Spirit Pavilion

'This city's valuation of spirits is so messed up.' Deon thought to himself as he exhaled after looking around once again.

After receiving the payment of ten 3-Star drop spirits for the five demon tattoo spirits, he departed as quickly as possible, taking a random exit from the black palace store and sprinting through the empty alleyway. He continued to run for a full 15 minutes, constantly looking around, until he felt assured that nobody had followed him.

"Haha, I earned so much profit so easily! I wonder…how much is a demon type spirit recipe worth?"

Since he didn't know, and since it might be insanely expensive again, Deon decided to find out. Terros had informed him of multiple places within this city which dealt with demon spirits. Naturally, they all belonged to the demonic path.

It was an open secret that demonic path organisations operated in this city. The unspoken rule was that these groups were allowed to exist, so long as they were discrete with their business and did not course any trouble for the righteous path within the city.

He did not return to the black palace, but instead visited a group called the Underground Merchant Sect. As the name implied, they operated below the ground. The public entrance into their establishment was located within a small shop which masqueraded as a low level righteous path store, but was actually just a front for the Underground Merchant Sect.

Within this underground sect, Deon met an old man.

"1,200 3-Star drop spirits, non-negotiable."

"Non negotiable? Not even if I'm willing to exchange for another demon spirit recipe?" Deon asked the old man calmly, believing that he would change his mind.

"Non negotiable!" Unexpectedly, the old man glared at him and almost yelled. Deon was stunned, until hearing his next words.

"Demon spirit recipes are notoriously arduous to appraise, unless you're willing to hand over the recipe first and wait as our shamans practise the refinement, then forget it. Also, you have to supply the ingredients yourself!"

Well, that was a failure. Deon also enquired about any demon type spirits they were selling, but that was also extortionate at 100 3-Star drop spirits.

After checking in the few stores that dealt with demon type spirits, he quickly came to understand that whilst he managed to make a good profit on those tattoo spirits, there was really no set rate for demon spirits. They were all stupidly expensive though.

In the end, Deon gave up on trying to buy a demon spirit. Instead, he left the demonic path behind, making his way towards a righteous path store called 'Spirit Pavilion', a place that Terros praised for their anonymity.

The Spirit Pavilion was a group only slightly weaker than the Trading House. It was one of the three large sects in Flat Mount City, with all three being large stores located in the centre of the city.

The Spirit Pavilion was a sect and a store in one, based within a giant 12 floor high pavilion. The magnificent building towered over the surrounding well-maintained gardens, giving it a peaceful atmosphere, making customers and sect members alike feel at ease as they entered.

Deon took a deep breath before going in. He was only willing to attempt this plan because of the Spirit Pavilion's reputation for allowing its clients to remain completely anonymous. He was going to need this anonymity if he wanted to leave this exchange with his life in tact. This was definitely not going to be safe, even if this store had a good reputation…

When Deon entered the pavilion and revealed the contents of his exchange to the ground floor store clark, he was immediately sent to see a high ranking elder.

This elder was unable to deal with his business, so he was redirected to another elder…

"Th-th-this is the suffering for time spirit?!"

Deon smiled wryly. He was now facing the fourth elder of the store that had been sent to appraise his spirit set.

As for the spirits he was selling this time? It was the five mythril class body tempering spirits and the platinum class suffering for time spirit.

Originally, he wanted Shi to sell these spirits, they even agreed to split the profits with two thirds going to Deon and one third to her. However, after Shi investigated further, she realised that this deal would be too risky, even for her. She was unwilling to engage in this business any longer, leaving Deon to navigate the trade himself.

The first elder had no idea what the suffering for time spirit was, but the second, third and fourth all understood…they just couldn't believe it and kept fetching someone above them. Thankfully, the fourth elder was someone who was qualified to handle this transaction.

"Sir, may I ask how much you would like for this complete set?" The late stage 3-Star old man asked with bated breath, unable to peel his eyes away from the mythril class spirits and the platinum suffering for time spirit.

With this collection, the body tempering spirits up to platinum class could be used in a very short period of time…and even the mythril class spirits were present, increasing the value of this exchange to a new level.

"I wonder if you are able to procure any of these ingredients for me?" Deon slowly handed the elder a list. This was a list of everything that Terros was unable to find for him.

The elder scanned through Deon's list of materials and narrowed his eyes, taking a second glance at Deon and swallowing slightly.

Deon had no idea right now, but this elder was actually feeling somewhat fearful towards him. He could see that Deon was using some concealment spirits, but he didn't dare to examine Deon or even the spirits themselves with his investigation methods…he could see that Deon had the figure of a child, but the fourth elder did not believe that he was a child.

'Is this customer a 4-Star shaman lord genius that became a shaman as a child and was given lifespan extension spirits to maintain his youth?! To casually take out these spirits as if he's only trying to get rid of 1-Star clutter, I fear that he may truly be an esteemed 4-Star powerhouse!'

The elder swallowed, then showed a slightly forced smile as he said:

"Lord, I'm afraid that I am unable to obtain 17 of these materials…junior is ashamed to recognise only six of them."

Deon paused for a moment as the elder's words entered his ears. With his intelligence and his understanding of shaman society, he quickly deduced why this old man was calling him 'lord' and referring to himself as a junior.

'The old fool seriously thinks that I'm a 4-Star shaman lord?'

Deon's mind became blank for a moment, before he realised that this was an opportunity. Shamans at the rank of 4-Star were referred to as shaman lords, they had a prestige that surpassed 3-Star shamans by hundreds of times. A single 4-Star shaman lord could send this entire city into turmoil if they so felt like it, no shaman below the rank of 4-Star would dare to disrespect a shaman lord!

'Hahaha! This is perfect, I couldn't ask for a better situation! Ok then…time to act!'

"Hmm, which 17?" Deon asked.

"These ones lord." The elder quickly pointed to 17 materials whilst Deon nodded slowly. Deon had guessed that he wouldn't find some of these, it was normal that he wouldn't find everything he was looking for.

"Fine then, I will exchange for these materials in the listed quantities. You can make up the rest with any interesting spirit recipes you have, and by telling me where to obtain any of the other materials, if at all, in this city." Deon spoke with a tone of indifference, as if he didn't really care much about this exchange.

He was acting the part of a shaman lord in order to reap the greatest rewards from the risk.

The elder nodded seriously.

"Lord, it will take me a few minutes to collect these resources, I hope you don't mind."

"No issue!" Deon spoke calmly.

When the elder hurriedly left the room, Deon exhaled as the tension left his body.

'I might be overdoing it, but if I can leave this place alive, I'll have most of everything I wanted!'

A few minutes later, the old man returned. He actually handed a spirit to Deon that he didn't recognise, but Deon quickly realised that it was a storage type spirit.

However…

'Shit, this is a 3-Star storage spirit! I can't open this, I'll die if I try to activate a 3-Star spirit! No, the main problem is that this elder thinks I'm a 4-Star shaman lord, how the hell do I explain having difficulty with a 3-Star spirit?!'

His mind raced rapidly. It felt like an eternity had passed for Deon before he found a solution, though in truth, it was barely a couple of seconds.

'This will skewer my image somewhat, but I suppose this works too…'

Whoosh!

Deon showed the grandeur of a shaman lord as he waved his hand casually, sending out a shockingly evil looking shadow that felt as if it was trying to restrain an even more terrifying aura.

In truth, Deon was releasing the aura of his ancient demon spirit as much as possible in order to create this strained effect. He only used the shadow to grasp a hold of the storage spirit, pulling it into his dark mask with a flash. He did all of this as quickly as possible whilst making it look like a casual, unhurried action.

Since he was unable to open this storage spirit to check its contents here and now, he could only double down on his act. It was a risk, after all, he had just revealed the aura of a terrifying demon spirit, but if everything went according to plan, this elder would not dare to say anything about it.

After all, who in their right mind would offend a demonic path shaman lord?