After a few twists and turns, everyone returned to their own trades. Despite how cautious everyone was being, the exchanges were still carried out in an orderly fashion, and it wasn’t long before the Black Market reached its climax. Even those who’d initially wanted to wait and see couldn’t hold themselves back any longer and joined in as well.
As people were finishing up their trades, Fang Xing walked to the front of the crowd and declared in a clear voice, "I’ve got something I’d like to trade as well, but the price is fixed at one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones—nothing less. See… the truth is, even with a hundred fifty stones, it will still settle at a loss for me; before I joined the sect, it cost my father over thirty thousand gold taels…."
As soon as he started to speak about his trade’s value, everyone around him quieted down.
The young man from before had amazed everyone with his mid-tier Flying Sword worth a hundred Spirit Stones, and now there was something worth even more? And he was even claiming he’d still end up at a loss for this amount? Such a rare treasure had everyone rushing to crowd around Fang Xing, especially the mustached man from earlier—his eyes in particular were squinting with excitement.
"What spirit tool could be worth thirty thousand gold taels? Come on and show it to us!"
Walking over to where the mustached man was, Fang Xing gave a polite request, "Esteemed Shixiong, you look like you might know your spirit tools well. Would you like to have a look for me? To see whether it is indeed worth one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones, or if I should demand even more?" As soon as his words had finished, Fang Xing opened up his palm to reveal a strange yet wonderful snuff bottle glistening with reflections of the moon above.
"Huh?" The mustached man took a quick look. It was indeed a spirit tool, but something didn’t seem quite right. He was certain it couldn’t be worth as much as Fang Xing declared it was, but after seeing how confident Fang Xing was, he needed a closer look to confirm his thoughts.
The mustached man wasn’t the only one to have such thoughts at first glance—all of the people soon came closer for a second look.
"It is a spirit tool alright, but it’s definitely not worth thirty thousand gold taels. Are you sure your father wasn’t cheated by the merchant?"
"You’re not doing this on purpose, are you? You don’t really think you can scam us, right?"
"But we don’t know, do we? Perhaps there’s something special about this. Would you mind showing us why it’s worth this much?"
As everyone was debating over its actual value, someone finally asked to see how the snuff bottle worked.
"Of course I can show it to you all! And for those who think it’s worth less than what I said… I don’t even want to say this, but your eye for value is absolutely rotten! Just for you guys, today I’m going to redefine your knowledge on what a real spirit tool is like!" Fang Xing placed his other palm above the snuff bottle before continuing, "Now, come closer everyone; you need to make sure you look very closely…."
Hearing Fang Xing’s explanation, nobody could help but to huddle up even closer towards the snuff bottle, unwilling to miss a single thing.
"Abracadabra! Show us your worthiness of this thirty thousand gold taels!"
Swoosh….
Within seconds, a bluish-green smog leaked out of the snuff bottle, sending a soporific fume into the nostrils of everyone nearby.
Everyone in tier one fell straight into sleep.
Those in tier two were also heavily shaken. They felt lightheaded at first, then they felt an overwhelming sense of powerlessness in their knees and lost consciousness.
The mustached man was the only person present in tier three. He was the fastest to react to the fumes and nearly escaped to the entrance, but it was of no use; he’d also been the person standing closest to Fang Xing, and Fang Xing had made certain when the fumes were released that the mustached man inhaled the highest concentration.
"Why… you little…." The man pointed his finger at Fang Xing while trying hard to keep his eyes open. He released an angry growl before finally falling down to the floor alongside everyone else.
Although the mustached man was the cautious type, he’d never imagined a brand new disciple would have the nerve to do such a thing. Even as he traded, he would always have an extra eye on the few older-looking disciples just in case they were up to no good; the only reason he ended up falling for Fang Xing’s trap was a single moment of misjudgment.
"Argh! You almost cost me my entire plan!" Fang Xing started to kick and abuse the mustached man to release his frustration and stopped only after confirming the man had completely lost consciousness. Fang Xing knew a person with a higher cultivation was less likely to be affected by the fumes, but the snuff bottle’s strength had certainly lived up to expectations this time.
Fang Xing’s fourth uncle had owned an even larger one before his death. He’d used it against Xiao Jianming, but there had unfortunately been no effect and it was shattered with a simple wave of a sword, making it likely the fumes were ineffective against someone in tiers seven and above.
Fang Xing had only decided to use this method after testing the fumes on himself a few days earlier. It had taken only a small amount to send him sleeping for an entire day and night since he was only in tier one, and such results had convinced him it was worth a try.
"Is everything okay?" someone shouted from the entrance, and Fang Xing soon realized the guards must have noticed something was amiss. ‘Ah sh*t, I forgot about those two.’
"Hey, don’t push me! I won’t trade it anymore! Get out of my way, I am out of here!" Fang Xing yelled out in mock anger while pretending to leave the market.
The guards exchanged glances before running inside, only to nearly bump into the thin man and cause a snuff bottle to fly out of his hands towards the two. When one of the guards tried to reflexively catch the snuff bottle, the thin man jumped up and pressed his palm against the top of the bottle to release its fume right into the guard’s face.
"Who—" The guard fell into a sweet snooze right then and there, before he could even finish his sentence.
"What… what do you want!" While the other guard was somewhat dazzled by the fume, he hadn’t been as close.
"I want… this!" Fang Xing drew out his dagger and stabbed it towards the remaining guard.
The guard narrowly dodged the stab by jumping out of the way, but he was sent to the ground by Fang Xing’s follow-up kick. The guard was still recovering from his fume-induced daze, leaving his reactions slow.
The guard began resisting his lightheadedness with great difficulty and finally reached for his Flying Sword. At the same time, however, Fang Xing also revealed something shiny and an object flew right towards the guard.
Tzin tzin tzin….
A frightening sound rang out as a flash of silver flew past the guard.
"You know… this stuff is no fun when it’s nailed into you. If you don’t want to die, put your sword to the side," Fang Xing coldly ordered the guard while he held a metal cylinder—the origin of the silver flash—in one of his hands.
Turning his head behind him, the guard could see an entire row of silver needles, with most of them pierced deeply in the ground and a few lodged inside a nearby tree. Each one—without fail—was almost fully embedded in its target, causing him to tremble as he imagined them striking his body instead.
"I see you’d rather die. Then…." Fang Xing didn’t give the guard much time to do anything at all and raised the cylinder once more.
"No! I’ll throw away my sword!" the guard pleaded and put the sword down. He was just a new recruit to the outer court as well, after all; there was no way he was going to risk his life for this.
"Good. Good boy," Fang Xing sneered as he put his metal cylinder away, right before he walked up to the guard and kicked him square in the face.
"What? Why?" the guard cried out as he slowly looked back up, unable to comprehend what this man now wanted.
"Ok, this is a bit awkward." Surprised the guard was still conscious even after his kick, Fang Xing embarrassedly took his snuff bottle out once again.
—
"What a good day! So many cash cows…." Fang Xing dragged both of the guards into the market with everyone else before laughing and collecting his earnings for the day. He remembered very clearly the people who’d shown something of value, so it was like an easy drive on a familiar path for him. The first thing he did was grab the storage ring from that rich bastard, of course, followed soon after by the Spirit Stones.
It didn’t take long for Fang Xing to collect everything of value from these unconscious people, but he thought of something just as he was about to leave.
Turning back, he took out all the gold leaves he’d collected and shoved them into the pockets of the wealthy man who’d previously owned the Nine Snakes’ Sword. He then took a low-grade Flying Sword from another man and placed it into the pockets of the mustached man. Within minutes, Fang Xing had jumbled up all of the remaining items among everyone—all except for the Spirit Stones, which he’d taken every last one for himself.
Giving himself a pat on the back for his own cleverness, Fang Xing walked in front of the mustached man and began slapping the living daylights out of him to satisfy his vendetta. "This is what you get for trying to scam me at the pavilion! See if this will teach you a lesson!"
By the time Fang Xing was finished bashing and kicking, the mustached man’s skinny appearance had become swollen instead. Fang Xing even untied his own pants before dumping some fresh urine over the man’s still peacefully-sleeping face. Satisfied at last, Fang Xing gave a nod of pleasure before swaggering out of the market the same way he’d swaggered in.
The silver moon rested quietly over the lands of Qing-Yun, with not even a peep to be heard. In a valley nearby, a clutter of people lay still upon the ground.
The mustached man was the first to regain his consciousness around two hours later. Remembering what happened before he’d passed out, he nervously checked his belongings and found all of the golden leaves he’d exchanged for were gone. He let out an aggrieved howl, only to suddenly pause as he felt something else.
Although the golden leaves had all disappeared, a low-grade Flying Sword was found in its place and—after quickly calculating the costs in his head—the mustached man realized the sword was actually worth slightly more than the missing leaves! There was no way he’d try to find the original owner and return the sword now. Just as he was about to leave, he looked up and noticed everyone else was fast asleep, with only those few in second tier beginning to stir….
Without much hesitation, the man scavenged whatever valuables were within reach and left the scene in a hurry.
The remaining disciples all had the same reaction to having their missing Spirit Stones be replaced by something that didn’t belong to them before. At first, most of them had wanted to find where their original items had gone, but these ideas were quickly replaced by the fear of having to return the items that had replaced them. Moreover, there was the possibility they would be unable to get their original item back….
As though it was mutually agreed, everyone quietly left the market without saying a single word.
Some—like the mustached man—even took the opportunity to grab other things from the surrounding people. The later someone regained consciousness, the fewer items they had left.
"Who did this! I, Luo Xi, will remember this!" The wealthy man who’d once owned the storage ring and expensive sword let out a heart-wrenching cry, scaring away a nearby group of birds.
—
Elsewhere, the bandit responsible for all of this had already returned to his cozy cottage with high spirits.
‘What a haul that was!’ After counting through his newfound riches, he found over thirty Spirit Stones, an amount that a regular outer court disciple would typically need seven to eight years to save up, and this wasn’t even factoring in the Nine Snakes’ Sword or the storage ring. Although storage rings sealed with its owner’s mark were locked for anyone else, the wealthy man was only in tier one and didn’t have the ability to leave his mark on the ring yet, turning it into a simple matter for Fang Xing.
Fang Xing’s smile broadened even further when he looked inside.
Aside from the Nine Snakes’ Sword, there were also some bottles of medicinal pellets to improve physical strength and a few dozen golden leaves. Fang Xing’s financial status had suddenly improved by a large chunk.
In particular was that Flying Sword with a fiery red body and nine golden snakes intricately carved around its handle. It was as though the snakes were hibernating, ready to awaken should an enemy present itself….
Even the appearance alone was impressive!
After activating the Book of Revelation, it was clear a total of nine spells had been confined within the sword. Factoring this together with the materials used to make it, it was no wonder the man had paid over ten thousand gold for this.
Fang Xing curiously tried to activate the sword, and it was only then that he understood why the man had wanted to exchange it for Spirit Stones: the Qi required for its use was well beyond what was manageable for them right now. With such a high quality, the user had to be at least second or third tier before they could comfortably make use of the sword.
It was good loot nonetheless, and Fang Xing placed the sword back into the storage ring while thinking to himself, ‘This may just come in handy one day.’
"What a good man…." Fang Xing spoke in an emotional manner, praising the wealthy man’s character as though he’d willingly donated such a valuable item. ‘I’ll definitely make sure to visit him again the next time I see him!’
Now that Fang Xing had enough resources for the next few years, there was nothing to stop him in his quest to grow stronger!
It had already been some twenty or so days since his single Spirit Stone had been used up, but his visit to the Black Market meant he would no longer have to worry about insufficient cultivation resources for at least another year. It was unfortunate, but this was exactly what cultivation was like—a cultivator would require an endless flow of resources in order to steadily make progress.
The reason why cultivators with a high level of aptitude could gain cultivation levels faster was because—in a sense—they were able to free themselves from the shackles of resources. They were able to draw Qi directly from their surroundings in order to improve their cultivation, allowing them to maintain their level to a degree even without resources.
Those who weren’t able to get their hands on such a large amount of resources—such as Yu Sanliang—would likely never be able to make a breakthrough and could even regress instead. It was fortunate for Yu Sanliang that he was already at the lowest level of cultivation and couldn’t fall any further.
A few days after the incident at the Black Market, there had been several secret investigations on who this mysterious bandit was. Since the market itself was against sect rules, however, no one dared to make the investigations public… and even then, the person they’d been searching for was a slender young man with a husky voice; it had nothing to do with Fang Xing….
It was only after the plump Daoist mentioned the news to Fang Xing that the boy admired his own foresight in choosing the Mask of Wanluo.
No one—not even Yu Sanliang—knew about his newfound wealth.
During the day, Fang Xing would either sleep or waste his time away with Yu Sanliang; he’d only take out his Spirit Stones to practice cultivation once night had fallen. His improvements became significant thanks to the uninterrupted flow of Spirit Stones, although he also found himself going through more and more of them at a faster pace—it even reached the point that a Spirit Stone now only lasted ten days.
With an ample amount of Qi flowing through his meridians each night, Fang Xing could feel a change settle within his entire body: his bones became stronger, more supple, and filled with energy. Its healing power was an immediate benefit, allowing Fang Xing to recover from physical injury at a much faster pace. There were improvements to his immune system as well, blocking illnesses that could kill an ordinary person. The most important benefit of all, however, was the ability to better contain the Qi within himself.
The change was so great that Fang Xing could feel the damage caused by the Hwa’jin slowly start to repair itself.
After starting such an extreme pace, Fang Xing mastered tier one in only two short months and was only a step away from tier two. As for how his level of cultivation compared to the rest of the new recruits, it would be considered above average—most of the new recruits in A-Rank had only just stabilized tier one and were getting ready to break through into tier two. As for those with poor aptitude, some of them couldn’t even stabilize.
Not everyone would have the same diligence and resources as Fang Xing. Most A-Rank disciples would only be allotted two Spirit Stones to use per month, yet Fang Xing went through three each month without even blinking.
But of course, there was still no comparison between Fang Xing and those who had both money at their disposal and strong aptitude. Not only had they joined the outer court three months before him, they also had the finances to purchase as many Spirit Stones as they wanted. These people were well into their second tier by now.
Cultivators had no choice but to practice nonstop—using up a large amount of resources was inevitable.
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