Black Market

The next morning.

Chen Jue asked his uncle He Yuanshan for the exact location of the Kaiyang Black Market, then handed all his remaining capsules and medicinal pills over to him.

After last night's feedback from the double spiritual meal, the qi and blood within him had swelled to 162.5% of an ordinary martial artist's, enough for him to achieve three River Chariot circulations and run three Five Elements internal arts at once.

Although the qi and blood in the third River Chariot circulation was clearly insufficient, its efficiency only seventy percent that of the other two meridians.

Still, such an enormous volume of qi and blood had ultimately crossed from quantitative change into qualitative transformation. Ordinary Qi-Nourishing Capsules and qi-blood pills could no longer do much for him.

They would be better used to help Uncle Lin refine his true qi again, so he would not suffer a deficit of qi and blood and shorten his lifespan.

He Yuanshan had initially wanted to accompany Chen Jue when he heard he was going to the black market, but Chen Jue talked him out of it, saying there would be too many people and too many eyes, and that he wanted to keep a low profile.

"Do you have enough money on you? I'll transfer some to you."

Before he left, He Yuanshan transferred one hundred thousand in cash to Chen Jue, saying it was Zhang Wei's compensation for the day.

Chen Jue did not stand on ceremony with his uncle. After accepting the money, he headed toward the Kaiyang Black Market.

That day, he wore a set of plain old gray clothes and pulled a baseball cap low over his eyes. With every edge tucked away, he quietly blended into the common crowd without drawing anyone's notice.

The Kaiyang Black Market was located among five old alleys in Kaiyang District. It closed on Saturdays and Sundays; on all other days, it opened at random in one of the five alleys.

The black market was a mixed bag of fish and dragons. It was said to be an operation personally backed by Director Wu, unrelated to the family.

Now that the Rat Gang, which had spanned both Kaiyang and Yangcheng Community, had been wiped out, the black market had suddenly doubled in scale and become the hen that laid golden eggs in Wu Yue's hands.

You might ask why the garrison over in Yangcheng Community did not interfere in the black market business.

If they truly had the backing to run a black market, they would not have let the Rat Gang shit on their heads.

From this, it was clear that Wu Yue had effectively become the man calling the shots in both districts—the kind who swallowed both black and white.

After weaving through several turns, Chen Jue arrived before an unfinished office building.

The building had yet to be decorated inside, and its exterior was shabby and dilapidated. Blue corrugated steel sheets surrounded it as a barricade, keeping idle people out.

Wearing a mask and keeping his cap brim low, Chen Jue paid the old gatekeeper two hundred in cash for admission.

The old man smacked his lips around a cigarette and used a key tied to his belt to unlock the flimsy gate made of corrugated steel sheets.

Chen Jue lowered his head and walked into the construction site littered with debris. At the office building entrance, several buyers stood around smoking, while bosses with bags tucked beneath their arms made calls everywhere to scrape together money.

Chen Jue slowed his steps and cocked his ears slightly, catching fragments of conversation from several people at the entrance.

"That boss is really stubborn. A thirty-five-year-old Foundation-Nourishing Ginseng—he says one hundred and fifty thousand, and he won't knock off a single cent..."

"The manager only gave us a budget of one hundred and eighty thousand. After coming all this way, what's left is only enough to put on a foot-washing membership card..."

"Hey, was that thing at Stall No. 10 just now a fleshy ganoderma from the Medicine King Sect? I heard that stuff grows as long as you water it. Eat one slice raw every day, and it can strengthen the body without limit..."

"You dare touch something from the star demons? Don't forget, the Medicine King Sect is still running rampant in Henan Province. Those people are ruthless enough to bring the dead back out of their graves..."

"Hello! Sixth Brother? It's Brother Kun. I spotted a source stone here at the Kaiyang Black Market. I'm planning to use it as a birthday gift for Old Master Tang. Hurry and lend me some money—don't let someone else beat me to it..."

Listening to the rumors flying about, Chen Jue followed the crude concrete staircase up to an even cruder second floor.

This floor was likewise undecorated. With a ceiling over five meters high and the gray, bare concrete style, it was as empty and spacious as a large warehouse.

Chen Jue blended into the bustling crowd on the second floor. It felt like he had wandered into a long shopping street at a tourist attraction. Following the flow of people, he surveyed more than a hundred stalls.

The goods sold here were truly a dazzling array.

There were ancient weapons covered in verdigris, medicine bottles exuding strange fragrances, and even black slime locked inside glass jars, constantly writhing and changing shape...

Chen Jue stopped at a weapons stall, his gaze settling on a broad-backed horse-chopping saber with a blade three feet one inch long and a hilt one foot six inches long.

"How much for this saber?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man, about one meter sixty-five tall, dressed in a gray short jacket. Several charred holes burned through by sparks marked his chest.

"Fifty thousand in cash." The middle-aged man rubbed his hands, looking somewhat eager.

Chen Jue's brow twitched.

"A standard-issue horse-chopping saber from the Jiangnan Myriad-House Office costs no more than that. If garrison soldiers secretly steal and sell one, it is only forty thousand at most."

"On what grounds are you selling this saber for fifty thousand?"

The middle-aged man hurriedly said, "How can they be the same? The garrison lords almost all bring their own weapons. The standard battle sabers issued to them for free only need to meet inspection standards."

"But this saber of mine is good steel forged a hundred times. The blade has been thickened and weighted; it cannot be compared with those standard battle sabers made just to muddle through."

Chen Jue said nothing. He reached out, gripped the hilt wrapped in steel wire and blue cord, and weighed it in his hand.

It had to be said, this truly was an excellent battle saber.

The curve of the blade flowed naturally, its spine thick and solid. From the guard, the blade gradually narrowed and tapered, before suddenly stretching and hooking upward at the tip, its sharpness striking at the eye.

Unfortunately, limited by the material itself, even with its blade thickened and widened, it still weighed only ten jin.

"Forget it. It doesn't suit my hand."

Chen Jue released the hilt and turned to leave.

"Hey?!"

The sturdy middle-aged man had spent the entire day at his stall, selling heaps of worthless scrap metal for three or five hundred in cash. Having finally found someone asking about a good high-priced blade, he quickly called after him. "If you truly want it, I can sell it to you for forty thousand!"

"No money. Don't want it." Chen Jue did not even turn his head.

"Thirty-five thousand!"

Seeing Chen Jue was genuinely about to leave, the sturdy middle-aged man panicked. "...Thirty thousand! No, twenty-five thousand! I can't go any lower than twenty-five thousand!"

Chen Jue stopped, returned to the stall, and promptly scanned the code to pay.

"Young man, you've gotten yourself a bargain. The materials for this saber alone are worth twenty-five thousand. It's top-grade hundred-forged steel—I didn't charge you a cent for labor..."

Chen Jue gave a faint laugh. "Even if this saber were thousand-forged steel made by a master blacksmith, did it cost you people a single cent in materials?"

The sturdy middle-aged man froze, then gave an awkward laugh. "You can't put it that way..."

"We're both government people. Throw in a scabbard for me, or I'll anonymously report your Craftsmen Bureau."

Behind his mask, it was impossible to tell whether Chen Jue was joking or serious.

The sturdy middle-aged man went numb at his words, thinking, There is actually someone in this world this shameless?

"If I'd known this saber would be sold to someone like you, it should have rotted in the furnace..."

The sturdy middle-aged man lowered his head and muttered under his breath, pulling out a pre-prepared black alloy scabbard from beneath the stall.

It was something off an assembly line. He had originally planned to sell it to the buyer of the saber for two thousand in cash.

Instead, it had ended up sitting unsold in his hands, costing him two hundred.

Chen Jue fastened the ten-jin long saber at his waist. At four feet seven inches in length, it naturally made others keep a certain distance from him as he walked.