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

Or so it seemed.

interested in the hemlock, the fat

that hemlock, eh? Let me tell you the truth… I came across it in a forest that was burnt

come in

seemed to be thinking on Caspian’s

the

someone that did business

take another look…” Caspian nodded, bringing the hemlock closer to

wanted and needed the hemlock, he would have asked for the price

of Insight, after all, was

chance upon the shop again after passing the

that came into 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, made Caspian think

turned the hemlock over in his hands yet again, fingertips running over the calloused wood, Caspian observed the

calling out to other cultivators that passed by his stall

gaze would flicker to him every once

that something

down the hemlock,

not working well enough, he would

than that of cultivators of the same

sense as he noticed the fat man looked

long before Caspian realized that his

was, indeed, something wrong

problem itself laid in the section that

opening so thin it was

the hemlock was stuffed with a

was a lot heavier than

was why the hemlock was heavier than

Caspian knew what

to the stall owner

in his mind to purchase and smiled so brightly his pupils

me, young man! I won’t bamboozle

Five hundred spirit stones.

How’s that?”

Caspian shook

smiled, “Hemlock grows deep in the forest, it’s hard enough to source

seem like a well-read young

at least two hundred years of growth for hemlock to

keep from pests and absorb enough nutrition

importantly, once it’s been struck, a devastating fire must follow for lightning to pass through it

sure you’d also know, young man, that lightning and thunder usually

out with rain barely after

coincidences to yield a