Nodding his head, Shun Long cupped his hands before he stood up.
Originally, he had come to the 'Alchemists' Guild' to collect the spirit stones from his pills, and see whether or not the rank 4 'White spirit lotus' that Jin Wenling had told him about had arrived.
Coincidentally, meeting with Zhao Lan today, he also ended up learning about the Holy sect and the 'Alchemists' Guild's' offer, but in his subconscious, Shun Long wouldn't accept to become someone else's follower.
Besides, with the 'Monarch's Hourglass' and the foggy place inside the 'Stone of Time', he didn't think of himself as being inferior to anyone else.
Seeing Shun Long standing up, Zhao Lan nodded his head before he shot a stealthy glance at Jin Wenling.
The old woman nodded her head at Zhao Lan, before she looked at Shun Long and smiled gently as she said
''Little brother Shun, let this old woman accompany you.''
Nodding his head, Shun Long didn't decline, as he then followed Jin Wenling out of the herb garden, back towards the main lobby where the 'Alchemists' Guild' sold its pills.
Just like the last time, Shun Long noticed that this place was just as crowded as before, as people dressed in many different attires had formed long lines in front of the counters, queuing up to purchase pills.
Jin Wenling's ignored the queuing crowd, as she directly led Shun Long towards the largest counter where three rank 3 bronze grade alchemists were in charge of.
The moment that the young rank 3 bronze grade alchemists who were sitting behind the counter saw Jin Wenling, they hurriedly stood up and bowed as they greeted her hurriedly
''Grand Elder!''
Jin Wenling nodded her head at the 3 young men, before her old, wrinkled hand reached at a hidden spot behind the counter, where she grabbed a black spatial ring and sent her spirit sense into it.
A pure white lotus suddenly appeared in her hand, with white droplets of dew that were dancing on its petals.
Seeing the white lotus in Jin Wenling's hands, Shun Long immediately recognized it as the 'White spirit lotus'!
This was one of the 2 main ingredients that he was missing to refine the rank 4 'Internal reconstruction pill'.
Jin Wenling then handed the white lotus to Shun Long as she said with a smile on her face
''Little brother Shun, this is the rank 4 'White spirit lotus' that you wanted.
With the 30 percent discount that you have by being a rank 3 silver grade alchemist, it will cost you 90.000 low-grade spirit stones.''
Shun Long received the white lotus, and without minding the high price, he placed it inside the herb garden in the 'Stone of Time' without any hesitation.
Although the price of most rank 4 medicinal herbs usually didn't exceed the 50.000 low-grade spirit stones, there were some rare herbs like the 'White spirit lotus' whose price could go much higher than expected.
Jin Wenling had that same amiable smile as she saw Shun Long taking the 'White spirit lotus', before she waved her hand and another spatial ring appeared on it.
Handing the spatial ring at Shun Long, the old woman then said
''Little brother Shun, here are 2 million and 160.000 low-grade spirit stones from the pills that little brother sold the last time.
Our 'Alchemists' Guild' sold the pills for 2 million and 500.000 low-grade spirit stones. After deducting the 10 percent fee that the guild takes from the pills' sales along with the 90.000 low-grade spirit stones for the rank 4 'White spirit lotus' that you needed, this was the remaining amount.''
Shun Long nodded his head with a calm expression on his face, as he accepted the spatial ring before and sent his spiritual strength inside it.
2 million and 160.000 low-grade spirit stones were stacked on top of each other, piling up a small mountain.
''Being an alchemist is indeed the best way to earn spirit stones.''
Shun Long thought to himself, as he placed the 2 million spirit stones inside the foggy place in the 'Stone of Time'.
After advancing to the peak of rank 9 in Heaven grade and purifying his 81 qi balls inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass', Shun Long had already spent nearly 5 million low-grade spirit stones.
Although he had already acquired almost 45 million from Hao Ping and Xue Zhilan's spatial rings, he knew that the 'Monarch's Hourglass' would only get more demanding in the future, and the 'Alchemists' Guild' was the best place to earn spirit stones right now.
The rank 3 bronze grade alchemists next to Jin Wenling, felt their feet shaking when they heard the heaven-shaking amount of spirit stones that the man in front of them had earned.
''What kind of pills did he sell to get so many spirit stones?!''
Of course, seeing the 3-star silver grade badge on Shun Long's chest, they could only felt envy inside their hearts.
After all, although 2 million spirit stones wasn't too much to the current Shun Long, even to a rank 1 silver grade alchemist it would be an enormous amount, let alone to rank 3 bronze grade alchemists.
Jin Wenling looked at Shun Long with a curious look in her eyes as she said
''I have to say little brother Shun, that your pills really made an impact. Almost all of them were sold out on the first day, and many people have been asking for them for the past month. Are you willing to sell some more of them, or perhaps sell the alchemy recipes to our guild directly? If you are in a need of spirit stones, our guild can definitely help you cover your expenses.
You should also seriously think, over elder brother Zhao's offer. There can only be good things for you if you choose to be nurtured by our guild. Even 10 million spirit stones wouldn't be a problem to ask for by then.''
Jin Wenling then lowered her voice as she whispered to Shun Long with a crafty look in her eyes
''Additionally, there will be many geniuses who are coming to our 'Heaven's Dome city'. If you go to the House of Rankings, you can get to know some of them and build good relationships.''
Jin Wenling looked at Shun Long with an eager look, but to her disappointment, Shun Long didn't give her the answer she wanted.
After placing 20 more bottles of pills for sale, Shun Long then bade farewell to Jin Wenling, as he moved to the entrance lobby where Liu Mei was waiting for him, with the black panther next to her.
Seeing the white-veiled young woman next to the black panther, a small smile finally appeared on Shun Long's face.
The truth was, that the pressure from the 'Alchemists' Guild' that Shun Long felt was akin to a mountain.
Even though it was said that the 'Alchemists' Guild' was different from the other powers in the 'Heaven's Dome city', in the end, they still wanted to nurture their own alchemists.
Although there didn't seem to be any problems right now, Shun Long understood, that Zhao Lan still wanted him to accept his offer.
Little Black who seemed to have sensed his master's emotions, had a serious look on his face as he then said
''Master, there is no reason to worry about anything. Even if I can't beat a peak rank 9 Dao King just yet, I am still confident in running away!
Hmph, let alone entering a so-called 'Holy sect', even the immortal sects had trembled in front of master and me in the past!
Becoming someone else's follower? What a joke!''
Shun Long smiled lightly when he heard Little Black's words, while in his mind, he had already decided to enter seclusion and breakthrough to the Spirit realm after returning back to the inn.
With the combat experience that he and Liu Mei had gotten in the past month, the only things that Shun Long lacked was to temper his spirit and comprehend the Dao of Time.
Liu Mei stared deeply at Shun Long's eyes as she asked in a concerned tone
''Long-ge, are you alright?''
Nodding his head, Shun Long held Liu Mei's hand as he replied smilingly
''Mei'er, let's go.''
Liu Mei didn't ask anything else, as she sat behind Shun Long on the black panther's back and placed her hands on Shun Long's waist, before the black panther shot towards the western part of the city.
At the same time, inside the herb garden, Zhao Lan and the other gold grade alchemists looked at Jin Wenling who had just returned.
With a light smile on his face, Zhao Lan looked at the elderly woman and asked
''Wenling, did that kid agree?''