Monarch Of Time

Chapter 1027 A small, inconspicuous shop (2)

Shun Long already had an idea of how he wanted to operate the shop so setting things in motion was quite simple after that.

After having Jiang Chen purchase a few miscellaneous materials from the nearby trading vendors around the city, all three floors of the shop were quickly filled in less than a day.

From rank 1 ʼQi barrier-breakingʼ pills and the like, all the way to rank 6 ʼFive-elements awakening pillsʼ, the entire shop was eventually filled with transparent glass shelves showcasing their contents, along with price tags indicating how much each of those pills would cost.

Of course, even these ʼordinary-lookingʼ glass shelves housing the pills were anything but ordinary. Jiang Chen had specifically purchased them from the nearest branch of the ʼWhite Tiger chamber of commerceʼ, spending quite a small fortune to acquire them.

Although their price could only be considered as outrageous, with each of the glass shelves costing more than 500 high-grade spirit stones, Jiang Chen didnʼt bat an eye as he paid nearly 15.000 high-grade spirit stones to take them all.

Of course, each of these glass shelves had been tempered numerous times by a rank 3 gold-grade formation master, before they were engraved with dozens of protective formations by the star-rank formation master overseeing the whole process. Therefore, despite their seemingly outrageous price, Jiang Chen knew that the quality was worth their cost.

By the end of the day, the last few details of the shop had been set up, along with a large signboard right above the entrance that attracted most passerbysʼ attention

ʼʼAlchemist Hanʼs pill shopʼʼ

The shop wasnʼt even open for business, and yet Xingyi and the rest noticed more than a few nearby Dao Kings throwing curious glances at the newly erected signboard at the heart of the city, clearly contemplating whether they should go in and take a look.

A few of the bolder ones even approached the entrance directly, only to be greeted by a smiling Bai Longtian who bowed and apologized as he told them that the shop would be open by tomorrow.

It was only after the sun had started to set that the last few visitors finally stopped coming in, as Shun Long looked around him with a satisfied grin.

Other than the third floor that was almost empty, with just a handful of pill bottles sporting outrageous prices that could make most Dao Kings shiver in disbelief, the first and second floors were now filled with dozens of different types of pills, suitable for both qi cultivators and body refiners alike.

The first floor was filled mostly with common pills, the ones that could be mass-produced by any competent gold-grade alchemist; Qi replenishing pills, Anti-toxin pills, Dragonblood tempering pills, along with countless other rank 5 pills were all placed on this floor, with even the worst of them being at the high-grade. Nearly a third of them were top-grade pills as well, indicating that they were completely freed from any impurities.

Of course, Shun Long was well aware of how much ruckus all of this was going to cause in Amber Dawn tomorrow... after having put so many top-grade pills on display.

After all, in the northern part of the continent, even the ʼMyriad Pills Pavilionʼ, the number one alchemy shop in the ʼNorthern Sovereignʼs cityʼ didnʼt have more than a handful of top-grade pills for sale.

At the very least, not any that were sold to the public... Perhaps a few influential Dao Emperors had access to those pills, but it was almost impossible to buy them from the pavilion directly.

Normally, such pills were only placed for sale in auctions and their prices would always reach unbelievable numbers.

Although the difference between high-grade and top-grade pills was a single rank... on paper, their value was much, much more than that!

After all, even the best high-grade pills could only reach a 90% purity rate, indicating that there would always be a few residual impurities left once a cultivator absorbed the energy from the pill.

But top-grade pills were completely different. Even the worst of them was more than 90% pure, with the vast majority of them reaching purity levels of 95% or higher.

This was why top-grade pills were so sought after and why everyone was always willing to buy them despite their exorbitant prices; Because the fewer impurities a pill had, the more of them a cultivator could consume without any side effects!

That was why, even though the pills on this first floor were ʼjustʼ rank 5 pills, their value wasnʼt diminished in the slightest. Nascent Soul stage cultivators and early-stage Dao Kings would still go crazy fighting over them!

As for the pills on the second floor, they were more than enough to attract the attention of any Dao King in Amber Dawn. Dozens of rank 6 pills had been put on display, and just like the pills on the first floor none of them were below the high-grade!

Glancing at Fu Li who was now fervently pacing around the shop, writing down the price of each pill and the effects they provided, Shun Long grinned before he turned his attention towards Liu Mei and the rest who were now gathered around the shopʼs entrance.

...It was finally time for them to pay a visit to the assassin guilds of Amber Dawn!

Turning to Jiang Chen who still wore the appearance of a middle-aged man with an eye-catching scar on his nose, Shun Long nodded his head and said

ʼʼLetʼs go.ʼʼ

A few moments later, after turning into an emaciated old man once more, Shun Long began to walk towards the southern part of the city with Liu Mei and the others following right behind him.

In the end, only Fu Li and Lan Jinjing remained behind to guard the shop, along with 2 of Liu Meiʼs undead knights.

...

After running around the city for the entire day, Jiang Chen had already found out everything he needed to about the 2 assassin guilds, including the guildsʼ locations.

The Twilight Sovereign guild was located in the western part of Amber Dawn, while the Lunar Grave guild was in the southern-most part, not too far from Amber Dawnʼs southern entrance.

The city had 4 major city gates each of them manned by dozens of city guards, along with a Dao Emperor realm captain who oversaw each gate. And yet, the Lunar Grave guildʼs headquarters were very close to the southern gate despite the city guardʼs presence.

That by itself was more than enough to show how influential these guilds really were, if they could exist without fearing any retaliation from the city guard.

Jiang Chen continued to explain everything he had learned about these guilds.

Obtaining this information hadnʼt been too hard either. After ʼgiftingʼ the trading vendors he interacted with a few more spirit stones, they told him everything he wanted to know, even going as far as to explain how the guilds operated.

Apparently, the Twilight Sovereign guild was under the Twilight Sovereignʼs command and they were more like a clan or a sect than a guild. Naturally, anyone could place an assassination mission under them as long as they had sufficient capital, but the guildʼs inner workings and the way it operated was extremely strict and was based mostly on trust between its members.

On the other hand, the Lunar Grave guild was the complete opposite. Nobody knew who its members were... not even the members themselves knew each other, but unlike the Twilight Sovereign guild they were much less restricted in the way they worked.

Thus, the Twilight Sovereign guild mainly took on missions of exterminating entire clans and occasionally even cities, while the Lunar Grave guild focused more on assassinating lone, powerful individuals.

After hearing about the 2 guilds from Jiang Chen, Shun Long didnʼt need to ponder over his decision for even a second as he unhesitantly chose the Lunar Grave guild!