Chapter 7: Chapter 6: Secret Dart
The three Realms of Body Tempering, Meridian Passage, and Blood Movement all focus on internal cultivation.
As long as one doesn’t actively reveal their strength, it’s generally unnoticeable to outsiders. Thus, Chen Yuan had no need to deliberately conceal it.
After a quick shower, Chen Yuan called for Zhang Xiaoyi, and they headed to Xian De Building on Cyan Dragon Street for some mutton.
Having just broken through to the Meridian Passage Realm, Chen Yuan needed a large amount of meat to replenish the energy he had just expended forcing open his Meridians.
Lianshan City was located in northern You Province, near the Grassland, so the mutton there was of excellent quality.
And Xian De Building was the best place in all of Lianshan City for mutton.
After heading upstairs to a private room, Chen Yuan simply told the waiter to bring one of every specialty dish Xian De Building had to offer.
The Shopkeeper of Xian De Building recognized Chen Yuan and rushed to the kitchen to personally supervise. He knew he absolutely could not afford to offend Master Chen of the Celestial Wolf Gang.
Steamed sheep’s head, roasted mutton, spicy lamb stew, wine-seared lamb hearts—the chef pulled out all the stops, showcasing his most treasured recipes. Zhang Xiaoyi ate until his face was slick with grease.
Chen Yuan’s table manners were far more refined, but his eating speed was just as astonishingly fast.
He barely seemed to chew the large chunks of mutton, swallowing them almost immediately.
The dishes arrived one after another. By the time Chen Yuan had nearly finished, he calculated that between the two of them, he and Zhang Xiaoyi had consumed nearly half a sheep.
No wonder they say it takes wealth to practice martial arts, while scholars can be poor. The sheer cost of food for a martial artist was extraordinary.
However, once Martial Artists reached a certain Realm, they would purchase Elixirs to supplement their cultivation and replenish their energy.
Relying on food alone to restore one’s strength was simply too inefficient.
Some major Sects and Noble Families even had professional Alchemists to refine Elixirs, and they would cultivate all sorts of rare Spiritual Medicines and raise Exotic Beasts.
Chen Yuan’s eyes were half-closed, his fingers drumming lightly on the tabletop as he contemplated his next move. ’What opportunity should I seek out next?’
’I urgently need an Inner Power Heart Method. Normally, securing a Cultivation Technique should be my priority.’
’However, thinking about Elixirs... there happens to be an opportunity related to them coming up. The difficulty is low, so I might as well grab it first.’
"Xiaoyi, do you know of the Weiyuan Escort Agency?"
Zhang Xiaoyi, his belly stuffed and round, heard this and nodded with some effort. "Of course. It’s the biggest Escort Agency in Lianshan City."
"Keep an eye on the Weiyuan Escort Agency. The moment you hear they’re auctioning a Secret Dart, come and tell me immediately."
Normally, an Escort Agency needs to know what they’re transporting. That’s how they determine their fee, based on the cargo’s value.
A Secret Dart, however, is a type of cargo that the Escort Agency is not allowed to inspect; it remains sealed for the entire journey.
Since they can’t inspect the goods to determine a price, the Escort Agency’s rule is to set a base fee according to the distance of the journey.
The client then declares the value of the Secret Dart themselves. If the item is lost or damaged en route, the Escort Agency compensates them for that declared value.
The Weiyuan Escort Agency was the largest in Lianshan City. Their teams escorted cargo to and from cities all over You Province daily, and they frequently ended up with "dead darts."
A "dead dart" was cargo that arrived at its destination with no one to receive it. If the client couldn’t be found and the Escort Agency couldn’t collect the final payment, the shipment became a "dead dart."
These "dead darts" were typically held for three months. If unclaimed after that time, the Escort Agency would sell the cargo to cover the outstanding payment.
But if a "dead dart" also happened to be a Secret Dart, the Escort Agency was caught in a dilemma.
Some Secret Darts contained items that were merely private, not valuable.
Others were highly valuable, but the client had declared a low value—either to maintain a low profile or simply to save money on the fee.
If the Escort Agency were to open a Secret Dart and find something worthless inside, they could end up taking a huge loss.
Therefore, the Weiyuan Escort Agency chose not to open the Secret Darts themselves. Instead, they held public auctions.
Whether there was anything good inside was purely a matter of luck for the buyer. As for the Escort Agency, as long as they recovered their final payment, they didn’t consider it a loss.
’In the original story, the Weiyuan Escort Agency would be holding a Secret Dart auction right about now.’
’A gambling-addicted player bet his entire fortune on a Secret Dart, and he actually managed to hit the jackpot.’
’In that Secret Dart from the Weiyuan Escort Agency, he found a legendary Elixir from the Medicine King Valley: the Nine-Turns Nourishing Essence Pill.’
The Medicine King Valley was a renowned Alchemy Major Sect in the Jianghu. Any Elixir they refined was priceless, something that couldn’t be bought even if one had the money.
Typically, other factions had to trade various Exotic Treasures or complete missions issued by the valley just to get their hands on an Elixir produced by the Medicine King Valley.
The effects of the Nine-Turns Nourishing Essence Pill were incredibly potent. It directly and simply boosted one’s Cultivation with no side effects whatsoever.
’That player had relied on this single Elixir to maintain a Level advantage over other players for a long, long time.’
’It’s a shame his gambling addiction never went away. Instead of using his gains to improve his Cultivation, he just kept gambling, eventually losing everything he had, down to his last pair of pants.’
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded eagerly, wiped his mouth, and immediately ran off to keep an eye on the Weiyuan Escort Agency.
Chen Yuan had more than one trusted subordinate, but since his transmigration, he had come to rely on Zhang Xiaoyi the most.
Though the young man’s skills were average, he was incredibly diligent and reliable.
He wouldn’t question why Chen Yuan wanted him to watch the Weiyuan Escort Agency’s Secret Dart auction, or why his master was interested in something that typically only concerned low-level Jianghu People.
He only knew that since his Master had given an order, he had to carry it out perfectly, without the slightest hesitation.
Zhang Xiaoyi kept watch for three days, and just as expected, word came that the Weiyuan Escort Agency was going to auction off its Secret Darts.
Chen Yuan didn’t plan to attend the Secret Dart auction himself, nor did he intend to send Zhang Xiaoyi.
The participants in these auctions were almost exclusively low-level Jianghu People.
The declared value on most Secret Darts put up for auction wasn’t very high. If the value was high, the Escort Agency would have opened it themselves.
What was left was little more than a gamble, interesting only to those same low-level Jianghu People.
Chen Yuan was too conspicuous, and so was Zhang Xiaoyi. Neither of them looked anything like a low-level Jianghu person.
Someone like Hu the Third, whom Chen Yuan had cut down with a single strike, was the very image of a low-level Jianghu person.
So, Chen Yuan had Zhang Xiaoyi take one hundred taels of silver to the Forget Sorrow Building, find some random wanderer of the Jianghu, and pay him to buy every small, box-shaped Secret Dart at the auction. He was then to deliver them to Zhang Xiaoyi.
「On the evening of the fourth day」
The Weiyuan Escort Agency’s Secret Dart auction began, taking place right in their own courtyard.
Zhang Xiaoyi waited in an alley beside the Escort Agency.
Meanwhile, Chen Yuan was on the top floor of a tavern overlooking the courtyard, eating and drinking as he watched the proceedings, just in case anything unexpected happened.
A Darts Master with a large beard, dressed in a black, tight-sleeved tunic, had several dozen boxes brought out. He cupped his fist to the crowd.
"Everyone, this isn’t the first Secret Dart auction the Weiyuan Escort Agency has held. You all know the rules, so I won’t waste your time repeating them.
Take a good look at the special seals on the Secret Darts. As you can see, none of them have been tampered with. The Weiyuan Escort Agency would never ruin its own reputation.
Without further ado, the Secret Dart auction will now begin!"
The individual Secret Darts weren’t expensive; the priciest one was no more than fifty taels of silver.
Chen Yuan’s targets were the small boxes, which had a starting bid of only ten taels each.
’The player from the original story had found the Nine-Turns Nourishing Essence Pill in one of the small boxes. Since Chen Yuan didn’t know which one, he decided he might as well buy them all.’
The man Zhang Xiaoyi had found was a burly fellow named Wei Yidao. He wore a wolfskin vest, had a shaved head, and gave off a rank, gamey odor.
Wei Yidao looked like the stereotypical low-level Jianghu person.
He likely made a living running errands, acting as a temporary house guard, or taking on odd escort jobs. In a crowd, he was utterly unremarkable.
As soon as the auction began, Wei Yidao zeroed in on the small box Secret Darts, bidding on every single one. If someone tried to outbid him, he’d raise the price by another twenty or thirty taels without hesitation, acting incredibly extravagant.
"Dammit, Wei Yidao! Have you lost your mind?"
Someone who had been repeatedly outbid by Wei Yidao couldn’t help but curse.
Wei Yidao grinned. "I’ve got the money, and I’ll spend it how I like!"
Spending several hundred taels of silver like it was water, Wei Yidao felt an exhilarating, almost painful, thrill.
’Still,’ he wondered, ’why is this sucker so fixated on bidding on these small box Secret Darts?’
’Usually, small box Secret Darts just contain things like secret letters. You rarely find gold or silver jewelry in them.’
’No one sends hard currency like that via Secret Dart anyway.’
When the auction ended, Wei Yidao tied the dozen or so small boxes together. He strode out of the Escort Agency, took a roundabout path, and finally arrived at the alley where he was to meet Zhang Xiaoyi.
"Did you get them all?"
Zhang Xiaoyi asked, his expression serious.
In front of Chen Yuan, he seemed simple and honest, but he had to project an imposing aura when dealing with these low-level Jianghu People.
"Thirteen Secret Darts in total. Cost four hundred and eighty taels of silver. Here’s the receipt from the Weiyuan Escort Agency."
Wei Yidao patted the bundle of boxes.
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded. "With your promised payment, the total comes to five hundred eighty taels. I gave you six hundred earlier. You can keep the remaining twenty as a tip."
But then, Wei Yidao broke into a grin. "You miscalculated, little brother. You still owe me another five hundred taels."
Zhang Xiaoyi froze, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean? How could I possibly owe you five hundred taels?"
Wei Yidao let out a sinister chuckle. "Anyone willing to spend hundreds of taels on these little Secret Darts must be after something priceless. And you think you can buy me off for a mere hundred taels? That’s way too stingy. You’ve gotta add more money!"
"You’re courting death!"
Wei Yidao held up the Secret Darts, a roguish, devil-may-care look on his face. "You guys get to eat the meat, you should at least let me have a sip of the broth, right?
I don’t care what’s inside these Secret Darts, but if you don’t add more money, I’ll just start shouting that there’s treasure here. How many people do you think that’ll attract?"
Zhang Xiaoyi’s face instantly flushed crimson.
He still had too little experience in the Jianghu. For a moment, he was at a complete loss for what to do.
Just then, a flash of light from a blade suddenly glinted behind Wei Yidao.
With the soft whisper of a blade being sheathed, Wei Yidao’s head hit the ground. The roguish, arrogant smile was still plastered on his face.
Chen Yuan took the Secret Darts into his hand and gestured to Zhang Xiaoyi. "Let’s go."
Zhang Xiaoyi looked at Chen Yuan, his face full of guilt. "I’m sorry, Master. I failed to handle this properly. I can’t believe I chose such a greedy bastard."
Chen Yuan waved his hand dismissively. "It doesn’t matter," he said lightly. "No matter how meticulously you plan, unexpected things like this can happen. Besides, it’s perfectly normal for a low-level Jianghu person to pull a stunt like that."
"Why?"
Zhang Xiaoyi asked, confused.
’That guy didn’t know who I am, but someone who can casually drop hundreds of taels of silver on Secret Darts couldn’t be a simple character, right?’
’How did he have the guts to threaten me for more money on the spot?’
"Because they are greedy," Chen Yuan explained, "and because they have no understanding of their own place."
"And it is precisely for that reason that they are destined to scrape by at the very bottom of the Jianghu."
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded, as if only half-understanding. He then immediately retrieved the remaining silver from Wei Yidao’s corpse and spat fiercely on the ground.
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