Jinyiwei: Starting by Killing a Traitorous Superior – Chapter 21

Ch 21: Golden Soul Silver Needles

At the entrance of the Gathering Treasure Pavilion, stood two lifelike golden essence lions.

These two lions were lithe, with bulging muscles and solemn expressions. Especially their eyes, which were piercing and seemed to contain infinite majesty.

They quietly guarded the entrance, like two loyal soldiers, protecting this trading house.

Jiang Chen looked at these two golden essence lions and couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.

Golden essence was an essential material for crafting Mystic Grade weapons. He didn’t expect that the Gathering Treasure Pavilion would use such precious materials to create the lions in front of the door. What a grand gesture!

At this moment, he heard someone nearby discussing the eyes of these two lions.

Some said that these two pairs of eyes were taken from a male and female Sinful Dragon that had killed over ten million people.

This statement made Jiang Chen feel a little unbelievable. He didn’t know if it was true, but such a legend undoubtedly added a bit of mystery to these two lions.

He carefully looked at the eyes of these two lions, trying to see some clues.

However, the two pairs of eyes seemed to be two deep whirlpools, making people involuntarily fall into them and unable to extricate themselves.

Jiang Chen secretly rejoiced in his heart that he was not bewitched by these two pairs of eyes, otherwise he didn’t know what kind of danger he would have fallen into.

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and then stepped into the Gathering Treasure Pavilion.

Entering it, the bustling crowd made even such a vast space feel a bit crowded.

Just as he was wandering around, a shop assistant came up to him: “Esteemed One, what would you like to buy?”

“Do you have any Heaven-Rank Cultivation Technique in your store?”

Jiang Chen asked directly, getting straight to the point.

“Of course, but cultivation methods of this level are too expensive and extremely rare. I’m afraid you can only find treasures of this level on the thirtieth floor or higher.”

“Then how can I get to your thirtieth floor?”

Jiang Chen asked doubtfully.

“That’s simple. Either your cultivation reaches the Dharma Aspect Realm, or you spend ten million taels of gold in our store.”

“Ten million taels of gold?”

Hearing this number, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but click his tongue and said, “I’m afraid that’s equivalent to the entire Great Ming’s tax revenue for a month.”

In this world, the Great Ming was much larger than the Great Ming of the past.

The vast territory and huge population base together constituted the prosperity and strength of the Great Ming, bringing it a continuous source of tax revenue.

Thanks to this fertile land and large population, the current annual tax revenue of the Great Ming had climbed to a remarkable height.

Fifteen hundred million taels of silver, this was a huge fortune that would make any country envious.

However, like two sides of a coin, along with the rich tax revenue, the country’s expenses were also surprisingly large.

From maintaining the huge bureaucratic system to supporting the army, from building water conservancy facilities to providing disaster relief, each item required a large amount of capital investment.

Therefore, in order to alleviate financial pressure, the Imperial Court had to give the Yamen at all levels a certain degree of autonomy, allowing them to raise funds independently within a certain range to cope with the increasing expenditure needs.

Taking the Jinyiwei as an example, the spoils they seized during official duties did not need to be fully handed over to the Imperial Court, but could leave a part as their own rewards and funding.

In addition, they could also use the power in their hands to obtain some extra “income” from some merchants and people.

Although these behaviors damaged the interests of the people to a certain extent, in the eyes of the Imperial Court, as long as it was not excessive, it could be tolerated.

After all, compared with the overall interests of the country, these “small troubles” were really insignificant.

Of course, a huge fortune of ten million taels of gold, even if converted into silver, was equivalent to a hundred million taels. In this world, such a number was undoubtedly quite terrifying.

“Then forget it, what floor can I go to at most now?”

Jiang Chen asked directly.

The higher up in the Gathering Treasure Pavilion, the more precious the treasures inside.

But correspondingly, the customers who could go up there were either those with heaven-defying cultivation or those with god-like wealth.

“I see that you should be at the Xiantian Realm, I wonder if Esteemed One is at the Initial Stage or the Completion of the Xiantian Realm?”

These shop assistants worked here, and over time they had developed a pair of discerning eyes.

From the footsteps, temperament, and clothing, they could tell at a glance what the cultivation level of this customer was.

“Xiantian Completion.”

Jiang Chen said lightly.

“Then please go to the tenth floor, Esteemed One.”

“The tenth floor?”

The two came to a place similar to an elevator iron cage.

Entering it, the shop assistant shouted directly below: “A distinguished guest for the tenth floor.”

The next moment, with the sound of the chain turning, the two began to slowly rise.

After about dozens of breaths, they arrived at the tenth floor.

The things here were obviously much more precious than those on the first floor.

The shop assistant who brought him up in the elevator took the cage ladder down again.

A graceful beauty in palace attire walked over.

“Young Master, what would you like to buy?”

“Do you have any secret manuals?”

Jiang Chen asked straight to the point.

“Of course we do, please follow me, Young Master.”

This beauty in palace attire led him to a place similar to a Scripture Pavilion.

“Young Master, the highest-level cultivation methods here are Yellow Grade ━ High Rank, including Light Body Skill, Internal Skill, Hidden Weapon, Blade Technique, Sword Technique, Spear Technique, Axe Technique… and so on, everything is available. I wonder what kind of technique Young Master wants?”

Jiang Chen thought for a moment. He already had the Five Tigers Severing Blade and the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, as well as the Divine Travel, Hundred Changes manual.

What he lacked now was a means to subdue enemies from a distance.

So hidden weapons became his primary choice.

This way he could prevent enemies from escaping.

“What kinds of hidden weapon techniques do you have? Show them to me.”

Soon, this beauty in palace attire walked over with several cultivation methods.

“Please take a look, Lord.”

《Swallow Dart》

《Golden Soul Silver Needles》

《Little Devil Blade》

……

He looked at them one by one, and soon selected the hidden weapon technique called 《Golden Soul Silver Needles》.

After all, needles were easy to carry, and they were small and relatively concealed.

Otherwise, if he carried other hidden weapons, he would have to carry a lot of the hidden weapons themselves, which would be very inconvenient.

“This cultivation method sells for five hundred taels of silver. Would you like to pay with silver notes or cash?”

“Silver notes.”

Jiang Chen took out five silver notes with a face value of one hundred from his arms and handed them to her.

This beauty in palace attire smiled, turned around and entered the room, took out an iron box, and there were dozens of golden needles in the box.

“Young Master, these are golden needles, they have been quenched with highly toxic poison, please keep them safe. If you want to buy more later, it will be fifty taels of silver per box.”

“Got it.”

Jiang Chen planned to leave after taking it, but she stopped him again.