Chapter 316: The Deceived Baoxi

Cangjie himself did not know how much longer it would take for him to finish this task of his. Ever since he discovered the rules within the drawings, his focus these past few years had been on this aspect. Only recently had he vaguely grasped the patterns: not everything in the world required a new character; two main things combined together made a character, or three or four combined, or even one character representing multiple meanings.

As well as the way characters were written and so on, all of it had rules to be spoken of. This kind of thing seemed as if it were innate, just waiting for him to discover it.

The more he thought, the more excited he became, feeling that he was about to penetrate the secrets of the world. For the sake of this great undertaking, he had already made it clear to Xuanyuan. He wanted to keep researching this thing on the walls inside this cave. It would not take much longer; as long as this thing was created, it would be no different for the Xuanyuan Tribe than reclaiming countless fertile fields.

Xuanyuan was not a rigid person, and given Xuanyuan's level of intelligence, if given enough time, he would also be able to discover the treasure within this. It was just that his current status was that of Tribal Chief, and he could not invest his time into this; he needed to consider the livelihood of the people of the entire tribe.

In Winter, Baifeng and the Suiren Clan conducted a trade, exchanging grain for Sulfur. Baoxi agreed very readily, and the quantity provided was enormous. Even if Baifeng made it all into Gunpowder, given their current usage, it would last for several years. Unless a war occurred, they would not be able to consume large amounts of Gunpowder.

Baoxi traded quite readily, and Baifeng also inspected it; the Sulfur had no problems at all, and the quality was quite good. However, looking at Baoxi's complexion, it could not be called bad, nor could it be called good. Baifeng did not pay attention to it, and Wangzuo was not by his side.

Ever since Wangzuo brought back large amounts of Sulfur, Baoxi had been quite happy, and he had even generously rewarded Wangzuo with some things. Baoxi had thought that this matter had ended just like that, but he did not expect that after a few days, his good days would come to an end.

It turned out that those few Soldiers, after Wangzuo left, had found the Tribal Chief together and told their doubts to Baoxi. Baoxi was not very willing to believe the words of these few Soldiers, because up until now, Baoxi's divination had only made that one mistake, and the reason had also been clearly explained.

Under the repeated requests of the few Soldiers, Baoxi still decided to make an attempt; it was not difficult anyway. Baoxi threw a small handful of Sulfur into the fire pit, and then a blue flame immediately burned in the fire pit, and it emitted a familiar stench.

When Baoxi smelled this odor, he immediately frowned. It was not just because the smell was unpleasant, but also because this did not differ from what the few Soldiers had said. That meant that Wangzuo had been deceiving him all along, and he had even known about the existence of Sulfur the whole time.

Baoxi was very angry and wanted to find him immediately to question him, but then he thought about it again: Wangzuo was probably afraid that he would come to him because of this matter and had already fabricated an excuse. Thus, he decided to first create a suitable opportunity to force him to confess and catch him off guard.

And so, a very ordinary banquet took place. At the banquet, Baoxi lit several bonfires, making people feel stifled even in the middle of Winter. Baoxi also generously rewarded Wangzuo with two cups of Wine. Wangzuo, whose tolerance for Wine was already poor, felt his reactions slowing down and his whole body burning with heat. When Baoxi ordered the Soldiers on the side to help him take off his clothes to cool down, he did not even react.

Subsequently, Baoxi let the Soldiers start searching in front of Wangzuo. The dazed Wangzuo saw this scene, and his drunkenness was already half-gone, and he began to feel cold all over. Before he had thought of an excuse, a handful of Sulfur had already been taken out from his collar pocket. Then, that Soldier threw the Sulfur into the fire, and a blue flame immediately burned.

The onlookers did not understand, thinking that a banquet had caused the gods to descend, so they shouted loudly in celebration.

Baoxi pressed down the voices of the crowd with a dark face, and then a string of questions slammed directly into Wangzuo, causing Wangzuo to collapse on the ground on the spot, unable to say a single word of explanation. In fact, there was no need to say anything more; Wangzuo's state had already explained everything. He, Baoxi, was just a fool who had been deceived.

Right up until the time of the trade, Baoxi could not think of a good way to deal with Wangzuo. If he killed him, his talent was very important; without him, many things in the tribe would have to be done by himself. If he did not kill him, it would be hard to resolve the hatred in his heart.

After the trade ended, he suddenly said to Baifeng: "This thing can burn in the fire, causing the gods to descend and turning the flame blue. It is very beautiful. You can put in more Sulfur to see."

When Baifeng heard this, he placed his already-raised buttocks back onto the chair and looked at Baoxi with a smile: "This Sulfur in the fire, not only will there be a blue flame, but there will also be poisonous gas produced, right? A person like you would absolutely not tell me the other benefits of these things, especially when the trade has already ended, unless that benefit is useless and there is a greater harm underneath. Am I right?"

Baoxi did not have the self-awareness of having his lie exposed; instead, he said in a self-deprecating tone: "I considered us to be the same kind of people. Why were you able to detect this lie in an instant, while I was deceived for many years?"

Baifeng thought for a moment and asked in return: "Because of the matter of the gods—you told me it would attract the gods, and I think that is how you were deceived. I am also curious: you are a person who does not even believe in the punishment of oaths, so why would you believe in the talk of gods and ghosts?"

Upon hearing this, Baoxi's expression suddenly changed, and then he stood up and laughed: "So that's it! I understand. Baifeng, I must thank you today; otherwise, I might have lost a talent who is very important to me."

Subsequently, Baoxi did not linger, directly smiling and calling his Soldiers to leave, leaving only the confused Baifeng and the others in place.

Baifeng was speechless, but there was nothing he could do. Even if he had helped Baoxi unintentionally, it was just creating trouble for himself, but it could only be so. He could only mutter to himself that the Suiren Clan was very rude, and he would not need to bring them gifts in the future.

However, the Tribal Chief of the Suiren Clan, a person who could be considered top-tier in this era, had actually been deceived for several years by someone using a simple flame test, and it seemed he had even been poisoned; otherwise, he would not have told him about this thing. This matter could actually be brought out as an interesting joke to tell others. I wonder what his reaction would be if this embarrassing incident of Baoxi were told when the two armies were at war.