Chapter 38: Dan King
"Young Master Chen, you must reconsider my previous invitation. That is a very good opportunity, you should carefully reconsider!" A sliver of pleading was present in Hua Yueyun's clear and pretty eyes.
As Hua Yueyun departed, Chen Luzhong sent a bizarre look towards Chen Xiang, then asked in a low voice, "Brat, that woman is Danxiang Manor Hall's manager but in front of you, she didn't have an ounce of arrogance. What did she ask you to reconsider?"
[TLN: I will be using manager instead of hall lord.]
"She invited me to enter Danxiang Taoyuan, but I’m more interested in joining the Extreme Martial Sect, so I declined."
"What!?" Chen Luzhong stared blankly for a moment. Immediately after, he knocked Chen Xiang's head, "Danxiang Taoyuan is a holy land for all alchemists, yet you little brat actually declined!"
Chen Xiang caressed his head while curling his mouth, he said, "Granduncle, this woman is just a maidservant. She already fooled many other people into joining Danxiang Taoyuan, and I will not do such stupid things! Enrolling into a sect is a very important matter, and I want to enroll in a sect which I admire."
Once one became the disciple of a sect, it would be very difficult to leave, the only exception was if you were banished your own sect. Once someone has been banished, no other sect would take them in, so Chen Xiang wanted to carefully consider this ‘once in a lifetime choice’.
Chen Xiang had Su Meiyao to teach him in the ways of alchemy, and there he also had the [Dragon Saliva Exercise] to rapidly mature spirit herbs. He simply did not have any desire to enter Danxiang Taoyuan. Besides, he had always wanted to enter the Extreme Martial Sect, which had a very strong heritage.
Not long after, two alchemists showed up at the door. Chen Luzhong was in charge of screening the applicants. Most of the time, they wanted to take a glance at the Metal Spirit Fruit first so Chen Luzhong proudly took it out before them. Watching those alchemists look at it with extreme envy made Chen Luzhong very delighted.
Chen Luzhong let them refine dans on their own first. Afterwards, he made them refine a Middle-Grade Mortal Level Dan. By observing the quality of the dan as well as the time the alchemy process took, he could roughly identify the level of these alchemists.
What made Chen Luzhong depressed was that although there were tens of people applying in just one day, only two or three could actually be regarded as alchemists. Moreover, many even failed to reach the bare minimum. There were even a few who intended to fish in troubled waters.
[TLN: Chinese Idiom (浑水摸鱼)= Fish in troubled waters, Meaning: Trying to make profit in a dangerous situation.]
Chen Xiang was not anxious as there were many alchemists that secluded themselves for refining dans, and that’s why they had still not received this information. He speculated that in the next few days there would by many alchemists affiliated to different forces of King City applying for the position.
Chen Xiang only planned on recruiting four good alchemists. Two Metal Spirit Fruits would be more than enough to make four alchemists stay here for quite some time. By then, Dan King Hall would be strong and prosperous enough to not have any fear of being unable to recruit more alchemists.
Like before, Chen Xiang returned back to his original routine. He went to the outskirts of the city to cultivate at night and returned early to refine dans at Dan King Hall. Three days had passed since posting the notice, Chen Xiang had just returned early in the morning from the mountains outside the city. He noticed many grey or white haired old men standing near the entrance to Dan King Hall.
At this time, the sky had just begun to light up. Dan King Hall had yet to open, so these applicants for the alchemist position could only patiently wait. On ordinary days, these alchemists were always aloof. They would not bat an eye even if countless spirit coins were placed in front of them, but they had always regarded these rare and precious spirit herbs as a true treasure, as no amount of spirit coins could purchase these precious herbs.
Chen Xiang was the one who came up with the name of the store, Dan King Hall! As long as they had a sufficient amount of dans, they would be able to open. Because Chen Luzhong had enough qualification to be called an old alchemist, the other alchemists were more than happy to join Dan King Hall.
As the door opened, tens of alchemists hastily greeted Chen Luzhong one after the other. From the heat in the aura emitted from these alchemists, Chen Xiang was able to roughly estimate their levels in alchemy, except for two individuals. That being said, the people he could assess clearly did not have pure enough True Qi and were only able to refine Low-Grade Mortal Level Dans.
Many of these half baked alchemists were only here to try their luck, as they all knew the qualifications required would definitely be very high. After they entered Dan King Hall, Chen Xiang also tagged along with them.
At this point, a blonde wrinkled old man walked in. He shouted as soon as he entered, “Steward, get the fuck out here!”
When that old man yelled, pure Fire Qi bursted out from his body, shocking the tens of alchemists because each of them desired to reach this level of Fire Qi. They were pretty sure that that this blonde old man was an alchemist, they could also guess that he was a very famous one at that! However, alchemists rarely made appearances, thus they were only widely known by their title.
Chen Xiang stood out and responded, "I am the steward here, what do you want with me?"
Everyone knew that Dan King Hall was the Chen Family’s property and the person in charge was Chen Xiang.
The blonde old man spotted Chen Xiang. The old alchemist suddenly revealed a look of contempt, his whole face full of arrogance as he said, "I want you to immediately change the name of your store. You are not allowed to use the name Dan King Hall because you do not deserve it."
Chen slightly squinted his eyes, "Why? I chose this name and not in any way is it hampering you. If you are here to cause trouble, then do not blame me for being impolite!"
That blonde old man contemptuously looked at Chen Xiang and sneered, "This old-man is the Dan King, and I do not allow your store to use this brother’s name."
[TLN: Well basically he used Ge (brother), sometimes refer themselves as Ge to show their superiority.]
Dan King?
After hearing these two words, everyone present was immediately shocked. In the entire Southern Martial Empire, high and low, there were tens of millions of people. But there was only one alchemist with a brilliant alchemy technique who was named Dan King, moreover he had dealings with the Yao Family.
At this point everyone was able to determine, this proud old-man was the Southern Martial Empire's Dan King, Meng Bo!
Even Chen Xiang was no stranger to this name. Since childhood, he had often heard this name, and now he was unexpectedly able to see him in person. He quickly overcame his shock and determined that this Dan King was definitely sent by the Yao Family to stir up trouble.
Realizing this, Chen Xiang couldn’t help but frown. This was indeed troublesome. He named the store Dan King Hall because he wanted it to be somewhat domineering, but he didn’t expect the actual Dan King to walk in and smash the signboard.
“Humph, this sort of guy actually dares to claim the title Dan King? I’ve been doing alchemy for thousands of years and was just barely able to achieve Dan Founder rank, let alone the superior Dan King!” Su Meiyao’s contemptuous voice resounded in Chen Xiang’s mind.
Chen Xiang was slightly surprised in his heart. At this time, he came to learn that the title Dan King was originally designated for an alchemist’s level. His eyes lit up, ridiculing Meng Bo, “Humph, you dare claim to be a Dan King? Do you have the ability to go to those large sects and show off? You think others will not scold you, this is not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth old man!”
Speaking of those large sects, other alchemists were also longing to know just how formidable those alchemists inside the big sects were. In front of those alchemists, Meng Bo would obviously not dare to claim the title Dan King, he could only show off in the mortal world.
Meng Bo’s face turned red from anger, he had not thought that this little devil would humiliate him, furthermore in front of others. However, what Chen Xiang said could not be refuted by Meng Bo. He knew that he couldn’t compare to those alchemists in large sects, if he went there he would only be a little minion.
Chen Xiang saw Meng Bo’s old face turn red in anger, and continued speaking, “Since you think your own alchemy technique is brilliant, then how about a little competition with this brat? These alchemists can be the judges”
"Of course..since this is a competition, we should add a prize. If I lose, I'll give you the Metal Spirit Fruit, but what if you lose?"