Chapter 27

Hand in hand we as in Keqing and myself entered the richest district of Liyue. The strictly Cultivation/Martial Arts district that held the shops and smaller clans of both forces that resided within Liyue itself.

Most of the clans in reality had larger compounds built into one of Liyue's countless mountains and was viciously defended by said clan with their large number of fighters and practitioners. But not all clans had the sheer numbers or their strongest member of the clan wasn't even at tier three of either Cultivation or Martial Arts.

In which case they would stay here in Liyue under Ningguang's protection with her Millelith and the aegis of the Jade Chamber.

"They are looking at us!" Keqing hissed in some embarrassment as more than one young man looked heartbroken at seeing the two us holding hands as Keqing was actually rather famous in Liyue for her talent and beauty. 

And hearing Keqing's adorable gripe I squeezed her hand with a blinding smile crossing my face as I chuckled and said. "Let the single dogs watch, I like holding your hand... Do you not?" I asked with a bit of teasing that made Keqing look at me with a bit of panic before she pouted at seeing my teasing smile.

 After a minute we refocused and I asked. "So I would like to get some beginner sets for alchemy and array creation. Any idea where I can get that Keqing?" 

She gave me a sad look making my face twitch and seeing that she actually smiled at getting one over me as she explained. "Although array and artifact creation guides for beginners do exist due to the Cloudy Refining Sect putting out books to encourage more makers." She took a breath and with a frown, she continued explaining. 

"Alchemy on the other hand here in Liyue is almost entirely passed down through apprenticeship scams where higher tier alchemists treat their apprentices as slaves to mass produce low-ranked pills to Liyue's market and the Alchemist's own pockets." 

I shrugged at hearing that and then after making a humming noise of thought I asked evenly. "Then we just have to buy or get recipes for the pills and elixirs. I don't need an alchemist when I can make machines that will scan the materials for age and their level of spiritual energy and then do the whole process."

Keqing gave me that dull face she always gave me when I said something that was going to upend Liyue's belief system but either way she shook her head with a wry smile and said. "Alright... Then in that case let's go to the foreign section. The Sage's of Sumeru make the best pills in the world and are willing to sell old recipes that have been improved upon and are no longer in use."

I blinked hearing her mention Sumeru and as we walked through the luxurious district with people of power commonly within sight I asked Keqing. "So I know Liyue has the Chasm and the Pit. But what horrible catastrophe has befallen Sumeru as all the nations are kinda fucked." 

Keqing laid a hand on my stomach with her face going stern and I realized I had said the wrong thing as her face twitched before her face smoothed over and she said flatly. "Sumeru is already half destroyed by the endless desert tide of monsters. The Everblight strangles and devours the lifeforce of the jungles of Sumeru and they are losing worse than most nations against the darkness as they literally only have two gods in the land that survive to this day..."

Keqing's face was stern as she said. "Don't ask any more in case a Sumerian citizen hears. As they are still a proud people whether they be a warrior or researcher." 

I slowly nodded as Keqing took my wrist into her hand and pulled me deeper into the district until we entered the Sumerian side of the foreign business district and I blinked at the abrupt change in Chinese-Liyue building style to the Arabian/Indian style of building used in Sumeru architecture.

But her previous words tingled at my mind... Only two gods were surviving? Was Rukkhadevata still alive? 

My lover brought me to one of the larger buildings and I saw a sign that read. [Akademiya Emporium] And as we walked in, I blinked as I realized there was some real spatial fuckery going on in here... As the building outside was like fifteen to twenty meters tall with its domes and other bits that jutted out.

But inside the store I was almost stunned at the modern-looking store that was two large floors tall with a moving escalator staircase going between each floor and arrayed all over were large bookcases which were sealed off with glowing seals that held behind the seals vials and objects of value that we could buy.

"Alright, let's find a teller." I spoke as I walked towards the back of the large store with Keqing following behind me with her arms crossed under her chest as she looked around at all the materials, books, and otherwise treasures that were on display.

Sitting in the back of the store was a trio of three well dressed ladies and a single man but flanking them were two strong men with Arabian-style desert wear and with large scimitars drawn and ready that were laying on their waists as they sat on raised platforms to watch the store.

"Hello." I started off as I started speaking to the unoccupied male teller and he gave a salesman smile and before he could start his spiel I continued and began listing on what I wanted. "Hello, I was hoping I could get shown your alchemy cauldrons, along with any books you have on alchemy materials, your recipes for sale, and other tools needed in the profession." 

His lips twitched and he gave his coworkers a look of despair before he smiled and said 'happily' "Yes sir, please follow me!" 

And so he led me to the cauldrons first and I frowned slightly at seeing how all cauldrons past the lowest of tier in cauldrons had arrays in them that made them hold their spiritual energy in and prevent the medicinal energies within the system from dissipating for when you are making pills etc.

Which meant... That most likely I needed to have arrays already ready for when I tried to automate an alchemy factory. "I will take two of these mid-tier cauldrons, please show me the recipes then." I said after a moment of thought as I planned to take apart the cauldrons carefully to learn what arrays were in there. How they were different from the other and most importantly what they shared.

And seeing me buy the cauldrons the employee actually looked happy and I realized he was certainly going to make some amount of commission on this so I let him enthusiastically introduce everything to me as he brought me over to the recipe library. "Customer, do you have any requests for recipes?"

My lips twitched seeing the prices of the recipes as each recipe followed the logic of cultivation as they carried recipes for pills and elixirs that went from tier 1-4 which was the general level of strength that 'mortals' got to in our limited lifespan with tier four cultivators being like Ningguang in being a Nascent Soul.

But even tier 1 recipes were five medium-tier spirit stones... Which meant that the damned single recipe cost more than my fucking house by ten damned times!

'It makes sense I mean... Each Recipe is quite literally a license to print your own damned money in making pills.' I thought before I looked at the guy and I said with a wry smile. "Do you guys do bulk discounts?" 

The employee's face twitched before he said uneasily. "Which force are you part of? How many recipes between tiers do you want?" 

I did some mental gymnastics and then I answered frankly. "I am a member of the Liyue Qixing along with the Yuheng beside me obviously... But yeah I want probably thirty recipes for the first three ranks so ninety total recipes." 

The reason I wanted the bulk discount was simple. The price jump between each rank was fucking high! A tier 1 was five medium tier spirit stones, a tier 2 was fifty... And a tier 3 was fifty high-tier spirit stones!

With a single high-class spirit stone being worth a hundred medium ones... Reeee! And my machines weren't able to directly mine up high-tier spirit stones due to their radioactivity level fucking with my current machine's sensors!

The employee bit their lower lip and said. "I need to ask my superior, so please wait here as this is obviously a large purchase and she is the one who can discuss a discount and needs to finalize such a sale anyway."