Alchemy Master

Chapter 1109, The Myriad Beasts City

Translator: Silavin

“Miss Mei Ler, if you are willing to help me, I can give you what you want.” As though seeing straight through that thin veil to the expression on Mei Ler’s face, Qin Yichen suddenly spoke.

“What I want?” Hearing this, Mei Ler’s delicate frame gave a small involuntary shiver, and then a composed voice slowly carried outward. “I thank Sir for the kind thought, but what I need is not something you are in a position to provide.”

Though in Mei Ler’s heart she had already come to regard Qin Yichen as the outstanding talent of some First Tier Race, or perhaps even a Top Race, even an existence of that kind was not capable of giving her what she truly needed.

It was not material goods she needed. Had she been the sort of woman who coveted empty status and luxury, why would she have pushed herself so hard, setting out alone by her own efforts to attend the Merchandise Fair in the Elf Race’s territory?

And what had she gotten for it in the end? A bamboo basket dipped in water and brought up empty, and a collection of enemies she had no business having made.

“Perhaps we could assist one another. So long as you help me wholeheartedly, I can make you into this continent’s commercial titan.” The corner of Qin Yichen’s mouth curved into a faint smile. He understood perfectly well what Mei Ler wanted.

She wanted to change the way others looked at her. She wanted to change the circumstances of the Charming Fox Race.

Yet the Charming Fox Race, having spent so many long ages under the indirect servitude of others, was not a thing so easily changed.

If it were merely a matter of one Mei Ler, however, that was not, from Qin Yichen’s perspective, that difficult of an undertaking.

“A commercial titan?” Upon hearing those words, a strange light flickered through Mei Ler’s eyes.

After suffering through an extraordinary ordeal, making enemies of merchants from countless Races in the process, and finally, after all that effort, securing a foothold in the Elf Race’s territory in the form of a qualification to establish an embassy, she had not even had time to properly settle in before the whole affair had collapsed around her.

For Mei Ler, this blow had been crushing.

It had made her feel like all her ambitions had been too naive.

Setting aside the Elf Race, achieving that same calibre of commercial standing by her own efforts alone would be, by any realistic assessment, far too difficult.

She had a perfectly respectable commercial mind, but what she did not have was a product capable of commanding others’ attention.

[For Qin Yichen to say such a thing, it would mean…]

At that thought, Mei Ler’s gaze involuntarily fastened to Qin Yichen. What he had produced on that occasion had sent the Deacon Fiery into a state of frenzy.

From the nature of Fiery’s reaction alone, it was not difficult to deduce that the item in question had been some exceedingly rare variety of alcohol.

Alcohol was unlike the beautiful garments she had offered. Across the continent, virtually every Race had among its number individuals with a deep fondness for drinking, and quite a few Races were so devoted to it as to make it a matter of life and death. The Dwarf Race, for one. The Elf Race, for another.

“I will not be putting that item up for sale.” As though reading Mei Ler’s thoughts, Qin Yichen said with an easy smile.

Hearing this, a flicker of disappointment crossed Mei Ler’s beautiful eyes. Yet in the very next instant, a single sentence from Qin Yichen sent a fresh wave stirring through her heart.

“But, I have something that commands even greater enthusiasm than that one. But first, let us enter the city.”

In the midst of talking, their figures had been rapidly closing the distance to Myriad Beasts City. Qin Yichen’s smile deepened at the corner of his mouth, and he let the topic rest with those words, speaking in a calm and unhurried tone.

His gaze upon Myriad Beasts City held some anticipation.

A Supreme Expert accepting Disciples would draw an endless stream of gifted geniuses from every Race, all competing to present themselves. To witness the powerful experts of those various Races, and perhaps even gain some understanding of the methods they commanded, was, for Qin Yichen, an opportunity he could not afford to pass up.

Seeing that Qin Yichen had no intention of elaborating further, Mei Ler refrained from pressing him. She simply continued quietly at his side, turning over in her mind the question of how much credibility his words hold.

At this moment, around the perimeter of Myriad Beasts City, countless figures swarmed in like locusts from every direction, and yet those figures, upon drawing to within several kilometres of the city’s outer walls, all of them descended to the ground and proceeded on foot into the city.

Qin Yichen likewise came down among the great mass of arrivals.

All around him were powerful experts from every manner of Race, each maintaining a deliberate, if unspoken, distance from the others. Likely they were all, to one degree or another, wary of a sudden move from their neighbours.

Before them, a city saturated with the flavour of deep age lay sprawled like some enormous beast at rest.

After paying an entry fee of two Low-Grade Spirit Seeds, Qin Yichen led Mei Ler through one of the towering city gates and into the city.

No sooner had he set foot across the entrance than Qin Yichen noted that there were covetous gazes targeting him. They were faint and half-concealed, but they had been directed at him from various places.

Soon, these glances disappeared.

Anyone with even a modicum of sense understood that murder within Myriad Beasts City was forbidden.

“Sir, where do you intend to go from here?” Once inside the city, Mei Ler asked.

“This is my first time here, so I want to take a look around first.” Qin Yichen replied in an offhand manner as he strolled along the street, while the corners of his eyes swept continuously across the surroundings.

This was the Myriad Beasts City, and the city’s scale, while perhaps not quite matching that of Saints Heavenly City, was several degrees more vibrant than even the largest cities found within the Human Race’s Top Sacred Lands.

Moreover, virtually every individual moving through those streets radiated a strong aura.

Within just a few hundred metres, Qin Yichen’s sharp senses had already picked out several individuals emanating a distinctly dangerous aura.

After turning down two street corners and walking for the better part of half an hour, Qin Yichen’s gaze finally came to rest upon a rather spacious establishment. The plaque mounted above it bore four large characters shimmering with golden light, ‘苍云酒楼’ (Vast Cloud Wine House).

“That is a wine house operated by a merchant of the Cloud Wolf Race. Among merchants operating in the Myriad Beasts Domain, those of the Cloud Wolf Race enjoy a reputation that ranks among the very top.”

Mei Ler offered this information from beside him.

“I see. Then let it be here. Let us go in and sit a while.”

Qin Yichen gave a nod and walked at an unhurried pace into the impressively appointed inn.

The interior was expansive, with table after table of lavishly furnished seating arranged throughout. Though it was only just past midday, the establishment was very nearly full to capacity.

“Will the honoured guests be dining, or would you require lodgings?”

The moment they set foot inside, a middle-aged man dressed in the manner of a server came forward at once to meet them, wearing a broad and welcoming smile as he addressed Qin Yichen.

“You still have good rooms available?”

Casting a glance over that noisy, densely packed main hall, Qin Yichen showed no sign of displeasure. On the contrary, a faint smile settled on his face as he asked.

A place full of people and noise was, in fact, an excellent location for gathering information. He had very little understanding of the current state of affairs within the Myriad Beasts Domain, and a venue such as this was precisely what he needed.

“The honoured guests, your timing is just perfect. There is one superior room remaining. Had you arrived even a few minutes later, I fear it would already have been taken.”

The server bowed respectfully as he replied, having taken one look at Qin Yichen and registered that this was a person of no ordinary bearing.

The news of the Supreme Expert accepting Disciples had spread across the whole continent. Though the day of Mo Sheng’s formal recruitment was still some way off, countless prodigies had already been streaming toward Myriad Beasts City from all directions.

“One room?”

Qin Yichen’s brow knitted slightly. He could hardly be expected to share a room with Mei Ler.

And it was precisely in the midst of Qin Yichen’s brief deliberation that a voice brimming with domineering self-assurance boomed out from the direction of the entrance.

“Oi, bellboy! My Lord needs a superior room right now!”