Could It Be This Terrifying?

"Chen Mo, have you really become a martial artist?" Incredulity hung on Chen Ying's face.

Yet looking at Chen Mo's calm expression at the moment, he developed a strong prehension that this was real.

Nearby, Chen Yuqi, who had initially thought Chen Mo was merely joking, also restrained the smile on her face at this moment.

"Mn."

Nodding faintly—seeing is believing, while hearing is doubtful—Chen Mo said nothing more. He gripped the edge of the wooden table with his right hand, his thumb exerting sudden force, and a clearly visible fingerprint appeared right on the tabletop.

This was still with him holding back his strength; if he had been willing, he could have made it far more exaggerated, but there was no need.

Back in the Inner Strength Realm, his strength had already exceeded a thousand jin, and now having broken through to the Divine Strength Realm, his body had completed its metamorphosis over the past few days. He could sense that his current strength was likely no less than three thousand jin.

Chen Mo did not know what kind of standard his strength was considered in the Divine Strength Realm; he only knew one thing, and that was that... the present him was very strong, and there was no need to conceal things in front of people from the same village.

Gulp.

Watching the fingerprint on the thick, solid-wood tabletop, Chen Ying swallowed hard, while Chen Yuqi at the side wore a look of shock.

She had originally thought that Chen Mo coming to the martial arts school to find them meant he hoped to gain their help, that he wanted to join a martial arts school and rely on them for looking after him; since they were all from the same village, it was certainly his duty to help.

Now it seemed they had overthought it.

As a martial artist, where on earth would Chen Mo still need their help?

"Chen Mo, you definitely aren't just in the Strength Refining Realm. You couldn't already have reached the Inner Strength Realm, could you?" Chen Yuqi reacted first.

Chen Mo nodded once more, and before he could speak, Chen Ying drew in a sharp breath:

"Hiss, the Inner Strength Realm!"

He hadn't even reached the Strength Refining Realm himself, yet Chen Mo was even younger than him and unexpectedly was already a martial artist of the Inner Strength Realm, sharing the exact same realm as their martial arts school's master. Did he have to be this terrifying?!

He didn't doubt the veracity of Chen Mo's words in the slightest; just with that single display just now, those senior apprentice brothers of theirs at the martial arts school with their noses turned up to the sky couldn't have pulled it off. Probably only their master could manage it.

The crux of the matter was that Chen Mo had no reason to lie; they had nothing worth lying for.

In the time that followed, even though Chen Mo's tone and demeanor were completely unchanged from before, they could still feel that the atmosphere between them had shifted. Whether it was Chen Ying or Chen Yuqi, they spoke with a slightly cautious air.

Without exposing the little thoughts currently running through the two people's minds, Chen Mo asked seemingly casually:

"Is the master of the Zheng Family Martial Arts School only in the Inner Strength Realm?"

"Yes."

Returning the reply, Chen Ying looked at Chen Mo and said earnestly, "Chen Mo, if you want to join a martial arts school to study martial arts, you should still go to the Inner City. The masters of all the martial arts schools in the Outer City are only in the Inner Strength Realm."

"Yeah, with a talent as good as yours, you ought to go develop in the Inner City. The resources of the martial arts schools there simply aren't something the Outer City can compare to. In particular, the True Martial and Fierce Tiger Two Great Martial Arts Schools—I've heard their masters are both in the Divine Valor Realm!" Chen Yuqi added another sentence.

Although she suddenly felt a sense of distance between herself and Chen Mo, they still considered things for Chen Mo as best as they could.

Hearing this, Chen Mo saw that the expressions of the two were sincere, and directly brought up his own doubt:

"The tuition for Inner City martial arts schools must be very expensive, right?"

"Well, about that... we actually don't know much about the situation in the Inner City. We've only heard senior apprentice brothers mention it a few times. I heard that you can eat exotic beast meat in the Inner City's martial arts schools." Chen Ying and Chen Yuqi both looked a little embarrassed.

Because the silver on hand was limited, the two of them didn't know many people here in the county town, and both their food and lodging were inside the martial arts school, they basically spent every day training within the grounds. Occasionally they would come out to treat themselves or take on extremely low-risk tasks, and they had never even left the Outer City.

If you can't find the book title, you can try searching for the author; maybe it just changed its name!

Their understanding of the county town wasn't actually deep.

"Exotic beast meat... I wonder how its effects compare to the Great Tonic Soup at the medicine shop?" Chen Mo was rather curious.

When he previously broke through to the Divine Strength Realm, those five bowls of Great Tonic Soup had "saved his life," and their effects were considered quite decent.

Hearing this, Chen Yuqi took over the conversation: "Exotic beast meat definitely has better effects. Great Tonic Soup can be bought for three taels of silver a bowl, but exotic beast meat—as long as it appears on the market—takes at least fifteen taels of silver just to buy a single jin, and even then, demand exceeds supply."

"I heard that people in the black market often sell exotic beast meat, but the prices are even higher than what appears on the market," Chen Ying added.

Seeing the look of temptation flickering in Chen Mo's eyes, Chen Ying couldn't help wanting to slap himself across the face, and spoke up once more with a serious expression:

"Chen Mo, the black market is a lawless zone with no management, it's too dangerous! Even though you've already reached the Inner Strength Realm, you'd still better not risk your life."

"Do you two have a way to get into the black market?" Chen Mo inquired.

He was quite interested in the black market.

Naturally, he wouldn't go right away; at the very least, he had to wait until the Silver Armor Technique reached the level of perfect accomplishment and his personal safety had a further layer of assurance before heading over to the black market to take a look at its specific condition.

Seeing that Chen Mo didn't care about the danger at all, Chen Ying somewhat regretted spilling the news about the black market. However, since the words were already out and he was being actively questioned, he certainly couldn't conceal anything further, and on the spot blurted out all the information he knew regarding the black market.

For this, he inevitably had to suffer a few stamps on the instep from an annoyed Chen Yuqi.

Chen Family Village had managed with great difficulty to produce a genius martial artist like Chen Mo; if an accident befell him because of them, they would be sinners.

Paying no mind to the little physical jabs between the two, Chen Mo carefully inquired about the situation regarding the black market.

Called a black market, it was actually a lawless night bazaar located within the Slum District; in essence, it was a place for fencing stolen goods.

Most of the items sold within were ill-gotten gains.

No one knew who the organizers of the black market were; they only knew that in the early hours of the tenth and twentieth days of every month, such a bazaar would spontaneously form in a certain corner within the Slum District.

From the location it occupied, one could tell that safety couldn't be guaranteed at all.

If he really wanted to go, Chen Mo would have to make a few more preparations first.

After chatting for a bit longer, seeing that the two were consciously steering the topic away from the black market, Chen Mo—having already obtained the information he wanted—spared them and brought up other topics.

The two of them had left Chen Family Village for close to two years now, and during that time had not returned to the village once; both of them missed their relatives dearly.

Having run into Chen Mo, someone who had just come straight from Chen Family Village, they naturally wanted to ask all about it.

After all, they were merely teenagers in their teens; leaving home at a young age, their homesickness was already impossible to suppress.

Chen Mo chatted with them for a long time, telling them all the information he knew.

Finally, after telling the two his residence, the hour grew late, and Chen Mo parted ways with them.

"If I don't go to an Inner City martial arts school to study, I could first find a martial arts school in the Outer City to work as an instructor. With my current strength, not to mention the treatment of thirty taels of silver a month, the martial arts school can also provide a certain amount of cultivation resources... It doesn't seem completely unfeasible."

Watching the two return inside the martial arts school, Chen Mo thought about the suggestion they made upon leaving and felt it held a degree of viability.

After all, Chen Ying and Chen Yuqi had only arrived here in the county town for less than two years; the people and matters they came into contact with were very one-sided. If he could join a martial arts school, Chen Mo should be able to learn about more profound, deeper matters.

Still, that was a matter for later; he still had to push his strength up a bit more. He always felt that he wasn't very safe yet.

At the same time, Chen Mo was extremely interested in that black market.

Slum District, bad public security, no one manages it, a place to fence stolen goods... He liked that kind of place.

If you can't find the book title, you can try searching for the author; maybe it just changed its name!