Chapter 727: Open for business (1/2)
GDK 727: Open for business
After ages of preparation, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy finally opened for business.
On that day, representatives from the five major family clans went to congratulate Han Shuo. From the House of Sainte were Andre and Erebus; from the House of Kinson, Jiya and her uncle; from the House of Kisa, none other than Rugersey; and from the House of Buller was Tuxi who took the place of Tuyas. Even the House of Lavers that wasn’t in good relations with Han Shuo had Diwei attend the opening. He presented Han Shuo with a silk banner.
All the gentry and elites were at the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy on that day. As to establish good relations with Han Shuo, the large family clans spared no effort to rally around his business. Thanks to their efforts, the opening ceremony of the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy was a grand occasion.
Before opening to customers, the pharmacists recruited by Han Shuo had produced medicines commonly used by Elysians and filled the empty shelves with medicine bottles.
Han Shuo was very busy the whole day. He had to receive and welcome guests from daybreak till nightfall.
As Han Shuo had not personally refined more pelleted medicines, those that were sold that day were simply ordinary medicines. Although this proved to be somewhat of a disappointment to those representatives from large family clans, they had nonetheless purchased more than four hundred bottles of medicines to boost his sales. The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy gained more than twenty thousand black crystal coins in profit that day.
Given this good omen, on top of his outstanding reputation in the City of Shadows, Han Shuo believed that the Celestial Pearl would have a prosperous, profitable future and make him crystal coins by the truckload.
With everything about the Celestial Pearl moving in perfect orbit, Han Shuo handed Gu Li full responsibility of the production of medicines. Gu Li, who had once despised Han Shuo, was wholly admiring of Han Shuo at this point in time. She was Han Shuo’s most loyal and devoted employee.
After having delegated the task, Han Shuo had more time to cultivate. He stayed inside the gymnasium and practiced borrowing and using Cauldron Spirit’s energy.
Han Shuo could abruptly amplify his strength by an enormous magnitude and possess immense power by imbuing his body with Cauldron Spirit’s demon general energy, so much so that it would allow him to go up against a highgod. However, as tough and robust as his body was, it couldn’t withstand the energy for extended periods. He had attempted it a dozen times and the longest he could last was only around three minutes. His demonic infant would start to fail beyond that limit.
It didn’t take long before Han Shuo realized that borrowing Cauldron Spirit’s energy was not the correct path of cultivation. It was only by forging his demonic body, making it even tougher, and making a breakthrough in realm state that he could truly become stronger.
Although Han Shuo had seen no signs of any imminent breakthrough from the Omen Realm all that while, Han Shuo never slacked in his cultivation. After all, he had not spent that much time on it. It was unlikely that he could advance and make progress without spending tens, if not hundreds of years in secluded cultivation.
The Omen Realm was not the ultimate realm in demonic arts. There were three realms after it - Skybreak Realm, Diablo Realm, and Exalted Demonlord. Gu Tian Xie, at this pinnacle realm called Exalted Demonlord, was able to tear through the fabric of space-time and traverse across universes. Just from some brief description from Cauldron Spirit, Han Shuo could imagine just how mighty the Exalted Demonlord must be.
Not only did every small advancement require a lengthy amount of cultivation time, Han Shuo also had to endure tremendous risks in each attempt. In fact, when breaking from Omen realm to Skybreak realm, Han Shuo would be faced with a calamity. It was a process that he had no choice but to go through. By then, if he failed to resolve the calamity, not only would his strength never increase any further, his consciousness could be annihilated. Han Shuo realized that every step along his cultivation would be accompanied by great danger.
Time flew by rapidly. Han Shuo had secluded himself in the gymnasium for ten years.
After having gone through so many challenges and crises on Elysium, Han Shuo had made improvements in all aspects of himself to a certain degree. Ten years of meditation allowed him to digest and comprehend his experiences. His mind grew calmer and his Omen realm state had become more stabilized.
Ten years on Elysium was like a snap of the fingers. For the gods living there whose lifespans were in the order of thousands, if not tens of thousands of years, ten years’ time wasn’t all that long.
After Han Shuo exited from the gymnasium, he got updated with the present-day situation from Gu Li and the others. During the ten years he was in cultivation, the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had made Han Shuo more than a million black crystal coins. Of the sixteen chain stores he owned, five were open for business. The Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had become the biggest pharmacy business in the City of Shadows.
During this time, the members of the House of Lavers withdrew from the City of Shadows one after another. The House of Sainte turned a blind eye to their actions. The House of Lavers had, after all, made some contribution to the City of Shadows. Even though Wallace detested the Lavers Family, it was in his best interest not to be too cruel, especially when they had not rebelled against his reign.
Felder obviously understood Wallace’s thoughts. He had been keeping watch at the Lavers Residence and maintaining a low-profile while arranging for Donna, Diwei and the others to leave the city with the excuse that they were assigned tasks in remote places to gain experiences and temper themselves. After having lost the trust of the House of Sainte, the House of Lavers rapidly declined. Within ten short years, the Lavers Family lost their prestige and reputation as one of the five major family clans in the City of Shadows. Even some members of smaller family clans dared confront the House of Lavers head-on.
However, Felder did not mind any of this. He most patiently endured all the pain and insults while sending members of his Lavers Family away using all sorts of methods.
This action of Felder’s seemed to be in line with Wallace’s intentions. He never stopped or obstructed these measures as though he had tacitly approved of it. The emergence of a small crack between two large family clans could easily destroy the friendship they had taken decades of exhausting work to build. Wallace simply could not forgive them for Avery had nearly taken Carmelita’s life.
After Avery went missing, the position of the Chief of Fifth Corps was left vacant. The remaining three major family clans all showed immense interest in taking that post. Even the smaller family clans, considering it as an opportunity for them to soar towards success, had tried various means to obtain this position from the House of Sainte.
To be fair towards all family clans, Wallace named a single condition - whoever wished to take that position had to exchange it with Avery’s head!
Avery had disappeared for many years. No one knew where he went. After hearing this condition set by Wallace, all the family clans in the City of Shadows had taken painstaking efforts to locate Avery but none had made any progress in all those years. Therefore, the position as the Chief of the Fifth Corps, even though coveted by many, remained vacant.
After learning of the recent happenings in the City of Shadows, seeing that his Celestial Pearl was functioning properly, with the fact that he had properly established himself in the City of Shadows, in addition to the fact that he had spent ages on Elysium, Han Shuo decided that it was time for him to return to Profound Continent and bring those ladies he could not part with to live on Elysium with him.
For the time being, Han Shuo had no enemies in the City of Shadows. By relying on the financial power of the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy and his relations with the House of Sainte, Han Shuo was confident that the safety of his lovers would be assured. Given just how intensely the elemental energies could be found on Elysium, with all so many sources of reference about advancing to godhood, with all the resources available on this material plane, cultivating on Elysium would be hundreds of times faster compared to cultivating on Profound Continent.
Emily, Phoebe, and the others were relatively powerful on Profound Continent. Han Shuo believed that after they arrived in the City of Shadows, they would be able to make rapid progress in this superior environment. Having come to this decision, Han Shuo made preparations to head to that interplanar transportation facility he arrived using to return to Profound Continent.
Before departing, Han Shuo took a trip to the Sainte Residence specifically to visit Carmelita as she had completely recovered from her injuries.
Han Shuo had a shock when he met Carmelita again. After ten years’ time, her skin had turned fair and she lost that sinister, ferocious appearance. There were still some speckles visible on her skin but they had almost completely faded. Although Carmelita was still nowhere near a beauty, the word ugly was no longer fitting to describe her looks.
Carmelita was very happy to see Han Shuo. She patted on Han Shuo’s shoulder excitedly and said casually, “You rascal, I have gone to the Celestial Pearl Pharmacy to look for you multiple times, but who knew that you would be cultivating all this time. Look at me, can you see any difference?”
“You have become prettier!” Han Shuo said sincerely.
“Haha, that’s what everybody said! Bryan, thank you. You haven’t just saved me twice, you’ve fixed my damn face. I can be normal now. I don’t know how I could ever repay you,” Carmelita said laughingly.
“That’s what friends are for!” Han Shuo replied smilingly. After conversing for some time and catching up with each other, Han Shuo finally revealed, “I’m going to leave Elysium and it might be a while before I return.”
“Huh?” Carmelita cried out in surprise. “Where are you going?”
“My homeworld, to bring some people here! Hehe, Elysium is the most suitable place to cultivate. I have been living well here and it’s not right for me to neglect my friends back in that world! I may have been powerless to defend myself on Elysium before, but now that I have finally gained a small footing, it’s time to help those friends of mine!” Han Shuo could not restrain the longing in his heart when he recalled Emily, Phoebe, and the others.