Black Market

After the three had finished a jar of wine, Ye Xiaofan pretended he could not hold his liquor and saw the other two off.

He then began disguising himself, dressing up as a dark-faced middle-aged swordsman. After carving a simple mask, he headed toward the Black Market.

The Black Market was located within a massive estate in the east of the city—Four Seas Manor.

On the surface, it was controlled by the Four Seas Gang, but its true master was Qingyang County's most mysterious expert, the County Governor.

According to Zhang and Li, since the County Governor had taken office in Qingyang County ten years ago, he had only appeared in public twice. Once was on the day he assumed office, when he summoned the Aristocratic Clans of Qingyang County and the Demon Suppression Division's Hundred Households Officer. The other was when Left Thousand Households Officer broke through to Ninth Level Body Refinement at the age of twenty. Ten years had passed, yet only a handful of people in all of Qingyang County had seen him.

Ye Xiaofan paused briefly before the main gate, then walked straight inside.

Seeing Ye Xiaofan wearing a mask, with his blood qi blazing like fire, a guard stepped forward and said, "Go forward a hundred paces, turn left at the corridor, and keep going until you reach the end. Pass through the Stone Gate, and you'll be there."

Ye Xiaofan nodded at the guard. "Thank you!"

Following the guard's directions, Ye Xiaofan quickly arrived before the Stone Gate.

Passing through it felt like stepping into another world. The temperature suddenly dropped by several degrees.

Looking ahead, he saw a brightly lit valley. A broad road paved with bluestone slabs led straight to a three-story pavilion at the end of the valley.

Three enormous golden characters, dancing like dragons and soaring like phoenixes, were written upon the massive plaque—Sihai Pavilion.

Cultivators in all manner of attire sat quietly before their stalls on both sides of the bluestone road. Passing cultivators would occasionally stop before stalls that caught their interest.

The only thing these cultivators had in common was that, like Ye Xiaofan, they had wrapped themselves up tightly, revealing not a single trace of their faces.

As he walked along the bluestone road, Ye Xiaofan took in the goods displayed at the countless stalls.

Most were medicinal herbs, pills, demon and monster sinews, bones, and hides, or weapons. A small number displayed strange and peculiar items, along with battered old booklets.

The farther in he went, the more precious the items on the stalls became. Yet he never saw a stall selling cultivation techniques. Still, a damaged copy of "Basic Pill Refining Art," with only a few pages remaining, caught his interest.

Its price, however, made him click his tongue in disbelief—five hundred taels.

Ye Xiaofan made his way to Sihai Pavilion at the end of the bluestone road. Outside the pavilion, several groups stood around chatting idly, though their gazes kept drifting toward its interior.

When Ye Xiaofan appeared, their eyes lit up.

Ye Xiaofan glanced at them and walked into Sihai Pavilion.

The moment he entered, a scantily clad woman with certain parts of her body half-hidden and half-revealed greeted him with a smile.

"Greetings, honored guest. Do you require assistance? Sihai Pavilion sells all kinds of information, medicinal herbs, pills, weapons, cultivation techniques, and demon and monster materials. We have everything you could want. This little woman can recommend and introduce them to you."

The woman dipped gracefully, revealing a terrifyingly deep cleavage as she smiled.

"Do you have any mid-grade cultivation techniques? How much are low-grade cultivation techniques?"

Ye Xiaofan hesitated for a moment. In the end, he did not ask whether they had information on the cause of Ye Tianhe's death, instead asking about cultivation techniques.

There were quite a few people inside Sihai Pavilion. Most were accompanied by alluring women as they examined the items they fancied at one counter after another.

"Low-grade cultivation techniques cost twelve hundred taels of silver. You may also trade Blood Qi Pills. If you use Blood Qi Pills, you need only eleven. As for mid-grade cultivation techniques, they only appear occasionally at the auction held on the fifteenth of each month."

The woman seemed accustomed to customers like Ye Xiaofan and explained all his questions in one breath.

"Do you purchase cultivation techniques?"

"If you wish to sell cultivation techniques, honored guest, this little woman does not have that authority. Please wait a moment while I call the shopkeeper."

The woman still wore an enticing smile, showing no surprise at Ye Xiaofan wanting to sell cultivation techniques.

"Mm."

Ye Xiaofan nodded, then followed the woman's directions into a room where calming incense was burning and waited.

Not long after,

"I am the shopkeeper of Sihai Pavilion. Is this honored guest looking to sell cultivation techniques?"

A hearty laugh sounded from outside the door. A short, fat, round man wearing a bronze evil-ghost mask and jeweled rings on all ten fingers walked in.

The pair of small eyes exposed beneath the mask gleamed with the shrewd light a merchant ought to possess.

Ye Xiaofan sized up Qian Panghai, secretly on guard. This man's blood qi was dense, and his strength was far from ordinary. He gave Ye Xiaofan much the same feeling as Sun Wude.

Qian Panghai likewise examined Ye Xiaofan. His blood qi was hidden, yet it carried the faint bearing of a fierce tiger lying in ambush. His cultivation technique had surely been trained to an extremely profound level, and Qian Panghai could not help growing more cautious.

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"That's right. How does Sihai Pavilion purchase them?"

"Honored guest, there is no need to rush. There are some matters that must be made clear first."

Qian Panghai clasped his hands in salute toward Ye Xiaofan, then sat down across from him.

"Sihai Pavilion only purchases cultivation techniques that we have not recorded. If we already have them, we will not buy them. Furthermore, after selling the cultivation techniques to Sihai Pavilion, you must swear a Great Dao Oath that you will not pass them on to others. What do you think, honored guest?"

After speaking, Qian Panghai lifted his teacup and took a sip, but his gaze never left Ye Xiaofan.

Ye Xiaofan nodded and took two booklets from his robe, tossing them over.

Qian Panghai caught the booklets, and a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Black Tiger Roaring Mountain Technique, Black Tiger Saber Technique.

These were the Black Tiger Gang's cultivation techniques. As a hall master of the Four Seas Gang, Qian Panghai had dealt with the Black Tiger Gang plenty of times and knew these two techniques.

However, the Four Seas Gang had the Qian family at its back and did not fear the Black Tiger Gang.

After casually flipping through several pages and confirming that there was no problem with the cultivation techniques, Qian Panghai looked up at Ye Xiaofan and said,

"Sihai Pavilion indeed does not have these two low-grade cultivation techniques. According to our usual purchasing price, a low-grade cultivation technique is worth eight hundred taels or eight Blood Qi Pills.

"I assume this is your first visit to Sihai Pavilion, honored guest. Consider it the start of a friendship—nine hundred taels or nine Blood Qi Pills for each technique. What do you think?"

That was downright black-hearted!

That was Ye Xiaofan's first reaction. Low-grade cultivation techniques sold for twelve hundred taels, yet they were only bought for eight hundred—a clean profit of four hundred taels.

No wonder this man reeked of money. It made him sick with envy and jealousy. If he could rob the man blind, perhaps he would never have to worry about money again.

Seeing Ye Xiaofan fall into thought, Qian Panghai was in no hurry. He raised his teacup and waited quietly.

At this moment, Ye Xiaofan was secretly calculating how to make the trade in a way that would maximize the improvement of his strength.

At present, cultivation consumed two pills a day. As his realm rose, the rate at which he consumed Blood Qi Pills would only become faster.

Eighteen Blood Qi Pills seemed like a lot, but he estimated they would not last even nine days.

Furthermore, the Sword Drawing Technique had yet to be simplified, and the Black Tiger Roaring Mountain Technique had yet to be fused into the Withered Wood Meets Spring Technique. All of that required money.

After giving it some thought, Ye Xiaofan looked back up at Qian Panghai.

"Shopkeeper, I would like to exchange them for sixteen Blood Qi Pills and two hundred taels of silver. Would that be possible?"

One hundred taels would be used to fuse cultivation techniques, while the other hundred would be used to buy meat after the Blood Qi Pills ran out.

At his current cultivation speed, sixteen Blood Qi Pills would be enough for him to break through to the Third Level of Body Refinement. Then he could take the assessment, become an official Demon Suppressing Guard, and accept missions to earn merit and silver.

"Very well!"

Afterward, Ye Xiaofan swore a Great Dao Oath. It was simple, much like the one used by the Demon Suppression Division: he was forbidden from selling the cultivation techniques, or his cultivation would never advance another step, and he would suffer qi deviation and die.

Once the deal was complete, Ye Xiaofan did not linger.

Qian Panghai watched Ye Xiaofan leave, his hands behind his back as he pondered something.

Suddenly, a person clad entirely in black and wearing a black iron evil-ghost mask appeared behind Qian Panghai.

"Hall Master, should I follow him?"

"No need. Sell Zhang Dahu the information that someone has sold Black Tiger Gang cultivation techniques."

Ye Xiaofan left Four Seas Manor at an unhurried pace, then slipped into a pitch-black alley.

Once Wind God Steps at the subtle realm was unleashed, he became like a faint breeze in the night, blending into the darkness.

Not long after Ye Xiaofan left, three people wearing opera masks appeared.

"Big Brother, he got away."

"Damn it, lucky bastard."

From a dark corner, Ye Xiaofan silently watched the three of them.

Two were at the Second Level of Body Refinement, while one was at the First Level of Body Refinement.

Who had given them the courage to dare ambush and kill him? Was this some brain-dead plotline where they were rushing over to deliver resources to him?