Night fell, and clad in black robes with a mask over his face, Lu Changsheng arrived at the black market.
The black market was as bustling as ever.
Lu Changsheng strolled through the crowd, focusing his search on stalls selling martial skills.
There were indeed people selling martial skill manuals, but Lu Changsheng had already practiced nearly every one of them.
However, having not visited the black market for several months, he also noticed a few changes.
For instance, many new stalls had popped up peddling "Strengthening Blood Pills."
As the name implied, the so-called Strengthening Blood Pills were medicinal pills meant to help martial artists in the Strengthening Blood Realm build their qi and blood.
Their effect was equivalent to medicinal cuisine.
Back when Lu Changsheng had trained his martial arts, he had purchased Eight Treasures Blood-Replenishing Powder to boost his qi and blood.
Now, the black market was flooded with large quantities of Strengthening Blood Pills, and word had it that their effects were quite good.
For example, martial artists around the market could often be heard discussing them.
"These Strengthening Blood Pills actually work. They might not compare to medicinal cuisine, but they're cheap!"
"My qi and blood used to grow so slowly, and I had no money for medicinal cuisine. But after buying Strengthening Blood Pills, the results were surprisingly good."
"Indeed. A single dose of medicinal cuisine from Miaoshou Garden costs seven taels of silver, yet Strengthening Blood Pills are only one tael for three pills. It's so much cheaper!"
"Yeah, with these Strengthening Blood Pills, ordinary martial artists like us can make huge progress with our qi and blood."
Lu Changsheng caught snippets of these conversations as he walked.
He knew how difficult it was for ordinary martial artists to practice martial arts.
"The poor pursue literature, while the rich pursue martial arts" was not just an empty saying.
The beginning of the martial path lay in the Strengthening Blood Realm, where qi and blood were of paramount importance.
Without medicinal cuisine, however, building up qi and blood bit by bit could easily take an ordinary martial artist decades of bitter effort before achieving any success.
Yet with medicinal cuisine, it might take only a few years, or even just a year or six months, to strengthen one's qi and blood.
Lu Changsheng was very curious.
At one tael of silver for three Strengthening Blood Pills, calculating at one pill a day, the price compared to Miaoshou Garden's medicinal cuisine was unimaginably cheap.
Once these Strengthening Blood Pills flooded the market in large quantities, who would still buy Miaoshou Garden's medicinal cuisine?
Could they truly be that cheap, though?
Lu Changsheng found it somewhat hard to believe.
He was an apothecary himself, so he knew that certain herbs used in medicinal cuisine were genuinely precious.
Even the bare cost of ingredients far exceeded such a small amount of silver.
And so, Lu Changsheng walked up to a stall and tossed down one tael of silver.
"Give me three Strengthening Blood Pills."
The stall owner glanced at Lu Changsheng and handed him three pills without a word.
Lu Changsheng examined the pills closely.
The Strengthening Blood Pills were crimson red, faintly laced with dark, black patterns.
Sniffing them, he caught a subtle metallic scent, seemingly from fresh blood.
Lu Changsheng then tasted one with the tip of his tongue.
He was an apothecary, and after his comprehension had increased, his impressions of the flavors of every medicinal herb were etched deeply into his mind.
With just a taste on his tongue, he could roughly identify the herbs inside.
Sampling it, Lu Changsheng immediately distinguished around a dozen medicinal herbs within the pill.
These were all fairly common herbs.
Aside from the herbs, there also seemed to be a special type of blood, though Lu Changsheng could not tell what kind it was.
Even so, those dozen or so herbs alone were worth at least three or four taels of silver.
Even if a single cauldron could yield ten pills from those herbs, the cost of each pill would still come out to three or four qian of silver.
Selling three pills for one tael was practically selling at cost—so they weren't making a profit at all?
That made no sense!
After all, keeping this up would incur various other expenses. Calculating carefully, it was very likely operating at a loss.
Even a mountain of gold and silver could not withstand such attrition.
Something was clearly wrong!
*The people selling these Strengthening Blood Pills aren't doing it to make money—they're taking a loss. There must be an ulterior motive behind this!*
Maintaining a calm expression, Lu Changsheng tucked the three Strengthening Blood Pills into his robes so he could study them further later.
Afterward, he made discreet inquiries throughout the black market, asking who was selling so many Strengthening Blood Pills.
Opinions varied wildly.
In truth, if one truly wanted to conduct a thorough investigation, the truth could certainly be uncovered.
Yet Lu Changsheng felt there was no need.
This had nothing to do with him, and it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
As long as he steered clear of these pills, it wouldn't matter.
Besides, he was already a Refining Organs martial artist now; these Strengthening Blood Pills were of no use to him anyway.
Lu Changsheng exited the black market.
Yet just as he left, several martial artists with black cloths masking their faces intercepted him.
Lu Changsheng furrowed his brows. *More people blocking the path to deliver silver?*
"Your Excellency, were you inquiring earlier about where to obtain large quantities of Strengthening Blood Pills?" asked one of the masked martial artists who wore a hooded cloak.
Lu Changsheng recalled that in order to better investigate the pills, he had indeed falsely claimed he wanted to buy them in bulk.
"What if I was?" Lu Changsheng replied.
"Heh heh, others might not have large amounts of Strengthening Blood Pills, but we do."
"How many do you want?"
Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly.
It turned out they were not highwaymen, but the sellers of the pills.
If Lu Changsheng had wanted to investigate the origins of the Strengthening Blood Pills, he naturally would have agreed and followed the trail to uncover the mastermind.
However, he had no intention of getting involved right now.
He had no desire to wade into muddy waters.
"I don't want to buy them anymore."
With that, Lu Changsheng turned to leave.
The masked men were stunned, staring blankly.
They had clearly not expected this.
They had thought this was a major business transaction, only to realize they had been played.
Instantly, the man in the hooded cloak barked furiously, "Halt!"
"Are you sure you don't want the Strengthening Blood Pills?"
Expressionless, Lu Changsheng calmly replied, "I'm sure."
At this, the cloaked man sneered, "Heh heh, since you don't need Strengthening Blood Pills, let's talk under a different identity."
"Hand over all the silver and banknotes on you."
"You don't want our pills, but we want your silver!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the martial artists instantly surrounded Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng swept his gaze over them and said indifferently, "When business falls through, you resort to outright robbery? Truly in character for the black market..."
Lu Changsheng was not even surprised.
The black market was a den of mixed sorts where thieves robbing thieves was a common sight, let alone outright muggings.
Presumably, these people had targeted him early on, knowing he was asking about large batches of Strengthening Blood Pills and guessing he carried substantial funds.
That was why they had intercepted him.
Yet they had never expected Lu Changsheng to suddenly back out.
Seeing that, they dropped all pretense. If they couldn't make a trade, they reverted to their old trade and simply robbed him!
That was far easier than doing business, and far more familiar to them!
"Cut the crap. We brothers don't feel like killing tonight. If you know what's good for you, leave your silver behind, or else—"
Before the cloaked man could finish speaking, a sudden flash gleamed from the short sword in Lu Changsheng's hand.
*Clang.*
Lu Changsheng drew his blade.
The short sword left its sheath in an instant.
A flurry of sword light flashed, and Lu Changsheng's silhouette shifted slightly.
In just a few breaths, Lu Changsheng returned the sword to its scabbard.
*Slash!*
Every single one of the masked martial artists clutched his throat, wailing as they collapsed into pools of blood.
Within moments, all went silent.
Lu Changsheng shook his head.
These people were too weak.
Even Tempering Bone martial artists were hardly any stronger than ordinary mortals in his eyes now; an offhand strike was enough to kill them effortlessly.
Lu Changsheng then stepped forward and searched the corpses.
Looting bodies was, after all, a time-honored craft that could not be neglected.
"Huh?"
"They really did carry a large amount of Strengthening Blood Pills? It seems they genuinely wanted to do business."
"Yet when the deal fell through, they immediately turned to robbery. Truly, a leopard cannot change its spots."
Lu Changsheng shook his head.
Judging by their conduct, none of them were righteous men.
Likely, they resold Strengthening Blood Pills while committing robbery and murder on the side.
Having looted so many pills, Lu Changsheng wasn't sure how to dispose of them.
Just as he was pondering the dilemma, an unfamiliar voice suddenly drifted from behind him.
"If Your Excellency doesn't know how to handle those Strengthening Blood Pills, why not sell them to me?"
*Whoosh.*
Startled, Lu Changsheng turned around in an instant.
Chapter 40