Monarch Of Time

Chapter 1024 City of Amber Dawn (2)

ʼʼYou want to open a shop? Here, in Amber Dawn? What kind of... shop?ʼʼ The young guard couldnʼt help but ask, his body language betraying his wariness with his every word. His gaze had also turned a bit more solemn as he inspected everyone in Shun Longʼs group even more vigilantly than before. Even Fu Li and Lan Jinjing werenʼt exempt from his scrutiny any longer despite their weak cultivation bases.

Of course, it wasnʼt like people werenʼt allowed to open up shops in Amber Dawn, but the city guard knew that anyone who did so had to be closely monitored first, in fear of them being related to any of the assassin guilds within the city.

After all, the entire city was essentially being controlled in the dark by those guilds and even the city lord -a powerful Sovereign realm expert- was practically helpless against them. Those guilds had amassed so much power and influence at this point, that it was downright impossible to uproot them any longer. The most the city guard could do was limit their sphere of influence and stop their never-ending expansion from continuing any further.

However, the old man didnʼt seem to pay any attention to the young guardʼs sudden change of attitude or his wariness. Instead, the look on his face was just as leisurely and easygoing as before, as he nodded his head and said calmly

ʼʼIʼm planning to open an alchemy shop here. Is that not allowed?ʼʼ

Despite his initial surprise, the young guard quickly recomposed himself when he heard that. Shaking his head, he looked at the old man in front of him with the same wariness as before, as he answered ʼʼNo... thereʼs no problem with opening up a shop. The rules of our city are very simple on that matter. As long as you can purchase a piece of land within Amber Dawn, you are free to do as you please with it. Whether you want to open up a shop, turn it into a forgery, or just use it as a residence, it is all up to you. The only thing youʼll have to keep in mind is that youʼll have to pay a small fee to the city administration every year, as long as you arenʼt affiliated with any big sects or families of our central region. In case you are connected to any of those first-rate sects or families however, youʼll have to pay a tax based on a percentage of your annual sales.ʼʼ

Shun Long wasnʼt surprised after hearing the rules from the guard, and merely nodded his head indicating he understood.

If anything, it seemed that the rules of Amber Dawn were exceptionally lenient to anyone who wasnʼt a member of the powerful families or sects, but if one knew more about this place, theyʼd realize it actually made sense.

After all, the biggest assassin guilds had their headquarters here, giving the city a bad reputation. Amber Dawn wasnʼt some lawless place like the ʼCity of Sinʼ back in the Night star continent and even had a Sovereign realm expert presiding over it as the city lord. Nevertheless, just the thought of living in such a dangerous, blood-soaked place, had ended up scaring away many potential alchemists or formation masters who previously thought of making their base here.

This was why the city was now facing a severe shortage of competent alchemists and formation masters.

Normally, this wouldnʼt be a problem since this allowed large merchant guilds like the ʼWhite Tiger chamber of commerceʼ and others to thrive, as they constantly imported pills from renowned alchemists or weapons made by famous formation masters within the city and sold them to anyone in need.

However, the city lord of Amber Dawn detested the idea of his city not being self-sufficient and having to rely on those merchant guilds to bring in everything they needed. After all, what would happen if those merchant guilds decided to blackmail him one day, saying that they would cut off supply to the entire city? Wouldnʼt Amber Dawn essentially collapse? This was why the city lord offered such favorable conditions to anyone who was willing to settle down in Amber Dawn.

Since they were already in the city guardʼs headquarters, Shun Long asked the guard in front of him to show them the way around; an action completely unnecessary since the young guard wasnʼt planning on letting them out of his sights just yet.

The man didnʼt care about Jiang Chen and the others whatsoever, focusing solely on Shun Long as they walked. After all, the others were still peak-stage Dao Kings, just like him, while Fu Li and Lan Jinjing could essentially be ignored. Although rank 9 Dao Kings werenʼt weak by any means, they were still a dime a dozen within Amber Dawn.

Even the city guard had more than a thousand peak-stage Dao Kings, and none of them had a rank higher than captain. The truly important figures were those the young guard couldnʼt see through... the ones just like the old man in front of him!

Judging by how Shun Long wasnʼt emitting any aura and how he led his group and made all the important decisions, the young guard had already come to the conclusion that the old man was almost certainly a Dao Emperor realm expert. Even if he was just an early-stage Dao Emperor, it was still enough to raise alarm bells in the young guardʼs mind!

After all, the entire city guard had barely a hundred Dao Emperors within their ranks, and all of them reported directly to the city lord! This only served to show the gulf between Dao Emperors and everyone else in the city lordʼs eyes.

As for the old man in front of him, the bronze-armored guard didnʼt know if he was truly an alchemist looking to open up a shop or not, but he was definitely going to keep his eyes on him while they were in the city guard headquarters.

To the young guardʼs simultaneous disappointment and relief however, it looked like he had been worried for nothing.

After walking through the empty corridors of the city guard headquarters for a while, the guard led everyone into a spacious room full of jade slips. Each of those slips contained a lot within the city that was available for sale, some of them in prime locations with a price tag close to 50.000 high-grade spirit stones, while others closer to the outskirts, barely costing a few hundred high-grade spirit stones.

As for the old man leading the small group... he ended up choosing one of the most expensive lots, one with a price tag of 70.000 high-grade spirit stones!