North District. Public Commons.

Stepping out from an unoccupied stall, Bubai cast his gaze upward to the moon, its glow intertwined with mist. A content smile graced his face. "What a splendid night.”

The awareness of a bountiful harvest stored in his hidden space only heightened the beauty of the moment.

Since his recent power boost, Bubai, while still not on par with Foundation Establishment cultivators, could still easily turn other Qi-refinement cultivators into a joke purely with his physique alone!

Outside of late stage Qi-refiners, others posed little threat to him. Even late stage Qi-refiners would struggle to keep up with his full speed if they hadn’t mastered a footwork technique!

Only in direct confrontation or against ranged combat specialists did he need to exercise caution.

Providing that he wasn’t so stupid to engage in a direct confrontation with the late stage Qi-refiners, he was free to run wild amongst the other disciples!

So, he finally dared to step out of his shell, taking the risk during this opportune time - when the outer sect was devoid of its martial law imposed by Foundation Establishment patrols.

Thus, tonight marked his debut as a vigilante.

During his warm-up, he delivered a wake-up call to numerous flower pickers and those with an affinity for indulgence, charging them a small lesson fee… of all the assets on their body, which they might have have lost by the time they sobered up anyways.

His next stop on this impromptu “justice” tour involved paying a visit to suspected kidnappers and murderers.

Throughout his daytime reconnaissance, his enhanced senses allowed him to identify and mentally jot down all the social miscreants he passed by.

When night fell, he made it a point to personally greet these individuals and didn't hesitate to pay unscheduled visits to their homes if they happened to kindly show him the way.

Of course, he didn’t waste time chasing down every last disciple because there were plenty of mobs roaming in the night for him to grind.

During his patrol, those caught in the act received more than just a friendly hello – he imparted a stern lecture, confiscated their criminal tools, and, conveniently, liberated any victims present.

Even the nefarious treasure hunters weren't spared. Under his acute senses, they were basically distributing their stolen loot out in the open. So, he didn’t mind helping them... split the loot.

Honestly, the outer disciples may not be full of good people, but some were still honest workers. So, he let these off.

Of course, sparing the honest workers wasn't driven by a concern for their virtue. Even if he robbed the innocent, he would have no remorse and could only say "sorry, too bad".

He focused on the notorious members because he knew the real money was on these crooked fellas – exploiting and robbing others had fattened their wallets, transforming them into the ready-made money bags.

In just a single district alone, there were already so many of these cannon fodder characters!

So, he simply did a “good” deed, transferring their ill-gotten wealth to the poor, namely himself…

Despite the fact that his targets constituted only a fraction of the entire district's wealth, his haul this time was undeniably abundant.

In terms of mortal assets alone, he amassed three gold taels, over 30 taels of silver, and a large pile of copper coins!

While these funds might not directly contribute to purchasing cultivation-related resources, they were still enough to secure mortal rations for several months!

For cultivator-related spoils, the loot included an assortment of questionable pills, drugs, and plants…

He will have to slowly sort through these when he gets back because who knows what effect they might have.

However, amidst this varied, unknown collection, certain known goodies stood out.

With a quick assessment, he counted nine Qi-condensation pills, almost enough to fill two bottles! Though of limited, practical use to him personally, he could sell it later, perhaps for spirit rice or even spirit stones.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Additionally, he managed to accumulate a few small pouches of spirit rice, sufficient to feed Xiao Lan for an extra month or two.

Not only that, he obtained a low-grade spirit stone from a less-than-scrupulous bunch!

And fortune favored him further. This time, the most noteworthy harvest is...

Bubai toyed with the petite, rough-textured pouch in his hand. Peering inside, he noticed the storage space was even smaller than his own hidden storage space.

“An inferior-grade spatial pouch.”

Typically, low-grade stood as the bottom tier in the hierarchy of artifacts, but lurking below this category was an even more humbled classification – the inferior grade.

These were items crafted with the aim of being low-grade, yet due to errors or mishaps during the manufacturing process, they fell short of meeting the intended standard.

This was a typical issue encountered while mastering a new creation. Often, it resulted in failure or the production of a damaged and unusable item.

However, in rare instances, a product would emerge “successful”, just with identifiable problems. Thus, these products were designated as inferior grade.

A standard low-grade storage pouch would offer at least a cubic meter of storage space, with many surpassing this benchmark.

Yet, this pouch seemed to provide even less than a meter. Adding onto this, there might be other unknown issues, such as unstable space or susceptibility to damage.

Alas, uncovering the pouch's problems required testing it firsthand. So, he won’t know until he used it and started losing stuff...

Nevertheless, even an inferior grade storage pouch was much more valuable than many other low-grade artifacts, valued at a price of at least tens of low-grade spirit stones!

Its previous owner must have been very, very lucky to get their hands on it.

Unluckily... the original owner probably already went to tour the underworld.

Now, the pouch was transferred into his hand.

“Totally worth the risk.” This unexpected windfall only served to widen his grin.

Alas, the moonlight cast an unforgiving light on his face, revealing a less-than-appealing visage distorted even further by his wide grin.

Ah yes, he was back to being Mo Bubai with his Ah Niu face.

As for Night Phantom... Huh? Who’s that? It had nothing to do with him.

As for why he reverted his appearance here...

The tower was safer, but he couldn’t just walk in with his new face or the twins might eventually report his anomaly.

Equally problematic was the necessity to abandon his suspicious get-up.

At first, he thought it would be useful, but after his hazardous run-in with Officer Ponytail, he awakened to reality and recognized the need for greater caution.

Wearing the suspicious outfit attracted the attention of law enforcers, possibly leading them to track him back to his tower. This defeats the purpose of changing his face.

So, he was left with no choice but to resort to his backup plan.

Every nook and cranny of the inner sect may be heavily patrolled, but the Public Commons district was a place that the Law Enforcement Hall women might avoid.

Even if they did venture into this area, their attention would be divided, and they couldn't possibly stare at every single stall full-time.

Thus, it became the ideal location for him to execute his face change, far superior to the risks associated with finding a secluded corner in a more public setting.

Certainly, no plan was foolproof, especially when dealing with intelligent cultivators employing mysterious tracking methods. His face-changing ability didn't guarantee immunity from being found.

However, he didn’t worry.

So what if they investigate? With their mysterious means, at most they would find his face, and perhaps track him back to his tower.

However, they would still fail to find evidence of his heist because all of the pilfered supplies and loot were kept safely in his hidden storage!

Moreover, will these outer disciples dare to report the theft?

There will definitely be some reporters, but others would only silently eat the loss because of their involvement in various law-breaking activities, especially those resorting to murdering fellow disciples for gains, such as the previous owners of his new storage pouch.

Bubai tucked his embroidered green pouch and the coarse pouch beneath his clean robe.

This was the only evidence that could link back to him, mainly because it was seen by at least two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

However, it would be doubtful if they would chase him along this line.

Well, even if they did, who's to say there weren't similar storage pouches in circulation?

Plus, this event would at most be linked to Liang’s face. What does it have to do with him? If they are so vehement, they could try taking off his face.

Ahem. Of course, cultivators didn’t always require evidence.

So, it was best he laid low and prepared good excuses for his MIA during the crime period.

Book Pavilion.

“Hum?” Granny Shu interrupted her rocking, fixing her gaze on the unexpected guest before her desk. “Young Bubai came to this old lady so... early today?”

Bubai saluted, “Yes, after an entire day of break, junior is ready to work all night.”

“Fufufu... Good. Good.” Granny Shu nodded, narrowing her eyes as she scanned his body, “It’s best to honestly copy books at night, instead of doing other things…”

Er… Bubai sweated a bit inside. Did she mean his usual night activities or… did this old granny know about his special activity tonight?

“Fufu, well, since young Bubai is here early, you might as well help this old lady with a rather thick volume today…” With a sly smile, Granny Shu conjured two stacks of paper onto her desk.

“The Centennial War… Yes, there are many parts that require editing. It’s best if young Bubai finishes it before he leaves. A young man busy copying books naturally has no time to do other things…”

Bubai’s heart skipped a beat, but settled down when he grasped her meaning. Ah, it seems he’ll have to work it off.

He bowed slightly, “Yes, junior understands and will not disappoint Shu Po Po for her care.”

“Fufufu, go Young Bubai…” Granny Shu closed her eyes, rocking in her chair with a content smile.

Picking up the two stacks of paper, one in each hand, he made his way towards Section D.

Though he hadn’t started his task, he had already reaffirmed two valuable survival skills...

Firstly, in a world of cultivators, rules bent like bamboo in the wind. The influence of the powerful often outweighed any and all evidence. Alibi? The biggest fist is the best alibi.

And secondly... though a bit unexpected, it felt good to hug a thigh.