Pure Yang!

Chapter 383 The Black Market of Chang'an! Zhang Fan and Li Miaoyin
Early morning, western suburbs of Chang'an.

Liuhe Cart and Antique Market.

This is one of the largest antique markets in Chang'an. It existed long before the founding of the People's Republic of China, but because it was too far from the city center, few tourists visited it. It gradually became a distribution center for antique merchants from all over the country.

"This is the black market in Chang'an?"

Standing at the entrance of the antique market, Zhang Fan couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Throughout the country, in most third- or fourth-tier cities and above, there are places where practitioners trade, which are known as black markets.

Almost all the major medicines, rare treasures, exotic items, magical artifacts, and various rare and precious materials needed for cultivation can be found on the black market.

The more prosperous the city, the higher the level of the black market.

Xi'an is considered a new first-tier city, so its black market is naturally also a first-tier city.

Zhang Fan had also been to the black market in Yujing; that's where he bought his black iron sheet.

However, Yujing's black market was extremely secretive, hidden in an unfinished building in an urban village, with various deceptions set up around it. Ordinary people would never notice it on a normal day, unlike Chang'an, which was so ostentatious, opening its doors to customers in broad daylight right in the antique market.

"Since we're already here, of course we have to see it." Li Yishan put his arm around Zhang Fan's shoulder.

They planned to leave Chang'an and return to Yujing in the next two days.

Now that I've finally found some peace and quiet, with no grudges or conflicts, I should definitely have some fun.

“This shouldn’t be your first time in the black market, right? Your Yujing has one too.” Meng Qiwu looked at Zhang Fan.

"Um...yes." Zhang Fan nodded, but didn't say anything more.

Last year, in an attempt to capture Yin Hu Hongshan Jun, he caused a disturbance in the black market, which attracted the attention of relevant departments. As a result, the black market in Yujing was shut down, and it is said that hundreds of people were arrested. It has not reopened to this day.

As a result, nowadays, cultivators in Yujing City who want to buy something have to travel to Suzhou, and if they want to go any further, they have to go to Shanghai.

For example, the [Brain Silkworm] and [Small Brain Silkworm] that Shi Shougong needs to replenish his energy for cultivation every month were originally only available through special channels in the Yujing Black Market in the entire Jiangnan Province. Now that the supply is cut off, if he were to purchase them through the official channels of the Jiangnan Province Dao Alliance, the original expenditure of more than 40,000 would rise to more than 70,000.

"How can our Yujing compare to your Chang'an?" Li Yishan glanced at Zhang Fan meaningfully and said indifferently.

The four ancient capitals of China are Shangjing, Yujing, Chang'an, and Luoyang.

Shangjing and Yujing are the only two cities in the country with "Jing" in their names, making their status obvious.

Shangjing, of course, needs no further introduction; it is the capital of a country.

Yujing is the capital of Jiangnan Province, which boasts one of the top economies in the country. Since ancient times, Yujing has been a place where culture and people from all over the world converge, a land of abundance and outstanding people.

However, in terms of profound cultural heritage, it cannot be compared with Chang'an and Luoyang.

"The places with the most tombs in the world are Chang'an and Luoyang," Li Yishan said with a smile.

As the old saying goes, "Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, buried in Beiman."

Throughout history, countless kings, nobles, and generals have been buried in Beiman Mountain, where there are at least hundreds of thousands of tombs.

Beiman Mountain is located in Luoyang.

At this point, Li Yishan's smile faded slightly, for he had a rival in Beiman Mountain.

"The number of large tombs in Chang'an is no less than that in Luoyang."

"I heard that a few years ago, when they were building the No. 8 subway line in Chang'an, they unearthed more than a thousand large tombs," Li Yishan said solemnly.

"This isn't subway construction, it's practically archaeology."

To date, more than 100,000 tombs have been discovered in Chang'an. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands more tombs underground in Chang'an.

"How many amazing things do you think we'll dig up from underground?"

Li Yishan hit the nail on the head: precisely because of its unique historical and geographical conditions, the black market in Chang'an holds far more valuable items than anywhere else.

After all, Taoist objects are inherently concealed by their spiritual power.

Over the course of time, even if these treasures fell into the hands of emperors and generals, they might not be recognized. With life and death, they were taken to great tombs, until one day, the shovel of fate brought them back to the light of day.

"As expected of a human, you know a lot!" Meng Qiwu looked at Li Yishan and said meaningfully.

"When I was little, my mother often took me to Luoyang, and I got to see the sights around Beiman Mountain," Li Yishan said modestly.

"Yun's mother?" Meng Qiwu asked, puzzled.

“His stepmother, his biological mother ran off with someone when he was little,” Zhang Fan whispered in Meng Qiwu’s ear.

"May I ask who you are, Auntie...?" Meng Qiwu's heart stirred with curiosity.

“His stepmother is the master of the Xuan Palace!” Zhang Fan whispered again.

"..."

Meng Qiwu's brow twitched slightly, her beautiful eyes widened. This answer was both unexpected and reasonable.

"No wonder," Meng Qiwu thought to himself.

If Wuwei Sect is a country or a dynasty, then Li Yishan's family should be considered a powerful clan, and even on par with the Five Families and Seven Noble Families of ancient times.

"Keep a low profile," Li Yishan said casually.

"You didn't dig this up, did you?" Zhang Fan changed the subject, looking at Li Yishan, and couldn't help but ask.

"What are you saying? Grave robbing is illegal," Li Yishan said, glancing sideways.

"..."

“I’ve done some research; as you know, I studied folk culture in college,” Li Yishan explained.

The saying goes, "The dead are the greatest." In traditional thinking, the afterlife is extremely important. From ordinary people to emperors and generals, everyone attaches great importance to their tombs. This involves feng shui, which is related to both the deceased and the rise and fall of their descendants.

Many emperors, after ascending the throne, began to build their own mausoleums, with construction periods spanning decades.

"The door is open, let's go."

The antique market opens at 8:30 a.m. and stays open until 10 p.m.

“When you were heartbroken last year, I was planning to bring you to Chang’an to cheer you up,” Li Yishan said as they walked.

"Heartbroken!?" Upon hearing this, Meng Qiwu's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but look at Zhang Fan with curiosity.

In her eyes, it was already unexpected that someone like Zhang Fan would have a Daoist partner, but to make matters worse, he actually broke up with her.

"Would it kill you to shut up?" Zhang Fan glared at him fiercely.

"I never thought someone like you could get dumped?" Meng Qiwu couldn't help but say.

Zhang Fan is now at the ninth level of the Great Master realm. Logically speaking, someone with such cultivation should have broken through the barriers of love long ago. He was heartbroken last year? And he still needs someone to accompany him to cheer him up?

Meng Qiwu found it all strange.

But she didn't know that at this time last year, Zhang Fan had just graduated from university and was still in the midst of a dark and perilous situation, just like any other ordinary person.

"Compared to this, our Yujing's black market seems rather shabby," Li Yishan couldn't help but say.

Walking into the market, you can't see the end of it at a glance. There must be seventy or eighty shops on both sides, and this is only one of the avenues.

There are nine such lanes in the entire market, and the total number of shops is estimated to be five or six hundred.

Most of the items displayed in shops are handicrafts; those that are truly made from earth would not be displayed openly.

"Holy crap, is this the Four-Sheep Bronze Zun? Isn't this thing in the National Museum?" As soon as he entered the market, a bronze zun displayed at the entrance of the first shop on his right caught Zhang Fan's attention. This thing looked exactly like the picture in the history book, and it was covered with soil stains and copper rust.

“Kid, you have good taste. This one in my family is related to the one in the National Museum, it’s just not as old.”

Just then, a chubby middle-aged man came out, wearing a large, shiny gold ring on his hand.

"Want it? Selling it cheaply for 300,000. You can put it in your home to ward off bad luck."

"I can't control it, I can't control it..." Zhang Fan said with a dry laugh.

This is clearly a modern craft item, probably made of copper alloy. Even if you weigh it to death, it wouldn't sell for 300,000.

"Let's go."

Li Yishan pulled Zhang Fan away.

Here, nothing is unusual; if you have enough money, you can even get the Imperial Seal of the State.

Zhang Fan looked around for a long time and was truly amazed. It seemed that treasures from museums all over the country could be found here.

"It looks just like the real thing!" Zhang Fan couldn't help but say.

"It's just like the real thing," Li Yishan said casually. "How do you know those museum treasures weren't sourced from here?"

"This……"

"In this world, who can truly distinguish between what is real and what is false? It's just like our cultivation of the Tao; we are merely using the false to cultivate the true."

When Li Yishan was a child, his family had a business partner who ran a very large business, which was second to none in the entire Jiangnan Province. He had his own private museum, and the treasures inside were rarer and more precious than those in some local museums.

It is said that those items, when added together, are worth at least nine figures, and he often brings his partners to visit them.

Later, when the financial crisis hit, the man went bankrupt and fled. Creditors came to his door, all eyeing his collection of treasures, wanting to take them to pay off his debts. But when they were appraised, they found that they were all fakes. What Shang and Zhou dynasty? Nonsense, they were all from last week.

The oldest person in the entire Tibetan area is probably the old man who sweeps the toilets. All his belongings combined wouldn't even be enough to buy a toilet in the most bustling area of ​​Yujing City.

"Let's go, let's go see something real," Li Yishan said, waving his hand.

Obviously, it's impossible to find any treasures that come out of the ground here.

“I’ll take you down there myself another day,” Li Yishan whispered in Zhang Fan’s ear.

He cultivates the [Jia Sheng Gui Si] method, so he knows more about things underground than things above ground, especially ancient tombs, which he has explored extensively since childhood.

"Qin tombs are buried on ridges, Han tombs on slopes, Shang and Zhou tombs are mostly found in the Yellow River basin. Spring and Autumn and Warring States tombs are buried on mountaintops, Qin and Han tombs are buried on mountain ridges. Eastern Han and Southern Dynasties tombs are found on mountainsides, Sui, Tang, and Song tombs are found on slopes below cats. Tang tombs are sweet, Song tombs are bitter, Ming and Qing tombs are made of lime..."

Li Yishan got more and more excited as he spoke, but before he could finish, Zhang Fan pulled him hard.

He came to his senses and saw Uncle Hat, who was patrolling the market not far away, staring at him with a suspicious look on his face.

"Can you speak a little louder?" Zhang Fan rolled his eyes.

"You actually dug it up?"

"I did it for cultivation," Li Yishan said in a low voice.

Cultivating the Tao means understanding the essence of all things and mastering their laws and principles.

When people die, they are buried in a great tomb, where the mysteries of life and death are hidden.

In order to cultivate the [Jia Sheng Gui Si] technique, he slept in countless large tombs, including the [Living Dead Tomb] of Patriarch Chongyang. Otherwise, how could he have achieved what he has today?

"Let me put it this way, I've slept in every famous tomb in Beiman Mountain, Luoyang," Li Yishan said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Meng Qiwu's gaze towards him became somewhat strange.

"He's a bit of a pervert," Zhang Fan said, pursing his lips, also finding the story somewhat strange.

“You don’t understand. When you come across a top-tier tomb, if you don’t get your hands on it and sleep with it, the feeling is so agonizing. I can’t control myself,” Li Yishan sighed.

Perhaps this is the side effect of cultivating the [Jia Sheng Gui Si] method.

However, his side effects were clearly different from others.

"..."

"Come with me!"

Meng Qiwu kept his head down and walked far ahead, afraid of being recognized.

She led Li Yishan and Zhang Fan along a narrow path, crossing a waste paper recycling station, and a hidden alley appeared before them.

There were shops on both sides, but they were much quieter than outside. Some shops even had banners hanging at their entrances, giving them a rather antique feel.

“This is the real black market,” Zhang Fan said in a deep voice.

As he entered this secluded alley, he sensed an unusual aura. Even the [Powerful Spirit Suppressing Demon Golden Seal] in his pocket trembled slightly, as if it had been activated.

Li Miaoyin once said that magical artifacts possess spiritual power, making them a different kind of life. Perhaps there is something here that would interest the [Powerful Demon-Suppressing Golden Seal].

"Let's see who's lucky enough to find a real treasure," Li Yishan murmured.

As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a bad sale, only a bad purchase.

It's almost impossible to find a bargain here. The shopkeepers recognize the real treasures, and you can't take them away unless you offer them a price that makes them want to pay it.

Things like the black iron piece that Zhang Fan bought for two hundred yuan are not common.

“I do know a few shops that I have a good relationship with.” Meng Qiwu was a local expert, and she knew this place much better than Li Yishan.

"If you need anything, just let me know. It's a rare opportunity for you to come all this way, so it would be nice to take this treasure back as a gift."

"Give it away!?"

Zhang Fan's heart stirred slightly, and for some reason, the first image that came to mind was Li Miaoyin.

"Next week is the grand ceremony for the Transcendental Master to accept disciples. I wonder if she will attend," Zhang Fan muttered to himself.

The most anticipated event in the world right now is the disciple-acceptance ceremony to be held at Zhenwu Mountain on the second day of next week, where the Transcendent Master will select his last disciple.

Li Miaoyin had told Zhang Fan that she wanted to go and join in the fun.

Li Miaoyin left in a hurry back then, and counting the days, it's been almost half a month, but Zhang Fan feels like a long time has passed.

"She'll probably go," Zhang Fan thought to himself.

He had originally planned to go directly to Zhenwu Mountain after leaving Chang'an.

"By the way, how are things going between you and Li Miaoyin?"

Just then, Li Yishan's voice suddenly rang out, pulling Zhang Fan back to reality.

"Hmm?" Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat, and his expression became somewhat hesitant.

Who is Li Miaoyin?

Meng Qiwu's womanly intuition kicked in, and she couldn't help but ask.

“My blind date, Zhang Fan, you must have taken good care of her!” Li Yishan said casually.

Upon hearing this, Meng Qiwu was stunned for a moment, then his expression became incredibly interesting, and the way he looked at Zhang Fan changed completely.

(End of this chapter)