Black Market Observations, Crimson Gold Glaze

Steward Li left with his men.

Lin Feng walked through the Black Market alone.

The goods sold in the Black Market were generally quite valuable.

Lin Feng saw several stalls selling jewelry and ornaments.

The shops outside sold jewelry and ornaments too, but the prices in the Black Market were cheaper.

Lin Feng understood at once that the goods in the Black Market might have shady origins.

Some might have been stolen from wealthy households by flying thieves, while others might have been seized by bandits who robbed roads and killed travelers.

Lin Feng stopped before a stall that sold weapons.

Several weapons lay on display, and one treasured sword caught Lin Feng's attention.

Gemstones were embedded in both the sword's hilt and Sword Sheath, making it look rather luxurious.

The stall owner had sharp eyes and immediately saw that Lin Feng had taken a liking to the treasured sword.

"If you like this treasured sword, young hero, feel free to pick it up and inspect it carefully."

Lin Feng picked up the treasured sword, gripped the hilt, and gently pulled it free.

With a clang, the treasured sword was drawn halfway.

Cold light flashed from the exposed half of the blade. It was clearly no ordinary weapon.

"This treasured sword has a reputation in the martial world as well. If you like it, young hero, two thousand taels of silver and it's yours."

Lin Feng slid the treasured sword back into its Sword Sheath, set it down on the stall, and said, "Can't afford it."

The stall owner said, "If you truly want it, young hero, I can give you a discount."

Lin Feng shook his head.

Buying something like this would very likely bring trouble upon himself. Even if he had brought enough silver, he could not buy it.

Seeing Lin Feng shake his head, the stall owner stopped trying to sell it to him.

Lin Feng was then drawn to several round Iron Beads the size of fingernails on the stall.

Lin Feng pointed at the Iron Beads. "What are these?"

"These are Glazed Beads.

They're concealed weapons. They're cheap—five taels of silver each.

Why not buy some and practice with them, young hero?

Once you master them, they'll be no laughing matter.

Back then, the Demonic Path overlord Jin Liusha slaughtered hundreds of Righteous Faction experts in a single battle with his supreme concealed weapon art, 'Crimson Gold Glaze.'

It is said that he used this very kind of Glazed Bead.

And that battle took him only a dozen breaths or so."

The stall owner gestured as he spoke.

He flung his left hand outward, then his right, his spittle flying as he talked.

"Jin Liusha would fling out ten Glazed Beads with a single wave of his hand.

And those ten Glazed Beads seemed to have grown eyes, each striking one of ten Righteous Faction experts.

All they heard was a burst of pfft, pfft, pfft.

Bloody mist exploded from the bodies of the Righteous Faction experts.

The Righteous Faction experts fell in swathes like wheat before the scythe.

After Jin Liusha used up all his Glazed Beads, he stomped the ground and sent countless pebbles flying.

Then Jin Liusha scooped up those pebbles and fired them as Glazed Beads.

Their power was actually no different from using Glazed Beads.

It is said that Jin Liusha had yet to cultivate 'Crimson Gold Glaze' to its highest realm.

Otherwise, even flying flowers and plucked leaves could wound people.

Sadly, Jin Liusha ultimately died in battle, and his 'Crimson Gold Glaze' became a lost art with his death."

Lin Feng's eyes lit up. Wasn't that basically a machine gun?

It did sound quite impressive, though the man made it sound as if buying a few Glazed Beads and playing around with them would let him master it.

Without Martial Arts Manuals, he would not be able to cultivate so much as a hair.

It was a pity this stall owner did not become a storyteller.

After taking a quick look, Lin Feng continued deeper inside.

As Lin Feng passed a room screened by pink gauze curtains, a young woman sitting inside called out to him.

"Young hero, please wait.

The night is long. Why not come in and have a cup of tea?"

Her voice was soft and melodious, like a spring breeze brushing past his ears, stirring all manner of thoughts.

Lin Feng could not help looking into the gauze curtains.

Through the haze, he saw a girl of sixteen behind them.

Her glossy black hair was piled high, one fragrant shoulder exposed, her legs crossed as though she were sipping tea.

After one glance, Lin Feng turned and left.

If he wanted tea, how nice would it be to drink it when he got back? He would not even have to spend silver.

Lin Feng quickened his pace, intending to buy Martial Arts Manuals first before browsing the other stalls.

After walking for a quarter of an hour, Lin Feng finally found a gaunt old man selling manuals in a corner.

Eight manuals were displayed on the gaunt old man's stall.

There were fist techniques, palm techniques, saber techniques, and movement techniques.

Lin Feng's eyes lit up. He stepped forward and asked, "Sir, may I pick them up and look through them?"

The gaunt old man said, "You may look, but you cannot spend more than ten breaths looking at any one manual."

These manuals were all very thin. Ten breaths would be enough for him to flip through each one.

Lin Feng secretly rejoiced. I'm afraid I'll make a killing today.

He picked up a copy of "Arhat Fist" and rapidly flipped through it. In less than ten breaths, he had gone through the entire manual.

Yet the system showed no reaction at all.

Lin Feng was puzzled. The system should not have malfunctioned. Could this manual be fake?

Lin Feng simply flipped through all eight manuals. In the end, only one low-grade movement technique, "Thousand Mile Divine Movement," was parsed by the system.

Lin Feng was utterly speechless. This old man was far too crooked—seven out of eight manuals were fakes.

If someone bought one and cultivated it, would that not be a complete waste of time and effort?

The key was that there would be no way to come back and find the seller.

Cultivating a manual could easily take years. By the time one finished and realized something was wrong, the seller would have long since vanished.

Even if the seller were still there, he could simply say that your aptitude was too poor, which was why you had failed to master it. There would be nothing you could do.

Luckily, he had the system. Otherwise, he would have been swindled to death.

Lin Feng left after flipping through the manuals.

That old man was such a cheat that Lin Feng would not spend any silver there.

Obtaining one movement technique had already fulfilled the purpose of his trip to the Black Market.

It was not yet time for his appointment with Steward Li.

Lin Feng wanted to look around for other stalls selling manuals.

Yet after making a full circuit, he found none.

It seemed that there was only one stall selling manuals.

At last, he stopped before a stall selling ancient books.

Most of the ancient books on this stall were handwritten copies.

Only two appeared to be original ancient texts.

Lin Feng had enjoyed reading in his previous life, and the sight made him itch with delight.

He picked up a copy of Shenzhou Records and immediately became engrossed in it.

This copy of Shenzhou Records not only contained maps of the lands of Shenzhou, but also recounted several great wars between the Righteous and Demonic Factions over the past thousand years.

Many astonishingly gifted figures had shone brilliantly for a time, leading an era, only to vanish without a trace in the end.

Lin Feng also discovered that Big Black Mountain was not the natural boundary between the Righteous and Demonic Factions.

The border between the Righteous and Demonic Factions changed with every great war.

Qinghe County had changed hands many times.

Lin Feng was reading with rapt attention when the elderly woman who owned the stall interrupted him.

"Young man, if you like it, buy it. One hundred taels of silver, no bargaining.

This is an original ancient text. It is absolutely worth the price."

Shenzhou Records was not a Martial Arts Manual, so his system would not record it.

The historical portions of this book were too important to Lin Feng.

By taking history as a mirror, one could understand rise and decline.

Those words were not wrong at all.

Human society had always gone in circles.

History was the future with the medicine changed but not the formula.

"I'll look at the others first."

Lin Feng put down the book and picked up the other original ancient text.

Out of habit, he gave it a quick flip-through, and then his heart began pounding faster and faster.

What was going on? This was far too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?