Black Market

Time passed, and several days flew by in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Ping lived a peaceful life in the Escort Agency. Every day, he was either training or training.

During that time, he went out once to celebrate Liu Wensheng becoming an escort. The four young men, who were on good terms, rarely went to a restaurant together and drank until they were dead drunk.

After that, he immersed himself in training again.

But before long, there was nothing left for him to train.

It could not be helped. Jiang Ping cultivated far too quickly. He had never experienced the bottlenecks others encountered when breaking through. Even Fang Yong, a genius in plain sight, had periods of silence and adjustment.

Yet his path of Martial Dao advanced a thousand miles a day.

In a short time, Jiang Ping had cultivated his Stance Technique to the limit. He had already reached Ninth-Rank Perfection and was about to enter the Eighth Grade.

"I'll have to find a way to obtain an Eighth Grade technique myself."

Fortunately, Jiang Ping had over twenty taels of silver on him. It should be enough to exchange for an Eighth Grade technique at the Black Market.

Yang City's Black Market was tucked away in a corner of West City. One had to enter at a particular time, and only a small number of people knew of it.

Jiang Ping happened to be among that small number.

Back when he had sought a Stance Technique, he had spent considerable effort gathering information about it. But when it came time to truly enter the Black Market, he had lost his nerve, afraid of being murdered and robbed.

Now, Jiang Ping felt slightly dazed. His state of mind had changed. Having cultivated Saber Qi, he had plenty of confidence and no longer feared being plundered.

He sighed softly, then walked openly and honestly toward the entrance.

"Hold it!" A cold shout stopped Jiang Ping. His brows rose at once. Was some blind fool really going to make an example of him?

He saw two big men dressed in black, both clearly not to be trifled with, say expressionlessly, "You haven't paid the entrance fee."

"Oh."

Jiang Ping immediately lowered his guard somewhat. He had remembered that entering the Black Market required silver—not much, just two copper coins.

"No fighting inside the market. Otherwise, bear the consequences yourself," the man in black added.

"Understood."

The Black Market had its own rules. In some respects, the order here was even better than at the government-run markets.

It was said that the Black Market's masters were two Sixth Grade Great Experts.

That was why no one dared to run wild here.

Of course, despite the good order here, Jiang Ping changed his appearance like everyone else. Not only did he wear a mask, but he also wore a broad Black Robe, concealing both his face and gender.

With a longsaber at his waist, Jiang Ping entered, only to find that the Black Market of his imagination differed somewhat from reality.

"Chickens?" His expression turned strange as a tuft of chicken feathers drifted before his eyes.

There were many stalls before Jiang Ping, and cries of vendors rang out without end. Yet the most common goods seemed to be roosters, eggs, and the like, sold by nearby villagers.

Where were the shady goods? Where was the jianghu he had been promised?

Why were there only ordinary merchants?

"Friend, want some chicken?" An older woman waved a large rooster in front of Jiang Ping. He hurriedly shook his head and waved his hands.

"Calling it a Black Market is probably giving it too much credit. It's merely a slightly special gathering place for stalls. There may be treasures here, but likely not many."

Jiang Ping mulled it over as he walked.

Just as he had guessed, the deeper he went into the Black Market, the vendors' cries changed from eggs and pork to Blood Ginseng, mulberries, and items related to Martial Dao.

"Fresh Lingxi Meat! Two taels of silver per jin! First come, first served!"

"Stance Technique! Jidao Martial Academy's Stance Technique! I'm practically weeping as I sell it off cheap—only five taels of silver!"

"Scorching Sun Swordplay! I stole the ancestral Sword Art of Jidao Martial Academy's Deputy Head! Anyone who wants it, come buy it quick! Once you pass this village, there won't be another shop!"

Listening to these cries, Jiang Ping finally felt that he had come to the right place.

But many of these stolen goods seemed to come from Jidao Martial Academy?

Before long, he understood why. Someone said in dissatisfaction, "Can you stop using Jidao Martial Academy's name every time you sell something? Scorching Sun Swordplay? This is clearly trash that can't even produce Sword Qi."

As the peddler selling Sword Art packed up his things, he laughed. "Jidao Martial Academy's reputation is formidable. If I don't fly your banner, why would anyone buy?"

The peddler left. Anyone who could see through the Sword Art he sold at a glance was probably an expert even within Jidao Martial Academy.

Jiang Ping could not help moving away from that man in black who had exposed his own background. Though he disliked that Martial Academy, now was not the time to have dealings with them.

Then he continued deeper inside and finally found what he wanted in a hidden corner.

"Friend, take this Eighth Grade Still Autumn Technique for twenty taels of silver."

Seeing a customer, the Stall Owner immediately introduced it enthusiastically. "You know, sir, there are several Eighth Grade techniques in Yang City, but Jidao Martial Academy's Still Autumn Technique is the foremost among them. It has the highest Skin Refining efficiency and the best results, and there's even a chance of cultivating Golden Skin..."

"Fine for fooling three-year-olds, but you have the nerve to say that to a Ninth Grade Martial Artist? Golden Skin? Go ask Jidao Martial Academy's head whether he cultivated Golden Skin. Go ask Chen An, who ranks in the top ten of the Martial Examination Ranking—did he cultivate Golden Skin when he was Eighth Grade?"

The nearby vendor immediately cut in with a rebuttal, then pulled Jiang Ping over. "Come, this is Chaoyang Martial Academy's Eighth Grade technique. Its efficiency is just as high. As for Golden Skin, don't even dream of it. No one can cultivate it. But my technique costs only thirteen taels of silver."

Jiang Ping fell silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "You sell Martial Academy techniques so openly and honestly. Aren't you afraid the Martial Academies will set their sights on you?"

Hearing this, the two Stall Owners exchanged smiles. One of them said, "Techniques are indeed precious, but before Fifth Rank, nutritious food is far more important than techniques. A technique costs several dozen taels, but the money spent on food is tenfold, even a hundredfold that."

"With your current strength, sir, could you possibly have spent little silver on nutritious food?"

"That's true." Jiang Ping seemed to agree. Then he made up a lie on the spot, claiming that he had spent no less than a thousand taels on martial training, and only came to the Black Market to try his luck because he truly had no silver left.

"Exactly," the Stall Owner nodded and said:

"So think about it. If the Martial Academies want to make silver, why would they strictly guard mere Eighth Grade techniques? The more people who train them, the more Lingxi Meat and other nutritious food they'll have to buy from the Martial Academies. That's where the real money lies."

"The golden years for martial training are before thirty. If Martial Artists want to improve rapidly, they must eat the best nutritious food to go farther. So really, we're helping the Martial Academies draw in potential customers. They ought to thank us."

"..." Jiang Ping.

Selling pirated goods was one thing. Why did they have to gild their own faces?

Still, there was some truth to it. Compared to nutritious food, the silver spent obtaining techniques was indeed only a small portion of the expense.

Of course, these people dared to sell Martial Academy techniques because they must have some backing and did not fear pursuit by the Martial Academies.

That had nothing to do with him. If they dared to sell, he naturally dared to buy. His only concern was whether the techniques were genuine. After all, the peddler selling fake Sword Art had just been using a Martial Academy's name as well.