Chapter 604: Encounter at the Black Market (3k)
As the massive crowd on the passenger ship surged into the black market, Su Jiu’s eyes scanned the diverse throngs of people milling about. A sense of admiration surfaced in her gaze; the liveliness of this place rivaled that of the Snow Demon Kingdom’s selection of a National Master.
As they, ordinary students, flowed into the market, they could feel many curious eyes fixating on them. The stall owners, wearing masks, or the sellers, wondered what benefit these students of their level could gain from being here.
After all, most people who came here possessed a level of strength above Battle General. Their identities ranged from national officials to nearby pirates, all drawn by the prospect of treasure hunting.
The sudden influx of so many Ivory Tower students was considered amusing by them. The black market was incredibly chaotic; one might enter intact but perhaps leave missing a few “parts.”
Xiao Guang, following closely behind Su Jiu, swept her gaze over the masked vendors and felt a shiver run down her spine. She then quietly asked, “Sister Su Jiu, it seems like those vendors are all looking at us. Is everything okay?”
“Wearing these masks can prevent us from being targeted after we leave here.”
Handing three masks to the three people behind her, Su Jiu glanced back. She detected a few prying eyes and then put on Long Nü’s mask.
As for Xiao Yezi, she let Xiao Yezi sit on her shoulders to watch the healing arts of a university priest. To ensure Xiao Yezi could understand, Su Jiu specifically chose a medical textbook filled with illustrations.
Xiao Yezi’s bloodline was also quite unique. After Su Jiu’s examination, it was found that she, like Su Jiu, was a dual-attribute bloodline possessor, with the Floating Life Blossom bloodline and, hidden deep within, a bloodline of an ice-attributed great bird.
Considering only the Floating Life Blossom bloodline, it was already sufficient for a priest. However, Su Jiu’s intention was not for her to truly learn.
Instead, she was looking for a way to find something for Xiao Yezi, who was at an age of being disliked and neglected by everyone.
“Healing Arts?”
Su Xiao Ye was sitting on Su Jiu’s shoulders, her small feet clad in white short socks dangling, occasionally pondering. She inadvertently revealed a cute little tiger tooth, while a hint of green emerged from her tender fingertips.
In just a few days, Su Jiu had a feeling that Xiao Yezi was becoming increasingly intelligent. Even without consuming Floating Life Blossom fragments, her growth was rapid, and her physique had now reached that of an ordinary four-year-old child.
It was known that Xiao Yezi was born a freak weighing only a few pounds. Now, her physique had reached that of an ordinary four-year-old child, clearly indicating that her true age was far more than four years old.
Su Jiu had also specifically checked for signs of premature aging, but Xiao Yezi’s condition was better than it could be.
She estimated that this rapid growth was likely caused by specific genes inherited from the Floating Life Blossom itself, which was adapting to the environment and quickly reaching a sub-adult stage.
Applying this to humans seemed strange and frightening.
“Let’s go, I’ll show you around.”
Glancing back at the three, knowing they were wearing masks, Su Jiu smiled, waved, and strode towards the area ahead.
She intended to inquire about news of Dragon Qi, which E Huo needed. She wondered what E Huo’s expression would be upon seeing his mischievous younger sister.
Following the flow of people, Su Jiu and her companions slowly entered the black market. The dazzling array of items on the stalls made Xiao Guang and the others momentarily stunned; these were things they had never seen in their lives.
“Flowing Flame Grass, can imbue oneself with a trace of fire attribute, six hundred and sixty thousand knives.”
“The items here are exchanged using Eagle Country currency?”
However, looking at the marked prices, they stopped in their tracks and repeatedly clicked their tongues, feeling like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden for the first time.
This elicited laughter from many stall owners, though not much malice. After all, their gazes were fixed on the storage rings on Su Jiu’s hands. Those who could set up stalls here were at least at the Battle General level.
Naturally, they would recognize the symbols of such powerful individuals or wealthy patrons.
Seeing the astonishment of the three behind her, Su Jiu was not surprised. Instead, she smiled and continued, “These mobile stalls are indeed very expensive. Fixed stalls might have cheaper souvenirs. I happen to need to gather some information.”
After finding a vendor and asking for the location of the nearby official shops, Su Jiu led the group to the central area of the entire market. In front of them, a rather large metal building was erected.
On top of the metal building was a huge LCD screen, displaying extremely rare items. Su Jiu only gave it a cursory glance, but she immediately discovered items that could even store Extraordinary Attributes.
However, she hadn’t seen anything truly valuable, at least not anything with Dragon Qi, which Su Jiu needed. But she could understand this approach; the more mysterious something was, the higher its added value.
“Are a few of you interested in something? Or are you here to consign items?”
Just as Su Jiu stood near the entrance, a young East Asian man wearing a monocle emerged. He was dressed in the attire of an Alchemist, and his voice sounded like he was in his early twenties.
Behind him followed two old men, their auras deep and profound, indicating they were veteran Battle King powerhouses, only a step away from High-Rank Battle King.
“I heard you have items that store Dragon Qi for sale here? If possible, could you let me see the prices?”
Su Jiu smiled, her voice very calm, as if she was accustomed to such scenes.
As soon as Su Jiu finished speaking, the young man beckoned a waiter, gave an instruction, and then said with a smile, “Items that store Dragon Qi? Yes, we do have those, and they are items that can be directly purchased, not exactly rare, right?”
Seeing Su Jiu looking at him without speaking, the young man also smiled warmly, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the ring on Su Jiu’s hand, and he said softly:
“Originally, it was thirty-three Intermediate Magic Crystals. These three Intermediate Magic Crystals will be waived, costing you only thirty Magic Crystals. We hope you will have a good impression of our White Cloud Chamber of Commerce.”
Su Jiu nodded slightly, smiled, took out a bag from her ring, and tossed it over, calmly saying, “Count it carefully.”
“Thirty Intermediate Magic Crystals?!”
This time, it was Xiao Guang’s turn to be stunned. She watched the young woman so easily hand over these thirty Intermediate Magic Crystals, her heart churning. She knew that each Intermediate Magic Crystal was left behind by a demon beast close to or already at the Battle King level.
This meant that this senior sister Su Jiu had killed thirty Battle King level demon beasts!
As for Fat Liu and the other, they were already unable to comprehend. They only felt that the gap between people in this world might be even greater than the gap between people and demon beasts.
“Please wait for about five minutes.”
After his subordinate took the bag to count, and once it was confirmed, the young man’s face showed respect. He bowed in the style of a Dragon Country martial artist and said with a smile, “This young lady must be from a top force in the Dragon Country, right?”
Su Jiu smiled without answering, but the three behind her began to fantasize again.
Su Jiu’s demeanor made the young man unable to gauge her depth, and a hint of apprehension appeared in his eyes. He then took out a black and gold card from his pocket and handed it over, saying with a smile:
“This is a VIP card for the auction held this evening, hosted by our Chamber of Commerce’s War God, who is my father, along with several other War Gods. Most of the items inside are world-rare.”
Su Jiu took the card but wasn’t very interested. Her strength didn’t lack things that could rapidly improve it. The most important thing now was to understand her domain and then slowly improve her strength. She was currently around the mid-stage of Initial Stage Battle King.
Her control over her domain was still somewhat lacking. After all, for an assassin type like her, directly confronting with her domain activated was a rare occurrence.
Seeing Su Jiu accept the card, the young man’s smile intensified, and he continued, “With this card, you can enjoy a 5% discount and top VIP treatment. Around six in the evening, we will arrange for someone to prepare a designated location for you.”
Su Jiu nodded and watched the scrolling displays for a while longer. Confirming there was nothing she wanted to buy, she waited for the Dragon Qi. Soon, several burly men carried a large wooden barrel in front of everyone.
“E Huo?”
Before Su Jiu could confirm if this barrel-like object was the so-called Dragon Qi, a fluctuation in her mental power alerted her. E Huo’s figure appeared in front of Su Jiu, looking disheveled as if he hadn’t woken up.
“Mom, I don’t have much time. I just sensed the aura inside and was forced awake…”
He glanced at Su Jiu, spoke weakly, and then disappeared from everyone’s sight with the large barrel. This scene also shocked everyone present. Humanoid demon beasts that could communicate in human language were extremely high-level races!
The fact that Su Jiu possessed one was astonishing to them.
Looking inward at E Huo guzzling the Dragon Qi in the mental world like drinking alcohol, Su Jiu shook her head with amusement. Suddenly, as if sensing something, she sharply looked backward.
Frowning, she instructed the young man, “Please help me keep an eye on my friend, I have something to attend to…”
She then summoned Bairnis and placed Xiao Yezi in her care, before slowly walking towards the crowd behind her.
The appearance of Bairnis, however, put the two old men behind the young man on high alert. They watched her cautiously, their auras even seeming to be ready to erupt.
Xiao Guang didn’t react much, but Fat Liu frantically tugged at her sleeve and whispered to Xiao Guang, “This senior sister Su has two humanoid beast pets. What is her cultivation level?”
Xiao Guang shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.
The young man was puzzled, “Elder Qianmo and Elder Sanqian, what’s wrong?” Although the woman in front of them was taking care of a beast, she shouldn’t be this shocking, right?
Bairnis glanced at the young man but ignored them, only cradling Xiao Yezi, shaking her head with a doting expression.
One of the old men swallowed and leaned closer to the young man, whispering a couple of words while looking at Bairnis’s position, which made the young man’s face tremble as well.
“Demigod level beast pet?”
…
At a street corner, a figure in a dark cloak leaned against the metal wall, gasping for breath, and muttered in a hoarse voice to herself:
“How could I meet her in this place?”
“Never mind, I need to treat myself first.”
The figure took out a bottle of purple potion from her pocket, flicked open the cap with her pale purple fingernails, and then drank the potion with her mouth. She looked down at the wound on her abdomen.
“Ugh…”
Biting the potion bottle, she squeezed out the metal fragments with her teeth. Blood gushed out wildly, and her face instantly turned ashen, devoid of any color. However, her hands did not stop, continuously extracting them…
“I heard this High Seas Black Market has good things for trading. I didn’t expect to be targeted as soon as I arrived… I should just leave. Better to live a miserable life than die a good death.”
Casually spitting out the empty bottle from her mouth, the figure felt her hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. Trembling, she slowly got up.
“Heh heh, I finally found you!”
Just as the figure was about to leave, several figures suddenly appeared in the air. The Scar-faced Man butler, leading the group, chuckled and slowly descended, his gaze examining the bloodstains left below the figure.
