Upon a brief thank you, the two men found themselves at the fat man’s stall perusing the goods laid out.

”Come take a look, see if there’s anything you fancy!” The fat cultivator’s eyes curved into crescents whenever he smiled.

It was easy to take a liking to him.

“Fair prices guaranteed!”

Caspian did not cast his sights onto the hemlock at first.

He pretended to look around, scanning the merchandise of the stalls next to that one.

There were antlers with stripes that glistened golden.

No one knew what creature they came from.

There were dry, shriveled fingers with pointy nails.

Potted plants bore colorful flowers but with leaves that were completely withered.

Caspian looked at all of them, reaching out to feel them from time to time if he wanted.

The fat man seemed equally uncaring of Caspian’s wandering.

None of these things were of any value, after all.

Caspian hardly gave them a second glance.

Upon putting down a shiv, Caspian moved to pick up the hemlock.

It sank with weight the second he picked it up.

Caspian’s eyes froze slightly.

‘It’s heavier than I expected it to be,’ Caspian thought to himself as he cast the stall owner a glance.

Instantly, Caspian was able to see the flash of panic that briefly overtook the fat man’s features when he picked the hemlock up.

Suspicion arose in Caspian immediately.

Instead of hurrying to inquire about the price, he began to analyze it.

The hemlock looked real and fine at first glance.

The chasm was struck by thunder.

Caspian, having absorbed the Bone of Thunder, knew more about lighting than the average cultivator.

The part of the hemlock that was charred black was caught in a forest fire caused by a lightning strike.

the kind of hemlock Caspian looked

Or so it seemed.

seemed interested in the hemlock, the fat man put on an

you the truth… I came

would come in handy

to

the

was someone that did business for a long

Caspian nodded, bringing the

the hemlock, he would have asked for the price

all, was something he wanted to

upon the shop again

picked the hemlock up, on top of the brief

the hemlock over in his hands yet again, fingertips running over the calloused

nonchalant to Caspian’s actions, even calling out to other cultivators that passed by his

was able to see that the man’s gaze would flicker to him every

obvious that something

the hemlock, Caspian

well enough, he would have to use his divine

was much stronger than that

fat man looked visibly relieved

was not long before Caspian realized that his hunch was

was, indeed, something wrong

in the section that

so thin it

divine sense, Caspian even discovered that the hemlock

was a lot heavier

the hemlock

Caspian

the hemlock up to the stall

Caspian had it in his mind to purchase and smiled

to me, young man! I

Five hundred spirit stones.

How’s that?”

Caspian shook

it’s not!” the fat man smiled, “Hemlock grows deep in the forest, it’s hard

a well-read young

know it takes at least two hundred years of growth for hemlock to

has to keep from pests and absorb enough nutrition among other

once it’s been struck, a devastating fire must follow for lightning

man, that lightning and thunder usually come hand in hand

out with

a piece of hemlock that has passed through

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