The Hunting Fields
Gulp...
Khoru began sweating bullets the moment he stepped into the invisible doors of the marketplace. He saw rows upon rows of stalls lined with customers and dressed with iconic quotes and slogans.
Some stalls might've been legit, but Khoru's eyes were clouded with the demonic expressions of predatory merchants!
'Let's make this quick...' Khoru thought to himself as he walked through the rows of stalls and looked around. A few people identified him as one of the young masters from the Ghostly Blade Family, but for the most part, nobody really knew him.
The marketplace was even worse than he last remembered.
What if he went missing? Nobody could help his mother find him since hardly anyone there knew him...
Khoru walked past the stalls until he saw a deserted stall, indicating that someone either relocated or abandoned the stall; giving the opportunity to someone else to begin selling items.
"Perfect!" Khoru muttered as he ran forward. The stall was still a little scuffed, but it was in good condition for the most part. A bright smile appeared on his face as he set it up.
He didn't have any attention-grabbing slogans or quotes, but what he did have was items that stood out.
Majority of the people in the marketplace only sold items that were ordinary; normal weapons or foods.
But Khoru was different.
The moment he took out his monster cores, their Spirit Qi's presence was detected by a great many customers. They rushed over to the origin and saw Khoru standing happily behind the counter of the stall with his monster cores place in front of him.
He wasn't naive though, he made sure to write a string of text in front of the monster cores with his Spirit Qi.
"If you steal my items, my father, supreme elder Huanfeng of the Ghostly Blade Family, will hunt you down until the end of your days!"
Those words deterred a portion of the people that approached the stall, but most of them remained.
Even if they didn't know Khoru, they knew about the supreme elders of the Ghostly Blade Family. Plus, not many people would joke about such a thing, unless they were asking for death.
"Hey, how do we know you're really apart of the town's ruling family? Each member has the mark of the family on their left arm, just below the front of their hand." Somebody said.
Khoru knew this was true, but his face stiffened anyways. And that was because of one particular thing.
He didn't have the crest.
Why?
Because he was an illegitimate child.
He began to feel helpless as more and more people crowded around his stall. They began to question whether or not he was a fraud.
"Give us your monster cores, or we'll tell someone from the Ghostly Blade Family that you're impersonating one of the young masters!"
"Let us see your wrist if you're not lying!"
"He's a fraud! Take his items!"
The crowd gradually turned into an angry mob and they threatened Khoru repeatedly. His heart was at the end of its tether, but before that, he moved his hands.
He placed his hands in the air as if he was withdrawing a sword, and magically, a dark blue sword appeared in his hands.
Most of the crowd believed him to be threatening them, but a few smart ones gradually realized the authenticity of what was going on.
"That's Young Master Khoru! He doesn't have a crest because he's an illegitimate child, but he's a young master of the family! Calm down!"
"Yes, that's his Martial Spirit!"
"What? How do we knew he's not a fraud?! He could've asked a blacksmith to forge that sword and bought a spatial ring or something!"
The crowd was quickly separated into two factions; the believers, and the doubters.
Suddenly, amidst the angry rebuttals of both sides, a woman with scarlet-red hair and brown eyes made her way through the crowd. Her presence slowly silenced the crowd as they gasped in shock at who it was.
"Huh? Why is Merchant Marley here?"
"Merchant Marley! Can you verify if this guy is the real deal?"
"Everyone, shh! Merchant Marley is here! Everything she says goes!"
"Shh!"
Marchant Marley, who looked to be around 18 years old, approached the stall with a clever smile on her face. Her eyes inspected the monster cores and then Khoru.
"So, you claim to be one of the young masters of the Ghostly Blade Family, yes?" She asked.
"I don't claim to be, I am young master Xin Khoru of the Ghostly Blade Family." Khoru stated. He became irritated as time passed, all he wanted to do was sell some monster cores.
"Alright then, since you claim to be him, allow me to ask a few questions."
"..."
"How old is he?" (Merchant Marley)
"12." (Khoru)
"Isn't his hair color black?" (Merchant Marley)
"No, it's snow white." (Khoru)
"Did he participate in a tournament recently?" (Merchant Marley)
"Yes." (Khoru)
"I heard he came in 3rd place..." (Merchant Marley)
"No, he came in first place." (Khoru)
"Isn't he the child of one of the supreme elders?" (Merchant Marley)
"Yes." (Khoru)
"Then who?" (Merchant Marley)
"Supreme elder Huanfeng." (Khoru)
"Wrong; supreme elder Xuan Mi Han." (Merchant Marley)
"..." (Khoru)
"How many martial spirits does Young Mistress Xin Khoru have?" (Merchant Marley)
"Young Master Xin Khoru has two martial spirits; both of them are swords." (Khoru)
"Alright then, what colors are they?" (Merchant Marley)
"Blue and purple." (Khoru)
Merchant Marley had a mischievous smile on her face as she stared into Khoru's eyes. She clapped her hands and then said, "Good, you've gotten all those questions right and even noticed my intentional slip ups and corrected them. But now, I want physical proof that you're the real young master. Summon your other sword."
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.
The entire crowd was dumbfounded. Merchant Marley had led them on a road of confusing questions that would make them stumble over their words even if they knew everything about Khoru.