9: Chapter 9 Returning to the Neighborhood, Martial Arts Website? Black Market Techniques!

The military jeep sped along the road, and after passing through the city gate, it turned toward the entrance of an old residential complex.

"Here, take this."

From the driver's seat, Captain Yang Pinru tossed a small bag to Lu Qingyun.

He casually snuffed out the cigarette in his mouth and flicked it out the car window.

The movement and posture gave Lu Qingyun a strange sense of familiarity; upon closer thought, he realized it was nearly identical to the actions of Zhang Guodong, who had escorted him earlier.

"What is this?"

Lu Qingyun was somewhat puzzled, as the cleanup fee for slaying the fierce beasts had already been given to him earlier.

A total of 1.1 million had been transferred to a card the military had helped him set up.

"Your Martial Artist certificate. Although you didn't pass the examination through official channels, you have already proven your strength. To prevent you from using the excuse of taking the Martial Examination to slaughter the small fierce beasts I worked so hard to catch outside, I just went ahead and processed it for you."

"Also, there is an anonymous card inside with one million on it; consider it my personal sponsorship for you."

"Don't think too much of it, though. You killed dozens of extra fierce beasts, and at twenty thousand per head, you would definitely be losing out according to market prices. I'm just compensating you with the portion I received. If you're willing, later on... hehe, just help me play matchmaker with Old Zhang."

Captain Yang Pinru chuckled, his bearded face looking incredibly charming.

After saying this, he stepped on the accelerator and drove the jeep away.

Lu Qingyun took the card with the massive sum of one million out of the small bag, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

A full one million, just in exchange for a promise from him in the future?

"This job... I'll take it."

"Achoo!!"

Inside the Martial Arts Bureau, Zhang Guodong, who had just finished handling a case involving a rowdy martial artist, suddenly sneezed a few times for no apparent reason.

This left him feeling puzzled.

Although he hadn't reached the Aperture-Opening Realm, he was still a proper martial artist with a rock-solid constitution!

How could he be sneezing for no reason?

Could it be that some cult leader I sent inside is thinking about me?

Outside the residential complex.

Lu Qingyun's original clothes had long been destroyed in the consecutive battles, so he had changed into a new set of clothes.

He wore a pure white short-sleeved shirt with a cartoon Shadow Cat printed on the chest, paired with black shorts.

It was clearly an incredibly simple outfit, but on Lu Qingyun, it looked exceptionally refreshing.

Coupled with his confident and flamboyant expression, he attracted quite a few gazes along the way.

"This young man looks a bit familiar, and he's quite spirited-looking! Is he from our residential complex? I don't recognize him at all!"

"Hmph! What's the use of being handsome! My son almost got into a martial arts university last year; with at most two more years of hard work, he will definitely be able to comprehend Qi and Blood Power and become a martial artist! That's what you call having a bright future!"

"Alright, we're all neighbors, don't we know what your son is like! He wasn't very honest back in school, and now that he's working at the factory, he's even more reckless. I saw him a few days ago, and he looked so drained he could barely walk. His vital essence is so depleted that if he doesn't control himself, let alone becoming a martial artist, he won't even be able to tighten a screw!"

"Haha! If we're talking about the person in our residential complex most likely to become a martial artist, it has to be the nephew from the Lu family next door! He had a miserable life growing up, yet he was still able to cultivate Qi and Blood, and even when people thought his legs were crippled, he could still become a real martial artist! It's a pity... he was still driven crazy by that Lu family."

"It's broad daylight, why are you talking about this? I finally forgot the scene I saw back then, and you just had to make me recall it. Now that I think about it... wait, why does this young man look more and more familiar!!"

The few gossiping people standing on the side were all stunned, not knowing why their friend was reacting so strongly.

Just then, Lu Qingyun passed by them.

His gaze swept over the others and locked precisely onto Auntie Wang, whose body had stiffened and who seemed to have recognized him.

He wore an unusually bright smile on his face and said, "Auntie Wang, soaking up the sun?"

"Not bad, you really need to soak up more sun. That way, you won't get clumsy when you see certain things."

After Lu Qingyun left, the other aunties all turned their gazes toward Auntie Wang.

But what they saw was Auntie Wang's uncontrollably trembling legs, and the look in her eyes as if she had seen something terrifying.

"Who is this, Sister Wang? Do you know him?"

"I know him..."

Auntie Wang took a moment to calm down. Only after confirming that Lu Qingyun had walked far away, and the sunlight shining on her had melted her nearly frozen blood, did she speak.

"He is the madman, Lu Qingyun, who killed two people from the Lu family not long ago!"

Instantly, the small group erupted in an uproar!

"What!? Wasn't he arrested?"

"How could he be arrested yesterday and back today!?"

"Trespassing into the heavenly family~"

"Stop showing off that half-baked opera singing. Hurry up and go back, tell your family not to run around these days. If you get killed casually, you won't even have anywhere to seek justice!"

Very quickly, the news of Lu Qingyun's return, through these few aunties, had spread to the entire residential complex.

Lu Qingyun did not care about any of this.

He glanced at the empty area outside since his return.

He chuckled softly.

He took out the Martial Artist certificate that Captain Yang Pinru had given him.

This certificate was not just a credential; it also had a website URL specifically for martial artists on it.

He entered his martial artist ID number, along with a series of passwords.

A website serving martial artists appeared before Lu Qingyun.

Commissions, Weapons, Martial Arts Techniques, Forums...

One section after another; a glance over them revealed a dazzling array of options.

But after looking for a long time, Lu Qingyun's brows furrowed tightly.

Because he did not see any techniques here other than the three most basic cultivation techniques!

After some research, he finally understood the reason for this.

Cultivation techniques, as the lifeblood of martial artists, were firmly held in the hands of the higher-level powers!

The three general cultivation techniques vigorously promoted by the state—the Blood Nourishing Technique, Body Casting Formula, and Qi Condensing Method—were only able to be promoted after paying a huge price.

But this could only ensure that one could cultivate to the Mortal Shedding Realm using these techniques.

To go deeper, one needed more advanced and powerful cultivation techniques.

However, these techniques were often controlled by forces such as the government, aristocratic families, and martial arts gyms.

Therefore, after everyone in this world practices martial arts, they either have extraordinary talent and pass the Martial Examination to enter a martial arts university to obtain subsequent suitable techniques.

Or they join aristocratic families or martial arts gyms and sign contracts, which is equivalent to gaining further qualifications through a form of indentured servitude.

Of course, besides this, there were additional channels.

That was by spending money to purchase them from the black market.

This was the path chosen by a large portion of social martial artists.

Although most of the techniques in the black market were at best only slightly better than the basic techniques, barely enough to continue cultivation, one also had to bear the risk of being discovered.

However, those who could become social martial artists were those whose talents were not particularly good.

They were unable to become martial artists during the Martial Examination, so their future achievements were also limited.

Using high-quality techniques might not necessarily be suitable for them.

This also led the authorities to turn a blind eye to this phenomenon; one could even occasionally see news about black market techniques on this official website forum.