A Showpiece

Da Chong glanced at Yumu's mother and ignored her, instead having his companions begin unloading the goods.

"What's going on?! What is this?! Could it be that the old Wang family is about to rise to prosperity? No, I have to find a chance to make my son investigate! The entire Wang family are slaves—how dare they call themselves masters?!"

Yumu's mother was filled with shock and suspicion. She hurried home, shut the door, and muttered to herself.

She had thought that with Yumu becoming a blue-clad constable, he was the brightest cub on all of Loach Street.

Who would have thought that a Wang family would suddenly appear to steal the Yumu family's thunder? How could that be allowed?

Night fell. Wang Family.

"This Bone Strengthening Pill really is wondrous!"

Wang Sheng felt as though the tendons and bones throughout his body were being hammered and remolded by countless tiny hammers, leaving behind a dense, tingling comfort.

Even the flow of blood throughout his body seemed to accelerate, growing hot and boiling. The powerful medicinal effects catalyzed everything in a short span of time.

In less than two hours, Wang Sheng watched the progress of his Forging Gold Technique soar from minor mastery (43/1000) to minor mastery (316/1000).

Wang Sheng's cultivation in the Forging Gold Technique had risen from the early stage of Bright Force to roughly the middle stage of Bright Force.

With the Great Tablet Shattering Hand at the great completion of Bright Force layered atop the Forging Gold Technique at the middle stage of Bright Force, every strike carried double Bright Force. Even ordinary late-stage Bright Force practitioners could not withstand ten moves from Wang Sheng.

If he activated the Blood Stacking Technique as well, taking down one late-stage Bright Force practitioner per move would not be a problem.

"Open the panel!"

With a thought from Wang Sheng, the panel appeared.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence: Study and you will surely achieve.]

[Cultivation: Great Completion of Bright Force]

[Great Tablet Shattering Hand: Minor Mastery (999/1000)]

[Forging Gold Technique: Minor Mastery (316/1000)]

[Blood Stacking Technique: First Layer]

[Stone Stance Technique: Minor Mastery (999/1000)]

"I hope I can buy a complete method that leads directly to Transforming Force next. Otherwise, I can only advance to Dark Force through the Forging Gold Technique first."

Wang Sheng muttered to himself.

A moment later, "Stay home peacefully. Don't wander around, and go to sleep when the time comes. I'm going out to buy you some oranges."

Wang Sheng returned to the bedroom, left those words for the two women, and departed from the Wang family.

"Mother, what oranges is Wang Sheng buying in the middle of the night? He's clearly treating us like children and trying to fool us!"

Li Xuan said indignantly.

"If the master has business and does not tell us, then we should simply pretend not to know."

Wang Qinshi felt that her life was very good now. Her new husband was young, strong, and handsome. Though she was a little older than Wang Sheng, she felt she could still bear children.

Li Xuan looked at her mother, Wang Qinshi, with bright eyes. "Mother, Wang Sheng isn't here. Why are you still calling him master?"

"Xuan'er, I truly like the master. If you don't like him, then leave by yourself. No one is tying you down."

Wang Qinshi said calmly.

Hearing this, Li Xuan's heart skipped a beat, and a strange thought suddenly emerged in her mind.

From the way her mother was acting, it seemed as though she really wanted her to leave.

Could she have—

really fallen in love with Wang Sheng,

and begun seeing her own daughter as a threat?

She wanted to compete with me for favor!!!

Li Xuan fell into deep thought. Why should she leave? When it came to competing for favor, she was younger—could she really lose to her mother?

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, a crescent moon hung high overhead, while sparse stars scattered like flecks of light.

Bursts of cold wind swept through, making the silent city rustle and whisper.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Black shadows rapidly gathered toward a certain place within the city.

There were an especially large number of black-clad figures on the rooftops tonight. One only needed to lift one's eyes to see silhouettes darting everywhere.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Wang Sheng, dressed in black and wearing a bamboo hat, appeared at the entrance to the Black Market.

Beyond the entrance lay an ordinary long street. During the day, few people came here because of its remote location.

But once night fell, people from all walks of life, a mixed crowd of fish and dragons, all swarmed onto this long street.

There were many people today. Black-clad figures walked along the street, some moving with astonishing speed, like ghosts appearing and vanishing unpredictably.

Both sides of the road were filled with all manner of strange and unusual objects. The black-clad people selling goods either stood or lay down, yet not one of them cried out to hawk their wares.

It looked quiet, but it actually possessed the bustle of a lively pantomime.

"One tael of silver!"

The gatekeeper at the entrance was an old fellow whose teeth had nearly all fallen out. He sat openly at the entrance, collecting tolls.

Seeing that everyone else paid, Wang Sheng handed over his silver as well and entered.

Although Wang Sheng had come to buy a method that could lead directly to Transforming Force, he first walked through the entire long street to get a sense of the place.

The Black Market truly was a Black Market. Everything sold here was something that could not bear the light of day.

Many people sold intelligence, from household gossip to the preferences of powerful figures from various factions, cultivation methods, and more. There was even intelligence concerning rebel armies and the barbarians of Han Country.

Some experts sold beautiful female Martial Artist slaves, including clansmen and disciples from certain well-known factions.

The rest consisted of precious pills, cultivation manuals, fragments of divine weapons, household property deeds, and the like.

"A method that leads directly to Transforming Force? Friend, are you joking with me?"

"No, no. Don't make trouble here."

"Whose ignorant little brat has wandered out? Get lost already!"

Wang Sheng asked several sellers of cultivation methods in succession, but none possessed a complete method that led directly to Transforming Force.

Upon hearing the insults from the last stall owner, Wang Sheng's gaze turned cold. He abruptly struck out with a punch.

Crackling sounds of shattering bones came from the body of that early-stage Bright Force Martial Artist who had just been speaking rudely. He lost his breath on the spot.

The expressions of several black-clad people standing around Wang Sheng changed, and they quickly backed away.

Wang Sheng swept his gaze over the surroundings and snorted coldly.

Because he kept searching for a method that led directly to Transforming Force, he had exposed himself as a newcomer and attracted some ill-intentioned people.

Enough ants could bite an elephant to death.

Wang Sheng did not want to leave this street only to encounter endless ambushes. So he decisively killed one person first.

Throw one punch wide open, and spare yourself a hundred punches to come!

That single punch was enough to intimidate some people.

"Great Completion of Bright Force, and it doesn't seem to be ordinary Bright Force either. Quite a few of that dead man's bones were shattered!"

"He has some skill. He's a tough nut to crack!"

"Who knows where this expert came from? He's not someone to provoke! Very much not someone to provoke!"

"That was close. An expert like this has probably already touched the threshold of Dark Force!"

Quite a few people made their assessments. Every one of them grew extremely cautious, their brows tightly furrowed.

When an expert made a move, one immediately knew whether there was substance.

This move of Wang Sheng's was enough to earn him some fame throughout the Black Market's long street.

Some people had already unconsciously classified Wang Sheng as one of those old monsters who cultivated several different methods.

Even Dark Force martial masters did not wish to provoke such old monsters.

"Hmph, you killed my man and still think you can leave!"

A figure rushed over swiftly.

The person killed at the stall had been too weak. At a glance, it was obvious that he was not the real owner, likely just a subordinate.

Now, the real owner had arrived.

Great Completion of Bright Force!

"Hand over your life!"

The stall owner's force surged wildly through his entire body. He raised a hand and curled his fingers into a claw. His powerful claw technique tore through the air with a piercing shriek.

"Seeking death? Then I'll grant your wish!"

Wang Sheng circulated the Forging Gold Technique. The muscles of his entire body suddenly swelled, making his frame brawny and imposing. He strode forward in great steps, his momentum vast and mighty, charging straight ahead as though pushing down mountains of gold and jade pillars. The sight made many people's eyelids twitch!

A Body Refiner!

He was actually a Body Refiner with a body as hard as iron!

Poor scholars, wealthy martial artists. Martial arts already consumed enormous amounts of money, while body refinement was among the most costly and difficult of all martial cultivation methods!

The stall owner who had rushed over was even more alarmed. His footsteps halted. His Single Claw Technique happened to be heavily countered by thick, resilient body refinement.

Ordinary Bright Force practitioners would be crippled even if they did not die after taking one of his claws.

But if he grabbed hold of a Body Refiner, that would be the day he died.

As long as a Body Refiner got close and controlled someone for even the span of a breath, the outcome would be miserable.

"Hmph, I'll spare you for today!"

The stall owner using the claw technique turned around, threw down a harsh line, then plunged into the crowd without hesitation. He fled frantically and vanished in an instant.

"Hahaha..."

"This guy is all show and no substance!"

"I thought we'd get to see a good show. What trash—he actually ran away!"

The people around them were all dissatisfied, cursing one after another.

"Heh."

Wang Sheng chuckled, turned around, and came to that man's stall. Not only did everything on the stall become his, he even began selling the goods himself.

"Friend, are you selling these things cheap?"

Seeing Wang Sheng begin selling things, someone immediately stepped forward, unafraid that Wang Sheng had just killed someone, hoping to pick up a bargain. After all, Wang Sheng had obtained all of it for nothing.

That was the Black Market. No one managed anything; everything depended on oneself.

Of course, if someone accidentally provoked public outrage, then they were as good as dead.

Thus, there were still unspoken rules everyone tacitly observed. Fights and killings could not be dragged out or blown up into something major.