While pulling out the middle of the three offered chairs, Nox scanned the large but mostly barren room. Much like the hallways that led to this part of the White Stone Palace, the room lacked any usual displays of wealth.
As a Merchant, Nox had spent many hours sitting in gaudy rooms with artwork, swords, and even relics proudly on display to try and show off the owner's vast wealth and prestige.
Nox had no respect for any of that, so in a way, she could appreciate the lackluster room that didn't try to put on any pretenses. However, a total lack of wealth on display did beg the question, were the Redclaws really this poor?
This might be a trap. Nox cursed as her eyes flickered to the red maple leaf earrings dangling from Roselyn's ears from black chains. They were the true prize here, and all Nox really cared about. Even if this was a trap, so long as she could escape with those, it would have been worth it.
The chairs on either side of Nox were pulled aside, filling the barren room with the screech of wood scraping stone as her two fellow Merchants took their seat. She exchanged a brief nod with Hammond, whose massive frame made the normal-sized seat look like one for a child, and she mostly ignored Lucius as he wasn't in on her little plan. Sadly, Hammond had to be, as she needed his spatial affinity for it to work.
"Why are you so late?" Roselyn asked, breaking the short silence that had blanketed the room. "This meeting was scheduled for midday, yet it's near sundown. Not very professional for our first meeting, is it?"
"None of your business—" Lucius started, but Nox stamped his foot under the table to silence him.
"Apologies, we were deep in a rift until a few hours ago, and due to some unforeseen circumstances," Nox crushed Lucius's foot harder, "We stayed inside longer than planned and then used a costly spatial array to get over here as quickly as possible. I hope you will overlook our tardiness."
"Fine, I will overlook it this time," Roselyn sighed and stopped looking so aggravated, "Well, with that matter out of the way, I believe it's time for introductions. We already know you three are merchants hailing from the Tainted Cloud Sect west of here. Anything else we should know?"
Nox exchanged a glance with Hammond and Lucius. As expected, neither seemed interested in entertaining the woman's curiosity.
"Nothing springs to mind other than our names. As you know, my name is Nox, and my two acquaintances are Hammond and Lucius." Nox replied, "However, we prefer to keep our capabilities and exploits to ourselves. You never know when one might find a dagger in their back out here."
"Fair enough," Roselyn said as she stood up from her chair, "Then allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Roselyn, and I represent the Ashfallen Trading Company as does Diana to my right here."
"The Ashfallen Trading Company?" Nox raised a brow, "Never heard of them. Do they conduct business elsewhere?"
And why are you using a fake name? Nox wondered.
"You have your secrets, and I'll keep mine," Roselyn laughed, "But I guess you could say that. We have a strong partnership with the Redclaw family, hence Elder Margret's presence in this meeting, and there is one other sponsor I should introduce."
Nox briefly glanced at the stern Redclaw woman before noticing a portal suddenly manifesting within the room that even seemed to take Hammond by surprise.
A man wearing a long, flowing white robe stepped through the distorted rift. Much like his hair, a stream of silver slowly flowed around his arms.
Someone from the Silverspire family? Nox's eyes widened. How had she never heard about this Ashfallen Trading Company if they have ties to such an influential family?
"This is Sebastian Silverspire. He represents one of our main sponsors," Roselyn gestured to the man who silently took his place beside Elder Margret. Roselyn then sat down, "Now, with introductions out of the way, let's get down to business."
Roselyn waved her hand over the table. Her silver spatial ring flashed, and four porcelain pill bottles appeared.
"Each bottle contains eleven of our mid-range pills," Roselyn picked up one of the bottles and placed it closer to Nox, "This one contains pills that are guaranteed to help with enlightenment of the Dao."
Lucius snorted, "Yeah right."
Roselyn tilted her head and scrutinized Lucius. "If the fact these pills are backed by two noble families of the Blood Lotus Sect isn't enough to convince you, then feel free to try one for yourself to prove my claim. Free of charge, of course."
Nox decided to take Roselyn up on that offer by leaning over and carefully picking up the pill bottle, popped the cork, and was surprised by the fruity smell. "How much would one of these pill bottles go for?"
"All of our mid-range pills go for 1 high-grade spirit stone or thirty Dragon Crowns," Roselyn replied.
"Somewhat cheap for spirit tier pills," Hammond noted as he leaned in closer to give the pills a smell, "They smell rather pure as well."
Roselyn placed the other pill bottles before Hammond and Lucius, "While Nox tries that pill, why don't you two try the neural root and deep meditation pills?"
"What about those ones?" Lucius gestured with his chin to the remaining porcelain bottles on Roselyn's side of the table.
"This last bottle allows a cultivator to pick flowers without harming the plant. Very useful for alchemists and should sell well, but harder to show you its value here."
"Interesting," Nox admitted. Even though she hadn't come here with much expectations for these pills, things had gotten far more interesting. Not only did the pills have unheard-of effects, but this whole thing became a lot more serious with the involvement of the Silverspires. In her mind, Roselyn had gone from a cocky alchemist to a mysterious figure that represented this elusive Ashfallen Trading Company.
Tilting the bottle to the side, Nox retrieved one of the enlightenment pills that rolled out the hole and popped it into her mouth. Hammond and Lucius followed her lead with the other pills, and the room went silent.
Closing her eyes and focusing within, Nox made sure to suppress the pill with her Qi and observe it closely. If it turned out to be poisonous, she could stop it before it spread.
As the pill's outer layer slowly dissolved in her soul fire, Nox noted the lack of poisonous ingredients, so she allowed the pill to spread its effect throughout her body with some caution.
Alright, let's see. This pill apparently helps with enlightenment, so I should begin meditation.
Nox drifted into a half-state of meditation while keeping some sense of her real-world surroundings. After spending years roaming the wilderness and away from any type of civilization, she had developed this crucial skill. There wasn't always someone to watch her back while she recovered her Qi in the wilderness surrounded by monsters.
Opening her consciousness to the heavens, streams of Qi carrying their profound whispers flooded the dark space. Nox had never been one to chase enlightenment or try to learn the Dao of another affinity as it wasn't guaranteed power and, in her case, a waste of time. Some had a natural ability to focus and understand heaven's whispers, while others could spend years attempting to comprehend them to no avail.
Let's focus on darkness to test if this pill helps, as I have some understanding of the darkness Dao. Nox shifted through the myriad of Qi streams and mentally latched onto one of pure darkness that spiraled alongside a stream of light. As usual, even the darkness Qi she was so close to refused to divulge its secrets, but something changed.
A wave of power passed through her consciousness like a tide and calmed the chorus of whispers that sounded like a thousand people talking at once, making them incoherent into something more... understandable.
No way, it actually works?
Nox found it easier to drown out the other Qi stream's whispers and focus on the Dao of darkness. It began to tell her things, a little too fast for her to remember everything, but she felt her understanding of the darkness Dao increasing.
And then, as quickly as the tide came, it left. Causing Nox's consciousness to once more be flooded with a thousand whispers. Her eyes snapped open, and she reached for the pill bottle to try and get another one.
"Next one won't be free," Roselyn's harsh tone made Nox pause and glare at the blonde girl across the table. She had some money to spend, but would it really be worth it?
The effect was incredible, but with its short duration of a minute at most, I would need to go through an entire bottle to get any meaningful enlightenment. It's not worth wasting a high-grade spirit stone for.
"Incredible!" Hammond's shout drew Nox's attention. The giant man was standing up, doing a weird dance, and flexing his fingers.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Nox snapped, deciding to take her annoyance out on her fellow Merchant.
"This neural root pill is fantastic. I can control every inch of my body with perfect accuracy," Hammond laughed as he glanced down at his trousers, "Even that part..."
Nox gripped his shoulders and forced Hammond to take a seat. There was an awkward pause as everyone processed what Hammond had been implying, but thankfully, Roselyn seemed clueless as she spoke up.
"The neural root pill is perfect for directing the flow of Qi around your body and can also be used while fighting to increase your reaction speed and accuracy. Meanwhile, the enlightenment pill works very well in combination with the Deep Meditation pill as it extends the short duration."
Nox glanced at Lucius as he would have been the one to try this Deep Meditation pill, and to her surprise, she saw the man with a peaceful look on his face to the point she wondered if he was asleep. This was bizarre as Lucius was even better at keeping one eye open while meditating than her, so his guard shouldn't be down like this.
Switching her focus back to Roselyn while keeping her guard up on behalf of Lucius, Nox asked, "And how many bottles of these pills do you have?"
"We are willing to sell thirty bottles of each mid-range pill to you today," Roselyn replied, "For a total of a hundred and twenty high-grade spirit stones."
Nox took a moment to ponder.
Although these pills have interesting effects and are being sold for a reasonable price, I have no interest in coming back here to pick up another batch of pills to sell. That's not how I like to conduct business. One rare artifact from a rift will net me more than I can sell this entire batch of pills for, and constantly returning to a place makes me far too predictable.
Nox drummed her fingers on the desk, and the sound of her silver spatial rings clinking filled the room. She had enemies. There were other Merchants out there willing to hunt her down and steal her inventory rather than try and venture into rifts to get it themselves. Which is why she preferred to always stay on the move. Hunting for the next rift to delve or monster to harvest.
It's not like I came here for any darn pills in the first place. Nox mused as her eyes briefly landed on the red maple earrings. Ever since she had first met Stella, who was now mysteriously going by the alias of Roselyn, she had taken an interest in those earrings. They were easily a top-tier artifact; after experiencing their power, she wanted them for herself.
"We can negotiate a deal later," Nox smiled as she paused her fingers, "Do you have anything else to show us?"
"Sure. So far, I have shown our mass-produced pills, but we have some more expensive pills that might interest any wealthy clients you know of back in the Tainted Cloud Sect." Roselyn waved her hand, and many ornate wooden boxes appeared.
Snapping four of them open, Roselyn revealed a single pill within the confines of the well-made boxes.
"Only one pill?" Hammond asked as he loomed over the table, "How much would you charge for this one?"
"A hundred high-grade spirit stones per one," Roselyn replied thoughtfully, "And I will once again allow you to try each of them for free."
Hammond licked his lips, "How generous."
"A hundred for a single pill?" Lucius narrowed his eyes, "That's the going rate for a Profound or even an Earth-grade pill. What could these possibly do to justify such a high price?"
Roselyn pushed one of the ornate boxes over to Lucius with a flick of spatial Qi, "This one permanently improves the quality of your spiritual root."
"That's fucking nonsense," Hammond slammed the table, making all the boxes jump a little into the air, and hair-thin cracks spread across the wooden table's surface.
"Then our business is done," Diana spoke up for the first time, reaching over to take back the box.
"Not so fast," Lucius snatched the box and retrieved the pill, "If what you say is true, then this is certainly worth the hefty price tag and careful consideration."
Nox watched as Lucius consumed the expensive pill and closed his eyes.
"Idiot," Hammond sneered, "Improving one's spirit root is near impossible."
Nox ignored Hammond and watched intently.
If the pill really worked, that further enforced her plans to run and never look back. If knowledge of her carrying pills that could permanently improve a cultivator's spirit root got out, she wouldn't even be able to escape to another continent. Merchants would hunt her across the realm to get their hands on it and learn of the source, and then they would slit her throat to leave no trace behind.
Lucius suddenly shot up from his seat, sending the chair hurtling backward. His polished armor began to glow white and illuminated the entire room.
Everyone was on edge as Lucius raised his hand and stared effortlessly into the blinding white light.
"It really worked," He muttered as he rotated his hand and glared into the light with a dumbfounded expression. He then lowered his glowing hand and began to eye up the two boxes before Nox and Hammond containing the spirit root improvement pill with greed.
Nox shoved him aside and quickly ate her own pill before he got to it. She didn't need to close her eyes or meditate to feel the overwhelming feeling that immediately spread throughout her body.
In shock, she summoned a flame of pure darkness to her hand and marveled at how fast the purity had improved.
"What's next?" Lucius demanded as he stopped glowing like a walking sun.
"Well, we have one that purges your heart demons, and this ointment enhances a person's beauty," Roselyn said while pointing to the boxes and a jar containing a pinkish cream on her side of the table, "However, I think the next pill you guys should try is this one."
Roselyn used telekinesis to push three boxes across the table.
Nox and Lucius extracted the pill from the box and gulped down the provided pill without a second thought, but Hammond seemed to hesitate.
"What does this pill do?" Hammond inquired as Nox bathed the pill in soul flames within her stomach.
"It's one of our strongest poisons," Roselyn said casually as she summoned three porcelain pill bottles, "And here are the antidotes—"
It was a fucking trap all along. Nox cursed as she viciously fought the potent poison festering in her stomach with her soul flames.
A portal snapped into reality before Roselyn's face, and Hammond's massive hands reached through and effortlessly tore the red maple earrings from Roselyn's ears, causing her to scream out in pain.
Everything happened in slow motion as Nox surged Qi into her senses.
She hadn't even needed to exchange a single nod or word with her fellow Merchants for them to act accordingly. Even Lucius, who was unaware of the plan to seize the earrings, was quick on the uptake as he flashed the room with his light Qi the moment the portal before Roselyn's face snapped closed.
While everyone was blinded, Hammond quickly began tearing a rift through space for them to escape through while Nox absorbed all the pill bottles and boxes left on the table into her spatial rings—including the supposed antidote, which she didn't trust at all.
Other than being poisoned, everything was going perfectly. With this, she got the artifact she was after and a load of surprisingly powerful pills for free. There was just the slight issue of betraying this mysterious Ashfallen Trading Company, which seemed to have ties to the Silverspire family, but what was one more target on her back? It's not like she planned to stick around here for much longer...
"Rift is ready!" Hammond yelled—his hands were wide apart, and between them was a crackling doorway through space that seemed to lead to somewhere out in the wilderness. It was incredibly unstable compared to his usual portals, and the large man seemed to be wrestling to keep it open.
It must be that strange presence he mentioned earlier suppressing his spatial techniques.
Wasting no time, Nox dashed over and could feel Lucius close behind. She wasn't all that worried about anyone in the room even attempting to stop them as all three of them were at the peak of the Star Core Realm with far more combat experience than two girls, an old Redclaw Elder, and a Silverspire servant.
"You fucking dare take that which my father gifted me!" Roselyn yelled from across the room, and then, to Nox's confusion, the stone wall in front of her exploded. A tall humanoid figure with a black skull for a face and strange deer antlers emerged from the newly created hole in the wall and blurred toward Hammond, who couldn’t react in time as he was keeping open the rift.
Hammond screamed as the creature that was a ghost to Nox's spiritual senses raised its spindly limbs that ended in claws and cleaved through Hammond and the portal, slicing them in two with a single attack.
Despite the sudden and gruesome attack, Nox had kept her eyes on the prize. She dived onto the floor to salvage Hammond's severed hand, still grasping one of the red maple leaf earrings.
Where the fuck is the other one?
Placing the earring into her spatial ring for safe keeping, Nox was left staring down a void monster that had so easily torn Hammond to shreds without a proper escape plan and desperately searching for the other earring.
Well, shit.
