Chapter 23: Real or Fake

Xie Jiuniang didn’t immediately leave the market after her purchase. Whenever she saw food stalls, she would stop and buy some inexpensive snacks, spending a few hundred spirit beads on miscellaneous items. 

After an hour passed, Xie Jiuniang still showed no signs of leaving the market, vexing those secretly monitoring her movements. It wouldn’t be advisable to act within the bustling market area.

At the Three Fragrance Teahouse near the plaza, in the second-floor street-side private room, only Lin Wangchen and a middle-aged man in purple robes were present. This was Lin Wangchen’s paternal grandfather, Lin Bi, a cultivator of the middle Golden Core realm. Their attention subtly revolved around Xie Jiuniang’s activities.

“Grandfather, I suspect Daoist Lingyang has already become aware of our intentions when I attempted to approach Xie Ying within the sect,” said Lin Wangchen, referring to his failed efforts to get close to Xie Ying and the subsequent warning from her master. This had become problematic, causing difficulties not just for the Lin family but other clans as well.

Lin Wangchen continued, “Daoist Lingyang is not to be provoked. If we rob his disciple of her destined chance, I fear…”

Lin Bi raised his hand to stop him. “It’s not robbery, nor can it be. Destiny’s opportunities must be willingly bestowed or traded for equivalent value, lest karmic retribution strikes.”

“Yes, this disciple understands,” replied Lin Wangchen. The clan’s ancient texts contained detailed records. Offending the Child of Destiny during their period of ascendant fortune would almost inevitably lead to dire consequences.

Lin Bi then asked, “What makes that little girl in the market so different?”  

“She was the one who obtained the Spirit Cleansing Grass before Xie Ying became a Heavenly Spiritual Root. At first, I thought she was the one with great luck,” explained Lin Wangchen.

“There’s also this matter?” Lin Bi pondered.

Lin Wangchen added, “Yes. I’ve encountered her two or three times. She’s quite an interesting little girl. But…”

“Speak your mind.”

“Grandfather, is it possible that… Xie Ying isn’t the one? The Xie Clan recently had another junior accepted as a closed-door disciple by Venerable Chongzen. You once said Venerable Chongzen will reach Deity Transformation within a century. Should we arrange for someone to go to the Southeast Sea Region?”

“No need. The clan has calculated that the Child of Destiny is in the Eastern Domain,” said Lin Bi. Just as he finished speaking, his brow furrowed slightly. “Hmm? That little girl has left the market, and Lin Wen is making his move. Are you interested in whatever item she just acquired?”

“Yes, aren’t there sayings that the person of great fortune can acquire treasures from ordinary objects? I simply wish to confirm it.”

During the initial growth stage of the Child of Destiny, their full brilliance has yet to manifest. Under the protection of the Heavenly Dao, Tianji Pavilion could only make predictions within a certain range. 

Ever since Xie Ying became a single spiritual root, the prediction became even more difficult. Initially, they were able to narrow it down to Yunmu City, but now the range had expanded to the entire Eastern Domain. The Eastern Domain was so vast. 

Fortunately, Lin Wangchen had asked Senior Brother Gong to accompany him to Yunmu City at the first opportunity, directly locking onto the Xie family. The possibility of Xie Ying bearing a heavenly fate was very high. They were just waiting for her to gain another fortunate encounter.

However, Lin Wangchen always remembered Xie Jiuniang. That pitiful little girl who obtained a fortunate encounter but couldn’t keep it. 

According to the records in the family’s ancient texts, destined children were initially very weak and had unfortunate fates. Once they obtained a fortunate encounter, they would soar. Compared to the pampered Xie Ying, Xie Jiuniang seemed to fit that description better.

Even though Fellow Daoist Gong’s calculations leaned towards Xie Ying, as a cautious hunter, Lin Wangchen didn’t mind confirming a few more times…

Not long after leaving the market, Xie Jiuniang collided head-on with someone, getting knocked to the ground. 

“Ow, what the hell?! Can’t you watch where you’re going?” Xie Jiuniang cursed as she scrambled up from the ground. 

However, the person who had bumped into her didn’t utter a word and simply ran off. As Xie Jiuniang stood up, she patted her empty waist in alarm. Damn it! Where was her storage pouch? 

Just as she was about to shout for a ‘thief,’ a passing youth reminded her, “Daoist friend, your storage pouch fell to the ground.” 

Xie Jiuniang was stunned for a moment and looked down. There was indeed a storage bag on the ground, very similar to hers, but she recognized at a glance that it wasn’t her own. However, Xie Jiuniang pretended not to notice and casually bent down to pick it up. 

Scanning it with her spiritual sense revealed no owner’s imprint.^[1]Spiritual Imprint: Allows cultivators to mark items with their spiritual aura and detect the owners of unmarked objects. Inside were a hundred thousand spirit stones.

Damn, what a haul! The hidden mastermind must be a wealthy dog!

Xie Jiuniang deftly hung the storage pouch on her waist and cheerfully hummed a little tune. She had made money; it was time to go back.

---

At the Three Fragrance Teahouse, Xie Jiuniang’s lost storage pouch had soon made its way into Lin Wangchen’s hands. 

After wiping away the owner’s lingering spiritual imprint, Lin Wangchen examined the contents—just some worthless items and only around a hundred spirit stones. He took out a rusted broken sword. “Grandfather, this is the item.”

Lin Bi accepted the broken sword, studying it for a moment before manually snapping it, causing another segment to break off with a crisp crack sound. 

Observing the broken edge, Lin Bi tossed the two segments onto the table, took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands clean, and remarked, “The sword’s material is merely ordinary iron, and it’s newly made, with the surface artificially aged. Just another deceitful trick commonly employed by market vendors.”

The street stalls in the market frequently sold piles of old junk. Where did they acquire so many such goods? Counterfeits, of course! 

Only those naive souls who had yet to experience the world, while also seeking destined opportunities, would purchase such items from the market stalls.

Lin Wangchen picked up the broken sword, examined it again, and set it down. “It seems I wasted ten thousand spirit stones on this.” 

“Then send someone to retrieve it.”

“Forget it. During the sect’s recruitment period, the city is filled with powerful experts. It’s better not to complicate matters…” 

The main issue was that he had already wiped away the storage pouch’s owner’s spiritual imprint, eliminating the possibility of a normal trade or exchange.

In that instant when the spiritual imprint vanished, Xie Jiuniang had already sensed it and inwardly sneered coldly. Rats lurking in the gutter could only remain hidden in the shadows.

Xie Jiuniang entered the rented courtyard residence. The moment she closed the main gate, the childlike innocence surrounding her dissipated, replaced by a chilling aura. It caused Song Bao’er, who had emerged from the kitchen, to timidly pretend not to notice before quickly retreating back inside.

Once in her own room, protected by formational defenses from outside probing, Xie Jiuniang reached into her left sleeve with her right hand and rummaged around. She retrieved a storage pouch.

Before venturing out, she had made two precautionary preparations just in case. Knowing her previous life’s fate as the hunted Child of Destiny, constantly pursued by packs of wolves until nothing remained, made Xie Jiuniang shudder at the memories, as if being plunged into an icy cavern. 

It wasn’t due to her own lack of ability, but the enemy’s ruthless methods. Had she not reincarnated, not obtained the Time Leaf, not encountered that fortuitous opportunity, she would never have known the truth.

She suddenly felt a tinge of gratitude towards her Eldest Sister. Without the Time Leaf obtained from her, even if she was reborn, she might have still been unable to escape the fate of being schemed to death.

But now, she had the upper hand. Before leaving Yunmu City, she had recreated physical imitations of everything she had previously obtained and lost in her past life. 

She had a premonition that there would come a time when it would come in handy. Sure enough, it was indeed useful. Before going out today, Xie Jiuniang wasn’t actually certain if anyone was monitoring her movements. But old habits persisted, so she preemptively placed a fake broken sword in the visible storage pouch on her waist as a decoy. 

The real broken sword had been secured in the sleeve storage pouch the moment she bought it. 

Xie Jiuniang eagerly took out the broken sword to begin carefully studying it…

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