["A real cultivator doesn't buy power. He sells lies to people who think they can." – Wu Feng]
-
Linchuan City wasn't a city in the traditional sense.
It was a fortress built out of failure—a half-legal, half-lawless crossroad where fallen sects, rogue clans, and independent cultivators carved out territory between the cracks of power.
There were no city guards—only hired clans.No laws—only agreed-upon enforcements.No taxes—only tributes to whoever controlled the street you walked on.
Which made it perfect for someone like Wu Feng.
He arrived at dawn, cloak low, expression unreadable. His presence blurred with Silent Wind Form, passing through spirit checkpoints without triggering attention.
At the city gate, two mercenaries checked travelers.
One stepped toward him.
"You from a clan?" the man asked.
Wu answered by flashing a jade token engraved with the mark of Red Star Pavilion—a group he had absolutely no affiliation with.
[+5 PP – Faked Affiliation (Local Level)]
[+10 PP – Confidence Bluff vs. Minor Threats]
They stepped back.
He walked in.
Linchuan City - North Edge (Upper Hill), Controlled by the Black Fan Syndicate – information brokers and assassins. Eastern Market Sector is where sectless cultivators buy, sell, and trade forbidden scrolls. In Southern Slum Rings rogue beast-hunters, cheap pills, illegal talismans, and in Western Dome is where the underground Spiritual Auctions take place.
Wu Feng wasn't here to buy anything. He was here to sell something he made up the night before.
A fake artifact. Forged spiritual history. Wrapped in believable mystery.
And let desperate, arrogant buyers outbid each other to hold it.
"If I walk out of this auction with spirit stones, a scroll, and someone else's reputation ruined," Wu said to himself, "that's a triple win."
The night before entering Linchuan, Wu spent an hour carving a jade shard using a shard from Ashveil Crater and illusion techniques.
He wrapped it in ash silk, sealed it with a rune mark using diluted ink from a False Aura Dust Talisman, and scribbled the following "origin" on a burned scroll:
"Recovered from a failed soul-binding attempt in the Ruins of Iron Vein.Believed to contain echoes of a forbidden Inverse Technique path.Recommended: Do not activate in presence of bloodline cultivators."
Then he made a name for it:
"Cradle of Refusal – Fragment I"
[+10 PP – Created False Artifact With Backstory][+5 PP – Warning Label Added (Fear Multiplier)]
The Auction House: Crimson Hollow ,it sat below Linchuan's west dome—guarded by robed mercenaries and ringed with dozens of spirit seals.
Only approved sellers entered the vault.
Wu bluffed his way in with his Red Star token and a forged signature from a "Wandering Elder Bai."
The clerk, a jade-eyed cultivator who looked like she'd seen too much nonsense to care, examined his box.
"You sure this isn't cursed?"
Wu shrugged. "Not any more than your job."
She snorted.
"Fine. You're in. Minimum starting bid?"
"Two hundred."
"Description?"
He slid her a scroll. "Let them guess the rest."
[+15 PP – Auction Entry Success (With No Background Check)]
Auction Begins – Three Hours Later
The crowd was larger than usual—word had spread of a strange new fragment.
No known sect history. No clan ties. No inscriptions. But multiple buyers swore they sensed a "shifting aura."
Wu sat in the back row under a different cloak, sipping tea.
He watched the bids begin.
"Two hundred!""Three hundred!""Three hundred and sixty from the Crimson Root Sect!""Four hundred ten—Black Fan Syndicate!"
Wu smiled.
"That's one arrogant assassin clan and one gullible sect in play. Let's see who wants to look more 'insightful.'"
The Bidding War begins, the price climbed to 700 stones.
Then 850.
Finally, the Black Fan Syndicate bidder raised a token.
"1,100."
Silence.
The room shifted. The Crimson Root bidder hesitated—then sat back.
"Sold," the auctioneer said.
Wu stood and walked to the merchant desk to collect.
He walked away with:
1,100 spirit stones
A low-tier illusion scroll as a seller's bonus
And a note: "Interested parties wish to meet the seller. You are invited to a private table."
Wu read it. Then burned it.
"Never meet your buyers."
[+30 PP – Walked Away With Stones + No Identity Exposure]
In a quiet backroom, the Black Fan Syndicate unsealed the "Cradle of Refusal."
The aura inside flickered—reactive illusion dust activating.
It projected a single, echoing phrase:
"If you paid for this, you were never ready to wield it."
Then dispersed.
Three assassins stared in silence.
One laughed.
System Update
Petty Points: 640New Shop Unlocks:
Auction Trickery Tools Pack (Includes packaging illusions, spiritual fakes, false lineage tags)
Blacklist Drift Skill – Delay your name appearing on bounty scrolls for 24–48 hours
Narrative Artifact Engraving Kit (Create unique inscriptions that look ancient and valuable)
That night, Wu examined a private message scroll he stole from a distracted courier:
"To all independent agents near Linchuan:A figure has begun disrupting major sect interests.Suspected ties to Meme Cult.No confirmed name.Reward offered for verified sightings.He walks in silence and schemes in shadow."
Wu raised an eyebrow.
"They're not wrong."
He packed his scrolls, stowed the remaining illusion dust, and prepared to leave Linchuan.
He walked through the southern edge of the city as new buyers whispered rumors about a rogue tactician selling forbidden inheritance shards.
They didn't know his name.
They only whispered:
"He never bids.""He sells what others fear.""He's never been seen twice in the same face."
Wu looked up at the moon and murmured:
"Good. Let the world keep guessing. I'll keep climbing."