150 The Three Black Markets
“The team leader asked us to move them here. The Preston team’s base is filled with burly martial artists. They’re brave and good at fighting. If they were to fiddle with antiques, they would definitely cut seven or eight of them into pieces with one slash.”
Logan Hall explained as he entered.
Therefore, it was better to send these things to Braydon Neal.
For martial artists, they rarely cared about antiques.
There were only two things that they cared about. One was the spiritual herbs, and the other was the ancient martial arts techniques.
Braydon laughed but did not say anything. He could send it to anyone as a birthday gift.
Giving the five famous kilns as gifts was perhaps something only Braydon was brazened enough to do.
In the small courtyard, a ten-year-old girl was holding a bright red candied haws in her hand. She was wearing sports clothes, and her round face was very cute.
“Big Brother, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you!” She called out sweetly.
“Big Brother went out to handle some matters. Did you cultivate the heaven-patching art that I taught you?” Braydon doted on Ginny Neal a lot.
“I did,” Ginny said seriously, “but Uncle said that I needed spiritual stones for cultivation, so my father went out early in the morning to buy them for me.”
Braydon felt a little guilty. He had forgotten about this.
Ginny’s cultivation of forbidden ancient martial arts required spiritual stones as a foundation. He had actually forgotten about this.
Liam Neal definitely did not want to trouble him, so he went out personally to find a way to buy spiritual stones.
But don’t forget.
Whether it was the Preston team or other places, the special operations team of every region strictly prohibited the trade of spiritual stones and spiritual herbs!
There was no reason to ban the circulation of spiritual herbs.
Once discovered, the spiritual herbs would be confiscated!
It was an invisible suppression of the solo martial artists. No one would care if they cultivated alone, as long as they did not harm ordinary people.
Although there was suppression everywhere, there were not many martial artists who were timid. Old-timers like Old Man Zito were an exception.
That was why there were black markets everywhere!
There was also a black market in Preston where martial artists bought and sold what they needed.
However, spiritual stones and spiritual herbs were rare.
There were more buyers and fewer sellers.
Basically, whoever had spiritual herbs to sell would attract many buyers at the same time.
It was already afternoon now. Liam went out in the morning and had not returned yet, which inevitably made people worried.
Among martial artists, there were quite a few cases of underhanded tactics.
Some martial artists who did not have money to buy spiritual stones would not care about paying up. Instead, they would take them by force.
When martial artists did things, they tend to use force to solve everything.
“Logan, where did my fourth uncle go?” Braydon frowned.
“Fourth Master Neal went to the black market this morning. He should be back by now.”
Logan’s heart jolted, and he had a bad premonition.
He has not returned yet, so something must have happened!
“Take me there!” Braydon took off his cloak and said indifferently.
Logan did not dare to waste any time and immediately brought Braydon to the Preston black market.
There were three black markets in Preston.
The first one was the Antique Street. During the day, it was filled with tourists from other places. The locals came at night, bringing enough cash to buy newly unearthed dark artifacts, which were antiques with the smell of earth.
As long as they had some connections and resold antiques, they would have earned a lot of money in the past few years.
The second place was where people from all walks of life gathered. It was the least popular place among the three black markets.
Anyone with a bit of status disdained hanging around there.
Most of them were punks who were poor.
The last one was the black market for martial artists.
The black market, where martial artists gathered, was the most secretive. Without the introduction of the seniors, newcomers could not enter at all.
As for ordinary people, they surely could not enter.
Because this place was not prepared for ordinary people.
Even the rich and influential could not enter the place where martial artists secretly traded spiritual herbs or else it would expose the group of martial artists.
That would be stirring trouble with the Preston team!
At that time, the black market would probably be wiped out by the Preston team in less than two hours.
“Although this black market is well-hidden, it has been under the surveillance of the Preston team for many years, and there hasn’t been any major chaos!” Logan said on the way.
“Martial artists are strictly forbidden to gather and trade in other places. We will destroy every place we find. How are you allowing this to go on?” Tristan Yandell said shortly.
Logan smiled bitterly. “Deputy Governor Yandell, you’ve been in the capital for too long and don’t understand the situation here. If you destroy a black market like this today, it will reopen in another place tomorrow. With martial artists, there will definitely be a black market!”
After he had finished speaking, Tristan fell into deep thought.
There were no fools in the car, so they knew that the black market was not the main point.
As long as there were martial artists, there would be transactions of spiritual herbs. It was impossible to stop that.
...
The black market would naturally disappear if all the martial artists in the world had been killed.
But this kind of thing was clearly never possible.
The black markets in various places had been banned repeatedly, so it was better to put them under the surveillance of the major special operations teams. Once there was a situation, they could respond immediately.
Therefore, the black market had always been under the Preston team’s watch.
In the old district, there was an abandoned residential area. There were as many as five or six abandoned cement buildings. Only seven or eight floors had been built before they stopped. It was said that the developer’s funds ran out, and the residential area became an abandoned area.
This place naturally became the black market for martial artists.
Some people had set up a base here, and it had become a gathering place for martial artists in the Preston region. Sometimes, martial artists from Lamar city and Quill would also come.
There were obviously people coming in and out of the entrance of the abandoned building.
Braydon was stopped at the door.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” There were six people at the gate post, and all of them were martial artists.
Since martial artists were guarding the door, it showed that the boss behind the black market was not an ordinary person. At least in Preston city, he could be considered a person with eyes and hands everywhere.
...
“I’m here to find someone,” Braydon said.
“Go somewhere else. This is private property. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering!”
The elite martial artist guarding the door was not polite at all.
Tristan took a step forward and raised his palm.
Smack!
With just one slap, he sent someone flying.
“I’m giving you face!” Tristan attacked without any nonsense.
If the person guarding the door was an ordinary person, perhaps Tristan would have explained.
However, the other party was a martial artist, so Tristan did not show any mercy.
Half of the elite martial artist’s face was swollen, and he trembled with anger. He said angrily, “Do you know whose territory this is?”
“Do you know whose territory Preston is?” Tristan chuckled.
This rhetorical question stunned the elite martial artist.
Whose territory was Preston?
As a martial artist, it should be the territory of the Preston team!
“Do you know whose territory the 72 cities out of the three provinces in the central plains belong to?” Tristan asked softly.
It made the elite martial artist’s eyelids twitch, and he forgot about the pain on his face. He looked stunned on the surface, but he was actually panicking.
There was no reason why. He was just panicking!
However, it was useless to panic!
A skinny martial artist beside him said arrogantly, “All martial artists in the three provinces and 72 cities of the central plains are naturally under the jurisdiction of the central plains’ commander!”
“Then, do you know who is in charge of the commander of the central plains?” Tristan tilted his head and asked.