sinovels Chapter 74 Procurement
Chapter 74 Procurement
Yang Silang wasn't in a hurry. He strolled around slowly, just like browsing a regular market, looking but not buying. He spent half an hour walking back and forth in the valley.
He felt confident.
The valley is about a hundred feet long, not very long, with stalls scattered about and not many visitors.
However, it seemed that most of the customers were regulars. They walked in a hurry, went straight to a certain stall, talked with the stall owner for a while, and then made a deal after a short while.
In addition, there were four or five people patrolling the black market. They were dressed in black clothes and boots, and wore clown masks. Their steps were light and powerful, and their lower body was stable. They were at least at the level of a bronze-skinned martial artist.
In the sky.
Yang Silang had sharp eyesight and vaguely saw a black dot hovering above, wondering if it was some kind of eagle he had kept. It seemed that the mastermind behind this black market was quite powerful.
Although this place is called the black market, Yang Silang thinks it's more like the "dark web," selling all sorts of contraband.
He even saw an inconspicuous stall where the stall owner sat cross-legged with a bundle in front of him and an ugly scarecrow on top of it.
A piece of white paper was pasted on the face of the straw figure, and the words "Book of Life and Death" were written on the paper.
A customer hurried over, peeled off the white paper, and the stall owner handed him a pen. The customer wrote a few words on the paper.
The stall owner glanced at the white paper, nodded, and put it away. The two then spoke in hushed tones.
Yang Silang's ears twitched slightly, and he vaguely caught a few words.
"A thousand taels of silver? That's way too expensive!"
"Your enemy is a brute with copper skin, a thousand taels of silver, is that too expensive? Fine, I'll buy one get one free, kill one of him, and then kill his whole family!"
"make a deal!"
Yang Silang's face twitched.
So that's how you understand "buy one get one free".
Good heavens, this place even has people looking for assassins to hire for custom-made killings!
He passed by another stall, on which were seven or eight books displayed on a cloth that was about ten feet long and wide.
He glanced at it and saw that it was placed on the top and most conspicuous spot. It was the Zhenshan Fist, the secret weapon of the Zhenshan Martial Arts School that his younger sister had learned. This was a skill that was enough to cultivate to the level of an Iron Bone Martial Master. He wondered if it was true or not.
He tried asking the price, and the other party asked for one thousand taels. After thinking about it, Yang Silang held up one finger.
"How about one hundred taels?"
The stall owner was furious and almost drew his knife, but after it was halfway out of its sheath, he forcibly put it back.
As a group of clown guards happened to be patrolling the area, private fights were indeed not allowed here.
Seeing the stall owner's angry expression, Yang Silang was unsure whether the manual was genuine.
"Brother... don't be angry, I was just testing you a bit." Yang Silang laughed. "Zhenshan Fist is a famous style of boxing in our Gongzhou Prefecture. It's hard to believe that you have a secret manual here."
The noodle stall owner snorted and replied in a hoarse voice.
"The rule of the black market is: don't ask where things come from; whether they're real or fake depends entirely on your own judgment."
"I can let you look at the first few pages, and you can judge for yourself."
"Although the boxing manual is precious, it must be used in conjunction with a prescription in order to master it and not ruin it."
"I will only give you the secret manual and the prescription if you pay me."
Yang Silang shook his head. He was already an Iron Bone Martial Master and didn't need the Mountain-Shaking Fist.
He asked with anticipation.
"Is there any training method from Grandmaster Gong Xue of Taizu Changquan?"
The stall owner froze for a moment, then suddenly raised his voice, clearly furious.
"You scoundrel, are you just here to make fun of us?!"
"You might as well ask me if I have the Emperor's jade seal here!"
"Hurry up, hurry up! You're not a buyer, don't delay my business!"
"What bad luck! We haven't even opened for business yet and we've already run into this inexplicable waste of our time!"
Disappointment flashed through Yang Silang's heart. Sure enough, the Mercury Blood Grandmaster's boxing manual was not a common item; it was extremely rare and could not even be found on the black market.
Seeing that the other person was angry, he pointed to the corner of the bundle and an old book with a dirty cover and pages rolled up into rough edges, titled "The Record of Seeing Demons," and said he wanted to take a look.
Despite his anger, the stall owner maintained excellent professional ethics, allowing him to read three pages before charging fifty taels of silver per book, with no room for negotiation.
Yang Silang was very curious about what kind of book was worth a pill of Golden Toad Elixir, so he opened the book and found that it was a travelogue written by a man named Guzhuzi from the previous dynasty, which contained his personal experiences.
Gu Zhu Zi was a wealthy scholar who didn't care about becoming an official or making money. He only liked to travel and see the sights. So he traveled all over the continent with a pageboy. Whether it was lucky or unlucky, he encountered demons many times in his life, but he always escaped by luck.
Having wandered the world my whole life, now that I'm too old to travel, I've compiled all the strange and eerie stories I've encountered, along with tales I've heard from others, into this travelogue.
Judging from the preface, Gu Zhu Zi must have died before the book was completed. It was not finished, and his page boy wrote it down on his behalf, compiling the materials and finishing the book. So it can be seen as a collaboration between two people.
Yang Silang closed the book and smiled at the stall owner.
"Boss, this book isn't worth the price, but I'll buy it anyway!"
Long Yi possessed the cultivation of a Steel-Dirty Grand Martial Master, but he was destroyed by a demonic beast.
Even if only half of what's in this book, "The Record of Encounters with Demons," is true, it's still worthwhile. The city is populated, and demons are rare, but in sparsely populated places like villages in the wild, demons are still frequently seen.
Monsters are unpredictable, and their many supernatural abilities are hard to defend against. It's not simply a matter of having high martial arts skills to defeat them; one must be careful and always be aware of relevant information.
The bookstore owner was overjoyed to see him readily hand over the money.
"Alright, fellow traveler, this is our first time dealing with each other. You'll know my name, Old Bookhead, from now on—I'll be honest and trustworthy!"
"I've never met you before, what a coincidence! My business used to be pretty good, but today it's only thanks to you that I'm opening for business!"
"I won't take your fifty taels of silver for nothing. I'll point you to a few reputable stalls that sell genuine goods. Say you were recommended by me, the old book maker, and I can get you a better price!"
The old book vendor whispered to Yang Silang the locations of several stalls and the information of the stall owners, and also subtly mentioned that there were a few stalls that were best avoided, as they might cause some trouble.
Yang Silang was immediately invigorated upon hearing this.
This falls under the category of services offered when selling books.
However, he muttered to himself—the old book maker's attitude is so good, there's probably not even a sliver of truth in the contents of this "Record of Encounters with Demons".
With the old bookstore owner's guidance, Yang Silang went to several other stalls.
He asked about the Golden Toad Liquid at a stall run by a vendor called "Medicine Pot," where he learned it cost forty taels of silver per piece and could be delivered in two days. They agreed he would come to pick it up in a few days.
His family also had a product called Beast Tooth Rice. The grains were light green, pointed like curved teeth, and had a unique shape. It was for feeding the exotic beasts they kept at home. It cost one tael of silver for ten catties, making it more precious than food for humans. It was said to help the exotic beasts develop better.
It is said that this rice is cultivated using special soil and seeds, making it one of many unusual varieties.
Yang Silang thought about it and wondered if Heizi could also be considered a strange beast.
When he rested after practicing his skills at night, he looked outside and saw that the sleeping black motif had gathered the moonlight and condensed into a layer that looked like a solid substance, as if it were wearing a white armor of light.
This dog has recently developed a huge appetite and is eating more than the three women in the family combined.
He tried buying twenty jin (10 kg) as a reward for his meritorious service.
The main problem is that since we've already come all this way, it would be quite awkward to leave without buying anything.
If I can't buy it for people, I'll just consider it a treat for pets.
Yang Silang, carrying a small bag of animal tooth rice, left the valley under the dim moonlight.