Lian Can, the son of the Lightning Sword Sect’s Summer Valley’s chief, had already attained the Dharma stage when he was 26 years old. In the few years since, he was rumored to be nearing the mid-Dharma stage.
“Lian Can!” Da Zhuang stared angrily at him from beneath the giant palm print Dharma of the young man in the golden robe. “Let me go! I will kill this lying bastard! Not only did he sell me fake goods, he even slandered me! I will kill him! I will kill him!!” Da Zhuang roared.
“Da Zhuang.” Lian Can smiled casually at the giant, who seemed to be losing his mind. “Do you have any evidence to prove that Pan Yilin sold you fake goods? How can you show that you are not the one slandering Pan Yilin?”
Lian Can’s expression turned even more sour as he yelled, “Lian Can, you…you are in this together with Pan Yilin!”
“Da Zhuang, you can’t say such things.” Lian Can’s eyes flashed coldly. He pressed down further on Lian Can with the giant palm print Dharma, making Da Zhuang cough out a mouthful of fresh blood. The blood that spewed out of his mouth floated back down onto Da Zhuang’s face. His twisted face looked even more demonic.
“Hm?” Zhou Donghuang’s expression changed when he witnessed how Da Zhuang had been injured.
Whoosh! In a swift motion, Zhou Donghuang turned into a white bolt of lightning and rushed at Da Zhuang. As he neared Da Zhuang, Zhou Donghuang was already preparing to attack the giant palm print Dharma that was crushing Da Zhuang’s body.
“Lian Can, put away your Dharma.” Before Zhou Donghuang could strike, a wispy voice rang through the market. The volume was not loud, but it seemed to contain some magic that amplified it clearly to the ears of everyone at the market. In the next instant, an old figure strolled out from the crowd. He stared at Lian Can, who was crushing Da Zhuang. This old man wore a long, gray robe. His body was skinny but of medium build. He appeared to be kind and gentle, but his eyes shone with a fearsome light as he glared at Lian Can.
“Elder Han.” When he saw the newcomer, Lian Can’s eyes flashed with fear. He stowed his palm Dharma without another word. At the same moment, Da Zhuang rushed at Pan Yilin like a crazed man with bloodshot eyes.
Pan Yilin did not move. He knew there was no need.
“Da Zhuang.” Just as he moved, his path was blocked by the old man, who mysteriously appeared right in front of him like a ghoul. “If you dare to act against another disciple, even that lass, Mengxi, will not be able to save you. If you are kicked out of the Lightning Sword Sect because of this, she will be so disappointed in you. By then, she will regret bringing you into this sect and even that she ever knew you.” The old man blocking Da Zhuang was none other than Elder Han—Han Ku.
Han Ku was a core elder of the Lightning Sword Sect. Although the market was located within the outer sect, the people who took shifts managing it were all core elders. The market was crucial to the Lightning Sword Sect, and conflicts often arose between inner and core disciples with distinguished backgrounds. Outer and even inner elders often found it challenging to mediate these conflicts, so the sect had sent core elders to manage the market daily. The core elder was the highest-ranking elder within the Lightning Sword Sect, and he was in the same hierarchy as each of the four Valley chiefs. Each of the Valley chiefs had a core elder with them.
“Elder Han is right.” As Han Ku stopped Da Zhuang, Lian Can smiled as he said, “Da Zhuang, I heard that Sister Mengxi has been out of town recently. You don’t want her to find out that you have been kicked out of the Lightning Sword Sect when she comes back, do you?”
Da Zhuang had not given up trying to destroy Pan Yilin even after Han Ku had stopped him. But now, hearing his words, he froze for a moment, before he recovered and muttered in a daze, “Sister, Sister…No, I cannot let her down. But Sister told me to take good care of Little Brother, and I could not complete his task properly. If Sister knew about this, she would not be happy. I… I….” Da Zhuang stood on the spot, and his expression was unfathomable as thoughts raced through his mind.
“Da Zhuang,” continued Han Ku, “the market has rules. As long as goods and money exchange hands, after a trade is made, one cannot reopen it. As for what happened here, only those who were present can know the truth. Even if Pan Yilin tricked you here, based on the market’s rules and those of the Lightning Sword Sect, you can do nothing about it. During the sale, if you had discovered something wrong with the nine-ringed bamboo, you could have refused to buy it. You did not discover it and still bought it, so you can only count yourself unlucky. Even if I myself or that lass Mengxi had been the one tricked, the outcome would be the same. Just consider that you’ve bought yourself a lesson today.”
Han Ku was on good terms with the Autumn Valley’s leader, He Jin, and treated Mengxi as if she were his daughter. This courtesy also extended to Da Zhuang, whom he treated him exceptionally patiently. Otherwise, had any other of the core elders present stepped in, even if they respected He Mengxi and her father, He Jin, and tried to show him respect, they would not have treated Da Zhuang with as much patience as Han Ku.
“But…but Little Brother bought that nine-ringed bamboo, and the hundred and ten mid-level spirit stones are his.” Although Da Zhuang calmed down, hearing Han Ku’s words, but he was still anxious. “I…I do not have that many spirit stones to return to Little Brother.”
Seeing Da Zhuang finally calm down, Han Ku breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He shook his head and smiled as he said, “Isn’t it just a hundred and ten mid-level spirit stones? I’ll return it for you.” For Han Ku, a core elder of the Lightning Sword Sect, one hundred mid-level spirit stones were nothing. The sect paid him considerably more spirit stones every month.
“No, no. I cannot take it.” Da Zhuang shook his head fervently. “I will go and tell Little Brother that when I save up eleven superior spirit stones, I will return all to him.” Inner disciples of the Lightning Sword Sect only received one superior-level spirit stone per month. But Da Zhuang had used up his superior-level spirit stone almost immediately after receiving it. Since he had no other means of earning spirit stones, he was always short.
“Da Zhuang, I don’t need you to return those spirit stones.” Zhou Donghuang, who had long since landed nearby, now stepped forward.
“Little Brother? You…you’re here?” Seeing Zhou Donghuang, Da Zhuang was first taken aback, then his face filled with guilt. “Little Brother, I’m so sorry. Those spirit stones—I will return them to you. I must.”
Knowing Da Zhuang’s persistence, Zhou Donghuang did not try to convince him otherwise. Zhou Donghuang instead turned to the core elder, Han Ku, and got straight to the point by asking, “Elder Han, based on what I just heard, do you mean to say that, even if the goods are fake, as long as the sale takes place in the market, after the item and money have exchanged hands, the person who bought the fake can do nothing about it? Is this a rule protected by the sect itself?”
“This must be the new disciple who recently joined Autumn Valley.” Because he was close to He Jin, Han Ku was aware that Autumn Valley had recently gained a new disciple.
“Indeed.” Han Ku nodded his head. “The sect laid down this rule in the hopes that the disciples would be able to learn hard lessons within the sect and avoid big losses on the outside. For disciples to suffer a greater number of small losses while they are still protected by the sect is not such a bad thing, after all. In fact, inside the sect, to be able to sell a fake good successfully is considered a talent, to some extent.”
“I see,” Zhou Donghuang replied with a nod. He then glanced at the Summer Valley disciples, Lian Can and Pan Yilin, before turning back to Da Zhuang and saying, “Da Zhuang, let’s go back.”
“Yes,” agreed Da Zhuang, and they left together.
The marketplace once again regained its peace. To the members of the sect who were in the market, this was nothing more than a small commotion.
“That lad just now, was he the new disciple that joined Autumn Valley? I think his name was Zhou… Zhou something Huang?” Lian Can looked at Pan Yilin and raised his eyebrows.
“I think so.” Pan Yilin nodded. “According to people from Autumn Valley, the new disciple, Zhou Donghuang, is extremely handsome. He’s always dressed in flowing white and has an extraordinary aura. If I had not seen it for myself today, I would not have believed it.”
“Why? Do you think he’s special?” Lian Can’s eyes were now unfriendly. “If I remember correctly, I think he was brought into the sect by Sister Mengxi?” With that, his expression changed, and a cold murderous glint flashed across his eyes.
He Mengxi was the apple of his eye. He would not allow any man besides her father to come near her. Da Zhuang was the first. Now, here was the second. He, Lian Can, would not let either of them off easily!
Lian Can’s words made Pan Yilin’s face change in fright. He hurriedly added, “Although some may consider him remarkable, compared to you, he is inferior!”
With this compliment from Pan Yilin, Lian Can’s sour expression improved.
…
On the way back to Autumn Valley, Zhou Donghuang said to Da Zhuang, “Da Zhuang, these next days, I need you to make a fe morew trips to the market. Record down and report anything placed on the auction board by someone from Summer Valley.”
The Lightning Sword Sect’s market not only facilitated face-to-face transactions, but they also held auctions for rare items. Of course, prices at auction at least had to double the item’s original price. Otherwise, the item would not be placed on the auction board.
“Yes.” Although he was not quite sure what his Little Brother was up to, Da Zhuang was quick to agree to his request.
