[Mud Master]

"We're here. The entrance to the black market is up ahead. The car can't get in, so you'll have to walk from here."

The taxi driver slammed on the brakes.

Zhang Tian shoved the car door open, pulling Gu Yuan and Zhang Yining into the dim alleyway.

"Cousin, slow down, are you rushing to be reincarnated?" Zhang Yining rubbed his arms, following closely behind.

"The sooner we sell, the sooner we finish! Martial artist gear is expensive; I need to get some money fast." Zhang Tian didn't look back, his strides long and rapid.

Gu Yuan followed at the rear, hands in his pockets, observing his surroundings.

On both sides were low, flat houses with large patches of wall plaster peeling away.

The road was uneven and pitted, filled with murky, stagnant water.

The trio twisted and turned through the maze until they ducked into an underground entrance that looked like an old air-raid shelter.

The space inside opened up suddenly, with stalls of all sizes lining the walls on both sides.

The place was packed with people, the clamor of various haggling voices blending together.

The three of them found an empty spot in the middle section.

Zhang Tian pulled an old newspaper from his backpack, spread it on the ground, and weighed down the corners with four stones.

He carefully took out five white porcelain bottles and lined them up in a neat row.

Gu Yuan crouched down behind the stall, pulled out his phone, and scrolled through the screen, bored.

Zhang Yining squatted beside him, hands tucked into his pockets, looking around with curiosity at everything.

Several people walked past the stall, their footsteps hurried.

Zhang Tian cleared his throat, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Take a look, come take a look! Defective Blood Qi Pills from a Martial University professor!"

"Selling them cheap! Ten times compensation for fakes, only fifty thousand each, what a bargain!"

Passersby glanced over at the porcelain bottles on the ground, but didn't slow their pace at all, walking straight past.

Zhang Tian, unwilling to give up, shifted half a step forward and continued shouting at the next group of passersby.

"If you want to boost your blood qi quickly and sprint for Martial University, come take a look! Don't miss out!"

After shouting a dozen times, not a single person stopped to ask for a price.

"Young man, your scam is too clumsy."

A slow, leisurely voice came from nearby.

Gu Yuan turned his head and looked in that direction.

Sitting at the neighboring stall was a middle-aged man in his forties.

In front of him was a red cloth spread out, covered densely with all sorts of bottles and jars.

Each bottle had a handwritten label: "Blood Qi Pill," "Golden Wound Pill," "Hemostasis Pill."

The prices ranged from twenty to thirty thousand, only half of what Zhang Tian was asking.

"Who would believe 'ten times compensation for fakes'?" The middle-aged man pointed at Zhang Tian. "When the time comes, are you just going to compensate them with eleven more defective pills?"

Gu Yuan's gaze shifted upward, habitually glancing at the top of the man's head.

Four bright green characters hovered above him.

[Mud Master]

Mud Master?

No matter how you looked at that entry, it had nothing to do with a legitimate alchemist.

"Uh, that uncle selling mud, do you have any advice?"

Gu Yuan spoke too quickly, and what he was thinking just popped right out of his mouth.

The middle-aged man froze abruptly.

He stood up with a start.

"What mud!"

The man pointed at the bottles on the ground.

"These are proper medicinal pills! Do you even understand what a medicinal pill is? Certified by the Alchemist Association!"

He reached into his vest, pulled out a crumpled document from an inner pocket, and shoved it in front of Gu Yuan, waving it around.

The red seal on it was a blurry mess, making it impossible to read the characters.

"Do you want to learn some techniques from me?"

The uncle quickly stuffed the document back into his inner pocket, put away his anger, and adopted an inscrutable demeanor, hands clasped behind his back.

"Techniques? What kind of techniques?" Zhang Yining leaned in, asking curiously.

"Naturally, it's the techniques for setting up a stall in the black market."

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged man bent down and pulled a tattered booklet from beneath his stall.

The cover was emblazoned with several bold black characters: Collection of Black Market Scams.

"This book of mine contains three hundred and sixty-five types of black market scams, ranging from passing off inferior goods as quality ones to empty-handed white wolf schemes—everything you could possibly need."

He patted the cover, spittle flying everywhere, "Only nine hundred and ninety-eight, guaranteed to teach you until you master it!"

Gu Yuan stared at the book, his eyelids twitching violently.

Zhang Yining's mouth hung wide open as he pointed at the pages.

"Holy crap! Uncle, you're basically committing suicide by exposing yourself! You're admitting you're a scammer?"

Zhang Tian's jaw twitched, and he shifted to the side, putting some distance between them.

"Forget it, I'm selling the real deal. I'm nothing like you scammers. Don't get close to me; you're affecting my business."

The middle-aged man wasn't the least bit annoyed; he tucked the booklet away and looked Zhang Tian up and down.

"Not bad, not bad." The man nodded repeatedly.

"Although your scamming skills are truly terrible, your acting is decent. You're so righteous and confident—you've got a future. If you want to learn the art of the scam later, come find me anytime."

Gu Yuan turned his head, deciding to ignore this eccentric character.

The black market really was full of talent.

Time ticked away, second by second.

The three of them had been squatting in front of the stall for the better part of the day, their legs numb, yet not a single person had come to buy anything.

"Brother Tian, can we really sell these like this?"

Gu Yuan stood up.

He finally understood: in the black market, it didn't matter if the goods were genuine; the sales pitch was what mattered most.

Throughout the day, Gu Yuan had observed the labels hovering above the heads of the surrounding stall owners.

The fat man selling weapons to the left had [Scrap Metal Collector] hanging over his head.

The thin man selling beast materials to the right sported [Fake Goods Expert].

The old man diagonally across, who claimed to be selling internal cultivation methods from the Martial University, had [Unscrupulous Peddler] floating above him.

The entire black market was practically a concentration camp for scammers.

Zhang Tian's genuine, defective Blood Qi Pills were mixed in with this pile of fakes, and no one believed they were real.

"I believe the genuine goods will wait for a buyer!"

Gu Yuan sighed, squatted back down, and continued scrolling on his phone.

Zhang Yining leaned against the wall, his head bobbing as he started to doze off.

"How much for this Blood Qi Pill? Is it guaranteed to be authentic?"

A deep, masculine voice suddenly rang out in front of the stall.

The three of them looked up simultaneously.

A man wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap stood before the stall, looking down at the porcelain bottles on the ground.

Zhang Tian jumped up abruptly, his face beaming with smiles.

A customer at last!

"It's definitely the real deal! Refined personally by a professor from the Martial University!"

Zhang Tian patted his chest.

"Even though it's a defective product, it definitely has medicinal effects! Fifty thousand per pill, no cheating the young or old!"

"If it's fake, I'll eat it right here on the spot, so you can rest easy!"

The man in the jacket nodded, squatted down, and reached out his left hand to pick up a porcelain bottle from the ground.

"Let me inspect the goods first."

Zhang Tian was quick-witted and pressed his hand down on the man's wrist.

"Pay first, then take the goods."

Zhang Tian guarded the porcelain bottle with a wary expression.

"If everyone opens them to take a look, wouldn't the money I spent on these medicinal-grade bottles go to waste? Who's going to be responsible if the potency dissipates?"

The man in the jacket didn't pull his hand back; instead, he used the momentum to grab Zhang Tian's wrist in a firm grip.

"I said, let me inspect the goods first."

"No way! Pay first!"

Zhang Tian pulled his hand back with force, only to find that the other man's strength was astonishingly great. His wrist was clamped tight, unable to move an inch.

"What is wrong with you? Are you trying to force a sale?"

Zhang Tian panicked and used his other hand to shove the man in the jacket's shoulder.

At that very instant.

The man in the jacket swept his right hand across his waist.

A flash of silver streaked by.

A silver-white handcuff locked tightly onto Zhang Tian's wrist.