Chainmail, Entering the Black Market Again

"Young Master, was this Li Sanlang really worth doing so much for?"

The carriage rolled slowly onward, its wooden wheels passing over the dirt road and crushing across stretches of connected blue bricks.

This was the Eastern District of the Outer City, also its wealthy quarter. Not only were the mansions grand and magnificent, but the local gentry had even replaced the streets with brick and stone.

"Li Cunxiao is not only talented, but also honest and loyal."

"I asked around. Gao Cheng befriended him when he was still poor and humble. Now he is merely an escort master himself, yet he dared wade into the muddy waters of the county yamen for a friend."

"Tonight, he explained martial arts to Qin Yu and me with all his heart. Every word struck straight at the vital point, showing his talent. He did not clutch his broom as though it were a treasure, which showed the breadth of his heart even more."

"Befriending a man like that is worth ten men, a hundred men!"

Having said that, He Bi smiled again.

"Besides, a hundred taels of silver will not break my bones. At worst, I will not visit the flower houses this month."

The coachman outside the carriage could not help teasing him when he heard that.

"If that truly happens, Old Master will probably have to personally thank Li Sanlang."

"Uncle Zhang, honestly."

He Bi laughed and shook his head. In truth, there was another reason he had not mentioned.

This Uncle Zhang driving the carriage was actually a martial artist at Blood Qi Perfection. He had stayed here only because he had received kindness from the old master of the He family.

Beyond that, the He family had also trained several capable men in the Blood Qi Realm themselves. However, the few resident experts of the Second Realm—the Muscle Realm—were all guest retainers hired at great expense.

In other words, although the He family was one of the foremost wealthy merchant families in the Outer City, it possessed no true core strength of its own.

As the world grew ever more chaotic, both father and son of the He family felt a sense of crisis. Sending He Bi to learn martial arts was also Old Master He's small hope that his son would make something of himself.

Whether he could make something of himself was hard to say, but when Li Cunxiao gained the Chief Escort's appreciation and was granted an Internal Cultivation Method ahead of time, He Bi immediately realized that his own opportunity had arrived.

Forget a hundred taels of patterned silver. If Li Cunxiao could reach Great Accomplishment of Blood Qi within half a year, he would immediately persuade the old man to increase his investment.

Otherwise, once the man reached Blood Qi Perfection, everyone would know Li Cunxiao had a chance to break through to the Second Realm. Adding flowers to brocade then could never compare to sending charcoal in the snow.

Still, it was too early to speak of such things. What troubled him now was how he would explain spending a hundred taels of silver in one go when he returned home shortly.

"When wealth and rank come, do not forget me; when brothers are made, keep them in your heart."

"When I soar high and rise in splendor, I definitely will not forget you, Brother He."

Watching the carriage's rattling silhouette disappear into the distance, Li Cunxiao clutched the silver against his chest and felt his heart grow warm.

Money had to be spent while the iron was hot!

After returning from the escort mission, he had one day of rest. The next morning, Li Cunxiao rose early.

He first practiced a set of punches in the courtyard, continuing to familiarize himself with the explosive state after activating the Minor Circulation of Blood Qi.

Based on his experiments, if he did not maintain the explosive state continuously but returned to normal within one minute of activating it, the fatigue would still remain, yet it would not drain him dry. He could still retain seventy percent of his combat strength.

"Before reaching Blood Qi Perfection, it seems the key to battle is one word: fast."

"If I am fast enough, I can suppress the body's expenditure to the minimum and preserve the greatest possible amount of combat strength against unforeseen circumstances."

Chewing on a flatbread, Li Cunxiao pondered as he passed through the bustling streets.

Chuqiu City showed no signs of desolation for the moment. Yet whenever he occasionally saw poorly clothed children curled blankly in filthy water, Li Cunxiao would think of the demons lurking along the roads during the escort mission.

Danger was drawing ever closer. He needed more means to protect himself.

"So this is the Sun Family Blacksmith Shop Old Brother Qian mentioned."

Li Cunxiao glanced at the signboard and strode inside. Half the surrounding walls displayed everyday ironware, while the other half held short sabers and short swords, making for a rather mismatched sight.

"What might this guest be looking to buy?"

An old man approached with a smiling face, though upon closer inspection, there was a trace of nervousness in his eyes.

Li Cunxiao immediately explained.

"Qian Laosan recommended me. He said you could make some small things here for protection."

The old man's expression immediately relaxed, and he led Li Cunxiao into the inner room.

"Hahaha, so you are a friend of Escort Master Qian. You must have heard of our craftsmanship. Please take a look and see whether any of these catch your eye."

Li Cunxiao passed through two doors, walked past blacksmiths and apprentices working in full swing, and amid the unceasing clangor of hammering iron, picked up a saber hanging on the wall.

It had a ring pommel, a handle sheathed within its scabbard, and two ear-shaped suspension loops on the scabbard for hanging from a belt.

Drawing it from its sheath, he saw a narrow, slightly inward-curving blade some sixty centimeters long. Its tip slanted straight, and its cold gleam was biting.

This was a standard Hengdao.

Martial artists of this age mostly used sabers and spears. The dynasty's sabers came in four forms, of which the Hengdao and the Modao were the most commonly used.

The Hengdao was a one-handed saber, often used alongside a shield. Cui Yao trained the escort masters of the escort agency in this manner.

The Modao was a two-handed blade sharpened on both sides, thus also called a sword-tip saber. It was a weapon similar to a Horse-Slaying Saber and several times heavier than a Hengdao. Without strength and courage, one could not wield it as easily as one's own arm.

Thus, people often said that to judge a blacksmith's skill, one only needed to see the Hengdao he forged. If he could not even make the most basic thing well, there was no point expecting anything else.

Li Cunxiao looked at the saber before him. Though it was no peerless blade that sliced iron like mud, it was still a sharp weapon. He immediately said, "I want a suit of chainmail made."

The old man was delighted upon hearing this. Compared to sabers and swords, armor was naturally far more expensive as a prohibited item.

With the world about to descend into chaos, who still cared whether something was banned or not?

"Sixty taels of silver. One month to complete it."

Li Cunxiao frowned at once.

Whether it was expensive or not aside, it took too long. He was buying it in preparation for his next escort mission.

"Can it be faster?"

The old man immediately looked troubled.

"Guest, we do not only do business for you. Armor takes a long time, and until we finish the other customers' orders, we cannot spare the manpower for yours."

There was a queue?

Li Cunxiao thought for a moment. "Do you have any finished chainmail? Bring it for me to see."

The old man gave an order, and before long, a young man brought out a suit of chainmail that had yet to be ground and polished.

This chainmail was woven from over ten thousand small iron rings layered atop one another. It looked like a round-collared robe made of iron rings, with sleeves and a hem reaching down to the knees.

Seeing that it was roughly suited to his build, Li Cunxiao simply tried it on.

To be honest, it weighed at least twenty or thirty jin. But he was already at Great Accomplishment of Blood Qi, so it barely affected his movements and could be called nimble. After thinking for a while, Li Cunxiao came up with a compromise.

"How about this? Make this chainmail into a half-armored short-sleeved style, and shorten it to one inch below the roots of my thighs. How quickly can I get it?"

The old man stroked his beard and considered.

"If it is like that, it can be completed in half a month."

"What if you skip steps such as polishing? I can pay extra."

Li Cunxiao was buying chainmail for protection. Whether it looked good or not was outside his considerations.

"This..."

The old man hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.

"Then this shop will still charge you sixty taels of silver. Come inspect it in ten days."

Using less material yet charging the original price. In these troubled times, the armor trade truly was making outrageous profits.

Li Cunxiao felt a sting in his heart, but he still took out the banknotes he had exchanged into smaller denominations in advance and drew out three ten-tael notes as a deposit.

The old man knew how to do business. Before Li Cunxiao left, he gave him a short saber. Other than lacking the ear-shaped suspension loops, it was a smaller ring-pommel saber.

Li Cunxiao tested it. Its sharpness was about the same as the one issued by the escort agency, but that one bore the agency's mark and was inconvenient to use in secret situations. The old man's gift had come at exactly the right time.

After settling the matter of armor, Li Cunxiao visited the major apothecaries, probing indirectly in hopes of acquiring some poison.

Unfortunately, he never found anything satisfactory. Most of it was merely common arsenic and the like.

The Sun Family Blacksmith Shop had only been recommended after Qian Laosan and other escort masters had patronized it. After all, when traveling outside with only a piece of leather armor, one could never truly feel at ease.

But the others rarely used poison. They were escort masters of an escort agency, not assassins skulking in the underworld.

"Looks like I can only visit the black market tonight."

Seeing that half a day remained, Li Cunxiao simply went to the Zhang residence to pick up Wood Fork.

Previously, whenever he brought Wood Fork home, Que'er would pull a long face. At such a young age, she was already besotted with male beauty and wished Wood Fork could accompany her day and night.

But when he saw her this time, the little girl was unexpectedly timid and shrinking. There was even fear in her eyes when she looked at Li Cunxiao. She had likely been frightened by his fierce appearance when he acted at the county yamen.

Wood Fork was naturally delighted to see his elder brother. He chattered all the way, telling him how many books he had read, how many characters he had learned, whom he had met, what delicious food the Madam and Third Lady had given him, and how mischievous Que'er was.

Li Cunxiao merely smiled and echoed him, taking his younger brother to eat snacks and watch street performances. Only as dusk approached did he send the reluctant Wood Fork back.

For now, Wood Fork was only a young page who could accompany Que'er in her studies. If Li Cunxiao could become Zhang Lishi's personal disciple, would his younger brother also rise with the tide, encounter martial arts earlier than him, and lay a solid foundation?

The troubled times were coming. Li Cunxiao could not remain beside Wood Fork at every moment, and Zhang Lishi was not an invincible powerhouse who could sweep all before him. Not only did he need to grow stronger, Wood Fork needed to grow stronger as well—at the very least, he needed the strength to protect himself.

But that was a matter for later.

As the sky darkened and night draped over the land like a light veil, Li Cunxiao changed into dark night-traveling clothes, blackened his entire face with charcoal, then covered it with a mask. After winding through several turns, he slipped into the black market.

After only a few days, the black market seemed to have become even more bustling. More young boys and girls had been locked in cages, while vendors stood beside them with signs, clearly marked with prices in charcoal.

All manner of strange beast meat was laid out on stalls. Someone without experience would likely be deceived.

But Li Cunxiao could barely count himself as a connoisseur of Demon Meat. As he walked along, he could distinguish the real from the fake seven or eight times out of ten, until he finally circled back to an old acquaintance's stall.

"How much per jin for Demon Meat?"

"Five taels."

The stall owner still wore the same indifferent expression, but Li Cunxiao was startled upon hearing the price.

The last time he had come, it was only three taels per jin. In half a month, the price had nearly doubled!

Seeing that Li Cunxiao said nothing, the stall owner, though he had explained it many times today, still spoke impatiently.

"There is war everywhere now, famine everywhere. Refugees, soldiers, bandits, demons—they are everywhere."

"The same jin of meat is no longer as easy to get as before."

"Besides, there are more people practicing martial arts now. If prices do not rise at a time like this, when should they rise?"

You sure sounded righteous about it.

Li Cunxiao was naturally displeased. At the original price, he had planned to buy a month's supply in one go.

But at five taels per jin, He Bi's gift had forty taels remaining, while he himself had around thirty taels. He could not possibly spend it all; he needed to keep roughly ten taels for emergencies.

Sixty taels of silver would only buy twelve jin. At half a jin a day, it could support him for a little over half a month, enough to fill the Vajra Scepter once.

Once he became a personal disciple, the escort agency would naturally provide cultivation resources. The pressure would ease somewhat then.

But Li Cunxiao did not purchase it immediately. Instead, he turned and entered the Firewood Gang's shop.

"Guest, what would you like to see?"

"I bought Demon Meat from you before. The quality was decent. This time, I wanted to ask whether you have anything better."

The clerk was tall and powerfully built, clearly someone who had practiced martial arts. Hearing Li Cunxiao's question, his expression turned solemn. After offering an apology, he went to the inner room and invited out a middle-aged man who looked like a shopkeeper.

"The guest wants higher-quality Demon Meat?"

Seeing Li Cunxiao nod, the man smiled faintly.

"An honored guest may first pay a deposit to reserve it. Once we have stock..."

Li Cunxiao frowned. "No stock on hand?"

"You jest, guest. How can Second Order Demons be so easy to find? Even if one is found, several martial artists of the Muscle Realm must surround and kill it before they can be completely certain."

"You may go outside and ask. Which stall out there would dare claim it has a source of Second Order Demon Meat?"

Second Order Demon Meat?

Li Cunxiao's mind turned, and he immediately understood. The meat in this shop's cabinets and on the outside stalls was all First Order Demon Meat.

The higher the price, the more Blood Qi it retained while removing Killing Intent.

But compared to Blood Qi, he needed the Killing Intent within Demon Flesh and Blood more to accumulate Obstacle-Breaking Power.

No matter how Second Order Demon Meat was processed, its Killing Intent should be stronger than that of First Order Demon Meat, right?

"How much is Second Order Demon Meat?"

"One hundred taels per jin."

"Fuck."

One hundred taels per jin. It was more than three times as expensive as the First Order Demon Meat in the Firewood Gang's shop!

At half a jin a day, that was fifty taels of silver. A month's supply would cost one thousand five hundred taels of silver!

"Shopkeeper, is your Second Order Demon Meat made of gold?"

Seeing Li Cunxiao's tone turn cold, the shopkeeper did not grow nervous. He merely smiled lightly.

"If the guest finds it expensive, you may also take a look in the Inner City. Perhaps you will find a lower price and better quality there?"

If I had connections in the Inner City, why would I come to your black market?

Li Cunxiao nearly turned and left, but after considering it over and over, he still left a five-tael deposit before walking out of the shop beneath the shopkeeper's smile.

To put it plainly, with the Inner City monopolizing high-grade resources, the Firewood Gang's black market held a monopoly over common martial artists like them and reaped enormous profits. No matter how high the prices were, they could only pinch their noses and accept it.

It was like the water-circle players of his previous life. For the same price, they could buy real iron abroad and go to the range, but at home they could only buy water-egg launchers and secretly indulge themselves indoors.

The Vajra Scepter was the foundation upon which he stood. Even if he bought only one or two liang of meat, he had to taste a Second Order Demon, assess its effects, and only then could he accumulate Obstacle-Breaking Power more efficiently in the future.

As his realm rose, the effect of Demon Meat grew increasingly poor. To maintain his original cultivation speed, he had to be willing to spend silver.

"How is it? Could not afford the Firewood Gang's goods, so you still had to come back to me?"

The stall owner looked at the returning Li Cunxiao with undisguised glee.

"Give me twelve jin."

"Only ten jin remain."

Business was this good?

Li Cunxiao did not delay this time.

"I'll take it all."

While the stall owner packed the meat, Li Cunxiao asked as if casually, "Brother, do you have any way of getting Second Order Demon Meat?"

"I have a way to get you into the belly of a Second Order Demon. Want it?"

So he did not.

Li Cunxiao painfully left fifty taels of silver behind and turned to leave. These independent martial artists truly had their limits. In terms of supply quality and capability, they ultimately could not compare to an organized force.

"Now I can only hope that I will receive the escort agency's resources after breaking through to Blood Qi Perfection. Otherwise, I will have to find some unorthodox way to make money."

"Money, money."

Clutching the Demon Meat to his chest, Li Cunxiao hurried out of the black market. But just as he reached the exit, faint, subtle footsteps suddenly sounded by his ear.

I'm being watched?