novelraw Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Gathering Materials
The next day, Lin Bai did not leave until the afternoon.
The night before, Lin Su had given him a more detailed introduction to the black market.
The black market generally did not truly open until evening.
If Lin Bai set out now, he would arrive at just the right time. He could catch the market as it opened, buy the Phosphor Fireflies, and then still have time to purchase the other materials afterward.
He went to the same place where Wang Qian had taken him to ride the Spirit-Powered Carriage before.
He had to admit, he liked the thing quite a lot. It felt very much like the self-driving cars from his previous life. More importantly, he did not have to deal with other people.
It was just a little expensive. Since Lin Bai did not have a card, he could only toss a spirit stone into the activation slot before the Spirit-Powered Carriage finally started moving.
This time, he had no leisure to admire the scenery outside. The moment he got in, he shut the doors and windows tightly, leaving only a narrow crack for air, then closed his eyes to rest.
As Lin Bai sat inside the carriage resting, a gentle female voice suddenly sounded from within.
“It has been detected that the interior of the carriage is dim. Would you like to activate the Nightglow Stone?”
“No.”
Lin Bai answered briefly.
Nothing more was said for the rest of the journey.
When the Spirit-Powered Carriage arrived at Huaisang Ward, at the boundary between the southern and western districts of the city, the setting sun had just dyed half the sky red.
This residential district, mostly inhabited by ordinary people, looked plain and unremarkable, but Lin Bai knew that undercurrents were moving beneath the surface here.
He got off early on purpose, deliberately taking several extra streets before finally stopping at the edge of a dense wooded area. Hidden among the shade of the trees was an unusually grand residence, half concealed and half visible. On the plaque above the gate were the two gilded characters: Ye Residence, written in bold, flowing strokes.
Best of all, the residence was wrapped on all sides by dense woodland, and Lin Bai was currently hiding within that natural screen.
The frontage was enormous. According to Lin Su, the black market was inside.
By now, the market seemed to have already opened. Groups of two and three, their faces covered, were emerging from the woods and entering through the vermilion gate.
Seeing the situation, Lin Bai no longer hesitated and prepared to enter as well. Before going in, he put on the Black Tiger Mask he had bought nearby.
There were truly a great many peddlers around here selling masks. From what he had observed, most of them were residents from the surrounding area.
Lin Bai could not help sighing inwardly. This one “industry” had created quite a few jobs.
When Lin Bai reached the gate, he was stopped by the guards nearby. A lean, capable-looking man in his thirties cupped his hands and said, “Sir, the rule is that joining the gathering costs five spirit stones. If you would?”
This Huaisang black market charged every buyer an entrance fee of five spirit stones.
Lin Bai had already prepared for this. He directly handed over the spirit stones he had readied earlier.
The man inspected them carefully, confirmed that they were genuine, then stepped aside and made a gesture for him to enter.
Lin Bai strode through the gate. But just then, several men dressed in Yunmeng City constable uniforms came walking out from inside.
The moment Lin Bai saw their clothes, his heart tightened. It was not as though he had done anything truly serious, but in a setting like this, how could anyone not feel nervous when running into officials?
To put it simply, the brothers had run into the cops in the middle of a deal.
Fortunately, those constables did not even glance at Lin Bai. Instead, they stood shoulder to shoulder with two men in guard uniforms.
They were still exchanging loud compliments.
“Constable Lin, Constable Li, the two of you must have made great progress in your martial arts. You’re probably just about at the peak of the Transcendent-Mortal now, aren’t you?”
“Ah, what’s that compared to you? Captain Pang and Captain Jia have been diligently doing your duty here. Surely the higher-ups already think highly of you. Perhaps some important person will promote you one day, and you’ll break into the Extraordinary Realm overnight.”
“Brother Lin speaks wisely.”
These men spoke loudly and without the slightest attempt at concealment. Lin Bai was left stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood.
A fake black market hid in the shadows like sewer rats.
A real black market operated openly, with ties on both sides of the law.
What kind of black market was this? It was clearly a perfectly legitimate business hanging under the signboard of a black market.
Once he understood that point, Lin Bai smiled knowingly and walked through the gate with complete ease.
After entering the residence, he found a black-market guide and paid him one spirit stone to lead him to the place where Phosphor Fireflies were bought and sold.
This black market was so rotten that it could squeeze urine out of a toad.
After passing through several courtyards and winging around oddly shaped rocks and shadowy bamboo, the guide led him to a solitary little building, bowed, and withdrew.
The doors of the room stood open, with only a few dim yellow lights leaking out.
After entering, Lin Bai found that the room was dark inside. Ten counters were arranged in neat order, each far from the next.
The counters were spaced very widely apart, and there seemed to be some sort of sound-dampening effect in place. Voices simply did not carry. Even with Lin Bai’s physique, he could only hear the faintest blur of indistinct sounds.
Only at that moment did Lin Bai finally catch a trace of the true atmosphere of a black market.
He walked to an empty counter. Behind it sat another masked figure, who merely stared at him in silence as he approached.
Lin Bai got straight to the point.
“How much are the Phosphor Fireflies?”
A muffled voice came from behind the counter.
“One spirit stone for two Phosphor Fireflies.”
One spirit stone for two. What were these, insects made of gold?
Lin Bai cursed inwardly, but his expression did not change.
“I want sixty.”
He knew it was expensive, but he had no choice. This was the only place he could buy them.
The person behind the counter nodded and pulled a mechanism, summoning someone else over, then instructed them to fetch what Lin Bai wanted.
A few minutes later, Lin Bai was handed a large bamboo cage. Inside it were black-and-white insects, each about the size of a little finger joint, separated into small sections.
Lin Bai examined them carefully.
White wings with black spots, black legs, red eyes, a long proboscis, and a sickle-shaped head.
Everything matched, and they looked fairly lively too.
Lin Bai’s mood improved at once. Just as he was preparing to pay, he heard another voice from inside.
“Sir, the cage itself is also one spirit stone. And if you want to keep them alive, then you must feed these Phosphor Fireflies a special medicinal liquid every day.”
Hearing that, Lin Bai widened his eyes and stared at the person inside. The masked figure inside silently looked back at him.
“Haa…”
Lin Bai took several deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the urge to start cursing, and asked as calmly as he could,
“How much would it cost to keep these Phosphor Fireflies alive for about a week?”
“Sir, about three spirit stones should be enough.”
Lin Bai took out another four spirit stones and handed them over. This time, the masked person did not call anyone. Instead, he simply took out two bottles from beside him, one large and one small.
Apparently, they had prepared them in advance, certain that Lin Bai would buy them.
“Sir, one drop per day is enough. The large bottle is sufficient for five days, and the small one for three.”
Lin Bai picked up the bamboo cage, put away the bottles, turned, and left without the slightest interest in browsing the rest of the black market.
As he walked, he cursed the place in his heart.
Black market, my ass. More like a black-hearted market. I’ve never heard of Phosphor Fireflies needing some custom medicinal liquid to stay alive. And even an ordinary bamboo cage costs spirit stones?
Bundled sales too. Good thing I only need to keep them alive for about a week.
After all, Phosphor Fireflies existed in nature as well. They were not some lifeform created by a cultivation path. And they were just ordinary insects, not even Transcendent creatures.
If they truly required special medicinal liquid, then Lin Bai had no idea how Phosphor Fireflies in the wild managed to survive. These were definitely a specially bred strain raised by the black market.
Lin Bai walked quickly, and before long he was out. From the moment he entered to the moment he left, not even half an hour had passed.
Because he had arrived rather early, there were still not many people in the black market.
Lin Bai stepped into the woods and removed his mask, then went out and found a donkey cart. He had to pay the driver double before the man was willing to go that far at night.
Nothing unexpected happened on the way back. Apparently Murphy’s Law did not apply to him.
Only after returning to his own room did Lin Bai finally relax. He beckoned Mo Ling over with a wave of his hand.
Then Lin Bai instructed her, “Little one, these things concern your future, so you’d better keep a close watch on them.”
“Caw, caw, caw~”
Mo Ling cried a few times, signaling that she would definitely complete the task.
In truth, there should not have been any problem. This was Lin Su’s courtyard, located inside the Benevolent Heart Hall itself. No one ought to come here to steal anything. This was only an extra layer of insurance.
Lin Bai still had to go out once more and buy the rest of the things he needed. There was still a full hour left before the market closed for the night, so there was more than enough time.
The Great Xia Treasure Tower.
A splendid tower of gold and jade, like a heaven-reaching structure, rising from bottom to top in one uninterrupted line as though piercing the clouds.
This treasure tower was something like a general goods shop. It sold everything, including pills and weapons, its supply channels being places like the Benevolent Heart Hall and the Heavenly Craft Hall.
As for why one did not simply buy these things directly from the Benevolent Heart Hall or the Heavenly Craft Hall, the answer was simple.
Because you could not.
Low-level general-purpose pills were manageable, but higher-level or specially requested pills and artifacts usually had to be custom-made.
The weight-shifting saber in Lin Bai’s hand, for instance, had originally been given to Wang Qian as compensation by someone who had commissioned her to refine pills.
The Great Xia Treasure Tower was rather clever as well. It had even brought in a membership system.
But Lin Bai was not here to buy finished pills or weapons today. He was here for materials, so this was the only place to come.
After entering the tower, he ignored the dazzling array of goods around him and went straight to the counter staff, reporting what he needed.
“Ink made from Black Cloud Ink Ore, a Yin Soul Stone, a century-old piece of Yinwood as long and thin as a lower leg, one portion of Brightbird feathers…”
After making a rapid calculation, the attendant smiled and said,
“That will be fifty-five low-grade spirit stones. Would you like to apply for this tower’s basic guest card? You only need to deposit one hundred spirit stones. Future purchases will enjoy a ten percent discount, and you’ll also be able to buy certain special goods.”
Lin Bai shook his head to show that he did not need it. The materials he was buying now were still rather low-level, and besides, he did not have one hundred spirit stones left anymore. Once he bought these materials, Grandma’s “spending money” would be all but gone.
Seeing that he had no intention of applying, the attendant said nothing more. After taking the spirit stones and verifying their authenticity, he called over a servant to go to the storeroom and fetch the goods.
There were many things Lin Bai needed, and they were assorted and miscellaneous. He waited quite a while before everything was gathered together.
He checked them one by one and, after confirming that the quality was correct, nodded to complete the purchase.
It had to be said, the service and quality at the Great Xia Treasure Tower were both excellent. In the end, they even gave him a delicate storage box as a complimentary gift.
Compared with a certain black market where getting a guide cost money, even the box cost money, and they even forced bundled sales, this service attitude was unbelievably good.
With his business done, Lin Bai left at once and headed straight back to the small courtyard. Lin Su still had not returned.
But Lin Su had already said the day before that she would be assisting Master Jinhua with pill refinement for the next few days, so she would not be coming back.
Lin Bai laid the materials he had bought out on the table and looked at the things he had purchased with the spending money Grandma had given him.
Now, holding Mo Ling in his hands, he looked at her and said,
“Little one, you’d better make a good showing next.”
Mo Ling tilted her head, her eyes full of innocent confusion. Looking at her blank little expression, Lin Bai could not help laughing. He raised a hand and lightly patted his own cheek.
How had I developed the habit of trying to push my child before I’d even reached adulthood myself?
He had no choice. Circumstances were forcing his hand. Mo Ling was still in her juvenile stage, and her combat strength was weak. Lin Bai did not even dare let her leave his line of sight, fearing that some passing cultivator or predatory bird might casually snatch her away.
If she did not evolve, then even if Mo Ling grew up and eventually became a Dark Crow King, reaching the Transcendent-Mortal and counting as an expert among those of the same level, it still would not be enough.
The world of beasts valued bloodline above all else. Among creatures of the same Transcendent-Mortal, high-bloodline spirit beasts could even fight above their level, and they held an innate suppressive advantage over those of lower bloodline.
Of course, the bloodline of a spirit beast contracted by an ordinary person was generally never especially high.
High-bloodline spirit beasts were proud. They would not submit to ordinary people, and the rank of their souls and spirits was something ordinary people could not withstand either.
But Lin Bai was different. He was a genius among geniuses, and the opponents he would face in the future would only be equally monstrous freaks of talent. As his Life-bound spirit beast, Mo Ling could not possibly remain forever at the Transcendent-Mortal.
Yet as he looked into Mo Ling’s pure, innocent, faintly puzzled eyes, the impatience and irritation in Lin Bai’s heart slowly calmed.
No wonder people said that keeping pets could soothe the mind. At this moment, he truly felt it.
He gently stroked Mo Ling’s smooth, cool feathers and thought to himself,
Slowly. No need to rush. I’m only fifteen. At the peak of the Transcendent-Mortal, one can live to around two hundred and forty. I’ve only used up one-sixteenth of that.