Chapter 161: Turmoil in the Black Market

The black market was a sort of emporium for everything.

More accurately, it was a night market that removed all item restrictions and Business Ethics from such an emporium.

They sold anything and everything, but fakes and stolen goods ran rampant, and price gouging and scams were supposedly everyday occurrences.

"What kind of trashy tourist-trap merchant association is that?" Qing scoffed. "Don't knife fights break out constantly?"

"If you break the rules of the black market, assassins from all over the martial arts world will come after you," Zhuge Ihyeon explained. "The Black Store Manager puts up enormous bounties."

"Black Store Manager?" Qing raised an eyebrow. "The black market has its own owner? Huh? Wait, there's an owner, and they just let this mess happen?"

"Because it makes more money that way," Zhuge Ihyeon replied simply. "That's the kind of place it is."

Usually, people from the Central Plains only truly understood what that meant after visiting themselves.

However, Qing grasped it immediately upon hearing the explanation.

So, it’s basically Junggonara.[^Junggonara is a massive South Korean online marketplace/forum for used goods, infamous for scams and disputes, making it a fitting analogy for Qing.]

That place where new items, like-new used items, fakes, and stolen goods run rampant, and where price gouging and scams are everyday occurrences.

"So," Qing asked, "where is it?"

"The location changes every time," Zhuge Ihyeon said, "but we can find out exactly where with just a few silver coins."

"Hiyah, if it weren't for our Zhuge, we would've wandered around forever," Qing declared. "See? Having one smart friend makes life easy."

"You speak wisely, Sister," Zhuge Ihyeon replied, a hint of smugness in his tone.

Just when she gave him a compliment, a self-satisfied affirmation came back.

Weird. Was he always like this?

I thought he was more humble.

Is he the type to show his true colors once you get close?

Qing didn't know it, but she was perfectly correct.

It wasn't so much a trait unique to Zhuge Ihyeon, but rather a disposition inherited through generations of the Zhuge bloodline.

Even his great ancestor, Zhuge Liang, the closer you got to him as a person, the more of an arrogant and annoying fellow he was known to be.

And because he was actually brilliant, he was supposedly twice as annoying.

Thanks to this, just as Qing was rendered speechless, her Sworn Sister returned, beaming.

"Sworn Sister, I'm back!" Gyeon Pohee announced cheerfully.

"Huh? Oh." Qing looked her over. "What's this? What's with the aura?"

Her presence had noticeably strengthened; she must have taken an elixir and advanced her realm.

"Yep, yep! I'm a Peak Realm martial artist now too!" Gyeon Pohee declared proudly.

"You've attained enlightenment, I see," Zhuge Ihyeon observed.

"Enlightenment?" Gyeon Pohee tilted her head. "Is that it?"

Zhuge Ihyeon politely added, "Enlightenment isn't always a concept clear enough to put into words, so it's natural not to be certain. Congratulations on your great achievement."

"Yeah! Thanks!" Gyeon Pohee beamed.

Gyeon Pohee might be simple, but she was sharp enough to understand why Qing had implicitly asked her to handle the explanation. Through Elder Sister Seol's lectures on Central Plains common sense, she had learned that the Bliss Palace's training methods were heavily looked down upon in the martial arts world.

At that, Qing looked at Tang Nanah and said pointedly, "Tang Nanah needs to try harder."

"What?" Tang Nanah snapped, whirling on Gyeon Pohee. "I have poisons, you know? If you add those in, I'm stronger than her, you know?" She pointed accusingly at Zhuge Ihyeon.

While Tang Nanah acted like a meek quack doctor around Qing, she was fundamentally an insolent brat with absolutely no manners, a wicked woman whose beauty completely overshadowed her personality.

Qing stroked her smooth chin for a moment, thinking deeply.

The Tang Clan's poisons, huh.

"Hmm. Fair point." Qing conceded. "With poisons included, I could maybe rate you somewhere between late-Peak Realm and early-Transcendent Realm. In that case, Zhuge-ie needs to redouble his efforts."

"Sister, isn't recognizing one's shortcomings a virtue of a gentleman?" Zhuge Ihyeon replied with a gentle smile. "This little brother is well aware of my own inadequacies."

Annoyed that the clever brat couldn't even be properly teased, Qing just snorted and let it go.

Afterward, they left the Ban Family Metal Shop and settled into a shabby tea house, following Zhuge Ihyeon's lead.

Are the best places always supposed to look old and tacky?

Qing excitedly ordered a pile of snacks, but they came out almost immediately, looking like they'd been made ages ago and left to dry out completely.

They tasted awful too.

Qing vented her directionless anger on the snacks.

Meaning, she devoured them like a pig.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Ihyeon got up to speak with the tea house owner. Qing thought he might be complaining, but he completely omitted any mention of the terrible snacks and only asked for the location of the black market, learning it was being held near Suyahu Reservoir to the east.

"Hey," Qing demanded, "the snacks were this bad, and you're worried about the black market now? I need to see the owner's face myself."

"Didn't you already eat them all?" Zhuge Ihyeon countered reasonably. "Besides, this is just a front for the black market; you're probably the first customer this year to actually order snacks. But wait," his eyes narrowed at her cup, "isn't that Dragon Well tea? Why is there frost on the teacup? Even for a front, serving Dragon Well cold is a prank that goes too far. How dare they pull such a terrible stunt on guests of the Zhuge Clan..." His voice began to rise with genuine indignation.

While letting him tear apart the shoddy tea house might have been amusing, Qing decided to confess meekly instead.

"Ah." She waved a hand dismissively. "I used my Ice Arts to chill it a bit. I like drinking it cool. Want me to chill yours too, Zhuge-ie?"

"Good heavens! Sister, have you lost your mind!?" Zhuge Ihyeon exclaimed, aghast.

Thwack!

Qing executed the skull-rattling flick she had learned firsthand—by receiving it.

"Aargh!" Zhuge Ihyeon yelped, clutching his head.

"You're really getting bolder," Qing said dangerously. "Zhuge-ah, do you want to see your big brother—no, me—lose it? Should I show you?"

"No, Sister!" he stammered, rubbing his head furiously. "What is this peerless divine art, oww." He couldn't finish his sentence through the pain.

Qing snorted contemptuously.

Such a big guy, acting like such a baby.

If he got a taste of Master's original handiwork, his head would probably split right open.

"What monstrous strength... monstrous strength..." Zhuge Ihyeon muttered, still rubbing his head. Suddenly, his expression turned serious.

"Um, perhaps. When you were staying with the Zhuge Clan, did you happen to visit the Peerless National Scholar Training Ground?"

"Peerless National Scholar?" Qing repeated blankly.

Her expression silently asked Zhuge Ihyeon: What's that? Is it something to eat?

"The term 'Peerless National Scholar' originates from the 'Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin' in the Records of the Grand Historian..."[^The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) is a monumental history of ancient China, and the Biography of the Marquis of Huaiyin recounts the life of Han Xin, a brilliant general whose talent earned him the epithet "Peerless National Scholar.]

Roughly, Guo (nation), Shi (scholar), Wu (without), Shuang (pair).

It meant a scholar second to none in the nation, signifying the greatest talent. It was quite an amazing feat in itself that he could ramble on about this for what felt like half an eternity.

Only then did Qing grasp the meaning of the 'Peerless' part she occasionally used.

Ah. So that's what it means.

Whether he forgot in the middle of his explanation or not, the topic of the training ground vanished, and Zhuge Ihyeon, satisfied after showing off his knowledge, moved on.

"It would be best to eat a hearty dinner beforehand and then head to Suyahu Reservoir," he advised. "They sell snacks at the black market, but you could easily end up eating human flesh, so it's best not to touch anything there."

The mention of eating dinner beforehand was welcome.

The mention of eating heartily was also welcome.

But just window-shopping at a night market felt cruel.

"Then maybe if I eat something other than meat..." Qing started hopefully.

"I won't stop you if you wish to dine on centipedes, spiders, or scorpions," Zhuge Ihyeon stated dryly.

"Hmm." Qing considered it. "I ate too much of that stuff when I lived as a beggar. Didn't taste good. Wait, they wouldn't serve it raw, would they? Maybe it's different if it's seasoned and grilled?"

Just then, Tang Nanah interjected abruptly, "What, you were a beggar?"

Qing was momentarily struck dumb.

"Hmm." Qing's eyes narrowed slightly. "Nanah-ah. What exactly do you mean by that? Are you implying that a young lady from the esteemed Tang Clan does not dine with beggars?"

"No-no-no, that's not what I meant!" Tang Nanah quickly backpedaled, flustered. "It's just, I was curious, and I definitely didn't mean to make you feel bad. Sorry, Qing-ah, we're friends, right? Right?"

"Yeah. We're friends," Qing replied bluntly. "You don't have any other friends besides me, right? You should be grateful."

"Yes. I am grateful..." Tang Nanah mumbled, suitably chastened.

Realizing her thoughtless remark, she started rambling and clinging just like a friendless outcast would. Qing understood and let it pass.

After that, they had dinner and left Zhumadian.

Emblems revealing affiliation were forbidden, so they couldn't take the Zhuge Clan's special Carriage. Besides that, taking a carriage apparently risked theft or having it hijacked by other patrons, so they had to walk.

So they strolled along, chatting amongst themselves. It was dark, an early spring night, with no particular scenery to admire.

"This is unexpected," Zhuge Ihyeon commented, glancing at the Namen Sect captive trailing behind them. "I didn't think you'd offer food even to that scoundrel. Knowing you, Sister, I thought you'd put a bowl on the floor, fill it with spoiled rice, and tell him to eat like a dog."

Tang Nanah nodded beside him in agreement.

Qing was flabbergasted. "What kind of person do you two think I am? And no matter how much you hate someone, you don't mess with their food. Even if they deserve to be killed on the spot, you feed them first before killing them."

At that, the Namen Sect martial artist flinched visibly.

To be precise, no matter how much of a lowlife someone was, you shouldn't deny them food. If you absolutely had to kill them, you should feed them something laced with plenty of deadly poison, but denying them food altogether or making them just watch was too cruel. It wasn't some grand conviction; Qing had just suffered too much hardship regarding food herself.

Chatting like this, they crested a hill, and beyond it, with a large lake behind them, a massive night market sprawled across the plain.

There must have been over a thousand yellowish lanterns, and the cluster of tents beneath them looked as imposing as a small city.

"Sister, I believe you should take off your Veil now," Zhuge Ihyeon advised. "You're not allowed to cover your face in the black market."

"Huh?" Qing asked, confused. "You said emblems revealing affiliation are forbidden? But now I have to show my face?"

"That, well," Zhuge Ihyeon began, clearly gearing up for another explanation, "is a story that traces back to the origins of the black market. In the past, the Black Store..."

In short, it was a place where you shouldn't hide your identity too much, nor reveal it too much. If you happened to run into someone you knew, that was that; you couldn't speak of the meeting openly outside. You were supposed to treat it like seeing their face in a dream and pretend it never happened. Therefore, emblems revealing status were forbidden. Someone who officially had never visited the black market shouldn't be strutting around wearing an emblem. However, faces had to be revealed. This was simply a unilateral rule set by the black market to prevent troublesome customers from causing chaos.

"Seller's tyranny, basically," Qing summarized, cutting through the explanation.

In any case, not having to wear a Veil was welcome news, so Qing whipped it off and held it out to the side.

Naturally, taking care of it was Gyeon Pohee's job.

"Hey. Namen guy," Qing called out to their captive. "Where do we go now?"

"Um, the ya shang are always in the deepest part, ma'am," the man answered deferentially.

"That's to prevent the merchandise from escaping, you see," Zhuge Ihyeon added helpfully.

Seriously, does that mouth ever rest? Does he have muscles in his lips?

Ya shang was the term for human traffickers in the Central Plains.

The fact that human trafficking culture was so widespread in ancient, primitive, barbaric China that it warranted its own professional title, shorter than the six-character description, spoke volumes.

And so it was in Qing's homeland as well.

Human trafficking was the most beloved profession among the people of Zhonghua[^Zhonghua (中華) is a historical and cultural term referring to China. Qing often uses terms related to modern China when referencing her "homeland," creating a deliberate anachronism.], boasting the second-largest scale globally with a systematic distribution process, and an incredibly efficient and scientific system encompassing sorting, disassembly, and export.

Of course, because it wasn't number one in the world, the pride of the Tang was wounded, so they claimed it was punishable by death if caught.

But in reality, since about sixty percent of the profit from selling a person went to the Communist nobles, it was closer to theater than actual enforcement.

For reference, the homeland of human trafficking, the paradise of human trafficking, the great progenitor nation of human trafficking and the undisputed number one in the hierarchy, was a populous country located beyond the high mountain range southwest of the Central Plains.

Its entire population (women weren't counted as people in this country, thus excluded from the population) consisted of sex offenders and robber-murderers who also moonlighted as pickpockets—a nation of terrifying criminals.

If you traveled there alone, the chance of returning was only fifty-fifty.

For women, it was guaranteed to be a one-way trip, so perhaps men could trust in the power of statistics and give it a try.

Anyway, the group briskly made their way through the black market.

Then, a savory, delicious smell wafted through the air, making mouths water. A good while later, they spotted a banner reading 'Wangfujing'.

An entire alleyway was filled with vendors cooking on heated iron plates, so the smell inevitably spread far and wide.

And astonishingly, the source of the delicious smell was skewers of all kinds of insects!