Chapter 570: Black Market
It was not only Hui Yue who was astonished by what was laid out in front of them, but Pei Ze and the two guards were dumbfounded as well.
“I know what this is,” Hui Yue’s guard said slowly with a bit of hesitation as if he did not fully believe it himself.
“In all the immortal cities in the galaxy, there are one of these black marketplaces. They are controlled by a faction no one knows anything about, and all of them are connected to one another.”
“They have no name, and anyone can sell anything here without questions being asked. As long as you are within the marketplace no fighting is allowed, nor can you take others’ possessions. Should you do so, then you will definitely end up dead.”
“Although I had heard about these marketplaces it is very difficult to get in. Not only does it cost Worldpower Stones, but, normally, you need a special invitation, a token of sorts.”
“These tokens are only given to outstanding individuals or peerless talents. Sometimes a few are given to a sect if the sect is strong enough, but even someone like myself is not strong enough to obtain one of these tokens.”
“I know where the marketplace within Youdu is. It is the calmest place in the entire city as no one dares to cause strife in the surrounding area, but even so, I never thought that the day would come for me to enter one of these marketplaces.”
The guard turned silent, and his disbelieving eyes glanced around everything around him. There were stairs in front of them which lead down to the hall below, and Hui Yue just shrugged his shoulders. “We are in the way,” he said casually. “Let’s head into the marketplace itself. I have some things to sell, and perhaps, I’ll even find something useful to buy.”
As soon as Hui Yue had spoken, he casually went down the stairs. His eyes roamed over the many stalls. There was no way he would miss out and not visit every stall selling things.
Not only this, he was looking for a vendor of pills. He was not in need of Worldpower Stones right now, but he did have a surplus of pills. Some of them could not be sold in the outside world as people would question where he had gotten them from. This was the only place where he could sell them without worrying.
Because of this, Hui Yue’s first stop was a stall which had any kind of pills up for sale. There was a whole stack of Pills of Clarity. It was clear that they were the ones that sold the best, but even more, obscure pills were also displayed.
“You don’t look like you can afford my pills,” the stall keeper said filled with annoyance as he looked at the group in front of him. Truthfully enough neither the guards nor Pei Ze had the money to buy any of his pills, especially not the Pills of Clarity which made them all stare with open eyes and drooling mouths.
“I’m not here to buy; I’m here to sell,” Hui Yue said with a smile on his lips. But his eyes were cold as he understood that this stall keeper would not be easy to deal with.
“Buy? Why would I buy pills when I have so much stock,” he asked mockingly, but Hui Yue just shrugged his shoulders. “If you don’t want medicinal pills made by the Alchemist God then sure, I’ll go find another stall that’s interested in buying.”
Hui Yue did not hide his pills origin but said it out loud. Therefore more than a few people within the hall heard him. This underground market was already filled to the brim with people, and when they heard the word Alchemist God people flooded over.
“Hah, It is easy to say that you’re in possession of pills made by the Alchemist God, but when it comes down to it, they are always fake. Still, I will call my master and let him embarrass you!”
The man behind the stall was excited that so many people were paying attention to his stall, but he refused to let this fame be shared with the young man. Thus he was incredibly rough with his words. Shockingly, he noticed that his words had no effect on the young man, and he started to feel slightly uncomfortable as he quickly turned to find his master.
As for where he found this master of his, Hui Yue had no idea, but his guess was one of the taverns that were within the marketplace. Maybe one of the dining places or drinking places, but it took him almost an hour before he returned to the stall.
Although people knew that they were fake pills, everyone still stayed around to watch how this would play out for the entire hour as they wished to know for certain. If they truly were pills made by the Alchemist God, they would do anything in their power to buy it. Even if they had to sell all of their items, they would do so for the sake of owning one of these pills.
As they returned the stall keeper, who had been overly arrogant and ruthless earlier was now fawning all over this master of his. When Hui Yue saw him, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. It was actually the man that had been seated playing chess from earlier; the man who had said that it was fine for them to enter the marketplace.
“I see, so it is you,” the man said when he laid eyes on Hui Yue, and the young man bowed deeply and cupped his hands. “Junior pays respect to senior,” he said respectfully.
The man looked around him and instantly shooed everyone away, and although they wished to stay, and find out if it they truly were pills made from the Alchemist God, they could not help but leave. No one dared defy this demon’s orders.
“Come to the back,” he ordered and walked to the back of the stall where a set of chairs were set up next to a table. The old demon sat down on one chair, and Hui Yue on the other while the guards and Pei Ze stood behind him.
Pei Ze already knew that the Alchemist God had indeed concocted these pills. He had been gifted one of these pills previously and just remembering the effect it had had on him there was simply no doubt in his mind they were genuine.
The two guards, on the other hand, were stunned silly. This young man had provided one shock after another, and if he also managed to pull out pills made by the Alchemist God, then this would just be borderline ridiculous; how could one person be so lucky?
Hui Yue just smiled and waved his hand as five round pills appeared within his palm. All of which were Pills of Clarity and none of them released even the slightest odor of medicinal ingredients.
“Ha, they are not medicinal pills since they lack the scent!” The stall keeper gloated but the old man lifted his hand, and the stall keeper instantly turned silent.
Reaching out his old hand, the demon picked up one of the pills and looked at it with curiosity. He looked at it for a long time before he placed it on Hui Yue’s hand once more.
“These pills were indeed made by the Alchemist God. Although I know that I should not ask, can I ask you where you gained these pills?”
Hui Yue frowned for a moment unsure how to answer, so he just said, “I know a traveling companion of the Alchemist God,” he finally said. He did not feel like lying to this old demon who had shown him respect and even helped him enter such a nice marketplace, but he really did not wish to go into any more detail either. It could bring both him and Huli quite a lot of trouble.
Nodding his head, the elder looked at the pills with a casual gleam as though he felt no greed towards them, and instead, he just smiled when he saw the surprise in Hui Yue’s face.
“I am a demon,” he explained. “I was not born from demon parents but was a mortal soul which had been blessed by the Second King of Hell. You must understand, someone who has been given a divine blessing is incapable of increasing their strength. I cannot increase my Ancestral Worldpower nor can I comprehend anymore daos. Although these Pills of Clarity are amazing, to me they hold no value.”
Hearing this, Hui Yue was stunned, but he quickly understood. The Divine Blessing also had its limitations. Drawing out the potential of a soul would make it impossible for them to improve afterwards, but considering the strength of this demon, it was clear that he did have quite an outstanding potential. His strength was in no way weak.
“What do you want for these five pills?” The demon finally asked as he looked at Hui Yue. Although he had no urge to own these pills, he knew a lot of customers who would literally give their right arm for one; it was a great item to sell.
“Pills!” Hui Yue exclaimed, “pills that nourish my soul. Pills that helps me restore Ancestral Worldpower during battles. Pills that can benefit me in the long run, though, I do not need any more Pills of Clarity. I have plenty of those.”
“That is an easy deal,” the man said with a nod and turned to leave. “I will be back in ten minutes,” he said and vanished. It seemed as though he took one step, but the moment his foot lifted from the ground, space itself twisted around his body, and he vanished into thin air.
“Teleportation!” The second guard said with trepidation in his voice, and even Hui Yue felt his skull go numb when he saw this. This demon was many times stronger than he had expected!
No one spoke during the ten minutes that they all waited. They just stayed where they were and waited patiently until the old demon appeared as suddenly as he had vanished.
In his hand was a small ring that he casually tossed to Hui Yue. “I saw you are not using a spatial ring. You seem to have some sort of spatial treasure on you, but it is best not to show off too much. Take the ring as an extra gift,” the man said, and Hui Yue was dumbfounded. Did most experts use spatial rings?
Looking around, he saw that both guards and Pei Ze did indeed have rings on their hands and he laughed hollowly. He was about to expose an important secret just from not knowing any better!
“Then, I will accept, and you have my thanks,” Hui Yue said with another bow as he handed over the five Pills of Clarity. He had gained what he wanted to gain from this visit, but he still wanted to walk through the marketplace and see what was offered.
As he was about to leave, he snuck out another three Pills of Clarity and passed one to each of the guards and a final one to Pei Ze.
“I understand that you must inform Yanluo about what we are doing,” Hui Yue said seriously to the two guards, “But I hope that in the future you won’t tell anyone else about what happened here today.”
Looking at the Pill of Clarity in their hands and sensing that they were no weaker than the ones he had just traded for a mountain of pills, these men were filled with gratitude. No matter how long they worked for Yanluo, they would never be able to gain such riches.
“We will remember this gesture! Although we will indeed inform Yanluo about this matter, no one else will ever know,” the guards said solemnly, and Hui Yue nodded his head in approval. He did not mind that Yanluo knew.
