Despite the distance and time to get to the slums, I don’t actually encounter any problems on the way there.

As I get closer and closer to the slums, one thing that I knew from before had simply increased to where I couldn’t ignore it.

The stench.

As would make sense for a slum, there isn’t that much infrastructure supporting the people that live here. Including a place to wash or use the restroom. As I was searching the area before, I was subconsciously avoiding areas that smelled too horribly and also I didn’t have improved cultivator senses.

The large jump in senses makes what I had already realized even more potent.

Luckily for me, my body filters anything that may become a problem for me just by breathing the air. Which unfortunately there are a few.

It appears most people that live here already have some exposure to such things. But if they have health issues, this would likely be one reason.

And so, I move closer and closer to where my scan is telling me the items for sale are.

Keeping in the shadows, almost no one can see me pass through. Though even if they did, they would quickly turn away. A cultivator out here is never a good sign.

The reason I am hiding is that even though it may not be a good sign, it is good information. Something I definitely don’t want to deal with while trying to gain such a valuable item.

It is not long after I get deep into the slums that I find a man packing up what he had on a mat.

Disappointed and discouraged, he walks down the alley near to where he was sitting with his wares. I can already tell that if I didn’t catch him here, this may be the last time I would have seen these items without taking drastic actions.

I quickly rushed into the alleyway, silently.

Just as he’s about to turn another corner, I call out to him.

“Excuse me Sir, I couldn’t help but notice that you were selling wares. Are you still looking to sell?”

Obviously, he is on guard and turns towards me carefully.

I can see him glance down at my attire, and his tense face turns respectful but still wary.

“Hello, young master. May I ask if there was anything in particular you were looking for?”

“Well, I caught a glimpse, but it caused me to pause, just as you were leaving. If possible, could I take another look?”

He looks around cautiously, clearly wondering if this is a set up.

But in the end, it is clear his need for money has overridden that, and he lays out his mat once again before me with multiple items laying on it.

As he does so, I use my scan to probe at him. As I’ve already gotten into some bad situations lately, I want to make sure I know who I’m dealing with.

I feel it’s safe enough to do so, as he appears poor and also is not a cultivator.

I quickly find that His name is Xing Hu and that he used to be an extremely successful merchant.

As is unfortunately common, the intense politics and power struggles within the merchant class had caused him to plummet to his current status. All through a series of betrayals and failed deals.

Just like Mei Lin’s merchant family, the fact that his group didn’t have any cultivators directly affiliated with them made it much easier for outside forces to bully them and lead them to this state.

Amid all this happening, it also seems that the daughter of this man, Xing Xun, fell gravely ill from what is clearly poisoning. However, if you don’t have the strength to fight back, the only thing you can do is bear with the pain in silence.

Every time I look at people’s history in this world, it’s always doom and gloom. I really dislike how everyone just constantly is betraying each other.

Though, if I really think about it, I’ve mainly been looking at people who are the victims and are weaker than others. So, it only makes sense that they’d be crushed underfoot in a society like this.

As I finish up my thoughts, he completes setting up all his wares before me in this alleyway.

My eyes and scan travel over all the items, but I sense nothing from them. And they all look pretty shitty, to be frank.

Despite that, I still get the sense that among these is what I’m looking for.

I begin by picking up each item, one at a time. As I do so, I run my scan over every inch of the item and as deep as I can, all the way to a pushing it into a headache. As it has grown significantly stronger over the year time I’ve been here, there is actually a significant amount of power going into this.

And it works.

I’ve identified three items that had caused my scan to go crazy. I move these three in front of me and pour my scan dedicatedly into them to find as much as I can.

In a rare case, the information about them gives me a different kind of headache, separate from the ones that my scan causes.

The first item is what seems to be a shabby, dirt crystal ball with cracks reaching deep inside.

If used normally, it would help you focus your mind. However, it would soon cause you to have issues with your cultivation speed, if used too much.

In actuality, it is the Orb of Unfathomable Depths, a Xing family heirloom meant to allow the one using it to cultivate thousands of times faster than would normally be possible.

It allows the users qi-based cultivation techniques to have the strength of 1 tier (not level) higher. So, if a person had a technique and strength equal to an early Qi Condensation expert, their techniques would have the power of a mid qi Condensation expert.

And these effects are permanent after using it just once, but multiple uses don’t stack the benefits. It has to be cultivated with a certain breathing technique to achieve full benefits. And it only can be used a few times per generation.

In order to unlock its true power, the Xing family’s lineage must be listed from the original creator to three generations down. This family has lost that information, but my scan easily shows the full list.

I can already see that if I use it, I could receive further benefits than that.

But of course, there are only three uses. And they have three family members; the father, mother, and daughter.

Not enough for this family and myself.

The second item is a small bamboo slip, listing some low-quality fighting techniques. Similar to the last item, this item actually holds deep secrets.

In fact, it is a Jade Slip containing the Tortoise Swallows Dragon cultivation technique.

This cultivation technique focuses on two aspects, protection and turning power into qi/cultivation for the user. It allows the user to set up barriers anywhere (starting with their and others' bodies). These barriers can be used offensively, if used correctly.

Not only that, but it incorporates a body refining technique, synergistic to the cultivation technique.

In terms of its ability to turn power into cultivation, it uses the power of an attack on a barrier to convert the power into more defense, and then strength. Each time it absorbs a blow, it feeds a bit of qi from the attack into the user. Obviously, this has massive cultivation benefits.

A dive into the history of the technique is that even they may gain full cultivation ranks/stolen at high levels of this technique.

But there is one thing about it that is even more important than most other methods.

It allows the user to hide their cultivation level and protect it. Even against higher level beings.

This can lead to a person being able to “Turtle” against higher tier beings and come out on top. The ones fighting such a user might even assume that they are of a similar level as them.

This is how the creator of this technique survived and passed down his teachings (powerful defense, absorbing power, and hiding their strength). This cultivation technique has the added ability of concealing all the other generational benefits, even to its descendants.

Now, in order to unlock the jade slip and thus the technique, the user must drip the blood of a member of the bloodline onto the slip three times, while saying the creator’s name. The user doesn’t need to be of the bloodline.

Unfortunately for me… I already have a method. So, I can’t use it.

The last item seems to be powdered dust of a worn and weak spiritual tree, contained within in a jar.

When a certain type of wine, common to this area (and actually being from the original land of the creator) is poured on the powder, it turns into a tiny tree with glowing roots. Also known as the Heavenly Spirit Roots.

Heavenly Spirit Roots are widely known to have the rare ability to increase the quality of your spirit roots.

However, this tree is special.

It is an ancestral tree, passed down through their bloodline and intricately tied to it. It is automatically recreated after time for the bloodline to use in the future.

When used by a member of their bloodline, it will fortify and increase their spiritual roots to genius levels. Additionally, it increases the lifespan of the user by hundreds of years (on top of the cultivation lifespan). Each time it is passed down and used, the successive generations will have an increased affinity with the roots and it will have a stronger effect for them, as long as they grow in cultivation.

An ethereal, symbiotic relationship of sorts.

As it has been countless generations from the creator, the effect would have an absurd effect on their spiritual roots.

Not only that, but the effects from consumption of the roots are retroactive. If they eat it now, they will increase the benefits for their daughter/future grandchildren, even if they are now alive. Even now, their spirit roots only need to be unlocked to access the baseline of what it has already been within their bloodline.

Sadly, the effect is not stackable for individuals. It also operates like a normal Heavenly Spirit roots for anyone else that uses it.

However, there is only enough for two people.

Once they reach the Nascent Soul stage, the roots should reach a level where they can condense more from it via the symbiotic relationship.

Obviously, in the right hands… these are powerful items. Things that my group could use.

But each of these are clearly meant for this family.

I could take these right now. And they would never know.

It’d be more effective in my hands. With my scan, I could use them optimally. Even with some downsides.

I could easily get everything I need to activate them, too.

… but is that the right thing to do?

I’m seriously tempted.