Chapter 400 – Black Moon Headquarters
“What… Sixty thousand meters!?” Yun Che gasped out of shock.
“Sixty thousand meters. Even if it was this was ground distance, it still would not be a small figure, and if this figure was used on height, ‘terrifying’ could only be used to describe it. At the very least, in Yun Che’s two lifetimes, forget about sixty thousand meters, he had never even made contact with thirty thousand meters in the high skies. Yun Che had never seen a profound ark that could reach such heights, and, at such a height, forget about Sky Profound, even Emperor Profound experts, would never be able to reach it.
It was no wonder Cang Wanhe said that it was necessary to borrow the strength of an Overlord to board the Primordial Profound Ark… It was actually at such a terrifying height in the high skies.
And with such height, the black shadows that could be seen from one’s line of sight could still be said to be huge. It’s actual size could thus be imagined.
However, not many people from the crowd were stopping to raise their heads and view it. After all, this mysterious and unfathomable Primordial Profound Ark had already appeared a few months ago.
“Jasmine, are you able to see just what this ‘Primordial Profound Ark’ really is?” Yun Che asked with his head raised. Since he was separated too far away from it, and there were even layers of clouds covering it, what he could see, was simply that huge shadow and its rough outline. As for the details, he was unable to even see them the least bit clearly.
“That indeed should be a profound ark. I have seen many profound arks of this size, however, the feeling this profound ark brings me… is really strange.” Jasmine said musingly.
“Strange?” Although this was already the second time Jasmine had said such similar words, Yun Che was still stunned in his heart… It was a Profound Ark that was huge to such an extent, yet, she actually said she had seen them a few times…The tone she adopted, even sounded as though she was used to such sights! The place she was born and had grown up in, just what kind of terrifying existence was it?
“Profound Arks had underwent changes in the course of a hundred million years of history, right now, they had long been becoming uniform and perfect constructs. For example, in order to reduce the consumption of profound stones, profound crystals, and even divine stones and divine crystals, the front part of the Profound Arks are all sharp and long, the entire bodyline is especially smooth. This way, it can greatly reduce the amount of resistive forces during flight. However, this Profound Ark actually adopts the exact opposite of this concept, and looks more like a product in the Ancient Era… The strangest thing is, when such a huge profound ark floats in the high skies, a large amount of energy is consumed every second. However, I completely cannot sense any trace of energy flow up above! This should be something completely impossible!”
Yun Che: “…”
“If you’re able to resolve the grudge between you and Divine Phoenix Sect, and succeed in entering the Seven Nation Ranking Tournament, then enter the top three. After that, board this Primordial Profound Ark to take a look. All of a sudden, I really wish to know just what this thing really is.” Jasmine said very seriously. Evidently, she had harbored a very deep interest towards this mysterious profound ark which she even could not understand.
“Alright.” Yun Che nodded. “Hopefully, when the time comes, everything will go according to plan.”
“It seems like you have already prepared an adequate plan?”
“…Something like that. But things like plans, will forever be merely plans. In regards to what will actually happen when the time comes, no one is able to predict it.” Although Yun Che put it this way, his expression was still very calm and composed.
“There’s still another half a month before the Ranking Tournament. In this period of time, what are you planning to do?”
“I will use thirty percent of the time to familiarize myself with Divine Phoenix City, so that when I have no choice but to flee, at the very least, I won’t be a headless housefly. As for the remaining seventy percent of the time, naturally, it’s used to raise my abilities.” Yun Che slightly raised his brows, and his eyes narrowed. “In these recent months, I had been training in the Frozen End Divine Arts, yet the raising of my profound strength had completely fallen behind. The Seven Nation Ranking Tournament is an event where all of the top greatest young experts in the entire Profound Sky Continent gathers, and the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament is far from being able to compare to it. With my current strength, I still do not have that much confidence in obtaining reaching the top three… In these few days, I have to use some special methods to raise my profound strength.”
“Right now, I have the Heart of an Emperor Profound Dragon, Palpus of an Emperor Profound Dragon, Devil’s Flaming Blood Crystal, Kongtong Grass, Snowflower Jade Liquid in my hands… As long as I possess the Heavenly Brahma Jade and Phoenix Helianthus as well, I will be able to refine a Sky Profound Universal Pellet. After taking it, it will be enough to raise my profound strength to the tenth level of Earth Profound Realm. Although the Heavenly Brahma Jade and Phoenix Helianthus cannot be be found in the Blue Wind Empire, there’s the Black Moon Merchant Guild’s headquarters in Divine Phoenix City. As long as I have the money, there shouldn’t be anything I’m unable to afford.”
After saying that, Yun Che took out the map of Divine Phoenix City, and his eyes quickly locked onto that especially eye-catching black-colored crescent moon on the map. Then, he sprinted straight there.
The Black Moon Merchant Guild was spread throughout every corner of Profound Sky Continent, and its position as the lord of the merchant world had never been shaken by anyone. As the headquarters of Black Moon Merchant Guild, undoubtedly, it would have an extremely grand atmosphere. And, when Yun Che finally arrived at the entrance of Black Moon Merchant Guild, he was still shocked dumbfounded.
The size of the Black Moon Merchant Guild was more than several tens of kilometers, and could be comparable to a small town. Anyone would find it hard to believe that it was actually just a merchant guild’s station. The Black Moon Merchant Guild had a total of eight floors. Although they were only eight floors, the height of every floor was incomparably shocking. Adding the eight floors together, the building actually shot through the blue skies. At the very top, a gigantic black-colored crescent moon exalted itself among the clouds. Seemingly, at any corner of this humongous Divine Phoenix City, it was clearly visible if one were to raise his head to take a look.
The walls were all reflecting a pure glow that could only be possible with pure stones of jade. Every piece of brick was extremely precious, and it was totally more luxurious than the glazed brick used in the Blue Wind Imperial Palace. An extremely grand and majestic aura enveloped downward, causing people to seemingly have the impulse to worship it when they look at it.
Truly extremely wealthy… Looking at the Black Moon Merchant Guild in front of him, Yun Che sighed out fiercely in his heart. All of a sudden, he really wanted to know what kind of figure was the guildmaster of this Black Moon Merchant Guild. To possess such an astonishing business empire in the palm of a single person’s hands, it was definitely not something that could be done with mere money.
Currently, revealing in front of Yun Che’s eyes, was an extremely huge plaza. The plaza was filled with a huge crowd, and the place concentrated with the most people, was a gigantic crystal stone stage. The crystal stone stage was separated into several crystal pillars, and at the front of every crystal was a vertical profound array that was slowly swirling around. These profound arrays were distributed uniformly around the crystal stone stage, and every profound array was glowing with a mysterious and unfathomable rainbow-colored light. By taking a closer look, they were reflecting between the colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet alternatively at an uniform pace.
“This is the Black Moon Merchant Guild? Isn’t it too… too… too exaggerated!?” Beside Yun Che, a youth stared dumbfoundedly in front of him. His mouth was widened to the max, and he was unable to close it for a long time. Looking at his attire, he should be a practitioner from another nation who had came over to Divine Phoenix City for the first time.
“This is just the exterior. According to rumors, it’s even more exaggerated inside.” His companion said.
“Why are all these people surrounding that crystal stage, and why aren’t they entering? Oh right, why haven’t I seen the door? Where are we supposed to enter the place?”
“Heh, how could the headquarters of Black Moon Merchant Guild be so easily accessible? Even me, your senior brother, did not have the qualification to enter when I came back then. It’s fine to just look around, and it’s best that you don’t wish of entering the place. If you need anything, it’s best if you just head over to the branches, or other small merchant guilds. Also, even if you’re able to enter the place, the items from the Black Moon Merchant Guild aren’t things you can afford.”
“Why can’t we enter the place? Could it be that they will even chase away their customers? And what kind of people are able to enter the place?”
“See that crystal stage? There are thirty-six profound arrays at the exterior of the crystal stage, and they’re also the only entrances to the Black Moon Merchant Guild! If you wish to enter, you have to use your own strength to attack the profound arrays. These profound arrays will completely take in the energy that was struck onto them, then, according to the level of strength, it would judge the grade of the attack, then, it will have the grade displayed at the corresponding crystal pillar behind the profound arrays… And the grade displayed have to be at least green-colored, before one has the qualification to enter the Black Moon Merchant Guild. However, that person will only be able to enter the first and second floors. With a blue-colored grade, the person will be able to enter the third and fourth level, an indigo-colored grade, allows the person to enter the fifth and sixth levels. As for the highest purple-colored grade… that person can enter the seventh level!”
Yun Che heard all of these words, and he once again sighed in his heart. In the merchant world, it had always been the buyers picking their sellers, and the merchant guilds would always play all their tricks to pull in customers… The Black Moon Merchant Guild, however, wanted to precisely pick out their customers. Without sufficient strength, one would not even have the qualification to enter the Black Moon Headquarters. Even if you possess great wealth, don’t expect to enter the Black Moon Merchant Guild to make a trade.
Even if that was the case, not only wouldn’t the number of customers in Black Moon Merchant Guild drop to zero, instead, every year, they would always be countless of people thinking of ways to enter the place.
To have such strength and confidence, in the entire Profound Sky Continent, Black Moon Merchant Guild was the only one.
“Then that’s really too unfair.” That young profound practitioner said furiously. “To merely judge a person’s qualification to enter with profound strength, wouldn’t us youths lose out too much!? This is clearly leaning towards those people who have trained in the profound for hundreds of years.”
“No, you’re mistaken!” The one who was called “senior brother” shook his head. “What the crystal pillar base its standards of qualification on is not just merely profound strength, but potential! When one attacks the profound array, not only will it take in energy, it will also measure the age of the bones of the attacker at the same time, and then, it will judge based on the combination of the bones’ age and degree of profound strength. For example, with your profound energy, if you’re only ten years old, you will definitely have the qualification to enter! And if the person is a supreme Throne, but the age of his bones is several hundred years old, he might not even be labeled as green-colored grade.”
“I see… senior brother, earlier, you said that the highest purple-colored grade can only enter the seventh floor. Then, how does one enter the eighth floor?”
“According to rumors, the eighth floor is the place where the Black Moon Merchant Guild personally receive their esteemed guests, and only people with extremely grand and respected statuses, like the Phoenix Sect Master. Ultra-classed individuals like him, have the qualification to enter… I’m afraid that even a regular Divine Phoenix Prince does not even have the qualification enter either, so it’s best that we don’t think about it for the rest of our lives.”
The conversations from the people beside him had allowed Yun Che to finally understand how he could enter the Black Moon Merchant Guild. He retracted his gaze from the black-colored crescent moon above the high clouds, and walked towards the crystal stage in the middle.
The crowd around the stage was very densely packed. In these recent days, Divine Phoenix City was being poured with a large number of profound practitioners from the six nations, and as people who were capable of arriving here, not a single one of them was not either an outstanding individual or an absolute genius among their own nation of profound practitioners. In regards to the Black Moon Headquarters, they naturally had an extremely huge desire to press upwards. To gain access into the Black Moon Headquarters to take a look, was even one of the biggest reasons why many people had come.
All thirty-six profound arrays at the front were occupied by people, and every one of them had entirely reddened faces as they gathered all of their profound energy in their bodies to attack the profound arrays. But when every single gigantic force of energy made contact with the profound array, none of them were able to create any form of destruction, and even the sound of impact was very light, as the energy was taken in completely and cleanly in an instant. Although there were twenty to thirty people attacking at the same time at every single time, the surge of profound energy that was too intense could not be felt in the surroundings.
“Haa!!”
A twenty-odd year old young practitioner had a stern expression. With his cheeks swelled up, after gathering profound energy for more than nearly ten seconds, he shouted out loudly, and attacked towards the profound array at the front with his strongest profound skill… When attacking the profound array, one could not use his or her weapon, however, the person could use his profound arts and skills.
“Heaven-Earth Collapsing Lightning Fist!!”
The young profound practitioner’s fist ruthlessly struck onto the profound array. The profound array momentarily swept out a wave-like ripple soundlessly. Following after, the corresponding crystal momentarily glowed. The first level’s red-color lighted up, and continued to head upwards, lighting up the orange-color at the second level. The third level’s yellow-color glowed right after as well… However, before it shone with its brightest light, it had already been fixed. Following after, all of the colors quickly faded to darkness.
That expression of the young practitioner, who initially had been filled with confidence, instantly froze. His pair of hands trembled, and he shouted out uncontrollably. “No… Impossible… Impossible… I’m ranked thirty seven in Black Fiend Nation’s Ranking Tournament, the number one genius of the Rivernorth Generation! Impossible, there must have been a mistake somewhere…”
As one of the absolute geniuses in a nation, he grew up as a prideful and arrogant individual who had always been worshipped, praised, envied and flattered his entire life. Yet when he reached the Black Moon Headquarters, he actually did not even reach the most basic qualification of entering the place. To an ultra-class genius who could shake a nation with his might, this was undoubtedly an incomparably large blow to his ego.
Amidst his lost of control, his face turned as red as blood. Suddenly, he roared out loudly, took out his weapon in an instant, and smashed towards the profound array in front as he roared wildly… However, the moment the weapon made contact with the profound array, the profound array suddenly flashed with a cold light, and a huge force of energy was released. The young profound practitioner screamed, and was sent flying far away. When he landed on the ground, he was unable to stand up even after a long while.
“Senior brother Yin!” A few of the companions who came along with him hurriedly circled around him and lifted him up.
“Hahahaha! A bunch of trash from a lowly and small nation, actually dreams of entering the Black Moon Headquarters as well, and even claims himself to be the ‘number one genius’ of whatever Rivernorth Generation… Hahahaha! My teeth are really falling off from laughing here. You so-called geniuses of your small nations, in my Divine Phoenix Empire, are not even fit to be ants. I even feel embarrassed for all of you.”
An incomparably arrogant voice rang out from the back of the crowd. Every word of his speech was incomparably ear-piercing, as he insulted all of the profound practitioners of the six nations. The people concentrated at this place were mostly from the six nations, and when they heard this voice, there wasn’t a single one of them who did not turn to look out of anger. However, when they saw the person who said these words, their anger which was about to burst out was instantly tightly blocked off by something, as they stood there stunned, not daring to shout out even the least bit of their voice.
This person was donned in a set of flame-like red clothes, and an emblem of a phoenix with its wings spread out was embroidered on his chest… No matter the set of red clothes or the emblem, both of them had proven this person’s identity. Impressively, he was a disciple of the Divine Phoenix Sect!