Two Realms: I Will Become the Immortal Emperor

Chapter 362: Chapter 333: The Second Golden Core by Wanjia’s Side

The next day, the snow hadn’t stopped. In fact, it was falling even harder.

Chen Che had just stepped out of his private courtyard.

Jin Wu was still seated cross-legged on the Lotus Platform. Upon seeing Chen Che, he even made a show of cupping his hands in greeting, as if selling information on him had nothing to do with him at all.

"Senior."

Outside the inn, Zhou Lian was still waiting by the door.

"You’ve been waiting all night?"

Chen Che was rather surprised to see the boy’s pale, haggard expression.

"I didn’t know when you would be leaving, Senior. I was worried you might need something, so I’ve been waiting here the whole time."

Though an Array outside the inn’s walls blocked the wind and snow, keeping a bitter vigil all night was still an arduous task for a mortal, to say nothing of a seven-or-eight-year-old child. Any slight disturbance in the night would have startled him awake, terrified of missing Chen Che’s departure.

’His temperament is good,’ Chen Che thought. ’As for whether I can bring him back to Jinyun Valley, I’ll have to observe him a bit more.’

Chen Che stared straight ahead. "I hear Wanjia has businesses here. Take me to see them."

"Yes."

Though young, Zhou Lian had a good grasp of the city’s affairs. He began to explain as he led the way:

"Wanjia owns a total of seven shops, covering Cultivation Techniques, Pills, Spiritual Artifacts, Spirit Beasts, and Materials. The items in his shops are of extremely high quality. There are few Tier Two items; most are Tier Three."

"That’s because he is also a Golden Core True Master... Some speculate that he obtains his inventory by hunting other Cultivators, and these shops are just a front to sell off his gains."

As Zhou Lian spoke, he secretly glanced at Chen Che, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Take me there."

Chen Che noticed the boy’s furtive glances but paid them no mind.

"...Yes."

Zhou Lian nodded quickly.

He had just mentioned that the owner was a Golden Core True Master, hoping to hint that this was not a person to be provoked.

But he was surprised to see that Chen Che was completely unfazed.

Sighing to himself, he could only continue to lead the way.

Wanjia’s shops were easy to identify. They all bore the name "Wanjia Shop." The Pill Shops were marked with an image of a pill, while the artifact shops were marked with an image of a sword, making them easy to tell apart. No wonder the Shopkeeper of Slaughter Tower had said he was rather well-known.

Just as Zhou Lian had described, the goods inside were of high quality and clearly priced. The attendants were all warm and hospitable; there was none of the snobbery you might expect where they judge customers by their appearance.

After a tour of the Spiritual Artifact shop, Chen Che failed to find any pretext to cause trouble, so he headed over to the Elixir Shop.

"Fellow Daoist, what a coincidence! We meet again. Are you here to buy Pills too? I hear this shop has a great reputation. They say a Golden Core True Master is backing it..."

Unexpectedly, he ran into Lu Kai again in the Elixir Shop. Lu Kai cupped his hands in greeting.

It was quite a feat to run into the same person several days in a row in a city as large as Faqian City. If Chen Che hadn’t known for a fact that Lu Kai was staying at the Celestial Paradise Inn, he would have suspected the man was tailing him.

"Is that so?"

Chen Che raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. Our master is True Master Wanjia. His name alone is a guarantee of quality."

The Shopkeeper of the Pill Shop chimed in, reaching out to take down a bottle of pills Chen Che had pointed to on the shelf.

"This is a Tier Three Low Grade Celestial Embryo Pill, a Top Grade Elixir for conditioning the body and expelling Pill Poison. It’s refined from the placenta of a Celestial Cloud Leopard, supplemented with dozens of rare medicinal ingredients. The refining process is quite difficult..."

"If a customer is finding Core Formation difficult, buying one of these to condition their body and cleanse their meridians will increase their chances of success by at least five percent."

The Shopkeeper continued his spiel and didn’t refuse Chen Che’s request to examine the Pill, but he made sure not to let it leave his palm.

It wasn’t that he feared someone might grab it and run, but that he worried someone might tamper with it. It’s the same principle as trading jade: you never pass it hand-to-hand. One person must set it on the table before the other can pick it up. That way, if it’s dropped or damaged, there’s no dispute over who is to blame.

Jinyun Valley had a similar custom.

However, Chen Che was obviously here to stir up trouble. And since he was a Pill Master, tampering with the Pill would be laughably easy. The ingredients in a Pill are based on principles of hierarchy and balance, with herbs that both support and counteract each other. The slightest alteration could turn it into a potent poison.

He scraped off a tiny bit of powder. The moment it touched his tongue, he spat it out. PFT!

"It’s poison!"

The accusation stunned not only Lu Kai, but also the many Cultivators in the shop, who all turned to look in astonishment.

Some of them even started to crowd around.

"Impossible."

The Shopkeeper immediately protested, scraping off a bit of powder for himself and swallowing it. A sickly yellow aura instantly spread across his face. The onlookers’ gazes sharpened. Before Chen Che could say another word, the Shopkeeper swallowed the entire Pill and forced a grin.

"Customer, what was that you were saying about the Pill being poisonous? I don’t seem to feel anything."

As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and sent a voice transmission to Chen Che: "If you dare say another word, you’ll never leave Faqian City alive..."

But the moment he tried to circulate his True Essence, blood began to stream from his nose.

This scene made the several Major Cultivators who had gathered around pale drastically.

Judging from the Shopkeeper’s aura, he was at least a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Yet, less than a second after the Pill went down, he looked as if he’d been poisoned to the bone. What kind of terrifying poison was this?

"Should... should we give him an Antitoxic Pill?"

One of the waiters asked in a hushed voice.

"Nonsense! I’m not poisoned..."

The Shopkeeper slammed the table and shouted, but now blood was gushing from his mouth. Before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed limply in front of everyone. A waiter rushed over and checked his pulse—his heart was still beating, but his Cultivation was draining away like water from a sieve...

"This..."

"How long has it been? Six seconds...? That Shopkeeper is at Foundation Establishment!"

The customers in the shop all shuddered in fear.

’If it were us, we’d probably suffer the same fate.’

Bad news travels fast. In just a few moments, a crowd of onlookers had gathered outside the shop, pointing and muttering.

"Fellow Daoist, it’s a good thing you were so cautious. Things could have turned out very badly otherwise." Lu Kai turned to Chen Che, his voice filled with relief. "I can’t believe a shop this big would make such a mistake..."

Ignoring him, Chen Che stood in the middle of the shop. He glanced at the unconscious Shopkeeper and said bluntly:

"A disaster like this has happened at the Wanjia Pill Shop. If I had bought that Pill and taken it, who would have been held responsible? Get someone out here who can actually make a decision..."

"That would be me."

Before he could finish, a waiter had already fetched a middle-aged man who was radiating a dense Evil Qi. The man swept a cold gaze over the crowd, his eyes finally landing on Chen Che.

"What business is this of yours? Our Shopkeeper had a mishap during his Cultivation, which is why he lost his power. Why would we need to explain ourselves to the likes of you?"

After saying his piece, he cupped his hands to the crowd and announced loudly,

"Everyone, please leave. Our Shopkeeper is unwell today, so we won’t be doing any business. Please come again another day."

"Show them out..."

The onlookers were all Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and plenty of them were the type who loved to watch chaos unfold. But when an acquaintance gently pulled one of them aside and whispered in his ear, the man who had been about to add fuel to the fire immediately grew pale with terror and meekly exited the shop.

No matter how bold they were, none of them dared to challenge a Golden Core True Master.

In the blink of an eye, the shop was completely empty.

Only then did the middle-aged man turn back to Chen Che, a strange, unreadable smile on his face.

"Do you still require an explanation?"

"..."

Chen Che gave him a look, then turned and left the shop.

...

"Help... help me..."

Inside the closed shop, the Shopkeeper, who had been fed an Antitoxic Pill and woken up, clung to the middle-aged man’s leg. "Second Master, my Cultivation... my Cultivation is gone..."

"Help you?"

Bai Shibao sneered as he looked down at the pathetic heap of a man.

"You let someone tamper with a Pill right under your nose, and caused this huge mess for the shop..."

"Huh?"

The Shopkeeper looked up, his expression blank.

"The Master’s name has been posted on the slaughter list. I asked around. They said it was an outsider Cultivator carrying a Sword Box and wearing a bamboo hat and mask. If I’m not mistaken, that was the man just now. His Cultivation is suspected to be at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection..."

Bai Shibao clasped his hands behind his back and glanced down at the Shopkeeper.

"He puts the Master’s name on the list first, then comes to our door to cause trouble, relying on the fact that fighting is forbidden in Faqian City. It was a deliberate provocation. You useless piece of trash, you knew the Master was on the list, yet you weren’t the least bit vigilant. What should your punishment be?"

"I... I..."

The Shopkeeper’s face was ashen. He finally gave a wretched laugh. "Considering my many years of service to the Master... even if I have no great merits to my name, I have toiled faithfully. Please, spare my life..."

"What’s the point of a useless person staying alive? Take him outside the city and bury him."

Bai Shibao sat down, picked up a teacup, and added a final instruction.

"Wait until you’re outside the city walls."

Several waiters immediately dragged the limp Shopkeeper away, stuffed him into a crate, and headed out of the city.

Once the shop was empty, Bai Shibao sneered.

"Daring to provoke a tiger in its own den? We’ll just see how brave you really are..."

...

...

’Bai Shibao,’ Chen Che mused. ’I didn’t expect Wanjia to have another Golden Core expert on his side.’

Looking back at the closed doors of the Elixir Shop, an idea stirred in Chen Che’s mind. ’Interestingly, while I was placing a Divine Sense Mark on him, he managed to place one on me as well.’

’However, since my Divine Sense Level is so much higher, he didn’t notice mine.’

’It seems Wanjia’s backing is even stronger than I imagined. Perhaps this Bai Shibao knows Wanjia’s true identity.’

Muttering to himself, Chen Che walked away from the Elixir Shop.

He then visited Wanjia’s other shops, but they were all closed. Clearly, they knew he was coming to cause trouble and had shut their doors in advance.

"This Bai Shibao, what’s his story?"

Chen Che looked at Zhou Lian.

"I don’t know much about that, Senior. I only know that he’s the second master of the Wanjia Shops. When Wanjia isn’t around, he’s the one who calls the shots. He was able to achieve Core Formation thanks to Wanjia’s help, and Wanjia trusts him implicitly..."

"He seems to be a Beast Master and has five or six Demon Beasts under his control. But I only heard this from others, so it might not be accurate."

Chen Che nodded slightly. The information was useless.

He didn’t press the boy. Prying into the affairs of a Golden Core True Master was no simple task; what Zhou Lian knew was mostly public knowledge.

Still, this trip had accomplished its goal. He had found a target.

’All I have to do now,’ he thought, ’is keep a close watch on him.’

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