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

Or so it seemed.

interested in the hemlock, the fat

tell you the truth… I came across

come in

cultivator seemed to be thinking on

the price

was someone that did business for a long

nodded,

of how much Caspian wanted and needed the hemlock, he

all, was

would not chance upon the shop again after passing

came into Caspian’s hands when he picked the hemlock up, on top of the brief flash of panic he saw on the fat

he turned the hemlock over in his hands yet again, fingertips running over the calloused wood, Caspian observed the fat cultivator‘s

even calling out to other

able to see that the man’s gaze

that

down the hemlock, Caspian

his eyes were not working well enough, he would

stronger than that of cultivators

as he noticed the fat man looked visibly

a brief spiritual sweep, it was not long before Caspian realized that his hunch was

was, indeed, something wrong with

itself laid in the section that was

opening so thin it was

that the hemlock was stuffed with a piece

was a lot heavier

the hemlock

discovering the loophole, Caspian knew what to

to the stall owner and asked,

to

me, young man! I won’t bamboozle

Five hundred spirit stones.

How’s that?”

Caspian

grows deep in the forest, it’s

a well-read

sure you’d know it takes at least two hundred years of growth for hemlock

years, it has to keep from pests and absorb enough nutrition among other

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

you’d also know, young man, that lightning and

of the time the fires are put out with rain barely after they have started

yield a piece of hemlock that

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