Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Black Market and Sword Testing (Seeking Recommendations)_1 Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Black Market and Sword Testing (Seeking Recommendations)_1 “Demons and beasts, huh?”
The moon hung high in the sky.
Fang Xi, holding the black market token in his hand, still had some doubts.
According to Mu Canglong’s explanation, beasts probably correspond to some physically powerful monster beasts, but demons? They seemed rather peculiar, not like the demon beasts or demon cultivators from the Cultivation World…
“However, am I finally going to have access to the advanced resources of this world?”
He looked toward the bridge ahead, his expression slightly excited.
Following Mu Canglong’s introduction, the black market of Black Stone City was located at ‘Moon Bridge,’ on the first and fifteenth days… With a token, one could take a wooden boat from beside the bridge to enter the true black market!
By now, Fang Xi had naturally already changed into a set of night-travel clothes, paired with a broad-brimmed hat, making it impossible for anyone to make out his figure or face.
Once he got to Moon Bridge, he indeed saw a black awning boat waiting by the shore.
“Who goes there?”
An old man poling the bamboo asked from the boat.
“A person going to the black market.”
Fang Xi answered.
“Do you have proof?”
“Here you go!”
After tossing the token, the old man looked at it a few times, respectfully returned it, and let Fang Xi board the boat.
On the boat, there were several other people in black clothes, each maintaining a certain distance from the others, silent and not speaking.
After waiting for the time it takes three incense sticks to burn, the old man poled the bamboo, guiding the awning boat away in the moonlight.
A mist rose up, and the surrounding buildings became a looming multitude of shadows.
No one knew how much time had passed when the small boat docked on a river beach.
“We’ve arrived.”
The old man’s voice came through.
Fang Xi disembarked, his feet stepping into moist mud.
Looking around, it seemed to be the location of an island in the middle of a lake, where quite a few people had set up stalls and were selling goods.
The few structures that were there were wooden huts, looking incredibly rudimentary.
‘This black market… is completely different from what I imagined.’
‘It’s too shabby.’
Fang Xi’s mouth twitched slightly as he blended into the crowd.
“Brother, looking to learn the martial arts? Iron Sword Sect Secret Transmission Eighteen-Style Iron Sword Skills, all available here with the Divine Intent Diagram!”
At a stall, a masked vendor was calling out loudly.
Fang Xi glanced at the stack of secret manuals and shook his head as he moved on.
Without even looking, he knew that the Divine Intent Diagram could not be so easily replicated.
The ones here were probably all fakes.
“Come and take a look, top-quality slaves here… This skin, these teeth… Clearly from a wealthy family, in a few years will surely be a great beauty!”
At another stall, they were actually selling people!
Fang Xi cast a glance and noticed several boys and girls with panicked expressions, suddenly recalling the recent rumors about children from prominent families going missing in the city, his heart turned cold.
The control and deterrence of the Great Liang dynasty seemed very limited indeed!
‘The black market is indeed dark enough.’
‘Regrettably, I currently don’t have the power to do as I wish.’
After internally critiquing the situation, he headed towards a wooden hut as directed by Mu Canglong.
The hut was bare, and Fang Xi sniffed, detecting a strong scent of blood.
Around the hut in the bushes, he could faintly see bones.
“Is this where Mu Canglong and White Cloud Martial Arts School get their Monster Demon meat?”
Fang Xi muttered to himself and stepped inside.
The hut was dimly lit, an oil lamp burning with a strange green flame.
As the lamp oil burned, an eerie fragrance spread around.
Fang Xi swallowed, feeling strangely hungry.
‘This lamp oil… there’s something wrong with it.’
As he was pondering, a deep voice suddenly asked: “Here to buy meat?”
Fang Xi looked over and couldn’t help but gasp. He was genuinely a bit startled.
On one side of the room, there was a ‘mountain of meat’!
It was a true mountain of meat, about two to three meters high, white and fatty, sloppily piled up, with greasy skin all over it.
This was an unimaginably fat man!
‘At least a thousand pounds heavy!’
Fang Xi spoke in a low voice: “I heard… you sell Demonic Beast meat here? Don’t worry, I know the rules!”
While speaking, he threw over the token.
The mountain of flesh caught the token, glanced at it casually, and laughed: “Ah, someone introduced by a regular… Rest assured, the quality of my meat is the best!”
While saying that, he spread his fan-like hand and grabbed behind him.
Snap!
A lump of pale meat was thrown before Fang Xi.
This lump of meat was at least five or six pounds heavy, without a drop of red blood, apparently void of muscle and sinew patterns.
‘This feeling, is it similar to the lamp oil?’
Fang Xi glanced over and made a judgment in his mind.
“My meat, one hundred taels of silver per jin,” the meat mountain continued to quote the price.
“Agreed!”
Fang Xi nodded, took out a gold leaf, which he had specially exchanged for the transaction.
After all, carrying too much silver was not very convenient.
“I have one hundred gold leaves on me, totaling one hundred taels of gold,” he continued, “officially exchanged at ten taels of silver for one tael of gold, which is equivalent to a thousand tales of carved silver, so just give me ten jin of meat for now.”
By the time Fang Xi finished speaking and took out the gold leaf, the other party, the meat mountain, seemed to be stunned.
A moment later, he burst into laughter, “Good… straightforward! I, ‘Han Fatty,’ just like someone as forthcoming as you!”
While saying this, he grabbed another piece of Monster Demon meat and threw it down, probably weighing a good five or six jin.
“This piece plus the previous one is definitely over ten jin; the extra is on me…” the meat mountain laughed, “Life is short, only eating meat is supreme happiness… but you must remember, don’t eat too much and stuff yourself to death, hahaha…”
Han Fatty laughed continuously, making the wooden hut tremble.
Fang Xi cupped his fists, wrapped the ten jin of meat in cloth, slung it over his back, and bid farewell before leaving.
After purchasing the items he wanted, he did not choose to stay in the black market but left directly.
The way back, naturally, was first by boat, then getting off under the Moon Bridge.
When Fang Xi made several turns and entered a narrow alley, he suddenly sighed, “How long do you intend to follow me, and what for?”
At the end of the alley, a man in black had appeared at some unknown time.
He sneered in response, “Good boy, not bad skills… Getting so much meat from Han Fatty, you clearly are not short of money, hand it over!”
While the man in black was talking, he was still standing at the end of the alley, but by the time the last word dropped, he had already reached Fang Xi, punching out fiercely as if his fist was a rolling stone.
“Rolling Stone Fist?!”
Fang Xi smiled slightly, this man was using martial arts from a martial arts school, which he had seen people from Rock Martial Arts School use when he was learning martial arts.
Now, facing it, he was not the least bit flustered, turning his palm slightly, making it black as ink and striking out smoothly.
Bang!
At the collision of fist and palm, two surging forces of Qi and Blood clashed, emitting a dull sound.
The man in black grunted and stepped back several steps, losing his voice, “Three Transformations of Qi and Blood? How is it possible?”
He had long heard of the young experts in the city!
This time, he had chosen to attack upon hearing that the other party’s voice was not old!
But he did not expect to encounter such a tough nut!
“You too are a great master of the Three Transformations of Qi and Blood, from the Rock Martial Arts School!”
Fang Xi nodded and then shook his head, “Why seek death?”
“Hmph! Although White Cloud Palm is fierce and vicious, that doesn’t mean it can easily take me down,” the man in black shouted, his fists thunderous, pressing forward with an extremely aggressive aura.
The Rolling Stone Fist’s name might not sound very pleasant, but indeed it lived up to it; once the momentum built up, chaining together continuous strikes, it could accumulate power, like a snowball rolling, capable of delivering a shocking blow.
The longer it lasted, the greater the momentum!
Just as Fang Xi was about to concentrate to counter, his mouth suddenly twitched.
But to his surprise, the man in black shouted once and then turned and ran… ran away…
‘Goddammit, why should I, being on the same level of Three Transformations of Qi and Blood, risk my life against another martial artist?’
The man in black turned and ran, his heart filled with frustration.
Upon close inspection of his fists, black marks had already appeared, indicating that the poison palm had indeed damaged him.
“A high-level expert of the White Cloud Martial Arts School, this grudge I will remember…”
Just as he was about to drop some fierce words, his vision suddenly blurred, and he saw Fang Xi!
With the Red Snake Leg enhancing his movement, Fang Xi was actually very fast!
Seeing this, the man in black couldn’t help but feel a sense of despair, “Are you… are you really going to be so ruthlessly thorough?”
“Not at all, not at all…”
Fang Xi smiled slightly, “You’re a high-level master of the Three Transformations of Qi and Blood, right? I just wanted to ask you for a little experiment…”
After saying that, Fang Xi concentrated, murmuring to himself.
He recited a spell quickly, his magic power circulating within him, coursing toward his right-hand fingertips.
Then, with a slight lift of his hand, several streams of sword Qi surged forth violently.
The Spirit Farmer Weeding Skills from Green Bamboo Mountain — Metal Grass Mowing Sword!
As the man in black was still puzzled, horrific wounds suddenly appeared on his body, spurting out blood!
“What… what martial skill is this?”
He knelt on the ground, his face under the mask full of disbelief.
“Innate Invisible Sword Qi!”
Fang Xi stood with his hands behind his back, the picture of a lofty expert.
Meanwhile, he was noting down the details of this experiment.
‘A minor spell from the early stages of Qi Refining still has considerable lethality against a martial artist who has achieved the Three Transformations of Qi and Blood…’
“I…” The man in black wanted to curse, but he couldn’t catch his breath.
Is this even martial arts?!
Even the principals of the martial arts schools, no! Even the great masters of Yuanhe Mountain might not be able to accomplish such an outlandish feat as injuring people with force from a distance, right?
Unfortunately, before he could let out his curse, a flash of green sword light flickered.
The headless corpse of the man in black fell, blood quickly pooling.
“With a low-grade magical weapon, it’s even easier than cutting vegetables…”
Fang Xi sighed, retrieving the ‘Green Barley Sword’ with a raise of his hand, somewhat dissatisfied, “Next time… I’ll test the sword on a principal of a martial arts school.”