Meanwhile, in a room in the back courtyard, Yuan Ming's heart was in turmoil, and numerous fragmented memories in his mind began to connect.

From the information obtained through Divine Soul Possession in the coachman Wang Shun, combined with his own memory fragments and the colorful "stories" from Old Smoke Bag...

He vaguely had a rough conjecture about his experiences before the amnesia.

As the son of General Yuan of the Central Plains Da Jin Country, he was pursued and attacked with a knife by that short-haired youth from his memories and fell into the river while accompanying the Da Jin Mission to the Southern Border. Afterwards, he was picked up by Old Smoke Bag, sold into the tomb garden, somehow survived, and then ended up in Iron Tiger Town.

In Iron Tiger Town, after being reported by Old Smoke Bag, he escaped somehow and eventually appeared in that cave, lost his memory, and was captured along with those wild men by Hu Zha back to Biluo Cave, becoming a Fur Beast Slave.

While this thread seemed quite smooth, there were still far too many blank memories, and a slight deviation could lead to a completely erroneous conclusion.

Yuan Ming needed more clues to verify his conjectures.

In the front courtyard, Tu Lei heaved a sigh of relief and said, "As long as he's not here for revenge, it's good. Anyway, he will leave tomorrow."

"Yeah, I heard from that Pork Grease this afternoon that this person is no simple matter. If he really found out, we'd be finished. Luckily, Pork Grease knew when to stop. Otherwise, if he truly angered him, we'd be in trouble," Old Smoke Bag said with some residual fear.

Tu Lei, aware of the dubious business his father had engaged in with Pork Grease over the past year, couldn't help but advise:

"Father, our family has a decent foundation now, we don't have to live such hard lives anymore. Let's live peacefully and stop doing these damning deeds. Look, now no one wants to marry into our family."

"Father has been scared of poverty... Sigh, but you're right. After a while, I'll find someone to arrange a marriage for you, and then I'll pass this Jade Ring to you."

Old Smoke Bag said, taking off a ring wrapped in red string from his pipe stem.

After unwrapping the red thread, a White Jade Ring, resembling mutton fat and glowing faintly in the moonlight, was revealed.

Through the raven's eyes, Yuan Ming caught a fleeting glimpse of the ring and felt an inexplicable familiarity with it, yet he couldn't recall where he had seen it before at the moment.

But he had already guessed that this White Jade Ring was most likely one of his own possessions.

At this moment, Yuan Ming's mind was a mess of agitation, and he no longer had the inclination to continue spying. He quickly summoned back his three Divine Soul Ravens.

He got to his feet, ready to rush to the front yard to severely punish the greedy father and son.

But as he grasped the door latch, he suddenly remembered the instructions from his senior brother Fang Ge before leaving Biluo Cave, not to harm mortals at will, forcing him to suppress the impulse to act.

Yet every time he thought of Old Smoke Bag's actions, he felt that he could not lightly forgive the old man.

"Got it, just like this..."

He frowned in thought for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up with a plan coming to mind.

...

Early next morning, Yuan Ming got up and went outside to the courtyard.

Old Smoke Bag, eager to rid himself of Yuan Ming, the source of trouble, had been keeping an eye on the movements here.

Hearing the noise from the back courtyard, he immediately hurried over.

But upon arrival, instead of seeing a tenant ready to depart, Old Smoke Bag saw Yuan Ming walking in circles in the backyard, head bowed, looking as though he was searching for something.

"Did you lose something? Do you need my help?" Old Smoke Bag hurried forward and asked.

Yuan Ming acted as if he had just noticed him coming, and he looked up, his eyes showing surprise.

"No, I didn't lose anything... You go about your business, don't mind me," Yuan Ming stuttered, waving him off casually.

Old Smoke Bag, naturally skeptical, felt it was not his place to press further, but uncertainty rose in his heart.

"Little brother, are you leaving today? I've already watered and fed the horse this morning," he said with a forced smile.

"Thanks, Shopkeeper. Go ahead with your work; once I get my things together, I'll come to the front to settle the bill," Yuan Ming replied, waving his hand with a hint of irritation in his voice.

Old Smoke Bag could see that Yuan Ming was deliberately sending him away, and his confusion deepened.

He kept looking back as he walked to the wall separating the back and front courtyards and through the gate to the other side.

Watching him leave, Yuan Ming resumed searching the ground.

At that moment, a pair of eyes peeked through a gap in the wall of the back courtyard, scrutinizing him.

Without drawing attention, the corners of Yuan Ming's mouth twitched slightly. With his Divine Sense now able to cover a radius of five zhang, he was well aware that Old Smoke Bag was spying from behind the wall.

Nevertheless, he appeared entirely unaware, continuing his search on the ground as if nothing were amiss.

Soon enough, he bent over and picked up a pit-covered stone the size of a dragon eye core from the ground, holding it carefully in his palm. He inspected it closely, then smiled with satisfaction, seemingly relieved.

From behind the wall, Old Smoke Bag witnessed the entire scene, his mind more baffled than ever.

He couldn't understand why, early in the morning, Yuan Ming would forsake important matters to search for a worthless stone in the entire courtyard.

However, at this moment, he saw Yuan Ming look up at the sky, take a few steps to the left and right towards the direction where the sunrise began to show, and then he put his palms together, holding the stone in his palms, and started to bow to the four directions of heaven and earth.

After one round, Yuan Ming's lips were seen to be moving continuously, as though he was chanting something.

But being too far away, Old Smoke Bag couldn't hear anything clearly.

"Has this lad gone mad? Mumbling all divine nonsense, what's he up to?"

He cursed inwardly, and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw Yuan Ming's hands, still in prayer, slowly open, and out of them shone strands of golden light.

Old Smoke Bag's eyes instantly bulged out, his face filled with astonishment.

Following that, he saw Yuan Ming's hands completely open, revealing a gold lump the size of a Dragon Eye Core, pitted and rough, but glittering with a brilliant gold light.

By its shape and size, it looked almost exactly like the stone Yuan Ming had picked up from the ground earlier.

Old Smoke Bag's heart thumped wildly, and he covered his mouth with both hands to keep himself from crying out.

"Turning stones into gold, this is a power only immortals possess," Old Smoke Bag inwardly exclaimed.

He congratulated himself on his cunning for inadvertently witnessing such a miracle and felt uncontrollably excited and thrilled, but soon after, a strong desire of possession welled up inside him.

"If I also knew this spell, wouldn't I never be poor again?" Old Smoke Bag repeatedly asked himself in his heart.

Yet, after the excitement, he quickly calmed down, instinctively doubting whether his eyes were deceiving him. Could it be a trick of illusion?

But when he looked again, Yuan Ming's figure was no longer in the courtyard, but had returned to the house.

In just a moment, Yuan Ming came out of the house again, closed the door, and seemed to be planning to leave.

Seeing this, Old Smoke Bag hurried to the front yard, then doubled back, pretending to chance upon Yuan Ming as he was coming towards the front yard.

"Oh, guest, you're leaving already?" Old Smoke Bag feigned curiosity.

"Yes, I need to find someone and might come back some other time," Yuan Ming responded smilingly.

"Oh, alright then, I'll go and get your horse," Old Smoke Bag said, nodding and bowing busily.

"No rush, no rush. Let me settle the accommodation fees first. Plus, I'd like to ask you for a favor," Yuan Ming said with a smile.

"You're too polite, just tell me what it is," Old Smoke Bag quickly said.

"I happened to lose most of my silver coins at the Fortune Gambling House, so I'm a bit short on cash. I was wondering if there is a money changer or pawnshop in town. I'd like to exchange some gold blocks I have for some silver coins," Yuan Ming casually said.

Upon hearing this, Old Smoke Bag's brows furrowed, and after pondering for a while, he said, "There is a money changer, but they practice usury, a real heartless lot. If you exchange with them, you're sure to be at a loss."

"Whether they are ruthless or not is none of my concern. As a lone traveler, I'm just looking for convenience. As long as I can exchange at a rate above eighty percent, I can accept it," Yuan Ming laughed, seemingly carefree.

Old Smoke Bag, hearing this, couldn't help but wonder.

If he can accept an eighty percent exchange rate, losing twenty percent of the gold, could it really be gold transformed from stone, and he doesn't feel a pinch?

"Shopkeeper?" Yuan Ming, seeing him lost in thought, couldn't help but call out.

"Ah, since you've said so, if you trust me, why don't I go for you? They might restrain themselves a bit because of familiar faces and help you exchange for more silver coins," Old Smoke Bag offered sincerely, cautiously testing the waters.

"That works, I'll trouble you then," Yuan Ming said, seemingly hesitant, but eventually nodded in agreement.

As he spoke, he took the gold lump the size of a Dragon Eye Core out of his sleeve and handed it to Old Smoke Bag.

The latter eagerly took it, rubbing his hands together.

He weighed the gold lump, inspected it closely, and even bit it to conclude that it was indeed real gold.

Now, his heart was even less at ease.

This "noble" of his really did have the power to turn stone into gold!

Yuan Ming watched him, noting the change in Old Smoke Bag's expression and sensing his emotional shift, and chuckled to himself.

He had simply prepared the gold lump in advance and found a similarly sized stone, then used his Storage Bag's ability to switch them with sleight of hand, deceiving Old Smoke Bag right away.

But what really led Old Smoke Bag to fall for it was his innate greed.

Once greed takes hold, one easily loses sight.

Seeing Old Smoke Bag hesitating in place and not leaving, Yuan Ming cleared his throat to add the final touch.

"Shopkeeper, if there's any inconvenience, forget it. I can go exchange it myself. Missing a fraction isn't really a big deal for me. Actually, I'm not really interested in money, but I am interested in spending it," he said, reaching to take the gold lump back.

At this point, Old Smoke Bag finally stopped hesitating, and immediately dropped to his knees with a "thud," bowing deeply.

"Immortal Master above, accept my bow," Old Smoke Bag said he would bow once, but actually he knocked his head on the ground seven or eight times in quick succession.

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