NOVEL NEXT Chapter 74 Black Market
Chapter 74 Black Market
After dinner, Xu Lian left the Lin residence, mounted the black horse Lin Chengyu had bought for him, and headed straight toward the east city gate, managing to slip out just before it closed for the night.
In Green Bamboo Town, families often ate dinner late, waiting for the men to return home with food. But in Pingyang County, the pattern was different. Dinner was much earlier, especially for wealthy households like the Lin family, who ate before nightfall. Xu Lian couldn’t help but wonder about the trend – perhaps the wealthier the family, the earlier they ate dinner?
“Hyah!”
Xu Lian spurred the horse into a gallop and raced through the countryside.
According to Hua Rongjun, the black market was located in a valley thirty miles east of the city gate. After about half an hour of riding, he arrived at the site.
As he entered, he noticed that everyone was draped in black cloaks, blending into the shadows. In contrast, his normal attire stood out like a beacon, drawing curious glances from the crowd.
Xu Lian felt a twinge of discomfort. Being identified as a newcomer in a place like the black market was risky – it marked him as an easy target for opportunists.
Quickly, he improvised by taking off his outer robe and wrapping it around his head and shoulders to mimic a cloak. Although the makeshift disguise was a bit short and awkward, it was better than nothing.
At the entrance to the valley, there was a stable where horses could be left under supervision, probably organized by the market’s hosts. Xu Lian paid a silver tael to stable his horse – a steep price for such a service, but it was the black market after all.
Once inside, he found the valley crowded with hundreds of people, yet the atmosphere was eerily silent. Buyers and sellers communicated without words; all prices were written on wooden boards, eliminating the need for haggling or discussion.
Xu Lian began browsing the stalls, examining the goods. He soon found a vendor selling Condensation Pills, but he didn’t buy immediately. Adopting the principle of comparing options, he continued exploring.
After checking all the stalls, he determined that the going price for a Condensation Pill ranged from 22 to 25 Spirit Stones.
“So much effort to scrape together these 30-odd Spirit Stones, and now I’ll have to spend over 20 of them in one go,” Xu Lian thought bitterly, feeling the sting of parting with his hard-earned wealth.
For the first time, he truly appreciated the struggles of lower-level cultivators. Even the county magistrate, a figure of considerable influence, was struggling to access cultivation resources. In the world of cultivation, as in the world of mortals, it was said that one percent of the people controlled 99 percent of the wealth.
“This is the black market. I have to be careful not to buy counterfeit goods.”
He examined the pills closely, comparing them between the stalls. Although he could use his system ability, Add Material, to verify the pill’s authenticity, he refrained – there were too many eyes here, and such an action would draw unwanted attention.
Instead, he carefully observed each pill’s color, scent, and shape, eventually selecting one that appeared authentic. It cost him 24 Spirit Stones – on the high end of the price range – but the quality seemed reliable.
After completing the purchase, Xu Lian continued to browse. He decided to look for a weapon.
The ordinary dagger he used for self-defense was no longer adequate for his growing strength. With spirit stones to spare, it was time to invest in a proper weapon.
“A sword would be ideal. It’ll complement my Breaking Wind Sword Technique and increase the power of my swordsmanship.”
Xu Lian was very clear about his goal, but when it came to weapons, he was as clueless as a beginner-after all, he was a “cultivator with a scholar’s mindset”.
Fortunately, he had his Golden Finger, which allowed him to understand the attributes of any weapon he picked up.
At one stall, he crouched down and picked up a long sword.
[Name: Xu Lian]
[Rank: Marrow Refining stage]
[Skill: Breaking Wind Sword Technique, Volume 1]
[Item: Longsword (shoddily made longsword)]
[Note: Add one Condensation Pill to advance to Bright Strength stage]
Xu Lian immediately knew that this was not the right weapon. He quietly put it down and picked up a long saber.
[Item: Long Saber (Crude Long Saber)]
Then he picked up a Meteor Hammer.
[Item: Meteor Hammer (Crude Meteor Hammer)]
“Well, well!”
Xu Lian could hardly believe it-this stall, manned by a seemingly honest middle-aged man, was selling nothing but counterfeit weapons.
“Could it be that my golden finger is too discerning, and that’s why it rates everything so poorly?”
Xu Lian didn’t jump to conclusions yet. He decided to check the other stalls and test each weapon one by one.
[Item: Double-edged Sword (shoddily made double-edged sword)]
[Item: Crescent Halberd (shoddily made crescent halberd)]
[Item: Longbow (shoddily made longbow)]
[Item: Throwing Daggers (shoddily made throwing daggers)]
He felt like he was losing his mind.
After checking over a dozen stalls and more than thirty weapons, every single one had the same “shoddily made” rating. Worse, the prices were sky-high, ranging from two or three spirit stones to several dozen!
“How is this a black market? It’s more like a scam market!” Xu Lian thought to himself in frustration.
The black market turned out to be full of counterfeit goods, which made Xu Lian somewhat anxious. He began to worry whether the Condensation Pill he had just purchased was also a counterfeit. If that was it, he’d have wasted 24 Spirit Stones.
“Maybe I should’ve listened to Hua Rongjun and gone to the more reputable places like the Treasure Pavilion in the county,” Xu Lian thought regretfully. “At least the prices there reflect the quality. Here, who knows what I’ll get?”
He sighed, realizing that it was too late to back out now. “The golden finger can only value skills and items, not the materials used for upgrading. Unless I add the materials directly, I can’t tell if they’re real or fake. But doing that here, with so many people around, would be too risky.”
He decided to continue.
“Let’s see if I can find a real sword.”
Xu Lian was determined to continue his search. He already couldn’t be bothered to inspect any more random weapons, so he focused solely on the longsword.
[Item: Longsword (shoddily made longsword)]
[Item: Longsword (shoddily made longsword)]
[Item: Longsword (1-star longsword, forged from cold iron, sturdy and sharp, enhances 10% of one’s Qi power)]
Xu Lian’s eyes narrowed. He inspected the rusty longsword that had been rated 1 star in his hands. It was clearly superior to the shoddily made swords he had seen earlier, as it had a star rating and the attributes of sturdiness, sharpness, and Qi enhancement.
The price was only 1 Spirit Stone, which was surprisingly low. The seller probably didn’t even know the value of the sword.
Xu Lian chuckled inwardly. “They’ve been selling fake goods for so long, they’ve probably started to misprice the real ones.”
Without hesitation, he bought the 1-star sword for a single spirit stone.
“I still have 8 spirit stones left. Let me keep looking. If I find something really good, I could make a profit.”
He continued his search. After inspecting all the weapon stalls in the black market, Xu Lian found that nearly all of them were selling fake goods. Only two stalls had real weapons, but the prices were exorbitant – ranging from tens to hundreds of Spirit Stones.
He couldn’t afford them, and even if he could, buying them to resell wouldn’t be profitable.
“Trying to find a bargain here is not an easy task. The cultivators who sell things on the black market aren’t fools.”
Xu Lian thought for a moment. He realized that he wasn’t limited to just identifying items – he could also appraise techniques, such as martial arts skills or secret manuals.
There weren’t many stalls selling manuals, but they weren’t completely absent. Xu Lian figured that he might as well check them out.
“If I can collect a good technique without spending any Spirit Stones, that would be a nice bonus.”
He made his way to a stall selling manuals and started flipping through them.
“The Slaughter”
“Secret of World Destruction
“Secret of Heaven’s Reverse Dragon Slaying”
The names got more and more grandiose, but there was no hint of a “collect” request. Clearly, all of them were fake.
“Let’s try the next stall.”
Xu Lian didn’t give up.
After finishing the books at that stall, none of them had the collection prompt either. Fake again.
“Next.”
Xu Lian went to the last stall selling manuals. This one was different. The vendor was an elderly man who had only two books on display, unlike the others who had hundreds.
As Xu Lian reached out to grab one, the old man raised his hand to stop him.
The old man opened the first page and showed it to Xu Lian.
[Collect…]
A prompt appeared – this was a real technique!
Xu Lian was excited, but motioned for the old man to turn to the second page. However, the old man closed the book and pointed to a sign next to him that said 50 Spirit Stones for the book.
It was clear what the old man meant: Pay first, then you can see the rest.
“…” Xu Lian froze.
At the previous stalls, he had been able to freely flip through hundreds of fake manuals. But here, he was only allowed to see the first page of a genuine manual.
“Of course,” Xu Lian realized, “no one will let you examine a real technique for free. Cultivators have much sharper memories than ordinary people, and if they let you study the whole manual, you’d just memorize it and never pay.”