Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World

Chapter 539: Chapter 287: The ’Boatmen’ of Two Places

Continuing on, he saw a stall surrounded by a large crowd. The voice of what seemed to be the owner drifted out from inside.

"...Don’t worry, you’re getting more, not less. Two pounds of Exotic Beast Flesh for five Spirit Crystals, and you’re still trying to haggle with me...?"

"Hey, keep your hands off that. Just tell me how much you need, and I’ll cut it for you... Look, don’t worry. These are Exotic Beasts I raised myself. I’m here selling every day. Go on and ask around—is there anyone here who doesn’t know me!?"

Curious, Cheng Zongyang made his way to the less crowded area behind the stall and peered inside.

He saw a middle-aged man, his powerful torso bare, cutting chunks of meat on a large block.

With a single stroke, his cleaver rose and fell, cleanly slicing off a piece of meat that seemed to be the perfect weight. He quickly snagged it with a hook fashioned from a long iron spike and handed it to the customer.

"Here you go. Four pounds, if not more. Come find me if it’s short. Ten Spirit Crystals!"

The customer was clearly a regular. Chuckling, he quickly counted out ten Spirit Crystals, handed them to the butcher, and left with the meat hook in hand.

’Exotic Beast Flesh, that he raised himself?’ Cheng Zongyang recalled the man’s words.

He glanced at the meat on the block. As the crowd bought it up piece by piece, the supply quickly ran out.

It reminded Cheng Zongyang of a scene from his past life: a butcher at a bustling local market, hoisting a large hog onto a block only for people to buy it up by the dozen pounds. The kind of scene where half of a three-hundred-pound hog would be sold out in less than half an hour.

When the butcher had sold all the Exotic Beast Flesh he’d brought, those who were unable to buy any could only disperse in disappointment.

"You’re a bit late, young man. Come back in two hours. I’m all sold out."

The butcher turned, spotting Cheng Zongyang watching him from a few feet away. He spoke as he started packing up his tools.

Cheng Zongyang chuckled. "I’m not here to buy meat. Sir, could we talk for a moment? About business."

He had already noticed that this butcher was also a Martial Artist, one who radiated an extremely powerful Qi and Blood Power.

This was no ordinary Upper Three Grades Martial Artist; he might have even reached the Innate level of Cultivation.

An Innate Expert would be treated as a guest of honor by any faction in the Martial Arts Realm, yet here one was, working as a butcher.

’If he told Yu Wenlin and the others, they probably wouldn’t believe him.’

However, he recalled Lady Qin’s earlier warning: Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators who achieved Entering the Dao through martial arts also exhibited this kind of Qi and Blood Power, so he couldn’t make a rash judgment based on his gut feeling. The man could very well be a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator.

Upon hearing this, the butcher began loading his equipment onto a handcart. He sized Cheng Zongyang up for a moment before turning back to his work. "What kind of business?"

Cheng Zongyang said, "I hear you raise Exotic Beasts and bring them here to sell every day. I was wondering, what’s your maximum daily supply?"

The butcher paused. Understanding the implication, he looked at Cheng Zongyang again. "You want to buy in bulk? How much are you looking for?"

Cheng Zongyang chuckled. "As much as you can provide. I’ll buy everything you have."

The butcher froze for a moment. He glanced at Cheng Zongyang, assuming he was joking, then shook his head. "Sorry, I don’t have that much."

"That’s all right, we can negotiate," Cheng Zongyang said. "If not the flesh, we’ll even purchase the Exotic Beast Blood. Same offer—we’ll buy as much as you have."

The butcher frowned. "Who do you represent?"

Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "Would you be willing to sell your secret method for raising Exotic Beasts? Of course, we wouldn’t use it for business. It’s for our own group’s consumption, so we wouldn’t be competing with you."

Cheng Zongyang knew he was being audacious, but he had to test the waters.

If he could buy the method, it would save him a great deal of trouble.