Sovereign of the Three Realms

Jiang Chen wasn’t worried. He strongly believed that at least a few wandering cultivators would possess something desirable. They were probably just observing from the sidelines and were in no rush to take out their treasures. Wandering cultivators were often very distrustful. If they had any doubts, they’d much rather observe than take any action.

“Jiao Yun, spread the word that I’m buying a few items, the more of them the better. Price is negotiable as long as they can procure the goods.” Jiang Chen handed a few scrolls over. “These are the list of items I require. Go ahead and announce them.”

Jiao Yun accepted the decree and headed outside with the scrolls.

“Everyone, please hold your chatter for a minute! Young lord Zhen needs to purchase a few things! Friends who possess them are welcome to have a face-to-face transaction with the young lord! The young lord is willing to buy however many that you have! The price is guaranteed to be satisfactory!”

Even the distinguished leaders of the cultivation world couldn’t help but pay attention to Jiao Yun, let alone the wandering cultivators. He unfurled the first scroll and called out, “The first item, Eight Treasure Cordyceps! It’s an herb that’s a collection of eight very rare and unique parasites! The young lord is prioritizing this purchase and is willing to pay a very decent price…” 

The Eight Treasure Cordyceps wasn’t entirely foreign to the cultivation world. Most cultivators had heard of it. It was just incredibly unique and strange. It seemed like a mere spirit herb at first glance, but that wasn’t all there was to it. It was actually a spirit creature that appeared as a spirit herb at times, making it a very rare and precious herb-like creature. It was often used by pill masters in refinement as it was a very versatile ingredient.

However, the pill dao world hadn’t truly unearthed the Eight Treasure Cordyceps’ full potential yet. Its effects after being refined into a pill weren’t much better than its raw form. Even though it was very rare and a quasi-sky rank herb, most saw it as an earth rank herb after judging its usefulness. 

“No way. Young lord Zhen is buying Eight Treasure Cordyceps at a high price? Damn it! I sold mine long ago!”

“I’ve seen it at an auction before. It sold for a very good price then!” 

“It’s not particularly uncommon even though it’s a rare sight. Why is the young lord purchasing mass amounts of it?” 

“Yeah! Could it be that he has a way to massively profit from it?” 

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does with it! If he hadn’t explained the hidden properties of the Heavencloud Ganoderma, I probably would’ve just sold it as a common sky rank herb if I had it.”  

“Same. He has the ability to turn anything he touches into gold. Items show their true worth only in front of him.”

“The Dragon and Tiger Meet has truly broadened my horizons. The heritage and profoundness of these great factions possess are truly unbeatable. I can’t help but admit our inferiority.”

“It depends. A genius of young lord Zhen’s caliber is probably seen only once in every ten thousand years.”

“I don’t care what the rest of you think, I’m completely convinced by young lord Zhen now. I’ve long since heard that Pillfire City is the greatest and possess huge amounts of knowledge. I guess I agree with that, but their character far worse compared to young lord Zhen. Pillfire City is widely known for exploiting us wandering cultivators and sucking our blood dry.”

“That’s right. I really hope young lord Zhen will not follow Pillfire City’s footsteps after he’s grown famous.”

“Never. Such practices were never seen in Veluriyam Capital when it was under Emperor Peafowl’s rule. Young lord Zhen isn’t that kind of person.” 

“Mm. As long as young lord Zhen continues to be this virtuous, my loyalty will remain with him and his capital, not Pillfire City.” The wandering cultivators continued to chatter about their great curiosity over why Jiang Chen was purchasing such a peculiar item.

Jiao Yun explained the characteristics of the Eight Treasure Cordyceps before moving onto the next scroll. “The second item is a spirit creature called the Goldencrown Cloudcrane. As the name suggests, this crane has a very unique golden crown on its head. The young lord is willing to pay a very adequate price for this animal!”

Its name was much more foreign to the masses. Not many knew of it. The few that did only knew that it to be a very auspicious animal, weak in strength and cultivation level. However, its flesh was extremely nourishing, which made it a frequent ingredient for restorative purposes by advanced cultivators. In fact, its restorative strength was even higher than many saint pills.   However, it was an extremely rare creature.

“The Goldencrown Cloudcrane is said to be extremely precious from head to feet. Its flesh heals the heavily injured and it’s an overall healing agent.”

“Is the young lord planning to refine restorative pills with it?”

“So the animal possesses extreme healing properties, but it can’t actually revive the dead right? What on earth is the young lord planning to do with it? Everyone was scrutinizing Jiang Chen’s purchases in order to predict what incredible marvel he was up to next. His miraculous achievements had been deeply entrenched in their minds.

Emperor Coiling Dragon and Ji San exchanged glances. They knew exactly why Jiang Chen was buying that creature. The Pinecrane Pill!

Back in the day, Ji San had purchased a Goldencrown Cloudcrane under Jiang Chen’s recommendation in one of Veluriyam Capital’s auctions. It was how they’d gotten their hands on the Pinecrane Pill later. If it wasn’t for that purchase back then, Emperor Coiling Dragon would likely be a pile of bones by now.

Jiao Yun unravelled the scroll to show a drawing of the crane to everyone.

“Everyone, please take a closer look. If you possess this creature, please contact our young lord. This creature will be in much better hands if you allow our young lord to unearth its full potential.”  After displaying the second scroll for a while, Jiao Yun moved on to the third one.

“The third item on the list is True Heavensfall Iron, a very rare metal. Our young lord is also willing to purchase this at a very reasonable price. He’s willing to give ten Longevity Pills in exchange for five kilograms of True Heavensfall Iron. For a fifty kilograms of iron, our young lord is offering a single Pinecrane Pill.”

True Heavensfall Iron was the material for dirks that powered the formation. Jiang Chen had inherited the Heavenly Chalice Sword Formation from the Crimson Heavens Palace, the second of the Six Palaces of Heritage. It was one of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect’s ultimate treasures.    

Special lightweight dirks were needed for the formation, and they had to be forged out of True Heavensfall Iron in order to extract the formation’s full potential. Ones made out of normal materials couldn’t possibly withstand the formation’s power. 

Jiang Chen still remembered Venerated Skysoarer’s advice and placed great importance on the formation.

In the ancient age, an expert from the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect had used the formation to kill three experts of equal level, even though he’d merely mastered a fifth of the formation.

One had to understand that equal rank cultivators were often very well-rivaled in ancient times. Very rarely would there be a winner in a one-on-one duel. Fighting one-on-three was almost certain death. Thus, one could easily see how heaven-defying the formation was from its illustrious history.

Even though Jiang Chen was getting stronger at an alarming speed, the martial methods he could use to deal with enemies much stronger than him were simply too inadequate. He was more capable of dealing with enemies of the same level, but he sorely lacked a powerful sure-kill technique against enemies many levels stronger than him. Thus, mastering the Heavenly Chalice Sword Formation was of paramount importance.

“The fourth item is…” Jiao Yun moved onto the next scroll unhurriedly. Jiang Chen had given him five scrolls in total. He quietly took his leave after he was done with the announcement.

“Young lord Zhen, the task is complete.”

Jiang Chen nodded. His priority right now were the first three items. The other two could wait.

Even if no wandering cultivator was in possession of these items, Jiang Chen believed that news of his purchase list would quickly spread throughout the human domain.

These items would surely show themselves on his doorstep then. These items were of little use to wandering cultivators, but in his hands, they’d turn into gold. It didn’t take a genius to know what would be the better choice.

Cloudsoar Monarch suddenly approached from the side. “Young lord, an elder from a second rank sect seeks an audience.”

“A second rank sect?” Jiang Chen was mildly taken aback.

Hundreds of factions, big and small, were participating in the Dragon and Tiger Meet. There were dozens of second rank sects in the human domain, a lot more than first rank sects. He hadn’t arranged special seatings for these sects, not because he looked down on them, but because he had to give preferential treatment to first rank sects.

“Yes. They mentioned that they might have something which would interest the young lord.” 

“Show him in.” Jiang Chen didn’t discriminate.

A short and old man dressed in a brown garb soon appeared. His hair was half black and half white, presenting quite an eye-catching sight.

“Luo Tianshu, an elder of the Nirvana Sect, greets the young lord.” This old man was more than aware that an elder of a second rank sect had no right to put on airs in front of young lord Zhen.

“The Nirvana Sect?” There were dozens of second rank sects in the human domain. Jiang Chen had heard of a few, but he knew very little about them.

Cloudsoar Monarch gave a quick reminder. “The Nirvana Sect is a second rank sect from the Swordfield Region. They are one of the most influential factions there.”

“Swordfield Region?” Jiang Chen frowned when he heard that name. Unpleasant memories surfaced in his mind.