Chapter 32
“How dare you break my precious incense holder! You’re asking for it!” Jose roared furiously. He shook his robes, and a strong wave of energy surged at Wilbur,
The crowd’s expression shifted as well. That was supposed to be a legendary spirit weapon. That guy was just too bold.
Master Jose was a famous cultivator from the Strictón Province. That guy was done for.
Just as everyone was in shock at Wilbur’s nerves, he smiled. “Open your eyes and take a closer look.”
The crowd leaned forward at the broken incense holder, baffled by the situation.
Wilbur said, “The incense holder is just a replica of an antique. There’s a piece of oud in there that seals the powers in it, letting out a glow and fragrance to make it look like a spirit weapon. It’ll disappear in three months, tops. I can’t believe such an obvious counterfeit technique was enough to fool all of you.”
Wilbur’s words left everyone in shock, and the crowd began to inspect the broken incense holder.
Everyone in the crowd knew enough to be able to tell with one glance from the crack that it was a new item, and there was a piece of oud inside of it. The oud was, admittedly, of rather high quality.
Even with that being the case, the incense holder was no spirit weapon. The cost of making something like that was 10,000 dollars, at most.
Everyone had fallen for its appearance and thought it was real.
The truth was now out, and everyone was speechless as they looked at Jose.
Jose himself finally saw that it was fake. All at once, his bravado vanished as sweat beaded on hist
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Wilbur smiled. “Would you like to explain yourself, Master Jose?”
“…” Jose was speechless, sweat rolling down his face.
Mike saw that the situation was going south. His expression shifted as he thought of a plan.
His father had spent decades of hard work building a good reputation for this private club.
It just barely ended up in his hands, and something like this had happened. That completely caught him. off guard.
How was he going to face his father’s rage? More importantly, the club’s trustworthiness was in danger of being ruined just like that.
The stares from the crowd were making Jose more and more nervous by the second.
At last, he let out a sigh and bowed to the crowd. “I’m so sorry, everyone. I, Jose Smithson, fell for a cheap trick. Please accept my apology.”
“What’s the meaning of this, Master Jose? You’d better explain yourself,” John hissed, his expression dark.
Jose kept going, “To be honest, I was sold this item by a fellow cultivator I just met. I was inexperienced and foolish and fell for his tricks. It’s my fault for being so arrogant, I’ll admit to that. I’ll compensate every single person here five million dollars as an apology, I hope you don’t find fault in me for this.”
John frowned. “It seems like you did fall for someone else’s tricks. Well, since you’ve apologized sincerely, we won’t take compensation on account of the many times we’ve done business with each
other. We trust you.”
Upon speaking, John got to his feet and left.
It looked like a good–natured gesture, without blaming Jose or wanting compensation. Yet even so, this still put Jose in a difficult situation.
The crowd saw that and slowly left on their own. No one asked for either.
compensation of five million dollars
No one there that night saw five million dollars as a large amount at all. Besides, Jose was a proper, reputable cultivator. Taking the money might end up offending him, which was not a good deal.
The crowd leaving early had a different meaning as well.
That was because Jose had bragged earlier that if his item was proven to be a fake, he would have to end himself right there.
Just then, Wilbur looked at Jose with a dark smile. “What do you have to say for yourself, Master Jose?”