Chapter 1033: Quasi-Emperors Working Together
Shi Yong turned his head and barked, "I may have many descendants, but not every one of them is qualified to be the Young City Lord. Wang Zhan, do your words mean you intend to fall out with us?"
"Fall out?" Wang Zhan put down his teacup and smiled. "Fall out with me? Do you all have the courage to do so? In the worst case, I will fight to the end and pull one of you down with me; that is easily accomplished."
When the other City Lords, who had come charging over fiercely, heard this, they felt stifled. Indeed, if Wang Zhan steeled himself and fought to the death, intending to drag one of them down with him, no one could stop him.
"I can go and try to capture the murderer, and we can discuss compensation as well. My side is at fault; I admit to that. However, if you want to threaten and rip me off, you can forget about it. I, Wang Zhan, do not scare easily."
Wang Zhan withdrew his smile, not showing any fear. He displayed a ruthless and ambitious personality. For him to reach his position today, he was indeed not someone who scared easily.
"The murderer? Humph! It has already been two days. You probably still do not even have any clues!" Shi Yong mocked.
"He is hiding in the backyard of the Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion. If the few of you dare to, you are welcome to charge in," Wang Zhan said unhurriedly.
"Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion?! The Nine Cauldron Merchant Association's Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion?!"
When the other City Lords heard that, their expressions changed as they glanced at each other and saw fear in their fellows' eyes.
At Wang Zhan's mention of the Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion, the atmosphere suddenly turned strange.
"What's going on? Is the Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion preparing to invade the Cloud Sea Domain? The Cloud Sea Domain is such a small place. Surely, it did not catch their attention?" Sky Cloud City's City Lord said uncertainly.
Others might not know, but these City Lords knew that the two great merchant associations in the Cloud Sea Domain, the Nine Cauldron Merchant Association and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, both had huge factions in the Heavenly Starry Ocean as backers.
If these merchant associations really wanted to interfere in the Cloud Sea Domain, these City Lords would be helpless to do anything about it.
If Xiao Chen was really hiding in the Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion and these City Lords wanted to make a move, they had to reconsider.
The moment Sky Cloud City's City Lord said that, the other City Lords all could not help but revealed expressions of worry.
Wang Zhan sneered, "How can that be? The Cloud Sea Domain is such a small place. What do we have that is worth moving a Martial Emperor? The Heavenly Starry Ocean is a vast place."
"What is going on, then? Why did the Nine Cauldron Merchant Association make a move to save this person?"
Wang Zhan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't ask me. I don't know. However, if it is not a trick, the Medicinal Cauldron Pavilion would not do something that will not bring any profit.
"I have some other news as well. Recently, the Young Master of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion mysteriously invited a group of outstanding youths from the Southern Sea over.
"The treasure mountain has been calm for so many years already. These people probably obtained some news about it; there will be a huge opportunity coming." Wang Zhan finally spoke of his own guesses. Such strange movements definitely had something to do with the treasure mountain that would appear soon.
"However, the few of us have been to the treasure mountain before. Aside from finding a few ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Herbs and the Secret Treasures in the Remnants, there is nothing of much use to people of similar cultivations to ours."
"Could it be that they obtained news about the legendary Book of Heavenly Works?"
"Or perhaps they found the entrance to the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion?"
"Maybe they found the burial site of the Fire Li Sect's Sect Masters."
"Who knows, it might have something to do with the heart of the ocean."
On hearing the final news that Wang Zhan mentioned, the City Lords forgot the pain of losing their sons. They all started to discuss the possible discoveries about the treasure mountain that could cause the two merchant association to make a move.
When Wang Zhan saw this, he smiled coldly to himself. He knew that these people were not here purely because of their heirs' deaths.
Now that they obtained news about the treasure mountain, their expressions immediately changed.
"No matter what the news is, without sufficient benefits, the Nine Cauldron Merchant Association would not have saved Wen Ziran. If the few of you still want to kill him, you can go over now. However, if you end up alerting them, you can forget about splitting the benefits from the treasure mountain." Seeing that the seven were almost done, Wang Zhan unhurriedly added a few more words.
Shi Yong said sullenly, "We can let him live a few more days; that does not matter."
Wang Zhan stood up. Murderous intent flashed in his eyes as he said, "Good. Now we can talk. We definitely have to kill him. Otherwise, the eight of us will lose all face. We have to avenge our sons.
"However, there is no need to rush this. Whether there are any discoveries in the treasure mountain or not, we will just send people to follow them. If there is none, we will not take any losses. After this, I will give out some compensation. There is no need to spoil the harmony between our clans."
"Old Brother Wang, your words are like music to my ears. We will do just that."
"We will each send out a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage to lead the troops and follow the Young Masters of those merchant associations from a distance. That way, we will know what they discovered."
Very quickly, the very tense and hostile situation turned into a harmonious and peaceful one. This was truly ironic.
---
At the same time, in the headquarters of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's Young Master was talking with two people from the Cyclic Astral Palace.
The Young Master of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion in the Cloud Sea Domain was called Chen Wenjun. He had a similar aura as Mu Qinghan. However, his eyes had an additional tyrannical and sinister cast. Anyone who saw it would immediately raise their guard.
However, at this moment, when Chen Wenjun spoke, there was no tyranny in his words at all.
The reason for this was none other than the much higher status of the two people he spoke to. Their reputations were well-known throughout the entire Southern Sea.
At such a young age, they were already peak grandmaster-level Martial Sages. They were just one step shy of reaching great grandmaster-level Martial Sage.
In this age of geniuses, the two were no doubt outstanding talents. Everywhere they went, they would be called geniuses.
"Brother Chen, don't you dare cheat us. We came from so far for the sake of the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion that you mentioned. If we obtain only a pile of Spirit Herbs and trashy Sage Grade Secret Treasures…"
Chen Wenjun quickly assured, "Don't worry. The information about the Ten Thousand Treasure Pavilion is very reliable. I also have a rough drawing to the entrance. Unfortunately, the Nine Cauldron Merchant Association's Mu Qinghan also has a rough drawing. Furthermore, he found a demonic-genius-level youth to help."
"Wen Ziran? We heard already. He only killed eight Superior Grade Martial Sages, yet he dares to call himself a demonic genius? Any elite disciple of our Sun Palace can easily accomplish this," the Cyclic Astral Palace disciple on the right said with disdain.
---
Naturally, at this moment, Xiao Chen did not know what kind of waves he had stirred up with his cooperation with Mu Qinghan or that eight quasi-Emperors were targeting him.
No matter, in the end, it all seemed to lead to disaster.
"I finally did it."
Xiao Chen had been nervously refining the Innate Beauty Nourishing Pill. He had not refined Medicinal Pills for a very long time now and was rusty.
After he bought the ingredients from the manager, he failed seven to eight times before he successfully refined this one incredibly precious Medicinal Pill, which could regenerate the body to the state it looked like in its twenties.
Actually, these failures were not just because Xiao Chen was rusty. The greater part of his low success rate was because the Innate Beauty Nourishing Pill was very hard to refine in the first place.
It was already very difficult to make one's skin stay young and not age. Now, it had to regenerate, changing the skin and muscle from the inside out. Heaven-defying would not be an exaggeration to describe this Medicinal Pill.
Simply put, it could allow an old woman to regain her appearance as a youth. There was a qualitative difference with the effects of the Beauty Nourishing Pill.
Fortunately, Xiao Chen was using the refining methods of the Immortal Epoch. If he used the Martial Epoch's refining methods, the success rates would be several times lower.
"It's already been two days. I wonder how Mo Chen is doing with the refining," Xiao Chen muttered to himself as he placed the Innate Beauty Nourishing Pill into a jade bottle.
One Heavenly Origin Pill from ten sets of ingredients would mean that Xiao Chen offset half of the one million Black Astral Coins he had spent. With two, he would be able to recoup all his expenditure.
If Mo Chen succeeded in making three, Xiao Chen could use one for himself and auction off the other two. That way, he would be able to gain back his one million Black Astral Coins.
Of course, that was the best result. The reverse was also possible—all ten attempts failed. Not only would Xiao Chen not get anything for his investment, but he would also have to delay the recovery of his strength.
Refining Medicinal Pills was like that. Even a powerful and excellent Alchemist could not guarantee success in refining a Medicinal Pill.
Once the refinement failed, an Alchemist would not be responsible. The one who commissioned it would have to take responsibility themselves.
Xiao Chen prayed for a while before anxiously making his way to Mo Chen's room.
He could not help being nervous. He already reached a bottleneck. If he did not recover his Law Energy, it would be hard for his strength to advance any further, and he would end up wasting a lot of time.
If he could recover his Law Energy, his strength would advance significantly, undergoing a rebirth.
Xiao Chen knocked on the door and identified himself.
"Come in. Young Master Wen, I have been waiting for half a day already."
Mo Chen's tone sounded heavy. She already waited for half a day. This means that she finished very early. Could it be that they were all failures?
Xiao Chen pushed the door open and entered. The Heavenly Phoenix Medicine Cauldron was no longer there. The manager must have come by and taken it away already.
Ten small tightly stoppered jade bottles waited on the table. The insides were not visible at all.
"How was it? Did you succeed?" Xiao Chen asked anxiously.
Mo Chen looked at Xiao Chen and revealed a guilty expression. His heart froze for half an instant.
Ten sets of ingredients, ten sets, yet she still failed. It looks like I have to find a grandmaster Alchemist.
However, Xiao Chen had already cultivated his mental state to a certain level. A setback like this would not dismay him too much. Furthermore, he had the Alchemic Recipe. There was no need to fear that he would not recover his strength.
He smiled bitterly as he consoled Mo Chen, "It's fine. One million Black Astral Coins is nothing much. If it's a failure, then it's a failure."
Mo Chen lowered her head and said in a soft voice, "Sorry, I overestimated my abilities… Of the ten sets, I only succeeded with five."
"It's fine, it's fine… What?! You managed to refine five Heavenly Origin Pills!"
This startled Xiao Chen, but Mo Chen had already raised her head. A crafty smile flashed in her eyes.
I'm speechless. This lass fooled me.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Mo Chen giggled and flicked her fingers repeatedly, breaking five of the ten jade bottles. "Take them, five Heavenly Origin Pills. That will be more than enough to recoup one million Black Astral Coins. You will even make a profit."
Xiao Chen smiled. Unexpectedly, Mo Chen's luck was quite heaven-defying.
He had estimated that she would only succeed three times at most. Who could have imagined that she would succeed five times?
This time, Xiao Chen did not just earn; he earned a lot. It was no exaggeration to say that he could auction off the four Heavenly Origin Pills for two million Black Astral Coins.