Imitation

Chen Xun's arrival made the other three turn to look at him.

The three consisted of one tall man, one short man, and one fat man.

The tall man wore a pig-head mask, the short man wore a tiger mask, while the fat man wore a rat mask.

"Ghost-Hand Jin, I need your help with something. It must be finished tonight."

Chen Xun walked up to Ghost-Hand Jin and spoke in a deep voice.

"Tonight? That urgent?"

Ghost-Hand Jin looked at Chen Xun in surprise.

"I can pay more."

Chen Xun did not waste words and went straight to the point.

According to the information Chen Xun had obtained, Ghost-Hand Jin had earned his nickname for two reasons. First, his hands were extraordinarily deft, capable of work as marvelous as that of ghosts and gods; second, he was exceedingly greedy for money.

As long as the price was high enough, he would even dare forge an official seal for you.

"Friend, I was here first, and my matter is urgent too."

Before Ghost-Hand Jin could speak, the fat man beside him spoke up first.

The other two showed no reaction. Clearly, they were not in any hurry.

"Is that so? Then let's see who can pay more."

Chen Xun refused to yield, his voice hoarse and cold.

As long as he could duplicate that purple item, Chen Xun would not regret spending every last tael of silver on him.

"Good, well said."

Ghost-Hand Jin's eyes lit up at those words, greed for money glittering in them.

"You two can bid. Whoever offers the higher price gets my services first."

Chen Xun immediately said, "Thirty taels."

The fat man in the rat mask could not help widening his eyes.

"Are you crazy? You started at thirty taels?"

"Are you in or not?"

Chen Xun pressed him.

The fat man gave it no further thought and shook his head. "Madman, I'm not bidding against you. You have the money, so you go first."

The other two had no objections.

It was only that the way they looked at Chen Xun became somewhat strange.

"Haha, lad, I like you. You've got guts."

The price of thirty taels made Ghost-Hand Jin's eyes shine, and he was delighted.

After all, there were times when he could not earn thirty taels of silver even in half a year.

The main reason was that his work could not see the light of day. He could not solicit customers openly and could only wait for them to come to him.

Sometimes, he could sit in the Black Market for an entire night without a single customer showing up.

Yet today, four people had arrived in no time at all. Business was already booming.

Afterward, Ghost-Hand Jin sent the other three away, arranging a delivery location and time with each of them.

When the time came, money and goods would change hands at the same time.

Then, he pulled Chen Xun into a small room to discuss the matter in private.

"What do you want me to do? Let me make this clear first—if it's too dangerous, I won't do it."

"It isn't dangerous. I only need you to imitate a martial arts manual."

As he spoke, Chen Xun took out the manual for the Iron Garment Art.

"Just this?"

Ghost-Hand Jin was taken aback.

He then took the manual, flipped through it quickly, and carefully examined its material. Surprise appeared on his face.

"The material of this manual is unusual. It isn't paper, nor is it beast hide. If anything, it resembles... human skin."

When he said this, Ghost-Hand Jin's voice lowered somewhat.

Ghost-Hand Jin really has some skill. He could even tell that much.

Chen Xun thought to himself.

"No matter what material it is, just tell me—can you make an identical manual by tonight?"

"To make one exactly the same in such a short time, this old man doesn't have that ability."

Ghost-Hand Jin shook his head.

"But I can make one that's eighty percent similar."

"If you can give me three days, I can make it ninety-five percent similar."

"If you can give me ten days and let me acquire some human skin, I can make it ninety-nine percent similar."

"What do you think?"

Ghost-Hand Jin looked at Chen Xun and asked.

If he had enough time, Chen Xun would naturally have chosen the last option.

But time was short. Chen Xun gritted his teeth and chose the first.

"Good. Then there's no time to waste. We'll begin now."

Having said that, Ghost-Hand Jin wasted no words. He directly took out an old chest and removed various tools he had made himself.

First, he imitated the Iron Garment Art manual's appearance, paper, and binding process to create an empty shell.

Next, Ghost-Hand Jin took out a writing brush and began imitating the handwriting in the Iron Garment Art manual on draft paper.

His ability to imitate was incredibly strong. The first attempt was only thirty percent similar, the second reached fifty percent, and by the third, it had reached ninety percent.

After that, Chen Xun looked on in utter amazement.

The writing on the draft was identical to the handwriting in the Iron Garment Art manual.

Not only the words, but Ghost-Hand Jin also copied the illustrations with effortless ease, flowing like clouds and running water.

In the end, the entire process took less than three hours. A twenty-eight-page imitation of the Iron Garment Art manual was successfully completed.

Holding one book in each hand, Chen Xun examined them closely and could still barely make out some differences.

But that was because Chen Xun had the genuine copy.

Without the original, could anyone else still tell them apart?

"Not bad."

Chen Xun held the counterfeit Iron Garment Art manual and nodded in satisfaction.

"Here. This is your payment."

Then, Chen Xun slapped three ten-tael silver notes into Ghost-Hand Jin's hand. They were precisely the three notes he had taken from Yu Qiang's body.

One of them was even stained with blood, which had already darkened.

Ghost-Hand Jin naturally noticed this as he carefully inspected the notes, but his expression remained unchanged.

People in their line of work never cared where the money came from. They only cared whether it was real.

"Not bad. They're genuine."

"Little brother, if you have work like this again, make sure you come find me."

"Of course, of course."

Chen Xun answered with a smile.

By the time he came out with Ghost-Hand Jin, the flow of people in the Black Market had noticeably thinned.

"Old sir, farewell."

"Little brother, be careful. Don't let anyone plot against you."

"Don't worry. I value my life dearly. It won't be so easy for anyone to plot against me."

After bidding Ghost-Hand Jin farewell, Chen Xun swiftly left the valley where the Black Market was held.

Inside the valley, there were Black Market overseers, and mutual killing was forbidden.

Outside the Black Market, there were no rules whatsoever. If someone had their eye on you, ambushes, sneak attacks, and traps were all possible.

Chen Xun was confident that he had not shown his face in the Black Market, so no one should have noticed him and laid an ambush for him.

Yet, less than a li after leaving the Black Market valley, as he walked through a small forest, a fishing net suddenly dropped from the sky.

Hearing the sound, a saber suddenly appeared in Chen Xun's hand, and he continuously slashed upward.

Within several breaths, the net was chopped into fragments.

In the darkness, while Chen Xun was dealing with the net, two figures attacked him from the front and rear, pincering him.

The one in front wielded a sword, while the one behind wielded a saber.

The sword stabbed for his chest, and the saber hacked at his neck.

The timing they had chosen was excellent. After Chen Xun shredded the net, he no longer had enough time to escape the encirclement.

The next moment, sword and saber were about to strike his body. In that brief instant, he did only one thing.

He abandoned defense, raised his saber high, and chopped at the swordsman before him.

"A dying struggle."

Mockery flashed through the swordsman's eyes as he withdrew his sword to block the saber.

"Let's see how you block the saber from behind."

Yet in the next instant, two rings of clashing metal sounded out.

One came from saber meeting sword, while the other came from a saber striking Chen Xun's neck.

"What? How could this be?"

The sight sent a tremendous shock through the two ambushers' hearts.

But Chen Xun had expected this long ago. Taking advantage of the swordsman's momentary daze, Chen Xun swung another heavy slash.

This strike successfully knocked aside the longsword in the other man's hand and cleaved into his exposed chest.

"Ah!" With a miserable cry, the swordsman fell to the ground.

"Second Brother!" Hearing the scream, the other man cried out anxiously.

But he soon had no time to worry about his second brother, because Chen Xun was crazily unleashing the Mountain-Splitting Saber Technique against him.

Overwhelmed, he could only keep defending.

When he spotted a tiny opening in Chen Xun's defense, he was overjoyed and immediately slashed at it.

But at the very moment he swung his saber, his expression changed sharply. "It's over."

Events unfolded exactly as he had expected. His saber struck Chen Xun's arm, yet the arm was unharmed, while a chip appeared in the blade.

At the same time, Chen Xun's saber also struck the other man's arm, severing it outright.

"What kind of monster are you?"

The man clutched his arm and looked at Chen Xun in despair.

Chen Xun said nothing. Another slash fell, cutting off the man's head.

Then he went back to finish off the other man, chopping off his head as well.

Thus, the pair that had ambushed Chen Xun both met their deaths.