Chapter 28 Jinjiang's First Black Market Release

Yao Sisi is a practical person; she does what she thinks of almost immediately. She packed the books into her storage bag and walked along the street toward the hunting square.

It wasn't far from the city gate, and she often passed by. The square was large and surrounded by thick wooden stakes. Many people gathered inside, and most of those who wanted to go out and form teams waited here. There were also trading stalls on the inside.

Most of the items traded in the plaza are inanimate objects, such as dead mythical beasts, ores, and herbs.

The mythical beasts that are still alive will not be traded here, otherwise they might run out of the square and injure pedestrians.

Not far from the square is a trading market, built of solid stone and engraved with intricate arrays.

The prey these people bring back from outside is not sold directly to shops, but rather processed in this market. There are people in the market who specialize in receiving and processing these things, whether they are dead or alive. When shop owners go to purchase goods, they mostly get their goods from here.

Yao Sisi had brought back quite a lot of prey from her hunting trips, but she was too lazy to attract more attention, so she sold them to a general store.

This was her first time being here. It was very noisy all around. Some people were recruiting team members, some were selling materials, and others were boasting about the battle. All sorts of voices were constantly ringing out.

Yao Sisi, draped in a cloak, walked slowly through the square, occasionally bending down to examine the temporary stalls they had set up. The items on the stalls were dazzling and disorganized, unlike the clearly categorized shelves. What she wanted to buy depended entirely on her eyesight. She still needed a lot of materials, and the prices at the stalls were lower than in the shops, but she had to judge the quality herself; if she didn't know much about the goods, she could easily be ripped off.

She visited several stalls and bought a lot of refining materials, leading people to speculate that she was a refiner.

The vendor's smile became more genuine: "I wonder what other ingredients you need, sir? You can tell me, and I'll have someone go back and get some for you. We don't have everything we need on this stall."

Yao Sisi told him the materials needed for the magic array: "Do you have these?"

The stall owner paused for a moment: "The materials the customer wants are quite precious. Most of the materials I have here are low-grade, but among those you mentioned, I've heard people mention the purple-blue sand before."

Yao Sisi said "Oh," and then asked, "Where can I find it? Could you tell me?"

The vendor glanced around and whispered, "Customers can try their luck on the black market; you're sure to find something there!"

Yao Sisi's eyes lit up. Tsk, someone had already offered to tell her before she even asked.

"Alright, but I don't know where the entrance is..."

Having received the information, she wandered around the area again, buying some more refining materials and inquiring about the black market. After walking around, she had basically learned everything she needed to know.

She tightened her cloak and walked away along the edge of the square. Just then, she was stopped. A spirited woman in her thirties asked with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, would you like to form a team?"

Yao Sisi: "I'm not joining a team, I just came to buy some things."

The young woman said, "Oh? My name is Miao Yizhen. I have a batch of good materials. I wonder if there's anything you need?"

Yao Sisi: "What do you have? Let me see it."

Miao Yizhen took out several materials from her storage bag. They were mostly mid-grade materials, much better than those on the stall, but mid-grade materials were more expensive.

Yao Sisi didn't want to give up these materials, some of which, although of low grade, yielded little output: "Is this all? Fellow Daoist, would you be willing to barter?"

Miao Yizhen: "I wonder what you want to exchange?"

Seeing that she could produce so many materials, Yao Sisi figured she must be someone who could lead a hunting party here. She whispered, "Does the sword technique manual need you, fellow Daoist?"

Miao Yizhen's body trembled. A sword technique manual? Had she been scammed?

Seeing that she was stunned for a few seconds without speaking, Yao Sisi couldn't figure out what she meant: "If you don't need it, then forget it. I can sell it on the black market."

Miao Yizhen: "Who said I don't need it anymore? But... could you please show me what you've mentioned so I can take a look?"

Yao Sisi pointed to a nearby restaurant, "This isn't the place to talk, let's go there!"

The two entered a private room at the restaurant. Yao Sisi didn't waste any words and secretly took out a sword manual from her storage bag. This time, she was more careful and packed the manual in a wooden box, making it look very solemn.

"Fellow Daoist Miao can open it and take a look, but apart from the first page, you can only glance at the other pages."

Miao Yizhen nodded. It was true that you couldn't see everything clearly in a book. She couldn't wait to turn to a page. As her fingers touched the ancient pages, she knew that this book was probably genuine.

Secret manuals are mostly monopolized by aristocratic families and are not easily sold to outsiders, not even for borrowing. This is the first time she has ever touched a sword manual that has reached a certain grade.

"How much is this, fellow Daoist?"

Yao Sisi estimated the price of a low-grade sword technique, which is generally over 2,000 Xuan Stones, and is extremely rare; the actual purchase price would definitely be even higher.

In the past, she would have thought 2,000 Xuan Stones would have been a lot, but now she needs a lot of materials, and this amount of Xuan Stones is definitely not enough.

She pursed her lips, making herself appear wealthy and not easily fooled. "Of course, it would be best to exchange it for something else. After all, I don't really lack Xuan Stones. It's just that I don't particularly like this sword technique; it's just taking up space in my hand. If it's meant to be with you, I don't mind exchanging it with you."

He then handed the person a list of materials, which included not only mid-level materials but also high-level ones. "I'm too lazy to buy them one by one. If you can help me collect these, then the manual is yours."

Miao Yizhen took the materials list. She already had some of the items on it, but not the others. "I will try my best to collect them, but materials are sometimes hard to come by. If I really can't get them..."

The list of materials Yao Sisi gave her was the one she had already collected once; the rest were items she hadn't been able to buy yet. As an outsider, she certainly wasn't as resourceful as the locals. Just because she couldn't find something didn't mean they couldn't find it, so she simply passed the trouble to her.

"Are these materials harder to find than sword manuals? Collect them as soon as possible. This is my communication talisman. Summon me when you've collected them. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Miao Yizhen gritted her teeth and accepted the list of materials, saying, "I will do my best to find them all."

Yao Sisi nodded and took a sip of the tea on the table. "Then I'll wait for your good news."

When she left the shop, the tea on the table had already been paid for. Yao Sisi walked around the street a few times before taking a detour back to her residence.

She didn't intend to give up the black market business. Most of what she gave Miao Yizhen was materials for repairing array plates, which was still far from enough for the materials she would need later.

She flashed into her spatial dimension and flipped through a hundred books that were mostly useless. Some of them were travelogues and miscellaneous notes, while the majority of the rest were classics on magic and martial arts.

She discovered that most people in the city preferred martial arts skills, while spellbooks were scarce. This was partly because the concentration of spiritual energy was low, making spells extremely costly, rather than martial arts.

As for those mana-saving scriptures, aren't they all high-level?

The lower the rank and the less desirable the item, the greater the cost and the weaker the attack power...

The next day, Yao Sisi put the items she had prepared for sale into her storage bag. Before she even left the house, Liu Yuan greeted her from outside.

"Is the young lady here? My young master has sent you a dress. Try it on and take it to be altered if it doesn't fit properly."

Yao Sisi: "???" A dress... for the engagement party?

She opened the door and saw that Liu Yuan was followed by an embroiderer. The embroiderer was holding a tray with a red and white garment neatly folded on it.

"Come in!"

The embroiderer placed the tray on the table, picked up the clothes, and gestured for Yao Sisi to take off her clothes. However, seeing that Liu Yuan was standing straight and showed no intention of leaving, Yao Sisi couldn't help but say, "Aren't you going to leave?"

Liu Yuan rolled his eyes at her in his heart, wanting to retort, but since this person would be his master from now on, he held back: "I need to report to the young master."

Yao Sisi: "Report back on how to take off your clothes?"

Liu Yuan: "???"

What a lovely young lady, it's a pity she has a mouth.

He held back for a while but couldn't help it in the end. He thought that this person wasn't engaged yet and couldn't be considered his master. If he didn't bully him now, would he wait until later?

"Yes, not only do you need to tell me how to take it off, but you also need to tell me how to put it on."

Yao Sisi: "..."

She definitely can't win a verbal battle...

Before Liu Yuan could even celebrate winning a point, he saw the woman opposite him take off her outer garment without hesitation. His ears immediately turned red, and he coughed lightly, pretending to look at the table.

Trying on a dress doesn't require taking it all off; Yao Sisi was still wearing her undergarments. Ancient people's undergarments were more conservative than modern people's outer garments, so she felt no pressure at all. On the contrary, the spicy chili pepper from earlier seemed to cower before her eyes, vividly demonstrating why chili peppers are so red…

The embroiderer secretly admired her for wearing a formal dress, never expecting that Young Master Qi had quietly brought such a fine young lady to his door.

After the embroiderer finished comparing the dresses, Yao Sisi changed out of the gown. "I feel it looks pretty good on me, nothing seems out of place."

With the dress arrangement settled for the time being, she dismissed the embroiderer and prepared to explore the black market. She was wearing casual clothes before leaving, but when she got close to the black market, she put on a cloak. The so-called black market was a very inconspicuous shop, not the kind that usually sells things, but more like an antique shop that doesn't open often. After she went in, she didn't look at anything and went straight to the small door on the side.

Entering through the small door, there was a long corridor with candles casting a dim glow all around. The rest of the place was dark and oppressive, like entering a graveyard, which was a bit eerie. After passing through the corridor, there was a row of small rooms, which were different exchanges. There were simple introductions in front of the doors, and you could go to the room you needed.

Yao Sisi wanted to sell the books to get some money, but there were few places to sell books, and no dedicated rooms. So she randomly picked one related to pills and went in.

They say alchemists are all rich, so let's go and rip them off first...

The black market was quite large overall, but it became smaller after being divided into several rooms. This room was only about 200 square meters and was divided into many stalls. In principle, sellers need to pay to get a stall, but although she was selling goods, she did not have a sign and therefore did not have a stall. She wandered around the various stalls like a buyer.

She was short of elixirs, but her empty wallet told her, "No, you don't need them."

Yao Sisi rummaged through her storage bag and took out a book related to alchemy. This book was not very complete; it seemed to be a collection of notes by an alchemist. She found a stall and struck up a conversation with a friendly-looking young man. “Are you an alchemist? I accidentally obtained a notebook here that I think might be useful to you.”

The man looked relatively young, around twenty years old, but the age of cultivators is the most deceptive; he might already be eighty.

Yao Sisi asked politely, but the other person raised his eyes, revealing the arrogance unique to alchemists, "What notes?"

Seeing that the other party had spoken to her, she took out the book: "Naturally, it's related to alchemy. I wouldn't take out anything else just to get in the way."

Upon seeing that it was an ancient book related to alchemy, the man immediately became interested. He quickly flipped through two pages, but Yao Sisi reached out and pulled the book back.

"I'm in a hurry, so I wonder if this book catches your eye?"

The man was eager to make a move but was afraid the other party would raise the price, so he held up his hand and made a "one" sign.

Yao Sisi wasn't sure whether the word meant one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand. After all, there were no grades for these notes, and alchemists were generally wealthy, so their upper limit for the price was quite high.

Besides, the other party didn't just use gestures instead of direct communication...didn't they mean to test her?

It's okay for people to cheat her, but it's absolutely unacceptable for them to cheat her out of her money!

Seeing that her face darkened, as if she were displeased, the man coughed lightly and said, "Fellow Daoist, is it too little? I can give you some pills as a bonus!"

Yao Sisi was very direct: "What should I give?"