A short and pudgy middle aged man hurriedly ran into a poorly lit alleyway, trying to catch his breath.
"Split up! He couldn't have gone far!", a voice travelled through the air.
"Shit!", the man mumbled to himself and continued running.
"Hey! I found him! This way!", a voice boomed out again.
"Damn it! If only I had a decent weapon, I wouldn't need to be running away!"
The man ran down the alleyway but was eventually faced by a dead end wall.
For a moment, he contemplated running up the wall but quickly rejected it.
"You bastard! Where are you going to run now?", laughter burst out as a gang of about 11 people caught up.
"You punks think you're that strong with your new Biotech Weapons. If I had a decent weapon in my hands, I would easily wipe you 6th Qi Refining punks out!", the man growled.
"Hmph. All tough talk.", the leader with a scarred face barked back.
"Even if I don't have any weapons, my Ten Dragon Fist along with my 9th Qi Refining stage could easily take a few of you punks with me.", the man replied with a ferocious glint in his eyes.
"Try it, then."
The atmosphere grew more and more heavy as the goons slowly approached the man.
Suddenly, a grey miasma spread through the area. All sound ceased, and all lights flickered until they shattered into pieces.
"You. Do you want to make a trade?", a ghastly voice rang out. An illusory figure popped up from the ground, wearing a dark grey cloak.
The man with the scarred face lost all expression and he dropped his weapon.
"T-The Ghost Merchant!", he yelled.
The chubby man looked excited and yelled out, "Yes! I want a Grade II Sword!"
A short silence ensued.
"Acceptable. The price is the complete manual of the Ten Tiger Fist.", the spectre sounded again.
The man's face paled and said, "Why don't you just rob me? This Silver Manual is worth at least 5 Grade III swords!"
"Your manual is equally as important as your life, is it not? Do you take it or leave it?", the spectre replied.
The man hesitated for a few moments before throwing a tattered manual to the spectre.
"Confirmed.", the spectre put it away before taking out an ordinary Grade II Flintsword and throwing it towards him.
The miasma disappeared as the spectre disappeared into the ground, bringing colour into the world once more.
"Great! I can slaughter to my heart's content now.", the man laughed as he turned to the people chasing him.
Suddenly, he looked confused.
"Huh? Where....did they all go?"
---
"Boss Dongfang? Why did you back out earlier?", a curious voice asked.
"Shh. We were lucky enough to leave before that old codger found out about us leaving. We would have been in trouble after he got the weapon. After all, he was a former 3rd Body Refining practitioner.", the boss mumbled aloud.
"How wise, boss!", the henchman replied.
Another voiced asked with a hint of dissatisfaction, "But why did we let the so called 'Ghost Merchant' interfere? It would've been better we hacked him up too."
The boss slapped his henchman without hesitation and said, "Stupid! At least learn something about the state of matters!"
"Listen up, all of you. The Ghost Merchant is not someone we can afford to provoke, so stop having any thoughts about revenge.", the boss spoke.
"He was single handed responsible for the revival of the Upper Blights' weapons market. People say he controls over 60% of all weapons that go in and out of the blights. Even Head Fang has to be polite to a bigshot like him. You guys better brush up on your knowledge so you don't make mistakes like this again.", shouted the boss.
"Right you are!", the henchmen soon followed after.
---
In a small and narrow alley, a spectre stood still, his eyes glued to a chest in front of him.
"Don't let me down now. Open!", the figure mumbled as it rubbed its hands together.
[Ding! Congrats on obtaining 1x Libia Scales, 1x Munium Bar fragment and 5x Body Refining Pill fragments.]
"Finally! I have a chance at leaving this hellhole", out came a voice from the figure.
The figure came out of the dark and into a streetlamp fixture, revealing his fairly toned and charming features. A teen of about 14 years of age, standing at a height of 174cm, smiled with a silly grin on his worn out face as if repudiated of the evils of the world.
"System, synthesize 1x Munium Bar.", spoke the boy.
[Ding! Confirming materials. Initiating synthesis.]
[10x Munium Bar fragments deducted, 150x Points deducted, 1x Munium Bar crafted.]
Zheng Li smiled. It was for this exact moment that he had been labouring for over five years.
Taking the rather odd purple-green tinted bar in hand, he played around with the thing for a bit before placing it in his inventory.
"I'll have to make a trip down there again", sighed Zheng Li as he made his way to a manhole cover and made his way down the sewers.
Zheng Li continued following the usual path he always took; as a renowned merchant he had been travelling between the three layers of the blights - the Surfaced Blights, the Upper Blights and the Beneath Blights. The first two were widely considered to be the only two layers of the blights, but Zheng Li had stumbled onto a secret five years ago, when he nearly lost his life.
A revolutionary group that proclaimed themselves as the "Radicals" had commandeered the lowest regions of the blights and set up a network of bases in the massive underground caves of the Beneath. Zheng Li snuck into the Beneath unknowingly a few years ago and familiarised himself with the place.
Upon arrival to the entrance to the Beneath hidden well in the corner of an unsuspecting crevice, Zheng Li spoke, "The five flowers bloom tonight."
The crevice suddenly widened and allowed for Zheng Li to get inside.
He walked in the cold cave pathway, the light being barely sufficient to make out the distinct figure of the pathway.
"System, pull up my stats", spoke Zheng Li.
[Ding! Bringing up the Host's stats now.]
[Strength - 520
Speed - 452
Vitality - 390
Intelligence - 25
Qi - 335
[Average stats for a First Layer Body Cultivator is 10]
Martial skills - Silver Hand Initial Mastery, Fleeting Clouds Movement Initial Mastery.]
Cultivation method - Seven Tides manual.
Cultivation - 6th stage Body Refining.
Points - 29,395
Tenars - 21,450]
Zheng Li's progress in the last five years had not been trivial.
From being a minor character to making connections, gaining fame as a merchant and building up his reputation by trading with his system and eventually reaching his current status, Zheng Li had lived a life in five years that most people would only dream of living in their entire lives.
Most of his points were spent on increasing his cultivation however, and a smaller percentage comparatively in investing in his business.
Therefore, Zheng Li was able to attain the 6th Body Refining level at the young age of 14. Even geniuses in the mainland could only reach this level at 18-19 years of age. Furthermore, he increased his foundation incredibly stably with materials from the system's store that was most compatible with his cultivation and thus he was significantly stronger than anyone in his level of cultivation.
Zheng Li eventually reached the end of the small and narrow cave opening and looked forwards into a gigantic, huge cave area.
The scope of the region around the cave entry that Zheng Li was stood on was miniscule compared to the magnificence of the area in the centre.
Tens of thousands of cave paths were visible in a circle around the city, looking like a beehive, and in the centre lay a beautiful crystal city that looked like a piece of art.
The city shone like a singular piece of amethyst, illuminating the grim atmosphere of the enormous underground with its otherworldly, charming and purple aesthetic. And it looked out of place.
Although Zheng Li had seen this sight thousands of times before, he still marvelled everytime at this piece of art.
Zheng Li pulled out a communicator from the system inventory and put it to his ear.
"Ring ring.....Hello? May I help you?", a voice rang out.
"10C. 24th May. Please send a cabin to my location immediately.", spoke Zheng Li.
"Oh! Yes, sir, Immediately!", the voice on the other side panicked and responded.
Zheng Li did not have to wait for too long at all before a grey and smooth rectangular box made of pure steel floated to his location.
"Hello, and thank you for coming. Please board the cabin.", a robotic voice rang out as the doors to the cabin opened.
Zheng Li promptly stepped inside and sat down on the couch.
"Please enjoy your ride.", the robotic voice rang out again.
The doors to the cabin automatically closed and the cabin moved towards the city, propelled by an unknown sourced.
After some time, the doors opened again, and the voice rang out once more, "You have arrived. Please get off, and thank you for visiting."
Zheng Li stepped off the cabin and walked into the main traveller's hub. The place was unexpectedly modern in design, and amenities had made themselves present everywhere. It did not look at all like a place in the deep reaches of the underground.
"Welcome, sir. May I see your ID please?", a young man in a white uniform greeted Zheng Li with a smile.
Zheng Li pulled out a small book from his pockets and handed it over to the young man.
"Thank you, sir.", the young man said before turning to check the ID.
Suddenly, his face changed as he staggered, "S-Sir, you're one of the few Platinum Prestige holders?"
He promptly bowed without hesitation and said, "It's my privilege to serve you, sir! Do you have anything you need?"
Zheng Li merely sighed and said, "No need for the unnecessary platitudes. Just verify my ID and be done with it."
"Right away, Sir.", the young man said as he took out a device and went over the ID.
"You're all good to go, sir. Please have a nice day.", the young man said to Zheng Li as he bowed.
Zheng Li nodded and had barely made his way out of the traveller's hub when the young man caught up to him and said, "Sir, please wait a moment! I have a message from the upper management asking you to pay a visit to the Crystal Hall."
Zheng Li looked bothered and nodded at the young man before walking away and calling for a cab.
"Crystal Hall, please.", spoke Zheng Li to the driver.
"Right on, sir."