The Prodigies War

East Victory World, Ancient Blue Province.

On the other side of the Boundary River was a large city at the edge of the Ancient Blue Province: Jade Flame City.

Many hours later, Lin Xun and the others arrived there.

Kou Xing, Green Face, Red Silk and the other adventurers said their farewells here. When they were about to leave, Lin Xun gave them all some special medicines and treasures.

They weren’t extremely valuable gifts, but Kou Xin and the others still felt quite touched by this.

When they thought back to their experience of crossing the Boundary River this time, they believed that they wouldn’t be able to forget Demon God Lin, who had come from West Infinity World.

Following that, Lin Xun, Miss Le, and Xiaohe all entered Jade Flame City.

……

Jade Flame City was bordered by mountains on one side and the Boundary River on the other. It was a flourishing and populous city full of excitement and things to do.

Recently, the Boundary River had undergone some big changes, and many secrets and opportunities that had been buried for an unknown number of years were now appearing.

This also made Jade Flame City become even more busy and busting. Every day, countless numbers of experts came over to check out the secrets of the Boundary River and attempt to dig for treasure.

As soon as they entered the city gates, a burst of noise hit their faces.

“Selling the remains of a saint! This relic was just unearthed at the Dragon Falling Abyss in the Boundary River. Only one thousand high-grade aeth essences!” Not far from them were people in stalls, yelling and hollering about their goods.

Lin Xun almost gasped after hearing this. There were people daring enough to advertise that they were selling the remains of a saint on the street? Were all the cultivators of East Victory World that brave?

“Young man, are you here to find some treasures from the Boundary River? This old man advises you to be cautious and make sure you do your research before buying.” An elegant old man came over to remind him.

Lin Xun then remembered that even though they were on the shore of the Boundary River, there were bound to be many counterfeit goods on sale. They were all looking for a foolish victim they could con.

“Thank you, Elder, for reminding me,” Lin Xun responded.

The old man twirled his beard and smiled. “Young friend, you look imposing and extraordinary, which means you are likely a descendent of a mighty clan. I have a lot of treasures here that were also excavated from the Boundary River after lots of sweat and blood. Do you want to take a look and see?”

As he spoke, he opened up his hand and a badly damaged, mottled, gray piece of jade appeared. It had an ancient aura on it.

“This jade truly is very old and is an ancient treasure.” Lin Xun nodded.

“Haha, young friend, you have a pair of good eyes. It was destined for us to meet today, so I'll give this jade to you.” The old man offered the jade to Lin Xun.

When she saw this, Miss Le quickly smiled and surreptitiously pulled on Lin Xun’s sleeve to lead him away. As they walked she said, “He’s an old swindler, so don’t get fooled by him.”

Lin Xun was astonished. “How do you know?”

“Just look.” Miss Le turned her head, hinting for Lin Xun to look back.

He saw the old man stopping another gorgeously dressed young man with a smile as he said, “Young friend, you look imposing and extraordinary, I’m sure you’re…”

Goodness, even the words he was using were the same. He was clearly used to saying these phrases all the time.

Following that, the old man took the opportunity to take out a piece of ancient, damaged jade and gave it to the youth.

The young man was overwhelmed by the old man’s generosity and tried to refuse multiple times, but he was unable to give it back. In the end, he had no choice but to accept.

Following that, an interesting scene unfolded. The youth felt embarrassed so he wanted to give the old man a piece of aeth essence to express his thanks.

The old man also looked embarrassed, but he actually quoted a sky high sum for the old piece of jade: fifty thousand mid-grade aeth essences!

Lin Xun’s jaw dropped as he frowned fiercely. This old man was truly too much of a scoundrel. That old piece of jade was ancient, but had no real value. Yet this old man was actually asking for fifty thousand mid-grade aeth essences for it!

Sure enough, the young man was dumbfounded. Then he became angry. Just as he was about to have an argument with the old man, a group of fiendish experts sneered as they encircled him. They all stared at him with evil-looking eyes, and it was obvious they were threatening him on behalf of the old man.

The old man simply sighed and said, “Young friend, I did remind you that you have to be careful around here…”

In the end, the youth had no choice but to reluctantly hand over all of his assets to buy that piece of old, damaged jade. His face was full of resentment as he left.

Following that, another interesting scene appeared. Another piece of old jade appeared in the old man’s hand as he began to ostentatiously try to swindle other people…

“That old bastard!” Lin Xun had witnessed everything and couldn't help but exclaim, “Is he not afraid that he’ll end up trying to scam someone he shouldn’t offend?”

Miss Le simply chuckled. “Old swindlers like him are quite clever. They only scam people like you, who are foreigners. Furthermore, before he tries, he’s already spent a lot of time observing the victim. If it was someone he couldn't afford to offend, then he wouldn't even bother trying.”

“From what you’re saying, wasn’t I considered a potential fat sheep earlier?” Lin Xun raised an eyebrow.

“No worries, if he sensed that you were not a good target, that old swindler would immediately apologize profusely,” Miss Le responded with a knowing smile.

“He’s got everything planned out,” sighed Lin Xun.

Not long after, an old man shouted while holding onto a shabby, black clay jar, “The Ying-Yang Matriarch Insects are one of the ten great evils of ancient times. I only have this pair, so don’t miss out on the chance!”

Lin Xun advanced over and saw that the jar was quite wondrous too. It was full of a difficult to understand aura and was quite old and extraordinary.

However, inside the jar were two ordinary looking silkworm cocoons.

“Another old swindler,” Lin Xun muttered to himself.

The old man smiled and said, “Young man, I can tell what you’re thinking. However, have you heard of a mottled cocoon becoming a butterfly? In their infancy, the Ying-Yang Matriarch Insects look just like this. Once they emerge from their cocoons, they will definitely shock you!”

“Go away and find someone else to trick,” Lin Xun burst out after remaining silent. Did he have a face that swindlers liked? Why were all the tricksters targeting him now?

The old man wasn’t the least bit embarrassed as he said calmly, “Whether or not you believe is up to you. The opportunity is in the jar, so whoever obtains it is up to fate.”

Lin Xun simply made a noise in assent and turned and left.

Before long, that old man screeched angrily, “What the heck, how did these White Jade Butterfly cocoons suddenly die? I spent a lot of time and effort raising them.”

His exclamation caused many nearby experts to curse, “Old swindler, didn’t you say that these were the cocoons of the Ying-Yang Matriarch Insects? How are they now White Jade Butterflies?

Following that, the old man left quickly in a gloomy manner.

“Did you cause that to happen?” Miss Le stared at Lin Xun.

Lin Xun grinned and said, “The Ying-Yang Matriarch Insects are even stronger than Little Silver and are one of the ten evils of ancient times. Earlier, I released a bit of Little Silver’s aura to see if those cocoons were real or fake.”

Miss Le smiled. Little Silver was a true God Devourer Insect, so not just any beast could stand encountering his aura.

They didn't stop there and continued forward.

Jade Flame City was full of excitement. There were peddlers everywhere hawking goods from the Boundary River. Some were real and some were fake. There was a dazzling array of items that all had unknown origins.

There were the remains of saints, secret treasures from the distant past, extraordinary elixirs…a myriad of items, but most were not worthy of their names.

However, there were true gems as well, but the prices for those were exorbitantly high.

Before long, Lin Xun and the others were standing in front of one vendor’s booth. This place had an old and mottled bronze mirror that had runes engraved all over it. However, most of the runes had been damaged already.

Even at this state it was an out of the ordinary item. A distinctive dao aura wafted from it.

According to the owner of the stall, this mirror had been dug up from a broken tomb at the Boundary River.

After Lin Xun and Miss Le both looked the item over, they came to the conclusion that this was an ancient Saint treasure. However, it had already been heavily damaged, so it was basically trash now. It was deficient in divinity so it wasn’t worth much anymore.

Regardless, there were still many cultivators who asked about it.

“I want this bronze mirror,” stated an expert cultivator from a beast tribe. He had a bird’s head and human body. His eyes were like lightning, and he looked quite fierce and vicious.

“Eight thousand high grade aeth essences and you give the treasure to me,” bid another expert.

Within moments, the price for this bronze mirror shot up, reaching eighty thousand high grade aeth essences. More and more cultivators came over to watch.

“Another trap for fools. They deliberately had people bid high to see which idiot would fall for it,” Lin Xun muttered inwardly. He had been watching closely and discovered a few fishy elements.

After all, this mirror was truly a Saint treasure, but it had long been broken. It truly wasn’t worth such a sky high price.

Eh?

Suddenly, Lin Xun felt his heart skip a beat as he sensed something.

This booth also had a bunch of other crazy treasures piled on it. The thing that caught his attention was a fragment of bronze that was about half a foot long. It was quite corroded.

Was this a fragment of some kind of treasure?

Lin Xun carefully inspected it and couldn't help from lifting it up in his hands to get a closer look.

Soon after, he silently cursed the owner of this booth. He was truly a dishonest fellow. This item was definitely a remnant of an ancient treasure, but the marks on it had been added on through a secret technique. If someone wasn’t careful, they wouldn’t be able to tell at all.

The owner was clearly doing this in order to make unsuspecting victims feel like they had found a good treasure at a great bargain.

Sure enough, once he noticed Lin Xun inspecting this fragment, the stall owner looked startled before pretending to off-handedly say, “Young friend, do you like this treasure? It’s nothing rare, so how about I sell it to you for three thousand high grade aewth essences?”

Xiaohe sniffed. “This price is too high ah. It’s just a broken piece of bronze.”

Lin Xun also shook his head. “This price is indeed too high.”

As he spoke, he picked up a blood-stained piece of rock to inspect it.

“Young friend, this rock is not what it looks like. It came from the dirt of a badly damaged ancient forbidden restriction. Do you see the blood on it? It might be the blood of a Saint!”

The stall owner then mysteriously said, “If you want it, you can buy it along with the bronze fragment for a total cost of three thousand high grade aeth essences.”

Lin Xun continued to shake his head. “Still too expensive.”

As he spoke, Lin Xun put the rock down and then looked at some other goods. After a bit of time, he finally shook his head and walked away.

“Young friend, wait! How about this? Three thousand high grade aeth essences, and you can take away everything!” shouted the stall owner urgently.

Lin Xun thought for a long time before finally agreeing.

When the stall owner saw this, he actually began to hesitate. He actually knew the worth of these old and broken goods. Altogether, it’d be a stretch to say they were worth a thousand high grade aeth essences, let alone three thousand of them.

Because he was cautious, he went over all of the goods once again before finally completing the transaction with Lin Xun with a smile on his face.

“Older Brother Lin Xun, that guy is clearly trying to scam people, so why did you take the bait?” Xiaohe asked after they left the area. She couldn't understand his reasoning.

“From what I can tell, it’s because he got the better end of the deal,” Miss Le said pensively.

“I just knew I wouldn't be able to hide it from you.” Lin Xun grinned as his heart beat quickly. He had truly come across a big treasure this time!