Omnipotent Overlord

In ten minutes, Jiang Xiaomei was back.

Hu Dezhi was startled, “Where’s the old sport?”

“He said he wasn’t feeling well and went to the restroom.”

“Ha-ha, what a good excuse.” Zhang Ding mocked.

“Then let’s look around for a bit.” Hu Dezhi proposed to which the others agreed.

“Great item!” Zhang Ding stopped in front of a stall and held a transparent blue ring, made of neither metal nor jade.

“Celestial Master Zhang, what is it?” Hu Dezhi rushed next to him.

A rather aged man behind the stall gave his thumbs up, “You have good eyes, sir. This ring is called the Star Ring. It is said the material it was made of came from outer space, the reason for its name. Wearing it will make you immune to minor diseases, repel demons, make you sharp, cough, cough.”

If not for his coughing, Hu Dezhi would’ve believed him.

Hu Dezhi was about to leave and the old stall owner hastened to say, “Don’t misunderstand, I am severely ill. This is not a minor disease.”

“How much is it?”

“1 million, or a low spiritual bead. Both are acceptable.”

Quite cheap. Hu Dezhi asked, “Celestial Master Zhang, you truly think this is real?”

Zhang Ding faltered. He thought it was great because it had the spirit gathering talisman engraved on it. He hoped to show off his wide array of knowledge in magical arts, but that stall owner had to ruin everything with his coughing.

Zhang Ding spun the ‘Star Ring’ before his eyes then put it back, “Director Hu, I was wrong. The  talisman is broken and no longer works.” 

Hu Dezhi nodded, losing interest in the ring.

“A low spiritual bead was it? Here!”

A rough voice came and a man threw a low spiritual bead at the old stall owner.

The man took the Star Ring.

He was two meters tall and yet was more like Hu Dezhi’s build, lanky.

Zhang Ding couldn’t contain himself, “The spirit gathering talisman on the ring is broken and is useless now. You have money to burn?”

“Yeah, so much it burns my hand!”

Zhang Ding flicked his sleeve and left. He didn’t want to deal with imbeciles.

Hu Dezhi was at a stall inspecting an item. It was a beast bone filled with carvings, Qimen Dunjia.

The bone was intact, but the writing was a bunch of scribbles. He focused long and hard but couldn’t make sense of anything.

The seller said, “Customer, this is a genuine oracle bone script, the very first one of its kind, Qimen Dunjia. Zhuge Liang, Zhang Liang, Liu Bowen, those famous master strategist in history, all learned from this item.”

“Do you recognize it’s characters?”

“Customer must be joking. If I could, why would I sell it? I would’ve been a new Zhuge or Zhang Liang by now.”

Zhang Ding snorted, “Then how do you know this is authentic Qimen Dunjia? Director Hu, he is a cheater no doubt.”

The owner was annoyed, “Customer, your words are wrong. I may not know what it says but someone I know did. He did not know their meaning but at least recognized the title, Qimen Dunjia.”

Hu Dezhi asked, “Celestial Master Zhang, what do you think? Is it real? Is it an antique?”

“Um, it should, more or less.” Zhang Ding was skilled in talismans, while lacking in the appraising department.

Hu Dezhi frowned and looked around, talking to himself, “What’s taking old sport Li so long?”

Zhang Ding said, “Director Hu, based on the color and the script on the bone, it must be real.”

“Sure?”

“Positive!”

“I’ll buy it!” Hu Dezhi spent 30 million on the bone.

They went along and reached another vendor.

This didn’t sell antiques but precious jades.

There was no question about them being true or fake because the stall sign clearly wrote ‘authenticity guaranteed’ preceded by the character Bai. 

All stalls with this sign were genuine sellers, Bai clan approved. The guarantee laid in being refunded ten times the price if it turned out to be fake. 

In this underground black market, the cheapest item was a few hundred thousand. Who’d dare to put up such a sign and still cheat?

“Director Hu, to cultivators, the jades are divided differently than mortals do. The jades have different attributes and all kinds of different effects. See this fire qi jade? It contains fire spiritual qi. A fire attribute cultivator wearing such an item will have increased power in his fire magical arts.”

“This for example, is called true qi jade, a universal jade for all attributes. No matter the attribute a cultivator has, wearing this jade will greatly increase his power. This jade is best for people without attributes. “

Zhang Ding pointed at a brick-sized blue jade, his face flushed with excitement. He was such a person, without attributes. How could he not be interested in it?

There was a price tag beneath every jade. The fire qi jade was two high spiritual beads, while the true qi jade, ten.

“One billion!” Hu Dezhi was shocked.

This stall was real, no doubt about it, but the price was vicious…

“Director Hu, the jades here are good, with the best being the true qi jade.”

Hu Dezhi sighed, “So expensive. Not even my family fortune is enough to buy it.” If Hu Dezhi had the money, he’d devise any method to get in Tang Zhan’s good graces.

“But this jade is worth such a price. My master said to me many times that ten thousand jades can’t compare with even one true qi jade.”

“Is there no way to buy it?” Hu Dezhi said, deflated.

“I’ll buy it. This, that, and that, oh this too. In fact, give me every jade here.”

In Zhang Ding’s moment of sadness and with Hu Dezhi sighing, the lanky fellow from before came and pointed everywhere as he bought the jades.

Zhang Ding was wide-eyed, “All? H-how much does that make?”

“Ten billions at least!” Hu Dezhi was sweating.

The two watched the lanky tossing out high spiritual beads to their dismay.

“Any more stock? I’ll take that as well!” 

The two now noticed the large bag on his back. He must’ve bought a lot more stuff before he came here.

“Rich people are such goddamned show-offs.” Zhang Ding cursed.

Hu Dezhi sighed watching the lanky man walk away with now a fuller bag with all the jade stock, “Friend, the underground black market has a delivery facility. Just leave them in Bai clan’s care along with your address and they will deliver them to your house free of charge.”

The underground black market lasted for so long, and thrived, because the Bai clan held many kinds of services.

The lanky man stopped. “Thanks.”