Chapter 66: Departure
Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Departure
Fang Chen immediately understood.
Cyan Yang City was a Tier-2 metropolis. Its supplies—especially resources related to Martial Artists and cultivation—were far more abundant than those in a Tier-5 small city like Jinchuan City. Although Jinchuan City was not some newly pioneered border town, the wilderness still harbored hidden dangers. While there were no large-scale Alien Race settlements, ever since the Spiritual Qi Revival a century ago, the beasts’ bloodlines had also been nourished.
A Fierce Beast could pop up out of nowhere at any time. Not to mention, many officially wanted criminals lurked in various regions of the wilderness, engaging in the dirty business of murder and robbery. It was safe to say that every trip out of the city involved risking one’s life, and many people spent their entire lives without ever taking a single step outside Jinchuan City.
These people wanted to take advantage of the Martial Artist exam candidates’ privilege of entering Cyan Yang City under military escort. They wanted the students to bring goods back on their behalf to earn the price difference.
"That’s right! Purchasing agents!" A middle-aged man nearby quickly chimed in. "Look here, student. Cyan Yang City’s Hundred Refinements Steel, Qi Blood Needles, and their local specialty, the Cyan Patterned Python Armor—if you bring them back to Jinchuan, you can flip them for two or three times the profit! It’s a guaranteed win without any losses!"
"We will provide the capital and the shopping list! You just need to buy them. When you get back, we’ll buy them from you at an agreed-upon price. It’s absolutely fair!" Another man wearing glasses added, waving a piece of paper filled with item names and estimated prices.
"Student, want to think about it? After all, you spent 500,000 Zhao Coinage on the registration fee. If you bring back more goods, you might just earn it all back," a tall, skinny man continued to persuade him, his eyes fixed intently on Fang Chen.
Fang Chen’s gaze quickly swept over the list. He didn’t know the market for most of the items listed, but he definitely knew about the Qi Blood Needle.
The list clearly read:
[Qi Blood Needle]
Purchase Location: Jade Dew Hall, Cyan Yang City. Price: 20,000 Zhao Coinage per needle.
This price matched the information he had previously heard from Tianlang and Luo Wu. They had both mentioned that in Jinchuan City’s black market, this item could easily be hyped up to 100,000 per needle, and even then, there was often no supply to meet the demand. However, the buyback price marked on this list was only 40,000.
Fang Chen sneered in his heart. "Heh, buying it for 40,000? If I want to make money, wouldn’t I just contact my own channels to sell it?"
He immediately thought of the guys at the Geta Club. If he asked around, he could definitely find a buyer. Why should he let these middlemen take the lion’s share of the profit? Furthermore, these purchasing agents had calculated everything perfectly. Their so-called agreement actually placed a lot of restrictions on the students, and they would only hand over a small deposit at most. If anything happened to the goods along the way—if they were stolen or robbed—all the losses, including the potential compensation for the deposit, would be borne by the students themselves.
The students carried all the risks, while the profits were stripped away layer by layer. Fang Chen had absolutely no interest in this kind of risk-free profiteering scheme and shook his head, refusing outright.
However, taking advantage of that quick glance, he had carefully memorized some key information on the list. Besides the Qi Blood Needle and the Realm-Breaking Pill, there was a series of Enhancing Potions he hadn’t known much about before.
[Steel Bone Potion] — Significantly improves physical strike resistance.
[Fiery Sun Marrow-Burning Liquid] — Permanently increases the body’s tolerance to Flame and high-temperature damage.
[Ten Thousand Poisons Body Tempering Powder] — Permanently enhances resistance to various toxins by enduring the torment of specific lethal poisons.
[Thunder Core Fusion Paste] — Channels Thunder Power to temper the physical body, permanently boosting resistance to lightning-attribute energy.
[Concentrating Spirit and Nourishing Soul Powder] — Permanently enhances Spiritual Power, substantially resisting Mental Shock and Illusion Art interference.
...
These potions were all sourced from Jade Dew Hall in Cyan Yang City.
"It seems Cyan Yang City really has a lot of good stuff." A glimmer flashed in Fang Chen’s eyes. "Once I get there, I’ll definitely have to consume these to my heart’s content."
He walked out of the crowd and arrived at the school gate. His gaze swept over the itinerary and precautions posted on the bulletin board, though he had long since memorized their contents. Bored out of his mind, he leaned against the wall. After waiting for about half an hour, the roar of engines finally came from a distance.
Two military-green convertible off-road vehicles led the way. Heavy machine guns were mounted on their sturdy frames, exuding a chilling aura of slaughter. They were followed by three buses tasked with transporting the students. At the rear of the convoy were two more military off-road vehicles, equally armed to the teeth. The soldiers in the vehicles carried loaded firearms, and small-caliber rapid-fire cannons could even be seen mounted on the back. The security was incredibly tight.
What made Fang Chen’s Heart Spirit tremble slightly was that his Spiritual Power Perception detected a powerful Aura radiating from each of the four military off-road vehicles. These Auras were condensed and profound, far surpassing the True Martial Realm.
"High Martial Realm experts..." he thought, understanding the situation clearly.
Each military vehicle was actually escorted by a High Martial Realm expert. With such a guard detail, even if they encountered the tentacle monster from the previous dream event, they would be able to put up a fight.
The convoy slowly came to a halt. Fang Chen didn’t delay any further; he found a spot and stood quietly to wait. Seeing this, the surrounding students, who were originally standing around in a scattered manner, also began to fall into line.
However, as they stood there, Fang Chen suddenly felt that something was amiss. The few columns of people originally standing on his left and right had, at some unknown point, all shifted behind him, abruptly making him the very first person at the front of the entire formation. The crowd behind him swelled, even extending all the way down the long flight of stairs inside the school gate, packed so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through.
Principal Yu hurried over. Seeing the situation, his brows furrowed deeply as he shouted, "Hey! Each bus seats thirty people! Don’t all squeeze together in one place. The people in the back, hurry up and form a line over here!"
However, after shouting a few times, aside from a small handful of students who shuffled their feet, most of them just looked at each other. Their feet seemed rooted to the ground; hardly anyone moved.
Principal Yu’s gaze landed on Fang Chen at the very front, and he instantly understood. "Good heavens, they all want to ride on his coattails!"
He cleared his throat and shouted loudly once again, "Listen up, all of you! Get on the buses! You haven’t been assigned into teams in advance! Even if you have to group up later, it won’t be based on which bus you’re sitting on now! Hurry up, move faster!"
With him emphasizing it like that, a sparse number of people from the very back of the line finally came over, filling in the empty spaces in front of the other two buses. But the vast majority of them still crowded tightly behind Fang Chen, their eyes burning with eagerness, as if sticking close to Fang Chen meant they were already halfway to success.
Fang Chen also felt awkward. "Those who don’t know would think I’ve usurped the principal’s authority. Besides, I don’t even have absolute certainty of passing myself."
The door of the first bus opened with a loud HISS. Fang Chen stepped on board, heading straight for a window seat in the middle-rear section of the bus and sitting down. His movement was like an issued command. The crowd behind him immediately surged forward, scrambling to follow, terrified of being even a step too slow.
In just a moment, the thirty seats on the first bus were rapidly filled. The latecomers outside could only stand by resentfully, watching with envious eyes. Those who had squeezed on but failed to grab a seat reluctantly stepped back off before shuffling over to board the second and third buses.
Principal Yu watched this scene, rubbing his temples helplessly.
"What a headache..." he muttered to himself.
Who in the entire school didn’t know about Fang Chen’s strength? They were even more aware that the first trial of the Martial Artist exam was in the Dream Shadow Forest. It was a comprehensive testing ground. If they followed the right person, they could pass the first trial with barely any effort—essentially coasting straight into the second round. He even suspected that if Fang Chen was willing to set a price for teaming up, he could make an absolute fortune today.
Once it was confirmed that all the vehicles were fully boarded, the military officer in charge of the escort nodded to Principal Yu.
"Move out!"
The convoy slowly started up, driving toward the first stop of the Martial Artist exam—the Dream Shadow Forest.