Chapter 754: These Are All Fakes (Part 2)

"What?"

"Dead?"

"Could it be... this pill isn't a Barrier-Breaking Pill, but poison?"

"This is too terrifying! Spending two high-grade spirit stones to buy a fake medicine?"

"The Spirit Materials Pavilion is too outrageous. This isn't how you swindle people!"

...

Seeing the test beast die on the spot, the crowd erupted in uproar.

The purpose of spending a fortune on a pill was to advance in cultivation. To have it not only fail to improve one's cultivation but actually poison them to death—this was something no cultivator wanted to see.

This Mo Fei kept insisting it was genuine and authentic, yet the first test killed the beast... How could anyone trust him?

"This..."

Mo Fei was also stunned, frozen in place.

He had carefully calculated the dosage of the pill given to the test beast, ensuring it was not excessive.

But now it was poisoned on the spot. Could it be... as the other party said, this pill was not a Barrier-Breaking Pill but a discarded, failed product?

"Is this considered a fake?"

Zhang Xuan smiled lightly.

"This... Fine, this pill, I admit I misjudged it. It was my oversight!" Seeing the test beast poisoned on the spot, knowing further explanation was useless, Mo Fei snorted.

"Misjudged? You misjudged more than just that!"

Zhang Xuan casually grabbed the first bronze mace he had bought, which also appeared in his palm: "Your appraisal document states that this item was forged by a sixth-rank artifact master, possessing the power to destroy souls. Even if a soul shaman appeared before it, it could kill them with one strike!"

"Indeed, this bronze mace, though only at the mid-grade peak of the spirit level, carries the weight of history and contains the power of thunder. Killing a soul shaman is no problem!"

Mo Fei snorted.

He had examined and studied this bronze mace for a long time; there could be no mistake.

"Since you are so confident, let's test it!" Zhang Xuan looked calmly at the nearby attendant: "You are at the Spirit Fusion realm, and your soul has begun to cultivate. If this weapon has the power to destroy souls, it will definitely cause a stabbing pain in your soul when used against you."

With that, he looked at Mo Fei: "No objections to this, right?"

Weapons with soul-destroying capabilities greatly harm a cultivator's soul.

Cultivators at the Spirit Fusion realm have only just begun to cultivate their souls; their spirit and flesh are not yet fully unified, making them vulnerable to such weapons.

"No objections!" Mo Fei responded.

The surrounding onlookers also nodded.

Soul shamans had vanished into the river of history and could not be found, but there were many Spirit Fusion realm cultivators. Using such a person to test this bronze mace was perfectly fine.

"Go ahead..." Zhang Xuan smiled lightly and handed the bronze mace to Mo Fei.

Mo Fei raised his eyebrows, channeled his true energy, and swung the mace fiercely at the attendant.

The test quickly showed that when the bronze mace struck, there was no stabbing pain in the soul. In other words, it did not have the power to destroy souls!

"This... how is this possible?"

Mo Fei's face turned pale.

He had specifically tested this bronze mace; it contained the power of thunder, which greatly oppressed the soul and could kill the soul of a soul shaman—extremely effective.

How could it suddenly lose that property?

Without that effect, if it was just an ordinary bronze mace, it was worthless!

"Weapons with soul-destroying capabilities can target the soul. Similarly, only a soul shaman can remove this ability. But soul shamans have been lost for countless years. Could it be... I really misjudged before?"

His body swayed, his face as pale as paper.

The bronze mace had the power to destroy souls, and only a soul shaman could remove that power. No one else, not even a Saint, could do it.

Now that the soul shaman profession had vanished, if this item lacked soul-destroying ability, didn't that mean his previous appraisal was wrong?

One mistake might be excusable, but two consecutive errors made him doubt himself and question his life.

An appraiser could only make three mistakes in a lifetime; exceeding that would result in revocation of their license. Could it be that his reputation would be ruined here?

"As for this bronze cauldron, your appraisal document says it is a Nine-Bend Cauldron, crafted by a six-star artifact master. Its advantage is generating nine-bend fire, allowing medicinal herbs to blend more evenly during alchemy. But its flaw is that its spirit is difficult to tame and hard to bond with... Is that correct?"

Ignoring Mo Fei, who was already doubting himself, Zhang Xuan continued, shaking his hand, and a cauldron appeared before him.

This was also a treasure from the Spirit Materials Pavilion, already appraised earlier.

"Yes..."

Mo Fei nodded.

His tone was noticeably less confident than before.

"The Nine-Bend Cauldron, though it increases the success rate of alchemy, has a spirit that is nine-bend and extremely difficult to bond with. This is common knowledge. There should be no mistake!"

Mo Fei gritted his teeth.

"This is not a Nine-Bend Cauldron, nor does it have such complex spirit. I can make it bond with me in less than a minute!" Zhang Xuan said calmly.

"Less than a minute? How is that possible? If you can really bond with it that quickly, I'll admit I was wrong and that this is a fake!"

Mo Fei sneered.

What a joke! The hardest part of the Nine-Bend Cauldron was bonding with it—this was common knowledge. Bond in less than a minute?

Dream on!

Even a Saint realm expert couldn't do it.

"You said it yourself!"

With a laugh, Zhang Xuan stepped up to the cauldron, slapped it a few times casually, then stood still and said, "Bond with me!"

Hum!

As his words ended, the cauldron, which had been standing motionless, suddenly emitted a long hum, as if excited to meet its master.

"What?"

Mo Fei's body swayed, nearly spitting blood.

That was the sound of a cauldron bonding with its master—he knew it well, without a doubt.

A true Nine-Bend Cauldron had a scattered spirit and could take ten years to bond. This one succeeded in less than half a minute... Had he misjudged again?

Was this also a fake?

What was going on?

"This red sandalwood bead, when worn, can calm the mind and nourish the spirit. But it has been cursed by a soul shaman. Wearing it will not calm the mind but instead cause qi deviation, losing control of life and death!"

"This bottle of liquid medicine, you analyzed as being made from dozens of poisons, beneficial for tempering the body. But I just saw that the toxins have not been neutralized. Once ingested, it will quickly poison the person!"

"This ore, claimed to increase a weapon's grade when fused into it, cannot be smelted at all. Not to mention fusing into a weapon, even polishing it is difficult..."

"This..."

...

Pointing out three errors in a row and personally testing them, Zhang Xuan stopped wasting words. He took the many treasures the attendant had brought over, slapped each one to clean off the dust, and then listed them one by one.

With each item he mentioned, Mo Fei's body shook.

After dozens of items, Mo Fei's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, nearly going mad.

Everything the other party pointed out was correct, whether tested by others or personally experienced—the results were identical.

He had examined all these treasures before, and they matched the appraisal characteristics. How could they all change in the blink of an eye?

Especially the several long swords he had tested—not only were they hard to tame, but they also contained evil spirits that would harm people. If these were sold, they wouldn't protect lives but would kill!

"So many fakes?"

"I always trusted the Spirit Materials Pavilion's treasures. How can there be so many fakes now?"

"With so many fakes, how can we trust them in the future?"

"Looks like we can't buy things here anymore. With so many fakes, even if they're cheap, we can't buy them..."

...

The onlookers, seeing all this, felt a chill in their hearts.

This wasn't a matter of price.

If it's expensive but genuine, that's fine. But even if it's cheap, no one wants to buy a fake!

Not to mention other things, take that pill—buying a fake wouldn't help one break through but would poison them to death. Spending money to die—who would do that?

Previously, everyone knew the Spirit Materials Pavilion's goods were of questionable origin, but they still came. First, because it was cheap; second, because the quality was guaranteed. Now that the quality couldn't be guaranteed, who would dare to buy?

"...So, this one is also fake. In other words... these are all fakes!"

After explaining for a while, Zhang Xuan looked calmly at the nearby attendant and Mo Fei: "You sold me these goods for two hundred thirty-seven high-grade spirit stones, with a policy of 'pay ten times for a fake.' Now that so many are fakes... just compensate me with two thousand three hundred seventy high-grade spirit stones!"

"Compensate over two thousand high-grade spirit stones?"

"Pay ten times for a fake—he bought so many and identified them as fakes, so naturally he should be compensated!"

"Crazy... Even if you sold the entire Spirit Materials Pavilion, you couldn't afford that much!"

"Whether they can afford it is one thing, but who told them to advertise 'pay ten times for a fake'? Now that so many fakes have been found, there's nothing to be done..."

...

Hearing the young man's words, everyone was startled.

With so many fakes, if the 'pay ten times for a fake' policy was enforced, over two thousand high-grade spirit stones—not even the Spirit Materials Pavilion could produce that, and even the Hongyuan Empire's royal family would struggle!

But with so many fakes discovered in public, if they didn't compensate, the Spirit Materials Pavilion's reputation would be severely damaged, and they might as well close down.

"Impressive..."

Sun Qiang's eyes lit up.

Earlier, when he said they would cause trouble, he didn't know how to go about it and feared they might be thrown out. Now he understood the young master's terrifying skill!

If they had come in and started fighting, they would have no justification, and the other party could handle them however they wanted. But now, by finding so many fakes and invoking the 'pay ten times for a fake' policy—everything was done by the rules.

Let's see how they handle this!

Even if this matter went to the Master Teacher Hall, the other party would be in the wrong!

They certainly couldn't afford to pay, and even if they did, the Spirit Materials Pavilion would be completely finished.

If they didn't pay, their reputation would be ruined. With so many fakes, probably no one would dare to buy from them again.

"You... who exactly are you? What do you want?"

These thoughts were easy to follow, and the attendant also understood, on the verge of tears.

He had thought this was a big customer who would ensure his livelihood, but now it seemed this person was a disaster, likely to cost him his job.

"Who am I? I'm just a customer. You sold me so many fakes—shouldn't you compensate me?"

Zhang Xuan raised his eyelids and smiled very amiably.