Feng Qingran asked, “Fifth Senior Sister, have you ever seen a merchant who was in a hurry to leave the black market?”
“Actually, no, I haven’t. Why aren’t they worried about not having enough time?” Ning Shiyue asked, her face full of confusion.
Feng Qingran’s eyes darkened. “Those merchants are all people who have been permanently kept here. Their physical bodies outside have already been turned into puppets by someone else.”
“At the very beginning of the black market’s founding, no one could escape the five-hour time limit. Moreover, the number of times a soul could leave its body was capped at three times a month. If you exceeded that, it would become very difficult for the soul and body to merge again, and it would also cause severe damage to the soul.”
“Because of these rules, merchants couldn’t sell things in the black market too frequently. And since the times when customers entered the market were completely random, it often happened that customers would show up only to find the place unusually deserted.”
“This went on for a while and started hurting the black market’s reputation. So someone came up with the idea of keeping some merchants here permanently.”
“But of course, the black market couldn’t just forcibly detain a merchant’s soul. If they did that, customers would start worrying about safety, and that would drive away business.”
“If they couldn’t force the merchants to stay, then they’d lure them into staying—or perhaps turn customers into merchants right here on the spot. That way, all the problems would be solved.”
“And so a group of people emerged within the black market. Their sole purpose was to trick others into breaking the rules, trapping them here and turning them into puppet merchants.”
“But since those merchants’ souls couldn’t leave the black market, their physical bodies were left unattended. So the black market got in touch with a puppet master, who turned those bodies into puppets and kept them here to serve the market.”
“Yet, those who were forced to stay here naturally weren’t willing to remain forever. To soothe their discontent, the black market operators offered them a way out.”
“To leave, you had two options: find someone to take your place here, or pay your way out with money.”
“And that’s why there are so many people trying to lure newcomers into breaking the rules.” Feng Qingran’s tone grew somewhat heavy.
After listening to her, Ning Shiyue was trembling all over. “Little Junior Sister, all of this is just your speculation, right?”
“No. Everything I said is the truth.” Feng Qingran’s almond-shaped eyes turned dark and profound.
Ning Shiyue felt a chill run down her spine, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. “Little Junior Sister, how do you know all this?”
“Before you arrived, I ran into someone. He had just saved up enough spirit stones to leave, and he handed me a jade slip. It had the entire history of the black market recorded on it.”
Truth be told, even Feng Qingran couldn’t figure out why that attendant had told her all of this.
“Little Junior Sister, let’s forget about looking at the goods. Let’s go find Han Yan and Sixth Junior Brother, and get out of here as fast as we can.” Ning Shiyue stood up, her face anxious.
They couldn’t even use voice transmission talismans here—news traveled painfully slow.
“Don’t be scared, Fifth Senior Sister. They wouldn’t dare to force anyone to stay. We can buy a lot of things here that we can’t get outside. Since we’re already in, we shouldn’t leave empty-handed.” Feng Qingran tried to calm her down.
Ning Shiyue settled a bit but then grew puzzled again. “Little Junior Sister, if those people’s bodies have already been turned into puppets, even if they left here, they couldn’t go back to their original forms, could they?”
“There’s a saying: Money can make even the devil turn the millstone. As long as they offer enough spirit stones, someone outside will prepare a new body for them.” What Feng Qingran was revealing were secrets few knew about.
If all of this about the black market were ever exposed to the public, it would definitely spark a massive outrage.
But over all these years, there must have been quite a few people who had discovered the black market’s secrets.
So why hadn’t any of them spoken up?
The only explanation was that the forces behind the black market’s founders were incredibly powerful—so powerful that no one could stand against them.
Feng Qingran once again thought of the overbearing Baili family.
Slap!—
Ning Shiyue slammed her hand on the table. “These people are utterly despicable! When I get out—”
“Fifth Senior Sister, someone’s coming!” Feng Qingran warned.
Creak…—
The attendant from earlier pushed the door open, carrying a tray. “Your items have been brought.”
With a snap of his fingers, the dim room suddenly lit up.
Ning Shiyue’s eyes fell on the purple-tier and blue-tier talisman papers before her, and she instantly forgot all about her previous anger.
She picked up the papers, unable to put them down. “I’ll take all of these!”
Feng Qingran: …
Well, so much for everything she’d just said.
“Fifth Senior Sister, take a closer look.” Feng Qingran spoke up crisply.
Hearing her words, Ning Shiyue remembered the issue of real versus fake and grew serious again.
She absolutely could not buy counterfeit talisman paper.
If she used fake paper to draw an explosion talisman, it might detonate before she could even throw it!
Feng Qingran’s gaze, however, was fixed on a talisman brush. It was a ninth-tier brush!
Ninth-tier talisman brushes were extremely rare across the Nine Provinces Continent.
The power of a talisman depended not only on the talisman master’s spiritual energy and the quality of the paper—there was also one more critical factor: the brush!
While ninth-tier brushes were valuable, the Nine Provinces Continent had no ninth-tier talisman masters…
The attendant definitely wouldn’t have brought out a ninth-tier brush for no reason.
Just as Feng Qingran reached out for it—
The attendant snatched it up first. “Take a look at this brush, honored guest. It’s the crown jewel of our shop…”
