Chapter 583: Are You Selling Fake Goods?
Fengling Street remained as desolate as ever, with scarce visitors and even the street-side beggars missing, leaving only a few open shops behind.
Yet, this sparsely populated Fengling Street was the perfect hiding spot for Lin Nuo.
Seeing several shops closing down, Lin Nuo could sneak in and hide without anyone noticing.
However, hiding came with the risk of being discovered, particularly due to the scent he left behind. Ruo’er, that little loli, had evolved to track him down by his smell, which was truly terrifying. Disguising himself in the future could become quite problematic.
But he had a clever plan; he had a wall-climbing ladder! He had looped around the city, leaving his scent on various streets and then leaping high into the air to break the scent trail, shooting straight up to the skies.
With a leap, he performed an extreme long-distance dive right into the river, submerging to the very bottom. There, in the muddy underbelly, was a passage that he swam through, moving from one river to another.
Upon surfacing, he summoned a paper doll to scamper around with his clothes, leaving behind a trail of scent, while he himself made a sudden leap onto Fengling Street. With his wind spirit root, he leaped quite far, thus breaking the scent trail, leaving Ruo’er clueless.
Although his counter-surveillance skills were top-notch, he never expected to have to use them to evade his maid.
What could he say? She was just too scary.
Lin Nuo changed into a new outfit and wandered down this eerily quiet street, even doubting if this place truly belonged to Huan Tian City.
He strolled leisurely and stopped in front of a shop.
The store only had the shopkeeper present, with no other customers in sight.
This shop sold a hodgepodge of odd items that were oddly shaped and didn’t seem to serve any known purpose at all.
Intrigued by these bizarre objects, Lin Nuo casually stepped inside.
Noticing Lin Nuo’s entrance, the shopkeeper didn’t greet him warmly; he merely glanced at him and said lightly:
“Feel free to browse.”
The owner was a middle-aged man fanning himself with a bamboo fan while sipping a cup of tea, looking thoroughly relaxed.
Lin Nuo wandered around, even touching the items, yet the owner didn’t warn him against it, allowing him to go about freely.
Perhaps this was the philosophy of a laid-back seller? Just running a shop to enjoy life?
Thinking that if he were to snatch this shop, the owner would probably shrug it off as well?
The pricing of the merchandise was also a point of ridicule. Many items didn’t have prices marked, and those that did were outrageous.
For instance, a theatrical mask priced at one gold coin.
Such masks could be found at street stalls for just a few copper coins.
“Boss, what’s the story behind this mask, and what’s it used for that you’d sell it for one gold coin?” Lin Nuo asked, holding up a bearded theatrical mask.
“The story and use, you’ll know if you know, no need to know if you don’t,” the boss replied nonchalantly, making Lin Nuo want to punch him.
Seriously? You’re quite full of yourself, huh?
At this day and age, with such a service attitude, you must be on the brink of going out of business, right?
Yet with this rundown shop, you can still keep it running? As long as I don’t say it’s closed, it won’t close down.
With that kind of service, anyone buying from you must be a fool, right?
“So, does that mean I need to uncover the mask’s story and function myself?”
“No need to uncover; if you know, then good. If you don’t, it’s fine,” the shopkeeper calmly stated, which Lin Nuo interpreted as “Buy if you want; leave if you don’t.”
Wow, what a bold approach!
But that kind of attitude only piqued Lin Nuo’s curiosity even further. If this guy dared to talk like that, there must be some deep mystery behind it.
Well, he had time, so he might as well hang around.
Lin Nuo set the mask down. To be honest, even if the mask held some earth-shattering function, he wouldn’t buy it; he just didn’t like the bearded theatrical mask.
If you had a torture mask or something, he might consider it.
Lin Nuo didn’t plan to leave and continued browsing the items in the shop while he attempted to ask the owner more, only to receive the same cryptic responses.
“Understandable” was all he got in return.
Understanding what? You must be the “King of Understandable” or something, right?
Lin Nuo picked up a spirit stone, which had a large handprint on it, big enough for most people to fit.
Looking at the spirit stone’s design, Lin Nuo felt it looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Deciding not to ask the shopkeeper—after all, he would likely just respond with “understandable”—Lin Nuo boldly placed his hand on the handprint.
As he did so, the handprint began to emit a spiritual glow, with two clouds of vapor swirling around it.
The shopkeeper noticed Lin Nuo’s actions but didn’t stop him, allowing him to proceed.
This guy really seemed at peace, almost not caring at all.
The spiritual energy enveloped Lin Nuo, and soon, it dissipated, revealing a few words on the spirit stone:
Spiritual Realm Level Four.
Lin Nuo blinked. Could this thing detect his spiritual realm cultivation?
It seemed similar to the Tianxuan Stone from the Xuanyun Sect.
“This detects spiritual realm levels,” Lin Nuo stated seriously, wanting to appear knowledgeable to avoid being subjected to the shopkeeper’s riddles.
The shopkeeper, seeing Lin Nuo was correct, stopped with the riddles.
“Indeed, it detects spiritual realms. As you can see, this is your level: Level Four,” he explained, but Lin Nuo countered,
“But this is a defective item; it’s inaccurate.”
“How so? Why would you question it?”
“I just reached Level Three not long ago. There’s no way I’d jump to Level Four so quickly. Furthermore…”
Lin Nuo held back from continuing, wanting to mention that he’d engaged in dual cultivation and was fatigued, with no chance of feeling any upgrading state or experience. Simply not dropping a level would be a stroke of luck—much less advancing.
You dog of a shopkeeper, thinking you’re so mysterious. Selling defective goods? It gets revealed with one test that it’s inaccurate—how dare you act so smug about it?
“Are you lacking confidence in yourself?”
“I’m self-aware, and I know it’s impossible.”
“This is real; there’s nothing impossible. The reason for your potential upgrade could be due to your training results or possibly external assistance. In short, this is the real outcome. Of course, if you don’t believe it, I won’t convince you further,” the shopkeeper said meaningfully, not blinking as he pretended to be mysterious.
Fine, the only thing I, Lin Nuo, can recognize is fake items—everything else seems like a scam, no need to even look at it.
“This is fake! You measure me at Level Four; it’s definitely false and inaccurate.”
At that moment, a graceful and poised young woman strolled in gently, lightly tapping on the shop’s door.
“Boss, I’m here.”
Upon spotting Lin Nuo arguing with the owner, she appeared a bit surprised:
“Junior Martial Brother, you’re here too.”
