Wherever rivers flow and sunlight shines, all lands belong to the king.
Yet everything has its light and dark sides. In this world, there are always shadowy corners that even sunlight cannot reach.
In these dark corners grows an underworld society that operates beyond the reach of the Great Zhou's laws.
The black market is precisely such a place.
Ergouzi had always wondered where Sima Yi sold all those Strength Pills and how he obtained so many Peiyuan Gutben Pills.
Yet both had maintained an unspoken understanding—one never asked, the other never told.
But today, after seeing that bronze token, Sima Yi hesitated before finally revealing his secret.
Anyone holding this token could enter the black market by finding the entrance and reciting the correct passcode.
When sharing the passcode, Sima Yi made one small request—for Ergouzi to purchase 100 dan of grain for him.
At current prices, this would cost 500 taels of silver, but compared to the value of this secret, it was nothing.
Following Sima Yi's directions, Ergouzi entered a secluded alley that felt strangely familiar.
When a woman beckoned him from behind a half-open door, he suddenly remembered—he'd been here once before.
During his first tax payment trip to the county town with Huang Laocai, some tenants had joked about "showing him the world" near this very spot.
The address led to that same small pharmacy—barely stocked, where the physician only performed abortions, treated impotence, and cured venereal diseases (as detailed in Chapter 14).
The elderly physician lounged in his chair sipping tea when Ergouzi entered.
"Need an abortion or treatment for the clap?"
"The clap!" Ergouzi answered calmly, though his soy-sauce colored cheeks flushed crimson.
"What symptoms?"
"Cauliflower-like growths, occasional itching, recently started oozing pus."
Ergouzi cursed inwardly—whoever devised this passcode deserved a special place in hell.
"Drop your trousers for examination."
"Here? In public?"
"Follow me to the back room then."
After verifying the token, the physician had Ergouzi don an iron mask before revealing a hidden cellar entrance.
Descending narrow steps, Ergouzi found a winding tunnel lit by oil lamps, eventually leading to a solid bronze door that required True Qi to open.
A masked guard used Qi Observation Technique—revealing his own Qi Refining first-level cultivation—before collecting the 10-tael entrance fee.
Beyond lay a bustling marketplace where most wore masks. Stalls displayed exotic wares—from ginseng roots to行军丸 (Marching Pills), the latter claiming one pill equaled a dou of rice.
Ergouzi recalled reading about these pills in Zhengwu Hall's archives—refined by cultivators, requiring three dou of rice per pill. As cultivation advanced, practitioners needed more sustenance—Ergouzi himself consumed a dou daily at Qi Refining fourth-level.
Noticing Strength Pills selling for double what Sima Yi paid him, Ergouzi briefly considered selling directly here before dismissing the idea—he lacked both time and the Sima family's protection.
A grain shop displayed ordinary cereals sold in 100-dan lots, plus two special measures of spiritual rice at 100 taels per sheng. Learning these required spirit fields—all controlled by major families—Ergouzi still purchased one dou as seed.
When the merchant mentioned collecting purchased grain from the county office, Ergouzi realized this black market's astonishing connections.
After negotiating to sell his spirit-infested jujubes (originally goose feed) for 20 taels per sheng, Ergouzi made two trips with fifteen dou total—earning 3,000 taels to cover his 1,500-tael expenses (seed rice and Sima Yi's grain), leaving with silver and an official receipt.