22: Chapter 22 Re-entering the Black Market

Lin Qing decided to increase his cultivation time. Every day, he would Cultivate for four hours in the morning, afternoon, and evening respectively.

He compressed the time spent on trivial matters like cooking, eating, and washing as much as possible. This way, he could still guarantee eight to ten hours of rest every day.

However, after only one day, he discovered a new problem: the Vicious Beast meat was being consumed too quickly. In this single day, he had consumed four catties of Vicious Beast meat.

An ordinary First-Order Martial Artist at the Major Achievement stage of a First-Order Stance Training would consume roughly one catty of First-Order Vicious Beast meat a day while cultivating for ten hours.

As for him, with his First-Order Panshi Stake Technique at Perfection and operating non-stop for twenty-four hours a day, his cultivation efficiency was absurdly high, but it also brought about an absurd demand for energy.

This ridiculous consumption caused Lin Qing's heart to sink, and a sense of panic inevitably welled up within him.

He immediately calmed his mind and tried to communicate with the Panshi Stake Technique that was running automatically in his body, wanting to force it to stop.

Following the control of his will, the aura of the Stance Training that had been continuously flowing within him actually began to slow down and stagnate, and the rhythm that had been consuming his body's energy every second also vanished.

Fortunately, it really could be stopped. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief. If it couldn't be stopped, he would face a terrifying outcome—he might actually starve to death.

After confirming the situation, Lin Qing turned the automatic operation of the Panshi Stake Technique back on. Unless absolutely necessary, he naturally wouldn't give up such an efficient method of cultivation.

But the practical dilemma still lay before him. At a consumption rate of four catties a day, his existing Vicious Beast meat could only support another day of high-efficiency cultivation tomorrow.

He had to make another trip to the black market tomorrow night.

What gave him an even bigger headache was the issue of money. He felt the pouch in his robe; the silver taels inside were nearly gone.

When he last left the black market, he had nineteen taels of silver. After the daily expenses of the past few days, plus that meal at Hongyun Tower, he had spent three taels in total, leaving only sixteen taels now.

It was impossible for him to invest all sixteen taels into buying Vicious Beast meat.

When out and about, one always needs a backup plan. He planned to set aside five taels as an emergency fund to keep by his side for unforeseen needs.

Even if he truly reached a dead end in the future, these five taels would allow him to maintain a basic life while his Stance Training was stopped, preventing him from ending up starving to death.

The next day, as night fell and Qingyang County was shrouded in darkness, the pedestrians on the streets gradually thinned out.

Lin Qing changed into inconspicuous coarse cloth clothes, tucked the black robe he had prepared earlier into his chest, and quietly left his residence, heading toward the complex network of alleys in the city.

Following the hidden white marks on the walls, he twisted and turned through the crisscrossing, maze-like alleys and successfully arrived at the entrance of the black market.

There weren't as many people in the courtyard at the entrance as before. Lin Qing found a vacant room, quickly changed into his black robe, took out a White Cat-Face Mask to wear, and then walked straight down the dim stairs.

Four days had passed since his last visit to the black market. The current foot traffic in the black market had visibly decreased, lacking the clamor of his previous visit.

Lin Qing did not linger at the entrance and walked straight to the Stall Area. After wandering for a short while, he locked onto a target.

It appeared to be a middle-aged man wearing a Tiger Mask that completely covered his face. He wore a red sleeveless short shirt with a wide-open collar, and his skin had a faint bronze hue; one could tell at a glance that he was a Martial Artist from out of town.

This was exactly the type of target Lin Qing was looking for.

He stepped forward quickly, squatted down in front of the stall, and inconspicuously opened his black robe slightly to reveal the several Stance Training manuals tucked in his chest, lowering his voice to say:

"Boss, do you want a Cultivation Technique? If you do, I'll sell it to you."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked Lin Qing up and down. He didn't ask many questions, simply reaching out his hand and gesturing flatly:

"Let me see it."

Lin Qing cautiously scanned the surroundings to ensure no one nearby was paying attention before carefully taking out a copy of the Jinglei Stake Technique from his chest and gently handing it over.

The man took the booklet, his fingers flipping through it quickly. After a brief scan, he handed the manual back to Lin Qing:

"My stall only sells fakes, and I don't buy real goods either."

Lin Qing was momentarily speechless. He shook his head helplessly, took back the manual, and whispered a reply:

"Fair enough. Carry on then."

With that, he stood up and continued searching for the next buyer. The black market was a place where dragons and fish were mixed together, with all sorts of vendors. Running into a wall was expected. He didn't lose heart and continued to weave through the stalls patiently, inquiring with every suitable stall owner.

Time passed bit by bit. After two full hours, Lin Qing had walked through more than half of the Stall Area. After much talking, he finally sold all the Stance Trainings in his hands, successfully recouping thirty taels of silver.

During this time, he caught sight of Master Shi Jian's figure in the crowd again. He had no intention of going up to say hello; he just took a distant look and quietly shifted his gaze away.

After successfully selling the techniques, Lin Qing immediately turned toward the Shop Area to find a store selling Vicious Beast meat.

He wouldn't go to the Myriad Beast Shop this time, just in case someone recognized him through his voice or other subtle details. Purchasing so much Vicious Beast meat in a short period would inevitably arouse suspicion. Although the probability of getting into trouble because of it was low, it was better to be safe in all things.

The Vicious Beast meat shop he chose was no smaller in scale than the Myriad Beast Shop. The meat was neatly arranged inside, and the prices were the same as the Myriad Beast Shop.

For supplies with such high consumption, neighboring merchants would keep prices consistent to avoid malicious competition.

Lin Qing bought ten catties of First-Order Vicious Beast meat and also purchased an additional Sealed Iron Box.

He hid the iron box inside his voluminous black robe, then found another Vicious Beast meat shop further away and bought another ten catties, which he had wrapped in oil paper.

After buying the Vicious Beast meat, he didn't linger and quickly left the black market. He changed back into his clothes, wrapped the Vicious Beast meat in the black robe, and returned to his residence along the original path.

Thousand-Household Official Qin had not yet left Qingyang County, so Lin Qing encountered no accidents on his way back.

The next evening, Lin Qing did not continue cultivating the Flowing Cloud Pile Style. After these few days of cultivation, the progress of the Flowing Cloud Pile Style had reached 290 points. It would reach Perfection by tomorrow night, but he had other arrangements for tonight.

The massive consumption of Vicious Beast meat meant he would have to frequent the black market often in the future. The black market was a place of mixed dragons and snakes, with countless people from all walks of life and desperate outlaws.

It was time to learn some life-saving measures.

He pulled several basic martial arts booklets from the cabinet in his bedroom. These were items he had bought on a whim back when he was collecting Health-Nourishing Techniques at the county bookstore.

There were the Basic Fist Technique, Basic Leg Technique, Basic Movement Technique, Basic Sword Technique, Basic Blade Technique, and Basic Spear Technique—all of which were the most entry-level yet most fundamental skills.

Those Advanced martial arts were nothing more than different combinations of various basic martial arts Moves, coupled with unique power-exertion techniques.

For example, a Straight Punch in a Yellow Rank fist technique might have a power roughly twenty percent greater than a normal Straight Punch due to unique power-exertion techniques or blood-qi mobilization, but the Move itself remained a Straight Punch.

These basic martial arts were the true Foundation of all kinds of Advanced martial arts.

Lin Qing sat at the table and flipped through these basic martial arts booklets one by one.

It wasn't until two hours later that he had carefully finished reading all of these basic martial arts.

Slowly closing the last booklet, with a thought, he opened the System. On the panel, a brand-new section had appeared.

[Host: Lin Qing]

Realm: Mortal (Breakthrough Time: 194 days)

Fused Cultivation Techniques: Panshi Stake Technique, An Yuan Gu Ben Technique (Expand)

Recorded Cultivation Techniques: Flowing Cloud Pile Style (290/400), Azure Cloud Pile Style (0/400), Jinglei Stake Technique (0/400), Coiling Dragon Pile Style (0/400), Mountain-Suppressing Pile Art (0/400)

Body Control Rating: Mortal Grade Low-Level

Collected Martial Arts: Basic Fist Technique (0/100), Basic Movement Technique (0/100), Basic Leg Technique (0/100), Basic Sword Technique (0/100), Basic Blade Technique (0/100), Basic Spear Technique (0/100)

As for the Realm Breakthrough time, because he had been cultivating the Flowing Cloud Pile Style himself in addition to the automatic operation of the Panshi Stake Technique these past few days, it was decreasing slightly faster than the normal passage of time.

The various basic martial arts were also successfully recorded on the panel as he had hoped. As for this Body Control Rating, for now, he could only make some guesses based on its literal meaning.