A World of Swindlers

"But... that's far too much of an increase! They used to cost only eight Spirit Stones a bottle!" the cultivator grumbled irritably. Even so, he took some Spirit Stones out of his Storage Bag and muttered, "Ah! I could've bought three bottles before, but now I can only buy two! It's all that Firecloud Sect's fault...!"

"What can we do? Prices have gone up everywhere!" Seeing that the cultivator was going to buy, the shop assistant offered a casual defense.

Tch! These aristocratic clan marketplaces raise their prices at the slightest stir. What a bunch of bloodsuckers! Wang Yan cursed inwardly as he listened from behind. Still, he said nothing. What right did a mere cultivator at minor completion of the Cultivation Realm have to speak up? He could only resent his own low cultivation and lack of a voice.

Still.

After making a circuit of this little Lü Household, Wang Yan had begun to understand what Wang Ziling had meant by a world that devoured people. Without the Card Fairy, he would already have been swindled several times.

Soon, it was Wang Yan's turn.

"I'd like four bottles of Spirit Fortune Pills and two bottles of Spiritual Energy Pills!" Wang Yan said casually. Spiritual Energy Pills were used to advance from minor completion to major completion of the Cultivation Realm, while Spirit Fortune Pills were used to reach Full Completion of the Cultivation Realm. Both were pills he needed most at present.

"Hm?" The assistant looked at Wang Yan in surprise, apparently not expecting a boy at minor completion of the Cultivation Realm to want so many pills. A peculiar gleam suddenly flickered in his eyes, and he quickly replied, "Certainly!" With that, he took four bottles of Spirit Fortune Pills and two bottles of Spiritual Energy Pills from the counter, seemingly quite casually, and handed them to Wang Yan.

A cold glint suddenly flashed through Wang Yan's eyes. He spotted the trick immediately. Though the assistant's movements were well concealed, Wang Yan saw them clearly. When the assistant picked up the Spirit Fortune Pills, he had taken only two bottles from the counter; the other two had slipped out of his sleeve. There seemed to be nothing unusual about the Spiritual Energy Pills. Wang Yan's thoughts stirred, and anger seethed inside him, but he could only endure it. Without showing anything, he took the four bottles of Spirit Fortune Pills and the Spiritual Energy Pills. The bottles looked identical, making the trick difficult to detect.

Still.

Wang Yan knew exactly what was going on.

"Ah! I forgot the prices have gone up! I'll just take two bottles of Spirit Fortune Pills!" After turning the bottles over in his hands for a moment, Wang Yan returned the two suspect bottles to the assistant, feigning sudden realization.

"You...!" The assistant had never expected Wang Yan to pull something like this and nearly cursed aloud. But with everyone watching, what could he say? "Fifty Spirit Stones altogether!" he snapped.

"Mm!" Wang Yan understood perfectly. He answered casually, took out fifty Spirit Stones, paid, put away the pills, and left.

"Hmph!" The assistant glanced at Wang Yan's retreating back, snorted, and called for the next customer.

Just as Wang Yan was about to leave the Pill Shop.

"Damn them! They sold me far fewer Spirit Fortune Pills than they should have!" A tall, slender cultivator passed Wang Yan, cursing and grumbling.

Wang Yan's heart stirred at those words. He turned to look and saw the cultivator storming toward the counter...

Before long, an argument broke out inside the Pill Shop.

"What do you mean we sold you fewer pills? I think you're deliberately making trouble!"

"How could that be? This bottle! I clearly bought these pills from you!"

"Hmph! The bottle is ours, sure, but who knows whether you took some of the pills out yourself?"

"You!? You people...!"

"I think you're here to cause trouble! Keep this up and I'll call the Patrol Team!"

"...!"

Listening to the argument inside.

Wang Yan understood at last.

If he had taken those two suspect bottles just now, he would probably have ended up like that cultivator, forced to swallow his loss in silence. Making such a scene certainly wouldn't end well for the man. He might even be putting his life at risk.

At that thought.

Wang Yan couldn't help feeling dispirited. He shook his head, losing any interest in watching the commotion.

He left the Pill Shop directly.

A short while later, Wang Yan was walking down the street, weighed down by his thoughts, when he nearly bumped into a cultivator. Fortunately, the other person dodged in time...

"Tch! My head's in a muddle!" Wang Yan muttered in frustration. He glanced around, saw no one nearby, and asked the Card Fairy quietly, "Card Fairy! Is there anything else we need?"

"That depends on you-whether you want some magic artifacts to protect yourself!" the Card Fairy said mildly. She paused, then added gravely, "But there's something I need to remind you of!" At that point, she fell silent, seemingly hesitant.

"Go ahead!" Wang Yan's heart stirred, and he spoke softly.

"Forget it! Your cultivation is too low. We'll talk about it when you're strong enough!" After a moment's hesitation, the Card Fairy answered casually.

"All right!" Wang Yan knew this wasn't the place to discuss such matters anyway and agreed readily. As they spoke, he arrived at the Treasure Shop. He was about to go inside when he suddenly asked in a low voice, "What sort of magic artifacts do you think would be best for protecting myself right now?" Then he turned away instead of entering the Treasure Shop and headed toward the street market stalls.

"Why aren't you going in?" the Card Fairy asked, puzzled.

"Ah! I feel like these shops are out to swindle people, and I don't know much about magic artifacts. Let's look around the market! When we made that circuit earlier, plenty of cultivators' stalls had magic artifacts for sale too!" Wang Yan quickly replied. After a pause, he continued, "Aren't you an expert at this, Card Fairy? We can hunt around, and maybe we'll find some treasure! Tell me if you spot anything good, all right?"

"Ah! What good things could there be in this miserable place?" the Card Fairy said. "Finding a Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush was already lucky enough. You just want me to help you hunt for treasure, don't you?"

"Hehe! You saw right through me!" Wang Yan laughed.

"Tch! Once you've mastered Artifact Refining, any treasure will be within your reach. Why go to all this trouble?"

"Uh, I haven't successfully learned Artifact Refining yet, have I?"

"Let's give it a try!"

"...!"

Perhaps Wang Yan had used up all his luck, but the cultivators running these stalls had even more fakes. Many supposed treasures they praised so extravagantly that flowers might have rained from the heavens were actually worthless. Without the Card Fairy's warnings, Wang Yan would have struggled to tell many of the real ones from the fakes.

In the end, he spent only a little over fifty Spirit Stones on a short fire-element sword, the mid-grade magic artifact Fire Spirit Sword.

By then, it was getting late, and the sky along the horizon had begun to darken.

"Still following?" the Card Fairy asked Wang Yan as he walked down the street. There were far fewer cultivators around now.

"Mm!" Wang Yan nodded, his expression somewhat grave. After a pause, he said quietly, "But I've already thought of a way to shake that fellow off!"

"Oh! Good, then!" the Card Fairy nodded at his words. Wang Yan wasn't someone to be trifled with either; he simply lacked knowledge and hadn't seen much of the world.

"Let's go to an inn first!"

"Young fellow Daoist! This is your room! If you need anything, just let us know!" An assistant led Wang Yan into a room and spoke to him.

"Mm!" Wang Yan nodded. "I'll call if I need anything! Thank you!"

"Then I won't disturb your rest, honored guest!" the assistant quickly said. He turned to leave, closing the door behind him.

This was an inn in the Lü Family Marketplace, naturally offering lodging to visiting cultivators who didn't want to leave yet, or those here on business. It wasn't much different from an ordinary mortal inn.

Of course, that was only because this inn catered to low-level cultivators.

Supposedly, inns in the Cultivator Markets of major sects offered rooms with restrictive formations, defensive formations, spiritual energy for cultivation, and other services. Naturally, their prices were much higher.

"You little brat! Why book an inn instead of leaving under cover of darkness? And you booked two days at once?" the Card Fairy asked. "Are you actually going to stay for two days?"

"That's exactly the point!" Wang Yan quickly said. "With my cultivation, unless I use the Water-Fire Blast Card to kill the tail following me, I can't outrun that fellow! If I book a room here for two days, don't you think he'll assume I'm staying for two days?"

"Oh? You're a clever little brat after all. You're planning to leave in the middle of the night?" The Card Fairy caught on immediately.

"What do you think?" Wang Yan laughed. He went over to the bed and lay down casually, then suddenly seemed to remember something and sprang back up. "Right! Card Fairy, you said the tip of this Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush could be repaired. How do I repair it?" He patted his Storage Bag, and the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush appeared in his hand. Judging by its appearance alone, it really didn't look like anything valuable...

"Simple! Take out a few Spiritual Energy Pills and a little of that Fang Bear Beast's beast blood. Mix them together, letting the pills' spiritual energy merge into the beast blood, then soak the tip of the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush in it for three days!"

"Oh! All right!" Wang Yan answered. Turning the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush over in his hands, he murmured, "Who would've thought something this good was hidden among all that rubbish? It really is unexpected!" Suddenly, he recalled the assistant's expression and how he had deliberately recommended attractive but useless brushes. "That damned assistant is despicable!" he cursed angrily. "If my cultivation weren't so low, I'd have wiped him out with a fireball!"

"Hm? The fellow following you has left!" the Card Fairy suddenly said, apparently noticing something.

"Huh!? How do you know, Card Fairy? Do you still have divine sense?" Wang Yan asked in surprise.

"Never mind all that! Hurry up and leave!"

Just then...

Tap, tap! Light footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Who's there?" Wang Yan froze, then quickly called out. Spiritual light flashed at his fingertips, and the Water-Fire Blast Card appeared in his hand.