Zi Lingling smiled without speaking, and Master Dong couldn't quite grasp her intention, so he quickly opened the fifth box.
The fifth box contained a Pearl Bone-Penetrating Grass, which appeared to be about two thousand years old.
Pearl Bone-Penetrating Grass was the main ingredient for refining Divine-grade Restoration Pills, and the older it was, the more potent its medicinal effects.
Its growth conditions were extremely harsh, requiring places where both the law of water and the law of fire were equally dense, meaning extremes of water and fire.
Precisely because of this, Pearl Bone-Penetrating Grass was very rare.
The sixth box contained a purple-black, ovate, urn-shaped berry—the Nan E Duo Lian Fruit.
The Nan E Duo Lian Fruit was the fruit of the Nan E Duo Lian Tree, which grew on the edge of extreme earth. It was an extremely important auxiliary ingredient for refining detoxification pills.
Legend had it that the Nan E Duo Lian Fruit Tree sprouted after a thousand years, grew for a thousand years, flowered for a thousand years, and bore fruit for a thousand years, yielding only thirty-three fruits, which then took another thousand years to mature.
In other words, each Nan E Duo Lian Fruit had to be nourished by five thousand years of heaven and earth spiritual energy, which demonstrated its rarity.
The seventh box contained a set of armor, emanating a strong phoenix fire.
This armor was called the Nirvana Armor, crafted from thousand-year-old Phoenix Perch Parasol wood, and it could grant immunity to fire-elemental laws.
The eighth box contained a Divine-grade Soul Skill—the Soul Severing and Soul Seizing Art.
Coincidentally, this Divine-grade Soul Skill required the use of small weapons such as needles, small knives, and daggers when performed.
For Zi Lingling, the ghost-hand poison doctor, such weapons were child's play.
Zi Lingling even suspected that the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce had investigated her beforehand, which was why they had sought out a soul skill tailor-made for her.
The ninth box contained a sheepskin scroll that looked like a map.
However, when Zi Lingling opened it, she was so startled that she stumbled.
The place depicted on the map was none other than where she had found the Human Emperor's Pharmacopoeia in her previous life—the Human Emperor's Cave.
Zi Lingling asked in shock, "Master Dong, how does your Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce have this map?"
Master Dong was taken aback and said, "I don't know either! When I took it out of the storeroom, it clearly contained a Divine-grade pill. How did it turn into a map?"
"Ah..."
Zi Lingling, Xuanyuan Xun, Shangguan Yulin, Rong Guang, and Shen Liuxing all cried out in surprise.
According to Master Dong's account, the map must have replaced the Divine-grade pill very recently.
But who could have performed such a heaven-defying act, undetected, within the heavily guarded Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce, right under Master Dong's nose?
Furthermore, this map depicted the Human Emperor's Cave, which Zi Lingling had visited in her previous life. Clearly, the person who swapped the Divine-grade pill intended for this map to fall into Zi Lingling's hands.
"Who is it? Why would they do this? What are they trying to tell me?"
Questions flooded Zi Lingling's mind, nearly tangling her thoughts.
"Sister Zi, what does this map show?"
Shen Liuxing asked, seeing Zi Lingling's bewildered expression.
Zi Lingling gave a wry smile and spread the map flat on the table.
She wasn't afraid of others seeing it, as she believed that apart from herself, no one present could understand what the map depicted.
As expected, the others' eyes almost popped out of their sockets, but they couldn't decipher the location shown on the map.
"Never mind, don't look at it!"
Zi Lingling calmed herself, put away the map, and asked, "Master Dong, why is the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce giving me so many precious items?"
Master Dong smiled and said, "I knew Miss Zi would ask! It's nothing much, just that your bottle of Spring of Life made our Chamber of Commerce quite a profit, so the Chamber of Commerce decided to give you some return gifts!"
"It can be like that?"
Shangguan Yulin asked in astonishment.
Since ancient times, merchants had always felt they hadn't earned enough, wanting to stuff all the money in the world into their own pockets.
This was the first time he had heard of a merchant giving a customer a return gift because they had earned too much.
"The Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce's move is truly astonishing!" Rong Guang also said speechlessly.
"Interesting!" Xuanyuan Xun mused with a wry smile.
"Indeed, strange things happen every year, but today is particularly eventful!" Shen Liuxing also quipped playfully.
Zi Lingling was also perplexed by the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce's actions. After a long pause, she said, "Return gifts? There are even return gifts? Your Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce is truly a first in history! Since that's the case, I won't stand on ceremony!"
As she spoke, she lightly brushed her right hand across the tabletop, and the nine items on the table vanished.
Simultaneously, a pile of items appeared in her Nine Spirits Ring, which were precisely the return gifts from the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce.
"He who does not take advantage of a good deal is a fool!"
Zi Lingling muttered to herself, then said to Master Dong, "Master Dong, if you have nothing else, we should be leaving. I imagine someone is eagerly awaiting us!"
Eagerly awaiting?
Master Dong paused, then quickly understood her meaning.
"Miss Zi, since you know there's a tiger in the mountains, why do you insist on going there? Why not stay a little longer at our Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce to avoid trouble!"
Zi Lingling shook her head and said, "As I said, we are in a hurry and there's no need to delay our journey for some petty individuals who are not worth mentioning. Besides, who is troubling whom is yet to be determined!"
Shangguan Yulin quickly chimed in, "Exactly! They are nothing more than mere cats and dogs, unworthy of being called tigers!"
Rong Guang, Xuanyuan Xun, and Shen Liuxing nodded in agreement.
Zi Lingling smiled brilliantly and said, "We appreciate Master Dong's kind offer. We cannot delay further, so we shall take our leave!"
After saying this, she led the way outside.
Master Dong wanted to stop them but ultimately said nothing.
Seeing this, Xuanyuan Xun, Rong Guang, Shangguan Yulin, and Shen Liuxing thanked Master Dong and then hurried after her.
Master Dong watched their retreating figures and smiled helplessly, "It seems the Chaos Metropolis is due for a reshuffle! Should the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce take a side!"
Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the entire Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce.
"All Divine Kings of the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce, receive this order: secretly escort the five individuals out of the Chaos Metropolis, and do not reveal your identities."
"Yes!"
A resounding voice answered from within the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce.
Immediately after, figures began to stealthily emerge from the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce, secretly following Zi Lingling and her companions.
As soon as Zi Lingling and the other four stepped out of the Nine Realms Chamber of Commerce, they felt hundreds of ill-intentioned gazes fixed upon them.
"Keep walking, don't stop!"
Zi Lingling said calmly, without even raising an eyelid.