A quick bath later, Mu Chen changed into a fresh set of robes and strapped his sword at his waist. He grabbed his spatial pouch and after making sure he had enough money, buckled it to his waist. After adjusting his hair for a bit, Mu Chen was quite satisfied with his current look.

After notifying his little sister, Mu Chen stepped out of his residence. Using his token, Mu Chen locked the formation from outside and leisurely made his way towards the relay station.

The Mu Family Estate was quite big. It was established on a mountain range at the edges of the city, making traveling to and fro to the city a chore. Going on foot was just inconvenient. Had Mu Chen still been a Spirit Gathering cultivator, he could have just used his flying sword. Now he could only rely on a carriage.

After borrowing a carriage to take him to Falling Stones City, Mu Chen made himself comfortable inside. The carriage was driven by tamed beasts and was quite fast and smooth. Despite this, it took him around an hour just to reach the city.

Falling Stones City was one of the biggest cities in the South Eastern Province. The legend was, long ago there was a heaven shaking battle between two powerful cultivators. Their battle was so intense, it destroyed several mountains, turning them into plains. Years after the battle was over, people from nearby regions came and settled down after clearing some of the rubble. The rubble was mostly piled around outside the village. The battle had also weakened the structure of nearby mountains causing occasional landslides. So the village was surrounded by fallen stones and boulders and some other rubble. Thus people named the village as Falling Stones Village.

As more and more people started traveling to and fro, a spirit vein was accidentally discovered. The fight that exploded several mountains had also exposed an underground spirit vein. When the news of a newborn spirit vein spread, several cultivator families and sects hurried to occupy it. Under their examination, several more spirit veins were discovered in other nearby places as well. A war would have started if not for the Ming Dynasty's intervention. Under the mediation of the Ming Dynasty, the spirit veins were distributed among the several families and sects that had been the first to discover them. The Mu Family had been among the first to discover a spirit vein and greatly benefited from this.

Due to being surrounded by cultivator Families and Sects, the village also began to rapidly develop and became a city. The city was named Falling Stones City due to its origin.

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Mu Chen had the driver park the carriage at the public relay station in the city. The relay station was very big as it accommodated carriages of several Families and public carriages as well. Most families had a space reserved for their carriages.

Although he could take his carriage directly to his destination, Mu Chen didn't want to flaunt his status. Although he was still a Core Member of the Mu Family, Mu Chen had the self-awareness that the current him could no longer be matched to it.

Mu Chen had been quite the celebrity since he used to be the youngest and most talented Spirit Gathering cultivator not just in Mu Family, but in Falling Stones City and other nearby major cities.

Mu Chen had not made a public appearance since his injury. But everyone knew he was no longer the genius he used to be. Originally, the news about him getting crippled was supposed to be a secret since the Mu Family still had some hopes he could recover. However, the news had been somehow leaked.

The carriage was too identifiable, if he took it into the city, it would quickly attract attention. Once people realized who was riding in it, there would be no shortage of onlookers. Many would like to get an opportunity to ridicule the once-popular genius. Especially the younger generation, who had been jealous of his talent. By ridiculing him they would hide their own shortcomings.

Mu Chen wasn't afraid of facing the ridicule of the public. Since he rediscovered his passion for the sword and found a goal for himself, Mu Chen was no longer as depressed as he used to when he had just been crippled. However, this didn't mean he would enjoy public insults. Even if you don't care about flies, does it mean you would enjoy them buzzing around you?

Moreover, Mu Chen just wanted to quickly finish the tasks he came here for. He had no interest in entangling himself in superfluous arguments.

Mu Chen soon started navigating through the busy streets of Falling Stones City. Even though he had not flaunted his status, he still garnered quite a bit of attention.

Mu Chen was originally tall and quite handsome. Because he had been training his physical body for the past several months, his muscles had become well defined and developed. He was by no means a muscular giant. But rather lean and tall with well-proportioned muscles. The robes he wore were also of high quality and perfect fit.

Moreover, after wholeheartedly embracing the sword, a subtle transformation had been taking place in Mu Chen's temperament which was quite attractive. With the sword by his waist, further accentuated this mood.

Because of his unique temperament and his handsome face, many girls and older women would occasionally cast amorous glances at him. Whereas a few men looked at him in jealousy. Some were just curious because while Mu Chen's clothing indicated he should be from a well-known background, the sword by his waist was too ordinary.

Fortunately, no one recognized him. Although his name was famous, not everyone had actually seen him. This was because Mu Chen had always been diligent in cultivation, preferring to spend his time training instead of attending parties. Moreover, his appearance and temperament had changed quite a bit in the past several months. Even if someone found him familiar, they couldn't immediately identify him.

Mu Chen made his way through the swarm of people. It was almost noon but the activity was rather high. All shops and establishments were open. People were busy frolicking, buying things, eating at some stall, moving to their destination or so.

The majority of the people who lived in the city were just mortals and will live their life as one until the time of their death. Their spirit root wasn't good enough to step on the road of cultivation.

Occasionally there would be cultivators. However, it was mostly those who are in Foundation Stages. Sometimes there would be a Spirit Gathering cultivator. Mu Chen could only identify cultivators that were Spirit Gathering or lower. Although he lost his cultivation and could no longer use his divine sense, he was familiar with the qi undulations of a Spirit Gathering cultivator. Any cultivator higher than this realm, Mu Chen couldn't identify them. 

For mortals, the city was a safe haven where they could live in peace. For cultivators, it was a communication and trade hub, a place to have fun, indulge in debauchery, and a source of cheap manual labor.

In order to maintain order, the city was jointly regulated by several cultivation families and sects. Flying and usage of magical techniques were prohibited in the city as per the rules set by the Ming Dynasty. Offenders would be caught and imprisoned by the City Guards who were usually just the disciples or members from the regulating sects and families. 

Mu Chen made his way to the central part of the city, where a tall and spacious building existed. This was a branch of Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was very famous and reputed throughout the entire Southern Continent. They had their branches established in almost all the major cities in the continent. In addition to their own strength, it was also rumored that they also had the backing of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled the entire Southern Continent.

Mu Chen approached the gates of the building. Two guards were stationed outside the entrance. He knew the guards were at the peak of the Spirit Condensation realm. Only the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion could afford to use peak Spirit Condensation realm cultivators as gate guards. Even the Mu Family, which was somewhat of an overlord in this region only used Spirit Gathering cultivators as gate guards. This showed just how deep the background of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was.

After entering the building, he directly went to the counter on the first floor towards the section where they sold different alchemy ingredients. The materials he required weren't particularly rare or priceless so he didn't need to go to the higher floors. The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion dealt across a variety of treasures including pills, weapons, talismans, and even raw materials used for alchemy. Every month they will hold a regular auction and a grand auction every other year.

"Excuse me, I would like to buy these items." Mu Chen said as he handed over the list he had prepared long ago, to the woman behind the counter. There were over a hundred items on the list. And all of them were poisonous. 

The woman was slightly surprised to see the contents of the list. She was curious about what Mu Chen was planning to do with so many different types of poisons. Some of the poisons on the list were strong enough to even cause a headache for a Dividing Earth realm expert. However, although curious, she didn't question Mu Chen why he was looking for so many types of poisons. She was only responsible for selling goods, they weren't responsible for what the customer did with the goods sold.

"Please wait for a moment. Let me check the items for availability." The woman took out a purple-colored jade. Mu Chen was patient as he knew she was using her divine sense to read the contents in the jade.

"Except a few, we currently have all the ones on the list in stock. Do you still want to purchase?" The woman marked the items on the list that were currently not in stock and handed it back to Mu Chen.

Mu Chen frowned. If even a single item on the list was missing, the entire recipe would be useless.

"When will they become available?" Mu Chen was frustrated. The internal tournament was near, he would not have enough time to use his method if he couldn't get the material in time. 

"The next shipment will arrive this weekend, they will be in stock then. If you want, I can reserve a batch for you. But you will need to pay for them in advance..." The woman patiently explained.

Since he didn't have any other options, Mu Chen acquiesced to the woman's suggestion. Mu Chen paid several thousand low-grade spirit crystals for his purchase. This was almost the entirety of his savings over the past years. He even paid for the items that currently weren't in stock and received an IOU for it. The woman went to the backroom and soon came back with a spatial ring. She handed him the items after taking them out of her spatial ring.

Most of the items were sealed inside a wax paper. Some were liquids and they were delivered in crystal bottles. Mu Chen carefully placed all the items into a small chest with several compartments, then used a piece of thick leather to tightly wrap up the chest. Only then he placed it back inside his spatial pouch. He had to do so because the spatial pouch was not like a spatial ring.

Inside a spatial ring, items would remain stationary, locked in space. In contrast, the spatial pouch was like an oversized bag, items inside would bounce around as one moved. He didn't want any of the items to have their seals destroyed or the bottles crack due to bumping into each other or the spirit crystals he still had in the pouch. Worse, they were poisonous. It would be really dangerous to handle if an accident happened. His pouch would be flooded with poison. He didn't have enough money to buy antidotes for each of them.

The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion actually provided delivery service, but Mu Chen didn't opt for it. If he did, all the stuff he bought would have to pass through Mu Family's inspection. He didn't want to give his opponent more opportunities to cause trouble for him. These items were an important part of his plan.

"Crap! Looks like I missed this one."

It was only after he squeezed the bundle inside his pouch, that Mu Chen noticed he had forgotten to pack one item on the counter. It was a tiny crystal bottle that looked empty at first glance. Mu Chen carefully observed the bottle.

"This should be the saliva of the Three-eyed Bone Python. I can't believe I forgot to pack this one." Mu Chen muttered. 

"I will just carry it on my body..." Mu Chen was too lazy to unpack and repack the bundle he had just placed inside his pouch. So he slipped the bottle into the inner pocket of his robe.

After leaving the building of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Mu Chen made his way into a small alleyway. He already had candidates as caretakers for their residence. There was a slight smile on his face as he recalled the warm smiles of the people he was about to meet.