Xuanqing Guard-Chapter 69: Flying Dragon

The Jingjiu Dynasty enforced extremely strict control over magical artifacts; selling or buying them in private was a serious crime. Still, there were always those willing to risk everything for the fat profit—one good deal, and you could disappear to a new life without worries.

Flying Dragon never dared to actually handle magical artifacts himself. He acted more like a go-between, earning a middleman’s fee. Buying or selling, he’d never directly get his hands dirty. The good thing about this was that even if things went south, he wouldn’t lose his head, and the longer he survived, the more valuable he became.

The bad thing was, people like him easily drew the attention of the Local Government Office and Xuanqing Guard.

A few years ago, Flying Dragon almost got thrown in jail over an illegal materials case. In the end, he got out of it by agreeing to be an undercover asset for the Xuanqing Guard. The man in charge of that case was Shen Hao—that’s how the two of them met. Later on, with inside info from Flying Dragon, Shen Hao rounded up quite a few people in the black market, and Flying Dragon, under Xuanqing Guard’s semi-blind eye, gradually made a name for himself down below.

But not long ago, Flying Dragon heard Shen Hao had gotten promoted—now he was the newly appointed Black Banner Camp Commander. Then came the famous bloodbath at East Market; Flying Dragon saw with his own eyes two hundred bloody heads piled in bamboo baskets. Since then, he’s been downright terrified of this Shen Zongqi.

Now, asked about magical artifacts, Flying Dragon didn’t dare play dumb.

"Commander Shen, the black market’s not what it used to be. Big trades are pretty much gone. What’s left is just scraps—nothing but small fry. Sure, there are magical artifacts, but it’s all junk stuff..."

"Junk stuff? Make it clear."

"Heh. Stuff that makes pretty girls with illusion skill, so horny toads can ’eat swan’s meat’ inside the illusion. In the trade, we call that the ’Hundred Beauty Disc’. That’s the hottest magical artifact out there now."

Shen Hao: "..."

Goddamn Hundred Beauty Disc!

"Is this thing a recent development?"

"Yeah. Maybe just over a year now. There used to be stuff like it, but it was crude, didn’t work well, few tricks up its sleeve—no comparison with the new ones."

"Further back? Other than that kind of dirty magical artifact, are there still trades in illusion arrays or blinding class artifacts?"

"Uh... Now that’s hard for me. The deals definitely exist, just not with me. I never go near that shi..."

"Any way to check?"

"Ah? Well..." High risk, but Flying Dragon really didn’t dare say no.

Shen Hao waved his hand. Instantly, a brawny warrior behind him pulled out a silver note worth five hundred taels and slapped it on the table.

"Five hundred taels, that’s up front. Bring me the info, I’ll pay another thousand. Take the job or not?"

Flying Dragon felt those two half-naked brutes in the interrogation room already eyeing him up and down. His back was slick with cold sweat—if he didn’t agree, his ending would be pure hell.

"Yes, yes, yes! Commander Shen, don’t worry, I’ll give it my all!"

"Good. Take care of the silver note yourself. I won’t keep you for lunch. Someone’ll show you out the back soon. Remember: three days. You have three days, and I expect results."

"Okay, okay."

Flying Dragon stumbled out the Xuanqing Guard’s back door looking deathly pale, hunched over. He half-jogged into a deserted alley before collapsing to the ground, gasping for air like a fish on land.

For all his brawn, Flying Dragon was just a nobody inside. Greedy for life, deathly afraid, always walking a razor thin line in the gray. In that interrogation room, seeing the coldness in Shen Hao’s eyes—it felt like being stared at like a bug. And he was that bug.

At least, he made it out alive.

But now he had to go dig up old black market magical artifact deals? That job could get him killed for sure!

Run?

Flying Dragon shook his head. Thinking of running from the Xuanqing Guard? Dream on. All he could do now was grit his teeth and obey, help Shen Hao check out the artifact deals. If things worked out, maybe he’d get to keep living. If not—it’d be the end anyway.

"Aiya..."

He slumped on the ground for half the time it took one incense stick to burn. Then Flying Dragon climbed up and slapped his own cheeks hard to psyche himself up. Once back on the street, he instantly looked like a big, beefy tough guy—danger in his eyes, "Brother Flying Dragon" back in business.

...

People acted like the black market was something mysterious, but to someone like Shen Hao, it was nothing special.

Digging up clues about magical artifacts on the black market? That was only one part of it. Whether he’d get anything from it, Shen Hao wasn’t sure yet.

"Commander, this is intelligence from Wang Xiaoqi."

A subordinate warrior handed over a copper rod, bearing Wang Jian’s signature.

He used his waist token to unlock the rod. Inside was a scroll reporting on covert investigations into Population Department officials in various cities. Classified stuff—Wang Jian hadn’t been able to deliver it himself but passed it through secure Xuanqing Guard channels.

Looking into officials inside the government office without alerting the local authorities—everyone knows it happens, but it absolutely cannot come out into the open. Otherwise, it’d be a real mess.

But within the Xuanqing Guard, Shen Hao had official clearance. Neither Tang Qingyuan nor Chen Yiyun cared about the Black Banner Battalion’s investigations into the Population Department. They’d always looked down on the local government offices—so what if some rules got bent? As long as it didn’t leak, no harm done, right?

"Backgrounds clean? No anomalies for now?"

These words made Shen Hao nod to himself. No issues with the Population Department staff—he could relax just a bit.

"If that’s the case, it has to be those evil cultivators sneaking into the Population Department to rifle through the population registers. Hmm...which means it’ll be a lot harder to trace."

Almost noon. Shen Hao thought a moment, then skipped the Xuanqing Guard canteen and changed into casual clothes to hit a breakfast stall near West Gate.

The timing was perfect—when Shen Hao arrived, the local couple who ran the stall were halfway done packing up.

"Hey! Shen, you’re here! Haven’t seen you in ages. I still have the extra money you gave me last time."

"Alright, same as usual—two bowls of soymilk, five meat pies, and if there’s any porridge, give me a bowl too. I’m starving."

"No problem, sit tight, it’ll be right up."

With a regular customer, the owner paused cleaning up, tossed five remaining meat pies back on the griddle to warm up, ladled up two big bowls of soymilk, fetched a bowl of porridge for Shen Hao, and even found a braised egg from under the stall, setting it beside the bowl.

"Braised egg, on the house."

"Oh? Thanks a lot."

Shen Hao bit into a meat pie, chased it down with soymilk. Then a bite of braised egg, another spoonful of porridge.

"By the way, boss, did you recall anything about your daughter’s disappearance? I heard there was another missing child in Yu City days ago."

"Sigh, nothing. If I had, I’d have told you long ago."

"Really? I bet there’s got to be something! No way your girl just vanished without a trace. Think hard, was anything that day off? Anything you felt was different from usual?"

"Sigh... I remember that whole day perfectly. You want to hear, I’ll tell you." For someone concerned for his missing kid, the owner was always kind—even though he hated remembering that day, he still recited the whole thing for the umpteenth time, the words burned into his brain for years.

Shen Hao ate but listened closely. Even if he’d read the file before, he didn’t let his mind wander—just in case something wasn’t in the official record.

"...Later on, I smelled a sweet scent, really nice, thought maybe some pretty girl passed by in front of the stall. But saw no one. That’s when I realized—my daughter, who’d been helping pick up bowls next to the stall, was gone..."

"Wait, you said you smelled a sweet scent, just now?"