Four Seas Merchant Guild

Heading west, Lin Chen arrived before a magnificent pavilion. Above its entrance, the bold characters for "Four Seas Merchant Guild" swept across the plaque like soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes, gleaming in the sunlight.

As he stepped into the hall, a distinctive scent of sandalwood mingled with medicinal herbs greeted him. The interior was spacious and bright, with seven or eight counters neatly arranged, each staffed by an attendant in matching attire who welcomed the visitors.

"Young master, how may we help you?"

"I have some miscellaneous items to sell. They should be worth something, so I'll need someone from your establishment to appraise them," Lin Chen said, getting straight to the point.

The attendant's smile broadened. "This way, please, young master. We have private rooms upstairs specifically for consultations with honored guests."

Following the attendant to the third floor, Lin Chen was shown into an elegant room. Its furnishings were simple and classical, spirit-calming incense burned in a censer, and several valuable paintings hung on the walls.

"Please take a seat, young master. The appraiser will be here shortly." The attendant served him tea, then respectfully withdrew.

Before long, an elderly man in a dark robe, who appeared to be in his fifties, pushed open the door and entered.

Though his face was thin, his gaze was sharp, and his finger joints were thick and prominent—clearly the hands of someone who had spent years handling artifacts.

"My surname is Han. I'm a second-rank appraiser for the guild," the old man said, cupping his hands in greeting. "The attendant tells me you have items you wish to have appraised and sold?"

"That's right. Sorry for the trouble, Master Han."

Lin Chen returned the greeting and, without further ado, took three storage bags from inside his robe and placed them on the table.

These three storage bags had belonged to the three black-clad men who had ambushed him in the Miasma Forest. Lin Chen had found no opportunity to sell their contents over the past two years, so he could finally dispose of everything at once.

The old man's expression remained unchanged. He picked up a storage bag and released a trace of spiritual power, taking out its contents one by one.

A standard-issue saber, its blade gleaming coldly—decent quality, but nothing special; several bottles of common pills, such as Qi-Recovery Pills and Blood-Staunching Powder; and assorted miscellaneous items...

Then came the second and third storage bags.

Their contents were much the same, except that the third bag also contained a manual for the low-grade spirit-grade Blood Butcher Saber Technique.

This bag had belonged to their leader. It had originally contained a fine golden broadsaber as well, but Lin Chen had fed that to his life-bound divine artifact, bringing it up to tier 2, fine quality.

The old man sorted the items into categories, considered for a moment, then spoke.

"Young master, these two standard-issue sabers are merely well-forged ordinary iron. They barely qualify as fine weapons. I can offer fifty spirit stones for each."

"The pills are all common varieties, worth about fifty spirit stones in total. As for the technique manual, some copies are already circulating on the market, so it's only worth a hundred and twenty spirit stones."

"The remaining miscellaneous items come to twenty spirit stones."

The old man paused. "If you're willing to sell everything together, the guild can offer three hundred spirit stones."

After a brief moment of consideration, Lin Chen nodded. These items were useless to him; getting anything for them was good enough.

Appraiser Han smiled, set the items aside, and asked, "Do you have anything else, young master?"

Lin Chen took out another storage bag. This held his gains from idling in the Miasma Forest over the years. His life-bound divine artifact had already devoured the equipment drops, leaving mostly spirit herbs, pills, and minerals it had not consumed.

There were more than a dozen spirit herbs, mostly common varieties such as blood-staunching herb, dewcondensing flower, and earthroot vine, all only a dozen or so years old. The pills were similar to those from before. There were also blood essence ore and demon beast materials, including gallbladders from Red-Striped Demon Snakes and pelts from Red-Eyed Rabbits...

The old man examined everything carefully with practiced movements and eventually reached a verdict.

"Though these items are of ordinary quality, there are quite a few of them. Altogether, they're worth six hundred and eighty spirit stones."

Lin Chen was pleased with the appraisal, but he could not help feeling a touch of wistfulness.

Those three black-clad men had roamed about killing and robbing others, exhausting themselves and risking their lives, yet their final haul had fallen far short of what he had earned by staying safely in the Herb Garden and idling in the Miasma Forest.

On second thought, though, Lin Chen understood.

After all, anyone who chose to kill for treasure was an outlaw who carried his head dangling from his belt. Even if such people acquired spirit stones, they would likely spend them as quickly as possible or turn them into immediate combat strength.

Otherwise, if they met a violent end one day, the spirit stones they had painstakingly saved would only fall into their enemies' hands. That would truly be a tragedy from beginning to end.

With that thought, Lin Chen took out one final Jade Box.

The Jade Box was small and could preserve spiritual energy. Lin Chen gently opened it, revealing a spirit herb lying inside.

The herb was pale gold, with clearly defined veins and seven leaves, each tipped with a spot of luminous white.

As the box opened, a refreshing medicinal fragrance immediately spread through the room, invigorating the senses.

The old man's eyes flickered. He leaned forward, carefully picked up the Jade Box, and scrutinized its contents.

"This is... seven-leaf golden-thread herb!"

A trace of excitement entered his voice. "The golden threads in its veins have already extended through all seven leaves, and the white dew at the tips remains condensed without dispersing. It must be over a hundred years old. It's been preserved exceptionally well, with almost no loss of medicinal potency!"

A keen light flashed in the old man's eyes.

"Young master, this seven-leaf golden-thread herb is of excellent quality and sufficient age. It serves as a supplementary ingredient for many profound-tier pills, and can also be used as the main ingredient in certain spirit-tier pills. It's quite valuable."

"If you're willing to sell it, the Four Seas Merchant Guild will offer nine hundred spirit stones."

This seven-leaf golden-thread herb was the most valuable drop Lin Chen had obtained from his years of idling in the Miasma Forest. On this level 11–20 map, it could be considered a critical-hit drop.

Unfortunately, though the herb was extremely valuable to martial artists practicing metal-type cultivation techniques, it was completely useless to Lin Chen.

Naturally, he agreed to the price of nine hundred spirit stones.

He still needed these spirit stones to make certain he could win the Soul-Nourishing Jade at auction.

The transaction was soon completed. Lin Chen had earned over a thousand spirit stones in a single day, and combined with what he already owned, he now had more than two thousand.

For an ordinary Spirit Martial Realm martial artist, this was already a considerable fortune. Even martial artists at the seventh or eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm might not have more than Lin Chen did.

Other martial artists had to spend their spirit stones on all sorts of pills to break through bottlenecks, but Lin Chen had no such worries. He could simply allocate attribute points. His wealth flowed in without flowing out.

The old man smiled.

"Young master, your transactions today have exceeded one thousand spirit stones, automatically qualifying you as a fifth-class honored guest of our Four Seas Merchant Guild. From now on, you can enjoy a two-percent discount when trading at any of our branches."

He took a bronze token from inside his robe, its face engraved with the words "Four Seas," and handed it to Lin Chen.

"This is your honored guest token. Please keep it safe."

Lin Chen accepted the token. It felt slightly heavy in his hand and was clearly of exceptional workmanship.

"If you have more treasures to sell in the future, young master, or wish to purchase anything, you're always welcome at our Four Seas Merchant Guild."

The old man cupped his hands in farewell. "Should the need arise, this token will also allow our guild to provide you with certain conveniences."

"Thank you."

Lin Chen rose and left the Four Seas Merchant Guild under the attendant's guidance.

Once he stepped outside the guild's entrance, he felt considerably more at ease. With these spirit stones in hand, winning the Soul-Nourishing Jade at auction should be all but assured!

Afterward, Lin Chen found an inn and booked a superior room. He did not go out again, quietly waiting for the auction to begin.