Four Seas Merchant Guild

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Organization and Trade

• The guild has branches throughout the Great Qian Dynasty and describes its trading principle as “honesty comes first, wealth second” 11.
• Its business includes pills, weapons, materials, intelligence, protection, and ancient-ruin exploration. Customers can also buy and sell goods or take paid jobs at its branches 23 34.
• Its Cloud Province influence rivals that of the region’s leading sects. The Cloud Province headquarters is led by Qian Wantong, an Earth Martial Realm cultivator known for his business connections and willingness to invest in newcomers 23 32.
• The guild recruits established experts as elders while supporting promising young warriors with resources and comparatively few compulsory demands 23.
• Qian Wantong’s last known battle before the opening of Cloud Dream Marsh was more than a century earlier, when he killed the True Origin Sect’s ancestor, a fifth-layer Earth Martial cultivator, with one palm strike 64.
• The guild opened a branch in Kaiyang City largely because of Lin Chen’s influence. By buying materials from the Vast Mountains and supplying cultivation goods at fair prices, it helped make local trade more prosperous 53.
• After Lin Chen’s intervention in Firecloud Valley’s Fire Vein Contest, the valley sought closer ties with the guild. Li Yunshan considered its Fire Vein valuable to the guild’s pill and weapon businesses 52 53.
• The guild joined other major powers in a campaign against the Blood Fiend Cult’s remnants in the Northern Frontier. Elder Su took part alongside several promising guild warriors 50 54.

Membership and Privileges

• The Tower-Climbing Trial admits cultivators under thirty who have reached at least the seventh Spirit Martial level, as well as Profound Martial cultivators under fifty. Candidates who demonstrate first-class potential can be assessed and accepted without waiting for the trial 32 33 34.
• The guild checks a candidate’s age and cultivation foundation. Its Martial Dao Stele measures potential relative to others in the same realm rather than raw destructive power 34.
• A first-class recruit may choose training at the Yunlan City branch or Spirit Mist Mountain, select one cultivation manual and two martial arts manuals, and bring or choose a maidservant 34. A Purple-Gold Token also grants access to the first five floors of the Martial Arts Pavilion 35.
• Only three people in the guild’s history had lit eight lamps on the Martial Dao Stele when Elder Su assessed Lin Chen 34.
• After the Cloud Dream Marsh expedition, Qian Wantong and the elders reviewed young warriors’ performances to determine further investment. Lin Chen, Ye Guyun, Yan Feixue, Ling Jianxin, and Zhao Yuanhao became the focus of that support; Ling Jianxin and Zhao Yuanhao were assigned Second-Class Martial Resources 75.
• Elder Su subsequently gave the five Storage Rings containing Spirit Stones, pills, and other supplies. Their additional rewards were matched to their paths: the Prairie-Fire Spear Scripture for Ye Guyun, Heavenly Demon Ninefold Record access for Yan Feixue, the Frostglory Sword Art inheritance for Ling Jianxin, the Tyrant Body Art for Zhao Yuanhao, and the first volume of the Great Azure Sword Canon for Lin Chen 76.

Cultivation Resources

• Spirit Mist Mountain — A former sect holding that the guild purchased and developed over centuries into a cultivation sanctuary. It offers private residences, training facilities, and martial arts lectures by an Earth Martial Realm warrior every six months 33 35.
• Spirit Pool — Created using an array to gather the mountain’s earth energy and liquid refined from thousand-year-old Spirit Herbs. Its baptism can cleanse marrow, transform bones, and improve martial aptitude; it opens once every ten years 33 41.
• Spirit Pool rules — During the half-month baptism, participants may not fight directly or bring Magical Artifacts or Array Disks. Each must gain what they can through their own ability 43.
• Exchanged opportunities — The guild trades limited places in cultivation opportunities with other powers. Representatives of the Azure Cloud Sect, Mystic Moon Pavilion, and Medicine King Valley joined Lin Chen in one Spirit Pool Baptism 40 43.
• Cloud Dream Marsh — A sealed treasure land controlled by the guild and opened to its promising martial artists under sixty. It contains distributed herbs, ores, weapons, pills, and other opportunities, including three major prizes in its central region. Entrants appear at random locations and may explore before the central restrictions weaken. The guild permits competition but forbids continuing to kill an opponent after defeat or committing deliberate murder 58 62 64.
• Cloud Dream Marsh expedition — Qian Wantong used an Array Disk to open the land. The expedition also let the guild evaluate young fighters for investment ahead of the Cloud Dream Ancient Land’s anticipated opening 58 64 75.
• Cloud Dream Guiding Token — A difficult-to-craft token produced by a guild Grandmaster Artifact Refiner. It lets its bearer communicate with the Cloud Dream Ancient Land’s Earth Spirit and enter and leave the land freely. The guild gave one to Lin Chen because it judged him capable of reaching the Earth Martial Realm and seeking a Golden Palace reward 81.

Notable Personnel and Associates

• Qian Wantong — Head of the Cloud Province headquarters; opened Cloud Dream Marsh and presided over the subsequent assessment of young talents 32 64 75.
• Elder Su — Earth Martial Realm elder who assessed Lin Chen, awarded his Purple-Gold Token, and advised him to train at Spirit Mist Mountain. He later joined the campaign against the Blood Fiend Cult, recommended Zhao Yuanhao for further support, distributed the Cloud Dream Marsh rewards, and entrusted Lin Chen with a Cloud Dream Guiding Token 34 54 75 76 81.
• Sun Rong — Steward at Spirit Mist Mountain who explained and oversaw the Spirit Pool Baptism 40 43.
• Chen Ping — Third-class attendant at the Yunlan City branch who helped Lin Chen obtain cultivation resources and choose an attendant 35 37.
• Li Yunshan — Steward who handled Lin Chen’s requests for a purification bounty, rare materials, and a residence. He later discussed Firecloud Valley’s proposed trade relationship and invited Lin Chen to the Northern Frontier campaign 46 53.
• Liu Tong — Guild guest elder and former Firecloud Valley branch-lineage elder 47.
• Elder Chen — Took part with Qian Wantong and Elder Su in the council’s review of Cloud Dream Marsh participants 75.
• Appraiser Han — Second-rank appraiser who handled Lin Chen’s early sales and issued his fifth-class guest token 12.
• Elder Sun — Senior appraiser at the guild’s Myriad Treasures Pavilion auction venue 59.
• Qin Ming — Auction host who briefed prospective Cloud Dream Marsh entrants on its opportunities and rules 60 62.
• Lin Hai — Lin Chen’s father, who spent several years with the guild in Yunlan City when he was young 23.

Dealings with Lin Chen

Lin Chen first visited the guild’s western branch after being directed there as a reliable place to sell his goods. Appraiser Han bought his weapons and medicines for 300 Spirit Stones, assorted gathered materials for 680, and a century-old Seven-Leaf Golden-Thread Herb for 900. The sales earned Lin Chen fifth-class honored-guest status 11 12.

Years later, Lin Chen joined the guild in Yunlan City after Elder Su assessed him as a first-class talent. He trained at Spirit Mist Mountain for seven years and took part in its Spirit Pool Baptism 34 44 45. After leaving the mountain, he returned to the guild for help purifying a demonic beast crystal core and sourcing materials for his cultivation art and sword. Li Yunshan arranged the requests, and a guild attendant later delivered the materials with reports concerning the Blood Fiend Cult 46 50.

• Lin Chen’s connection to the guild lent weight to Liu Tong’s invitation to fight for Firecloud Valley’s branch lineage. After his victory, the valley pursued closer commercial relations with the guild. Li Yunshan also invited Lin Chen to join the Northern Frontier campaign against the Blood Fiend Cult, but Lin Chen declined 47 49 53.
• Lin Chen used guild channels to send two Earthfire Spirit Lotuses to his parents in Kaiyang City. He also consigned spirit materials through the guild and later asked Liu Yun to sell the contents of two captured Storage Rings there 53 57.
• At the guild’s auction before Cloud Dream Marsh opened, Lin Chen used his Purple-Gold Token to obtain a private room and consigned a Fire-Scaled Python horn. He bought the broken Azure Scar Sword, whose remaining Dao resonance helped him reach 30% Sword Intent 59 60 62 63.
• In Cloud Dream Marsh, Lin Chen secured several opportunities and defeated Ling Jianxin. His performance led the guild to invest further in him, and Elder Su gave him the Great Azure Sword Canon’s first volume 75 76.
• Before the Cloud Dream Ancient Land opened, Elder Su gave Lin Chen a Cloud Dream Guiding Token. The guild hoped that, if Lin Chen reached the Golden Palace, he would choose Soul-Returning Grass and bring it back 81.
• While confronting Zhao Yuanhao’s pursuers inside the ancient land, Lin Chen described himself as someone who had once been a member of the Four Seas Merchant Guild. The circumstances of any change in his membership are not established 93.