GDK 816: Scam?
Han Shuo rushed to the west of the Ethereal City and he found Fire Elite Zombie, or Han Huo. As soon as Han Shuo saw him, he could tell that Han Huo’s intelligence and strength had also advanced to a whole new level.
After entering Ethereal City, Han Huo noticed that there were all kinds of shops all around. As he was in no hurry to look for Han Shuo, he started shopping around the city. Han Huo was fighting with the shop assistants of an energy crystal shop because they disagreed on the price of a certain ore.
Fire Elite Zombie who cultivated in the energy of fire, also possessed miraculous skills in utilizing the energy of fire. The shop did not possess any outstandingly powerful experts. Five or six shop assistants ganged up on Han Huo but in the end, they were still beaten black and blue. If the Ethereal City divine guards had not shown up in time, Han Huo might have burned down the shop.
The Ethereal City divine guards then learned of Han Huo’s identity and that he was also Han Shuo’s son. After discovering that fact, the divine guards dared not do anything to Han Huo, lest they risk making Han Shuo unhappy. They frantically sent a runner to the City Lord’s manor house to inform Han Shuo of the incident while struggling to keep both sides calm.
All those divine guards had heard rumors about Han Shuo. And from their City Lord’s attitude towards Han Shuo, they could tell that Han Shuo wasn’t a character they could risk offending. On top of that, Han Shuo was known to be a genius pharmacist and his Celestial Pearl Pharmacy will soon be open for business in Ethereal City. If they wished to purchase Han Shuo’s highly sought after medicines, they must try to maintain at least a neutral relationship with Han Shuo. Therefore, the divine guards dared not do anything that might offend Han Shuo.
When Han Shuo and Han Tu arrived outside the shop, they discovered that its front entrance had been smoked. Han Huo and the shop assistants were glaring at each other right outside the shop.
“Father! Little Earth!” Han Huo immediately cheered when the father and son showed up. He excitedly went to have a hug with Han Tu before looking at Han Shuo cheerfully.
“What’s the matter?” Han Shuo was very happy to meet Fire Elite Zombie again. However, he noticed that the Ethereal City divine guards were wearing troubled faces and the shop assistants were wearing angry faces. He knew he should try to figure out the whole situation before taking sides.
“Erm… Mister Bryan, your son is shoplifting… “ the chief divine guard at the scene reported to Han Shuo awkwardly.
Han Shuo stared blankly for a moment before he turned to Han Huo, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “Is that true?”
“They are talking nonsense. They are asking me fifty black crystal coins just for a piece of Firespark Stone! Back then, Little Gold told me that a Firespark Stone is nothing valuable and he can find as many as he wanted. I have been very generous to pay them five black crystal coins for that cheap stone!” said Han Huo. He even pointed at the shop assistants and angrily said, “You bunch of bastards, how dare you try to scam me in broad daylight! Don’t think that I can’t wreck your scam shop!”
“You despicable bully! I will kill you, you colossal scumbag!” shouted one of the female shop assistants with an elegant appearance. Her face was flushed red and her body was trembling in anger.
The other shop assistants were also enraged by his words. If it wasn’t for the Ethereal City divine guards, they might have charged forward and try to beat up Han Huo again.
“If you don’t have enough crystal coins, then don’t buy it! No one is forcing you to buy the rock. Trying to leave with the item after paying just five black crystal coins is daylight robbery! How dare you try to make excuses to justify your outrageous act!” scouted the female shop assistant furiously while baring her teeth.
“Crazy woman, if you can open a scam shop, then why can’t I buy from you?” Han Huo put on a disdainful face and said with contempt, “And you better stop shouting, or I’ll burn you to death!”
“I’ll kill you!!” shrieked the female shop assistant. She struggled free from an Ethereal City divine guard and charged at Han Huo.
“Please behave yourself!” shouted the divine guard in charge as he hastily formed a barrier of wind energy to block the female shop assistant from approaching. He then turned to Han Shuo in a wry smile and explained, “No matter anywhere on Elysium, Firespark Stone will never cost less than forty-five black crystal coins. The price set by this shop is reasonable. Please understand, Mister Bryan.”
“Little Gold had told me that it’s not valuable! So don’t try to lie to me!” Han Huo shot a glare at the divine guard, rolled his eyes, and said, “You must be siding with them because they bribed you, isn’t it?”
“Stupid, Little Gold never needed to spend much effort in finding precious rocks. You are such a fool to take his words at face value!” said Han Tu as he laughed.
Metal Elite Zombie possessed extraordinary power in sensing metal ores and minerals. He could find rare and precious rocks with ease. Those ores might be worthless to Metal Elite Zombie, but to ordinary beings, they could be great treasures.
“Ohh…. “ Han Huo immediately came to his senses after hearing Han Tu’s words. He patted his head and softly cried, “So that means I’ve got it wrong?”
“Erm, woman, here, I’m giving the stupid stone back to you. Now go away. Don’t bother me anymore!” A piece of Firespark Stone was thrown and it landed right before the female shop assistant’s feet. The Firespark Stone that should be shimmering with red light, for some reason, was dull and dark. It looked grey-white like any other ordinary stone and seemed to be nothing special.
“This is not a Firespark Stone! Who are you trying to fool?!” shouted the shop assistants furiously after they looked at the stone. They glared at Han Huo with even angrier eyes as though they had been insulted. Even a blind could see that the stone Han Huo returned was completely different than the one he took.
“It is a Firespark Stone, it’s just that its energy has been drained!” an old man who looked all skin and bones abruptly came out from the shop. He went to pick up that ordinary-looking rock before looking at Han Huo in an amazed face. He curiously asked, “How did you do that? Even an alchemist master needed magical matrixes to extract the energy within a Firespark Stone, and they had to spend at least a few days. You have held the stone for not even ten minutes, and yet, you managed to extract all the energy in it. How is that possible?”
“Grandpa Myles!” All the shop assistants were surprised by the abrupt appearance of that old man. They all became respectful in attitude. Even that shop assistant who threatened to kill Han Huo turned calm.
Myles gestured with his hand, asking the shop assistants to be silent. His gazes never moved from Han Huo, as though he was keen to obtain an explanation from him.
“It’s just a piece of Firespark Stone. Extracting the fire energy within is too simple. It’s nothing to write home about!” replied Han Huo in a disdainful face as though he was disinclined to talk to the old man.
After a moment of observation, Han Shuo discovered that Myles, although senile in appearance, actually possessed highgod strength. However, Han Shuo could not determine which of the Twelve Fundamental Forces he cultivated.
“I will give you another Firespark Store, free of charge. Can you do it again for me?” Myles put on a faint smile, took out an even bigger Firespark Stone from his space ring and handed it to Han Huo.
“You are a pretty interesting guy, old man. Hehe, watch carefully,” Han Huo held the Firespark stone glowing red in his palm. Under the gazes of the crowd, the Firespark Stone slowly turned dimmer. In less than one minute, the Firespark Stone stopped glowing completely and turned into a dull and ordinary looking gray-white rock.
“This is miraculous!” cried Myles under his breath. He looked at Han Huo in disbelief as he said, “That’s unbelievable! I know many cultivators of the fire element, but I have never known anyone who could extract the energy from a Firespark Stone, much less so rapidly!”
Firespark Stones could be considered as an energy crystal and it was very different from fire divine essences. An average cultivator of the element of fire could never extract the fire energy in a Firespark Stone. Not just Myles, but even the shop assistants and the Ethereal City divine guards were greatly astonished by the ability Han Huo demonstrated.
An average cultivator of the fire energy might not be able to do it, but Han Huo was not an average cultivator. His body was forged using the yuan energy of fire in the Place of Extreme Fire. To him, absorbing the fire energy in a Firespark Stone was as easy as pie.
“Speechless now aren’t you?” said Han Huo complacently. With his head raised high, he smugly said, “Is there anything else? If not, ciao,”
“You brat, where did you learn to be so cocky?” Han Shuo couldn’t help but smilingly rebuked when he saw Han Huo being so arrogant.
“Hehe, nowhere, father. We have not seen each other for a long time. Let’s not waste time with them. Let’s leave this scam shop and celebrate our reunion!” Han Huo immediately cowered.
Han Shuo tossed out a sack of black crystal coins and it landed right at the front of the shop. In a faint smile, he said, “That is one thousand black crystal coins. Consider it compensation for your shop’s losses. Please don’t take any offense!”
“Whaa…. wait!!” Out of Han Shuo’s expectation, Han Tu and Han Huo simultaneously started to scream. And before Han Shuo could react, the two had darted to the front of the shop and picked up the sack of black crystal coins Han Shuo tossed. While holding the bag tightly, Han Tu took out one hundred black crystal coins from the bag, placed it on the ground, and said, “My father must have taken out the wrong bag. One hundred black crystal coins are more than enough to compensate for your shop’s losses!”
At those at the scene clearly heard Han Shuo said ‘one thousand black crystal coins’. Han Tu tried to retract his father’s words shamelessly.
Han Huo frantically nodded and said, “Yes! It’s enough! It’s more than enough! We have been very magnanimous to give your scam shop a hundred black crystal coins! Don’t ask for more!”
“Erm… “ The divine guard in charge put on a grimace and was speechless.
Han Shuo felt very embarrassed. He did not expect these two kids to be so stingy.
“Father, how could you be so wasteful! Black crystal coins are good stuff. With enough of them, there’s nothing that you can’t buy! How could you squander them like that!” Han Huo sighed and lamented, “If I have enough black crystal coins, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time with these people. How could you toss out one thousand black crystal coins just like that!”
“You bunch of bums!” Han Shuo was between laughter and tears after seeing Han Tu and Han Huo being so mean over money matters. Several thousand black crystal coins were next to nothing to him. It appeared that although these two kids of his had made tremendous progress in strength and intelligence, they still weren’t good at making money.