Sovereign of the Three Realms

Throughout the course of his visit, Emperor Peafowl hadn’t given any Jiang Chen any promises or made any lofty demands. If one had to describe this visit, it was as if a lonely elder spotting a young man that happened to catch his interest, and so made a visit to make a friend. A smile appeared on Emperor Peafowl’s face when he heard Jiang Chen’s words.

“Just like you said to Ji Ole Third before Jiang Chen—destiny. In the thousand years that I’ve held sway in Veluriyam Capital, there has yet to be a single person who has so elicited admiration from me. I have nothing else to say that other than if you remain pure of heart in Veluriyam Capital, you can do as you will in the Capital. I will handle all trouble that may arise from what you might do.” Emperor Peafowl smiled faintly after saying this and pointed lightly with his finger, causing all of the scenery around them to instantly vanish—the emperor as well. Only a voice lingered by Jiang Chen’s ear, “Jiang Chen, remember to come to the Peafowl Gathering.”

Jiang Chen remained silent for a long time, deep in thought. He’d had quite a bit of gains from this conversation.

The next day, young master Ji San came hurriedly running over with another bit of news. “Brother, this kind of sucks. I just received word that many more places have been added to the Peafowl Gathering. Almost all great clans beneath Emperor Peafowl have received invites for a large portion of their disciples.”

“Oh? The invitation list’s grown bigger?” Jiang Chen smiled.

“Right!” Ji San was a bit depressed. “I’d thought we were the only young disciples to be invited amongst all the great clans yesterday and was feeling a bit proud of that fact. It’s all turned to nothing the next day, sigh.”

Ji San really was sounding a bit depressed. After all, everyone wanted to be special. If everyone was invited, then there was nothing special about this treatment at all.

Jiang Chen smiled, “Brother Ji, there’s nothing to be depressed at all. At last you were the first batch to be invited, no?”

Ji San started and broke out in a grin. “That’s right! I was the first batch. There’s still more glory in that than them!” He seemed to immediately think of something else and spoke again, “Oh right brother, there’s something very important that I must tell you.”

“What?”

“About the Longevity Pill. The Sacred Peafowl Mountain owes you a big favor having received the Longevity Pill, so they’ve been discussing what to do recently as well.”

“Have they reached a conclusion?” Jiang Chen asked carelessly. The Longevity Pill hasn’t been released to the market yet. Apart from the two that the Majestic Clan had taken out to experiment with last time, all of the rest had been confiscated by the Peafowl Guard. There were none in circulation, so they were impossible to find in Veluriyam Capital.

“The clan lord says that the Sacred Peafowl Mountain has decided upon what to do.”

“And what is that?”

“Initial plans are to split the profits five ways.”

“Five ways? What do they mean by that?” Jiang Chen didn’t quite understand this plan.

“The Sacred Peafowl Mountain as one, the Coiling Dragon Clan for one, House Wei, you, and the Regal Pill Palace.” Ji San explained in detail. A thought struck Jiang Chen when he heard this. The Regal Pill Palace also has a share? Sacred Peafowl Mountain is showing me quite some face. However, he then immediately felt that this was likely a result of personal intervention from Emperor Peafowl. “In terms of materials, House Wei will shoulder the cost for that. The Sacred Peafowl Mountain and the Coiling Dragon Clan will be in charge of providing pill kings, and you and House Wei will handle the technique aspect.”

This meant Jiang Chen and House Wei’s contribution were a result of the pill recipe. This was quite a reasonable proposition.

“Brother, you can raise any objections you have as well. We’re still in the process of gathering opinions.”

Jiang Chen thought about it and shook his head. “This is a very reasonable offer, I have no opinions.”

“Alright, then I’ll go back and tell the clan lord.” Ji San was quite happy. After all the loops and turns, the Longevity Pill recipe had still fallen into their camp.

Jiang Chen suddenly thought of something and spoke up, “There’s something we need to keep an eye on.”

“What is it?”

“The Eternal Celestial Capital stole the pill recipe and were the ones who gave the pill to the Majestic Clan. However, their quality was lower because they didn’t benefit from my pointers. But since they have the recipe, they possess a latent threat to the future market.”

“That’s very true.”

“Therefore, the Sacred Peafowl Mountain must announce right now that the Longevity Pill is their research item. Apart from the pills from them, everything else is counterfeit and fake. There’s no guarantee that there will be no side effects, and we must have everyone acknowledge that only pills from the Sacred Peafowl Mountain are the legitimate products.”

“Right, this point is very important. This means that even though the Wang father and son are dead, they must shoulder this to the end. We’ll say that the Eternal Celestial Capital’s recipe was stolen by the Majestic Clan.” Ji San’s face was solemn.

“That’s how we’ll do it.” Jiang Chen smiled coldly. “The Eternal Celestial Capital stole the recipe from the Regal Pill Palace to begin with. What business does such ill gotten gains have in being announced to the world?”

“Precisely!” Ji San agreed.

“The most critical thing is, the quality of their pills is less than ours. If the Eternal Celestial Capital doesn’t wish to accept this, then the Sacred Peafowl Mountain can issue a challenge and host a competition. The results of the contest will determine whose is real and whose is fake.”

Ji San’s eyes lit up as he slapped his thigh. “This plan is perfect! If they don’t answer the challenge, that means they have a guilty conscience. If they do and their quality is less than ours, then theirs is still fake and their reputation will suffer heavily as a result.”

Jiang Chen had spoken so much to get to this point. Even though the Eternal Celestial Capital had stolen the pill, he wasn’t going to let them have an easy time of things. You destroy my clan, kill my peers, sell my friends, steal my things, and want to live large after all of that? Dream on! Even if Jiang Chen didn’t have the strength to hack his way to the Eternal Celestial Capital at the moment, he would never let them go skipping off into the sunset.

Having received Jiang Chen’s plan, Ji San happily went to report back. If this plan could be deployed properly, then they would be able to take down a majority of the market without having to defeat the Eternal Celestial Capital’s recipe. After all, the only factor everyone agreed on in the world of martial dao was the quality of the pill. Whoever’s was higher was the authentic one!

After sending off Ji San, Jiang Chen went in search of the House Wei father and son and relayed what he’d just learned. They were overjoyed to hear of all this as they hadn’t been told of it yet. To them, it was a stroke of good fortune falling out of the sky and striking them on the head.

“Pill King Zhen, the Longevity Pill? Two parts of the profit to our House Wei?” Wei Tianxiao found it a bit hard to believe as an incredulous expression blossomed over his face.

“Indeed, but House Wei in charge of the materials. Of course, the cost of the goods aren’t too high for this pill. Two million saint spirit stones per pill is already a very high price. The costs of the materials themselves are at most fifty thousand saint spirit stones.” Jiang Chen had been the one to create the pill, how would he not know the price of the materials? When he’d auctioned off one pill in the Myriad Domain, he’d sold it for ten million origin spirit stones and some other bits to Xiang Wentian of the Great Cathedral. That made for less than two million saint spirit stones. So now that a pill was priced at two million saint spirit stones, that was a very high price indeed. With the twenty percent that House Wei could split, that meant they would receive four hundred thousand spirit stones per pill. Compared to the fifty thousand saint spirit stones in costs, this was an absolute killing!

Gratitude was written all over Wei Tianxiao’s face when he heard Jiang Chen’s analysis. “Pill King Zhen, it is truly House Wei’s fortune that my son was able to make your acquaintance. Although I know that you were destined to soar to the skies one day in your brilliance, I hope that House Wei has the great fortune to follow in your footsteps when that day arrives.”

As a mighty expert and the house lord of House Wei, Wei Tianxiao was holding to a very humble posture in front of Jiang Chen. This also displayed his rational actions in dealing with interpersonal relationships. Jiang Chen had close relationships with the Coiling Dragon Clan now and had even caught the Sacred Peafowl Mountain’s eye. Wei Tianxiao knew that Pill King Zhen wouldn’t be spending much time in House Wei in the future. Although this depressed him some, he knew that this was a momentum he couldn’t stop.

After last time’s affairs, Taiyuan Tower’s business boomed even more so after reopening for business. Taiyuan Lodge also opened for business after being won by Jiang Chen in a bet. Of course, House Wei also viewed Taiyuan Lodge as Jiang Chen’s property as well. They were keenly aware of their positioning and had placed themselves as of secondary importance. With the force of Jiang Chen’s rise, they knew it wasn’t anything that their house could hold back. They might as well adjust their mentality and lower their posture so as to cooperate with Jiang Chen for even longer, therefore benefiting even further from their friendship. From the current circumstances at least, House Wei’s position had risen to new heights compared to even their previous peak. This was all because of Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen didn’t plan on sharing Taiyuan Lodge with House Wei as it was something he’d won in a bet. This was going to be his new stronghold of operations. He naturally knew what Wei Tianxiao meant with this low posture and wasn’t the sort to burn bridges after he’d crossed them. “House Lord Wei, House Wei is a great reason for why I’ve been able to find my footing in Veluriyam Capital. We suffered through trials together and will naturally enjoy the rewards together. It’s natural that you take twenty percent of the Longevity Pill. The most important thing is that the Sacred Peafowl Mountain and the Coiling Dragon Clan acknowledges House Wei.”

Wei Tianxiao only nodded with a smile as he ruminated on the gratitude flowing through him.