Encountering an Old Friend

Two guards stood at the stairway entrance, blocking their path.

"Please wait a moment, Seniors. The shopkeeper is attending to guests."

Han Changming and Han Benfu agreed and waited quietly.

After a while, a man of متوسط stature in green robes came downstairs with a ruddy-faced elder in red robes. The green-robed man had regular features and a fair, clean face, giving off an approachable air. The red-robed elder had a dove-like face and a hooked nose, his expression indifferent and his appearance that of someone difficult to get along with.

"Shopkeeper Chen, then it's settled. Once the goods arrive, notify this old man at once."

With that, the red-robed elder strode downstairs.

As he passed Han Changming, Han Changming caught a faint medicinal fragrance. It seemed this man was an alchemist. Ordinary cultivators would not carry the scent of medicine merely from coming into contact with pills, but alchemists refined pills frequently and thus carried such a fragrance.

"You go downstairs and get back to work. I'll receive these two Fellow Daoists."

The green-robed man gave the order. The middle-aged man acknowledged it and turned to leave.

"I am Chen Junyi. How may I assist you two Fellow Daoists?"

The green-robed man made an inviting gesture and led Han Changming and Han Benfu to the sixth floor.

The sixth floor was elegantly furnished. Several landscape paintings hung on the walls, and there was a green bookshelf over ten feet tall, filled with many books.

Chen Junyi invited Han Changming and Han Benfu to sit, then poured each of them a cup of richly fragrant spiritual tea.

"Shopkeeper Chen, we would like to purchase these items."

Han Benfu took out a blue jade slip and handed it to Chen Junyi.

Their trip to Four Directions Island was not only for