Against the Gods

Chapter 58 – False Bravado

There was a thirty something year old man standing behind the counter inside the Black Moon Merchant Guild. Even though Yun Che had entered with this strange disguise, he only glanced at him and asked: “Buying or selling?”

Yun Che went straight to the point; raising his right hand to place three scarlet-colored pills on top of the counter, he coldly said: “Three Fire Spirit Pills, make an offer!”

These three Fire Spirit Pills were made by refining the Fire Spirit Grass Yun Che had collected from the Flame Dragon’s cave.

“Fire Spirit Pill?” The clerk’s rigid face finally made a small expression as he picked up one of the pills and lightly stroked it. Suddenly, his complexion changed and was barely able to let out his voice: “Ten… Tenth rank Fire Spirit Pill!!”

In order to synthesize a medicine pill, it had to pass through the required harvesting of ingredients, looking through the storage, selecting the correct refining tools, proper heat control, and a crucial refining skill. So it was normal for the potency of the medicinal power to be reduced during this whole process. During the refining process, even for an high level pharmacist, it was practically impossible to avoid losing some of the medicinal power. Therefore, a pill of the sixth rank was already considered a top grade item. A pill of the seventh or eighth rank was rare and was already considered to be the highest quality. A top-notch pharmacist belonging to one of the major sects might be able to produce a pill of the ninth rank, but it would be considered a peerless item. As for a tenth ranked pill, even for a first rate pharmacist, to come across one would be one in a ten thousand.

The higher the potency of the medicine pill, the higher the price, and the faster the body would be able to naturally refine it. The price of an eight ranked pill would be double of the price of a seventh ranked pill. But for a ninth ranked pill, it would almost be impossible to be found on the market. These were usually kept by the major sects for use for their core disciples or used to offer tribute. As for a tenth ranked pill, it was also rarely seen even in the Profound Sky Continent’s Black Moon Merchant Guild.

If only one of the pills was tenth ranked, it would be nothing much, but the clerk stared with wide eyes when he realized that all three of the Fire Spirit Pills were of the tenth rank. Fire Spirit Grass was already hard to find, but it was also very difficult to refine it into a Fire Spirit Pill. As for it being of the tenth rank, he had never even heard of one before. He could only imagine what would happen if a Profound Practitioner practicing in the fire arts were to set their eyes on these three Fire Spirit Pills; they would most likely covet it with eyes popping out.

“Make an offer!” Yun Che coldly said again.

The clerk finally snapped out of it and quickly brought out a black wooden box and placed the three Fire Spirit Pills into it to prevent the medicinal energy from dispersing. His expression was now a bit more respectful as he faced Yun Che….

These were three Fire Spirit Pills of the tenth rank and were actually brought out to be sold for money! Black Moon Merchant Guild usually had an air of arrogance, but anyone would be able to tell that this person was definitely of great importance. The clerk courteously said: “These three Fire Spirit Pills of the tenth rank are the best of the best, as for the price… I will give you a hundred purple profound coins each; therefore, how about three hundred purple profound coins total?”

“…” Yun Che was silent for a while.

Since Yun Che was silent for quite some time, the clerk began to panic in fear. He carefully took note of the situation; if the price was not satisfactory, he would not hesitate to increase it. These three Fire Spirit Pills of the tenth rank, each one would without a doubt obtain a sky-high price if sold to any one of those major sects of the Profound Sky Continent that practiced in the fire attribute.

How was he supposed to know Yun Che was silent not because of the low-ball offer…. but was immediately taken aback by the offered price

Three hundred purple profound coins… Holy crap!! That was a whole three million yellow profound coins!! It was equivalent to a century’s worth of income from an average family!

On the Azure Cloud Continent, during the times he followed his master around, his master refined medicine to save lives and never once did he charge a single coin. After the death of his master, he had only used the Sky Poison Pearl to refine medicine pills for himself to use in order to increase his strength; therefore, he had no concept of the actual market price or value of each medicinal pill.

He had originally thought selling a Fire Spirit Pill for one purple profound coin would have already been pretty good. After selling three, he would have enough to live extravagantly for a short while. But he never expected he would be offered three hundred purple profound coins; he was stupefied.

These medicine pills were unexpectedly quite valuable!!

On the Profound Sky Continent, good medicinal pills were ridiculously expensive. Because high-grade medicine pills were used for Profound Cultivation; it was a shortcut to increase one’s Profound Energy. Many painstakingly years of cultivation could not compare with just being able to intake a medicinal pill.

His continued silence made the clerk nervously state, “If you are still unsatisfied with the price, then…”

Before even letting him finish, Yun Che exclaimed: “Deal!”

For his offer to be immediately accepted, the clerk could not hide his delight; because even if one was priced to be sold for a thousand purple profound coins, any of those major sects would easily fight over it. He quickly gathered the Fire Spirit Pills and turned around. After a while, he brought out a shiny violet card, presented to Yun Che and stated, “This is your Profound Currency Card, please accept it. If you require anything else, you are always welcomed at our Black Moon Merchant Guild.”

This violet Profound Currency Card held the coins inside it. Yun Che decided to inspect its content and found not a single coin less; it was exactly three hundred purple profound coins!

Yun Che has never had this much money in his entire life. His entire savings for the past sixteen years could only amount to a little more than a thousand yellow profound coins.

Three hundred purple profound coins! How long would it take to spend all of it? If Little Aunt saw this, she would definitely be shocked.

After putting the Profound Currency Card away, Yun Che did not immediately leave. He used his right hand to again put something on the counter and coldly said, “A profound core, your offer!”

After placing the scarlet-colored profound core on the counter, Yun Che heard Jasmine’s questioning voice in his head: “What are you doing? You want to sell it? Are you crazy?”

Yun Che promptly replied: “No no, of course I’m not selling it. You don’t have to worry; I just want to scare them a little so that in the future, it would be more convenient for me to do business here.”

Jasmine did not respond.

“Profound core?” the clerk suspiciously picked it up. Members of the Black Moon Merchant Guild, even of the lowest rank, still had the ability to be an astonishing person. However, he was still unable to determine which beast this profound beast core came from.

He picked up the profound core and gently caressed it. Soon after, his complexion suddenly changed; his eyes opened wide as he raised both trembling hands: “This… this… this this this… dragon… dragon core! Not only that, it’s an Emperor Profound Dragon Core!!”

“Humph! Fussing over nothing, quickly make an offer!” Yun Che said impatiently.

The clerk placed the profound core back onto the counter, afraid to pick it up again. His view of Yun Che had completely changed from before; it was a difference of heaven and earth. He politely said: “Esteemed Customer, please… please wait a moment. For such an important matter, this little one here does not have the authority to make the decision…”

At this point, he turned around and shouted towards the floor above, “Elder Pu, come quickly! It’s an important business matter! Quick!”

Not long after, a petite elderly man appeared atop the staircase and slowly walked down. Even though the staircase was made of wood, his steps did not make the typical creaking noise one would make. His pair of eyes were gentle yet full of vitality. His name was Pu He —— known to everyone in New Moon City as the manager of this Black Moon Merchant Guild branch.

“Important business matter?” Pu He calmly, yet proudly, walked over and subtly glanced at Yun Che.

“Elder Pu, come… come look!” The clerk picked up the profound core with trembling hands and presented it to Pu He.

Pu He glared at him and displeasingly said, “Humph. Get a hold of yourself, how can you let such a small profound core put you in this state! Could it be that this is a Sky Profound core? Look at you, people will start to think that our Black Moon Merchant Guild is lacking!”

Pu He lectured with an icy glare as he took the profound core. In that instant, he suddenly stopped talking as his hands slightly trembled. He quickly brought it closer to his eyes and carefully used a bit of his profound energy to examine it. His body trembled as his beard perked up and cried out with a voice an octave higher than the clerk’s, “Emp… Emperor Profound… Dragon Core!!”

The clerk secretly gave him a look… Just a moment ago, you lectured me, but you yelled out louder than I did.

“Humph! A mere Emperor Profound core has already gotten you guys to cause such a fuss; Black Moon Merchant Guild is truly promising.”

Pu He was extremely shocked when he heard this statement said by a cold husky voice. He promptly hid his expression, looked at Yun Che, and earnestly sized him up. He carefully placed the Flame Dragon’s core back onto the counter and respectfully asked: “Esteemed Customer, would it be possible to tell us your honorable name?”

When he first came down, he had only glanced at Yun Che. Upon seeing the zombie-like face, he had only snorted in disdain because who in New Moon City would dare to be cocky in his Black Moon Merchant Guild. But now, Pu He thought the way Yun Che looked was perfectly normal. A person who was capable of obtaining an Emperor Profound Dragon core, what kind of existence was he? What use would he have for a small town’s Black Moon Merchant Guild?

When he studied this “middle-aged man” earlier, he had been shocked because this person possessed extremely sharp and keen eyes. With such eyes, it would be impossible to hide anything in front of this man.

Yun Che squinted his eyes, with a cold demeanor asked: “Your Black Moon Merchant Guild just conducts business transactions, when did it add on a new rule of asking for someone’s name?”,

In that split second, Pu He felt a hint of killing intent… Although it was only for a brief moment, it still made all the hair on his body stand up. He himself had killed many people in this lifetime and had been through many near-death experiences as well; so he was very easily able to understand and sense killing intent. But in his entire life, he had never felt such a terrifying killing intent from a moment ago; he could not even image how many people one would have to kill to obtain such a terrifying killing aura… Ten thousand? A hundred thousand… Or possibly…. a number that would scare even ghosts, a million?

Perhaps the killing intent of a Hell Asura in legends would not possibly compare to this.

Pu He’s heart rate jumped up as he broke out in a cold sweat; of all the years he had been in New Moon City, this was the very first time he’d ever broken out in cold sweat. A deathly pale face with a terrifying murderous aura; he was even able to take out an Emperor Profound core as if it was nothing… Exactly what Realm was this person in! This murderous aura; perhaps killing people was something he casually did… Then if someone were to annoy him…

At this point, Pu He’s back was soaked with cold sweat; he lowered his head and respectfully answered: “No no, please don’t mind Pu He. In the presence of one who is able to kill an Emperor Profound beast, nevertheless an Emperor Profound True Dragon, one can only be admired and be unrivaled. Pu He couldn’t hold back his admiration and let his tongue slip.”

He really wanted to know the rank of this “terrifying person”, but even if he was given even more courage, he would still not dare to test Yun Che’s level of Profound power.

“Humph!” Yun Che coldly snorted.

After the murderous aura had dispersed, Pu He was finally able to let out a sigh of relief and politely asked: “An Emperor Profound core is an immeasurable treasure; not to mention New Moon City, even in all of Blue Wind Empire, one would only appear once in a century. Why would our Esteemed Customer would want such a treasure… to be sold?”

“It’s useless to me!” Yun Che nonchalantly stated.

Useless to him? Pu He’s heart skipped a beat… Even an Emperor Profound core was easily dismissible, exactly what realm was this person in?

Pu He bitterly smiled and said, “Esteemed Customer, although this Pu greatly desires this Emperor Profound Dragon core, I do not want to hide the fact that this is an extremely valuable item, so its value is simply incalculable. Even if this Pu offered you the value of this Black Moon Merchant Guild’s branch, it may still only be worth one fifth of this Emperor Profound Dragon’s core.”