The strongest intermediary in all realms

When Zhou Ming emerged from the fissure zone, it was just dawn.

The morning in the world of The Return of the Condor Heroes carried the unique sweet and pungent scent of grass and trees. Dew clung to the roadside blades of grass, wetting a patch of his trousers.

He determined the direction and followed the route marked by Xiao Qi toward the post station on the commercial route south of Xiangyang City.

The post station was more lively than he had imagined.

A gray earthen wall encloses a courtyard roughly the size of two basketball courts. At the entrance stands a faded flagpole with a cloth banner that reads "Shangdao Post Station".

The threshing ground was already crowded with twenty or thirty people. There were peddlers carrying loads on their shoulders, merchants leading donkeys loaded with goods, and several herb farmers dressed in short clothes squatting in a corner with a burlap sack spread out in front of them, on which dried herbs were laid out to dry.

The air was filled with the smells of livestock, the bitter fragrance of herbs, and the smoke from early morning cooking. The cacophony of voices hummed in the morning light.

"People from Baicaotang usually set up their stall in the southeast corner of the post station," Xiaoqi reminded her in the system. "Look for a white cloth shed with a gourd sign."

Zhou Ming walked through the crowd toward the southeast corner. An old woman selling baked pancakes called out to him, but he waved her away and walked past her, his eyes scanning each stall.

Finally, I spotted my target in the corner—a slightly worn white cloth shed with a copper gourd hanging from the top. Underneath sat a thin, gray-haired old man with several rows of celadon medicine bottles on a low table in front of him, each bottle labeled with a red paper label.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any meridian-clearing powder?" Zhou Ming squatted down and asked directly.

The old man glanced at him, his gaze lingering for a moment on Zhou Ming's jeans and sneakers, but a seasoned businessman wouldn't take a customer's attire seriously.

He flicked his finger among a row of celadon bottles on the low table, pulling out a brown bottle and pushing it over.

"It costs three qian of silver per bottle, and should be applied externally for three to five days. Who is it for?"

"My friend got a stitch while practicing martial arts; the meridians in his right arm are blocked."

The old man nodded: "That's the right treatment. But if your friend practices the internal martial arts style, applying the medicine alone isn't enough. He also needs to take some internal blood-activating herbs. Young man, would you like some to go with it?"

Zhou Ming's eyes lit up: "A matching set?"

The old man chuckled and pulled out a small white porcelain bottle: "These are 'Blood-Activating and Vein-Regenerating Pills' for internal use. One pill each time, twice a day. Use them together with the external application for double the effect. Two bottles are sold together for five qian of silver."

Without a word, Zhou Ming took out the money. The old man's price was fair, and the silver coins he used were the common currency in the martial arts world, which he had exchanged with a loose cultivator for a lighter in the Rift Zone. He had prepared them before he came.

After exchanging money and goods, he stuffed the medicine bottle into his backpack and was about to get up to thank the innkeeper when a commotion suddenly broke out at the entrance of the inn.

The sounds of horses neighing, metal clanging, and several people shouting simultaneously filled the air.

"Someone's robbing us!"

"Stop that mule!"

Zhou Ming turned his head sharply. There was chaos at the courtyard gate. Several men in short brown clothes were pinning a herbalist to the ground, while two others were leading a black mule loaded with bags of medicinal herbs out of the courtyard.

The herb farmer struggled on the ground, shouting, "That's my stuff!" He cried out in pain when he was stepped on.

The vendors and market-goers in the courtyard quickly moved aside, and no one stepped forward to stop them. The robbers were efficient and coordinated, clearly repeat offenders.

The man leading the mule had almost reached the courtyard gate when the old woman selling baked cakes at the low table was so frightened that she forgot all about the stove.

Zhou Ming quickly weighed the options in his mind for half a second. He had a disguise talisman, a protective jade pendant, and two attack talismans, but the system's limitation was there—they couldn't be used in combat.

He couldn't just rush up and fight the robbers.

However, he can "do business".

"Little Seven!" he growled. "Scan the medicine pouches on that mule. Anything valuable?"

Xiao Qi replied instantly: "Scan complete! One of the bags contains 30-year-old wild Ganoderma lucidum, a rare medicinal herb in the martial arts world, worth at least 150,000 yuan according to Earth's prices—"

enough.

Zhou Ming pulled out the two highlighters from the side of his backpack—the ones left over from the last sale. He twisted off the caps, rushed to a conspicuous spot at the courtyard gate, and forcefully drew two lines in the hazy sky.

The fluorescent green lines shone brightly in mid-air, like two bolts of lightning that appeared out of nowhere.

Everyone at the courtyard gate, including the two robbers leading the mules, paused for a moment at the same time.

The traces of fluorescent green slowly dissipated in the air, like paint melting in water, but the visual impact had already pierced everyone's eyes.

"Supernatural power!" someone exclaimed.

"Sorcery!" The other person stepped back.

Taking advantage of the pause in the clapping, Zhou Ming rushed two steps towards the courtyard gate, raised the two still-glowing fluorescent pens, and shouted, "Bare goods for goods! I have 'night-shining pens' here—one stroke is as bright as day, and the color won't fade for half an hour. I only want the bag of Ganoderma lucidum from that mule!"

As he spoke, Xiao Qi activated the backup light source stored in the system space.

A soft white light emanated from Zhou Ming's palm—an energy storage stone obtained from the rift zone—illuminating half of his face and the glowing pen in his hand, creating a stunning visual effect.

The robbers were stunned. Everyone in the courtyard was stunned.

The bandit leading the mule let out an ambiguous gurgling sound, his gaze shifting back and forth between the highlighter in Zhou Ming's hand and the white light behind Zhou Ming.

His companion whispered something, and the man leading the mule hesitated for a moment, then suddenly loosened the reins, turned and ran. The other man also let go of the mule and fled over the courtyard wall in a panic.

There was a two-second silence in the courtyard, followed by a deafening murmur of discussion.

"A Celestial Master! Isn't that a Celestial Master?"

"What immortal master? They said they're just merchants exchanging goods!"

"What is a night-shining pen? I've never seen one before!"

The herb farmer who had been robbed got up from the ground, covered in dust, and rushed over to grab the mule's reins again, panting as he looked at Zhou Ming.

He was about forty years old, with dark skin and a torn shirt, but his eyes had the sharpness and composure of someone who spent years in the mountains collecting herbs.

"This...merchant," he said, still a little out of breath, "the Ganoderma lucidum you mentioned earlier?"

Zhou Ming put the highlighter back in his pocket, walked over and squatted down next to the mule, patting one of the bags of medicinal herbs.

Xiaoqi confirmed in the system: "This is the bag. It's in excellent condition, a 30-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, completely intact."

"I'll take this bag of Ganoderma lucidum," Zhou Ming said, looking up at the herb farmer. "In exchange for a 'night-shining pen,' plus—" He paused, then pulled another brand-new fluorescent pen from his backpack, "two of them, enough for you to travel at night."

The herb farmer was stunned for several seconds. He looked down at his bag of Ganoderma lucidum—although precious, it was far from being a priceless treasure in the martial arts world. At most, it would fetch a few dozen taels of silver if sold in the city.

The "night-illuminating brush," an unheard-of wonder, could fetch a value far exceeding that of a bag of Ganoderma lucidum if resold.

"Exchange," the herb farmer said decisively, untying the bag of Ganoderma lucidum and handing it to Zhou Ming. "My name is Zhao Laosan. I gather herbs at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain year-round. If you ever have any more of these rare items, just come to me for exchange. I have all kinds of medicinal herbs."

Zhou Ming took the bag of Ganoderma lucidum and put it into his backpack. He had already decided where to put the bag of Ganoderma lucidum. A bunch of top-grade wild Ganoderma lucidum could sell for tens of thousands of yuan in the Blue Star Chinese Medicine Market. If it was sold to an alchemist as raw material, the premium would be even higher.

After this income is converted into general points, it will be enough to keep his business running for the next few weeks.

Just as he was about to take his leave, the old woman selling baked flatbreads squeezed out of the crowd, grabbed three steaming hot flatbreads, and stuffed them into his hands: "Young man, take these, it's on me! You chased away those hooligans for us, so I'll buy you all your flatbreads from now on!"

Someone in the crowd shouted again, "Any extra Night-Shining Brushes? I'll trade double the amount of herbs for them!"

A crowd gathered in the yard, chattering excitedly. Zhou Ming, squeezed in the middle, was both amused and exasperated. He quickly raised his hands: "Only two units left today, all gone. I'll bring more next time. Wait for my news!"

He struggled to squeeze out of the crowd and jogged away from the post station.

The medicine bottle and the lingzhi bag clinked gently in the backpack. The bag was bulging, containing not only goods, but also an ever-expanding network of connections in the martial arts world.

There were few pedestrians on the official road outside the post station. He slowed down and took a breath. The morning breeze carried the fragrance of rice from the fields.

He took a bite of the flatbread; it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with the filling of scallions and minced meat spreading in his mouth. The taste was unexpectedly good.

"Great, boss." Xiao Qi's voice carried a hint of amusement. "Those two flashes of light were just in time. Two seconds later and the robbers would have been out of the courtyard."

"You also deserve a lot of credit; the energy storage stone was given at just the right time," Zhou Ming mumbled, chewing on a flatbread.

"However, the connection with Zhao Laosan was an unexpected bonus. With him around, we won't have to rely on Gongsun Zhi for medicinal herbs in the martial arts world anymore—that old guy's aura is too intimidating."

Do you remember Zhao Laosan saying he was gathering herbs at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain?

"I remember. What's wrong?"

Xiao Qi paused meaningfully, then said, "At the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, not far from the Valley of Heartbreak, his statement that 'all kinds of medicinal herbs are available' most likely includes rare varieties produced near the Valley of Heartbreak. This person might be the key to your access to the medicinal herb market in the Condor Heroes world."

Zhou Ming stuffed the last bite of the baked flatbread into his mouth, patted the crumbs off his hands, and said, "Then let's leave a long-term window. Once the Ganoderma lucidum is sold and we get cash, we can exchange it for more highlighters and daily necessities. Next time we come to the post station, we'll specifically ask Zhao Laosan to stock up. He's in the herb-gathering business, so there's a lot of turnover, and he has access to a wide range of sources of goods. He's much more useful than a shopkeeper who stays in one place."

He walked along the official road towards the fissure zone. People were planting rice seedlings in the fields by the roadside, and the morning clouds were reflected in the paddy fields.

The outline of Xiangyang City was faintly visible in the thin mist in the distance, the city walls were tall and thick, and the flags on the city walls fluttered in the wind.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the world of martial arts was actually quite nice. It had human warmth, a touch of everyday life, bandits robbing people in the middle of the night, and old ladies stuffing pancakes into their hands.

Compared to the gloomy atmosphere of the liquidators, the strong sense of life here is reassuring.

Before stepping into the rift zone, he glanced back at the way he had come. In the bright sunlight of the Condor Heroes world, the faded cloth banner of the post station still fluttered in the distance.

Next time he comes, he should bring more highlighters. He has to give the pancake lady face, keep Zhao Laosan's medicinal herb supply chain stable, and build up his reputation in the post station.

After all, the reputation of "Yorozuya" can't be built solely on plastering windows.

He turned around and walked into the silver-gray passageway.