Cultivation: I Can Traverse Otherworlds

Chapter 242: Chapter 220: Daqi’s Situation

The term "Black Market" was just a colloquialism. Its official name was the Martial Mountain Workshop, not far from the Qunxing Workshop.

The Martial Mountain Workshop was named after Martial Mountain.

The mountain had been a mine, rich in a certain kind of ore, but it had been completely depleted centuries ago.

The mine became a wasteland.

The mine tunnels became a haven for scum and villainy.

Many shady businesses and people of unknown origin from the Martial World took refuge here, gradually shaping it into what it is today.

Being a Black Market, it naturally only opened at night.

It was still early.

Zhu Ju, his features altered by a Disguise, strolled into a Tavern. He glanced at the sky before ordering some food and wine.

He was a Cultivator, it was true, but not one who would sever his emotions or practice Forgetting Desire. He wouldn’t even forsake the pleasures of the palate.

To travel thousands of miles, see different landscapes, and savor all kinds of fine food and wine—that was what made life worth living.

CRACK!

"Move aside!"

"All of you, move aside!"

A commotion erupted on the main street. A horseman was brandishing a long whip, driving pedestrians from his path.

"Are you all blind? Can’t you see Lord Qii’s carriage? Hurry up and clear the road!"

"You’re asking for a whipping!"

CRACK...

In the rider’s hands, the long whip was powerful enough to shatter stone. When it landed on people, it tore open their Skin and Flesh, drawing endless, miserable screams.

In an instant, the main street was empty.

A luxurious carriage, surrounded by a retinue of guards, proceeded slowly. The pedestrians on either side bowed their heads, not daring to look.

"Whose carriage is that? Such a grand display."

"Lord Qii Chengye’s carriage," someone replied in a low voice.

"Lord Qii is Prime Minister Zhang’s protégé. He was commended for his success in disaster relief. It’s said that upon his return to the capital, he’ll be assigned to the Ministry of Revenue."

"Nine times out of ten, he’ll end up as the head of the Ministry of Revenue."

"Disaster relief?" A burly man drinking nearby scoffed.

"In the three provinces and seventeen mansions, who knows how many have starved to death in the last two years? There are countless stories of people trading children to eat, of others gnawing on raw dirt. And this kind of person gets a promotion for his ’success’ in disaster relief? The Daqi Empire truly has no one left to employ!"

"Friend, be careful what you say!"

"Shhh..."

Hearing this, the faces of the onlookers turned pale. They all backed away, afraid of being implicated. The burly man, however, seemed oblivious as he continued to eat and drink with gusto.

In recent years, Prime Minister Zhang’s power in the Court was at its zenith. He had suppressed the Dukes, eliminated the river pirates, and pacified the refugees, earning even greater trust from His Majesty.

A son from the Zhang Family, born to a concubine, once beat a censuring official to death in the streets, and not a single Government Office dared to get involved. That said it all.

Since Lord Qii had allied himself with the Zhang Family, no one dared to say a bad word about him.

The Divine Capital was vast, but it was crawling with informants. If someone overheard this conversation and reported it to the Zhang Mansion, the consequences were easy to imagine.

"The Court has been dispatching armies for years, campaigning east and west. Although they’ve won victory after victory, it has also consumed a vast amount of wealth."

An old man spoke slowly from a nearby table:

"Especially the campaign to suppress the Dukes. Mobilizing an army of a million men is a bottomless pit when it comes to provisions."

"Lord Qii solved Prime Minister Zhang’s financial problems, so of course he deserves a reward!"

"Hah..." The burly man set down his wine bowl, his face scornful.

"Taking the silver and grain meant for disaster relief to fund a war? Does that mean the victims in the Territory of Three Mansions deserve to die?"

"That bastard Qii misappropriated disaster relief supplies, and he still gets commended for his ’merits’ and promoted three ranks in a row? Truly, the heavens are blind!"

"Hmph!"

He snorted coldly:

"The Dukes have been suppressed, but the desperate refugees have turned into bandits. The world isn’t necessarily a better place."

"If you ask me, every official in the Court is a corrupt, incompetent fool!"

"Young man, watch your tongue!" The old man’s face paled, and he hurriedly left his seat and walked away.

"Go get yourself killed if you want, but don’t drag us down with you."

"That’s right!" someone else shouted.

"If you despise evil so much, go demand an explanation from Lord Qii! What good is all this blustering here?"

"You think I don’t dare?" The burly man’s eyes blazed. He slammed his wine bowl down and strode out into the street.

He clenched his fists, staring directly at the approaching procession with a savage grin.

"Qii Chengye!"

"In your four years in office, you concocted new taxes to bleed the people dry and embezzled disaster relief silver taels for your own selfish gain! You are a villain who has committed every evil imaginable! Today, I shall enact justice on behalf of Heaven and kill you, you dog of an official!"

A Second-Grade Martial Sect!

The burly man’s voice was like muffled thunder. Each word shot forth like a powerful arrow, slamming into the carriage procession and throwing men and horses into chaos.

As he spoke, his body lunged forward like a pouncing tiger toward the carriage, and he threw a punch in mid-air, unleashing a blast of Fist Force.

"Luh Kong, the lead disciple of the Divine Fist Sect?"

Just then, the unremarkable coachman of the procession suddenly looked up. He unhurriedly flicked out the long whip in his hand.

"You think the likes of you can assassinate Lord Qii?"

CRACK!

The long whip shot into the air like an agile Flood Dragon. With a single coil, it shattered the Fist Force and bound Luh Kong fast.

"Don’t forget us!"

Before the coachman could land a fatal blow, several figures sprang from the rooftops on both sides of the street, lunging for the carriage.

Several people also burst forth from the crowd of pedestrians.

The hawking vendors and panicked passersby were all revealed to be assassins with extraordinary Cultivation.

This group of people was not old, their faces carrying the reckless air of knights-errant, and their strength was anything but ordinary.

A few of them, looking to be in their early twenties, were already masters of the Upper Three Grades who had achieved the Unity of Spirit and Body.

Clearly, each had their own unique legacy.

"How audacious!"

The coachman’s eyes flew wide, his entire aura surging. A fierce and peerless power erupted from within his Skin and Flesh.

He opened his mouth and roared, and a violent wind instantly whipped up across the scene.

When one’s flesh and blood were tempered to the extreme, upon reaching the First-Grade Grandmaster Realm, the Physical Body would possess a degree of Divine Power.

Inhaling created wind; exhaling created thunder!

Every inch of skin, every strand of hair, could erupt with unimaginable force.

BOOM!

The carriage frame beneath his feet exploded. The coachman dissolved into several afterimages, appearing at various points around the carriage to meet the assassins.

His speed was so extreme that he managed to intercept all of the attacks in a single instant.

"The Sea-Raging Golden Dragon, Qin Jin!"

One of the assassins roared furiously.