Chapter 1280: Opening of the Trading Fair
“This absolutely is a blessing of enormous proportions. Mayhap the disaster that befell us was just a minor obstacle on our path to great glory. In the end, the sect is to reach end new heights with the palace head at the helm.”
Elder Yun Nie was someone who placed a lot of stock in the notion of fortune. He had experienced many things in the past couple of years and comprehended many theories. When it came to fortune, young lord Zhen was clearly a person with a great destiny in front of him. Everything he did was full of surprises. He could turn even the most dismal situations into something advantageous and procure victories.
However, the most important factor was that the young lord clearly supported Palace Head Dan Chi. The young lord wasn’t going to use the opportunity of rebuilding the sect to seize the leadership. He was going to follow protocol to the letter and return authority to the palace head.
Jiang Chen had been in charge the rebuilding process up to this point and had delegated responsibilities to Elder Yun Nie. His attitude changed with the appearance of Dan Chi. It was a wonderful development for the sect that Jiang Chen was willing to hand over power back to the palace head.
If he’d remained in charge of redevelopment, everyone would only recall that the young lord of Veluriyam Capital had reconstructed the Regal Pill Palace. No one would care much about the sect itself. The connotations would be entirely different if Palace Head Dan Chi was the one leading the process.
Although Elder Yun Nie had a close relationship with Jiang Chen, the former still cared about maintaining the traditions, heritage, and legitimacy of the sect. Even though Jiang Chen was technically a disciple, he’d been studying under both Regal Pill Palace and Precious Tree Sect at the time.
“Young lord Zhen, are the methods of the ancient past really that magical?” Palace Head Dan Chi was slightly skeptical.
“Palace Head, only by cultivating it yourself will you know how true that is. However, this method requires you to reach emperor realm before you can use it. Only then can you reap its true benefits. You’re wasting your time otherwise. Thus, your first priority is to reach emperor realm as quickly as possible.”
Jiang Chen could tell that the palace head was only halfway there. However, Dan Chi’s martial dao potential was much higher than Cheng Qian’s. Even if Jiang Chen didn’t help his old benefactor, the palace head could have broken through to emperor realm on basis of his own merits alone.
“Palace Head, it’s probably best that you don’t reveal your true identity for now. Why don’t you continue being a wandering cultivator and remain at the young lord’s residence? Once the Meet concludes, we can start the mighty feat of rebuilding of the Regal Pill Palace. Myriad Domain has languished in the hands of petty tyrants for long enough. It’s high time that we took it back. Furthermore, it’s about time that we collected the debt that Great Scarlet Mid Region owes.”
Jiang Chen sounded quite remote. He had certain ideas of how to rebuild the sect; his blueprint was vast. Not only did it include rebuilding the Regal Pill Palace, but it also included taking back Myriad Domain, and even annexing the Great Scarlet Mid Region to form an area completely under his absolute control. That was his true goal.
He needed to bring all of the human territories under his control before the demons invaded. The race needed to band together as a cohesive whole. Myriad Domain and Great Scarlet Mid Region were the territories closest to the demons, particularly Myriad Domain. It was the tip of the frontlines.
Thus, it was especially important that he had these two areas in the palm of his hand. He would slowly reveal his ideas to Dan Chi later. It was too early to go into detail now.
Seeing that the powerful Jiang Chen was completely behind them, Elder Yun Nie and Palace Head Dan Chi were delighted beyond belief and headed back to their dwellings.
The rest of the night passed peacefully.
Elder Yun Nie and Dan Chi appeared together at dawn the next day. The palace head was still dressed like a wandering cultivator. The elder had a smile on his face. “Young lord Zhen, can I also partake in the festivities of the Dragon and Tiger Meet?”
“Yes, please enjoy yourselves. Make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings,” replied the young lord in approval. “Oh right, it’s best if you don’t tell Gao Qi and the other young disciples what’s changed. I’m afraid that they won’t be able to conceal things because of their youth.”
The elder laughed. “I’ve already discussed this with the palace head and we both agree on that point. We can tell everyone after the Meet concludes.”
“Alright. The day’s about to start, go on ahead.”
General enthusiasm and participation had increased visibly after viewing countless wonderful treasures and events on the first day. Many hadn’t brought out their baubles for the first segment. Now that they didn’t have any doubts, they planned locate young lord Zhen at the trading fair and ask for an appraisal.
When Jiang Chen arrived at the gathering, he could see that the size of the crowd had increased by a large amount compared to the previous day. The excited and charged atmosphere quite pleased him.
“Young lord Zhen, there’s certainly plenty of crouching tigers and hidden dragons at the gathering. I think that everyone has been buoyed by the splendid show from yesterday.” Emperor Peerless was also very cheerful when he sensed the electrifying mood.
“Haha, I wonder how Pillfire’s doing? We’ve gotten a good kick in this time and slapped their faces harshly!” Emperor Coiling Dragon was very animated.
Jiang Chen had a steady head on his shoulders and didn’t let things go to his head. “Everyone should return to their own duties and not treat anything lightly. The Meet’s just begun. Anything could happen before it’s ended.”
“Understood!” Everyone went back to their own areas.
Jiang Chen’s appearance caused a stir in the crowd. They chanted loudly, “Young lord Zhen, young lord Zhen!”
“Young lord Zhen, we want to have another treasure identification segment!”
“Yeah, have another one!”
The wandering cultivators started clamoring for more, plainly caught up in the thrill of yesterday. Many of them hadn’t taken action in a timely manner due to prudence. In the end, they delayed far too long and missed the window of opportunity entirely.After seeing the multitude of first grade items yesterday, and the three supreme treasures in particular, many of them felt that they’d stumbled into a fairytale. Dreams of overnight riches sprung up in more than a few individuals. They searched themselves for anything that looked promising, wanting to send them in for appraisal. Although most knew this was just a fantasy, this was precisely the kind of dream and legend that was most scarce in their world.
Jiang Chen stood up tall and a slight smile stretched over his face as he gazed out into the sea of humanity. The crowds extended far to the back for many kilometers.
“Everyone, calm down please.” He stretched out his hands and pushed downwards.
The din slowly died down. Soon, no one made a peep. They stared at Jiang Chen and waited with baited breath to hear what the young lord had to say. Seeing their eyes full of excitement, he could easily guess what they were thinking.
Public sentiment can be useful. Jiang Chen was pleased and knew that he finally had their attention now. “Everyone, we have a strict schedule to follow for the Dragon and Tiger Meet. It would be very difficult to alter it. But I can sense your enthusiasm and desires. The following three days are set aside for free trading sessions. During these three days, the Sacred Peafowl Mountain will set up three trading districts with some purchase lists and free item appraisal. However, our time and energy are finite, so we will be filtering the requests. If you’re unable to pass the tests, then you have no qualifications to enter these districts.”
He paused for a second before continuing, “It will be the same as the previous treasure identification event. The Sacred Peafowl Mountain will be as fair and impartial as before. We will not exaggerate or make falsely low appraisals. No matter what type of treasure it is, we will give a fair pronouncement.
“Apart from this, the other Veluriyam great emperors will all be opening trading districts. In addition, the first rank sects will also have the qualifications to open transaction areas. At the same time, we will also open a special large trading district just for great emperors.”
Jiang Chen had done all of this to win people’s hearts.
After hearing his speech, many of the first class sects and the emperor realm experts were all surprised by his shrewd methods. Their admiration for him stepped up a notch. Young lord Zhen is clearly not a simple individual. This was beautifully done.
He continued, “Other than these special areas, there is also the largest trading district reserved for free trades. Within this section, all of our wandering cultivator friends can carry out whatever transactions they wish. However, please remember that the rules must be followed. Trades should be conducted fairly and no one is allowed to force purchases or sales. Shameful methods are strictly prohibited. Should anyone break these regulations, then they will be considered individuals who are no long welcomed within the Dragon and Tiger Meet. We will immediately expel any troublemakers. Should any malicious plots arise, we will immediately send to stamp them out.”
No one felt he was bluffing. Within the Veluriyam Capital, the young lord indeed had the qualifications to carry out such a threat. As the young lord of Sacred Peafowl Mountain with a large group of great emperors, Jiang Chen had multitudes of troops beneath his hand. The capital was fully under his control.
“Alright, everyone should make their preparations. We will start to set up our trading districts. The trading fair will now begin!”
Sacred Peafowl Mountain had three sections available, with the most important district naturally under Jiang Chen’s authority. As for the two remaining areas, Emperor Peerless was responsible for one and the four monarchs in charge of the other.
The responsibility of administering the qualification tests were given to Pill Kings Bu and Lu Feng, as well as Mu Gaoqi and Lin Yanyu. This was also a tempering trial for the latter two.
With stringent qualification rules, much of the pressure was off Jiang Chen’s shoulders. After all, most who wanted him to assess their so-called ‘treasures’ couldn’t even past the first test.
Even if they qualified after the first round, they would likely be stuck with the four monarchs and Emperor Peerless. It was impossible that all wandering cultivators had some priceless treasure.
There were occasionally a couple of objects that even Emperor Peerless couldn’t identify, which meant they came to Jiang Chen, who would promptly accurate dissect their value.
Over half a day had passed for the trading fair and Jiang Chen still hadn’t come across even one object that made his heart race.
