Chapter 64: Spending Money Like Water

Meng Yifan looked down upon the Black Powder sold by the burly man; he had experimented and found that Black Powder prepared with scientific ratios had its power increased by 0.5 times compared to the Black Powder currently on the market.

This was a huge improvement; if the master craftsmen of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty who developed gunpowder knew about it, their jaws would certainly drop.

After all, the Elm Cannon was not the bronze Shenwu Great General Cannon, so the amount of gunpowder it could be loaded with was limited; if it were loaded with the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty's Black Powder to fire an Iron Ball, it would have been impossible to heavily damage the Third Grade Middle Rank Flying Tiger Demon when they fought it back then.

The Black Powder Meng Yifan formulated himself was powerful, but it was not enough for now; although he was somewhat dissatisfied with the explosive power of these two barrels of Black Powder, he still decided to buy them.

He would just make do with them for now; having something was better than having nothing. If the quality wasn't up to par, he would make up for it with quantity. At worst, he would just use more Black Powder to make a large explosive pack, which, if used well, would be enough to give the enemy a hard time.

Meng Yifan took out two hundred taels in Silver Notes and bought both barrels of Black Powder. Then, to hide his identity, he put a peach pit in his mouth, lowered his voice, and asked vaguely: "May I ask if you have any Saltpeter for sale?"

The burly man did not reply, but shook his head; it was unclear whether he had none or simply did not want to sell Saltpeter separately.

This burly man had a somewhat eccentric personality and seemed not to want too much contact with others. Once the transaction was complete, he took the Silver Notes and walked away without looking back.

Meng Yifan stepped forward, wanting to ask more, but the burly man had already gripped his waist saber, condensing his True Qi in preparation for a fight. Meng Yifan paused and did not move; he only wanted to inquire about Saltpeter, not to fight this burly man.

Seeing that Meng Yifan did not approach further, the burly man did not draw his waist saber, but walked vigilantly step by step toward the woods, soon disappearing from sight.

"Everyone in the Heishi feels very insecure; they are all guarding against others playing dirty," Meng Yifan muttered. He and Meng Dayong each carried a wooden barrel and continued to browse the Heishi to see if they could buy Saltpeter.

After walking a bit further, Meng Yifan saw a vendor selling Bird Guns. This seller had a large business, with forty or fifty Bird Guns laid out on the stall.

Meng Dayong picked up a Bird Gun, checked it with practiced movements, and then nodded at Meng Yifan. These Bird Guns were well-made and could be used with confidence; they would not easily explode in the barrel.

There was a wooden sign on the stall, which stated that one Bird Gun sold for forty taels of silver, twice as expensive as the regular shops in the city.

Meng Yitong and the other fourteen young men each needed to be equipped with at least one Bird Gun. Although those old men were now aged and frail, they had all been good hunters when they were young. It would certainly not work to have them engage in close-quarters combat, but having them hide in the back and fire Bird Guns might be even more accurate than those young men.

Meng Yifan prepared to equip every villager following him with a Bird Gun, which required purchasing another thirty-two; calculating it out, it would cost one thousand two hundred and eighty taels of silver.

Meng Yifan really wanted to buy all the Bird Guns on this stall, but he did not have much silver left now. After buying these thirty-two Bird Guns, he would only have eight hundred taels remaining.

Silver was too easy to spend. Buying medicinal herbs, Bird Guns, gunpowder, elm trunks, Iron Balls, and other cold weapons—after all this buying, Meng Yifan's silver was almost spent. This made him somewhat distressed; he still wanted to buy other good things, and these eight hundred taels might not be enough.

Since Meng Yifan and his group bought so much, the Bird Gun vendor gave them a wheelbarrow. Meng Yifan placed the purchased Bird Guns and Black Powder on the wheelbarrow, and Meng Dayong pushed it as they walked.

The two continued to browse further ahead. Meng Yifan also wanted to buy a Century-old Datura Flower, but unfortunately, after walking a full circle, he did not see any for sale.

What surprised Meng Yifan was that there were also people selling Pills in the Heishi, mainly Breakthrough Pills, and the price was thirty percent cheaper than those inside Wanxiang Tower, yet there were not many buyers.

"Wanxiang Tower is backed by the Astrological Bureau, so the quality of the Pills inside is guaranteed. Even though they are more expensive, everyone accepts it. The Pills in the Heishi are privately refined by Alchemists, so the quality is uneven."

"Some Pills have better medicinal effects than those sold in Wanxiang Tower, while others, after being consumed, might even lead to True Qi disorder and death by explosion. It's like opening a blind box; you only know how the Pill works after you take it."

"Therefore, only those who have been stuck at a bottleneck for many years but don't have the money to buy regular Breakthrough Pills at Wanxiang Tower will buy Pills in the Heishi to try their luck."

Meng Dayong sighed endlessly. He was one of those unlucky people who had been stuck at a bottleneck for many years and had thought about coming to the Heishi to buy a Breakthrough Pill to try his luck, but later, the burden on his family became heavier and heavier, and he couldn't even scrape together the silver to buy a Breakthrough Pill in the Heishi.

Meng Yifan did not buy any Pills here. He didn't know how to distinguish the efficacy of Pills, so how could he dare to take medicine indiscriminately? Wouldn't that be courting death?

What Meng Yifan wanted to find most were cultivation techniques or Dharma Artifacts for Immortals, but unfortunately, after circling this Heishi, he found none. It seemed that things related to Immortal cultivation were truly rare within Luolong County.

The common masses who wanted to cultivate basically practiced martial arts techniques. Those fortunate enough to become an Immortal Cultivator were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, very few and far between.

Meng Yifan prepared to leave. Just as he was walking outward, the Ghost Head Blade on his back trembled slightly, as if something had attracted it. Meng Yifan was startled; ever since he obtained this Ghost Head Blade, he had carefully studied this Dharma Artifact.

Several times, Meng Yifan had been able to vaguely feel that there was indeed some kind of spiritual existence hidden within the Ghost Head Blade, presumably the legendary Artifact Spirit.

He tried to communicate with it, but that mysterious existence simply ignored him. When Meng Yifan transmitted True Qi to it, it also seemed somewhat disdainful, as if it looked down on True Qi and wanted to consume higher-level energy.

The Ghost Head Blade had never actively trembled in Meng Yifan's hands before. Could it be that it had discovered something good?

Meng Yifan pressed down on the Ghost Head Blade and looked around calmly. Soon, he saw a small stall not far from him, on which were placed some ancient bronze artifacts covered in spots of rust.

From these ancient artifacts, a sense of vicissitudes left by the passage of time flowed out, and there was even some soil ingrained inside the artifacts. It was obvious that these bronze ancient artifacts had been buried underground for many years; they were likely burial objects, but now they had been dug up and were being sold.

This stall sold antiques. Some scholarly officials liked to buy these antiques to play with, appreciate, cultivate their character, and refine their sentiments.

When those above have a preference, those below will surely follow. Those wealthy merchants who wanted to curry favor with officials would rack their brains to collect antiques to please the officials, which formed the antique market.

The antique trade was very deep. It was said that many masters of forgery could make fakes look like the real thing. Many wealthy merchants spent huge sums of money to buy antiques, only for them to be discovered as fakes after being delivered to the officials. Giving a fake as a gift was a huge slap in the face.