Practice starts with skill points.

Chapter 33 Black Market and Pills

The city is under government control, so many things that cannot be seen in public need to be sold through certain special channels, thus forming a black market.

You can buy many things here that you don’t usually see, and also many illegal things.

"The entrance fee is a large sum of money. Fighting is prohibited after entering. Violators will bear the consequences at their own risk."

At the entrance, a bearded man looked at Zhong Lin coldly. Next to him was a basket filled with a lot of copper coins.

Zhong Lin nodded. He had heard about the rules here from Lao Zhou a long time ago. He took out a copper coin from his pocket and threw it in, then walked into the black market.

There were a lot of people coming and going, and everyone had a black scarf or a mask on their face. Of course, some brave ones wore nothing at all.

Zhong Lin strolled through the black market. The vendors inside did not shout out their wares, but just quietly set up their stalls.

There is a torch every few meters. No one knows what material the torch is made of. The light is not bright, but rather dim. Therefore, if you want to see the things on the stalls clearly, you need to look closely.

Zhong Lin didn't walk fast. He looked at every stall and understood why a black market had formed here. It was mainly because the things sold there were indeed shady.

For example, the stall that Zhong Lin stopped in front of him mainly sold medicine. These were not the medicines sold in medical clinics, but some knockout drugs and poisons. Zhong Lin even saw the venom of the golden ring snake that he had collected with great difficulty.

Which clinic in the county town would dare to sell this kind of thing? But here, they are sold openly, and the people around are not surprised, obviously they are already used to it.

Some stalls sold weapons, not to mention swords, daggers and the like, and even a crossbow was mixed in.

If this thing appeared in the county town, it would probably be caught by the government.

Unlike bows and arrows, which require a certain amount of practice to use, crossbows can be used by even children to kill people, and they are very easy to hide because of their small size.

Zhong Lin continued walking, when suddenly a sneaky figure blocked his way. Just as he was secretly alert, the tall and thin man took out a booklet from his arms.

"Brother, do you want a secret book?"

"Ah!"

Zhong Lin sneered, turned around and walked away, ignoring the man completely.

Lao Zhou also talked about this matter. You can buy anything on the black market, but don’t buy martial arts secrets or the like, because they are all fake.

In this era, prejudices against one's own party are much more serious than in the past. Even if it is a craft: carpentry, blacksmithing, tofu making... these are skills that are used to maintain the family and make a living, and are not easily passed on to others.

If a secret is to be passed down, it will be passed down to sons, not daughters. If there are no sons, if one accepts a disciple as a personal disciple, he will have to "test" him for more than ten years and then keep his secrets.

Teaching your apprentice to starve yourself to death is no joke.

The fundamental reason is that there is not much mobility in this era. Some people may never leave the place where they live in their entire lives. A skill that one person knows is called a unique skill. If two people know it, there will be competition. If more people know it, some people may really starve to death.

This is the case with ordinary skills, let alone martial arts secrets.

Even if it is written into a book, no one knows how many secret codes and coded phrases it contains. That would be one thing, but what is even more terrible is that key parts are often missing and not recorded in the book, but only passed on orally.

This is even worse than the Nine Yin White Bone Claw. If you practice the Nine Yin White Bone Claw incorrectly, at most you can "destroy the enemy's head". But if you practice this martial arts secret incorrectly, you may really become paralyzed on one side of your body, or even die on the spot.

So before coming in, Lao Zhou specifically said that there is no need to identify which secret books on the black market are fake, but you should ask which ones are real.

Those cheats whose first part is real are already considered conscientious. What’s more serious is that except for the name, the rest of the book is half true and half false, which is a trap.

"My system panel doesn't have the function to distinguish true from false, so don't practice blindly."

Thinking of this, Zhong Lin walked faster.

The tall and thin man watched Zhong Lin leave and shook his head: "What a pity, I didn't cheat anyone. Let's find the next one!" This guy's way of cheating people is to ask anyone he catches. If he happens to meet a young and inexperienced person, he can make a lot of money.

Zhong Lin continued to walk forward, looking at both sides constantly, and had a clearer understanding of the "wildness" of black market goods.

Common ones include various wild game, such as pheasants, wild boars, tiger bones, etc.

There are also some people selling "funerary objects". Judging from the dirt and moisture on them, it is obvious that they were just dug out not long ago.

Digging up people's ancestral graves is a serious crime in this world. If you are caught, you will be beaten to death.

Going deeper, Zhong Lin even saw some human traffickers.

An old lady with gray hair was sitting in a dim stall. Although her face was covered with a black cloth, she looked quite old. There were several strong young men beside her.

Their cargo was five unconscious children, three boys and two girls. Each of these five children was well-fed and clean. Judging from the clothes they were wearing, their families should have been well-off, but they were now abducted and sold as cargo.

A hint of murderous intent flashed in Zhong Lin's eyes. He always had only one attitude towards human traffickers, and that was to kill without mercy.

However, the black market has its own rules, and Zhong Lin is not yet able to shake up the black market.

A moment later, Zhong Lin stopped in front of a stall. The owner of the stall was wearing a ghost mask, so his real face could not be seen. In front of him were small porcelain bottles, each with a name written on red paper.

Beauty pills, detoxification pills, blood-replenishing pills, bone-strengthening pills, and bone-strengthening pills.

Seeing these names, Zhong Lin's breathing quickened a little. These were also the reasons why he came to the ghost market today.

After his martial arts skills were improved, the effect of the Eight Treasures Blood-Replenishing Soup was not as good as before, so Zhong Lin went to the clinic again to ask if there was a soup with better efficacy.

Of course not, but Zhong Lin also learned from the doctor about another more magical thing in this world.

Pill.

A method of using special techniques to refine medicinal materials and condense their essence into elixirs.

It is not the heavy metal elixir made by the alchemists in the previous life, but an elixir that can actually help warriors practice.

There is no such thing as elixir in Heishan County, a small county town. This thing is only sold in the county town. You can find one or two on the black market. This is why Zhong Lin asked Lao Zhou about the black market.

Zhong Lin squatted down, pointed at the porcelain bottle with the words "Blood-Replenishing Pill" and asked, "How much is this?"

"Ten taels of silver."

The voice was a little hoarse, and I didn't know if it was naturally hoarse or if it was deliberately changed.

"One bottle?"

"One grain."

Zhong Lin felt a toothache when he heard this. It’s so damn expensive!
A packet of Eight Treasures Blood-Replenishing Soup is only three taels of silver, and the key is that it can only be taken for three days. I don’t know how effective this blood-replenishing pill is.

"Where's the bone strengthening pill?"

"Thirty taels."

"One bottle?"

"...What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)