Chapter 154: Market Changes

In Dengfeng County, at the north gate, a comical scene was unfolding.
On the busy street, an old man with a white beard held up a white sign reading “Half-Sage Fortune-Telling.” He walked back and forth, shaking his head calmly while frowning and tapping his fingers, seemingly calculating something.
Behind him followed a group of men and women from the martial world, dressed in various styles, all with serious expressions and eager to keep up without missing a beat.
A few minutes passed…
The wrinkles on the old man’s face deepened as he shook his head more vigorously and stepped faster.
The group exchanged puzzled looks.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is it taking so long this time?”
“Hey! Have you finished calculating yet, Liu Half-Sage?”
Having followed him for a long time and seeing no response as usual, the group finally couldn’t hold back their frustration and started shouting.
A few impatient ones rushed forward to stop him.
Only then did Liu Half-Sage stop, his face filled with hesitation and difficulty. He stared at one of them and slowly said, “Young man, it’s not that I refuse to tell. It’s just that this person emits a strong aura of evil—his nature is truly sinister! Revealing the secrets of fate rashly would bring me countless karmic consequences. Alas… it’s not worth it.”
“…”
The group was stunned. They didn’t understand why Liu Half-Sage suddenly claimed the man was evil and involved some mysterious fate secrets when everything seemed fine just moments ago.
“This amount of silver isn’t enough to resolve the karmic consequences… I dare not accept it and must return it in full.” Though he said this, Liu Half-Sage seemed reluctant as he took out the silver, clearly unwilling to part with it.
The group immediately saw through him!
Instead of claiming the secrets couldn’t be revealed, he was just saying the money wasn’t enough—trying to raise the price!
The players following Liu Half-Sage gritted their teeth but couldn’t do anything to him.
Finally, one of them asked helplessly, “Just tell us directly—what’s the current price?”
“Hehe…”
Liu Half-Sage smiled awkwardly and raised two fingers. “To investigate this person, I need an additional thousand taels of silver.”
“Damn!!”
The people around them turned pale at hearing this, wishing they could smash Liu Half-Sage’s head against the wall.
“Is this too unfair? A mere location search costs two thousand taels of silver!!”
Just ten minutes ago, the price was only a thousand taels—now it had doubled. Could prices rise that sharply? It was just a player at the Creation Realm level!
“Fair price, no deception for anyone!”
Liu Half-Sage grew serious, stroked his beard, and continued walking down the street.
“Damn it!”
“Bandits!”

No one in the group paid immediately; instead, they all took notes and homing pigeons to pass on the message to their superiors—the fee had doubled, and it wasn’t something they could simply agree to.
…
Passing by a small mountain village, Kai Xin casually bought an expensive second-hand copy of “Jianghu Secret Records.” After reading the descriptions of his recent breakthroughs on the list of famous figures, his expression remained unchanged, but his brows furrowed slightly, his face growing more solemn.
He was right…
Because of this reborn butterfly, subtle changes had occurred in the world of Jianghu, though fortunately, the changes were minimal.
Moreover, a wealthy patron like Jianghu Bai Xiaosheng had indeed received the legendary artifact mentioned in later accounts—the Tianji Inkstone—enabling him to update his various lists in the shortest time possible.
It was with this Tianji Inkstone that Jianghu Bai Xiaosheng gained the true abilities of an I Ching master, allowing him to predict the actions of certain individuals or regions over time (special areas could not be detected).
Putting away “Jianghu Secret Records,” Kai Xin purchased several ordinary coarse-cloth garments from some villagers, changed into them, summoned his former horse, and left the village.
On the road, a group of riders rushed up at full speed.
At the forefront was a man with a somewhat ferocious and stern face, followed by another man with a high crown on his head, a hooked nose, and narrow eyes, holding a pair of bone-shaped double-section metal weapons that were extremely eye-catching and intimidating.
Seeing Kai Xin stopped by the road, they cast disdainful glances at him and his horse, but none of them slowed down…
Without stopping, the group rushed into the small mountain village where Kai Xin had stayed, raising a storm of dust. From behind, various shouts could be heard:
“Search thoroughly!!”
“That man is riding a high-class jujube-red horse, wearing blue clothes—easy to identify!”
The thundering of horse hooves, the roars of the bandits, and their violent behavior shook the entire village!
But…
Obviously, they found nothing.
Because Kai Xin had abandoned his jujube-red horse before entering the village, and the villagers, being poor themselves, wouldn’t bother spending a fortune to find out where he was.
In just a few minutes, the village was turned upside down, yet no one was found…
At that moment, the latest news arrived via homing pigeon!
“Which direction?”
“I don’t know!”
“What?”

“The guys in the city say this guy’s value has doubled! After a divination, it’s risen to two thousand… How is that possible!” The man with the tall crown on his head was filled with astonishment.
Something like this seemed to have never happened before!
The leader frowned and waved his hand impatiently in response, “Stop talking nonsense. Pay up and find him first!”
Soon after the messenger pigeon returned, a reply came from over there.
The man with the tall crown glanced at it briefly before crushing the note in his hand, “He’s changed his clothes! It’s the guy we met outside the village just now!”
“Chase him!!”
The fierce expression on the leader’s face intensified as he turned around on his horse and roared.
No sooner had he spoken than the man with the purple crown and hooked nose rushed ahead of him, speeding out of the village in moments. “I’ll go ahead and intercept him!” As he spoke, his exceptionally graceful black horse outpaced everyone else and ran far ahead.
“Once you find him, don’t rush to attack. Just hold him down! Wait for us to arrive!” the leader shouted from behind.
“Understood.”
He sped away alone.
This group wasn’t some casual organization or ordinary gang they had encountered before.
As a renowned gaming guild in the country, it would be shameful if they wasted so much manpower and time only to fail to capture the target, resulting in all the silver spent going to waste.
Moreover…
Happy’s wealth was crucial for the future development of their guild;
Additionally, Happy was ranked fourth on the famous list. If they could capture him, the day when their guild would rise to prominence in the martial world would be near.
As for the description of Happy in The Secrets of the Martial World, they dismissed it outright.
They had already checked out DV from Peak of Punishment on their website. The reason he was able to repel the First-Class Hall was solely due to the natural obstacle—the iron chain bridge. As for his other feats, they were nothing remarkable.
There wasn’t a single capable person among them throughout the entire ordeal, so those people naturally couldn’t compare to them!