Zhu Hu's Doubts

Back in his room, Jiang Yuan began circulating his true qi to treat the injuries on his hand.

The injuries on his hand looked severe, but fortunately, the restorative power of the true qi from his Everlasting Spring Technique was exceptionally strong. With a month or so of recuperation, he would soon recover completely.

If he had healing pills, he could recover even faster.

After this incident, he found himself thinking.

The Black Market was a chaotic force, without law or order, and its connections were tangled and intricate.

If he wanted to survive peacefully in the Black Market, he could not simply cultivate and dutifully guard his territory. He had to find a way to climb higher as well.

Otherwise, trouble would keep coming in an endless stream.

But how difficult was promotion?

Forget it. He would take it slowly.

Inside Zhu Hu's residence at the White Tiger Hall.

Zhu Hu jolted upright in his seat and stared at Liu Mang in disbelief. "You're saying... that explosion just now was caused by Old Jiang, and that it blew Zhang Bo and a whole group of outer disciples to death?"

"That's right. And he said that martial art was something he created himself." Liu Mang still wore a lingering look of fear.

"How could that be possible?"

Zhu Hu lay back down in his tiger-skin chair and muttered to himself, "That old man was clearly only newly entered into the Meridian Opening Realm. How could he be so terrifying?"

"Could I have been wrong?"

"That old bastard hid himself that deeply?"

"Newly entered into the Meridian Opening Realm?"

Liu Mang's eyes widened, as though he had heard some wild fantasy. He immediately said, "Hall Master, that is absolutely impossible."

"Oh? Why is it impossible?"

Zhu Hu asked curiously.

With the power he wielded, he truly found it hard to believe that he could have misjudged an old man.

Liu Mang swallowed and recounted everything he had seen and heard since coming into contact with Jiang Yuan.

This included the battle against the Blood-Clad Cult, killing Xue Tu and Zhou Yun in return, using his fleshly body to withstand treasure weapons and blades, drawing down heaven and earth's lightning to temper his body, and every detail of how he had wiped out more than a dozen experts, including Zhang Bo, with a single palm strike.

In the end, he concluded that Jiang Yuan could not possibly have merely just entered the Meridian Opening Realm!

Zhu Hu lay silently in his tiger-skin chair, listening. The more he heard, the stranger it seemed. "How odd. There are not many Grandmasters of that age in the Great Yu Kingdom. Could he be from some reclusive sect?"

"Then what was his purpose in joining our Black Market? To rake in money?"

"Ah!"

Liu Mang let out a heavy sigh. "Hall Master, that is the part I understand least as well. Brother Jiang was originally just a storyteller in a teahouse. He had always been unknown, as though he had suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

"Hm?"

Zhu Hu abruptly sat upright again. "A storyteller?"

He had heard of that.

He had long heard that there was a storyteller in the inner city whose tales of the martial world were utterly different from the rest, spun so extravagantly that flowers seemed to rain from the sky—things like the Nine Yin Manual, Nine Yang Divine Skill, and Heaven-Shifting Technique, all of them sounding utterly unbelievable.

He had originally thought it was merely a scholar's nonsense. He had not expected it to be Jiang Yuan.

Could it be that those martial arts truly existed?

Liu Mang glanced at Zhu Hu, who was deep in thought, and cautiously said, "Hall Master, no matter what Brother Jiang's identity is, he has joined our Black Market now. That makes him one of us, and he is countless times better than that Madman Zhang!"

"Hm!"

Zhu Hu agreed readily, his face filled with pride. "That's true enough. Once someone comes here, even a dragon must coil for me, and even a tiger must lie down for me. What could a mere old man possibly do?"

"Still... we can use him, but we must investigate his background thoroughly."

"The Rudder Master personally instructed us that the big deal in the future concerns the survival of the Black Market. Our White Tiger Hall cannot allow anything to go wrong!"

The survival of the Black Market?

Liu Mang's eyelid twitched. This was becoming more and more outrageous.

What could possibly happen within the Great Yu Kingdom that would affect the Black Market's survival?

"Then, Hall Master, Brother Jiang..."

"Investigate his background further. If nothing turns up, let him take Old Zhang's position."

"Yes!"

Time flew by, and several months slipped away in silence.

Every day, Jiang Yuan followed the rules, managing his territory and cultivating. Occasionally, he drank a little wine with Liu Mang. His days were quite leisurely.

Since that incident, no one had dared cause trouble in Sishui again. Public order was astonishingly good.

With such an old god of slaughter there, who would dare act recklessly?

As time passed, Jiang Yuan's reputation gradually spread throughout the Black Market. His Palm Thunder, in particular, was talked about with blazing enthusiasm, becoming the battle that made his name.

A rather childish title for Jiang Yuan also began circulating in the Black Market: Heaven-Thunder Elder.

It meant that anyone who failed to follow the rules in Jiang Yuan's territory would suffer heaven-thunder punishment!

Now, even some inner disciples and stewards of the Black Market would respectfully call Jiang Yuan Lord Jiang or Elder Thunder when they saw him. His name had truly become well known.

It had to be said that public order was the most important matter in managing the Black Market.

Moreover, Jiang Yuan was exceedingly strict about rules. No matter who you were, you had to follow them. Otherwise, he would teach you swordsmanship.

Matters such as seizing stalls, bullying men and women, and hooligans causing trouble had been dealt with thoroughly in Sishui. No one dared stroke the tiger's whiskers.

Yet this style of conduct happened to earn Zhu Hu's deep appreciation, and he praised Jiang Yuan repeatedly.

Whenever they met, he called him Brother Jiang.

There was no other reason. Because of Jiang Yuan, business on Sishui Street had become exceptionally booming, and the protection fees had doubled in a single month.

People from the outer city flocked to Sishui Street with endless enthusiasm. Even quite a few people from the inner city came to compete for business here.

Zhu Hu collected protection fees until his hands went limp, his face blooming like a chrysanthemum with laughter.

That day, Jiang Yuan sat upright in his room and opened the attribute panel he had not looked at in a long time.

[Name: Jiang Yuan]

[Age: 70]

[Realm: Meridian Opening Realm, Fourth Stage]

[Technique: Everlasting Spring Technique (Third Layer)]

[Martial Skills: Five Animal Fist, Azure Lotus Sword Art (First Layer), Palm Thunder]

[Talents: Late Bloomer, Primordial Sword Body, Vajra Invulnerability]

[Treasures: Evergreen Sword, Seven-Kill Sword Casket]

[Condition to unlock the next scroll: Four months later]

"Still have to endure another four months?"

Jiang Yuan stared at the panel and muttered to himself.

As the rewards were gradually unlocked, the time required to open the Longevity Scroll grew longer and longer. He was already becoming somewhat impatient.

Still, even without new rewards, he had enough strength to protect himself.

In just a few short months, he had relied on Late Bloomer to cultivate to the fourth stage of the Meridian Opening Realm. His progress could be called a thousand miles in a single day.

However, Late Bloomer increased his cultivation speed seventyfold, and his spirit stone consumption had likewise increased seventyfold. A steward's meager salary was still not quite enough.

Thus, Jiang Yuan deeply felt that he was still far too lacking in cultivation resources.

Making money was still the most important matter at hand!

And the first step was to think of every possible way to gain a firm foothold in the Black Market, perhaps even obtain a certain degree of influence.

After all, only with power could one have money.

Just then, Liu Mang's excited voice came from outside the door.

"Brother Jiang, congratulations! You're about to be promoted!"

"Come quickly with me to meet the Hall Master!"