Douluo: What the hell is the academic master development system?

Chapter 578 This thing is destined for me
As for Chen Ping, he was whispering something to Ning Tian at that moment.

"They've all been sold. How much did you exchange?"

"That'll be enough for you to mess around in the black market tonight."

Ning Tian revealed a slightly smug smile. Mingdu was practically her main battlefield. Although the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School's influence in Mingdu wasn't huge, it definitely had close ties with the local bigwigs.

Ning Tian had connections, and Chen Ping had information. They knew that the rare metals currently circulating in large quantities on the black market would see their prices skyrocket because they would all be used as betting funds for the upcoming Soul Master Competition, which was secretly supported by the Holy Spirit Cult. So, they contacted Ning Tian early on and made a fortune from this opportunity.

Originally, Chen Ping didn't have much liquid capital, so even if he entered the market, he would only be considered a small investor. However, thanks to Ning Tian, ​​the young sect master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School, who helped him through the trouble, even just taking the profits from this money would be enough for him to make a fortune in this black market.

To be precise, it was the Dragon, an underground Soul Master Tournament organized by the three largest underground forces in Mingdu, taking advantage of the All-Continent Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament.

As evening fell, Chen Ping quietly led Huo Yuhao straight to the competition venue in the black market. They didn't need to participate in the competition until they faced the real strong teams later, so they had no pressure at all about participating in the soul tool making competition that night.

The requirements for the first round of qualifying are simple: create a level 3 soul tool to enter the next round and qualify for the official competition.

As a competition where the primary element is exploiting leeks (victims), the qualifying rounds are obviously open to gambling.

The betting method is also very simple: bet directly on how many people can pass the qualifying rounds.

Whether it's the specific number of people, odd or even, multiples, etc., basically any way you can think of is possible.

The qualifying rounds are currently underway.

Because the creation of soul tools is not like a combat competition, which can be completed in a short time, the first round of the competition gave the soul tool masters three days.

To ensure the smooth running of the competition, the three major black markets spent a lot of money to hire a level nine Soul Master as the chief referee.

If Chen Ping remembered correctly, this level nine Soul Master referee should be Ye Yulin, the Starry Sky Douluo who was a royal retainer of the Sun Moon Empire.

As the famous treasure-delivering boy in the original work, Chen Ping still has a relatively deep memory of this Starry Sky Douluo. However, what Chen Ping misses most is not the Sun God Needle and the Sun and Moon God Needle that this Starry Sky Douluo is best at making.

These two soul tools are definitely far superior to the space-based weapons and the Staff of God that the Americans touted in Chen Ping's previous life.

The American "Rod of God" is simply a tungsten steel rod that falls from the sky. Depending on the tonnage, it can be divided into more than a dozen different levels, with the smallest being street-blasting and the largest capable of destroying a city.

That thing looked terrifying in the movie. Without fuel or ammunition, it managed to destroy an entire city. It truly lived up to its name as the Staff of God. Just throw one down and hordes of ordinary people would die.

But in reality—it was pure bragging.

But in reality, if you think about it carefully, you'll realize that this power is unrealistic. No matter how much kinetic energy this thing has, how much kinetic energy would a rocket need to send such a tungsten rod into the sky?

This is a truly objective physical law: no matter how much kinetic energy a bucket of water loses when dropped from the fifth floor, it will not be more than the kinetic energy a person would gain from carrying the bucket from the first floor to the fifth floor.

If that's the case, why don't you just use that kinetic energy to hit someone directly, instead of sending it into the sky where some of it is lost?
Therefore, compared to those toys that are touted as miraculous but in reality, when struck from thousands of kilometers in the air, they would only create a crater at most three meters deep, Ye Yulin's Sun Needle and Sun and Moon Needle are quite powerful.

Although this thing can't be hung in near-Earth satellite orbit like a tungsten steel rod, and can only fly a total height of 1,600 meters, it at least absorbs the power of the sun and moon to attack. Although it takes a long time to charge and requires a huge amount of mental energy to guide it, its power is indeed worthy of its level.

However, what Chen Ping was most concerned about was not Ye Yulin's masterpiece, but rather her sobering necklace.

This is the only level-nine triggered defensive soul tool that Chen Ping remembers possesses mental protection. If Jing Hongchen's Red Dust Protection saved Chen Ping from danger several times and is the dream equipment of soul masters, then Ye Yulin's Clarity Necklace is the Red Dust Protection in the field of mental defense.

Without Tang Shenwang's powerful influence to push the auspicious beast into love and make it sacrifice itself to produce that top-grade soul bone that can grant immunity to mental attacks three times a day, Chen Ping would really have to rely on this treasure-giving boy if he wanted mental defense equipment.

Oh, I'm so sorry!
As Chen Ping walked down the street, his smile twitched, leaving Huo Yuhao, who had already finished his disguise, looking completely bewildered.

"Brother Chen Kun, why are you suddenly so happy?"

Huo Yuhao had completed his disguise, and the change was drastic compared to before, but he was clearly going for a more handsome look.

Therefore, when the two, now transformed, walked down the street, they attracted the attention of young women and wives alike.

"Ahem, of course we're happy because we're about to get rich. With our skill level, we can't just randomly kill people in this kind of situation."

"Remember the engraving knife I promised you? I can win one for you in this competition, do you believe me?"

Huo Yuhao was stunned by Chen Ping's words. Really? That was a list-engraving knife! If he remembered correctly, there was no list-engraving knife as a reward for this competition, right?
Rare metals and high-level soul tools are certainly precious, but even a level nine soul tool has more than a thousand pieces in existence!

As for the engraving knives used for listing, there were only a hundred of them, and that was it.

In this situation, Chen Ping felt it was unlikely that he could obtain a ranking engraving knife when there was no ranking engraving knife among the prizes for a major competition.

But seeing Chen Ping's confident expression, Huo Yuhao nodded excitedly.

Chen Ping has never failed to do what he said before, and based on that alone, he was ready to reap the rewards.

It was already dark by then.

Perhaps the daytime competition had exhausted the people, making the capital city seem rather deserted at night.

There weren't many people on the streets; the vast majority had already returned to their homes to rest.

The two traveled light and did not trouble others. Under the cover of night, they headed straight for the center of Mingdu City.

Wherever there are people, there will be an underground world, whether it is Tianhun, Dou Ling, Xingluo or the Sun and Moon Empire.

The underworld is divided into many types. The lowest level consists of those who survive through pornography, murder, and human trafficking.

More sophisticated activities include arms dealing, underground political transactions, and the resale of rare resources.

In the underground world of Mingdu, there are three main forces, namely the largest Xishui League, the Ordinary League and the Aodu Chamber of Commerce.

These three forces can be simply summarized as: gangs that sell fake medicine, weapons, and traffic in people; brothels that sell sex; and middlemen who occasionally issue assassination and theft commissions.

Gangs, brothels, and middlemen—these three forces are intertwined, representing almost the entirety of the dark side of Mingdu. If it weren't for a grand event like the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, it would indeed be difficult for these three forces to come together.

(End of this chapter)