Chapter 24 - 24 Chapter 21 Black Tiger City_1 (1/2)

24 Chapter 21 Black Tiger City_1

Translator: 549690339

However, after eating such a big Black Bear, Qin Niu’s cultivation level was very likely to reach over 45.

Without a Cultivation Technique, to rely solely on the nourishment from blood food and ordinary training, reaching the Twofold realm for a mortal was incredibly difficult.

This time, if he could sell the bear hide for a good price, he should be able to buy a Cultivation Technique.

Then, his cultivation level would change drastically day by day.

The efficiency of absorbing blood food would also greatly increase.

As he continued walking forward, although the sky was still somewhat dark, the number of pedestrians on the main road gradually increased.

Some carried loads on their shoulders, some, like Qin Niu, with a large basket on their back, all heading into the city.

Selling their home-grown cash crops, they generally didn’t enter the city but set up stalls to sell outside the city walls.

Because entering the city required a city entrance fee; regardless of gender age or youth, everyone was charged 5 Wen Money per person. This fee was quite high, and small vendors didn’t earn much.

To save on this city entrance fee, those items that weren’t very valuable would be sold outside the city.

For those who owned property in the city or had stable jobs, entering and exiting the city was free of charge.

Therefore, people from the city would go outside the city gates to the morning markets to buy vegetables.

The prices were cheap, and the produce was fresh.

Not paying the city entrance fee, selling goods outside the city had one downside. If someone got robbed, the officials wouldn’t get involved.

Even if the Black Armored Soldiers were standing right at the city gate, and even if the robbery happened right under their noses, they would still not interfere.

But if someone dared to forcefully break through the city gate, they would be apprehended immediately.

They could even possibly be executed.

These soldiers guarding the city gates are the weakest members of the Black Tiger Gang. Even so, whenever Qin Niu faced them, his spirit would tremble, and his knees would weaken.

He couldn’t muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

It was just about dawn when Qin Niu had already arrived outside Black Tiger City.

Before, it would take him at least three and a half hours, around seven hours.

Today, he had cut down an entire hour, thanks to the substantial increase in his cultivation level.

The area outside the city gates was bustling, with stall vendors spread everywhere, and city folks coming out to shop.

Mainly to buy vegetables.

Firewood and charcoal entering the city required a city entrance fee. City residents generally wouldn’t buy from woodcutters but from merchants specializing in wood and charcoal business within the city.

They had ways to greatly reduce the cost of bringing wood and charcoal into the city, after all, it was brought in bulk, and by tipping the military heads guarding the gates, they naturally received a significant discount.

Calculated this way, the price offered by the charcoal merchants was cheaper than the total cost of buying firewood directly from woodcutters.

This is also why woodcutters would obediently deliver the wood they chopped to merchants specialized in buying wood and charcoal rather than selling to individuals.

There wasn’t just one charcoal business merchant; competition meant that they wouldn’t drive down prices too harshly.

Overall, everyone offered more or less the same price.

A load of a hundred jin (roughly 50 kg) of dry firewood sold for around twenty Wen Money. The merchant’s purchase price was about fifteen Wen Money.

Good quality firewood could fetch up to seventeen or eighteen Wen per load, while the poorer quality might only bring in twelve or thirteen Wen per load.

A woodcutter chopping a load of two hundred jin (roughly 100 kg) of wet firewood and transporting it home would take about half a day.

Only after it dried out could it become sellable firewood.

Before selling to a charcoal merchant, the large pieces of wood had to be split into halves or quarters. The most popular length was around one chi (roughly one-third of a meter).

One hundred jin of wet timber, once dried, would roughly weigh thirty-something jin.

It would take three hundred jin of wet timber to dry and become one hundred jin of dry firewood.

It might seem like a woodcutter earning fifteen Wen per load was a lot, but in reality, they didn’t earn much, perhaps even less than the long-term workers in a landlord’s household.

Because even on rainy days and snowy winter days when the long-term workers didn’t go out to work for the landlord, they still got paid.

If a woodcutter didn’t go up the mountain to chop wood for a day, they had no income.

Long-term workers in a landlord’s house often got food and lodging included, while woodcutters had to provide for themselves.

This is why working as a long-term worker for a large landlord’s family like the Yan Family was such a sought-after job.

Compared with woodcutters or temporary workers, serving as a long-term worker for a landlord provided stable income and was relatively less arduous. Plus, performing well and gaining the landlord’s favor could lead to promotion opportunities.

Becoming a foreman or a manager was equivalent to becoming a high executive in a company.

At this moment, a long line formed outside the city gate for entrance.

Provided there was no suspicious behavior, the soldiers rarely checked personal items.

In this world, there were no such things as prohibited items. Weapons like knives and spears could be freely carried into the city.

Nor did anyone dare to fight or cause trouble in the city lightly.

Not to mention murder.

Unless they were tired of living.

The Black Tiger Gang had numerous formidable experts, and Black Tiger City was a city they had built painstakingly. It was an important source of income, and they would never allow anyone to disrupt it.

Top-level powerhouses were stationed in the city every hour of the day.

Anyone causing trouble would be apprehended within minutes or directly executed.

Outside the city, the law of the jungle prevailed, survival of the fittest. While there were codes of conduct, they were mostly superficial.

For instance, local bullies like Wang Haikun would rob any ordinary villager they wished.

Such events rarely occurred in the city.

Unless the treasure owned piqued the interest of the Black Tiger Gang’s upper echelon, and they felt confident in handling the situation, then there might be an underhanded move.

Under normal circumstances, however, everyone would abide by the rules.