The Con

"Young man, I can tell you're here to buy some Spirit Essence. As luck would have it, I've got connections — if you're interested, I can get you a solid discount. Go through the exchange floor and the middlemen will bleed you dry."

The long-faced street vendor flashed a wide smile.

"N-nine... *nine million*?!"

He stood frozen for a moment, then gave Zhang Xiaohou — who looked every bit the simple-hearted country boy — a slow, appraising look.

"What do you mean something's wrong? You clearly didn't handle them properly and let the energy leak out yourself." The heavyset boss put on a performance of innocent bewilderment.

*Marks this easy to take don't come around very often.*

"Excuse me — does the exchange here sell Spirit Essence?" Zhang Xiaohou pushed his cap brim up, revealing his small, narrow eyes.

Zhang Xiaohou followed Da Jin through a series of winding turns until they reached a magic shop whose signboard was buried under years of accumulated dust.

After a quick whispered exchange in the back room, the heavyset boss went off to fetch three counterfeit Spirit Essences.

Beyond the official Magic Exchange and auction houses, the city was scattered with privately run magic shops. Most of their stock came through merchants who dealt in Mage goods via unofficial channels, and prices tended to run lower than at the exchange or the auctions. Many hunters liked to scour these shops hoping to turn up a hidden gem — there was no shortage of sellers who didn't know what they were sitting on, and the prices at these back-alley stores were almost always open to negotiation.

Da Jin told Zhang Xiaohou to have a seat, then slipped into the back room. A thief's grin spread across his face as he conferred quietly with the shop's owner — a man whose frame suggested he was nudging two hundred jin.

"The Demon Wolf Clan's been making moves again — I need to deal with it personally. Have a confidential report sent to the Biyi Military District. Qiu Xin is my senior brother; he'll know how to handle the strange business at Dongting Lake. And if anyone spots that fool Zhang Xiaohou, have him hauled back before the idiot gets himself killed out there." Zhankong told his old subordinate.

"No problem, no problem — we all know how things work between us."

"Yes, sir."

In Biyi City, Zhang Xiaohou — dressed in outdoor gear to pass as a seasoned hunter — caught the arm of the nearest passerby and asked for directions to the Magic Exchange.

The moment he sent his Mental Intent probing into the containers, he knew something was wrong.

"I'll see to it right away, sir."

"Military Commander, Zhang Xiaohou slipped out of the garrison before dawn. Judging by what he packed, he's planning to be away for quite a while," the old subordinate reported.

The shop barely saw any customers — the silence of it was almost oppressive — though it did display a modest assortment of Magic Weapons, Enchanted Gear, and standard Magic Stones.

"Of course — the real question is whether you've got enough on hand," said Da Jin.

"Three... fine, three it is. We're taking a bit of a loss here, but I can tell you need them urgently — I'll risk a scolding from my contacts and arrange it for you," Da Jin said, keeping his tone warm and accommodating.

Both Da Jin and the heavyset boss were wearing identical predatory grins. A seasoned operator like Da Jin could spot a clueless greenhorn at fifty paces — he just hadn't expected this particular greenhorn to be sitting on quite that much money. A genuine big fish. Rare.

Once he had Zhang Xiaohou inside the magic shop, Da Jin broke into his broadest smile and led him to the small sitting area near the entrance.

"Of course they sell it here — do you know where you are? *Biyi City.* The closest stronghold to the Dongting Lake Tribe territory — a city practically perched on the rim of a demon lair. The military and the hunters here are locked in combat with Dongting Lake's Demon-Beasts every single hour of every single day. Every month, the Lizard-Skull Giant Demon bodies alone could circle the earth twice if you laid them end to end. Spirit Essence is rare, sure — but here you'll find it without fail, and fresh stock comes in every single day." The street vendor painted the picture with gusto.

"That stupid kid." Zhankong muttered under his breath.

"Going to the Magic Association won't help him one bit — we'll just say he stored them improperly and the energy leaked out on its own. Not our fault! Ha ha ha!" The enormous boss laughed right along with Da Jin, then added, "Next time you find an out-of-towner this thick, bring them straight here."

"Goes without saying! Ha ha ha!" Da Jin laughed with smug, self-satisfied glee.

"Thank you so much. By the way — what should I call you?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.

The long-faced vendor stood dumbstruck for a good long moment before he recovered his senses. He hadn't imagined that someone this plain-looking, this apparently guileless, could be carrying that kind of money.

"Alright, that works." Zhang Xiaohou gave a nod.

"These Spirit Essences are *wrong!*" Zhang Xiaohou said, frowning.

He had slept out of sheer exhaustion, yet Zhankong's mind refused to let the strange events at Dongting Lake go.

"What Diamond Card? Don't you know the rules of how shops work? The buyer examines the goods first, confirms everything is in order, *and then* pays. You didn't even check them — so how exactly could I have taken your card?" The heavyset boss drew himself up with an air of righteous indignation.

"A Diamond Card — one of those things with no PIN, cashable directly at the Magic Association or the Hunters' Alliance?" Da Jin's eyes had curved into gleeful slits.

"Right. I was originally planning to buy three, but I've heard ordinary Spirit Essence runs at least three or four million, and the better stuff goes for five million... I've only got nine million total, and I had to sell a piece of Enchanted Gear just to scrape that together. Do you think you could let one go for three million?" Zhang Xiaohou asked.

"Give me my Diamond Card back." Zhang Xiaohou handed all three containers back to them.

"Really?!" Zhang Xiaohou looked genuinely thrilled. He hadn't expected to be this lucky — the very first magic stall vendor he'd grabbed off the street could actually source Spirit Essence for him. Biyi City truly was something else. Back in smaller towns, Spirit Essence only ever appeared at auction.

Having barely slept through the night, Zhankong summoned one of his old subordinates at first light, intending to dispatch a small team to scout the western plains around Dongting Lake.

"Thanks a lot, Brother Da Jin — you've really got some pull. Three Spirit Essences is no small thing to arrange."

Counterfeit Spirit Essence was, technically, still Spirit Essence — it had simply been harvested through improper methods or left without the right containers, causing most of its energy to bleed away. It retained a ghost of effect, but nothing that came close to the genuine article. The official Magic Exchange would never carry such goods; smaller back-alley shops were a different matter entirely.

Diamond Cards were designed to facilitate large-sum transactions among Mages — bearer instruments with no identity binding, not unlike a bank draft. And that was precisely what made them so useful: they were ideal for deals where no one wanted their name attached.

"Unload those counterfeit ones on him — the ones we paid just over two hundred thousand for. Look at the guy. Someone that green almost certainly can't tell real from fake. And even if he figures it out..." Da Jin murmured, letting the implication hang with a quiet chuckle.

"Here's your merchandise. Now let us verify your payment first — we're a small operation, and if you handed us something worthless after we'd already passed over the goods, that would be a real problem." The fat boss fixed Zhang Xiaohou with a lofty, self-important stare.

Zhang Xiaohou's expression went cold.

"Should I have someone bring him back? He can't have gotten far. Going absent without leave is a serious offense on record," the old subordinate said.

"Go file him a mission departure declaration, then bring it to my room to stamp with my Military Commander seal. The kid's a bit of an idiot — but he's a good prospect." Zhankong said.

He badly wanted to know whether those killings at Dongting Lake were the work of a Demonized Mo Fan. If they were, it meant Mo Fan was still alive — but had he managed to hold on to his own mind? And why would he keep hunting Lizard-Skull Giant Demons there?

"Plenty — more than enough. I've got nine million on me..."

"My name is... ah, just call me Da Jin."

*They had actually conspired to con him.*

"All of it is on this Diamond Card."

Without stopping to think it over, Zhang Xiaohou handed the card over for verification and reached out to take the three containers of Spirit Essence — eager to inspect what he'd just bought.