“I…”
The attendant’s body trembled.
In the many years the Spirit Emporium had existed, there had never been a single person who had reported it for selling fake goods. In just a single day, this man actually dug up so many fake goods from their shelves…
He’d thought that the other party was just a profligate scion who had too much money to spare, but he would be a fool if he still couldn’t tell that it was an act at this point. That fellow was clearly here to cause trouble!
“Call the boss here, fast! He’s the only one who can resolve this matter at this point…” Mo Fei urged. It seemed as if he had aged decades over the last few minutes.
As an appraiser, he could tell that there was no mistake in the other party’s appraisals.
At this point, it was already an established fact at this point that they did attempt to defraud their buyers.
In other words, as long as the other party demanded compensation, there was nothing they could do about it. The problem was already beyond their scope!
“Yes!” The attendant nodded and quickly rushed off.
Soon, a cold-faced middle-aged man strode into the room.
He was extremely tall with a slightly plump stature. The sharp glint in his eyes seemed to suggest that he was a person who would resort to unscrupulous means to get what he wanted.
His aura was obscure, but it felt transcendent. Most likely, he was at least a Nascent Saint!
Indeed, if not for the backing of such an expert, considering the vile deeds that the Spirit Emporium committed in the shadows, it would have long been rooted from Hongyuan City.
The middle-aged man walked up to Zhang Xuan and asked with narrowed eyes, “Are you the one who said that these items are fakes?”
On the way here, he had already heard the full story from the attendant.
Ignoring the other party’s words, Zhang Xuan waved his hands and said, “Hurry up and decide on how you will compensate me. Otherwise, trust me when I say that it won’t take long for the entire Hongyuan City to learn about this!”
“You!”
Clenching his fists tightly, the hint of killing intent flashed across the dark eyes of the Spirit Emporium’s boss.
All along, they had been the ones preying on others. To think that a day would come when someone would be so arrogant as to try to prey on them!
The boss of the Spirit Emporium harrumphed.
“This friend over here, I don’t know who you are or where you come from, but allow me give you a word of advice: don’t burn your bridges. Otherwise, who knows when it might come back to bite you!”
“Are you threatening me?” Zhang Xuan chuckled lightly in response. “A refund tenfold of the selling price, that is the policy your Spirit Emporium came up by yourself. Are you going to silence me now that a fake has really appeared in your store?”
“This isn’t a threat, just a friendly reminder to you. The path of a cultivator isn’t an easy one; I fear for your safety!” Seeing the other party’s fearless attitude, the boss of the Spirit Emporium was on the verge of exploding, but there was nothing he could do.
If he were to make a move on the other party here, the reputation of their Spirit Emporium which he had built painstakingly over the years would be truly ruined.
The boss glanced at Mo Fei and sent a telepathic message to him.
“Are those items really fakes?”
“I am not too sure either, but… when I reappraised the items he picked out, they were completely different from before… Even if I say that they aren’t fakes, no one will believe me…” Mo Fei said.
Even if they weren’t fakes, the other party had already pointed out the various flaws in them clearly. As such, who would still want to buy them?
Take for example the valuable Spirit high-tier armor which allowed its wearer to withstand attacks from a Transcendent Mortal 9-dan expert amidst the stack of items the other party had picked out. Its effects were incredible, but that fellow had already revealed its flaws and how one could overcome it… If so, what was the point of purchasing the armor?
In other words, even if the items were authentic, they were already useless at this point. That would make them as good as fakes.
“Damn it!” Hearing Mo Fei admit to the matter, the face of the boss turned scarily livid.
“Are you done with the negotiations yet? If you are, pay up. These items are worth 237 high-tier spirit stones, and with your tenfold refund policy, you owe me a total of 2370 high-tier spirit stones. Alright, I will give you a little bit of a discount out of the kindness of my heart. 2000 high-tier spirit stones, and I will drop this matter. Otherwise… for defrauding your customers and attempting to scam a master teacher, I will report this matter to the Master Teacher Pavilion to have them to judge this case!” Zhang Xuan said calmly.
“You are a master teacher?” The boss narrowed his eyes.
Typically speaking, as long one didn’t commit any atrocities against humanity, the Master Teacher Pavilion would not interfere in most matters. However, if a master teacher was involved in the case, there was a good chance that it would intervene.
This was a privilege the Master Teacher Pavilion granted its members.
Once the Master Teacher Pavilion intervened in the matter, the various shady things they had done might be pulled to the surface as well, and the entire Spirit Emporium could very well be destroyed due to that.
Even though there were quite a few people who knew of the Spirit Emporium’s doings in the shadows, they had no evidence, and the Spirit Emporium had made sure to deal with them accordingly, be it bribery or silencing them.
However, considering the means of the Master Teacher Pavilion, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to get to the bottom of the matter.
“That’s right!” Zhang Xuan replied.
After recovering from the shock, a thought flashed across the boss’s mind, and he harrumphed.
“Even if you are a master teacher, considering your young age, you should be a student of the Master Teacher Academy, right?
“Considering how many students there are in the Master Teacher Academy, I doubt that anyone will know if one or two of them go missing!”
The Master Teacher Academy was a place to nurture budding master teachers, and it was impossible to do so while keeping the students in a safe environment. Thus, it wasn’t rare for the academy to dispatch its students on dangerous missions, and deaths weren’t infrequent.
“It’s indeed nothing much for a student or two of the academy to disappear, but I’m afraid that School Head Mo of the Beast Tamer School and School Head Zhao of the Blacksmith School will disagree with your words!”
Chuckling lightly, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and took out the two tokens given to him.
Since they were already in his possession, it should be fine for him to make use of their authority.
Mo Fei’s body shuddered upon seeing the tokens, and he hurriedly sent a telepathic message to the boss.
“Those are indeed the personal tokens of School Head Mo and School Head Zhao… They are real!”
School Head Zhao and School Head Mo were part of the Ten Great Master Teachers, and they were famous figures even amongst the many Tier-1 Empires. Considering that they had given their personal tokens to the young man standing before them… their relationship was anything but ordinary.
“They are real?”
The boss had thought that he was only dealing with an ordinary student, so the matter shouldn’t have been too difficult to resolve. But who could have thought that the fellow would carry two of the school heads’ personal tokens on him?
“Alright, I will give you a tea’s time to think over your options. If you refuse to pay, I will head to the Master Teacher Pavilion. It just happens that I have quite a close relationship with Pavilion Master Mo, so I believe that he will happily seek justice for me!” Zhang Xuan said as he stretched his back lazily.
Since the Spirit Emporium dared to threaten those around him, it should be prepared to face his wrath.
You want to be domineering?
Sure, let me crush you with my identity as a master teacher then! Let’s see which of us is more domineering!
The face of the boss reddened in rage, but he dared not vent his anger.
A tea’s time…
On the other hand, the attendant rushed forward and reported something to him via telepathy.
Hearing the attendant’s words, the boss heaved a sigh of relief before turning to Zhang Xuan. “There’s no need to wait a tea’s time, we will pay!”
“For real?”
“The Spirit Emporium is going to pay?”
“But that is 2000 high-tier spirit stones! Putting aside the Spirit Emporium, is there even so much money in Hongyuan Empire?”
…
Seeing the boss of the Spirit Emporium abruptly changing his mind, choosing to pay the sum, everyone was taken aback.
Even Zhang Xuan himself was a little taken aback by the turn of events.
He had prepared a hand in case the other party refused to pay, but never had he imagined that the other party would agree to it instead.
“You paid a high-tier spirit stone to purchase the Bronze Gong earlier. Even though you did say that you intended to buy the other items, you haven’t paid for them yet… In other words, we have only sold you a single item so far. With our refund policy, we will repay you ten high-tier spirit stones!”
The boss waved his hands and instructed, “Hurry up and bring ten high-tier spirit stones over!”
“Yes!” The attendant hurriedly nodded before leaving the room. Soon, he returned with ten gleaming high-tier spirit stones in hand and passed them over to Sun Qiang.
“This…” Sun Qiang was a little dazed, unable to catch up with the happenings. He wasn’t certain whether he should accept it or not.
While the young master had pointed out many items that he wanted to buy, he hadn’t paid for them. All along, he had only passed a high-tier spirit stone to the attendant.
Using this loophole, the Spirit Emporium regarded that as the only transaction conducted and refunded him ten high-tier spirit stones. While that was a substantial sum as well, it was at least a cost the Spirit Emporium could afford to bear.
Regardless from which angle one looked at this matter from, the other party’s response was also in line with the rules.
“Young Master…”
Unsure of what to do, Sun Qiang turned to Zhang Xuan, only to see latter smiling calmly. “Are you sure that’s how you want to play the game?”
“This master teacher over here, I am not sure what you are trying to say. Our Spirit Emporium prides itself on its honor. Since you paid us a high-tier spirit stone, going by our refund policy, we have already compensated you with ten. Even if you were to bring this up in the Master Teacher Pavilion, I believe that there is nothing Pavilion Master Mo could say about this.” The boss of the Spirit Emporium smiled, but his eyes remained as cold as ever.
“On the other hand, you, as a master teacher, despite not buying anything at all, attempted to hoodwink us out of 2000 high-tier spirit stones. Surely this would be bad for your reputation if word were to spread?”
After hearing from the attendant that the fellow had only paid a single high-tier spirit stone, he immediately thought of a countermeasure.
A transaction can only be considered to have occurred when the goods and money have been exchanged. Even if the items we have here are fakes, you haven’t paid yet, so they still belong to the Spirit Emporium. Naturally, we don’t have to refund you for them.
“I see. Since that is the case…” Zhang Xuan glanced at the boss of the Spirit Emporium impassively and said, “You have taken my artifacts and placed them on sale for so long, but you still haven’t sold them yet. It shouldn’t be too much for me to take them away with me now, right?”
“Artifacts? When did we take your artifacts and place them on sale?” The boss of the Spirit Emporium was momentarily stunned by the ridiculous words spouted by the young man before him.
This is the first time I’ve met you, when did I take your artifacts?
Even if you want to frame me, surely you can do better than that?
“You are denying it?” Zhang Xuan shook his head. “All artifacts have their own spirit, and it is impossible to win the loyalty of the spirit without spending substantial time with them. This is common knowledge amongst all cultivators, so I believe that you, the boss of the Spirit Emporium, shouldn’t be unfamiliar with it either.”
The boss couldn’t understand what the young man was driving at, but he nodded in response.
It wasn’t easy to make the spirit of an artifact submit to one. There were even a few who were unable to get the spirit of their artifact to acknowledge them as its master even after years of effort.
“That makes things simple then… Alright, I think I don’t have to explain that only my own artifacts will listen to my command, that should be more than obvious to all of us here.”
With an upright posture reminiscent of a taut spear piercing through the heavens, Zhang Xuan abruptly bellowed with a resounding voice, “What are you all waiting for? Pay respect to your master!”
Huala!
As soon as those words were uttered, all of the artifacts in the room flew into the sky and gathered around Zhang Xuan.
