Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

Because it was still early, the shopkeeper vacated a side room for Chen Tian to rest temporarily, while he himself remained in the front hall, tending to the shop's quiet business.

Chen Tian didn't object to this arrangement. He simply sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to meditate.

The afternoon business was even more sluggish than the morning. Apart from two Qi Refining stage cultivators who briefly glanced inside before hurrying away, the shopkeeper spent most of his time sitting at the counter, sighing to himself.

Because business was slow, he couldn't earn more immortal crystals and struggled to buy pills to improve his cultivation. This forced him to find other ways, such as hosting underground trading sessions to earn commissions and get more immortal crystals to keep things running.

After waiting several more hours, the damned sun finally sank behind the western mountains. At this moment, the shopkeeper immediately closed the shop's doors and lit a purple lantern on the main beam.

Having done all this, the shopkeeper came to the outside of the side room where Chen Tian was, and respectfully called out, "Fellow Daoist, it's dark. The trading session is about to begin. Please come out."

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, Chen Tian woke up from his meditation. After blinking his eyes, he got up and opened the door.

Outside the door, the shopkeeper looked at him with a face full of smiles, holding a mask in his hand that looked fierce, like a demon.

"What is this?" Chen Tian asked, a little puzzled, looking at the demon mask in the shopkeeper's hand.

However, the only drawback was that this mask should be a low-grade magical item, at most capable of blocking the spiritual sense of cultivators below the Spirit Gathering stage. For a Transformation Spring expert like Chen Tian, he could easily break through this barrier and investigate the person behind the mask if he wanted to.

Of course, Chen Tian wouldn't tell the shopkeeper this.

Seeing Chen Tian put on the mask, the shopkeeper was immediately overjoyed, and then led the way for Chen Tian.

Chen Tian didn't think much about it and followed behind him.

The shopkeeper led Chen Tian into the courtyard behind the shop, eventually stopping beside a bamboo forest.

Looking at this small courtyard and the quiet bamboo forest, Chen Tian's eyes narrowed. After carefully examining it, he suddenly smiled, as if he had discovered something.

Seeing the smile on Chen Tian's face, the shopkeeper was also slightly surprised and praised, "Fellow Daoist, you have good eyes indeed. Since you have already discovered it, then come with me."

As he spoke, the shopkeeper formed a hand seal and gently pushed forward. The dense bamboo forest suddenly split to the left and right, revealing a stone teleportation array inside.

Chen Tian didn't show too much surprise at all of this, because he had already discovered the teleportation array. Then, he lifted his foot and stepped onto the teleportation array.

Seeing Chen Tian's calm demeanor from beginning to end, the shopkeeper seemed a little surprised. However, at this moment, he seemed to have thought of something in his heart, gritted his teeth, and followed Chen Tian onto the teleportation array.

Immediately afterwards, the shopkeeper took out four immortal crystals from his sleeve and inlaid them in the four directions of the teleportation array. Suddenly, a dazzling light flashed, covering the bodies of the two people. At the same time, a 'boom boom' loud noise came from the teleportation array, and the entire teleportation array began to rotate at an extremely fast speed.

After about three breaths of time, the teleportation array finally stopped, and the light on it also dissipated. Looking at the teleportation array again, it was found that Chen Tian and the shopkeeper who had just stood on it had already disappeared without a trace.

After a brief moment of darkness, when he opened his eyes again, Chen Tian found that he had arrived in a secret room.

This secret room was extremely simple. Apart from a few candlesticks on the surrounding walls, there was only a huge oval stone table in the center.

More than a dozen chairs were also placed next to the stone table. Obviously, the trading session that the shopkeeper mentioned was held here.

"Although it's called a trading session, it's not that formal. It's just a gathering of fellow Daoists to exchange their cultivation experiences and sell a few things they don't need to exchange for what they need."

After entering here, the shopkeeper chatted with Chen Tian as he walked to the side of the secret room and lit the candles on the candlesticks one by one.

After blowing out the fire starter in his hand, he turned around and said to Chen Tian with a smile, "So, Fellow Daoist, don't be nervous later. Anyway, once you leave this door, no one knows each other, so there's nothing to worry about."

The shopkeeper's words seemed to be trying to appease Chen Tian's emotions.

Chen Tian nodded slightly after hearing this, and then, as if thinking of something, he said, "By the way, you said just now that after each successful transaction, you need to be paid some immortal crystals as a commission. How is this commission calculated?"

"Oh, that's simple." The shopkeeper walked over, pulled out one of the chairs, and after serving Chen Tian to sit down, smiled and said, "The commission rate is two percent, split equally between the buyer and seller. That is, if your transaction price is one hundred immortal crystals, then each person only needs to pay me one immortal crystal."

"Two percent, this ratio is fair." Chen Tian nodded after hearing this, and then stopped talking, waiting quietly.

Before long, bursts of white light suddenly flashed at the entrance of the secret room, and figures walked out from within.

Obviously, they were the other cultivators who participated in this underground trading session.

However, after they entered the secret room, they would intentionally or unintentionally glance at Chen Tian, seemingly feeling a little curious.

However, Chen Tian still sat motionless, quietly waiting for the start of the trading session!