"I did it!" the youthful shout of Chen Feng filled the Tower plaza, as he emerged from the Combat Simulation Array holding his fist high for victory.

  Quite a remarkable feat, to be fair. Killing a ghost Saint while still in Xiantian realm wasn't easy. Yes, I could do it too, but I wasn't a regular cultivator. And it seems the newest recruit was also quite special.

  He already had a low-grade type of Concealment Skill, which is why he was recruited in the Chasing Shadow Sect in the first place. But striking above your realm and even winning, that was something else. Most likely a candidate for a Sword Saint, if he continued to train diligently.

  A certain red fox sniffed and walked beside me, and silently begged for a Spirit Feast bowl. "Did you also kill a Saint in the array?" I asked to make sure. Meadows nodded in a proud manner, although her case was slightly different since her soul had already reached Saint Realm, and Spirit Beasts were always stronger and faster than human cultivators.

  Smiling gently, I extracted a warm bowl of beef meat from my spatial ring, and set it down for the fox.

  Looking around, all the Tower members were training hard in their Combat Arrays, and draining slowly my supply of Spirit Stones that powered the arrays. Nothing was free in this world, least of all cultivation. Resources, like pills and arrays, equipment and weapons, spirit food, herbs and fruits and everything else. Everything costs money, or rather spirit stones.

  Luckily for me, I have chosen a CYOA build that would grant me renewable resources, plus I had Grandpa and his Artisan skills to help. All our Saints had their own Divine Swords, and the next Saints will also get new swords when the time came.

  In fact, my Tower could be already considered a decent tier 2 sect, with some many Saints and cultivation resources. And possibly much higher if we considered the Tower itself and its Spirit Artifact.

  Nodding to myself, I flew into my room and began preparing for the dangerous expedition outside. Body cultivation, level 5. Essence cultivation, level 5. Soul cultivation, level 3. Disguise them all at level 1.

  Amelia knocked on my door, then entered to examine me donning the black robes and the large bamboo hat that concealed my face. She had finally reached Saint realm in Body cultivation, and was now preparing for the next ascension in soul cultivation. We would leave her Essence cultivation for last, since the Heavenly Tribulation was quite dangerous for most people. Better be prepared.

  "Try to find some soul poisons for me, okay?" Amelia asked in a hesitant voice.

  "Of course. I do look like a Poison Master, right?" I joked about my suspicious attire.

  "Be safe..." she whispered just I as shifted outside, and jumped from a certain tree where I last entered the Tower.

  A pair of tall, armored puppets emerged at my sides, looking quite imposing in their plate armor.

  However, instead of heading directly for the Auction House, I started walking towards the Tian Market, where I hoped to use my Discerning Eyes to find some hidden treasures.

  My nose was assaulted by the scents of unwashed masses and cheap perfumes, my ears by auditory commercials for stall vendors, and my eyes by a kaleidoscope of garish colors, from clothes to flags and candied hawthorns.

  An old bald man in blinding yellow robes stood alone at his stand, somehow managing to be invisible to everyone, much like a ninja in an orange suit.

  'Bagua Fortunes' it was written on the flag above him, while the table was filled with neatly arranged wooden boxes.

  "What do you sell here, Senior?" I asked the bald man, who raised a bushy eyebrow in mild surprise.

  "I don't know, little Saint. Only the one who opens the box knows what's inside." the yellow-robed man claimed in a bald-faced lie.

  People moved behind me while ignoring me and my bodyguard puppets, certainly a sign we were all inside some kind of illusion array. My puppets always made people comment.

  "And if I want to buy all these boxes, how much?" I asked on a whim.

  The bald liar blinked, then smiled. "For you, 54 millions Spirit Stones." he calculated at speed, exactly 1 million per box.

  I just dumped a pile of Spirit stones on his table while displacing the wooden boxes directly inside my spatial ring, and moved on.

  One of the boxes had lit up in my special eyes. 'Divine Peachwood Box, used to hold things inside. Worth 300 million Spirit Stones.' Even if all the boxes were empty, I was already ahead in profits.

  A few stands after, I picked up a stick filled with red and candied hawthorns, then examined it first with curiosity. 'Poisoned children food. Used to assassinate naive targets. Worth 4000 spirit stones.'

  Hah! I only paid a single silver coin for it. Jackpot! Into the ring you go, poison candy. I had someone who would love it back home.

  After a dozen similar encounters, I began to suspect that all those novels I've read before were true. All at once, in this single market. Cultivation tablets covered in green bronze oxidation. Three of them! A broken, rusty sword that could kill Divine cultivators. An amulet looking like a white jade lotus, holding a Demon Prince inside. And so on, and on.

  Perhaps my Discerning Eyes were a bit too strong for this world. And to think that perk was also free for an Artisan build...lucky!

  Just before leaving the market at the other end, another stand, this time a woman wearing a veil.

  'Final sale! Cleaning the attic, old treasures!' the sign said, and was ignored by everyone.

  I walked in front of the stand and just asked. "How much for all this junk?"

  "Errrr. For all of them? 900 Spirit Stones. No, 800!" the woman spoke eagerly.

  I grabbed the loot and left the price on her table, then moved on. While most stuff was indeed junk one might find in an attic, spoons and silverware too old to use, two items were different. A metal plate of an Asura Demon grinning with sharp teeth, lacking only one tooth, and a dried up wooden branch with gnarly bits sticking out. 'Petrified branch from the Worldtree. Worth 50 billion Divine Crystals.'

  I sighed inward at my stupid Protagonist luck. Grandpa would know what this Worldtree was about.

  And Lin Fei would have a stronger Asura Sutra, if my eyes were correct. They usually were.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I was quite happy and started heading towards the Treasure House, when a dozen black hooded men surrounded me.

  "This is a robbery! Hand over the candy!" one of the hooded guys yelled, then got slapped on the back of his head by another.

  "Hand over everything, and we won't cut off your hands." the second guy explained more cogently. I mean, they were after the poisoned candy, obviously.

  I just nodded and my Saint puppets jumped into action, rapidly knocking out the candy robbers, then cutting off their hands.

  That should teach them to rob candy from a little Saint.

  With this good deed over, I entered the Treasure House, to find a pair of Saints escorting the Auction Manager to the meeting. Probably enforcement and security for the Divine Swords I was selling today.

  "Tower Saint! Welcome to our humble Treasure House." the Manager spoke in a submissive voice, while his bodyguards towered over him.

  "Yes. I suppose these fine gentlemen have brought the Spirit Stones for our deal?" I guessed at random.

  "Oh, right. These are the Enforcement Officers sent from the capital. They will inspect the goods, you understand." the manager answered while wiping his sweat from his forehead. Likely the deal went to a higher level than usual.

  "The Wind Emperor himself was quite happy with the Wind Sword he bought from our Treasure House. Even if you have a dozen more Divine Swords for sale, we are prepared to buy them all." one of the Enforcement Saints spoke in fake politeness.

  I mean, his voice said one thing, the hand clenched on the pommel of his sword said another.

  I just shrugged and took out the first trade sword. Fire Element Divine Sword. Even without activation, the Fire Element aura was visible to the naked eye.

  The second Saint simply poked the weapon with a finger and pulse his Sword Intent, making the sword sing for murder.

  "Unbound, top quality." he spoke in a hoarse voice.

  I took out the next sword, and continued the examination, while the Manager's eyes glowed with blue sigils.

  "See? I was right, right? My Appraisal Technique was working fine." the man proclaimed in a victorious voice.

  "Shut up, Kong Sun. You've cause enough problems for our House." the first Saint growled, hand still holding the pommel, ready for a fight.

  Smiling a bit too wide, I retrieved a Guardian Puppet from my ring, along its control token. "And this is a Saint puppet that can guard your auctions. Peak Saint Realm, and quite durable."

  The second Saint took the control token and examined it for a minute, then dropped a drop of his blood on it to bind it. Immediately, the Guardian puppet moved to obey his commands, flying from side to side, then up to stand on the ceiling.

  "It is weaker than either of us. But we suspected that already." the Saint said in a disappointed tone.

  "It is only a puppet, what did you expect?" I commented with a wry voice.

  The first Saint examined my own bodyguards and then compared them to the new House Guardian, naked and showing visible magic circuits on its metal body. "Plate armor would be too obvious for our auction. I would say mail armor and robes over that."

  "Perhaps a porcelain mask with different animal motifs for each of them. Ox, Boar, Rat, and such." I proposed with a sneaky voice, thinking of other masked ninjas in my memories.

  Then I took out the next puppet, and passed the control token to the House Manager.

  "Be careful where you point that thing, Kong Sun. It is still a deadly weapon, even if it looks like a toy." The first Saint growled as the Manager started training in puppetry skills.

  "Right, of course. Wait on the ceiling, Ferret!" the Manager commanded out loud, making me grin a bit too wide.

  All we needed was an one-eyed Dog now.

  After examining the rest of puppets, the first Saint stored them in his own space ring, then handed me another ring with my money. Stones.

  Nodding politely, I took the ring and hid it inside my other, infinite ring.

  "Now that I have some funds, Manager...can you sell me some poison?" I asked curious.

  "Errrr. What kind of poison?" he wondered a bit confused.

  "Don't know or care. Someone in the Tower said they want poison. Could be venom, toxins or anything of sorts. I want all of them. But pure stuff, not diluted." I anwered with a careless tone.

  The two Saints looked at each other, then walked out with their precious prizes. "Try to not get in trouble again, Manager Kong." the first one spoke in a dismissive tone, then flew away, followed by the first puppet controlled as a test.

  I glanced up at the Ferret Guardian. It wasn't yet dressed the part, but this auction house was quite rich. I suspected it would look great once it was ready.

  "Right...poisons. I'll have my people bring some samples..." the Manager said a minute later.

  "No need. I want everything you have. I have the money, you know?" I asked rhetorically. I just got 80 billion spirit stones from our trade.

  "I suppose that's true. Not that I would doubt a Heaven Token holder. Come with me then, Tower Saint. I'll give you our special prices anyway." the manager invited me, and we descended into a deep vault locked with some serious protection arrays.

  A bit later, we entered a large room filled with all kind of jars and bottles of toxins. My eyes lit up with names and functions, usually describing the type of death from exsanguination to petrification and a hundred more in between.

  Curiously, a dozen of these poisons also served as cures for some rare conditions, including constipation, black blood, clogged meridians and petrified Godheads. I just took everything inside my ring, paid the steep price of 1.3 billions and walked away.

  Doing an evasion manouver of going invisible and jumping a dozen random roofs, I stopped in another tree and shifted into the Tower.

  Grandpa ghost waited for me, his stern face measuring me for a long minute. "Why the long face?" I asked curious.

  "Keep that branch hidden for now. The Worldtree is a dangerous topic, even for Immortals." he said cryptically, then flew away like a flying ghost.

  I scratched my head, a bit confused. Did I stumble into the main plot somehow?