Several hours later, Li Ling and Lin Ti arrived beside a nameless island several thousand miles from Northsky Island.
This place had originally been nothing more than an unremarkable stretch of shallow sea. It was usually deserted, and merchant ships rarely passed through, so, like countless other deserted islands large and small, it was not even worth marking on the Merchant Association's nautical charts.
There were many such places in the sea, forever rising and sinking, often submerged beneath the waves or emerging at certain times to become breeding grounds for evil, harboring filth and corruption.
The Black Market liked holding its secret trading gatherings in places like these. They were deeply concealed locations that ordinary outsiders would never know about. Most people could probe no further than the peripheral circles within certain Market Wards.
Those so-called black markets that could operate openly were far too superficial. Most of their wares had only surfaced after passing through several transactions, changing hands again and again and being washed clean along the way.
Otherwise, they offered little more than scams, counterfeits, and shoddy goods that even the Black Market's own people despised.
Evil cultivators who killed people and stole their treasures normally dared to sell their spoils in those peripheral circles, because compared to this place, darkness on that level was mere child's play.
Here, however, the goods were often genuine contraband straight from the source. Sometimes they even dared to sell the spoils of a direct assault on Northsky Island. Other murders, thefts, and robberies were as commonplace as everyday meals.
"This should be the place," Li Ling said. "If there really are pirates here, Blood Lion will surely have informants watching. Once I show myself, there's a good chance I'll draw him here."
"That would be excellent," Lin Ti said.