"His strength has grown too quickly," the Xuanfeng Emperor sighed, his back soaked with sweat. In fact, during the brief exchange he had with Su Chen just now, he had been in utmost horror. It wasn’t that he feared Su Chen would harm him, but rather it was a kind of uncontrollable horror that stemmed subconsciously from Su Chen’s overwhelming strength, a force so formidable that it placed immense pressure on him as he stood before Su Chen.
Su Chen moved like a specter.
He appeared in a dimly lit room.
It was only when Su Chen showed himself that the old man reacted. He turned around, his aged and withered face first showing shock, then settling back into an undisturbed calm.
"Are you Young Master Su?" the old man asked, his voice neither reverent nor hostile, but truly indifferent.
"Elder Qin, I want to ask a question." Instead of being aggressive, Su Chen was somewhat respectful, solely because the old man had lived for over 400,000 years, practically a living fossil.
"Please ask," replied the old man, a flash of surprise crossing his ancient eyes at Su Chen’s demeanor.
"There is a stone hidden by Qin Dikun, an ancestor of the Wanlong Royal Family. Do you know of it?" Su Chen asked, getting straight to the point.
"The purple-gray stone?"
A hint of expectation and surprise rose in Su Chen’s heart—Qin Shilong indeed knew about it.
"Yes!" Su Chen nodded.
"That stone was left by our old ancestor," Qin Shilong said softly.
"The old ancestor I speak of is the founder of the Wanlong Dynasty, who lived millions of years ago. It is said that in those days, just after the Ancient Era had ended, the world was in chaos. Demon Beasts roamed, and humans turned into monsters. One day, our ancestor suddenly rose to prominence, conquering all around him, and in just thirteen years, he established the Wanlong Dynasty," the old man continued.
Su Chen listened in silence, intently.
"There’s a rumor that our ancestor’s sudden rise was linked to a purple-gray stone!" the old man continued.
"What?" Su Chen exclaimed softly.
"I don’t know if the rumor is true, but that purple-gray stone was indeed left by our ancestor, and it’s the only thing he left behind!"
"So, what happened to the old ancestor of the Wanlong Dynasty?" Su Chen asked. He didn’t believe that this ancestor of the Wanlong Dynasty could have died, absolutely not; a martial cultivator, once cultivated to a certain level, could approach immortality. A few million years were nothing significant.
"I don’t know. Whether the old ancestor is dead or has ascended, I really don’t know. No one does. There’s very little left concerning the old ancestor. It’s as if he suddenly disappeared one day," the old man explained.
Su Chen furrowed his brow slightly, falling silent.
The lead was lost again.
After a long while, Su Chen asked, "What was your old ancestor’s name?"
One might encounter him one day in the future, though the probability was nearly zero.
"Qin Tiandi!" Qin Shilong said solemnly, his voice full of respect and awe.
Su Chen etched this name into his heart, then bowed slightly, "Thank you!"
Leaving the palace of the Wanlong Dynasty.
Su Chen conversed with Jiuyou: "It’s time to go to Nan E Ancient Capital! But how should we get there?"
Nan E Ancient Capital was too far from the Wanlong Dynasty!
Even using the Winged Jiao, it would still take a month!
Su Chen, although capable of flying, found the idea of flying such a long distance too exhausting and time-consuming.
"Occasionally, people from Wanlong Dragons Imperial City must need to go to Nan E Ancient Capital, how do they do it?" Jiuyou said with a smile, "There must be a way."
Su Chen smiled and nodded, "Then let’s ask around."
He headed straight for the largest elixir and herbs Ling Pavilion in the Wanlong Dynasty.
Upon reaching the Lingxuan Pavilion.
The largest Ling Pavilion for elixirs and herbs in Xuanfeng Imperial City was something Su Chen had visited before, and he was astounded at the time, but, it couldn’t compare to the Ling Pavilion before him!
This Ling Pavilion was even bigger!!! With even more varieties of herbs!
Su Chen had just walked in.
When a woman approached him.
"Young Master, how may I assist you?" The woman was very respectful, solely because Su Chen was at the third level of Zao Hua Realm and also so young, which definitely meant he wasn’t of ordinary status.
"Do you have seedlings for Spirit-Returning Grass, Dust Purple Flower, Sky Wind Grass, Scarlet Reversal Grass, and Bright Qi Grass?" Su Chen asked straightforwardly. He had cultivated these herbs before in Xuanfeng Imperial City and knew their value.
"Ah?" The woman was taken aback, somewhat confused because the herbs Su Chen mentioned were those that martial cultivators seldom bought seedlings for, their common trait being that they were very difficult to cultivate successfully.
Nevertheless, not understanding but still responding, the woman said, "Now, in the Pavilion, there are 30,000 seedlings of Spirit-Returning Grass, 100,000 seedlings of Dust Purple Flowers, 100,000 seedlings of Sky Wind Grass, 300,000 seedlings of Scarlet Reversal Grass, 500,000 seedlings of Bright Qi Grass!"
Su Chen was overjoyed internally.
A huge harvest indeed!
This Ling Pavilion had more seedlings than the one in Xuanfeng Imperial City by more than tenfold!
"Tally the total, how much Black Xuan Stones do I need? I’ll take them all!" Su Chen declared without hesitation.
The woman stood rooted to the spot. Official source is N0velFire.ɴet
She thought she was hallucinating.
It took quite some time before Su Chen had effectively communicated with the woman.
He first took out a total of 1.6 million yuan of Black Xuan Stones to give to the woman, which helped her to believe him, and then he successfully obtained the seedlings he wanted.
"The journey from Wanlong Dragons Imperial City to Nan E Ancient Capital will surely take a long time, so why not cultivate these herbs en route, and once I get to Nan E Ancient Capital, I could probably become rich by selling them all?" Su Chen thought to himself.
It is always good to carry more Black Xuan Stones with you, with no downside.
"Excuse me, how can I go to Nan E Ancient Capital?" Finally, Su Chen asked.
"To Nan E Ancient Capital?" The woman looked at Su Chen, exceedingly respectfully, "The Xuan Qing Commerce Guild is actually setting out for Nan E Ancient Capital today."
"The Xuan Qing Commerce Guild?" Su Chen had not heard of it.
"Young Master, the Xuan Qing Commerce Guild has a large business scale, covering the entire Four Great Domains of Divine Wind Continent. Within South E Ancient Country, they only handle business between Nan E Ancient Capital and Wanlong Dragons Imperial City, they do not conduct business with places like Xuanfeng Imperial City, Zhengwu Imperial City, or True Immortal City," the woman said with some pride.
Su Chen was somewhat shocked. This Commerce Association was indeed terrifyingly large! Within the entire South E Ancient Country, there were more than thousands of cities, and they only handled business between Nan E Ancient Capital and Wanlong Dragons Imperial City, this scale was truly frightening.
"The Xuan Qing Commerce Guild deals in elixirs, weapons, and information," the woman continued. "This time, the Xuan Qing Commerce Guild has come to Wanlong Dragons Imperial City, employing an Azure Winged Dragon! The speed of an Azure Winged Dragon is more than three times faster than a Winged Jiao! If you ride the Azure Winged Dragon, it will only take about ten days to reach Nan E Ancient Capital from here!"