Chapter 1- first sale

Chapter 1 -First sale

Wu Chen remains in kowtow waiting for his master to vanish from sight.

"Iam finally able to leave the mountains, this is going to be fun" with a smile as wide as a river, slowly floating up in the air Wu Chen ascends a 100 feet above the ground, taking in one last look of the Spring Valley Mountains, his home.

While in the air he starts to plan his journey, "the main task to do as of now, is go for my alchemy certification test at the Gold Pill Pavilion in the Imperial City..." suddenly he is annoyed, disturbed by another thought,

"damn it, even though master taught me how to calculate numbers, I have no idea how spirit stones work, it's hard to make plans if I don't know how much I'll have to spend, living with master I didn't need to buy anything".

Alas the result of growing up in seclusion has started to show, even though he was smart he knew little about the world, only the things his grandfather thought were useful.

"I think it's better I first learn about this different grades of spirit stones then make plans on how to reach the Awakening Spirit Body Stage, grandfather said these stones are mainly used at auction houses were people bet against each other for treasures", rubbing his hands together, eager to seek treasures.

Along the way Wu Chen appreciates the scenery of the lands, he is captivated by the beautiful environments and different unique settlements, finally he reaches the entrance of the Imperial City.

At the city gates a group of people seem to have been gathered by a royal soldier beside a large horse-carriage, the soldier shouts,"alchemists come forward! your highness King Huang seeks your help in acquiring the Moonlight Purple Root to cure princess Huang Qingxue, the reward is fifty thousand middle-grade spirit stones".

Upon hearing about the spirit stones Wu Chen's interest was piqued, after joining the group of alchemist beside the horse-carriage, Wu Chen investigates the matter.

It turns out the crown princess has been bedridden for a week, after suddenly falling into a coma, the Huang royal family could only use cultivation pills to sustain her life, what they needed to cure her was that special plant.

After showing the guards the Moonlight Purple Root, Wu Chen is taken to the Imperial Palace of the king.

Left to wait at the hall Wu Chen suddenly hears footsteps behind him, as he looks, walks a tall man with gold royal attire, his presence is intimidating and commands respect, this is the King of the Huang Dynasty, king Huang Yi.

Beside him walks an alchemist of the royal family, the genius of the palace, The Pill Saint alchemist Huang Mei, known as the youngest high ranking alchemist and best alchemy genius of her generation, at only 24 years old she is already a renowned Pill saint, a tier so high that only elders in pavilions and sects were qualified to have.

King Huang introduces himself and the Pill Saint to Wu Chen requesting they see the root.

Wu Chen hands it to the Pill Saint but is in deep in thought, "this pill Saint's beauty is breathtaking, her long black hair suits her well and I can tell she is an expert alchemist just from how she is inspecting the root".

As the King is observing Wu Chen, he notices that the young alchemist has suppressed his cultivation to the Fire Cauldron Stage, he starts to be suspicious, "in all my life, never have I seen a young alchemist hide their strength, to make matters worse even young cultivators who know nothing about alchemy cannot hide it this well, I can tell he is hiding great strength, as long as he sells us what we want I won't bother him", the king thinks to himself while looking intensely at Wu Chen.

"Has the king seen through me? I hope he doesn't think I have bad intentions for hiding my cultivation, grandfather told me to suppress it to the same level as my peers ". Said Wu Chen feeling the gaze of the king.

The truth was Wu Chen didn't know what realm of cultivation his peers had attained since he hasn't met any along the way, the realms were divided into 10, namely

Internal forging stage

Opening the spiritual ocean stage

Air Furnace stage

Fire Cauldron stage

Spirit Furnace Stage

Spirit Cauldron stage

Spirit King Cauldron stage

Spirit Emperor Furnace stage

Infant domain stage

Awakening the Spirit Body Stage.

Pill saint Mei was finally done with the inspection and was about to leave the hall but Wu Chen stopped her "Pill Saint Huang Mei, as an alchemist myself I can guess what you need this Moonlight Purple Root for but I highly advise against using it, I would have told you sooner but you inspected it for way too long, do you not trust this alchemist?."

Feeling disrespected and undermined, Huang Mei responds, "We thank you for selling us this plant however don't you think you are being too disrespectful, I know what iam doing, you may be an alchemist but are you a Pill Saint?", Continuing to walk out.

Just as she was completely about to leave out the door she hears Wu Chen arrogantly scream out "if pill Saint Mei would like a proper solution I'll be at the Gold Pill Pavilion, ask for Wu Chen".

The King silently watching is impressed by Wu Chen, no one dares talk to his little sister like that but at the same time he is curious why Wu Chen would say such a thing.

Wu Chen explains that the Moonlight Purple Root itself has a cold attribute and although it may treat blocked meridians it will only accumulate more impurities in the long term and as such a fire attribute plant can not only treat meredians but also purify the vessels.

Pill Saint Huang Mei who was listening outside, had also once thought of the same problem but had reached the conclusion that the efficient plant needed was the Moonlight Fire Root instead of the Purple.

Pill Saint Huang Mei barges in "fellow alchemist Wu your assessment is indeed correct and I admit that I too had thought of the same issue, the problem is that Moonlight Fire Root is extremely rare, we were lucky to find the Purple Root so easy because of you, so thank you again".

With a sinister smile Wu Chen takes out the Fire Root from his storage ring and without a shame asks, "how much for it?".

The King overjoyed to hear of a solution to the crown Princess' problem offers Wu Chen one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand middle-grade spirit stones.

As the King goes to collect the spirit stones from his bedroom, Wu Chen asks the Pill Saint a question,"Pill Saint Huang Mei where is your arrogance? were you not asking if I'm a skilled alchemist and even walking out?",said Wu Chen With a sarcastic tone in his voice.

Recognising the childish attempts of Wu Chen she politely responds "I apologise to the fellow alchemist, seeing as we are both high-level alchemists and reached the same conclusion perhaps you can give me some face".

This was a response Wu Chen did not expect, in his mind the pill saint was just an arrogant royal descendant, as such he replies, "forgive my arrogance and oh Pill Saint Huang Mei is too polite, I am not a ranked alchemist yet, I got brought here from the city gates and this is my first time in the imperial city".

Huang Mei hearing this felt her blood boil a mere unranked alchemist dares to treat her like how Wu Chen has, just because he sold them a high-grade spiritual plant, although she hated the praises people made about her being a young pill saint, she too took pride in this achievement as alchemists alike gave her the respect she earned through her hard work not because of her royal family.

"Then you sure are one arrogant unranked alchemist, to think you would talk to a Pill Saint this way instead of seeking pointers", replied the now angry Huang Mei.

"So what if you are a Pill Saint, it's just a mere title, real alchemists boast with their pills not with their rank", said Wu Chen.

It's a known fact that most alchemist do not know martial arts and as such they are not one to be violent but that should not be mistaken for not being competitive.

"Is fellow alchemist Wu challenging me? a Pill Saint! to a pill competition?" Asked Huang Mei with excitement in her tone.

After obtaining Pill saint alot of her peers started treating her different, she no longer had people to compete with and if you knew her well you would know she loved the competition aspect of alchemy, as such she has been longing for a pill competition.

Without hesitation Wu Chen accepted but had conditions.

"We are to compete only the two of us, no other eyes besides a judge should be present, I don't want you to experience shame Infront of the city", said Wu Chen.

"I see no problem with that, I'll bring an alchemist from my clan to judge over our pills, we will meet tomorrow morning in the Imperial Palace's alchemy hall, I will leave first take care", said Huang Mei with an audible soft voice.

Heading towards her room Huang Mei is thinking deeply, " that arrogant bastard is really weird, usually when people hear I'm a Pill Saint they distance themselves especially if they are an alchemist my age and he had the guts to say it's just a mere title, but I would be a fool to underestimate him, ignoring his childish arrogance who goes around carrying two high-quality spiritual plants selling them like pills, seems like I will have to take this seriously, I will ask a servant to go inform Elder Huang Feng about the duel, he is a Pill King of the Gold Pill Pavilion, I'll let him know I found him an interesting disciple".

With the sun only setting Wu Chen decides it's not too late to visit the auction house but first he has to find a place he will sleep the night.

Fortunately the Imperial City has many places where one can rest, the most famous one is the Moon's Embrace Hall, ran by a business woman from the great Jin clan, with its expensive lifestyle it's attracts the rich and influential, as such the Jin Family has employed beautiful maidens who tend to the guests every requests whether it be to enquire about information or to warm up the bed. To the outsiders it's called the Moon's Embrace to the locals it's known as the Jin's Brothel for nobles.

Wu Chen after spotting such a place is intrigued by the build style and general atmosphere, he decides to live right infront of it, a lesser known establishment owned by the Mo brothers, although not famous it is well maintained and suitable for living.

"I will come back here to rest I do not need to enter now, auction house here I come!" said Wu Chen walking with a slightly fast pace.

After being given directions, he enters the Auction house, another business owned by the Jin clan.

Inside there's two floors, the first floor is for the common people and the second floor is for the invited guests and big figures from big clans and cultivation sects.

Wu Chen sitting at the first floor near the stage is excited to learn how much money he has.

Without no delays the auction host walks out and announces the first item being sold.

"Everyone this a Earth-grade sword capable of allowing a cultivator to harness his sword intent more smoothly, it's hard metal makes it perfect for qi infused attacks and sword techniques, starting bid is at 3000 middle-grade spirit stones",declared the auction host.

Wu Chen fascinated by people bidding, he too is tempted to buy something, he raises his hands and shouts "how many middle grade spirit stones can I exchange for one top-grade spirit stone?".

Seeing a young man dare interrupt a bidding round, most of the auction participants can't help but be amused.

After hearing the exchange rate Wu Chen's heart was pounding with joy," grandfather made me rich! one top-grade for one-hundred-thousand middle-grade spirit stones!"