As Zhou Donghuang returned to the Autumn Valley, a middle-aged man with an average build appeared in the Summer Valley, exuding confidence. As he flew into the Summer Valley, his spirits were high, and it was easy to sense his joy.
“Brother Zhong, you look thrilled today! Has something good happened?”
A young man preparing to leave the Summer Valley smiled at the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man laughed. “Yes, something good has happened! I put some Thousand-year Red Wood on the market in the trade area about two years ago. Now, someone has finally bought it!”
“Thousand-year Red Wood?” The young man was shocked. “That item has an expensive price tag but little value. After you increased the price by two or three times, it’s amazing that someone purchased it! Brother Zhong, you are fortunate!”
“Alright, let’s talk later. I’m rushing to give these items to my master so he can help me convert themm into an ultimate spirit weapon.”
As the middle-aged man spoke, he flew into the depths of the Summer Valley.
The Summer Valley was a vast mountain vale like others with similar names. However, it was different from the Autumn Valley, which had visible traces of autumn. Instead, in the Summer Valley, the surrounding nature showed no signs of summer. Coincidentally, this was how the Summer Valley got its name.
“It’s fake! I can’t believe that it’s fake!”
Around the same time that the middle-aged man with last name Zhong returned to the Summer Valley, in a courtyard on the other side of the mountains, a figure burst through the doors with a furious expression, crying out with rage, “Bai Liqing from the Winter Valley dared to sell me fake Frozen-Blood Jade!”
“D*mn it! D*mn it!”
“I’m going to find him and exact my revenge! He has to pay for this!”
The speaker was a Summer Valley disciple and a mid-Dharma adept named Fang Baiwei.
People milling around the nearby courtyards heard Fang Baiwei’s commotion and came closer to see what was going on. “Brother Fang, what’s the matter?”
Those who lived near Fang Baiwei communicated with him often. Thus, the Summer Valley’s disciples who lived nearby all had rather good relationships with Fang Baiwei.
After they heard Fang Baiwei’s pitiful tale, they were instantly enraged. “I can’t believe that Bai Liqing from the Winter Valley dared to do such a thing! He had the gall to sell fake Frozen-blood Jade to our Brother Fang?”
“Let’s help him exact his revenge!”
“Yes! He must pay for this!”
Together with several of his fellow disciples, Fang Baiwei left the Summer Valley with murderous intentions and traveled directly to the Winter Valley.
After they were informed that the Winter Valley disciple in question, Bai Liqing, had not yet returned, the mob then turned to travel toward the trade area and happened to find him there.
Bai Liqing, coincidentally, was the first person to receive Zhou Donghuang’s two gifts, which the people from the Summer Valley valued greatly. These two items were the Frozen-blood Jade and the Thousand-year Red Wood.
Now, whether it was the Frozen-blood Jade or the Thousand-year Red Wood, he had already transferred their ownership to the Summer Valley’s disciples by selling them off. In the process, he had earned eighty high-quality spirit stones.
With such a large sum of high-quality spirit stones now in his possession, he had taken a stroll around the trade area before splurging on luxurious items, which he usually refrained from buying.
“Hm?” Suddenly, Bai Liqing realized that the Summer Valley disciple, Fang Baiwei, who had bought the Frozen-blood Jade from him, had brought a crowd of people over. They were all running at him with murderous intent.
“Bai Liqing!!!”
Even before the group came close to him, Fang Baiwei was already yelling out viciously. “I have never offended you in the past, and yet you dare to sell me fake Frozen-blood Jade?”
“Fake Frozen-Blood Jade?”
Glancing at Fang Baiwei, who had not arrived beforehand, Bai Liqing furrowed his brow before saying casually, “Fang Baiwei, what nonsense are you spouting!? The Frozen-blood Jade that I sold you was a proper financial transaction. We exchanged for your spirit stone veins, remember? You even conducted a thorough check of the item to ensure that it was satisfactory. Now that you’ve brought the Frozen-blood Jade back home, you’re suddenly here accusing me of selling you a fake after all this time? What is this? Are you trying to cheat me out of a perfectly fine sale?” As he spoke, Bai Liqing’s gaze gradually turned hostile.
Fang Baiwei’s face darkened as he replied gravely, “Bai Liqing, it is you who are seeking trouble.”
“No, you are the one creating a fuss out of nothing.” Bai Liqing glanced coldly at the man before him then said, “If you are saying that the Frozen-Blood Jade I sold you was a fake, where’s the proof?
“You should showcase the Frozen-blood Jade for everyone to see and verify publicly whether it is real or fake,” Bai Liqing retorted.
Upon hearing Bai Liqing’s words, Fang Baiwei’s face twisted even more. “Fang Baiwei, I think you are creating a fuss out of nothing. Don’t you know that the authenticity of typical Frozen-blood Jade cannot be ascertained simply using the usual tests? The only way to find out if Frozen-blood Jade is authentic is to allow it to come into contact with Simi fire. A true piece of Frozen-blood Jade will directly turn it into smoke and ashes.”
Obviously, no one would ever use Simi fire to test the authenticity of the Frozen-Blood Jade because the jade would immediately be tainted after coming into contact with Simi fire. In the short term, if a core-forging master did not use it, or it was not made into a spirit weapon, it would become an ordinary piece of jade, which was worth very little.
“Simi fire?” Bai Liqing smiled.
“According to your words, I’m assuming that the Frozen-Blood Jade, this very piece you claim is fake, cannot be produced here and now?
“What a joke!
“Once, Pan Yilin, the disciple from your Summer Valley, passed off six-ringed bamboo as nine-ringed bamboo and sold it to one of the Autumn Valley’s disciples, Da Zhuang. In the end, Da Zhuang managed to produce the fake to prove his point. Now, you Summer Valley people are accusing me of selling fakes but are unable to produce proof.” As he said this, Bai Liqing’s smile disappeared, and his eyes glazed with frost. “Fang Baiwei, if you have the guts, fight me on this! If you wish to ruin my reputation, you’ll need to work for it!” Bai Liqing called out sharply.
Fang Baiwei’s face changed immediately, and he wanted to take action. However, he was immediately blocked and restrained by several of the disciples from his valley.
A few of the Lightning Sword Sect’s disciples were also nearby, and they could not help but comment on the situation.
“Senior Bai Liqing is right. If he is unable to produce proof, how can he claim that Senior Bai Liqing sold him fake goods? There is no evidence.”
“People of Summer Valley, you are all so shameless. Today, you tried to smear Bai Liqing’s reputation without any proof. Before, when Da Zhuang of Autumn Valley produced proof that your people had cheated him, the people of the Summer Valley stood by Pan Yilin. A disciple of the Summer Valley, Han Ku, even said that even if Pan Yilin had sold fake goods, the fault lay with Da Zhuang for not checking the quality of his purchases. The sects have a rule: once a financial transaction is concluded, it cannot be reversed.”
“According to the sect’s rules, other than the fact that Fang Baiwei has no proof, even if there were proof, and Bai Liqing had indeed sold fake goods, he has no right to do anything to Bai Liqing. According to the rules, it is Fang Baiwei’s fault for not verifying his purchases. Bai Liqing is not to blame.”
After hearing such comments from the Lightning Sword Sect’s disciples, Fang Baiwei’s face grew so stormy that it could have probably squeezed out water like a thundercloud. The glance he now gave Bai Liqing was so intense and angry—it was like he wanted to devour him.
“Bai Liqing, this time, I’ll end this conversation here. Next time, I hope we have no future interactions, or I will not let you go so easily!”
Fang Baiwei glared at Bai Liqing with murderous rage and unsatisfactorily left with the Summer Valley disciples who had accompanied him.
“Anytime! Anytime!” Bai Liqing called out cheerily without hesitation.
By this point, everyone in the crowd had reached a consensus that Fang Baiwei was provoking Bai Liqing for personal reasons. Otherwise, he should be able to produce some evidence!
“There was already an incident of a Summer valley disciple, Pan Yilin, cheating an Autumn Valley disciple, Da Zhuang. After what happened today, it must be said that the Summer Valley people are too much!”
This was now the general idea shared by most of the Lightning Sword Sect’s disciples.
After the commotion that Fang Baiwei had caused, Bai Liqing was not in the mood to continue casually browsing the trade area. He took the eighty high-quality spirit stones that he had earned that day and went on his way, returning to the Winter Valley in high spirits.
The Winter Valley was also a mountain, an icy patch of paradise. White snow blanketed the land, and all the rivers and bodies of water were frozen.
“Brother Bai, seeing your rosy cheeks, I’m guessing something good happened to you today.”
Just as Bai Liqing had returned to the skies above his courtyard, a skinny figure suddenly flew at him from an adjacent courtyard. He looked like a normal person, except for his glance, which was incredibly intense. He smiled at Bai Liqing as he talked.
“Haha! Senior Zhang, let me treat you to some wine tomorrow! I can splurge on twelve flower stuffed pipes!”
Bai Liqing laughed as he looked at the Winter Valley disciple before him, whom he was closest to in the entire East Valley. Bai Liqing viewed him as a brother.
“Twelve flower stuffed pipes?” The skinny middle-aged man’s eyes brightened. “That’s not bad. It’s rare for you to make such an offer! I still remember that I’ve treated you to several rounds of twelve flower stuffed pipes, but you have only treated me once or twice! Furthermore, on those occasions, it was I who asked you to reciprocate, as you were rather unwilling!” said the skinny middle-aged man in a slightly teasing tone.
Bai Liqing smiled awkwardly and explained, “That’s because I was rather short on cash, so I did not have much choice. Senior Zhang, if you want, from tomorrow onward, I’ll treat you to twelve flower stuffed pipes every day for half a month!”
Twelve flower stuffed pipes were a particular sort of spirit wine produced by the Lightning Sword Sect’s Spring Valley. It was created with twelve different types of spirit flowers and was delicious. The wine was strong enough to enhance one’s training.
The twelve flower stuffed pipes contained in regular wine barrels sold for one high-quality spirit stone per barrel. This was like drawing one spirit stone vein from every single disciple within a sect!
This special wine was not affordable for a typical sect disciple. However, as the intensity of the twelve flower stuffed pipes was extremely high, even Dharma adepts would not dare drink an entire barrel in a day. A Dharma adept who had once drunk an whole barrel of hundred flower wine had ended up passing out for seven days and seven nights!
For two Dharma adepts combined, in a day, the most they could drink would be one barrel of twelve flower stuffed pipes between them.
“Half a month’s worth?”
The skinny middle-aged man’s eyes lit up. “Brother, have you received a fortune recently?”
“A small fortune, yes.” Bai Liqing smiled slightly and casually took out twenty high-quality spirit stones. He returned them to the middle-aged man, saying, “Senior Zhang, I borrowed these from you this morning. I’m returning them to you now.”
The middle-aged man took the spirit stones and asked with confusion, “Brother, are you trying to tell me that you amassed this fortune using the twenty high-quality spirit stones that I lent you earlier today?”
Before Bai Liqing could reply, an angry and outraged voice burst out from nearby. “Bai Liqing, you bastard! How dare you sell me fake Thousand-year Red Wood!”
Bai Liqing turned around saw a middle-aged man with a stocky build charging toward him through the air. “Zhong Yin?”
Zhong Yin, a Summer Valley disciple, had also made purchases from him today. He was the new owner of a piece of Thousand-year Red Wood.
“Fake Thousand-year Red Wood?”
Bai Liqing’s face darkened. What did all these Summer Valley people want from him?
“What happened?”
The skinny, middle-aged man standing beside Bai Liqing now looked suspicious.
“Senior Zhang, these disciples from the Summer Valley are shameless. First, Fang Baiwei claimed that I sold him fake Frozen-Blood Jade. Now, this Zhong Yin is also claiming that I sold him fake Thousand-year Red Wood.”
Bai Liqing’s expression was murderous. “Do they all think that I’m an easy target to bully?”
