully.

In the front courtyard of the Hesheng Hall.

Chen Mu walked in carrying a small cloth bag, purely for symbolic reasons.

Jie Jia sat behind the spotless counter as usual, rolling his silver beads.

"I'm off."

"Don't forget to have someone come for the medicines."

Lijiang Guard City wasn't far, and Chen Mu could still carry on with his remote drug-peddling business.

Jie Jia looked up, his bright yellow pupils calmly gazing at Chen Mu as he nodded slightly.

Chen Mu chuckled lightly, then swiftly turned and strode away.

...

East of the City at the Jian'an Gate.

After a chaotic month, the area near Jian'an Gate was bustling as usual.

Chen Mu, altering his facial features and clad in a grey outfit with a black cloth tied around his hair, walked briskly carrying a small pack.

Following the crowd, he quickly passed the routine inspection and once again left Nanyang Prefecture City.

Looking back, Chen Mu shrugged his shoulders. Who knew when he would return next?

Just as he was about to depart, a long family convoy caught his attention.

The line of vehicles was extensive, the carriages sumptuous, and the guards all looked strong and formidable.

"Which large family's convoy is that?"

Chen Mu followed the outgoing civilians to the roadside to evade the procession.

"Isn't that the Zhou family from the Inner City?"

"They actually survived that disaster."

"The Bai family is safe too. Rumor has it they all went to the Lijiang Guard City for ancestral rituals, and thus fortuitously escaped."

"What good luck…"

Chen Mu observed the lengthy caravan, feeling an inexplicable chill inside.

The Bai family, the Zhou family, the Shangguan family...

Luck? Luck so great that the whole clan survived?

Heh…