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.

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.

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.

Notable Personnel and Associates

• Qian Wantong — Head of the Cloud Province headquarters 32.
• Elder Su — Earth Martial Realm elder who assessed Lin Chen, awarded his Purple-Gold Token, and advised him to train at Spirit Mist Mountain 34.
• 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 46.
• Liu Tong — Guild guest elder and former Firecloud Valley branch-lineage elder 47.

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.