Chapter 15

Black Market

There was a black market in Pingyin County. Chen Fei only found out about it from Zeng Defang. He heard that the previous location was not far from the north wall of Pingyin County.

Now, because of the refugees, the black market was directly opened inside Pingyin County.

Chen Fei guessed that this black market must have an official background. Otherwise, how could the county government allow this black market to operate so openly?

In the dark of the night, Chen Fei wore a bamboo hat and a mask to hide his face as he arrived at the black market.

Unlike what he had imagined, this so-called black market was actually quite lively. Other than the lack of hawking, it wasn’t much different from the night market in Pingyin County.

Along the way, Chen Fei looked around. The products the stalls had put on display to sell were strange and unique. Many of them were things that Chen Fei had never seen or even heard of.

Every time he encountered something he’d never seen or heard before, Chen Fei would stand silently at the back and listen to the conversations of those people, gaining some information from them.

Just by listening in, Chen Fei actually obtained a lot of useful information.

Chen Fei stopped in front of a stall after walking around a bit. There were many secret manuals at this stall, but strangely, there were very few people standing there.

“Feel free to look through them. These are some excerpts of the full secret manual. If you see one that you like, we can discuss the price. I will naturally take out the complete manual once the time is right.”

Seeing Chen Fei stop, the stall owner glanced at the deerskin gloves on Chen Fei’s hand and said with a smile.

“Do you have any movement techniques?” Chen Fei didn’t touch anything and asked directly.

Chen Fei thought about it yesterday. Although he lacked cultivation and cultivation techniques, what he lacked the most was actually movement techniques. If one had a good movement technique, their first choice would be to run when they encountered danger.

As long as they ran fast enough, even if their cultivation realm was inferior to others, the probability of keeping their lives was actually quite high.

“Of course. Young hero, take a look at these books.” The stall owner picked out a few secret manuals and placed them in front of Chen Fei.

Water Crossing, Weightless Perch, Grass Surfing, Wave Riding.

Chen Fei casually picked up a book and flipped through it. After a moment, Chen Fei put down the secret manual and picked up another one.

In less than 15 minutes, Chen Fei had finished reading all four secret manuals with a thoughtful expression.

“These are all basic qinggong manuals. Do you have any better ones?” Chen Fei asked after a moment’s thought.

“Of course I do, but if I dare to give it to you, do you dare to practice it?”

The stall owner looked at Chen Fei with a faint smile and said, “Of course, I have better secret manuals other than the basic secret manuals. However, I don’t know if they are complete. If something happens because of the secret manual I gave you, I won’t be responsible.”

Chen Fei was a little thrown off. After all, he was still inexperienced.

Ordinary people would not be able to distinguish a few slight changes in a cultivation technique manual. If it was changed at a critical point, the person who cultivated the cultivation technique might even go berserk. The danger of paralysis was very real.

The more profound the cultivation technique, the more so. On the other hand, the basic cultivation techniques had a simple circulation route through the body’s system. Even if one made a mistake in their cultivation, there wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Moreover, as a martial artist’s cultivation increased, he could tell at a glance if there were any problems with the basic cultivation technique. Even though Chen Fei was only in the Skin Toughening realm, he had cultivated a few techniques to perfection.

Looking at the four secret manuals just now, he did not find any problems. They could all be cultivated directly.

“What’s the price for these four secret manuals?”

“One book costs two taels of silver. How many books do you want?”

“I want them all.” As Chen Fei spoke, he took out eight taels of silver and placed them on the stall.

The stall owner revealed a smile. He took out the second half of the corresponding secret manual from the seat behind him and handed it to Chen Fei. Chen Fei flipped through it and did not find any problems. He put the four secret manuals into the bag he carried behind him.

“Oh right, give me a technique manual, something more profound.” Chen Fei thought for a moment and said.

Chen Fei wanted to try and see if the interface would be able to complete an incomplete secret manual and let him cultivate the technique.

The stall owner’s brows twitched slightly, but he didn’t refuse. He searched around the stall and took out a secret manual to pass to Chen Fei. “The Immortal Cloud Sword, the unique sword technique of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect.”

“Immortal Cloud Sword Sect?”

Chen Fei was slightly startled. This sect was too famous. Within a radius of several thousand miles, the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect was probably the most powerful one.

There were many strong people in the sect. Every year, countless people wanted to join it, but they never had the chance. Chen Fei’s predecessor had also fantasized about it back then, but unfortunately, he did not succeed.

Chen Fei took the secret manual and flipped through it slightly. His brows furrowed and relaxed. With Chen Fei’s knowledge of where the Clear Mountain Sword was at the Great Completion level, he could tell that there were indeed some profound theories on Sword Principle recorded in the Immortal Cloud Sword.

However, most of them were nonsense. It was more like someone had obtained some sword techniques, and then because the instructions were incomplete, they stuffed many of their own insights into them, even delusional truths.

“What price?” Chen Fei raised his head and asked.

“Fifty taels!” The stall owner grinned.

Chen Fei didn’t say anything and just looked at the stall owner. How dare he quote such a price for a secret manual that he had made up?

The stall owner did not show any weakness and looked at Chen Fei calmly. That was the price he was willing to sell at, what could Chen Fei do?

Chen Fei nodded, put down the manual, and turned to leave. Money didn’t drop from the heavens for him. He only had slightly more, but he had to spend it slowly.

Spending so much money just to test the interface was simply a waste.

“Hey, don’t go. Name a price!” The stall owner’s voice came from behind.

Chen Fei stopped in his tracks and thought for a moment before saying, “Three taels!”

“Alright, deal!”

The stall owner immediately agreed, as if he was afraid that Chen Fei would go back on his word. He took out the other half of the secret manual and stuffed it into Chen Fei’s hand.

Chen Fei was a little speechless. It would seem the price of three taels was too high.

However, Chen Fei did not go back on his word. He took a look at the second half of the secret manual. It indeed contained some Sword Principles. He could not say that he had made a loss completely for buying this cultivation technique for three taels.

“Young hero, if you have any other needs in the future, you can come to me. This is where I set up my stall every night.” After making two deals, the stall owner was in a good mood.

Chen Fei waved his hand, put away the secret manual, and turned to leave.

In the black market, Chen Fei wandered around a few more times and even specially inquired about the sale of pill formulas. However, other than the basic pill formulas, the black market did not have any slightly higher-level pill formulas.

As the night deepened, Chen Fei did not stay long and left the black market.

After returning to his rented place, Chen Fei took out the Water Crossing Technique and began to study it seriously.

An hour later, the information about the Water Crossing Technique finally appeared on the interface.

“Interface, simplify Water Crossing Technique! ”

“Water Crossing Technique is being simplified. Simplification is successful. Water Crossing Technique → Walk!”

Chapter end