The market erupted in chatter as Li Shuang calmly examined the Pure Heart Jade Pendant she had extracted from the cracked stone. Its glow shimmered softly, its surface etched with intricate runes that resonated faintly with her Supreme Forgetting Love Technique.
"Pure Heart Jade… I've only ever read about it," Luo Mingyue said, her voice breathless. "They say it strengthens spiritual focus and clears inner demons! Junior Sister, this pendant is priceless!"
Around them, disciples murmured in awe.
"How did she pick that stone?""Lingbao Pavilion didn't even put it on display!""Could it be luck?"
Ye Zhaozhao, hidden in the crowd, bit her lip so hard it bled.
[System Alert: Negative Emotional Spike Detected—Source: Ye Zhaozhao. Value: +150.]
Her plan had been flawless. Manager Qiu had prepared everything: three rigged stones designed to humiliate Li Shuang in front of the sect's disciples. Instead, Li Shuang bypassed the entire setup and uncovered a treasure Qiu himself hadn't even noticed.
No—she hadn't relied on luck.
Zhaozhao clenched her fists. Li Shuang's gaze… it wasn't random.
She had seen it.
"Junior Sister, look!" Mingyue pointed toward another stall. "They're opening more stones!"
The stone-cutters were hard at work, splitting open the ones Qiu had displayed earlier. As expected, each one revealed nothing but rubble. The disciples who bought them groaned in frustration.
"Empty again?""Ugh, I wasted fifty stones for this?"
The murmurs shifted, turning sharp.
"Manager Qiu, are these all duds?""Was this rigged?"
The tension rose. Even Qiu's forced smile began to crack.
Li Shuang remained quiet, simply watching.
Then she stepped forward and spoke, her voice calm but clear enough to cut through the noise.
"These stones are hollow," she said, tapping one of the opened shells. "Look closely—someone scraped out their cores and sealed them back up. There's even faint residue from a concealment talisman."
Gasps filled the hall.
Several disciples bent closer and saw it for themselves: faint talisman marks etched on the inside surface.
"Manager Qiu," Li Shuang said coolly, "would you care to explain why your pavilion is selling tampered stones?"
The color drained from Qiu's face.
"This is a misunderstanding!" he stammered.
"Is it?" Luo Mingyue stepped up beside Li Shuang, folding her arms. "Because I think the sect's Law Enforcement Hall would love to hear about this. Isn't fraud a serious offense under sect law?"
Qiu's legs trembled.
Ye Zhaozhao panicked. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
She surged forward, trying to interject, but Li Shuang turned her gaze on her at last.
Cold. Detached.
"You orchestrated this, didn't you?" Li Shuang asked softly, though it carried through the hall.
Zhaozhao froze.
The disciples murmured again.
"Wait, wasn't Ye Zhaozhao the one who invited Qiu to the peak banquet last month?""And isn't she Lingxu Peak's junior sister?"
Speculation crackled through the room like fire.
Manager Qiu, desperate, blurted, "It wasn't my fault! She forced me!"
Every head turned toward Zhaozhao.
Her heart dropped into her stomach.
[System Alert: Host Exposure Risk Level Rising—90%.]
Zhaozhao forced a trembling smile. "I—I only suggested—"
"Enough," Li Shuang said simply.
The hall went silent.
She didn't raise her voice, didn't accuse her further—she didn't need to. The disciples' whispers had already turned poisonous.
Li Shuang turned away, slipping the pendant into her sleeve as she left Lingbao Pavilion.
Luo Mingyue followed, laughing with delight. "Junior Sister, you crushed them! Did you see Zhaozhao's face? Priceless!"
Li Shuang's expression didn't change.
Inwardly, though, she felt it: the Heaven and Earth Furnace glowed faintly, fueled not just by her own cultivation but by the torrent of negative emotion that surged from Ye Zhaozhao.
She glanced down at her palm. Her frost energy felt sharper. Denser.
Stronger.
In the shadows, Zhaozhao stood trembling, humiliated beyond words as her system buzzed urgently:
[System Analysis: Target's growth is accelerating. Emotional resonance detected. Hypothesis: Target cultivation linked to Host's negative feedback.]
Zhaozhao's breath hitched.
"…What?"