Chapter 00287: A Powerful and Influential Merchant Guild
# A Powerful and Influential Merchant Guild
Chapter 287
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 287: A Powerful and Influential Merchant Guild
The entire Tianyun Immortal City was thrown into chaos, and in the next moment, the city was sealed off.
News quickly spread throughout the city that five out of twelve treasures set to be displayed in the Jiting Merchant Guild's exhibition hall had been stolen.
Even an Immortal Emperor from the Jiting Merchant Guild had been mobilized.
In a short span of time, all suspicious individuals had been identified.
Yan Chengjian was one of them, and his name was ranked quite high on the list.
A high ranking meant a higher degree of suspicion.
When the Jiting Merchant Guild announced the five stolen treasures, even the Star Ascension Immortal Court was shaken.
Void Immortal Marrow—this was something that could only be encountered by chance, not sought after.
A single drop of Void Immortal Marrow could save a life.
Twelve top-grade Immortal Crystals—these were also rare treasures.
Any single top-grade Immortal Crystal could help someone break through a major cultivation realm.
Top-grade Immortal Crystals were extremely rare, and the fact that the Jiting Merchant Guild had obtained twelve at once spoke volumes about their strength.
As for the Flame and Earth Core Flame Crystals, they were already astonishing, but what was truly unbelievable was that a Fire Origin Crystal had also been stolen.
If one could obtain the Flame and use the Fire Origin Crystal to rebirth it...
At this moment, no one was thinking about Lan Xiaobu, the person who had stolen these five treasures.
Instead, they were wondering what the other treasures in the Jiting Merchant Guild's collection were.
If these five treasures were displayed together, the other items must be equally extraordinary.
Of course, this was just speculation.
The Jiting Merchant Guild had an Immortal Emperor, and it wasn't just a local guild in the Star Ascension Immortal Court.
This guild had branches throughout the entire Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain.
Moreover, there were rumors that the Jiting Merchant Guild also had branches in other cosmic immortal domains beyond the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain.
Previously, many people had no real concept of the Jiting Merchant Guild.
They only knew it was a fairly large guild and that it was about to host an exhibition that would shake the entire Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain.
Now, with the theft and the appearance of an Immortal Emperor, everyone realized that this was a colossal, powerhouse guild.
...
At this moment, in the sixth-floor meeting hall of the Jiting Merchant Guild's auction venue in Tianyun Immortal City, a high-crowned Immortal Emperor sat at the head of the table, his expression dark.
On either side of him were at least four Immortal Venerables and over a dozen Immortal Kings.
The branch manager of the Jiting Merchant Guild in Tianyun Immortal City was trembling in a corner, unsure of what punishment awaited him.
The Immortal Emperor's gaze swept over the room, and he spoke calmly, "The person who infiltrated the fifth floor of our auction house must be at least a seventh-grade Immortal Array King. There are only six seventh-grade Immortal Array Kings and one eighth-grade Immortal Array Venerable in the entire Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain, and no Immortal Array Emperors. We've ruled out all seven of them, which means the person who infiltrated our guild is likely a newly ascended Immortal Array King. Besides his formidable array skills, this person is also skilled in disguise techniques."
"Immortal Emperor Fushen, I've heard that there was once a cosmic realm called the Great Desolate Universe. In that universe, there were two ultimate divine abilities: the Heavenly Pivot Transformation and the Earthly Fiend Transformation. Both of these divine abilities included techniques for shape-shifting and disguise. Could it be that this person has mastered one of these techniques and disguised himself as Yu Ji?" one of the Immortal Venerables stood up and asked respectfully.
Immortal Emperor Fushen had clearly heard of this as well.
He frowned and said, "Could it be someone from the Great Desolate Universe?"
The Immortal Venerable who had spoken earlier continued, "That's entirely possible. I've heard that the Great Desolate Universe suffered from a lack of cosmic rules, and under the intervention of a powerful figure, it merged with four other cosmic realms to form a new Five Realms Immortal World. However, the rules in the Five Realms Immortal World are still incomplete, and it seems to have split into several immortal domains, some of which can't even produce Immortal Kings. I wonder if this person, with his shape-shifting abilities, could have come from the merged Five Realms Immortal World?"
"That's unlikely," another Immortal Venerable interjected.
"The Five Realms Immortal World has incomplete rules. It's rare to find even a sixth-grade Immortal Array King there, let alone a seventh-grade one."
A third Immortal Venerable added, "Not necessarily. The Great Desolate Universe was once renowned, and it had beings far surpassing Immortal Emperors, some of whom were almost as powerful as the figure who tried to merge the Five Realms Immortal World. So, even with incomplete rules, there could still be formidable array masters in the Five Realms Immortal World."
Immortal Emperor Fushen waved his hand.
"I've heard a bit about the Five Realms Immortal World. Some cosmic realms had immortal sages whose power had already surpassed the cosmic rules' capacity. Even without the merging of the five cosmic realms, those realms would have collapsed due to the overwhelming power of those sages. After the five realms merged, those ultimate powerhouses likely ascended to a higher realm and wouldn't come to a place like this. Regardless of where this person comes from, since he's a seventh-grade Immortal Array King, he'll eventually reveal himself. For now, we need to bring in all the suspicious individuals. The Jiting Merchant Guild has existed for countless years across the vast cosmos. We've weathered many storms, and we won't be capsized in a small place like the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain."
There was one thing Immortal Emperor Fushen didn't say aloud.
Although this seventh-grade Immortal Array King had stolen five treasures from the Jiting Merchant Guild, as soon as those treasures were used, he would be able to sense them.
If the treasures were used, the divine sense mark would attach itself to the user.
The Jiting Merchant Guild's treasures weren't so easy to take.
The guild had maintained its reputation across the vast cosmos for so many years for a reason.
So, while Immortal Emperor Fushen was furious, he wasn't overly worried.
The mark on the treasures couldn't be removed, not even by him.
A mere seventh-grade Immortal Array King wouldn't be able to remove it.
In fact, even finding the mark would be an achievement.
...
No matter how much the Jiting Merchant Guild stirred, it had nothing to do with Lan Xiaobu.
Lan Xiaobu didn't return to the Forbidden Immortal Bureau.
Instead, he went back to Guang Li's small courtyard.
His immortal flame was about to advance, and he was worried that the commotion would be too great if he stayed at the Forbidden Immortal Bureau.
Lan Xiaobu's injuries were serious, but fortunately, his soul and Purple Palace were unharmed.
For a sixth-grade Grand Immortal Alchemist like him, these injuries were minor.
Even if his soul had been injured, the treasures he had obtained would have been more than enough compensation.
After recovering from his injuries, Lan Xiaobu didn't immediately examine the items he had acquired.
Previously, he hadn't realized just how powerful the Jiting Merchant Guild was.
If he had known, he might not have dared to target them.
The saying "a newborn calf isn't afraid of a tiger" perfectly described Lan Xiaobu.
Now that he had obtained these treasures from the Jiting Merchant Guild, any one of them could cause a stir in the entire immortal court.
Even as a novice, Lan Xiaobu understood that the Jiting Merchant Guild was far more formidable than it appeared.
After sealing his cave residence with various arrays to block any energy leaks, Lan Xiaobu entered the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
As long as he was inside the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, even without any external arrays, he wouldn't be detected.
But Lan Xiaobu was cautious.
He knew that if even a single treasure was exposed, he wouldn't be able to stay in the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain, let alone the Forbidden Immortal Bureau.
The treasures were valuable, but whether he could keep his life while using them was another matter.
Inside the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, Lan Xiaobu first took out the Fire Origin Crystal.
He spent a long time examining it but found no trace of any divine sense mark.
Lan Xiaobu knew that his cultivation level was still low, so he couldn't assume that just because he couldn't find anything, the Fire Origin Crystal was safe.
Unable to find any issues with the Fire Origin Crystal, Lan Xiaobu then took out the twelve crystals.
Previously, these twelve crystals had been sealed with restrictions, and he hadn't had time to examine them before tossing them into the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Now, as he took them out again, he realized what they were—twelve top-grade Immortal Crystals.
It was said that a single Immortal Crystal mine could produce at most one top-grade Immortal Crystal.
Here, he had twelve.
This meant that these crystals had been collected from at least twelve different mines.
For Lan Xiaobu, these crystals were incredibly important—even more so than the Fire Origin Crystal.
If he wanted to, he could use these twelve top-grade Immortal Crystals to rapidly advance through twelve cultivation levels.
Next, Lan Xiaobu examined the Void Immortal Marrow and the Flame Seed, but he found no issues with them either.
He sealed all these items within his Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Finally, he took out the Earth Core Flame Crystal.
Among the items he had retrieved, this was the least valuable.
If he didn't need it, he wouldn't have taken it.
But since he did need it, he had to find the mark on it.
Otherwise, he wouldn't dare to use it.
To Lan Xiaobu's disappointment, after spending six full days and examining the Earth Core Flame Crystal over ten thousand times, he still couldn't find any trace of a mark.
Perhaps these items didn't have any divine sense marks at all, Lan Xiaobu comforted himself.
But then he immediately dismissed this thought as laughable.
If he, Lan Xiaobu, had some top-tier treasures on display, wouldn't he also place his own marks on them?
Of course he would.
Not only would he place marks, but he would place multiple marks.
Lan Xiaobu forcefully suppressed his wishful thinking and had the Cosmic Dimension Matrix construct a model of the Earth Core Flame Crystal.
Any irregularities would be revealed through the model.
The Cosmic Dimension Matrix could construct a model of a seventh-grade immortal array in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense.
Yet, constructing a model of this small immortal material took several hours and was still unclear.
The only explanation was that there was something within this small immortal material that the Cosmic Dimension Matrix couldn't quickly model.
For an Earth Core Flame Crystal, the only thing that could cause such a delay was a divine sense mark.
If there was a divine sense mark exceeding seventh-grade or even eighth-grade immortal restrictions within the crystal, the Cosmic Dimension Matrix wouldn't be able to model it quickly.
The Cosmic Dimension Matrix belonged to Lan Xiaobu.
As long as the task didn't exceed Lan Xiaobu's capabilities by too much, the matrix could construct a model in moments.
But if the task exceeded his capabilities, the matrix's construction would slow down, and it would require a significant amount of immortal spiritual energy.
Seeing that the Cosmic Dimension Matrix's construction was progressing slowly, Lan Xiaobu decided to leave the matrix and start refining pills.
He wanted to break through to the seventh-grade Immortal Pill King.
Piles of sixth and seventh-grade immortal herbs were consumed by Lan Xiaobu, turning into waste.
Lan Xiaobu had thought that since he was already a sixth-grade Grand Immortal Alchemist, becoming an Immortal Pill King would be a natural progression.
However, after a month of attempting to refine seventh-grade immortal pills, he hadn't produced a single low-grade seventh-grade pill.
The mountain of immortal herbs he had stored in the Cosmic Dimension Matrix had been almost entirely depleted.
Aside from some precious herbs he hadn't dared to use for practice, he only had about a hundred seventh-grade immortal herbs left.
He couldn't keep going like this, Lan Xiaobu sighed.
If it weren't for the slight progress he saw with each batch of pills, he would have given up long ago.
(End of Chapter)