"Look here, there's an inscription poem here. The flaw appears in the characters of this poem. Hidden within these characters are several more characters, using micro-carving technique. The other two items also have this, but not in characters. This one is in the portrait within the carving, and this one..."

The boss immediately took out a special magnifying glass used for viewing micro-carvings. After looking, his expression immediately changed. He saw the characters Xiaoyao mentioned, and these characters made him certain he had encountered a master counterfeiter's work, these items were fake.

"So they're Zhao Yan's work. This isn't too embarrassing, it's normal I couldn't tell with my level," the boss sighed. At this point he could only admit bad luck. Zhao Yan was the world's number one master counterfeiter. His works were so realistic they could confuse the genuine, with no one able to distinguish them.

Those known works of his only became known because he revealed them himself. Who would have thought this young master could recognize Zhao Yan's work, did he know about these items?

"Did you already know these were Zhao Yan's counterfeits?" the boss asked somewhat confused. Anyone would feel this way.

"I knew they were counterfeits when I saw them, but I didn't know if they were Zhao Yan's," Xiaoyao replied.

"You didn't know they were counterfeits from seeing Zhao Yan's signature characters?" The boss was even more confused after hearing Xiaoyao's words. According to his thinking, even if Xiaoyao could tell they were counterfeits, it should be from seeing the signature micro-carving, so he should also know they were Zhao Yan's work.

"This signature is the only flaw I can explain to you. Other flaws are hard to describe because they're just a feeling, something that can be understood but not expressed in words," Xiaoyao said with a smile, looking somewhat mysteriously profound.

Go ahead and pretend. You should have spotted this micro-carving. Your eyesight is really good, you can see it without tools.

...

The boss silently criticized, but he didn't seem to doubt why Xiaoyao's eyesight was so good. In this world there were many people with special abilities and many cultivation effects. Xiaoyao was a cultivator, perhaps his eyes were special. Nothing strange about that.

"You don't need to feel bad. Though these items are counterfeits, the materials are top quality with high value. Perhaps these counterfeits will be worth more than the originals in the future," Xiaoyao said.

Historically, there were quite a few counterfeit replicas that became more valuable than originals. Passed down to later generations, whether counterfeit or not, they all became antique treasures.

"Yes, I'll keep these as family heirlooms for my descendants to discover their value," the boss nodded firmly. He seemed to agree with Xiaoyao's view and would pass these three items down. At least he wouldn't lose money.

Facts proved this point correct. When his tenth-generation descendants' family fortunes declined, his descendants successfully turned things around relying on these three items. By then, these three items' value had reached astronomical prices.

"In that case, we'll take our leave first. Thank you for your generosity, boss," Xiaoyao collected the other jade items and gave them to Qi Yanran, who happily accepted them.

The boss wanted to say something, but he knew this would be unwise. He had just agreed, if he went back on his word, these two would definitely do things to make him regret it for life.

These were people he couldn't provoke. Forget it, just consider those as counterfeits too.

Though the boss didn't know who Qi Yanran was, he could feel she was trouble. In Heavenly Demon City there weren't many simple characters. He could establish himself here by not offending people.

"Hehe, so good! Getting so many nice things without spending money. Xiaoyao, what else can't you do?" Qi Yanran said with a smile. Now she had to curiously ask again. Not mentioning before, just now he had gambling and jade authentication skills, both very sophisticated. This made her ask in amazement again.

"I know many things, too lazy to list them," Xiaoyao said.

"Tell me, let me know what to expect," Qi Yanran persisted.

"Should I tell you I know the Supreme Sword Arts?"

"..."

Qi Yanran was somewhat speechless. She had also studied the Supreme Sword Arts, did this need explaining? Forget it, whatever this kid knew, he knew. There were already many things, a few more wouldn't be surprising.

Qi Yanran played with the jade items Xiaoyao gave her. After visiting several places with Xiaoyao, they returned to rest.

A few days later, the Demoness Selection began. During these days, Xiaoyao had already received the gambling money. Chu Xinan finally conceded two days later. Though everyone knew this result, quite a few people waited until the result came out.

Many hoped for a miracle, and bookmakers couldn't complete the betting until the chess match ended. They couldn't wait for it to end earlier, hoping no miracle would occur. For this round's bookmakers, if Xiaoyao won they'd profit greatly, while Chu Xinan winning would only bring small profits.

Because of this, when they delivered sixty thousand taels of silver to Xiaoyao, their smiles were brilliant without any feeling of bleeding money. They also gave Xiaoyao some small gifts, which Qi Yanran graciously accepted.

"I say, is this what your Demoness Selection competes in?" When Xiaoyao learned about the Demoness Selection competition items, he felt somewhat surprised, though it was reasonable.

The Demoness Selection had only one competition item, very simple: martial arts elimination tournament!!

"What did you think it would be? This was always simple. Would Demon Sect demonesses compete in music, chess, calligraphy and painting?" Qi Yanran gave Xiaoyao a look, saying somewhat disdainfully.

"This..." Xiaoyao's words were stuck. Right, Demon Sect demonesses, they would definitely only compete in martial arts. The Demon Sect revered martial prowess. The Daughter of the Heavenly Demon and Son of the Heavenly Demon were actually just the first among the younger generation. That simple.

"This is good. I was worried about you before, but it seems unnecessary now," Xiaoyao said.

"What were you worried about?" Qi Yanran asked somewhat confused.

"Besides knowing some martial arts, you can't do music, chess, calligraphy or painting, and your brain is a bit duller than others. If competing in other things, your chances would be slim. But martial arts, I believe you'll be first," Xiaoyao said very seriously with an equally serious expression.

"Hehe, naturally! Sister isn't great at other things, but my combat power is maxed out," Qi Yanran said with a smile, seemingly not caring at all that Xiaoyao called her dumb and incapable.

Originally she minded Xiaoyao calling her dumb, but thinking about it, what did it matter if she was dumb? As long as he was smart, no need to worry about so much. She seemed to have completely entered the sister role, not even caring about this...

"Have you drawn lots yet?" Xiaoyao asked. He didn't know if the competition draw was happening now or had already been done.

"This starts now, we'll draw lots soon," Qi Yanran replied.

"How many candidate demonesses are there exactly?" Xiaoyao asked. He still didn't know this.

Qi Yanran smiled, raising her head slightly: "There are only eight candidate demonesses. Did you think there were many?"

"Only eight?" Xiaoyao was genuinely surprised. He had thought there would be at least a dozen candidates, not just eight.

"These were already selected. We divided the Demon Domain into eight regions, one candidate demoness per region. Regional competitions were completed a year ago. However, during this year, anyone from a region could challenge their regional candidate demoness. I faced many challenges but kept my position!"

Qi Yanran continued: "Some people were a bit unlucky and didn't keep their positions, defeated by someone completely unheard of. But this is normal since everyone has a chance."

"So that's how it is. With only eight people, if fast, it could be finished today," Xiaoyao said. The Demon Sect was straightforward, they wouldn't deliberately stretch competitions over several days for rules and ceremonies.

"Yes, we should decide the winner today. I alone can take down all of them," Qi Yanran said proudly, but she had the capital for pride.

Among current candidate demonesses, there probably weren't any God Level existences. She should be the only one. This competition actually didn't have much meaning. Xiaoyao had originally used this as an excuse not to come watch, but was still dragged here by Qi Yanran.

Soon, Xiaoyao picked up sunflower seeds from the table. When bored, cracking seeds was quite interesting for passing time. At the same time, Qi Yanran kept chatting beside him, making time pass quickly.

After a while, Xiaoyao spotted Xiaofeng and others in the crowd below, though they didn't seem qualified to sit where he was, this was the VIP section.

Of course, Xiaoyao's VIP status wasn't because people worshipped him, but because he was Qi Yanran's relative. All candidate demonesses could bring one relative to the VIP section.

However, candidate demonesses' relatives generally had significant status and could serve as VIPs above.

Seeing Xiaofeng's displeased expression, Xiaoyao smiled. That smile seemed to say: "Not happy? Then come up here."

"Everyone, I'll now announce today's match order..."

Just as Xiaoyao was teasing Xiaofeng, someone came on stage to host. He revealed the candidate demonesses' martial competition order and their respective opponents.

"Le Xiaoxue? Isn't this that unknown person? How coincidental, my opponent is actually her," Qi Yanran was somewhat surprised after hearing her opponent.

Hearing Qi Yanran say this, Xiaoyao understood that the person Qi Yanran mentioned earlier who had defeated another candidate demoness was this Le Xiaoxue.

Le Xiaoxue, this has some connection with me, the same surname.

"Am I first?"

Xiaoyao heard Qi Yanran's voice again. Looking at a scoreboard above, Qi Yanran's name seemed to be there, and first.

"Isn't this good? You can rest after fighting," Xiaoyao smiled.

"True!" Qi Yanran nodded. They had to fight anyway, fighting first and resting was quite nice.

Soon, Qi Yanran went on stage, and her opponent Le Xiaoxue also appeared. When Le Xiaoxue came on stage, Xiaoyao, who had been drinking tea, immediately spat it out.

"No way, it's actually her..."

(End of Chapter)