Chapter 1280: Exchange Spirit Stones

The underground black market was located beneath a manor in the city's outskirts. Before even arriving, Zhang Xuan and his companion changed their attire, now dressed in casual clothes that made them look like young noblemen out for leisure.

The founder of the Qianchong Black Market is said to have been a down-and-out scholar. Having never received fair treatment and seeing through the world's cold realities, he abandoned his studies for martial arts. He then created this place to vent his inner frustrations.

Here, if you have money, you can buy whatever you desire and freely unleash your dissatisfaction and resentment. Of course, the consumption is also extremely high, making it arguably the biggest money pit in all of Qianchong City!

As they walked, Zhang Jiuxiao continued his introduction.

"Such a place exists so openly..." Zhang Xuan asked, puzzled, "Do the Master Teacher Pavilion of the Qianchong Empire, or the royal family, not intervene?"

Gambling with human lives as stakes, and even an outside Master Teacher like Zhang Jiuxiao knows about it. Do the royal family and the Master Teacher Pavilion simply allow it to develop without intervention?

"It's not that they don't care; it's for stability!" Zhang Jiuxiao shook his head.

"Stability?" Zhang Xuan was confused.

Although they hadn't arrived yet, based on Zhang Jiuxiao's words, this so-called black market was a lawless and rule-free place. It was inherently unstable, so how could it possibly be for stability?

"The city is large, and there are many cultivators, so resources are scarce," Zhang Jiuxiao explained. "To improve their cultivation, phenomena like fighting, brawling, and even outright robbery occur. These situations happen daily, and even the royal family or the Master Teacher Pavilion cannot completely eradicate them!"

"Hmm!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

Cultivators' demand for resources is like the need for food and water. If there isn't enough, it will certainly cause unrest; there's no way around it.

Even if the Master Teacher Pavilion is powerful, it cannot eliminate cultivators' most basic needs. To do so would be against human nature.

"The underground black market, though seemingly illicit, provides an outlet for people," Zhang Jiuxiao said, shaking his head. "Here, with money, you can buy what you want, and to earn money, you need to cultivate and fight even harder! This forms a unique cycle. Although the number of deaths increases, it makes the entire city more stable."

Where there is light, there are shadows.

Even among Master Teachers, there are scoundrels. If cultivators don't cultivate their state of mind and have no place to vent, it's hard to guarantee that problems won't arise.

Zhang Xuan understood.

Water that is too clear has no fish; a person who is too discerning has no companions.

Even Confucius, in his time, could accommodate Poison Masters.

While the existence of the black market doesn't conform to rules, if it can reduce crime, it certainly has a purpose.

It's like in his previous life: although certain 'special professions' were explicitly forbidden, many people knew their exact locations, and the industry still managed to exist. This wasn't due to insufficient crackdown efforts, but because it met certain demands and reduced other crimes.

If they were to be completely eradicated, with not a single one remaining, public order and security would face immense challenges.

The underground black market in the Qianchong Empire was precisely like this.

Ostensibly, it didn't conform to rules, but in reality, it reduced more trouble. The royal family naturally let it be.

As for the Master Teacher Pavilion... as long as it didn't undermine human stability or commit acts harmful to humanity... they naturally pretended not to see it.

It seemed that the cities he had visited before, like Hongyuan City and Qingyuan City, likely had similar places. He had simply been sightseeing, not staying long in each city, and hadn't inquired carefully.

"We're here!" Just as he was pondering, Zhang Jiuxiao's voice rang out. He looked up to see a massive manor appearing before them.

"Permit!" Before they reached the entrance, two men in green robes blocked their path.

They were both experts at the Primordial Spirit realm, carrying an aura of slaughter. One look was enough to tell they had truly killed before, possessing extraordinary strength.

With a flick of his wrist, Zhang Jiuxiao handed over something.

After inspecting it, the men in green robes nodded and handed them two pieces of black cloth.

Zhang Jiuxiao gestured, then covered his eyes with the cloth.

Following suit, Zhang Xuan covered his eyes and then realized that the black cloth not only blocked their vision but also their spiritual senses, preventing them from perceiving their surroundings.

Led by the men in green, they walked for over ten minutes, unsure of their destination, before finally feeling the pressure on their eyes loosen.

A massive marketplace appeared before them, bustling with people and stretching as far as the eye could see. Though underground, it was as bright as day under the illumination of luminous pearls.

"This..." Zhang Xuan blinked, looking around.

He had visited many marketplaces and workshops and seen many large ones. Though this place wasn't particularly grand in scale, the items being bought and sold were astonishing.

"Golden Crystal Profound Stones? You can buy these here?" After a few steps, his pupils contracted in surprise.

Golden Crystal Profound Stones were treasures left by Wu Yangzi, extremely rare. They couldn't even be found in Qingyuan City, yet here they were, openly displayed for sale... Even seeing it with his own eyes, he found it hard to believe.

"Although this item is rare, it's not unobtainable. Having it for sale here is nothing special!" Zhang Jiuxiao said with a smile, seeing his expression.

When he first came here, he reacted similarly, finding it hard to believe, but he gradually got used to it.

"Cultivation techniques, mid-tier Saint artifacts, personal information, all sorts of intelligence... It truly is a black market; they have everything!" Zhang Xuan shook his head with a wry smile after walking along the passage for a while.

It truly was a black market; almost anything that was explicitly illegal, against discipline, or unsellable elsewhere could be found here.

"Do you have cultivation techniques for Half-Step Ethereal and Ethereal Realm here?" Zhang Xuan asked, stopping at the section selling cultivation techniques.

"Yes, different levels, different prices!" An old man looked over lazily. Since it was a black market, he wasn't afraid of anyone snatching things.

"Levels? Prices? Tell me about them!" Zhang Xuan said.

"See for yourself!" he said, pointing casually.

Zhang Xuan looked and saw clear price tags marked on the wall before him.

Each cultivation technique and martial art at the Saint 5-dan level or higher generally cost more than ten high-grade spirit stones of pure essence. Lower-grade ones were cheaper.

Buying one might not cost much, but he needed thousands of them, which would definitely be a huge expenditure.

"How many types of Ethereal Realm cultivation techniques do you have here?" he couldn't help but ask.

"There are fifty-two types of Ethereal Realm cultivation techniques and three hundred and twenty-seven types of Half-Step Ethereal techniques, all on the shelves ahead," the old man said, waving his hand. "They are sealed, so you can't perceive them with your spiritual sense. If you wish to purchase one, pay the fee, and I will make a copy for you! Rest assured, the techniques here are very detailed; even the Submerged Dragon Cultivation Technique practiced by the Qianchong royal family and the Rapid Severing Sword Art cultivated by Hall Master Yue are available. The prices are also very fair, with no deception!"

Hearing his words, Zhang Xuan looked towards the shelves before him. They indeed held many books, surrounded by seals that prevented spiritual sense from probing them.

However...

He didn't need spiritual sense to read books at all!

His eyes lightly swept over them, and he quietly whispered "Deficiencies!" in his mind.

Whoosh!

The books on the entire shelf were instantly copied.

With a sweep of his mind, they had already transformed into his own knowledge.

The quality of these secret manuals wasn't low, but their quantity was still too small to form a Heaven's Path cultivation technique, leaving him full of regret.

"As expected, the royal family's Submerged Dragon Cultivation Technique is here, and so is Yue Yiquan's sword art... This black market's influence is simply too vast!" After reviewing all the book content in his mind, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but exclaim.

"Which set do you want to buy? I'll make a copy for you now!" the old man said, seeing Zhang Xuan's eyes sweep over the books.

"No need..." Zhang Xuan shook his head.

All the books were already stored in his mind, including their deficiencies. These copies from the old man were of no use to him, and besides, he was currently broke; even if he wanted to buy them, he couldn't.

Seeing that he wasn't buying, the old man turned away, no longer bothering with him. He had seen many such people—poor yet pretentious, asking endless questions—and was long used to it.

Leaving the book stall, they continued forward. Along the way, all sorts of treasures were available, even peak-level Tier 7 pills were being sold.

"Master Teacher Zhang, up ahead is where you can exchange for high-grade spirit stones of pure essence," Zhang Jiuxiao said, pointing forward after a while. "If you have ordinary high-grade spirit stones or other treasures, you can exchange them there! Of course, the price will be very low; it's not very cost-effective!"

Zhang Xuan looked to see a narrow, long counter with only two service personnel and few customers.

Approaching the counter, he looked up at the exchange rate chart on the wall, and his mouth twitched.

It was indeed quite exploitative.

Normally, high-grade spirit stones exchanged for high-grade spirit stones of pure essence at a ratio of 1000:1. But here, it was directly tripled to 3000:1!

This meant that three thousand high-grade spirit stones were needed to exchange for just one high-grade spirit stone of pure essence.

An ordinary person would likely exhaust their entire fortune, becoming utterly destitute, just to exchange for one.

A mid-tier Saint artifact at the Primordial Spirit peak level normally cost around ten high-grade spirit stones of pure essence, but here, it was only worth three. Ethereal Realm level artifacts only doubled that price.

"The Golden Origin Cauldron would be quite valuable; selling it would probably fetch over thirty..." Zhang Xuan calculated the price of the Golden Origin Cauldron in his mind, stroking his chin.

Although selling Cloudmist Flowers and looting the Ten Great Kings and Emperor Qingtian had earned him a good deal, his total amounted to only fifty to sixty thousand high-grade spirit stones. He had used a significant portion of them for Witchcraft Soul cultivation and other purposes, so he couldn't take out more than forty thousand!

This meant that if he exchanged all of them, he would only get about ten or so.

However, if he sold the Golden Origin Cauldron, it could easily fetch over thirty, close to forty, which was quite a worthwhile price.

"Never mind, that fellow is loyal and has helped me many times; I definitely can't sell it..." Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan dismissed the thought and looked at the service personnel before him.

"I want to exchange spirit stones!"

"How much do you want to exchange?" the service personnel on the other side asked, looking at him indifferently.

"How much can these items be exchanged for?"

Boom!

With a rumble, a huge pile of high-grade spirit stones, as well as weapons, medicinal herbs, and ores, fell onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

"This much?" The service personnel abruptly stood up.