novelraw Chapter 756 - 755 - Helion Trading Guild
Chapter 756 - 755 - Helion Trading Guild
Sects were often the greatest powers in the Heaven Realm. It was due to their ability to churn out powerful cultivators on a massive scale but empires and kingdoms could match them as the Sanctuary Empire had, yet there were guilds that could stand alone as well.
Alchemists had tried and once had a separate guild that ruled over the profession as a whole. The best experts had once been solely under them but the Fiend War had ravaged them along with others.
The various professions operated in a similar fashion but alchemists had the most powerful with refiners a far second. Refiners for weapons and armor often had great power on their own if they reached the Heaven Realm but their guild could not be as cohesive due to the variety of products.
All alchemists had to worry about were pills. Elixirs were no contest as the gift had to be inborn without exception while making pills could make some progress even as a mediocre alchemist.
The war shattered that guild to pieces. The Fiends intentionally broke it up as pills were a great threat as the best support cultivators needed.
Other professions had limits or took so many materials to carry around that they were easier to disrupt and break but alchemists could set up anywhere. So long as they could grow their own herbs or get the rare one now and then, they could turn the tide.
Thus, killing and ravaging the alchemist guild to the ground was a massive priority for the Fiends. They succeeded and the advancing battleline made it impossible for a narrow focus guild to rise back up.
Thus, a rather successful group of traders made a wise decision. They would facilitate all the professions with raw materials to finished products via auctions or direct sales. No matter what branch fell, the main guild would exists as a process for all of them to come together.
Thus the Helion Trading Guild rose to the level of a supreme power but they stayed neutral between the political machinations around them. They also shrewdly worked with a group of information brokers that later founded the Wangluo Syndicate.
By letting a separate group run all the information, it made it easier to avoid entanglements. Information was critical but it varied wildly based on who was seeking what.
Thus the main Helion Trading Guild was not a fixed place exactly but a moving group with flying artifacts of massive proportions. It was essentially a floating fortress but it could not attack and move at the same time.
The core of high grade professions was always kept safe in the flying castle and their profits were churned by the artifact yet they never ran out. It kept the Fiends from getting at them again because there were always at least 3 to 4 big sub branches that meant there was not a single target.
The fortress had been attacked but the Alliance knew it was key to their survival and because it could move, saving it was much easier. The fortress could move towards help and the Fiends could do little about it unless they took it over.
Extremely strict admissions were accepted by all, even Shard Tiers, as the guild was that important to the Alliance.
As a way of compensation, they held 3 massive auctions in a year. It was always peak grade 6 to mid grade 7 stuff that drew the elites while lesser auctions were held for Soul and World Realms in various locations at the same time.
It allowed all levels of cultivators to have a kind of festival and get stronger at the same time. If not for the war, it may have indeed been something to enjoy but it was all done at a swift clip and no nonsense was allowed.
Mythra was pouting as she sat next to Lian. The shining spires seemed to made of white gold in every brick but she knew it was merely a powerful formation protecting the walls. It was still an enchanting look as the 12 towers looked imposing at all angles.
Unlike a floating landmass that was an odd shape, the Helion Trading Guild was a perfect circle with defined ports of entry. Yet, skyships were relatively new.
Lian manipulated one of the crystals on the stone pedestal in front of her and a jade screen lit up.
"This is Apollo of the Sanctuary Empire. I bring the envoy of Starfire House to a meeting." Lind, despite his great standing, could not just saunter over to the guild as he wished but had to follow the same protocols as others.
Mythra was happy he trusted her, but she still was riled that she could not simply help him directly. While the guild was neutral, it would treat her like a junior despite her being an Immortal.
The crew was very efficient as a signal flared as part of the smooth curved wall cracked open to allow them to fly closer. Several code phrases were again sent back and forth until they were almost to it.
Then a powerful aura swept over them but Mythra sneered as the skyship barely registered it. Lind had designed the skyships to survive Fiends so only a peak Shard Tier could disrupt them with just a sweep of aura.
Oddly, most of the construction was only mid grade 6 to produce that result. It was a qualitative jump she only barely grasped after studying the ships for years. Lind refused to sell the blueprints and she began to understand why.
The correct team could make a fleet of the ships but it would drain treasuries dry to do it. They were not cheap nor were they able to exist without maintenance. He would only invite enmity if he released it at the current time.
The sweep continued for a long time but finally let up.
[Proceed but only 2 may enter.] A male voice spoke in her head but she at least understood their caution. The Sanctuary Empire was fairly close to the Line. Their sky ships were known to not need to be a cultivator to work.
The starboard hatch was turned to the extruded pier extending from the wall. Mythra stood up as she left alone from the ship.
She did not need help and Lian had her orders. She actually hoped trouble would come as the Helion Trading Guild would learn what an angry Lind was like!
She was greeted by 10 peak Sun Tiers but they had formations that could easily shatter her soul. The security was not anything less than lethal even for expected visits. The Fiends had come close to taking down the floating fortress several times so things had come to that.
She waited as she knew she had to before an Immortal came. He had pure white hair but his vitality was strong and his movements were clearly smooth. He was far from death!
"Fellow Daoist Mythra, welcome to our headquarters. Perhaps you can learn some things during your visit." She schooled her face to being kind but inside she wanted to choke the man!
She followed him into a resplendent hall that was pure white stone but had colorful tapestries depicting battles, beautiful women and men, aether beasts of legend, or other wonderful imagery.
She saw no obvious sign of lighting but the halls were all bright as day as she got lost after a few turns.
Again, it was all intentional. The artifact had been designed to be a maze. The pedestals of plants and gilded treasures were interesting but she also suspected they hid weapons or attack formations.
It was not a fortress by chance.
After an unknown number of turns, they came to a set of double doors in similar white as the wall. If not for the golden doorknob, it would be missed.
Mythra confirmed how paranoid the guild remained but she said nothing as the man opened the door and she saw a much more standard meeting room.
A small table with couches and pillows around it. A steaming tea set with shiny black stone was waiting and what looked like sweets! Mythra resisted as she moved a loose strand of crimson hair behind her ear.
Her robes had a blazing star on her right breast but also a dragon was on her back. Her robes were a glittering set of ruby and emerald colors that accentuated her own. It was not like they matched but simply enhanced her own skin to stand out.
She had her doubts about it but Su had insisted she get it when she was still alive.
Mythra pushed the memory back as she took a seat and began sipping the tea. The man frowned but she did not care. She liked her tea scorching so waiting was not in her.
After a while, she looked around and noticed the room had some receded shelves with books! Scrolls and jade slips were more common but books existed as well.
They were wildly expensive so she suspected it was intentionally done to flaunt their wealth at her. Petty, very petty.
"Junior Mythra, welcome to our guild!" A gorgeous blonde man blew into the room. He wore a fine set of robes of black and with a trace of white where his rank was. He was a vice guild master!
He was also a peak Sun Tier, not an Immortal!
She was rankled as his disrespect but in a sense it was not. The Helion Trading Guild was far above her own business. She had had some amicable transactions with them but when she got backed by Lind, all of that changed.
His refusal to set up a branch of their guild in his Empire irked them, but much as they had strict entrance requirements, Lind had become distrustful of powerful entities. He trusted friends and would give them some leeway.
"Addison, you are as exuberant as ever, but I am an Immortal now. Unless you are actually discussing business with me, do not forget that." Her words were calm but she noticed a flicker of frustration on his face as he could not fault her.
His greeting had been as a friend, not a business partner. Their severing of trade also did not give him the opening to say he was greeting her that way either. It was also petty, but satisfying.
"Apologies, senior. You have come to request a slot for Emperor Frey for the Lost Knowledge Inheritance?" That was right. Mythra was not there as a representative of Starfire House, but the Sanctuary Empire. It was not a power they could belittle.
Negotiations had now begun.