Chapter 35

Ban Yilou raised his head and glanced at Tang Zheng.

That one glance immediately stopped Tang Zheng’s laughter.

Although the first time Tang Zheng met Ban Yilou, they had been bickering nonstop, the old man had never given off the aura of a Third Rank Warrior in front of him...

However, this glance from Ban Yilou carried a bit more killing intent.

"Yesterday, someone came to assassinate me, and I killed them in return. This thing fell from their body." Tang Zheng briefly recounted the assassination from last night.

"Here, I can forge any kind of emblem or token, but I would never forge even one of these Shadow Tokens, even if I had a hundred lives!" Ban Yilou threw the token back to Tang Zheng, "Kid, I’ll say something I shouldn’t... get rid of it, and stay away from them."

Tang Zheng was utterly confused: "What Shadow Token, and who should I stay away from?"

Ban Yilou rummaged under the counter and threw a book to Tang Zheng.

The book was still new, with five large characters in pure purple gold embossed on its cover: Starlight Stronger List.

Tang Zheng flipped through it...

Anyway, all the names were unfamiliar to him, so it didn’t have much meaning.

However, before he came to the Treasure Pavilion for the first time, he had heard Uncle Tang Boyuan mention the Starlight Stronger List, which the Purple Gold City released once a year.

The Heaven Star List, Earth Star List, and Human Star List together recorded the names of 11,100 strong individuals, updated annually!

The Treasure Pavilion was one of the industries of Purple Gold City, so it wasn’t strange to have the latest Starlight Stronger List. But why did the old man show him the Starlight Stronger List?

"The strong individuals who make it onto the Starlight Stronger List can bring great prestige and influence to their sects or families. In Purple Gold City, we take the annual update of the Starlight Stronger List very seriously..." Ban Yilou’s gaze shifted to the one-star token in the shape of a dagger in Tang Zheng’s hand, "However, alongside the Starlight Stronger List, there is another widely recognized list of strong individuals, which is... the Shadow Stronger List!"

"Oh?" Tang Zheng subconsciously looked at the token in his hand, which still had a bloody smell.

Ban Yilou spoke slowly, as if afraid Tang Zheng would miss a word: "The Starlight Stronger List evaluates a person’s potential and strength, but... the Shadow Stronger List doesn’t care about strength, it only cares about kills!"

Tang Zheng took a deep breath.

In his previous life in the game, the official only had a 'God List,' where the top players were basically all soft-currency warriors with top-tier equipment.

Only on a small game forum had Tang Zheng seen a post about a top assassin ranking, and his ID was at the top of that list!

"Doesn’t care about strength, only cares about kills, is there a problem with that?" Tang Zheng asked.

"No problem, absolutely no problem." Ban Yilou shook his head, "The Starlight Stronger List of Purple Gold City and the Shadow Stronger List of Shadow Mountain, one open and one hidden, are both considered the most official rankings on the Starlight Continent. However, the Shadow Stronger List has an additional requirement: to be on the list, one must first join Shadow Mountain."

Ban Yilou reminded Tang Zheng to stay away from them because of this rule.

Because the Shadow Mountain system was a system that Purple Gold City had yet to fully understand!

The core of the Shadow Mountain system was the 'Shadow King Token,' which was the dagger-shaped token Tang Zheng obtained from last night’s assassin. A Shadow King Token with a star engraving was said to be able to exchange for anything of equal value, such as a thousand silver coins, a somewhat attractive woman, a one-star monster, a single-volume martial technique, a one-star weapon, or even the life of a one-star warrior!

Of course, all of these were also completely fine.

The real issue was that once one joined the Shadow Mountain system, they would be given a free Shadow King Token of the same star level, and each time they advanced, they would receive another free one, and so on...

Everyone received them for free...

All kinds of free...

Ban Yilou got a headache just thinking about Shadow Mountain and didn’t say much more to Tang Zheng: "If you don’t join Shadow Mountain, the Shadow King Token is just a useless thing. Get rid of it as soon as possible to avoid trouble."

Tang Zheng casually threw the token into his pocket: "Whatever, I was just asking."

He was already thinking about another problem...

If Ban Yilou hadn’t told him about the Shadow Stronger List, he wouldn’t have figured out the background of the female assassin from last night. But now, after sorting through the clues, everything became clear.

The assassin from last night was indeed sent by the Lan family!

It seemed that only a small group of people in the Hidden Blue Manor knew his true strength, while the majority were misled by lies for some reason, always using the Starlight Disk to look for warriors of two stars or higher.

In other words, at the moment, it was that small group of people who wanted to secretly get rid of him!

"Now there are only two problems," Tang Zheng thought to himself, "How did they know I was at Tang Family Castle? And who, specifically, among the small group in the Hidden Blue Manor, if found and eliminated, would ensure no further trouble..."

Clearly, after this small group of people found out Tang Zheng’s exact location through some method, they didn’t notify the Hidden Blue Manor or come themselves. Instead, they used a method Tang Zheng was all too familiar with—hiring a hitman!

It was completely normal that none of the Tang Family Castle’s descendants recognized the assassin, because the assassin was hired from the Shadow Stronger List and was not from Wulong Town!

"What’s up? Anything else?" Ban Yilou, having finished repairing the bracelet, saw Tang Zheng still lingering in the shop.

"Asked about the token just in passing, I mainly came to look at martial techniques and weapons." Tang Zheng put his question aside and answered Ban Yilou casually.

"All martial techniques are on the second row of shelves, and all weapons are on the wall at the back." Ban Yilou pointed out the locations.

"I don’t want those... didn’t you say the Treasure Pavilion has an inner chamber?" Tang Zheng not only wanted to buy weapons and martial techniques but also needed the Purple Gold Flower Water to nourish his meridians, which he wanted to get from the inner chamber of the Purple Gold Pavilion.

"Inner chamber?" Ban Yilou sneered, "You need a Purple Gold Token to enter the inner chamber."

"How much for a Purple Gold Token?" Tang Zheng asked.

"It’s free." Ban Yilou almost got tricked, "The Purple Gold Token itself is free, but you need to have a transaction of at least a thousand gold in the Treasure Pavilion to enter."

"What about the transaction with my identity emblem..."

"That counts! But the transaction you made is only five hundred gold, not enough." Ban Yilou, when it came to money, showed his true businessman nature.

Once a commercial contract is signed, the transaction is considered effective.

Even if the other party breaches the contract, the deposit is not refunded unless the Treasure Pavilion fails to fulfill the requirements of the contract, in which case they would return double the deposit.

"It can’t be counted like that, my five hundred gold is all pure gold!" Tang Zheng started to haggle.

"The contract says five hundred, it’s just a number, not a quality." Ban Yilou didn’t budge.

"Converted to Purple Gold Coins, it’s seven hundred and fifty!"

"No way! And even if it counted, it’s still not enough for a thousand..."

"Just two hundred and fifty short, can’t you be a bit more flexible?"

"Two hundred and fifty... short?" Ban Yilou slammed the table and glared, "Two hundred and fifty Purple Gold Coins can buy ten shops like the Treasure Pavilion!"

"You stubborn old man! Do you know how to do business!"

"You ignorant brat! Do you need to teach the Treasure Pavilion how to do business?"

The two of them argued like market ladies in the most luxurious shop in Wulong Town.

Ban Yilou’s beard was flying, and he was panting from the argument.

Soon, the argument escalated to personal attacks...

Boom!

At the slightest provocation, they were both furious!

The small hammer constellation behind Ban Yilou leaped out of the counter and slapped towards Tang Zheng’s head.

Tang Zheng, not to be outdone, summoned his constellation and grabbed a wooden stick from beside the counter...

"Put down that stick, if you break anything, you can’t afford to pay for it."

"I can afford it!" Tang Zheng pushed the stick forward, covering it with a light purple star power...

Then...

Silence.

Ban Yilou’s palm stopped in mid-air.

He stared straight at Tang Zheng’s constellation, not blinking.

"Damn, Purple Gold Coins?" Ban Yilou looked at Tang Zheng as if he were a ghost, "I said, why are you so rich, can this constellation really turn into money?"

"Do you think constellations can do magic tricks?" Tang Zheng was speechless.

"Huh, the main star you introduced into your first life palace, this is..." Ban Yilou was actually puzzled.

"Hehe, let me into the inner chamber, and I’ll tell you." Tang Zheng tried to coax him.

"No way! Rules are rules!" Ban Yilou firmly refused.

The two of them broke down again.

Tang Zheng, frustrated by the old man’s stubbornness, threw out two more pieces of pure gold: "Convert them to Purple Gold Coins first!"

"What for?" Ban Yilou asked.

"Can’t I buy something?"

"Buy what you want, but why so aggressive!" Ban Yilou instantly turned to a smile, "Two hundred pure gold, converted to three hundred Purple Gold Coins! What do you need?"

"Anything!" Tang Zheng replied irritably.

Unable to enter the inner chamber and unable to buy the Purple Gold Flower Water, the outer chamber’s martial techniques and weapons, though not bad, didn’t interest Tang Zheng much...

He would wait until his next transaction was enough, get the Purple Gold Token, and then enter the inner chamber to select!

Ban Yilou was also stunned: "Hey, are you mad?"

Tang Zheng laughed, thinking the old man was treating him like a spoiled young master. Was he that easy to anger?

"What do you want to buy?" Tang Zheng thought for a moment and asked, "How many strong individuals have joined Shadow Mountain?"

"Eight or nine out of ten." Ban Yilou was taken aback by his sudden question, "Why the sudden...?"

"Nothing!" Tang Zheng casually grabbed a piece of paper and started writing.

Ban Yilou watched as he wrote down item after item, his face becoming more and more uneasy...

Tang Zheng wrote for a full fifteen minutes before stopping.

"Okay, that’s it, I want all of them." Tang Zheng handed the paper to Ban Yilou.

"..." Ban Yilou’s face twitched, "That will be 185 gold!"

Although the items in the Treasure Pavilion were not cheap, with few costing less than fifty silver each, buying over 185 Purple Gold Coins worth of items in one go was something Ban Yilou had never encountered since taking over the shop.

However, after receiving the money, he quickly counted and packed everything into a storage bag, along with over a hundred Purple Gold Coins, and handed them to Tang Zheng...

Originally, the storage bag, which created an independent space on fabric through a unique array, was a paid item!

A small storage bag cost two Purple Gold Coins, and a large one cost three!

Even in Tang Family Castle and Hidden Blue Manor, there were few such storage bags!

But with a big business of over 185 gold, Ban Yilou didn’t bother to charge him this "small fee"...

"Hey." As Tang Zheng was about to leave, Ban Yilou couldn’t help but ask, "Are you buying these... to go and kill a Third Rank Warrior?"

"Do I look like someone who enjoys ‘seeking death’?" Tang Zheng gave him an innocent smile.

"Very much so..." Ban Yilou felt a chill down his spine at the smile. Why did he feel someone was about to have bad luck...

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Cough, Guo slept for fourteen hours straight last night... probably because he hasn’t been sleeping enough recently...

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