The Discernment Fair

The discernment fair had no cultivation requirements; anyone from the Qi Refinement stage to the Body Integration stage could participate. It was just that most cultivators at the Body Integration or Void Refining stages had no interest in such minor events. At the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce's temporary branch venue, four treasures were lined up in a row, encircled by a formation that blocked divine sense probes so people could only rely on their eyes. By the time Lu Yang and his companions arrived, quite a crowd had already gathered. Fortunately, distance did not impair judgment; an early Golden Core cultivator could clearly see the details of an object hundreds of meters away. "A painting depicting a woman clad in armor." "Charred bamboo with two tender green leaves sprouting from it." "An insect. Could it be some kind of Gu insect?" "Looks like an iron ring worn around the neck. An ornament?" Lu Yang looked over them, unable to discern the origins of any of them. Not a single person present could tell what they were either. Everyone was observing intently, trying to pick up any subtle clues. The man beside Lu Yang raised his hand and asked, "Excuse me, is the third item a Gu insect?" The chamber cultivator replied politely, "My apologies, but I cannot answer that question." After pondering for a moment, the man resolved to guess: "The fourth one is a Gu insect! The pattern on its wings looks like copper coins, so it must be a money Gu, which helps its master hunt for treasure!" "Unfortunately, your guess is incorrect." "Do you recognize any of these four things?" Lu Yang sent a voice transmission to Meng Jingzhou and the other three. "The first painting might conceal a painting spirit, but I'm not certain," said Lan Ting, who dabbled in the Dao of painting. "The bamboo looks familiar. I must have seen a description of it somewhere. Wait while I flip through some books." Bai Ming took out an ancient book from his identity jade token and began leafing through it, then another, and another. Yan Tianzhi didn't utter a word; he hadn't made out anything at all. Meng Jingzhou stroked his chin. "The fourth one should be a Gu insect. Let me try." Meng Jingzhou raised his hand and asked, "Excuse me, is the fourth one a love-pledge Gu? If you plant it in someone you love, they'll subtly and imperceptibly fall in love with you." The chamber cultivator was quite surprised, not expecting someone to guess an item correctly so quickly. He placed the small insect into a wooden box and handed it to Meng Jingzhou. "Congratulations, sir, you guessed correctly. This is indeed a love-pledge Gu." The man next to Lu Yang, who had studied Gu insects extensively, said, "A love-pledge Gu? Love-pledge Gus look like this? Why do I remember their wings being blood-red, whereas this one's wings are transparent!" The chamber cultivator explained, "This is a mutated love-pledge Gu. The color of its wings turned transparent, but its effect remains unchanged." "You could even recognize that? Have you seen one before?" Lu Yang asked Meng Jingzhou via voice transmission. Meng Jingzhou said smugly, "Nope! I've only heard of love-pledge Gus. I had no idea what they looked like." "Then how did you guess it?" "Thanks to my keen observation." "What did you observe?" "When my eyes fell on the insect, it began trembling all over, clearly terrified of me. Why would it fear me? I thought long and hard about it. I possess a Double Bachelor Spiritual Root and know the Bachelor Curse Fist, so the Gu insect naturally countered by me would be a love-pledge Gu!" Lu Yang felt that this was hardly something to be proud of. "Is the painting of a manor-guarding female general?" There was a kind of painting that could ward off demonic and evil incursions when hung at home. "No." "Is the bamboo withered ink bamboo?" Grinding ink bamboo into powder and mixing it with water could be used for painting. "No." "Is the iron ring an imitation Vajra Bangle?" "No." Three people in front of Lu Yang raised their hands to venture guesses, but all of them were wrong. Lan Ting and Bai Ming were still thumbing through books on the spot, unsure when they would find an answer. Lu Yang secretly asked the Immortal Fairy, "Fairy, do you recognize these items?" The Immortal Fairy gave a bored yawn. "Just boring little trinkets. "The woman in the painting is alive, or rather, capable of changing. Every midnight at the zi hour, the woman in the painting comes to life and changes her clothes. Today she's wearing armor; tomorrow she might wear a long gown; the day after tomorrow, a Daoist robe; and the day after that, sleepwear. In any case, she won't repeat an outfit all year. "It has no offensive power, just a novelty. This immortal can change into a different outfit every day too," the Immortal Fairy added, trying to prove she was better than a painting. Lu Yang looked up and down at the Immortal Fairy, whose clothes were in disarray after waking up, his face full of disdain. "You certainly need to change your clothes. What about the black bamboo?" "Lightning-struck bamboo. When bamboo is struck by lightning, if life blossoms from the withered stalk and sprouts new leaves, it can be called lightning-struck bamboo. Iron-eating beasts love eating it most. If you take lightning-struck bamboo to the Demon Domain, you can lure an iron-eating beast to become your mount." "I recall there are iron-eating beasts on Confucian Peak." "Those are ordinary iron-eating beasts; they can't digest lightning-struck bamboo. I'm talking about iron-eating beasts with cultivation. By modern terms, they're called ancient iron-eating beasts." "What is the iron ring? Do you recognize it, Fairy?" "Bah, it's just trash. Useless." "Trash?" "Yeah, trash. Haven't you heard the saying? A good chef needs good tableware." "Why do I remember it as 'a good chef needs good cookware'?" "Much the same thing. "After this immortal became a celestial chef, I found there was no tableware worthy of me. Plates, bowls, chopsticks, and the like would melt the moment they touched my food. "So this immortal asked Immortal Ying Tian to forge a set of tableware for me. At first, he was reluctant, but through my threats and inducements, he finally agreed to forge it. "The forging process was extraordinarily arduous. He tried using materials like ceramics, iron, and wood, but all of them failed in the end. This iron ring is a failed byproduct. The moment this immortal poured my freshly brewed soup onto the plate, the plate leaked right through." Lu Yang: "..." This was the first time he had ever heard of tableware requiring an immortal to forge. Still, it was forged by Immortal Ying Tian after all, so surely it was sturdier than the flying sword Immortal Kirin used to trick his wife? Lu Yang raised his hand and said, "The iron ring is part of a dining plate." The chamber cultivator was astonished. The iron ring was the hardest of the four items to guess, yet he had actually gotten it right. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist, you guessed correctly." "A dining plate? Are you kidding me? No matter how you look at it, this thing looks like a Vajra Bangle!" "Exactly! Even if it's not a Vajra Bangle, it ought to be some other weapon!" The chamber cultivator explained at an unhurried pace, "This cultivator is correct; the iron ring is indeed part of a dining plate. According to the master appraiser's deductions, someone, for unknown reasons, forged an extraordinarily sturdy iron dining plate. Later, the plate was corroded by some poisonous substance, dissolving the center and leaving only the rim, which is the ring you see now. "As for what kind of poison it was, that could not be deduced. No known poison is capable of reaching such potency." Hearing the chamber cultivator say this, the Immortal Fairy stomped her feet in fury. "Blind fools! The food this immortal prepares is a great tonic! How dare they describe it as poison!" Lu Yang didn't dare say a word. If he said the Immortal Fairy's cooking was poisonous, what if she cooked him another meal just to prove it wasn't? Lu Yang accepted the iron ring. Bai Ming and the others sent voice transmissions: "Incredible discernment! To think you could even tell that!" "Hold the iron ring carefully; there might still be toxic residue on it," Lan Ting warned, worried for Lu Yang's safety. If even a trace of such poison got onto him, it would likely prove fatal. "Good... eye." Lu Yang smiled and responded to each of them. Just as the crowd was about to resume guessing, an explosion suddenly sounded not far away. A powerful aura surged forward like a tidal wave, engulfing the entire gathering. Lu Yang sensed rage and killing intent from the aura. "Fairy, what cultivation level is that?" "Peak Body Integration, two people. Seem to be what you folks call ancient cultivators." Lu Yang narrowed his eyes. These visitors boded no good. Bai Ming looked as if facing a mortal enemy. "That direction... the secret realm?"