Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 649: Black Market

“But the flying carriage doesn’t count as sword flight?” A flying carriage could carry up to five people, far more than the Sword-Cleansing Pond.

The official shot a glance at Lu Yang and explained, “Flying carriages are specialized flight artifacts. Each one undergoes quality inspection, and the law has special provisions for them. If your Sword-Cleansing Pond also has special provisions, that would be acceptable too.”

Lu Yang admitted defeat.

The two met their end before starting the campaign and lost money before earning any.

Fortunately, no other incidents occurred afterward.

During the several days of flight, the two landed at an inn to avoid camping outdoors. In passing, they helped the lady boss deal with her younger brother-in-law, who brought relatives to claim her husband’s inheritance after his death. The two politely declined the family heirloom the lady boss offered to express her gratitude. Based on clues, they even deduced that the lady boss was her husband’s murderer.

At the second inn, the two ran into two Qi Training cultivators quarreling over the best room. They even obtained information about a nearby treasure site from them and dug up a highly valuable treasure for Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way. After handing it over to the local authorities, a lost-and-found notice was pasted on the announcement board. This attracted two Foundation Establishment clans, unveiling a century-old feud. The family heads of both clans committed suicide in a torrential downpour, drawing the curtain on the hundred-year vendetta.

At the third inn, the two met a young miss from a wealthy family being hunted over a thousand li. They escorted her home, where they discovered and dealt with a malevolent ghost hiding in her house for ten years, forcing the ghost’s master to reveal himself. After a single round of battle, they captured him. The young miss offered herself in marriage out of gratitude, but the two declined. Following clues left by the ghost’s master, they dismantled a diabolic rogue cultivator’s hideout.

Finally, the Sword-Cleansing Pond successfully carried the two to You Province.

~~~

“At last, we’re here.” The two let out a long sigh. Although the journey had only taken a few days, it felt like they had been flying for over a month, their bodies aching all over.

“This pond of yours isn’t very comfortable to lie in.”

“It’s because there’s no water. Bathing in it is actually quite comfortable.”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy thought to herself, Isn’t it because you two encountered too many incidents on this journey?

The black market that Meng Jingzhou mentioned was located at the foot of a certain mountain in You Province. It was usually hidden within a secret domain and would undergo spatial displacement during the transition between yin and yang, emerging from the secret domain to provide a venue for trading.

At that time, cultivators from nearby cities would come for secret transactions, along with others like Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou who traveled from farther away.

“We’re just in time. On the fifteenth of every month, Nascent Soul old monsters gather here.”

The two wore black robes with their collars turned up, revealing only their eyes. This was protocol in the black market; it made it easier to flee if authorities came to arrest people.

When they arrived, the black market had been open for over two hours. The cultivators waiting outside had already entered, so the entrance appeared deserted. A cultivator guarded the entrance to prevent mortals from accidentally entering the black market and causing unnecessary trouble.

The guard didn’t stop the two. He had witnessed the two flying on the Sword-Cleansing Pond, storing it away, and changing into black robes. With such practiced and fluid movements, they must be old hands. Anyone capable of piloting such a large pond must at least be a Golden Core cultivator.

Entering the black market, the two found it extremely quiet compared to a normal market, with only the occasional sounds of cultivators speaking. Inside, cultivators here for trade employed methods like concentrating sound into a thread or transmitting auditory messages through spiritual consciousness to ensure the secrecy of transactions.

Without supervision from the authorities, many items never seen in daily life could be found here.

Such as the cultivation manual Lu Yang was holding.

“Boss, are you sure this is the Qi Training chapter of the cultivation technique used by the Dao-Seeking Sect’s prodigy, Lu Yang?”

The vendor assured him with conviction. “How could it be fake? I have a distant relative in the Dao-Seeking Sect. He was the one who brought this cultivation technique out! Young brother, you’re at the Qi Training Stage, right? Why not buy one and try it? I guarantee you’ll soar to great heights and become a genius like Prodigy Lu after cultivating this!”

Without supervision from the authorities, many counterfeits could be found in the black market.

Lu Yang silently put it back. This is too obviously fake.

There were also less blatant fakes, like the one next to it, which was claimed to be the latest edition of the Saga of the Dao-Seeking Sect.

Upon taking a closer inspection, one would notice the title was actually Saga of the Doo-Seeking Sect.[1]

Pondering about it, the reason such a book appeared here became clear. Saga of the Dao-Seeking Sect was sold everywhere on the streets outside; there was no need to sell it here in the black market. This was meant to scam the unlucky fellows with poor eyesight or those thin-skinned cultivators who were too embarrassed to put something back once they picked it up.

Lu Yang also saw a Purple-Gold Gourd purported to suck in anyone who responded when their name was called. A real Purple-Gold Gourd was worth more than the entire black market combined; even a replica would be a treasure cherished by Divine Transfiguration cultivators. Neither the real thing nor a decent replica would appear here.

Storage rings of various shapes and sizes were correspondingly much cheaper than those outside due to their unknown artifact-refiners and lack of quality assurance. Some storage rings matched their descriptions and were genuine products crafted by untalented artifact-refiners. Others appeared genuine but were actually fakes with limited uses due to errors during the refinement process. Only someone deeply knowledgeable about storage rings could distinguish them.

There were also many talismans for warding off ghosts and evil. These were hard to fake, and counterfeits could easily lead to serious trouble, so the ones sold were genuine. However, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou didn’t need them—a single drop of Meng Jingzhou’s blood was more effective than a stack of talismans. Against ghosts of the same level, Meng Jingzhou’s yang energy was so exuberant that merely emitting his aura could make them dissolve.

As for female cultivators with alluring figures soliciting patrons on the streets, the two completely ignored them.

“Why aren’t there things like souls, eyeballs soaked in potions, and soul-summoning banners?” Lu Yang had strolled halfway through the black market. The atmosphere was as expected—eerie and haunted—but the goods for sale differed significantly from his imagination.

Meng Jingzhou shot his good brother a disdainful look. “The purpose of this black market is tax evasion. What you’re thinking about is a black market of the diabolic path. If I knew the location of those black markets, I’d raid them immediately and claim the reward from the authorities. Why would I still attend some gathering of Nascent Soul cultivators? The moneymaking efficiency would be much higher.”

Lu Yang admitted Meng Jingzhou had a point.

“We’re here. This is the gathering place for us Nascent Soul old monsters.” Meng Jingzhou pointed to a luxurious palace fully coated in black, with statues of rare beasts at the four corners of its eaves. An array blocked spiritual consciousness, and two Golden Core cultivators stood at the entrance.

This was a place he had learned about from Dai Bufan. It’s absolutely reliable.

Lu Yang turned to Meng Jingzhou. “Speaking of which, I haven’t asked, but what is this self-reliant moneymaking method you mentioned?”

“Selling blood.”

1. In the original Chinese text, the character 问 is changed to 间. ☜