Chapter 35: Counterfeit

Three days had passed. Wang Zen paced tirelessly in his room, feeling lie a prisoner. He was growing increasingly worried about Jun Nee but Yang Tai’s warning had him scared. He had heard from students about people from down town looking for him and has even seen people at the academy’s gates, asking for him. Basically, he felt trapped with no way to help his friend who was beyond the safe walls of the academy.

“You need to calm down,” Jiahai said, rubbing Shibi’s head. “Maybe try cultivating.”

“I can’t,” Zen shook his head. For the past three days he had tried to cultivate but the process was worse off than before, allowing him to only move his cultivation base forward only in miniscule amounts. With his mind in more disarray now than it ever was, cultivation felt like a waste of time to him, which was sad considering how weak he still was and how much he needed to do it to get stronger.

There was a wrap on his door. He looked at Yang Tai who entered without waiting for an invitation. “Hmm, cosy.” Yang Tai admired the room as he walked closer to the two, “reminds me of my first year at the academy.”

“Yang Tai, what are you doing here?”

“I come bearing gifts,” Yang Tai produced the necklace.

“That’s the necklace with the spirit coins!” Jiahai said.

“I see you told your friend everything,” Yang Tai said as he handed the necklace over. “Hopefully he is the only one.”

“He is,” Zen assured. “Does it have…”

“Yes, both spirit coins are there.” Yang Tai said.

Zen looked at the necklace in his pal in confusion. “Why return it to me.”

“Because if you are to save your friend, this is one of the things you’ll need.”

“One?” Jiahai said. “What is the other?”

Yang Tai smirked, “The other you won’t like.”

-

Zen gulped before, with shaky hands, he knocked on the door. He looked around the hallway, still blackened at some places from where it had been burnt. He found himself saying a prayer that he would not end up the same.

The door opened and the man for the Red Dragon Sect immediately tackled him into the wall of the hallway, anger pervading his eyes as he stared a hole in Zen’s. “You! Give me one good reason why I should not set your body ablaze!” the man said, his hand shrouded with fire.

Zen struggled for breath as the man held him in place by pushing his forearm into his neck. He held up the necklace before the man, “I know what you want to know.”

-

“I don’t understand,” Zen said to Yang Tai as he prepared to go out and meet with the man of the Red Dragon Sect. “How can spirit coins be counterfeit?”

“Think about it, kid.” Yang Tai said. “Spirit coins are made from a cultivator’s energy and will. Now, we live in a country with millions of cultivators, imagine a thousand of those cultivators make their own spirit coins to pay debt, buy property and food. The uncontrolled inclusion of so many spirit coins would destabilise the country’s economy. You don’t want people making their own money just because they can. So the Overlord has sanctioned that only licensed cultivators can make spirit coins but only at his command. These coins are then sent to the Overlord where they are imbued with an energy signature that authenticates them as approved spirit coins.”

“So these spirit coins…” Jiahai said.

“…they aren’t approved,” Yang Tai completed. “They are illegal, therefore counterfeit.”

“But why do I have to go to the man from the Red Dragon Sect about this?” Zen whined. “Why can’t I just go to the City Lord?”

“Because you don’t want involve more parties than you should in this,” Yang Tai said. “The City Lord would just apprehend Ma Xinqi and kill all his Black Butterflies, including your friend. And beside, he’d probably suspect you of wrong doing too. You are, after all, an enemy of his daughter’s friend.”

“Chen Jian,” Zen spat. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“My boys and I have started a rumour that you’re not really from the academy, so you should be able to move freely for a while.”

Zen nodded his thanks at this before he and Jiahai set off.

-

­“Your sources are correct,” the man said, gazing at the white coin. “These are counterfeit and the very reason why I’m hunting Ma Xinqi.”

“So, I’ll tell you what m source told me about his whereabouts and you’ll go defeat him, right?”

“Yes, but because this may very well be a trap, you’ll be coming with me.”

“What?” Zen backed away.

“I’m done trusting you, brat.” He said, his hand covered in a glove of fire. “We will take this risk together.”