As night fell, Lu Changsheng, dressed in black and masked, arrived at the Black Market.
The Black Market was as bustling as ever.
Lu Changsheng strolled through the market, focusing on finding stalls selling martial skills.
Indeed, there were vendors selling martial skills, but Lu Changsheng had almost practiced all of them over the past few months.
However, after not visiting the Black Market for several months, Lu Changsheng noticed a change. For example, there were many stalls selling "Blood-Strengthening Pills" on the market.
The "Blood-Strengthening Pills" were self-explanatory – they were pills used to enhance the blood qi of martial practitioners, serving a role similar to that of medicinal cuisine.
When Lu Changsheng used to practice martial arts, he bought "Eight Treasures Blood-Boosting Powder" to enhance his blood qi.
Now, the Black Market was flooded with Blood-Strengthening Pills, and it was said that they were quite effective.
For instance, martial practitioners often discussed in the Black Market.
"These Blood-Strengthening Pills are really effective, although not as good as medicinal cuisine, they're much cheaper."
"My blood qi used to increase very slowly, and I couldn't afford medicinal cuisine. But after buying Blood-Strengthening Pills, the results were surprisingly good."
"Yes, the medicinal cuisine from Miaoshou Garden costs seven taels of silver per set, but Blood-Strengthening Pills only cost one tael of silver for three pills, which is much cheaper."
"That's right. With Blood-Strengthening Pills, even us ordinary martial practitioners can make significant progress in our blood qi."
Lu Changsheng overheard these discussions among martial practitioners.
He knew that it was tough for ordinary martial practitioners to make progress.
The beginning of the martial path lay in strengthening one's blood qi, making it a top priority. However, without medicinal cuisine, ordinary martial practitioners would need decades or even longer of painstaking effort to make any substantial progress.
But with medicinal cuisine, it might take only a few years or even less than a year to enhance one's blood qi significantly.
Lu Changsheng was quite curious about this.
One tael of silver for three Blood-Strengthening Pills, calculated based on one pill per day, was unbelievably cheap compared to Miaoshou Garden's medicinal cuisine.
If these Blood-Strengthening Pills were mass-produced, who would still buy medicinal cuisine from Miaoshou Garden?
However, could they really be this cheap?
Lu Changsheng found it somewhat unbelievable.
As a pharmacist himself, he knew that some of the ingredients used in medicinal cuisine were quite expensive. Even if you considered the cost, it would be more than just one tael of silver.
So, Lu Changsheng went to one of the stalls and tossed a tael of silver onto the counter.
"Give me three Blood-Strengthening Pills."
The stall owner glanced at Lu Changsheng and immediately handed him three pills.
Lu Changsheng examined the Blood-Strengthening Pills closely.
They were reddish in color, with faint black patterns running through them. There was a faint, almost bloody scent emanating from them.
Lu Changsheng then tasted them with his tongue.
Being a pharmacist and with his increased perception, he had a deep impression of the taste of various medicinal ingredients. With a simple taste, he could roughly identify what herbs were inside.
After tasting it, Lu Changsheng could discern that there were about a dozen different herbs in the Blood-Strengthening Pills. These herbs were all common ingredients, and he could not identify any particularly valuable ones.
Additionally, there seemed to be some special kind of blood mixed in, which he couldn't pinpoint.
However, even with just those dozen herbs, they would cost at least three or four taels of silver.
Even if there were a dozen herbs, one batch could yield ten pills, and the cost for one Blood-Strengthening Pill would be at least three or four qian of silver.
One tael of silver for three Blood-Strengthening Pills meant they were sold at cost price, not making any profit?
This was impossible!
After all, if this continued, there would still be other costs involved, and when carefully calculated, there was even a high possibility of incurring losses.
Even if you had mountains of gold and silver, it wouldn't withstand such consumption.
This was obviously not right!
"The seller of Blood-Strengthening Pills isn't in it for the profit, but there must be a hidden motive," Lu Changsheng said calmly, putting the three Blood-Strengthening Pills into his pocket for further research.
Afterward, Lu Changsheng subtly inquired around the Black Market to find out who was selling such a large quantity of Blood-Strengthening Pills.
The responses were varied.
If he wanted to investigate thoroughly, he could certainly find out.
However, Lu Changsheng felt it was unnecessary.
This matter had nothing to do with him, and it was better to avoid unnecessary entanglements.
He simply wouldn't buy Blood-Strengthening Pills.
Furthermore, he was now a Dirty Qi Cultivator, and these pills had no effect on him.
Lu Changsheng left the Black Market.
But as soon as he left, he encountered several masked martial practitioners blocking his path.
Lu Changsheng furrowed his brow. Were they here to rob him for money again?
"Did you just inquire about where a large quantity of Blood-Strengthening Pills could be found?" one of the masked, cloaked martial practitioners asked.
Lu Changsheng thought for a moment. He did indeed falsely claim to be interested in purchasing a large quantity of Blood-Strengthening Pills to gather information about them.
"What if I did?" Lu Changsheng replied.
"Hehe, none of the others have a large quantity of Blood-Strengthening Pills, but we do. How many do you want?" one of the cloaked individuals inquired.
Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes.
It turned out that these people weren't blocking his path to rob him. They were the ones selling the Blood-Strengthening Pills.
If Lu Changsheng had wanted to investigate the origin of the pills, he would have naturally agreed to their offer and traced it back to the source of the pills.
However, Lu Changsheng had no intention of getting involved in this matter.
He didn't want to wade into these troubled waters.
"I'm not interested in buying right now," he replied.
The masked individuals were taken aback. It seemed they hadn't expected this response. They assumed they were dealing with a potential buyer with a lot of silver on him.
But now that Lu Changsheng declined to purchase, they reverted to their original intent – straightforward robbery.
"Stop!" one of the cloaked individuals said. "You don't want our Blood-Strengthening Pills, but we want your money!"
With that, the cloaked individuals instantly surrounded Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng glanced at them and remarked casually, "Can't seal the deal, so you resort to robbery? Seems like the typical style of the Black Market…"
He didn't even seem surprised.
In the Black Market, where all sorts of people mingled, such cases of internal conflict and illegal activities were quite common, including robbery.
It appeared that these people had targeted him, knowing he had been inquiring about large quantities of Blood-Strengthening Pills and likely guessed he carried a substantial amount of money.
But they hadn't anticipated that Lu Changsheng wouldn't want to buy the pills anymore.
Then these people decided to forgo the transaction and return to their criminal ways, opting for a direct robbery.
This was easier for them, and they were more experienced at it!
"No need for idle chatter. We don't want our Blood-Strengthening Pills, but we want your silver and banknotes," one of the cloaked figures said.
Lu Changsheng remained expressionless and replied calmly, "Sure, you don't want Blood-Strengthening Pills, but we can change the terms of our interaction."
He then unsheathed the short sword in his hand.
"Clang."
Lu Changsheng had drawn his sword.
The short sword in his hand was drawn in an instant.
Afterward, the sword flashed, and Lu Changsheng's figure swayed slightly.
In just a few breaths, Lu Changsheng had sheathed his sword again.
"Splut."
These masked martial practitioners, one by one, clutched their throats, howling in pain as they collapsed into pools of blood.
In a matter of moments, all was silent.
Lu Changsheng shook his head.
These people were too weak.
Even if they were Bone-Forging Cultivators, in Lu Changsheng's eyes, they weren't much stronger than ordinary people. He could easily kill them with a single sword strike.
Then Lu Changsheng stepped forward and began searching the bodies.
Searching corpses was a traditional skill that couldn't be neglected.
"Huh?"
"There are actually large quantities of Blood-Strengthening Pills here? It seems they really wanted to do business."
"But the business didn't work out, so they resorted to robbery instead. People's nature is hard to change."
Lu Changsheng shook his head.
Judging by their actions, these people were likely not from a righteous background. Perhaps they were involved in shady activities while selling Blood-Strengthening Pills on the side.
Finding so many Blood-Strengthening Pills, Lu Changsheng wasn't sure how to handle them.
Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice behind him.
"If you're unsure how to handle these Blood-Strengthening Pills, how about selling them to me instead?"
"Swoosh."
Lu Changsheng was taken aback and swiftly turned around.