Sales Channels

After Du Cangying announced that there would be rewards, the many students of Azure Hawk Martial Arts School finally quieted down. Xu Qing fell silent for a moment. Faced with the yamen's arrangements, the Three Great Families of the outer city could only obey.

Next.

Tasks were assigned.

Xu Qing became a squad leader of the outer city Patrol Team. He received a token from Du Cangying, engraved with the character "Thirteen."

Clearly.

Xu Qing was the captain of Patrol Squad No. 13 outside the city.

Also.

Patrol Squad No. 13 belonged to the Type A Outer City Patrol Brigade led by Senior Disciple Brother Huo Yi, who was the captain of the Type A Outer City Patrol Brigade.

"Xu Qing."

Huo Yi sought out Xu Qing.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

Xu Qing saluted him.

"Mhm."

Huo Yi nodded. "In your Patrol Team, you are the captain, and there are also two Vice-Captains. They are Liu Xiao, leader of the Red Snake Gang, and Su Changhe, chief escort master of the Tiger Head Escort Agency."

"The three of you should get acquainted. Starting today, you will be working together. I hope you can coordinate well."

"Greetings, Brother Xu."

"Brother Xu."

Liu Xiao and Su Changhe walked over with smiles on their faces, cupping their fists in salute to Xu Qing. Liu Xiao was a thin middle-aged man with long, narrow eyelids, while Su Changhe was a burly man who looked rather bold and forthright.

"Brother Liu, Brother Su."

Xu Qing glanced at them and smiled as well, cupping his fists toward Liu Xiao and Su Changhe. "I'll be relying on you two for your guidance from now on."

First.

To ensure that the disaster victims and refugees outside the city would not riot, the yamen had dispatched constables, while Azure Hawk Martial Arts School, Crushing Stone Martial Arts School, and Crimson Eagle Martial Arts School had also formed Patrol Brigades under the yamen's orders.

There were nine Patrol Brigades in total, named Type A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I. Each patrol force numbered between one hundred and two hundred people.

Each martial arts school could form three Patrol Brigades.

Among them.

Azure Hawk Martial Arts School's three Patrol Brigades were the Type A Outer City Patrol Brigade, Type C Outer City Patrol Brigade, and Type G Outer City Patrol Brigade.

Their total number was five hundred and eighty.

Patrol Squad No. 13, led by Xu Qing, belonged to the Type A Outer City Patrol Brigade. Including Xu Qing, Liu Xiao, and Su Changhe, the Patrol Team had fifteen members in total.

Most members of the Patrol Team were martial arts school students, gang members, and the like.

It was rather mixed.

As a result.

The team was not easy to lead.

Time flashed by.

Night fell.

Xu Qing had not had time to practice martial arts throughout the day. There were many matters to handle in assigning tasks to the various Patrol Teams, and he had even met Qingbei Town's County Magistrate that afternoon.

That was a true big shot.

Swish! Swish! Swish!!!

Sword light flashed.

During the day, Xu Qing had spent some silver to buy three ordinary iron swords. They were not expensive, but they still cost him thirty taels of silver.

Experience +1

Experience +1

Xu Qing swung his sword. Every time he swung it, the ordinary iron sword in his hand gained one point of experience.

Before long.

All three of Xu Qing's iron swords had leveled up.

Iron Sword LV3: 0/40 (...)

All three iron swords had risen to LV3. An LV3 iron sword was already a sharp sword forged from refined iron. At market price, each could basically sell for around three hundred taels of silver.

In other words.

Their value had increased tenfold.

Without realizing it.

It was already deep into the night.

Xu Qing put on the Ghost Mask. After more than half a year, the mysterious swordsmanship master Lü Dongbin appeared once more. This was his third trip to the black market.

The scene shifted.

The black market.

Xu Qing had arrived. The black market before his eyes was still extremely lively, with many people setting up stalls to sell all kinds of spirit food, medicinal herbs, Secret Medicine, weapons, and more.

This time.

Xu Qing came to a weapons shop in the black market.

"Boss."

Xu Qing walked in and looked around. He saw all kinds of weapons displayed inside—sabers, swords, staffs, spears... though sabers and swords were the most numerous.

"Customer, what do you need?"

The owner of this weapons shop was a smiling middle-aged man. He was quite fat, with a large belly and tiny mung-bean eyes that were slightly narrowed.

"Do you buy iron swords?"

Xu Qing asked.

"We do."

The weapons shop owner paused briefly. Seeing the black bundle on Xu Qing's back, he nodded. "May I examine them, sir?"

"You may."

Xu Qing nodded. He took out the three iron swords and handed them to the weapons shop owner.

The weapons shop owner inspected them for a moment before setting down the iron sword in his hand. The smile on his face remained. "The weapons are decent, though the quantity is a little low. If you want to sell them, I can offer you one thousand taels."

"Alright."

Xu Qing nodded in agreement.

Very quickly.

The two sides completed the transaction.

"Sir."

However.

The weapons shop owner called out to stop Xu Qing. "You have more than these three weapons, don't you? I took a look just now. Let us speak plainly: these three iron swords were all made by the same blacksmith, and they were forged not long ago. There isn't a trace of use on them."

"What do you say?"

"Sir, have you considered entering into a long-term partnership with me?"

"How do you want to cooperate?"

Xu Qing asked.

"It's simple."

The weapons shop owner said calmly, "From now on, sell all the weapons you forge to me, and I can offer you a satisfactory price."

"No matter how many you have, I'll take them all."

"Alright."

Xu Qing pondered for a moment.

"Good!"

The weapons shop owner froze for a moment, then laughed aloud. "I didn't expect you to be so straightforward. Rest assured, I absolutely won't let you suffer a loss when it comes to price!"

"Let us formally introduce ourselves."

"I am Guo Qianming."

"Mhm."

Xu Qing nodded. "Lü Dongbin."

"Hm?"

Guo Qianming froze, looking somewhat stunned as he sized Xu Qing up. His tone was filled with surprise. "You are actually Lü Dongbin."

"That mysterious swordsmanship master!!!"

"That's right."

Xu Qing nodded.

This way.

Xu Qing had achieved the first purpose of his visit to the black market: he had found a stable sales channel. From now on, he only needed to sell a few upgraded iron swords every day to earn enough money to maintain his daily expenses and martial arts practice.

The second purpose.

Xu Qing returned to Black Tiger Spirit Food Shop and met its owner, Black Tiger. Xu Qing did not have much silver on hand. Though he had just earned one thousand taels, he only had a little over ten thousand taels in total.

Therefore.

This time, Xu Qing only bought ten thousand taels' worth of Black Mountain Tiger Meat.

"Take care, customer."

Black Tiger said.

Xu Qing did not respond.

This time.

No Hunters in the black market dared to attack and kill Xu Qing again. Because of the previous two incidents, the black market Hunters had learned just how terrifyingly powerful Xu Qing was.

Those Hunters merely wanted money. They did not want to die.

Xu Qing left the black market and returned to his courtyard. He removed the Ghost Mask, restored his original appearance, and put the Ghost Mask away on his person.

First.

Xu Qing had originally believed that after Eight Extremities Fist reached LV11 and rose to the Dan Force level, the LV10 Iron Sword and LV10 Ghost Mask would be able to continue leveling up.

However.

The information conveyed by the Omni-Codex still told Xu Qing that, with his current cultivation, he was still unable to control an Iron Sword and Ghost Mask upgraded to LV11.

Therefore.

Xu Qing had no choice but to abandon the idea.

"Previously, because I was only at the Transformative Force level, eating one jin of Black Mountain Tiger Meat a day was enough. It was sufficient to sustain my daily expenditure and martial arts practice."

Xu Qing said, "But after my cultivation broke through to the Dan Force level, one jin of Black Mountain Tiger Meat per day was no longer enough. I needed to eat three jin every day to maintain my daily expenditure and martial arts practice."

"The Black Mountain Tiger Meat bought with ten thousand taels of silver won't last long either."

The night passed without incident.

The next day.

Morning.

Xu Qing arrived at Azure Hawk Martial Arts School, then left Qingbei Town and came outside the city. The cold wind howled and heavy snow drifted down. As far as the eye could see, the land outside the city was blanketed in snow, covered by a thick layer of accumulation.

Not far away.

Xu Qing looked up and saw countless refugees and disaster victims, all gaunt and sallow-faced. They had gathered outside the city, and quite a few had even pitched tents there.

Clearly.

These disaster victims and refugees had no intention of leaving.

Faced with so many disaster victims and refugees, Qingbei Town's County Magistrate was somewhat at a loss as well. They certainly could not be driven away, but neither could so many of them be allowed into the city.

If they entered the city, who knew what trouble they might cause?

Moreover.

If this opening were made.

Disaster victims and refugees from other counties would all gather here.

When that happened.

Qingbei Town would be in deep trouble.

Next.

The task Xu Qing and the others had to carry out each day was simple: patrol without interruption around the clock in the areas outside the city where these disaster victims and refugees had gathered.

At the same time.

They also had to protect the porridge kitchens established by the Three Great Families and the yamen, maintaining order to prevent the disaster victims and refugees from stampeding over the food and causing unrest.

Of course.

Xu Qing and the others worked in shifts.

On the first day.

Xu Qing's Patrol Team happened to be among the first shift on duty, and it was also time for the porridge kitchens established by the Three Great Families and the yamen to begin distributing porridge.

Therefore.

Xu Qing and the others needed to maintain order.

Not only that.

The porridge kitchen that Patrol Squad No. 13, led by Xu Qing, had to protect was one established by the Jiang family, one of Qingbei Town's Three Great Families.

Speaking of which.

This porridge kitchen established by the Jiang family had been operating for the longest time and had lasted the longest. At first, it was simply because the Jiang family's eldest daughter, Jiang Feiying, was kind-hearted and could not bear to see those beggars go hungry, so she began distributing porridge.

Moreover.

This porridge distribution had continued uninterrupted for more than half a year.

More than half a year had passed.

What had originally been a temporary little porridge stall had now become a proper, sizable establishment.

It looked like a small roadside inn.

"Don't shove, don't shove. There's enough for everyone, enough for everyone."

"All of you, line up properly."

"..."

The Patrol Team members shouted their reprimands.

Everything was in perfect order.

"Hmm?"

However.

Xu Qing frowned. He carried the Ghost Mask, within which dwelled a true evil ghost, and he noticed faint wisps of yin baleful aura clinging to some of the refugees and disaster victims.

Clearly.

Something was going on.

"Forget it. It has nothing to do with me."

Xu Qing pondered for a moment, but he had no intention of meddling. He pretended that he knew nothing and had seen nothing.