Chapter Thirty-Four: The Black Market

  On the fourth day early in the morning, Guo Fei tidied up and put the Xuan Tie sword into the military symbol space, left the wine building, and prepared to stroll around Wusong Town.

  When leaving the wine building, he specially entrusted the boss that if the county master's people came, let him inform them that he would leave for a few days and come back later. Guo Fei planned to go to the town to buy some things and then visit Wen Shu at the Hei Bi Nu barracks.

  As I entered Wusong Town, I found it unusually bustling. Infantrymen, archers and cavalrymen of all kinds were hurrying to and fro in the streets, some wearing military uniforms and others ordinary clothes. In addition, there were many merchants from other places, making the whole scene chaotic and disorderly. The ground was flowing with filthy water, goods were piled up on both sides, people were shouting loudly, and occasionally the sound of fighting could be heard.

  The demon tribe was defeated, the heavenly soul child was scattered, and Hei Wall would have to calm down for a few more years. As a result, the military training relaxed, and many soldiers came here to seek pleasure and entertainment.

  Guo Fei was well aware that most of the soldiers who came here were from third-rate troops, and such troops had not been trained with any effort by Zhao Guo. The military discipline was also slack, just like a mercenary army.

  Moreover, such troops account for 60% of the total number of Black Wall garrison troops. However, Guo Fei had secretly calculated that Zhao Guo was like a big customer doing business, hiring such soldiers would not lose money at all, and the soul crystals handed over by the soldiers could earn a lot of gold coins for Zhao Guo.

  So, it's normal for soldiers to have affairs with each other's wives and engage in brawls over women. Moreover, in Wusong Town, as long as things don't get too out of hand and no one gets killed, the Imperial Guard Cavalry Regiment responsible for maintaining law and order here doesn't bother to intervene.

  Guo Fei made his way through the crowd and walked to a street lined with wine shops. The Black Wheat Wine Shop, although not large, was very famous; its location was somewhat remote, but there were many people coming and going. Guo Fei didn't know the location, but having heard Jin Datong and others mention it over a hundred times, he easily found his way here.

  It's early in the morning, there are not many people, and dozens of tables are occupied by only a few people. Guo Fei ordered a plate of peanuts, a catty of beef, and a jug of black wheat wine, and also asked his partner to pack three catties into a wineskin to take away for Wen Shu.

  "Big brother, do you need a guide on the black market road?" Guo Fei was drinking when a boy about 14 or 15 years old, wearing tattered clothes, with a dirty face but very lively eyes, came over and whispered.

  "Hei Shi Road!" Guo Fei was taken aback, staring at the young man for a few moments, then looking at the wine seller's partner, who pretended not to see and lowered his head to wipe the wine table.

  "What is Hei Shi Lu Yin?" Guo Fei asked in a low voice, unclear about the details.

  "I'm the guide, I can take you to the black market, and the pay is one silver coin." The young man looked at Guo Fei without directly refusing, suddenly became enthusiastic, and hastily said. At the same time, his eyes swept over Guo Fei's beef plate, and his mouth made a "gulp" sound.

  Guo Fei himself used to be a small-time hoodlum and knew their "ways". These kinds of people are the local "snakes", who know a lot about overt and covert matters, and have dabbled in many local secrets that are unknown to others.

  "Come on, bring out the side dishes!" Guo Fei called out, instructing his assistant to bring out the secondary bowls, chopsticks and wine cups.

  "Come on! Little brother, let's eat and chat!" Guo Fei said with a smile.

  "Thanks!" The young man didn't stand on ceremony, picked up his companion's bowl and chopsticks, and wolfed down the food with big mouthfuls, as if he hadn't eaten for several days.

  "Add three more liang of beef!" Guo Fei called out to the shop assistant, smiling at the young man.

  "There's a black market here, what does the black market have?" Guo Fei said leisurely.

  "Big brother, you're new here, so you don't know. The black market here is all because of the Soul Crystal. Soul Crystals are nothing special here, but on the mainland, they're a rare commodity. Not only can they be used to make Water Spirit Stones, many cultivators also use them to make 'Soul Orbs' and raise 'Battle Spirits'. However, the trade in Soul Crystals is controlled by the Zhao Empire, and apart from the two major imperial merchant guilds, no other forces can get involved. As a result, many cultivators and merchant guilds have to resort to secret dealings and plotting in the black market to get their hands on Soul Crystals."

  The young man's words shocked Guo Fei. Based on his current understanding of the Taoist scriptures, he connected the dots and inferred that the young man was telling the truth. The Ghost Clan was formed through the cultivation of earth souls, which resided in soul crystals and could be cultivated to possess a body. If a cultivator obtained a soul crystal, caught an earth soul, and nurtured it within the crystal, allowing it to evolve, it would not be a bad idea to have such a powerful assistant.

  Although theoretically feasible, it's surprising how to achieve it. After all, the weak and small earth soul exists, but it is intangible and ordinary people can't see it. Only the ghost guards above the earth soul will occasionally take shape because of their intense death energy cultivation. Could they capture high-level earth soul cultivators to raise battle ghosts? It's also unlikely that such earth soul cultivators have a budding spirit and extraordinary combat power, making them difficult to tame unless there is some secret method. Guo Fei was certain it was like this.

  "What's on the black market?" Guo Fei asked in a low voice.

  Everything is available. When the black market first started, it was secretly launched by small businessmen from all over the world, using gold coins and spirit stones to buy soul crystals from soldiers. Now there are not only businessmen, but also loose cultivators and demon hunters who come here to exchange for soul crystals. It is said that some people have even seen cultivators of the demon race and ghost race. However, it's just hearsay, they transform into human form and can't be identified in general.

  "As for items, you can exchange materials, elixirs, skills, and even demon pets. However, there are also many counterfeits, so it's up to you to spot the genuine ones." The young man seemed to have been around here for a long time and introduced this in a very mature manner.

  "How interesting!" Guo Fei's heart moved, and he decided to go take a look.

  "Where is it? Let's go and take a look!"

  "Big brother, don't be impatient, it's only at midnight that we can go! At that time, the organizer will send out a signal. Ordinary people won't understand it, but we 'Lu Yin' will know what the signal means and where exactly it points to." The young man said with a smile.

  "Alright, I'll hire you as a guide." Guo Fei smiled and nodded calmly.

  "Big brother, since it's like that, tonight at midnight, you wait for me under the five pine trees. I'll take you there. However, you have to pay a deposit of ten copper coins now." The youth stared at Guo Fei.

  Guo Fei only had gold coins, where did he have copper coins? He handed over a gold coin to the shopkeeper and paid for wine and food. At Guo Fei's request, when the shopkeeper made change, he gave Guo Fei eight silver coins and ten copper coins (according to mainland currency, one gold coin is exchanged for ten silver coins, and one silver coin is exchanged for 100 copper coins).

  "Don't deceive me, or I'll expose you!" Guo Fei handed the copper coin to the young man, his eyes cold and stern.

  "Don't worry, big brother. My grandfather and my father were all in this line of work. I started doing this when I was six years old. In our line of work, it's just good to have 'returning customers'." The young man finished speaking and turned around to leave.

  "Sir, you've been cheated. There are many scoundrels in Wusong Town who can't be trusted!" The shop assistant said quietly as he watched the young man walk away.

  "Pal, how long have you been in Wusong Town?" Guo Fei asked with a smile.

  "It's been three months since I came from the county town to work here. Although the environment is harsh, the wages are high." The fellow said with a smile.

  "Heh heh." Guo Fei smiled, got up and picked up his own wine gourd, walked out of the tavern, and in a deserted corner, instantly put it into the military symbol space.

  After leaving the tavern, Guo Fei went to find a hardware store. Guo Fei needed two weapons suitable for undead warriors. Because Guo Fei discovered that since the two of them transformed into undead warriors, they used their previous weapons, although they could emit formless true energy, but the weapons were actually corroded away, and as time passed, the sword body became mottled, and after a while, it might become scrap iron, which shocked Guo Fei greatly.

  After reading "The Art of Refining Instruments", Guo Fei finally understood that the weapons of cultivators must match their own attributes, which are roughly divided into yin and yang properties. Among the five elements, metal and fire belong to yang, wood and water belong to yin, and earth is the soul of the great earth, with a balance of yin and yang. The ghost tribe's cultivator refined dead energy, which belongs to cold yin energy, while the two people used iron-refined weapons in their lifetime, seemingly a yang metal that cannot adapt to the dead energy, so it was corroded.

  Only weapons forged from the iron ore within the Ghost Domain will do, for the iron ore within the Ghost Domain has undergone a transformation in nature due to prolonged erosion, also mentioned in "Equipment Refining Techniques" as "Nether Iron".