Chapter 1102: Counterfeiting the Wuliang Fruit

Niu Youdao had seen how Ao Feng handled himself when giving testimony at the end of the Desolate Marsh Deadlands affair. He had also seen how Ao Feng managed to defuse the situation when their secret meeting during the fire at Wuliang Garden nearly exposed them. He therefore had a fair amount of confidence in Ao Feng's ability to act boldly while keeping his head.

The item had already been delivered to the entrance of Wuliang Garden, disguised as a stone. With careful planning, there should have been a chance to get it inside.

They could, for example, create some small disturbance. When people from Wuliang Garden came out to investigate, Ao Feng might use the confusion to give the stone a kick and knock it through the entrance.

Niu Youdao had considered all sorts of possibilities. He had not made the decision for Ao Feng because Ao Feng knew the conditions inside Wuliang Garden better than he did. Letting Ao Feng judge the situation for himself was the best course. It would have been foolish for Niu Youdao to interfere blindly when he did not understand the circumstances inside. As long as this side laid the groundwork, he trusted Ao Feng to handle the final step.

What he had never imagined was that Ao Feng would use such a method to get the thing inside in a rush, right under everyone's eyes.

There were so many people watching Wuliang Garden. To carry it in like that without any preparation or prior planning was far too risky.

After cursing, Niu Youdao immediately asked, "Was there any disturbance afterward?" It was impossible not to worry that Ao Feng might have been discovered and seized.

The elder replied, "The message from our observer only said that he got the item inside. Everything should have been normal at the time. If there had been any unusual commotion, the report would certainly have mentioned it. Of course, once Wuliang Garden's defensive formation closed, we couldn't see what was happening inside. We don't know whether anything happened afterward."

Niu Youdao asked, "No one came out from Wuliang Garden later to conduct a search?"

The elder shook his head. "We haven't received any such report."

Niu Youdao asked, "You said that after the formation gate opened, Ao Feng made his move while the people from inside were outside meeting the visitors?"

"That's what the observer reported. There shouldn't be any mistake. Our people wouldn't report something like that carelessly."

Niu Youdao immediately closed his eyes and thought for a while. Only after a long silence did he open them again and let out a breath.

Hei Yun, who had been watching him closely, immediately asked, "What is it? Is there a problem?"

Niu Youdao said, "There probably isn't. I've gone in and out of Wuliang Garden before. Everyone entering or leaving is searched very carefully, which means the searches take time. If the people inside Wuliang Garden had noticed something wrong, it's unlikely they would wait until every search was finished and the grand formation had closed before reacting. He probably got away with it."

Hei Yun said, "That Ao Feng has some nerve!"

Niu Youdao replied, "Would a man who dared break the rules and rob people in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands be timid? If he were timid, I wouldn't dare use him for something like this."

Even so, Niu Youdao was still uneasy. He walked over to a pile of timber, chose a length of wood, pinched off the approximate dimensions with his fingers, drew his sword, and cut it through. Then he took the severed piece and trimmed it with several quick strokes of the blade.

Niu Youdao had personally made the long stone that Ao Feng brought into Wuliang Garden, so he knew its dimensions very well.

Once the piece of wood was shaped to roughly the same size as that stone, he tossed it onto the ground.

Sheathing his sword, Niu Youdao circled the wood twice. He stopped at one end, stepped forward, and scooped his toe beneath it. The wood slid diagonally upward with the motion of his stride and disappeared beneath the hem of his long robe.

Hei Yun and the others exchanged glances. They understood that Niu Youdao was reenacting what Ao Feng had done to see how obvious the flaw in the maneuver would be.

Once the wood was between his legs, Niu Youdao looked down and inspected the lower half of his body. He did not have to worry about the thing falling once it was in place. It was not particularly heavy, and a little application of spiritual power through his legs was enough to hold it there. The real problem was simply that hiding something so large between his legs was exceedingly awkward.

The piece was long enough to nearly reach the top of his thighs. How could that possibly be comfortable? Ao Feng was taller than he was. Perhaps it had been a little easier for him.

Niu Youdao tried taking two steps. He could not walk normally at all. He had to move slowly and carefully.

He looked back at the others. "Well? Can you see anything unusual?"

Hei Yun chuckled. "Only a blind man wouldn't. If he dared walk around like that, anyone would notice. And the motion required to hide the thing isn't small either. If anyone saw him do it, they'd know immediately that he was concealing something."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Niu Youdao walked almost stiff-legged, legs spread apart as he slowly swung one foot after the other, doing his best to disguise the abnormality. After several steps, he said, "If he dared do it, he must have found a moment when everyone else's attention was elsewhere."

Hei Yun said, "Sneaking something into Wuliang Garden that way is almost unbelievable. Doesn't it make you suspect something might be wrong?"

Niu Youdao looked at him. "What do you suspect?"

"Could he have already betrayed you? Maybe that's why he dared bring it in this way."

Niu Youdao fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "That's unlikely. If he had betrayed me, Misty Pavilion would have moved against me long ago. Even if someone wanted to find out how I intend to steal the Wuliang Fruit, they wouldn't have him carry the object in like this. They would arrange some other, carefully coordinated method. They wouldn't alert me by doing something so crude."

"I've dealt with Ao Feng several times now. I understand him to some degree. He still doesn't know the details of my plan. As far as he's concerned, so long as there's still some hope of success, he'll at least wait and see what happens. Selling me out early or selling me out late makes no difference to the final result. As long as hope remains, he'll keep watching. Only when he can no longer see any hope at all is he likely to betray me."

"This time, I can more or less conclude that he acted on a sudden impulse. Ultimately, he knows the inside of Wuliang Garden better than we do, so there's nothing wrong with letting him decide when to act. What worries me now is that once Wuliang Garden closed, our observer could no longer see what was happening inside..."

At that, Niu Youdao looked down at the lower half of his body and tried taking another few steps. "The moment he moves, it's easy to see something is wrong. I don't know whether he managed to bluff his way through. Since he dared do it, I can only hope he'd already thought through how to deal with what came afterward."

He looked up and instructed the Demon Foxes, "Have the observer keep watching the movement in and out of Wuliang Garden. The next time Ao Feng is on gate duty, pay attention to whether anything about him seems unusual. And send him another message. I want a detailed explanation for this risky move."

Hei Yun gave a grunt of acknowledgment and nodded.

With a clatter, the thing between Niu Youdao's legs dropped to the ground, drawing everyone's attention. Niu Youdao gave it a kick.

If he had known beforehand that Ao Feng would bring the object inside that way, he would have found a way to examine the five skulls and narrow them down to three. That would have reduced the bulk considerably and made them much safer to smuggle in. But he had not known. To save himself the trouble, he had simply sent all five in together.

Some things simply happened beyond expectation. There was no use thinking about it now. All he could do was wait for further news from Wuliang Garden.

"Clan Chief!" Two Demon Fox elders strode in from outside the cave.

Hei Yun immediately asked, "Did you bring them?"

"They're here." The two elders, just returned from their long journey, took the bundles from their backs and crouched down to open them. Each bundle contained a large stone.

Crack! Crack! The two stones were smashed apart. Soft red light immediately bloomed from within, and ten red pearls, each about the size of a fist, rolled out.

The two elders gathered the ten pearls and offered them up. Hei Yun did not take them. Instead he looked at Niu Youdao. "The things you wanted are here. Now what?"

Niu Youdao picked up one pearl and examined it. Suddenly, he exerted spiritual power through his fingers.

Crack.

The pearl shattered.

Everyone stared in surprise, unable to understand why he would destroy something obtained with such effort.

Seeing that breaking the pearl had little effect on the red light it emitted, Niu Youdao gave a slight nod, apparently satisfied. He walked to a stone table nearby and motioned for all the pearls to be placed there.

Now that all the materials were ready, Niu Youdao reached into his sleeve and took out a cloth bundle. He opened it on the stone table, revealing a collection of knives and tools he had recently made himself for carving.

"What exactly are you doing?" Hei Yun asked curiously from beside him.

Niu Youdao did not explain. He went to cut off a block of wood, returned to the stone table, sat down, and took up a knife. First he pared away the excess, shaping a rough outline. Then he picked up a carving tool and began cutting rapidly.

Before long, he had carved something about the size of a fist, shaped like a heart with a rough surface.

He was not finished. Niu Youdao continued using his tools, applying spiritual power as he hollowed out the wooden carving from within.

When that was done, he picked up a fragment of the shattered treasure pearl and dropped it inside the carving.

The inner walls of the wooden shell were already extremely thin, but he was still dissatisfied with how poorly the red light shone through.

Crack! He crushed the wooden carving he had spent so much effort making.

Niu Youdao stood again and rummaged through the pile of jade and stone materials. He selected a piece of suitable size and shaped it in the same way as the wooden model.

Once it was finished, he put a treasure-pearl fragment inside to test how well the light passed through. It was much better than the wood, but the color still did not satisfy him.

Crack! He crushed that one as well.

Finally, he stood and fetched a piece of resin. This time he did not carve it directly. Instead, he used spiritual power to heat and soften it, then quickly kneaded it into shape.

After forming the resin into a rough outline, he once again placed a treasure-pearl fragment inside to test its translucence.

The result made him frown. Clearly, he was still not satisfied.

He studied the object in his hand for a while, thinking. Then he abruptly rose and looked around. As he paced, he crouched down and grabbed a handful of earth, examining it in his palm.

No good. He let the dirt sift from his hand, stood, and headed toward the mouth of the cave. He had just reached the passage when he suddenly stopped and turned his eyes to the stone wall beside him.

Bang!

Niu Youdao suddenly struck the wall with his palm. The cave hummed from the impact. He raked his five fingers across the stone and came away with a handful of rock powder shaken loose by the blow.

He returned to the stone table and sat down. Once again he softened the resin with spiritual power, then mixed the rock powder into it and kneaded the two materials repeatedly.

When they were evenly blended, Niu Youdao shaped the mixture into another rough form and dropped a treasure-pearl fragment inside to test it.

This time, a faint smile finally appeared on his face. He reached for a carving tool and began carefully, meticulously working the resin.

When the finished piece emerged, its appearance was virtually identical to the Wuliang Fruit inside Wuliang Garden.

Hei Yun and the others watching from around him finally understood what he was doing.

The bastard was counterfeiting the Wuliang Fruit!

Yet Niu Youdao himself was still not satisfied with the finished product. The quality of the light was wrong. It lacked the almost living sensation of a true Wuliang Fruit, that impression of a heart visibly beating.

"Bring me some water!" Niu Youdao suddenly called.

"Quickly!" Hei Yun immediately turned his head and ordered someone.

One elder hurried away.

Meanwhile, Niu Youdao removed the treasure-pearl fragment from the counterfeit fruit again. He made a small hole, plucked a strand of silk thread from his clothing, passed it through the opening, and tied the pearl fragment securely in place.

[End of Chapter 1102]