The Prince Who Was Raised in Hell

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.

was exactly the kind of hemlock Caspian looked

Or so it seemed.

as Caspian seemed interested in the hemlock, the

I came across it in a forest that was burnt into

that would come in handy with

seemed to be thinking

mentioned the price

was someone that did

Caspian nodded,

wanted and needed the hemlock, he would have asked

after all, was

would not chance upon the shop again after

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

yet again, fingertips running over the calloused wood, Caspian observed the

calling out to other cultivators

see that the man’s gaze would flicker

that something was

down the hemlock,

were not working well enough, he would have to use his divine

was much stronger than that of cultivators of the

he noticed the fat man looked visibly relieved

not long before Caspian realized that

indeed, something wrong with the

itself laid in the section that was charred

opening so thin it

Caspian even discovered that the hemlock was stuffed with a piece of refined

was a lot

was why the hemlock was heavier than

discovering the loophole, Caspian knew what

up to the stall owner and asked,

in his mind to purchase and smiled so brightly his pupils were barely

young man!

Five hundred spirit stones.

How’s that?”

much!” Caspian shook

“Hemlock grows deep in the forest,

seem like a

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

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

been struck, a devastating fire must follow for lightning to

you’d also know, young man, that lightning and thunder usually come hand in hand with

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

of coincidences to yield a piece of hemlock that