Second Senior Sister Has A Highly Dangerous Profession - Chapter 51
Chapter 51
The Dream-induction Pills were selling even better than expected in the black market. If every single pill guaranteed entry into meditation, it would have been priced sky-high, monopolized by the wealthy.
However, it was made clear from the start that there was no certainty that any of the ten pills in a box would be truly effective.
This very uncertainty might have sparked a gambling mentality among many buyers.
Since there was an element of chance involved, the value of these Meditation Pills was somewhat reduced.
The truly wealthy, who had no time for such uncertainty, weren’t interested in this kind of risk.
As a result, the pills naturally circulated more freely in the market.
Yu Xizhi understood better than anyone how addictive the chance-based ten-draw system could be, so she wasn’t surprised by the flood of orders.
But from the moment she sold the first batch of pills, she stipulated that they would only be sold to casual cultivators, not to members of the Five Sects or Three Paths.
So how did Xia Yiyao come to gift a box to Yu Si?
To prevent such breaches, the black market had marked each box of pills with a unique identifier.
After hearing Yu Xizhi’s request, the steward sent a communication talisman.
“If there’s any news, I’ll inform you immediately,” he said.
After a pause, the steward, unable to suppress his curiosity, asked, “Is there something wrong with this batch of pills?”
“It’s common for people to break down pills to study the formula,” Yu Xizhi replied.
She had disguised herself and wore a hood, but when she looked at the steward, he still felt the overwhelming pressure of a superior cultivator.
“Achieving meditation is an elusive goal. If someone were to figure out how to guarantee it every time, even immortality would be within reach. What do you think?”
The steward immediately understood her meaning.
Though this wasn’t the same steward from the last time Yu Xizhi sold her pills, all black market stewards were part of the same network.
They had already exchanged information and speculated that this mysterious “Immortal Xia” likely hailed from one of the Five Sects or Three Paths.
Her inquiry about the origin of the pills suggested that someone had violated her agreement to sell only to casual cultivators. The steward had thought as much, and he asked only to confirm his suspicion.
But he hadn’t expected such a response!
This wasn’t the first time such a situation had occurred.
When Master Tan was still active in the world, people often tried to deceive him into selling them pills.
Some genuinely needed the pills to save their lives, but others were merely conning him.
They would take the pills home, grind them down, and attempt to discern the ingredients and their proportions.
Even if they couldn’t replicate Tan’s skill, they would experiment repeatedly, hoping to achieve at least a fraction of the original pill’s effect.
And even half the effect was still valuable.
Master Tan’s pills were worth a fortune.
Even if one could only replicate a portion of their power, that still made them highly sought-after by the countless casual cultivators with limited funds.
Yu Xizhi smiled and continued, “I’m not opposed to others refining pills. But there’s an ingredient in my pills called Bahuang Sihe—and I’m the only one who has it. The buyers understand that when they purchase a set of ten pills, it’s possible that none of them will work. But if counterfeit pills flood the market, turning all the pills into duds, it will tarnish both your reputation and mine.”
She spoke so plainly because she was sending a warning to the real power behind the black market.
The black market thrived on profit but also operated on a certain moral code.
This code involved providing casual cultivators with a relatively orderly trading platform, where both sides benefited. It kept the market in check and gave buyers a sense of security. If the market for meditation pills became chaotic, restoring order would be no easy task.
Therefore, the black market not only had to shut down any counterfeiting efforts but also refrain from considering such actions themselves.
As they conversed, another presence was quietly observing the conversation, listening to everything Yu Xizhi had said.
Coincidentally, the young master Chang Hong, the black market’s leading figure, was present today on ‘fallen petals fluttering path’—the least orderly section of the market.
In a room filled with the scent of tea, a young man sat behind a tea table, dressed in a flowing brown robe with wide sleeves.
His slender fingers lifted a black teacup to his nose, inhaling the fragrance.
“This year’s Panhua Tea is three grades inferior. The tea growers in the Panhua Rainforest need to be replaced,” he remarked.
The young man was strikingly handsome, with sharp features and an air of nobility.
However, the most notable thing about him was not his looks but the fact that his head was completely shaved—he was a monk.
It was unclear whether “Chang Hong” was his monastic name or his real name.
A beautiful maid, kneeling on the floor at the entrance, had just served the tea and retreated to her position. Upon hearing the young master’s remark, she bowed deeply to show her understanding.
This monk was the very young master that the steward had spoken of—the one who successfully advanced after consuming a Meditation Pill. The steward had understated his progress by saying he had formed his core.
In truth, he had already reached the Nascent Soul stage, but for political reasons, they had to downplay his achievements.
After all, if the senior brother of the Kunwu Sect had only just reached the Core Formation stage, how could the son of a mere black market family have advanced to Nascent Soul so quickly?
As Chang Hong listened to Yu Xizhi’s words, his spiritual sense refrained from intruding under her hood.
He found the way this small girl suppressed her voice to be quite amusing.
In front of him, on the table, was a pill broken neatly in half.
With his interest in tea waning due to its inferiority, Chang Hong picked up the Meditation Pill and chuckled, “She says there’s an ingredient only she possesses? I’m curious, what could it be?”
The maid kneeling by the door softly asked, “Shall I inquire further?”
—Here, when she said “ask,” it wasn’t just an ordinary question-and-answer situation.
After all, it’s a black market, where there are often unspeakable methods for extracting information.
“Steward Chen mentioned that the pill refiner is likely from one of the Five Sects or Three Paths. Among these groups, there are many with the surname Xia. But among the direct disciples of the Soul Transformation stage cultivators, there is only one with that surname. You know who it is.”
Chang Hong didn’t respond directly to her suggestion but instead coldly asked, “How long have you been in the black market?”
The beautiful girl, confused, bowed even lower.
“Three years.”
“Three years, huh.”
Chang Hong sighed.
His voice was clear and bright, and when he softened his tone, it carried an oddly captivating charm.
The girl had heard his voice countless times before, but even now, she couldn’t help but find it pleasing.
However, the next moment, a splash of tea flew through the air, drenching her head and face.
Even though the tea was three grades inferior to previous years, Panhua Tea was still incredibly valuable. Yet Chang Hong unceremoniously poured it over the girl.
“Just three years, and you already think the black market has the audacity to capture and interrogate the personal disciple of the Kunwu Mountain Sect’s master? Who gave you such confidence? Was it me, a castaway disciple of the Duyuan Dao, or have the casual cultivators of the black market become so brazen as to fear no one, not even the Kunwu Sword Formation?!”
The weather was cold, but wherever the black market’s young master resided, it was always as warm as spring. However, this young man named Chang Hong seemed to have no fear of the cold.
Besides the steaming tea on the table, the air around him was frigid.
Thus, when the tea splashed down on the girl, it was initially scalding but quickly turned icy.
The girl had only just reached the Qi Refining stage and wasn’t even stable in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.
Her constitution was only marginally better than that of an ordinary person.
The sudden contrast of heat and cold made her teeth chatter, yet she still forced herself to remain calm and said, “It was the Duyuan Dao that failed to recognize your true strength, young master. If they had known your real level, they would undoubtedly regret their actions.”
Chang Hong had clearly been angry when he spoke earlier, but after hearing her words, his anger seemed to dissipate somewhat. He chuckled coldly.
“The hypocritical old monks of the Duyuan Dao have grand ambitions, but their methods are filthy, hiding behind Buddhist teachings as a facade. They claim compassion for all beings, using it as a fig leaf, but they truly don’t know their place.”
After a pause, he looked back at the girl kneeling at the door and softened his tone once again.
“But since I’ve already entered the demonic path, if they were to find out, they wouldn’t regret it in the way you think. No, they’d regret not having killed me outright.”
“That the personal disciple of Sect Master Huaiyun has some unique materials isn’t surprising,” Chang Hong remarked as he picked up the broken pill on the table and crushed it.
With a flick of his finger, a ghostly flame ignited at his fingertip, burning the pill to ashes.
“Tell the elders there’s no need to continue the research.”
The beautiful girl bowed and carefully retreated, cleaning her face and passing on the young master’s instructions.
Inside the tea room, Chang Hong fell into deep thought.
“So, when she was refining these pills, did she know which ones would guarantee entry into meditation? And if she did, who currently holds these pills? Huaiyun? Huaiwei? Or perhaps… Yu Si?”
…
With all that needed to be said and done, it was time to leave.
Yu Xizhi and Tan Mingtang didn’t linger.
Although Yu Xizhi was curious, she only wandered around the bustling market a little longer.
As they were about to exit the black market, she suddenly remembered something.
Since this market was dominated by casual cultivators, in the original novel, it was practically like home to the original male lead, Cheng Luocen.
She recalled that Cheng Luocen had a fortuitous encounter in a similar black market.
“Sister, wait for me a moment,” she called to Tan Mingtang.
“I’ll be right back.”
Tan Mingtang assumed that Yu Xizhi was simply curious, as it was her first time in such a lively black market, so she let her go and casually browsed the nearby stalls.
Yu Xizhi had flipped through the original novel too quickly to remember the exact details, but she recalled the nature of the encounter.
It was a rather clichéd situation—there was a young girl selling herself to bury her father. Since she had managed to make it to the black market, the girl was naturally a cultivator who had barely begun Qi refinement.
Somehow, she had learned the entrance to the black market and had come here.
At the time, Cheng Luocen had stepped in to help when he saw someone trying to take advantage of the girl.
After she buried her father, she voluntarily became Cheng Luocen’s maid.
Later, in the novel’s fan discussions, two camps formed: one believed that the maid should rise to become the main love interest, while the other fiercely supported the pure and chaste junior sister.
Of course, a girl who readers thought should become the main love interest wasn’t simple.
In other words, a maid who could follow the Long Aotian male lead was never just an ordinary girl.
Although she was merely at the Qi refining stage when they first met, after a series of twists and turns, it was revealed that she possessed an ‘Innate Sword Bone’.
Since Yu Xizhi had remembered this part of the plot, she thought it might be worth trying her luck to see if she could encounter this girl named Yun Zhuo, who had the ‘Innate Sword Bone’.
She wasn’t trying to steal Cheng Luocen’s opportunity, but she remembered that the girl was about to be mistreated and couldn’t just walk away.
After all, the male lead who was supposed to save her was likely meditating in an inn at Tianjiu Town, or perhaps still sound asleep.
She had disrupted Long Aotian’s timeline, and many things might have become uncontrollable, but she didn’t want anyone to suffer because of it.
With this thought, she continued walking along the edge of the black market.
The edges of the black market were lined with small stalls.
The casual cultivators here were a varied lot, but the lively shouts and calls typical of regular markets were missing, giving the area a somewhat desolate feel.
Yu Xizhi glanced around casually and saw a few mid-grade and human-grade spiritual treasures.
The black market was vast and shadowy, with people pressing close together.
And there, in front of a stall, stood a young man in black clothing, who Yu Xizhi had assumed would be quietly practicing his sword in an inn at Tianjiu Town.
