Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

38: The goods did not match the descriptionLin Jingyu stood where he was, bowing deeply in the direction of the young man in white, his waist bent like a fully drawn bow.

”This junior, Lin Jingyu, thanks you for your generous gift, Senior. Please, may I have the honor of knowing your name? I will engrave it in my heart and remember it day and night.”

His voice was low and slightly hoarse, carrying a trace of imperceptible tension.

The term ”Fellow Daoist” had quietly been replaced by the more respectful ”Senior.”

The young man still wore a gentle smile and shook his head lightly.

He turned and left. In the blink of an eye, his figure, like a trace of ink dropped into clear water, vanished silently and tracelessly into the gaps of the surging crowd.

Strangely, among the hundreds of Cultivators hurrying about, not a single one glanced at the disappearing figure.

Everything remained silent as before, as if it were merely a dream conjured by Lin Jingyu’s agitated mind.

Only then did he realize that when the two of them were trading just now, no one nearby had noticed anything unusual.

The thunder fiend talisman made quite a stir.

Given the level of attention from the other stall owners just now, it was impossible that no one had noticed.

Yet, it had been completely ignored by everyone.

This kind of terrifying method was definitely not an ability possessed by an ordinary Cultivator.

Perhaps this young man was even an old monster.

Unfortunately, Lin Jingyu did not have the fate of a protagonist.

A slight tremor of his tiger-like body, and beauties would flock to him.

Another tremor, and big shots from all sides would beg to take him as a disciple.

There was no regret or remorse in his heart.

Being able to trade for three thunder fiend talismans, he was already satisfied and felt very secure.

”Pah!”

A curse wrapped in thick phlegm exploded from the opposite stall like a thunderclap, instantly tearing through Lin Jingyu’s thoughts.

”You dog! This piece of junk is worth two for one sliver of a Spirit Stone, yet you dare to price it at twelve for one Spirit Stone? Do you think my Spirit Stones were dug out of a cesspit?” The voice was hoarse and violent, filled with the fury of being fooled.

Lin Jingyu looked up.

He saw a burly man with a thick beard at the Qi Refining Third Layer, his face as red as a heated branding iron, his hair standing on end in anger, the veins on his fan-like hand bulging as he tightly gripped the front of Wang Jinshan’s brand-new, snowy-white ”immortal robe,” almost lifting his thin, small body off the ground.

Wang Jinshan’s carefully powdered face was distorted by suffocation and sudden terror; his carefully maintained ”immortal demeanor” was gone, leaving only comical wretchedness.

”Let... let go. You ruffian.” He struggled and shrieked, his voice distorted by the tightened collar, ”This is... an ancestral secret recipe. It’s worth a fortune. It’s you... you are the one who is blind and doesn’t know quality...”

”Ancestral your ancestor’s head!” The burly man spat on his face, the droplets mixed with a heavy smell of sweat:

”I’ve been eating sweet potato pills for decades; these sweet potato pills of yours are made with the worst Materials! Refund the Spirit Stone. Otherwise, I’ll smash you and your stall into mud today.”

Wang Jinshan was humiliated to the point of wanting to die, but he still stiffened his neck and shouted, ”Hit... hit me then. The rules of the market town state that once money and goods are exchanged, the deal is done. Once the Spirit Stone enters my pocket, even the Heavenly King cannot take it back.”

The surrounding crowd instantly gathered like a school of fish smelling blood, pointing and whispering, buzzing with discussion.

”Heh. He really started fighting. Wang Jinshan, this copycat, tried to draw a tiger but ended up with a dog; he’s been exposed, hasn’t he?”

”Tsk tsk, daring to fight in the market town? The patrol team’s black iron chains and spirit-suppressing shackles are not for show. If your bones are hard enough, give it a try.”

”Look at that white-painted skin of yours, looking like a molting pheasant, and you dare to pretend to be a Phoenix?”

The burly man was already consumed by rage, and at this moment, ignited completely by Wang Jinshan’s rogue-like face, his eyes turned blood-red. His sandbag-sized fist, without a shred of hesitation, wrapped in a dull whistling wind, struck straight at his sunken bridge of the nose like a heavy hammer.

However, deep down, he did not dare to cross the market town’s red line and did not dare to use a shred of Qi.

Bang.

With a dull thud, Wang Jinshan screamed and fell backward. Nosebleed, tears, and snot, mixed with white powder, sprayed out, and his carefully painted ”immortal appearance” instantly turned into a miserable oil painting.

The burly man was still not satisfied, pouncing on him and raining down punches and kicks.

The two of them immediately wrestled and rolled in the dirt like street ruffians. The stall was overturned, and the golden, oily sweet potato pills scattered like pearls from a broken string, rolling all over the ground, stained with mud and filth, and trampled into a unrecognizable mess.

An strange odor, a mix of cloying sweetness, blood, and sweat, permeated the air.

”Stop!”

A low but majestic shout, containing vast Qi, exploded like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens. It instantly drowned out all the noise, making people’s eardrums buzz and their hearts tremble.

Several dark figures separated the dense crowd like ghosts, moving as swiftly as lightning.

The leader was none other than the outer patrol captain, Liu Chengji, whose Qi Refining Sixth Layer aura was deep and imposing like a mountain, heavy and oppressive.

The team members behind him were like wolves and tigers, their iron-clamp-like hands accurately gripping the wrists of the two wrestling men.

Click. Click.

Immediately, the cold black iron spirit-suppressing chains locked tight.

”Disturbing the order of the market town, publicly fighting and causing trouble. Take them away.” Liu Chengji’s face was like cold iron, his eagle-like gaze sweeping over the mess on the ground, his voice cold as a blade scraping over bluestone.

Although locked up, the burly man was still indignant, stiffening his neck and pointing to the mud-stained pills on the ground: ”My Lord, please judge fairly. It is this guy who is bullying the market. He took trash and passed it off as spiritual food, swindling my Spirit Stones. This thing, one sliver of a Spirit Stone can buy three or four. He dared to sell twelve for one Spirit Stone.”

Wang Jinshan covered his bleeding, throbbing nose, his voice becoming shrill and distorted by pain and resentment: ”It’s him. He was the one who started it. He’s unreasonable. My sweet potato pills... are the real deal. They are worth this price. He is the one who doesn’t know quality.”

Liu Chengji’s eyes were like ice. He leaned over, flicked his finger, and a mud-stained sweet potato pill flew into the air, landing steadily in his palm.

He crushed it with his fingertips and sniffed it under his nose. A very faint, ordinary sweet-sickly scent of a sweet potato pill entered his nostrils.

A flash of knowing, cold light appeared in Liu Chengji’s eyes, and he snorted like a blade: ”The goods do not match the description, passing off inferior goods as superior, falsely inflating prices. The evidence is irrefutable, yet you still dare to quibble?”

His gaze shot toward Wang Jinshan like lightning, ”Fighting in the market town is punishable. Both of you will be taken away. Punished with ten days of hard labor, reflecting in the mines.”

”Hard labor... the mines?” Wang Jinshan felt as if he had been struck by five bolts of thunder.

That dark, lightless, Qi-thin, back-breaking mine... Fear gripped his heart like a cold viper, and he began to tremble like a sieve.

His desperate gaze swept over Lin Jingyu’s tidy stall and exquisite Jade Box, and hatred grew wildly in his heart.

Wang Jinshan struggled violently and raised his head, using all his strength to point to the other side, his voice shrill as a night owl weeping blood, filled with bone-deep resentment: ”It’s him. It’s that brat opposite. Lin Jingyu. It’s all his fault.”

Swish!

All eyes, along with Liu Chengji’s cold, piercing gaze like solid ice cones, instantly focused on Lin Jingyu.

Wang Jinshan, appearing mad, spat wildly, desperately splashing dirty water onto Lin Jingyu:

”He sells these ’lins sweet potato balls’ at an exorbitant price of ten for one Spirit Stone. It’s purely a trick to fool fools. Yesterday he sold exactly fifty boxes. Fifty boxes! If this isn’t fraud, what is? This ruins the reputation of our Southeast Market Town. He is the root of the trouble. The culprit is him. Catch him! Catch him!”

Lin Jingyu’s heart tightened suddenly.

This bastard actually dragged him into this.

In a flash of lightning, his thoughts raced, forcing himself to calm down, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something...

The patrol captain frowned, his gaze toward Lin Jingyu becoming even more severe: ”Ten sweet potato pills for one Spirit Stone? You dare to sell them? Such audacity. Take him away for me!”

”Yes!”

Two patrol officers holding shackles walked over from behind.

Lin Jingyu took a deep breath. If he were caught, he would lose a layer of skin even if he didn’t die.

Even if he proved that his sweet potato pills were of high value, it would be useless.

Once inside, wouldn’t it be up to others to decide?

A sense of revenge flickered on Wang Jinshan’s face, and he looked over triumphantly; he would at most be punished with ten days of hard labor mining.

This person’s crime had to be greater than his!