Mud Master

"Here we are. The black market entrance is up ahead. The car can't go in, so you'll have to walk from here."

The taxi driver hit the brakes.

Zhang Tian shoved open the door and dragged Gu Yuan and Zhang Yining into the dim alley.

"Cousin, slow down! What's the rush?" Zhang Yining rubbed his arms and hurried after him.

"Sooner we sell out, sooner we're done! A martial artist's gear costs a fortune. I need to make some money fast." Zhang Tian strode ahead without looking back.

Gu Yuan followed behind, hands in his pockets as he looked around.

Low, single-story houses lined both sides, their walls peeling in great patches.

The road was uneven and pitted, with murky water pooled in the dips.

After several turns, the three of them entered an underground passage that looked like an air-raid shelter.

The space opened up inside, with stalls of all sizes lining both walls.

The place was packed with people, and the clamor of haggling filled the air.

The three found an empty spot about halfway down.

Zhang Tian pulled an old newspaper from his backpack, spread it on the ground, and pinned 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 behind the stall, pulled out his phone, and idly scrolled through the screen.

Zhang Yining crouched beside him, hands in his pockets as he looked around, fascinated by everything.

Several people hurried past the stall.

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

"Come have a look! Substandard Blood Qi Pills made by a Martial University professor!"

"Cheap prices! Ten times your money back if they're fake! Only fifty thousand a pill—a bargain!"

Passersby glanced at the porcelain bottles on the ground, then walked straight on without slowing down.

Undeterred, Zhang Tian moved half a step closer to the walkway and called out to the next group.

"If you want to boost your blood qi fast and get into Martial University, come take a look! Don't miss out as you pass by!"

He shouted more than a dozen times, but not a single person stopped to ask the price.

"Kid, your scam's way too amateur."

A lazy voice came from nearby.

Gu Yuan turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice.

A middle-aged man in his forties sat at the neighboring stall.

A red cloth lay spread in front of him, crowded with all kinds of bottles and jars.

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

They were priced at twenty to thirty thousand each, barely half the price of Zhang Tian's pills.

"Who'd believe you'd give ten times their money back if they're fake?" The middle-aged man pointed at Zhang Tian. "Would you just pay them back with eleven more defective pills?"

Gu Yuan's eyes shifted upward, and out of habit he glanced at the man's head.

Four glowing green characters floated above it.

[Mud Master]

Mud Master?

That title had nothing to do with a proper alchemist.

"Uh, what can you teach me, old guy who sells mud?"

Gu Yuan spoke before he could stop himself, blurting out what he'd been thinking.

The middle-aged man froze.

Then he sprang to his feet.

"What mud?!"

He pointed at the bottles on the ground.

"These are genuine pills! Pills, understand? Certified by the Alchemist Association!"

He reached inside his vest and pulled a crumpled certificate from an inner pocket, thrusting it in front of Gu Yuan and waving it around.

The red seal on it was a blurry mess, and the words were impossible to make out.

"Want me to teach you a few tricks?"

The old man quickly stuffed the certificate back into his inner pocket. His anger faded, replaced by a mysterious air, and he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Tricks? What kind of tricks?" Zhang Yining came over and asked curiously.

"Why, tricks for running a stall at the black market, of course."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man bent down and pulled a battered booklet from beneath his stall.

Several bold black characters were printed on the cover: Collection of Black Market Scams.

"This book of mine has 365 scams from the black market, from passing off inferior goods as the real deal to getting something for nothing. It's got everything."

He slapped the cover, spraying spittle everywhere. "Only 998! I guarantee you'll learn it all!"

Gu Yuan stared at the book, his eyelid twitching twice.

Zhang Yining gaped and pointed at the cover.

"Good grief! Old man, you're basically driving a truck into yourself! You're admitting you're a scammer?"

Zhang Tian's cheek twitched. He edged away to put some distance between them.

"Give me a break. My stuff's the real deal. I'm not like you scammers. Don't stand so close—you'll ruin my business."

The old man wasn't offended in the slightest. He put the booklet away and looked Zhang Tian up and down.

"Not bad." The old man nodded repeatedly.

"Your scam is definitely awful, but you've got decent acting skills. You look so confident. You've got potential. If you ever want to learn how to scam people, come find me."

Gu Yuan turned away, no longer bothering with the oddball.

The black market really was full of colorful characters.

Time passed minute by minute.

The three of them crouched in front of the stall for most of the day. Their legs had gone numb, but no one had come to buy anything.

"Brother Tian, are we really going to sell anything this way?"

Gu Yuan stood up.

He'd figured it out: at the black market, it didn't matter whether your goods were genuine. What mattered was your sales pitch.

Over the past few hours, Gu Yuan had checked out the titles above the heads of all the nearby stall owners.

The fat man selling weapons on the left had [Scrap Metal Collector] above his head.

The skinny man selling fierce-beast materials on the right had [Fake Goods Expert].

The old man diagonally across from them, who claimed to sell Martial University's internal cultivation techniques, had [Unscrupulous Peddler] above his head.

The whole black market was practically a scammers' den.

Zhang Tian's genuine but defective pills were mixed in with all these fakes. No wonder no one believed him.

"I believe a buyer will come along for the real deal!"

Gu Yuan sighed, crouched back down, and went back to scrolling on his phone.

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

"How much for these Blood Qi Pills? Are they guaranteed genuine?"

A deep male voice suddenly called out in front of the stall.

All three looked up at once.

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

Zhang Tian leapt to his feet, a wide smile plastered across his face.

A customer at last!

"Absolutely genuine! Made by a Martial University professor himself!"

Zhang Tian thumped his chest.

"They're defective, but they definitely work! Fifty thousand each, no haggling!"

"If they're fake, I'll eat one right here on the spot. You can trust me!"

The man in the jacket nodded, crouched down, and reached for one of the bottles with his left hand.

"I'll check the goods first."

Zhang Tian reacted quickly and grabbed the man's wrist.

"Pay first, then take the goods."

Zhang Tian guarded the bottles warily.

"If everyone opens one to look inside, what's the point of these bottles I bought to preserve the pills' potency? What if the medicine loses its effect—who's responsible?"

The man in the jacket didn't pull his hand away. Instead, he turned his grip around and seized Zhang Tian's wrist.

"I said I'd check the goods first."

"No! Pay first!"

Zhang Tian tried to yank his hand free, but the other man was shockingly strong. His wrist was clamped in an iron grip, and he couldn't move it at all.

"What's your problem? Trying to force me to buy?"

Zhang Tian panicked and shoved at the man's shoulder with his other hand.

At that very moment,

the man in the jacket swept his right hand to his waist.

A flash of silver.

A pair of silver handcuffs snapped tight around Zhang Tian's wrist.