Apparently, the tall, thin man had noticed Han Yuan’s hint of urgency.

Besides, he figured Han Yuan could afford the five thousand taels.

Han Yuan didn’t want to waste any time.

With his current wealth, he could easily produce five thousand taels of silver.

"Five thousand taels of silver it is."

Seeing Han Yuan agree so readily, the tall, thin man chuckled. "Then we have a deal."

"But you’ll also be paying the Black Market’s fee."

In the Black Market, even bartering required the items to be valued in silver, after which ten percent of that value had to be paid to the Black Market.

Ten percent sounded expensive.

But it did have one benefit: the Black Market guaranteed that neither party would try any tricks and also ensured their safety.

Han Yuan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "You pay the fee."

"No way... If I pay it, I’m afraid I’ll lose the entire five thousand taels."

"Those people in the Black Market are black-hearted. They’ll value this Fist Manual at fifty thousand taels at least," the tall, thin man said, shaking his head.

"I don’t have that much money."

Han Yuan had no intention of being a sucker and throwing his money away.

"Then there’s another way."

"If you trust me, brother."

"How about we trade privately after we leave the Black Market?"

The tall, thin man lowered his voice significantly.

Even Han Yuan could barely hear him.

His gaze flickered.

A so-called private transaction meant bypassing the Black Market and dealing directly with each other.

This way, they could naturally save the ten percent fee.

However, the risk would be much higher, and this made double-crossing a common occurrence.

And if something went wrong, the Black Market wouldn’t get involved.

"Brother, I genuinely want to make this trade."

The tall, thin man could see Han Yuan hesitating and wanted to strike while the iron was hot to make him decide.

"I know... It’s just the risk..." Han Yuan said with a frown.

"I’m not some notorious bandit. What are you afraid of?"

"If you’re not comfortable with it, let’s just forget it."

The tall, thin man made a show of turning to leave.

Han Yuan quickly said, "Alright then... Let’s arrange a place to meet later."

Only then did the tall, thin man smile. "There’s a small grove a couple of miles south of this valley. We’ll meet there after the Black Market closes."

Han Yuan nodded. "No problem."

"See you then." The tall, thin man smiled, bid farewell, and left.

Han Yuan watched the tall, thin man’s retreating back, a faint, unreadable smile playing on his lips beneath the mask.

The Black Market continued for two hours, by which time most people had already left.

Seeing this, Han Yuan also packed up his things and left the small valley.

He headed south and soon arrived at a small grove.

The grove was very secluded and overgrown; few people likely ever came here.

It was indeed a good place to kill someone and hide the body.

"Brother, you’re quite punctual."

The tall, thin man wearing a black bandana emerged from within the grove.

"Of course. I was afraid you’d get impatient and leave without me," Han Yuan said with a slight smile.

"It wouldn’t have come to that."

"I’m a patient man."

As he spoke, the tall, thin man took out the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand and said, "So, shall we trade directly?"

Han Yuan also took out his three Martial Arts manuals, along with five silver notes, each with a denomination of one thousand taels.

Both seemed eager to finish the transaction and leave quickly.

In the instant they were about to make contact—

two cold flashes of saber light clashed violently before materializing as long sabers locked against each other.

"You’re also trying to double-cross me!"

The tall, thin man hadn’t expected Han Yuan to be plotting against him as well. With a cold snort, he channeled Power through his wrist and instantly forced Han Yuan back several steps.

"Aren’t you doing the same?"

"I love a good double-cross."

Han Yuan let out a strange laugh.

From their brief exchange, the tall, thin man knew that his opponent’s Qi Power and Inner Breath were weaker than his own.

’There’s no way I can lose.’

He gave a cold shout, gripped his saber with both hands, and unleashed a burst of qi and blood. The blade became a long streak of white light, like a bolt of silk, as it chopped toward Han Yuan’s head.

But in the next second,

he heard a strange sound.

It was like the wind, yet also like the ring of a blade—crisp and sharp.

A glint of cold light shattered the airflow, stabbing straight for the tall, thin man’s neck.

’What a fast blade!’

The tall, thin man was terrified. He hurriedly changed his Saber Technique and brought his blade down hard on that glint of cold light.

He was also an Inner Breath Martial Artist. With this strike, he unleashed his own Inner Breath and managed to block the Cold Blade.

The next moment,

Han Yuan lashed out with a lightning-fast kick.

CRACK!

The tall, thin man never expected Han Yuan to follow up with a kick instead of another slash. He failed to react in time, and his knee was brutally shattered by the blow.

He screamed in agony. His eyes turning crazed, he thrust his saber toward Han Yuan’s abdomen.

He knew he had fallen into a trap this time.

But if he was going to die, he would take someone with him.

A glint of cold light, moving with even greater speed, flashed mercilessly across his neck.

PFFT!

The tall, thin man’s eyes were wide open as his head flew high into the air, landing several meters away.

The body collapsed, blood spraying continuously from the neck.

Han Yuan, meanwhile, deftly searched the corpse.

Soon,

he found the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand.

Besides that, there were a few dozen taels of silver and a bracelet.

"This guy was so poor," Han Yuan muttered.

He put away the Secret Manual and the silver, then looked at the bracelet.

The bracelet was made of nine beads of a cyan jade material, and each bead was engraved with a single character.

But Han Yuan didn’t recognize these characters.

They felt obscure and ancient, likely not the script of the Great Ling Dynasty, but perhaps from a distant, ancient era.

’Looks like an antique. It’s probably worth a lot of money.’

Han Yuan also put away the Cyan Jade Bracelet and quickly left the grove.

....

By the time Han Yuan returned to the Observatory, it was dawn.

He was full of energy and had no desire to sleep. Instead, he opened the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand.

This Martial Arts manual was quite interesting.

The very first page contained a record.

A long, long time ago, this land was home to a magical race known as the Divine Race.

Members of the Divine Race possessed powerful physiques. Some could even grow to be as tall as five or six men, with immense strength capable of moving mountains and filling seas, and they had all sorts of strange Divine Powers.

According to legend, the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand was a legacy Martial Art of this Divine Race.

Han Yuan, of course, didn’t take it too seriously.

After all these years, even if the so-called Divine Race had truly existed, they would have long since turned to dust and bone.

He only cared about how strong the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand truly was.

After reading through it carefully a few times, Han Yuan went into the courtyard to begin his Cultivation.

Although the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand was a First-class Martial Art, its moves were not complex. It only required control over explosive bursts of Qi Power.

Moreover, if one’s Qi Power wasn’t massive enough, the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand’s might was even less than that of a Third-Class Technique.

This point happened to be a perfect match for the Black Whale Oversea Skill.

This was because the Black Whale Oversea Skill was itself a Cultivation Method that continuously increased one’s qi, blood, and Qi Power.

In addition to that, Han Yuan also had his own innate Divine Power.

With all these factors combined, Han Yuan believed the Giant Spirit Monument-Opening Hand would become his trump card.