The Heavenly Court is gone, I don't want to be a True Lord.

Night fell.

Zuo Qi arrived alone at the Dongyu Ferry Crossing on the east side of the dock. Due to the terrain, the water flow here was gentle, making it suitable for boats to moor in the river.

It was nighttime, and fog had risen over the river, obscuring the view of the center. Zuo Qi, without his Heavenly Eye activated, could only make out a few dark shadows in the fog.

He was dressed in all black, had a mustache, and wore a hat, making him look like a middle-aged man in his thirties.

Upon arriving at the riverbank, one sees seven or eight fishing boats moored there. However, the fishermen on board are not ordinary fishermen. They are all tall and strong, with their faces covered by black cloth, and they have a rough and unruly air about them, as if they have been traveling the world for many years.

Zuo Qi's gaze lingered on one person for a moment. Although the person was covered by a black cloth, he felt that he was somewhat familiar with him, as if he were one of the people who followed Yin Jiu.

He seemed to be deep in thought.

The Yin Jiu I met before seemed to have a close relationship with the black market.

Noticing his gaze, the other person stepped forward and asked, "Do you have an invitation?"

Zuo Qi took out the wooden plaque he had obtained from Dangui Tower earlier from his pocket.

The other party made a gesture of invitation, inviting Zuo Qi to board the ship.

Zuo Qi nodded, and the fishing boat slowly moved forward, soon reaching the center of the river. As they got closer, they could see three large boats moored in the mist, connected by a deck in the middle.

But there was not a single ray of light.

The man handed him a small lantern.

Zuo Qi was taken aback at first, then realized what was happening, smiled and nodded, took out a tael of silver from his pocket and placed it on the deck of the fishing boat.

The man looked slightly surprised, clasped his hands in a fist salute, hesitated for a moment, and then whispered, "There are many people on the boat, so please be careful, distinguished guest."

They rowed away.

……

There were quite a few people on the deck, some sellers with stalls in front of them sitting in the back, and others buyers carrying small lanterns and looking around.

Occasionally, someone would speak in a low, furtive voice.

Zuo Qi silently opened his Heavenly Eye and looked at the various figures walking in front of him.

My gaze fell on a middle-aged man sitting at the top of the cabin, with a long knife beside him. He was a figure hired by the black market to keep order.

[Life or death: Unknown]

[Spiritual Essence: 21]

Zuo Qi frowned slightly; this person was very strong.

Three more training sessions? Or even stronger?

Zuo Qi didn't know.

The other person suddenly lowered their head, and Zuo Qi quickly looked away.

Instead of paying attention to the organizers of the black market, he stopped at each stall with his lantern, looking at the items on the stalls with the lantern.

Every now and then, I open my third eye to take a look at these things.

He has not yet developed the Heavenly Eye Cave Truth's abilities to their fullest extent. Currently, he mainly has two abilities: one is to observe humans and quantify their life force and spirit, which he calls Cave Truth·Peeping at Fate.

Secondly, when observing demons and the heavens and earth, one can see the flow of some energy, similar to the scene of heaven and earth seen when bestowing blessings, but more blurred. This is called "Dongzhen·Wangqi".

Regarding inanimate objects, he believed that the Heavenly Eye should be able to see things that others cannot, but it has not yet been developed.

He quickly stopped.

Looking at the items on the stall.

The stall sold miscellaneous items, including books, food, and even some animal furs and porcelain...

The food still had a rather noticeable earthy smell.

The stall owner was wearing a mask, but his voice sounded very young.

What would you like?

Zuo Qi did not answer, but placed the small lantern on the ground and examined it carefully, one by one.

Finally, his gaze settled on a porcelain vase with a design of ladies, but the ladies' postures were quite strange, like the starting stance of some kind of kung fu.

Most importantly, he noticed that the porcelain had a hidden compartment.

It wasn't Dongzhen's new ability, but rather something in the interlayer that could subtly cause energy to flow and change.

"Good product, is it new?"

He tentatively asked in a soft voice.

The stall owner glanced at Zuo Qi, thinking he had found someone knowledgeable, and after thinking for a moment, he offered a price.

"For the Prince's items, a book costs five taels, a piece of porcelain costs ten taels, a piece of jade costs fifty taels, and the rest costs three taels each."

These items have all been screened by the tomb raiding gang; they're not worth much, otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap.

Zuo Qi nodded. "Then I'll pick a few."

A vase with a lady's face on it, three books, and a piece of jade.

He gave the stall owner seventy-five taels of silver.

When I was poor, I felt that thirty or forty coins could last me a long time, but now that I have money, I feel that seventy or eighty taels are nothing special.

Zuo Qi shook his head inwardly.

Continuing forward, passing through the wooden planks between the two ships, we arrived at another ship. The layout was similar to the previous ship, but the items sold on the deck stalls were different: weapons, armor, and meat from mountain beasts.

Zuo Qi even saw someone selling IOUs at a stall; an IOU worth two thousand taels of silver was being sold for only six hundred taels.

He overheard a conversation between two people who complained that there wasn't enough stuff in the martial arts black market. Judging from their tone, in some more distant places, there were even women for sale in the martial arts black market.

The world is truly vast and full of wonders.

Zuo Qi gained a deeper understanding of the martial arts community.

The so-called extraordinary means being above others.

He compared prices at several stalls and bought some treasure beast meat, which was very expensive because, in addition to increasing blood and qi, treasure beast meat could also directly increase the tempering speed.

Ten catties cost two hundred taels of silver.

He finally found the pills he had been wanting to buy. Since it involved extraordinary cultivation, he would seem out of place if he didn't take them.

But the price…

A dose of Black Yuan Powder, which can temper bones, is worth one hundred taels of silver. The stall owner said that if it is used up in seven days, it can increase bone tempering qi and blood by at least ten levels.

After hesitating, he bought two servings.

He was astonished when he saw what was on the third ship.

It turned out to be something related to demons—the essence of a demon sealed within a piece of topaz, with a price tag: 100 taels for a ten-year-old demon (equivalent to the first level of cultivation), 200 taels for a twenty-year-old demon (equivalent to the second level of cultivation), and 500 taels for a thirty-year-old demon (the third level of cultivation)...

This is something not recorded in Feng Yuan's Demon Record. In the black market, people prefer to classify the strength of demons by their cultivation level in years.

As for demonic and spiritual items, they are even more expensive, especially those sent from other places, which can easily start at five hundred taels.

Here, Zuo Qi also learned about two groups of martial artists.

Demon hunters obtain training materials by slaying demons.

Demon merchants travel between different places, transporting demon essences and spiritual objects from one place to another to earn the price difference.

After gaining some knowledge, Zuo Qi spent twenty taels of silver to buy twenty-three yellow jades that could seal demons with ten years of cultivation, and then turned and left.

Unexpectedly, just as he left and was waiting on the deck of the first large ship for a fishing boat to pick him up, someone in the distance had already set their sights on him.

"Rokuko, do you have a target yet?"

A burly man with a black mask stood on the deck and looked at a thin young man, asking him a question.

"Hey, did you see that? She bought a lot of things, but they're all over the place. She's probably a newbie."

"What level of cultivation?"

"I saw he bought Black Yuan Powder, so he's probably only at the second stage of cultivation."

"The Black Yuan Powder can temper muscles and bones. It seems that the second training was not completed. You and I have perfected our muscles and bones and our blood and qi are overflowing. The advantage is mine."

Upon hearing this, the man with the triangular eyes lit up.

This kid was carrying many bags and packages, plus Black Yuan Powder, and had treasures worth nearly a thousand taels on him. The key point is that he was also alone.

……

Zuo Qi didn't recognize the boatman rowing the fishing boat back; he probably wasn't one of Yin Jiu's men.

Speechless all the way.

Once ashore, Zuo Qi looked back and, with his third eye slightly open, saw a small boat rowing towards the shore. What aroused his suspicion was that two figures were standing on the deck of the boat, constantly looking in his direction.

The water was foggy, and the other party was very bold in their observation.

Zuo Qi narrowed his eyes.

When I came here, I wondered if there would be any double-crossing between gangsters in a place that is not protected by the government, and I didn't expect that there really would be.

It was my first time here, and I was already being watched.

Life Points: 25

Life Points: 31

Upon seeing the lives of the two men, Zuo Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

Both of them could see their own lives, but the other party must have something extraordinary about them to have targeted them.

……

Urged on by the man with triangular eyes, the fisherman rowing the boat could only work harder. He set off much later than Zuo Qi, but only three or four minutes later than Zuo Qi when he reached the shore.

After getting off the ground, the two couldn't wait to look in the direction Zuo Qi had left.

Once they could still see Zuo Qi's back, they were overjoyed, exchanged a glance, and quickly followed.

To their even greater surprise, Zuo Qi left in a direction far away from the dock.

In a reed bed, Zuo Qi looked at He Xiao and Ni Heng, "Someone is following us."

He could foresee the possibility of being double-crossed, so he naturally made some preparations.

After hiding the items, Zuo Qi turned around and wandered along the edge of the reed marshes.

As if suddenly noticing the two of them, he exchanged a glance with them, then turned and ran into the depths of the reeds.

"We've been spotted! Chase them!"

Triangular Eyes and Liu Zi instinctively chased after them.