togophonebook Chapter 42 Changing Faces
Chapter 42 Changing Faces
The black market is a hub for a vast amount of illicit goods, making it a favorite dumping ground for all sorts of people in Black Swamp City and bandits from outside the city.
Zhou Qiuyuan changed into a set of night clothes, covered his face, and wandered around the southern city.
He wandered around for almost half an hour before finally finding a secluded alley where he could vaguely see the dim yellow candlelight in the distance.
"You have to pay ten coins to enter the black market!"
People armed with knives and swords were stationed everywhere in the alley, and they would block the way and demand money from anyone who came.
Zhou Qiuyuan tossed ten copper coins over, and they made way for him to enter the black market.
Stalls of all sizes occupied the alleyway, each with a small lantern hanging in front of it, illuminating a limited area.
Most people on the black market wear black clothes, or are masked, wearing straw hats and masks to conceal their identities.
The stall closest to Zhou Qiuyuan sold cold weapons such as knives, swords, axes, and crossbows. He casually inquired about the prices, which ranged from about eight hundred to five thousand coins.
Ordinary weapons circulate only among gangsters and ordinary bandits. Once a person becomes a body cultivator, they will try every means to obtain a spiritual tool.
Zhou Qiuyuan had no interest in ordinary swords and knives. Since he had come all the way to the black market, he should at least see if he could buy a suitable spiritual tool.
Deep inside the black market, he discovered a mansion with its gates wide open, where stalls were also set up.
An elderly man with gray hair, wearing a mask, sat dozing in a grand chair in the courtyard. On the stall in front of him were seven or eight swords and other similar implements, each imbued with a unique spiritual aura.
This is a spiritual artifact!
The old man opened his eyes as if sensing something, pointed to the white jade hairpin that looked like a woman's ornament, and said, "What would you like to buy, sir? We have all five types of spiritual tools, and we also have an ice spiritual tool."
"The price of all five elemental spirit tools is 250,000 coins, while ice spirit tools are 350,000 coins."
Zhou Qiuyuan visited several black market stalls selling spiritual tools. These spiritual tools, due to their unknown origins, were priced far lower than those at Huixianzhai.
Unfortunately, I don't have any Thunder Spirit Tools.
Even obtaining a substandard Thunder Spirit Tool could significantly enhance his combat power.
Zhou Qiuyuan quickly figured out the details of the black market. The stalls in the alley sold items for ordinary people, while the houses sold treasures related to body refinement practitioners.
His next goal became clear: he began to focus on the stalls in the courtyard.
Before long, Zhou Qiuyuan found a stall selling many booklets, the covers of which listed the names of the relevant secret techniques and skills.
Crimson Flame Heart-Burning Palm, Spiritual Rhinoceros Sword Finger, Eight Extreme Vajra Body, Five Poisonous Qi, Riding the Wind and Waves...
Zhou Qiuyuan's eyes lit up as he looked at the secret techniques and skills being sold at the stall.
If you possess a future dream, and you simply spend money to buy secret techniques within that dream and memorize them before the dream ends, wouldn't you be able to obtain these secret techniques for free?
This is the best way to utilize the dream world in the future!
Zhou Qiuyuan's gaze towards the secret techniques displayed on the stall changed.
He hadn't forgotten the purpose of his trip, and asked the stall owner, "Do you have any secret techniques for changing appearances?"
The stall owner, his face veiled except for a tuft of goatee on his chin, gleamed with a sharp eye as he chuckled, "I do have some, but they're not cheap."
"Items sold at the stall are non-refundable."
The goatee-wearing old man took out a booklet from his pocket, carefully unfolded it in front of Zhou Qiuyuan, revealing part of its contents.
"This secret technique is called Face-Changing and Shape-Changing. Cultivators need to have refined their flesh and bones to a certain extent before they can practice it. Then, they can use spiritual power to use this secret technique to change their height, body shape, and appearance."
Zhou Qiuyuan's eyes lit up as he looked at the description of the method for controlling flesh and blood with spiritual power.
The goatee-wearing old man turned the pages extremely quickly. He had only flipped through half of the disguised booklet when he chuckled and put it away: "Some people have photographic memories, so I dare not let anyone see the whole book of secret techniques."
"How much does this secret technique cost?"
"One hundred thousand coins, no bargaining."
"I'll buy it!" Zhou Qiuyuan said without hesitation, taking out a gold leaf and tossing it over.
In his future dream, let alone 100,000 coins, even if it were a million coins, he wouldn't even blink.
Zhou Qiuyuan took the booklet on changing appearances and flipped through only half of it before his expression changed slightly.
The first half of the Face-Changing Technique is correct in terms of face-changing, and the next part should be the method of bone shrinking and transformation. However, the second half is completely irrelevant to the previous part.
This is a pieced-together fragment!
Zhou Qiuyuan flew into a rage, his eyes icy as he stared at the goatee-bearded old man. "You've tricked me?! Where's the complete version of 'Disguise'?"
The goatee-wearing old man laughed and said, "Young man, if the secret technique of changing faces and altering appearances were intact, why would I be willing to sell it?"
"I was lucky enough to obtain half of the book; one chapter of the 'Easy Face' technique is enough for you to use."
"I'll teach you a lesson today. If you don't have a good eye for things when buying on the black market, you'll suffer a great loss."
The goatee-bearded old man was not afraid of Zhou Qiuyuan's attack at all. Just as Zhou Qiuyuan was shouting, several body refiners guarding the black market turned their gazes toward them.
There's a rule in the black market: no fighting!
In addition, there is another unspoken rule: once you've placed your order, you're done. If you buy a counterfeit product and get scammed, you can only blame yourself for not having a good eye.
Profiteer!
Zhou Qiuyuan glared at the old man with the goatee, then turned and left.
He then went to the stall selling secret medicines. The black market stalls had a huge quantity and variety of pills, including many he had never heard of before, and the prices were half the price of those in pharmacies.
He learned from his previous experience and became skeptical of everything on the black market. Who knew if there was something wrong with the pills of unknown origin?
When practicing secret techniques, one can detect problems in advance or stop halfway through, at most losing the money spent on purchasing the techniques. Elixirs, however, carry hidden dangers; once ingested, the consequences can be dire.
At least for now, he has no intention of testing the drug on himself.
Zhou Qiuyuan wandered around the black market for a while, then hurriedly left with half a book on the Art of Face Changing.
He returned home, lit an oil lamp, and diligently began to memorize the first half of the Face-Changing Technique, trying to memorize it as quickly as possible.
Perhaps due to his naturally strong soul, Zhou Qiuyuan had a fairly good memory. He managed to memorize 99% of the content before the dream ended.
The dream of the future shattered, and the sound of a rooster crowing came from inside the house.
A bad pen is worse than a good memory; some things you think you've remembered, you actually forget the moment you turn around.
Zhou Qiuyuan got up from the bed, took out the pen and ink left by the original owner, and quickly wrote it down on the white Xuan paper. Before long, he had memorized it.
He carefully compared it with his memory, and there were no errors.
The goatee-bearded old man thought he had slaughtered a fat sheep, selling the fragment for the price of the entire secret manual. Unfortunately, Zhou Qiuyuan didn't spend a single penny and easily got it for free.
"That old swindler disgusts me. Should I write down all the secret techniques on his stall, copy them, and sell them at half price at the stall next to his?"
Even if you get something for free and copy it, no matter how low your cost is, how can it compare to my zero cost?
The black market is a haven for unscrupulous merchants, and Zhou Qiuyuan's identity would be easily exposed if he set up a stall there.
It's unwise to offend an old man of unknown strength just to vent one's anger.
However, Zhou Qiuyuan did not intend to let the old man with the goatee go; he would go to his stall to "stock up" and select usable secret techniques.
Some of the secret techniques are kept for personal use, while the rest can be used as rewards for subordinates.
The expansion of the Dark Night cannot rely solely on money; secret techniques are also an indispensable part, and the cost-free method of replication can save a large amount of expenses.