Counter-Robbery

However, along the way, Li Beichen did not see any fresh Exotic Beast Meat.

Passing by a stall, a piece of blackened dried meat caught Li Beichen's attention.

It looked somewhat like Exotic Beast Meat.

"Brother, how much for this piece of dried meat?"

"Five hundred taels, no bargaining."

"Is it dried Exotic Beast Meat?"

"It is!"

Usually, the texture of Exotic Beast Meat looks very different from ordinary beef or mutton.

But the dried meat at this stall was just a blackened lump, and Li Beichen couldn't be sure.

"Cut a slice and eat it yourself to see."

He asked the stall owner to cut a slice and eat it himself, but the owner stubbornly refused.

Li Beichen turned and walked away.

At this moment, a masked man walked straight toward Li Beichen.

"This brother, are you looking for Exotic Beast Meat?"

Li Beichen remained calm.

"What, you have some?"

"Yes, just ahead. One jin of Grade 9 fresh Exotic Beast meat, only ten taels."

"Ten taels?"

"Yes, other places charge fifteen, or even twenty taels per jin, but I only need ten."

"Let's go, quickly!"

Seeing Li Beichen standing still for a long time, the masked man urged him again.

"No need, I'm not interested."

"Are you playing your grandfather for a fool!"

The masked man's eyes immediately turned fierce, and he reached out, actually trying to forcibly drag Li Beichen away.

Swish!

A silver light shot out from within Li Beichen's cloak.

It was that Refined Iron Dagger.

Li Beichen struck backhand, instantly severing the masked man's wrist tendons.

"Ah!"

A miserable howl rang out.

Hearing this sound, two muscular masked men suddenly lunged out from the woods ahead.

To Li Beichen's eyes, both were experts in the Grade 9 Meat Refining Realm.

Seeing the masked man injured, they immediately charged at Li Beichen.

Beneath his mask, the corners of Li Beichen's mouth curled up, his gaze sharpened, and he charged straight to meet them.

Since achieving minor success in [Giant Elephant Fist], he hadn't yet had a chance to test his skills.

Li Beichen held the dagger in one hand and clenched his fist with the other.

Although he knew no blade techniques, every punch and slash rang out with the sound of thunder.

With Hundred Echoes in his body, he could unleash his full strength without restraint.

As for these two men, they were merely ordinary Meat Refining practitioners, at most comparable to Wu Ming in strength; how could they withstand Li Beichen's continuous, relentless attacks?

After only a dozen exchanges, they were both beaten to the ground by Li Beichen.

Together with the first man, the three of them curled up in a heap.

Each of them was more or less covered in wounds.

Li Beichen held the dagger, wiped off the blood, and then picked at his fingernails.

He walked toward the three of them.

"Speak, what were you trying to do?"

"Spare... spare our lives."

"We really just wanted to sell Exotic Beast Meat."

The masked man whose wrist tendons had been severed by Li Beichen was still making excuses.

Li Beichen looked at him mockingly, his words revealing undisguised killing intent.

"Is that so? If there isn't any in those woods, I'll slaughter the three of you."

"How about it?"

Feeling the chill, several of them could no longer withstand the pressure and blurted out the truth.

"Don't! We actually just wanted to snatch some money, make a quick buck, we haven't harmed anyone's life!"

"Exactly, exactly! The two people we tricked in just now, we only took their money and let them go."

"Finally, you've made yourselves clear."

Li Beichen looked at the three of them.

The man who had been masked earlier was likely responsible for luring people into secluded spots, while the other two followed to threaten and rob them of their valuables.

Seeing that Li Beichen's physique and muscles were average, they assumed he was a soft target and reached out their claws toward him.

They hadn't expected to run into such a hard nut to crack.

Li Beichen held the dagger, patting the sides of the three men's necks with the blade.

The icy touch made their hair stand on end.

"How much have you robbed? Hand it all over to me."

The three men immediately wore bitter expressions, but looking at the cold, glinting dagger, they hurriedly emptied their pockets.

"Is that all?! If anyone dares to hide anything and I find it, then you can leave your lives behind as well!"

Hearing Li Beichen's words, two of them pulled a few more banknotes from their bodies.

By this time, the crowd of onlookers was growing larger.

Zhang Meng also rushed over.

"Seventh, what's going on?"

"These petty thieves tried to lure me into the dense forest to rob me of my money."

"You have some nerve!"

Zhang Meng let out an angry roar, making no effort to conceal his intimidating aura.

"A Seventh-Grade expert!"

The surrounding people recognized Zhang Meng's strength and couldn't help but gasp.

In the Ram City Black Market, Seventh-Grade was already considered a top-tier expert.

Seeing this, the three men were even more terrified, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for their lives.

"You can keep the masks on your faces, but strip off your clothes, and then you can get lost."

Hearing Li Beichen's words, the men were embarrassed, but compared to the threat to their lives, they sluggishly stripped off their clothes.

Three large, pale buttocks were exposed.

Covering their private parts with their hands, they scrambled away toward the edge of the green woods.

A Ninth-Grade martial artist was already considered a person of status in the Ram City area.

Even if they were still masked and had a scrap of cloth to cover their shame, they no longer had the face to remain in the Black Market.

"Hahaha! You've got a knack for this, kid!"

"Seeing as you're here, you get a share. Come on, Senior Brother!"

Li Beichen divided the items on the ground into two halves and handed one to Zhang Meng.

"Go on, go on! You solved this problem all by yourself; how could I take your things? Master would skin me alive if he heard about it!"

"Alright then, I'll keep it."

Li Beichen took inventory; the banknotes he had snatched from those three amounted to over three hundred taels, along with some miscellaneous items.

He tossed aside anything useless.

To the side, Zhang Meng adjusted his Ox-Head Mask and smiled.

"Looking at you, I take it you didn't find any Exotic Beast Meat."

"That's normal. Exotic Beast Meat is a scarce resource; people rarely have enough for themselves, let alone enough to trade."

"Unless they've run into some real emergency."

Listening to Zhang Meng's consolation, Li Beichen nodded helplessly.

He had walked around for a while and hadn't spent a single cent; instead, he had ended up robbing quite a bit.

"Senior Brother, I heard that man mention Ninth-Grade Exotic Beast Meat earlier. Is Exotic Beast Meat classified according to our martial artist grades as well?"

"Yes, people are divided into nine grades, and naturally, these exotic beasts correspond to those nine grades."

"For a Ninth-Grade martial artist, or even an Eighth-Grade one, eating Ninth-Grade Exotic Beast Meat is sufficient."

"But for martial artists higher up, they require higher-grade Exotic Beast Meat."

Zhang Meng extended a finger and pointed at himself.

"Someone like me needs Eighth-Grade Exotic Beast Meat to provide what I need for my cultivation."

Li Beichen recalled what Meng Juxiang had once told him: the path of martial arts was actually divided into three types, the most common being body tempering, while the others were qi cultivation and spirit cultivation.

He could not help but draw a connection to exotic beasts.

"Then, Senior Brother, is there also a distinction among these exotic beasts? For instance, could there be exotic beasts that possess true qi, or perhaps even other... supernatural abilities?"

The Black-White Strange Pig that Li Beichen had killed possessed an average physique, yet its illusions were incredibly lifelike.

Had it not been for the system panel's warning, he would have fallen for its trick.