23: Chapter 23 Seeking Soldiers on the Black Market

Inside the Cell Block D, the firelight was dim.

Jiang Mengli's exquisite face was filled with disgust. She pressed her body tightly against the wall as if Chen Ran were some kind of monster.

"What kind of ghost thing are you cultivating? This sour, decaying stench is even more nauseating than the dead rats at the bottom of the Celestial Prison!"

Holding the food box, Chen Ran did not retreat; instead, he took a step forward.

"Miss Jiang, this is the upright Noble Spirit. It specifically counters evil and crooked ways."

The corner of his mouth curved slightly, his tone relaxed. "I see you've been quite irritable lately. How about I get closer to help you cool down?"

"Get lost!"

Furious, Jiang Mengli violently swung her sleeve.

A blast of powerful wind swept toward him.

That wind, carrying the seductive and frigid chill unique to the Demonic Sect, vanished without a trace the moment it touched Chen Ran's body, like a clay ox entering the sea.

Jiang Mengli's pupils constricted slightly, a flash of shock passing through her eyes.

Although her cultivation was sealed by the Talismanic Incantation chains, that swing just now was definitely not something an ordinary jailer could easily neutralize.

This kid... his strength has improved again in just a few days?

Moreover, that disgusting aura on him could perfectly restrain her Red Lotus Demonic Technique.

"The food is here. Eat while it's hot."

Chen Ran quit while he was ahead, set down the food box, and turned to leave.

Hearing Jiang Mengli gnashing her teeth in anger behind him, Chen Ran felt in high spirits.

This Noble Heart-Calming Mantra was indeed a top-tier auxiliary Cultivation Technique. It perfectly suppressed violent energy and even had a mitigating effect on mental attacks.

However, while the issue with his Cultivation Technique was solved, the problem of a weapon remained tricky.

With his current strength, the standard-issue long sabers of the jailers could no longer withstand his power.

...

Jailer's Restroom.

Several jailers who had just finished their shifts were gathered together, bragging and chatting.

Click. The door was pushed open.

Seeing who it was, the jailers' expressions immediately became respectful.

"Brother Chen."

"Sit. I just came to have a look," Chen Ran said with a smile as he walked over.

Chen Ran's status was different from before. Although he was still a jailer, he was now considered an elite jailer.

Being responsible for supervising Section C and leading several patrol teams, his position was similar to that of a small captain.

Zhang Wen hurriedly stood up. "Brother Chen, I've missed you to death."

"I just wanted to ask you something."

Hearing this, the other jailers cast envious glances and tactfully withdrew.

They all knew that Zhang Wen used to be the Senior who guided the newly recruited Chen Ran. Now that their statuses were reversed, their attitudes toward each other had naturally changed.

Zhang Wen was a bit nervous, not knowing how he could help.

"What's up, Brother Chen?"

"I want to get a weapon for self-defense." Chen Ran lowered his voice. "The sabers and swords from the blacksmith shops outside are too brittle; they don't last. Brother Zhang, you have many connections. Do you know where I can get some high-quality goods?"

Zhang Wen was an old hand here. Although his strength wasn't much, his intelligence was certainly much better than Chen Ran's.

Zhang Wen looked around and leaned close to Chen Ran's ear.

"Ordinary blacksmith shops only have common iron, of course. If you want the good stuff, you have to go to the Ghost Market."

"Ghost Market?"

"West of the city, under the Yong'an Canal." Zhang Wen lowered his voice. "It's a mixed bag there, with people from all walks of life.

As long as you have silver, let alone Sharp Weapons that can cut through iron like butter, you can even buy prohibited military crossbows and deadly poisons from the Jianghu."

Zhang Wen thought for a moment and reminded him, "But Brother Chen, it's common for people to rob each other there; the waters are very deep. If you go, you must keep a low profile and don't show off your wealth."

"Thanks for the reminder."

Chen Ran nodded, stuffed a handful of broken silver into Zhang Wen's hand, and turned to leave.

...

Night fell.

The capital of Great Wei, Yong'an Canal in the west of the city.

At the bottom of the dried-up canal, a wide secret passage leading underground was hidden.

Chen Ran changed out of his jailer's martial robe and put on a dusty, old long gown. He wore a large bamboo hat on his head, completely concealing his face.

A cloth bag was tied to his waist, containing the salary he had saved over the years and a large stack of silver notes he had obtained from looting corpses several times.

It amounted to over a thousand taels.

This was a huge sum of money that an ordinary person couldn't earn in a lifetime.

Walking down the secret passage, his vision suddenly broadened.

A massive underground space appeared before his eyes.

Torches and night-luminescent pearls illuminated the place as bright as day. Both sides were lined with various stalls, and the sounds of hawking and bargaining were incessant.

Most of the pedestrians were like Chen Ran, concealing their faces and walking in a hurry.

Chen Ran ignored the stalls selling Medicinal Pills, antiques, and Cultivation Techniques of unknown origin, and walked straight to the weapon area.

He visited five or six weapon shops in a row.

The so-called "Hundred-Refined Steel Sabers" and "Fine Gold Swords" brought out by the shopkeepers were, in Chen Ran's eyes, all scrap metal that would break with a single squeeze.

With a Physical Body in the seventh-grade Bone Forging Realm and over fifty years of pure Internal Energy, ordinary weapons simply couldn't withstand his full-strength strike.

"Is there really no usable saber?"

Chen Ran frowned slightly and continued walking deeper along the street.

At the very edge of the Ghost Market, a dilapidated blacksmith shop without even a sign caught his attention.

The light in the shop was dim. An old man with a full beard and one blind eye was lying on a rocking chair, fast asleep.

A few dust-covered sabers and swords hung on the wall.

Chen Ran walked in, his gaze sweeping over the wall, a flash of disappointment in his eyes.

Still common iron.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, his gaze suddenly stopped on a rusty iron rack in the corner.

A saber was leaning there.

To be precise, it was a black long saber covered in rust, its edge not even visible.

The blade was extremely long, a third longer than a common waist saber. The spine was thick, and the design was ancient and rugged, without any decorative patterns.

Chen Ran walked over and reached out to grasp the hilt.

The moment he held it, Chen Ran's pupils constricted violently.

So heavy!

This inconspicuous black saber actually weighed over a thousand catties!

If an ordinary Martial Artist had not reached the ranked realms, even lifting it with one hand would be difficult, let alone using it against an enemy.

Chen Ran's wrist exerted force, the power of the seventh-grade Bone Forging Realm exploding, and he lifted the black saber easily.

Chen Ran took a deep breath and quietly circulated his Internal Energy. A trace of violent Mad Tiger Blade True Qi flowed from his palm and slowly entered the black saber.

Buzz—

The thick rust on the surface of the black saber vibrated slightly, emitting a very faint humming sound.

Chen Ran increased the injection of True Qi.

Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent...

Until Chen Ran had injected fifty percent of his True Qi, the black saber remained as steady as Mount Tai. Not a single crack appeared; it even perfectly contained and absorbed his violent Internal Energy.

"Good stuff!"

Chen Ran was secretly delighted.

This was definitely not an ordinary lump of iron; it was absolutely a heavy treasure mixed with some special material!

"You like it?"

A raspy voice suddenly rang out.

The blind old man had opened his one good eye at some point and was staring at Chen Ran.

"This broken lump of iron, how much is it?" Chen Ran asked nonchalantly, placing the black saber back on the iron rack with a casual tone.

The old man glanced at the black saber and yawned.

"Five hundred taels."

Five hundred taels?

For a rusty, broken saber?

Chen Ran sneered, "Shopkeeper, this saber isn't even sharpened and is as heavy as a rock. Besides using it to weigh down a pickle jar, what else can it do? Fifty taels, and I'll take it."

"Take it or leave it." The old man rolled over and closed his eyes.

"This thing was dug out of an Ancient Tomb. Although I don't know what material it is, I've tried over a dozen methods and couldn't melt it.

It's worth five hundred taels. I won't sell it for a single copper less."

Couldn't melt it?

Chen Ran became even more certain.

Without any hesitation, he directly pulled a stack of silver notes from the cloth bag at his waist, counted out five one-hundred-tael notes, and slapped them on the table with a "thud."

"Deal."

Hearing the noise, the old man snapped his eye open. Looking at the brand-new Great Wei official notes on the table, a flash of astonishment passed through his remaining eye.

This broken saber had been sitting there for three years without anyone wanting it. He didn't expect to actually run into a sucker today.

"Money in one hand, goods in the other."

Chen Ran grabbed a piece of ragged sackcloth from the counter, wrapped the black iron long saber layer by layer, and slung it onto his back.

He turned and left.

Clean and decisive.

The old man grabbed the silver notes from the table, sniffed them with the tip of his nose, and immediately beamed with joy.

"A God of Wealth..."

In the black market, several shadows noticed this scene.

The sounds of rustling and disorganized footsteps followed.

...