34: Chapter 34 Guaranteed Profit

"That's the one," he said.

The stall owner was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and took down the mask: "Fine, suit yourself. Fifty points."

Wang Lin paid the points and put the mask on his face; it was a perfect fit.

Looking through the two eye holes, his vision was reasonably clear, but the appearance of the mask... Oh well, never mind.

Wang Lin turned around and continued walking deeper into the black market.

As he walked, he saw a stall displaying a sword and blade emblem.

On the stall, there were over a dozen booklets, some new and some old, some thick and some thin.

Next to it hung a wooden sign with a few words written on it: Blade Manuals · Martial Arts.

Wang Lin walked over and reached out to flip through the one on top.

"Wait."

A hand reached out and blocked him.

It was an old man in his fifties, the shop owner himself.

"Little brother, want to look through the blade manuals?"

Wang Lin nodded.

The old man stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"What if you're from the Blade God Sequence? Wouldn't I be taking a huge loss?"

Wang Lin was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood.

People of the Blade God Sequence only needed to glance at a blade manual, and the techniques within would be automatically imprinted in their minds, with no need to practice hard at all.

This was the talent of the Blade God Sequence: photographic memory, blade techniques ingrained in the bones.

If he were of the Blade God Sequence, and he flipped through the manual without buying it, the owner would lose a manual for nothing.

Wang Lin said nothing.

He simply raised his right hand, palm facing up.

A crimson flame jumped from his palm.

He deliberately made the flame red instead of the blue he usually used, for the sake of concealment.

The old man glanced at the fire, and the wariness in his eyes dissipated slightly.

"Fire type?" he asked.

Wang Lin nodded and withdrew the flame.

Only then did the old man step aside: "Go ahead. But be careful, don't damage them."

Wang Lin picked up the one on top and opened it.

《Gale Blade Technique》, thirty-six forms. It looked quite thick, but after flipping through a few pages, he realized this blade technique was too shallow; it was basically just a flashy version of basic moves and was useless to him.

He put that one down and picked up the second.

《Army Breaking Blade》, twelve forms. Slightly deeper, but still not enough.

The third, the fourth, the fifth... He flipped through seven or eight in a row, but was not satisfied with any of them.

Until he picked up the one in the very corner.

This one was more tattered than the others; the cover was badly worn, and the corners were curled up.

He opened the first page, and three words were written on it: Water Breaking Blade.

It only had three forms.

First form: Flow Breaking.

Second form: Wind Slashing.

Third form: Void Breaking.

Wang Lin flipped through a few pages, his brow furrowing.

He looked up at the old man: "Why is this an incomplete copy?"

The old man leaned back in his chair and said lazily: "It's an incomplete copy, only three forms. Five thousand points."

Wang Lin put the blade manual down.

"Five thousand points for an incomplete copy? Too expensive, I don't want it."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Stop right there."

The old man's voice came from behind him, colder than before.

Wang Lin stopped and looked back at him.

The old man had already stood up from his chair, wearing a gloomy expression.

"You've finished flipping through my blade manual, and now you say you won't buy it?"

"Little brother, that's not following the rules, right?"

Wang Lin looked at him and said nothing.

The old man took a step forward: "According to the rules, you can browse, but if you don't buy after looking, you have to pay a browsing fee of half the price."

"My blade manual is five thousand, you pay two thousand five hundred, and we'll call it even."

Wang Lin smiled. The smile was hidden behind that mask, invisible, but the old man's eyes changed slightly.

"Are you trying to force a sale?" Wang Lin asked.

The old man narrowed his eyes: "I'm just following the rules..."

Before he could finish, footsteps approached from the side.

Three people wearing matching uniforms walked over, with the same badge pinned to their chests—it was the mark of the black market patrol.

They glanced at the old man, then at Wang Lin.

"What's going on?" asked the lead patrol member.

The old man's expression changed, and he let go of Wang Lin's wrist.

He squeezed out a smile: "Nothing, nothing, just a small misunderstanding."

The patrol member looked at him, then at Wang Lin again, said nothing more, and turned to leave.

Once they were far away, the old man stared viciously at Wang Lin and said in a low voice:

"Consider yourself lucky. Don't let me find out you're from the Blade God Sequence, or you're dead."

Wang Lin ignored him and turned to leave.

He had already memorized all three forms of the Water Breaking Blade.

The seven or eight blade manuals he had just flipped through—《Gale Blade Technique》, 《Army Breaking Blade》, 《Iron Slashing》, 《Gale Thirty-Six Forms》... every move and every form was completely engraved in his mind.

This was a guaranteed profit.

Didn't spend a single cent.

He walked into the crowd and soon disappeared into the bustling flow of people in the black market.

Meanwhile, in the East District of the Mist Camp, the Dark Blade base.

In the third-floor conference room, Captain Han was leaning back in his chair, resting with his eyes closed.

Iron Mountain sat opposite him, boredly fiddling with a dagger.

Su Wan stood by the window, watching the churning mist outside.

The door was pushed open, and a subordinate walked in quickly.

"Captain Han, we found it."

Captain Han opened his eyes.

The subordinate handed over a crystal screen, which displayed dense text.

"Wang Lin, eighteen years old, reserve member of the Twelve Zodiacs, entered the Mist Camp five days ago."

He paused, then continued: "His family background has also been cleared up."

Captain Han took the screen and looked down at it.

[Name: Wang Lin]

[Age: 18]

[Father: Wang Dashan, ordinary businessman, runs a small trading company]

[Mother: Li Xiulan, housewife]

[Sister: Wang Xiaoyue, 9 years old, attending primary school]

Captain Han read line by line, his brow slowly furrowing.

"That's it?"

The subordinate nodded: "That's it. Both parents are ordinary people, no background to speak of."

"There are no records of Awakened or Calamities in the last three generations of his ancestors."

"Just an ordinary family."

Captain Han was silent for a few seconds, then said:

"Ordinary people? A kid from an ordinary family could kill Commander Leí Héng?"

Iron Mountain leaned over to take a look and laughed:

"Wang Dashan? That name is a bit rustic, not as domineering as my Iron Mountain."

"When the time comes, I'll let him see which mountain is harder..."

"I have to let him know that not everyone's name can carry the character 'Mountain'."

Su Wan turned around, took the screen, and read it carefully.

"Interesting. Either someone is helping him, or this kid himself has had some strange encounter."

"But before we take action, should we tell the Commander?"

Captain Han was silent for a few seconds, then said: "No need."

Iron Mountain was stunned: "No need? What if the Commander..."

"The Commander is busy preparing to break through to LV7 recently. No need to disturb him with such trivial matters."

Iron Mountain grinned: "Fine, you're the acting commander now, you call the shots."

"So when do we make a move?"

Captain Han didn't answer, but looked at Su Wan.

Su Wan was staring at the crystal screen, her brow slightly furrowed.

"Su Wan, what's wrong?" Captain Han called to her.

Su Wan looked up and placed the screen on the table.

"I have a feeling this kid isn't easy to deal with... It will be troublesome to deal with him..."