"Young friend, stop dwelling on it; only the first cup of Spiritual Tea has such an effect!" Gu Jia, seeing Li Shiming''s expression, understood his thoughts and smiled in response.

    "Thank you, Brother Gu, for the tea!" Li Shiming bowed in thanks.

    He could see clearly that among the twenty or so Cultivators present, aside from himself, only seven had Spiritual Tea before them.

    The rest had tea that was probably similar to his fake Spiritual Tea, even the spirit water was produced by the ''Spring Breeze and Rain Skill'' that he had given away.

    "Once you join the sect, you''ll have to pay it back!" Gu Jia said with a laugh.

    He and Li Shiming were chatting and laughing with ease, but the Loose Cultivators nearby had grave expressions; they exchanged glances to convey information.

    "Mr. Gu, a masked Cultivator came to the market the other day, concealing his spiritual power fluctuations but continuously revealing low-level mistakes, leading us to mistake him for a Cultivator who had just left his sect!" Cultivator Deng spoke up.

    Gu Jia nodded, signaling for him to continue.

    "That Cultivator bought three magical artifacts from me. He spent twenty Spirit Stones without inquiring about their true meanings!" Cultivator Zhang continued.

    "It seems that Cultivator set a trap for you, and you experienced Cultivators fell for it!" Gu Jia couldn''t help but shake his head.

    As he spoke, his gaze turned towards Old Cultivator Hao of the Hao Family; they suffered the largest loss.

    At this point, Li Shiming was a bit stunned; the biggest oversight turned out to be the three magical artifacts he had purchased.

    The magical artifacts sold by Cultivator Zhang came with no matching true meanings, and he hadn''t even mentioned any sort of true meaning, something any experienced Cultivator would avoid buying.

    Moreover, the magical artifacts Cultivator Zhang sold were in two parts: the Magic Rune part and the true meaning part.

    If an inexperienced Cultivator bought the Magic Rune part, they would find themselves unable to practice and would have to come back to purchase the true meaning part.

    Cultivator Zhang would then profit from selling the same item twice, with an even higher profit from the true meaning.

    When Li Shiming bought the three magical artifacts, he didn''t inquire about the true meanings, which let the Cultivators in the marketplace know he was a newcomer.

    Previously, he had also sold Spirit Rice and shown that he had a storage bag, all of which gave the Loose Cultivators ideas about robbing him.

    Li Shiming heard the voice in his ear, but the Cultivator beside him didn''t notice; he figured this must be a secret sound transmission technique.

    Since he couldn''t reply in the same manner, he could only nod his head to acknowledge the message.

    Indeed, many of the self-discovered experiences of Loose Cultivators were erroneous, and his future as a Cultivator just starting out was not meant to be as a Loose Cultivator.

    Seeing that Li Shiming heeded his advice, Gu Jia smiled and continued his discussion with several high-status Cultivators.

    "Mr. Li, my surname is Hao, at Qi Refining Sixth Level. If you have any spells you''re good at, let''s exchange some insights!" Old Cultivator Hao had appeared beside Li Shiming at some point, offering his suggestions with a smile.

    He seemed to be preparing to mentor a junior, acting as if he was caring for Li Shiming on Gu Jia''s request.

    But since Li Shiming entered the hall, his senses were connected to the IBMz15, and through a facial analysis program, he deduced that Old Cultivator Hao was wearing a fake smile.

    This facial analysis program was something Li Shiming had written in his spare time; it drew on the IBMz15''s extensive research on human behavior, anatomy, criminal psychology, and more, and it was modeled after several existing police facial recognition systems.

    If he were in his previous world, this program he wrote would have infringed upon many patents, but in this world, that wasn''t a concern.

    "Mr. Hao, I haven''t learned any spells. What I''m best at is the ''Light Body Technique''!" Li Shiming replied very cautiously, pretending to be quite shy.

    He was only 16 after his birthday, and his behavior was in line with his age.

    "I also have some insights into the ''Light Body Technique.'' Why don''t you show me, and I''ll analyze it for you!" Old Cultivator Hao proposed enthusiastically.

    Gu Jia, who was speaking with someone else, glanced over here and didn''t say anything. Li Shiming would have to deal with other Cultivators in the future, and Gu Jia was confident that Old Cultivator Hao wouldn''t dare do anything to Li Shiming.

    After all, Gu Jia had just referred to Li Shiming as his young friend, and in the Central Capital region, his word carried significant weight.

    "Then I''m really thankful to Mr. Hao!" Li Shiming said, feigning excitement.

    He casually drew the Featherweight Talisman rune, intentionally slowing down, and brought a cyan light to his legs in two seconds.

    Old Cultivator Hao, seeing the cyan light on Li Shiming''s legs, breathed a sigh of relief internally.

    "It seems I was mistaken," he mused to himself.