Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

After seeing off one big customer, another arrived. Manager Zhao hurriedly came out to greet him: "Young Master Long."

Long Su withdrew his gaze and asked seemingly casually, "Have you thought it through when I asked you to introduce me to that expert who has a large quantity of Wuxiang Grass?"

Manager Zhao's smile remained unchanged as he spoke: "I have already asked, but the other party is a recluse who dislikes dealing with people and is unwilling. You see... Qianjinlou also has its rules. If the other party is unwilling, we cannot force them."

"Since that's the case, then so be it." Long Su smiled, knowing that Manager Zhao wasn't telling the truth.

Manager Zhao smiled. He had worked so hard to win over this person, how could he let Long Su win him over? But this was a big customer, and he would inevitably have to do business with him in the future, so he could only be careful. Even if he refused, he had to be reasonable so as not to offend him.

Having said that, Long Su did not dwell on the previous topic and instead asked when the third batch of Wuxiang Grass would be ready.

Because of Xu Lingguang's supply, Manager Zhao gave a rough date this time. Long Su was quite satisfied with the time, so he was about to take his leave. As he was leaving, he seemed to remember something and casually asked, "Who was that person who just left from here? He looked somewhat familiar."

Manager Zhao said shrewdly, "Really? I don't think you're from Qingyu City. You're probably from out of town, but I don't know exactly where."

Manager Zhao was shrewd; Long Su realized he couldn't get any information out of him, so he simply left.

After leaving, he found a secluded corner and said somewhat gloomily, "System, why doesn't that guy who just walked past have any stats above his head? There's no character information either."

After he transmigrated into this book, everyone he met had a brief character introduction, with their health and combat power marked above their heads as red and blue bars, just like NPCs in a game.

He's always judged whether someone is worth messing with based on their health bar, and he's never had a mishap.

But the young man who had just brushed past him only had a string of "???" above his head, and his name wasn't even displayed, which made him feel a little strange and uneasy.

A mechanical voice from the system echoed in my mind: "A bug has been detected and is being fixed. Please be patient."

It turned out to be a bug. After getting the answer, Long Su felt a little relieved. As long as it was a bug, it could be fixed. Once it was fixed, it wouldn't be a problem anymore.

He regained his sense of pride, opened his task list, and said excitedly, "Once I have all the Formless Grass, I can refine Spirit Tempering Pills in large quantities, and then I can enter the Divine Treasure Realm."

The reward item for reaching the Divine Treasure Realm is a cloak that can conceal one's aura. This is crucial for completing his next high-difficulty hidden mission, so he must gather the Formless Grass as soon as possible to advance to the Divine Treasure Realm.

In the Shangyang Continent, the Divine Treasure Realm is a hurdle. Before the Divine Treasure Realm, one has just shed one's mortal body. The cultivator's soul is fragile and unable to cultivate divine consciousness. To put it bluntly, one is only slightly stronger than those martial artists and soldiers. Although one can live to be four or five hundred years old, it is merely a matter of prolonging one's life.

However, after reaching the Divine Treasure Realm, one's soul takes shape and one can also condense one's divine sense. On this basis, one can learn more powerful spells. Moving mountains and overturning seas and turning clouds and rain are no longer fantasies. One's lifespan can also reach thousands of years. Only then can one be considered to have truly embarked on the path of cultivation.

Long Su felt his blood boil when he thought of that time.

He must advance to the Divine Treasure Realm as soon as possible. Once he obtains the item, he can enter Ailao Mountain to complete the hidden quest.

*

After leaving Qianjin Tower, Xu Lingguang headed straight for other shops. After comparing prices at three different stores, he finally spent five thousand low-grade spirit stones to buy a defensive array plate that met his needs, a crossbow that could automatically retrieve arrows, and a larger storage bag.

Although it's a bit inferior to the Cloud Piercing Crossbow that costs 20,000 mid-grade spirit stones, it's cheaper!

Xu Lingguang was a content man. He put the bracelet that held the crossbow bolts on his right arm, and after buying some daily necessities and vegetable seeds, he returned to Ailao Mountain as the sun set.

After returning home, he first set up the defensive array plate according to the instructions provided by the shopkeeper. Then, with great reluctance, he put ten low-grade spirit stones into the groove of the array plate and activated the defensive array.

A layer of shimmering light appeared on the defensive array plate, and Xu Lingguang felt a gentle ripple spread out, before everything returned to calm.

He ran outside to look around the courtyard but found nothing different from usual. He went back to check the defensive array plate and saw that it was still shrouded in a layer of fluorescence. According to the shopkeeper, this meant the array was set up and that he only needed to add ten low-grade spirit stones to the array plate every day to maintain the defensive array.

Ten low-grade spirit stones may not seem like much, but over time it can add up to a considerable expense.

Xu Lingguang hid the array plate before starting to sort through the various supplies he had bought.

With a larger storage bag, he bought a lot of large furniture this time. The wooden house had not been expanded before, and there was only a small room of about ten square meters, which could not hold much. Even the bed was just a random stack of stones and planks.

But now he has added a small room behind the original house, so he can move the bedroom to the back.

Xu Lingguang placed the newly bought bed and wardrobe in the bedroom, and used the room in front as a living and dining room, with tables and chairs placed there.

If conditions permit, he actually cares quite a bit about the quality of life, so the furniture and items he bought this time are quite complete, and there is even a floor lamp that is quite expensive and can be lit by spirit stones.

The floor lamp is about the height of a person and is probably made of bronze. A spirit stone can be placed in the groove of the base to provide continuous lighting. With this lamp, there will be no need to suffer through the ordeal of lighting candles anymore.

Looking at the brightly lit room, Xu Lingguang thought to himself that it's good to be rich; even in the world of cultivation, one can use technological products.

By the time everything was tidied up, it was already late at night. Xu Lingguang took a shower, changed into his newly bought soft pajamas, and fell asleep soundly on his new bed.

He needs to rest up, as he'll be busy picking the "Formless Grass" tomorrow.

The next morning, Xu Lingguang ate breakfast, packed his lunch and water, and headed towards the ravine where the Wuxiang Grass grew, a route he knew well.

He estimated that the ravine was about half an acre in size, but the *Impatiens balsamina* wasn't growing densely. Last time he came, he dug up two hundred plants, which took up about one-tenth of the area. Roughly calculating, there were at least 1,500 *Impatiens balsamina* plants remaining.

Manager Zhao still needs a total of 700 plants. Originally, he was thinking of sustainable development and would give Manager Zhao a smaller amount so that the Wuxiang Grass in this mountain valley could reproduce more next year.

But he did the math: if he wanted to buy a whole bottle of Rejuvenation Pills at the auction seven days later, he would need to prepare at least 100,000 low-grade spirit stones.

The price of seven hundred Formless Grasses, plus the spirit stones he earned from selling them earlier, would just be about enough. If there were any bids at the auction, he might need to use his hidden high-grade spirit stones, but high-grade spirit stones are priceless and not worth using to buy Rejuvenation Pills, so he didn't want to use them easily.

Xu Lingguang had no choice but to put aside the follow-up for the time being and focus on raising enough money to buy the Rejuvenation Pill.

So he made thorough preparations and started digging as soon as he arrived at the ravine.

After digging up about a hundred plants of the Wuxiang Grass under the scorching sun, Xu Lingguang was about to take a break and have a drink of water when he felt his body sink down and fall into a deep and narrow cave. His body was stuck and he couldn't move, with only his head barely sticking out.

Xu Lingguang: ?

The hole appeared so suddenly that he was stunned for a moment. He looked around and then heard an angry voice say, "Gotcha! Thief!"

Xu Lingguang was filled with more questions. He turned his head with difficulty, trying to find the person who spoke, but after turning his head for a long time, he still couldn't see the person speaking. The voice became more and more angry: "Where are you looking!"

Then Xu Lingguang felt a pebble hit his forehead. He hissed in pain and finally saw the person speaking—or rather, the rat speaking.

It turned out to be a milky gray Totoro.

"There must be Totoro in this world, right?" Xu Lingguang wondered uncertainly.

In short, the little creature that was talking looked almost exactly like Totoro. It was about the size of a palm, with semi-circular ears that were a bit pointed at the ends. Its body was round and chubby, with light gray fur on its back that gradually turned milky white towards its belly, and a thin, curly tail trailing behind it.

At this moment, the talking Totoro angrily stretched out its short paws and pointed at Xu Lingguang, warning him in a weak tone, "This is my territory, you thief!"