Chapter 367: Can the God of Crooked Merchants Offer Discounts?

The silver coins hadn't changed—he still dared to incite the Holy Servants with Sacred Essence Fluid, trick the Elves with a World Tree sapling, and when Ange shielded him, he dared to urge the Arch Sage and Harvey to grow grain.

The Gnome Merchants' Guild is a commercial organization with thousands of years of history; though called the Gnome Merchants' Guild, it encompasses all commercial talent in the world—humans, Elves, Minotaurs, all can join, except Dwarves.

The three great guilds—the Mage Guild, the Mercenary Guild, the Gnome Merchants' Guild—are all vast organizations transcending national, ethnic, racial, and plane boundaries, and now Silver Coin says he wants to buy it?

Negrilis felt he was bragging.

"No no no, a guild is just a business—pay money, you get anything. What's impossible? If they won't sell, it's just because you didn't pay enough. Then I won't pay money—I'll offer grain monopoly rights, beauty vouchers, resurrection vouchers, specialty monopoly rights, etc. there's always something they think's enough."

"The Gnome Merchants' Guild has hundreds of caravans—I can buy half of them, and the guild collapses. Then the entire commercial system stops recognizing the guild's privileges, especially for bulk goods like grain and cloth, and the remaining half will rapidly break away."

"At that point, the Gnome Merchants' Guild will send people to kill me or destroy my organizational structure—to physically eliminate me. Then I'll go to Anthony and pay him taxes, and have him protect me."

"In a few years, the Gnome Merchants' Guild will disband. Then I'll buy the rest and replace it with the Silverlight Guild. Oh, by the way, that's exactly how I bought the Silverlight Guild."

Back then, Silver Coin was one of the vice-chairmen of the Silverlight Guild. After obtaining Sacred Essence Fluid, he shifted his business, left the Silverlight Guild, renamed himself the Silver Guild, but after securing the Elves' exclusive distribution rights, he turned right back around and bought the Silverlight Guild.

Negrilis stared, dumbfounded, then muttered: "You're a crooked merchant…"

As Negrilis spoke, a spark flickered before Silver Coin.

Ange, who had been quietly tending his vegetables, couldn't help raising his head to look at the spark.

Negrilis also stared blankly at the spark; Silver Coin looked at it in confusion: "What is this?"

"Faith… faithfire, the Fire of Belief." Negrilis stammered: "Did I light it?"

It seemed that because he'd said "You're a crooked merchant," Silver Coin had been ignited with faithfire—what kind of absurd plot is this?

When Ange's Cultivation Godhood's faithfire was ignited, it was also lit by him—but the difference was, Ange himself possessed immense divine power; igniting the divine flame was only natural.

What is Silver Coin? Just a gnome crooked merchant. Why could he ignite faithfire?

Even more stunned was Silver Coin himself—just as Negrilis said, he was merely a gnome merchant, utterly unrelated to gods, demons, faith, or godhoods, and had never cultivated any followers. Why had he inexplicably ignited faithfire?

What faithfire? The faithfire of the Crooked Merchant God?

If it was the Crooked Merchant God, Silver Coin immediately thought of a question: "Can I get a discount when I buy things?"

Negrilis was so furious he wanted to pin Silver Coin to the ground and beat him.

Ange walked over, reached out, and poked the spark—the faithfire instantly brightened several times.

After absorbing the faithfire and discovering he couldn't get discounts, Silver Coin lost interest, bid farewell to Ange, and vanished in a flash.

He had stayed in the Abyss for too long, always giving remote orders—there were too many things needing his attention.

Negrilis sighed heavily: "How could this happen? Why could Silver Coin ignite faithfire? Is igniting faithfire really this easy?"

Du Luo wasn't familiar with this system, but he could analyze problems: "You've already ignited two faithfires. Could it be because of you? Is your mouth unusually potent? Are you not the Mouth of Misfortune, but the Mouth of Fortune?"

As he spoke, he looped his arm around Negrilis's neck: "Say something to me. Try."

Negrilis glared at him: "You're a dog-headed man."

Du Luo obediently barked: "Woof."

Lu Se pushed past Du Luo, rubbing his hands: "Lord of Knowledge, light a fire for me—I want to become the greatest sword saint in the world."

"Alright, Beet Sword Saint," Negrilis said.

"No no no—the greatest sword saint!" Lu Se corrected.

"Alright, the greatest Beet Sword Saint," Negrilis said.

"Ruined! The Lord of Knowledge has gone deaf—he can't even hear properly!" Lu Se walked away, heartbroken.

Flash Sack leaned over: "Lord Negrilis, call me Thunder's Son, or I'll block your door tonight and curse you."

Negrilis rolled his eyes, turned, and roared—immediately, a tiny squirrel zipped over, clutching an Elf Bean.

As the squirrel zipped over, Flash had already zipped out of sight.

Lisa walked over with a smile.

Lu Se could be shrugged off, but not Lisa—Negrilis was forced into service, calling out everyone's titles, and even inventing ones for those without.

Sadly, no one else ignited a faithfire like Silver Coin.

…

"Village chief, village chief, how much farther? My shoes are about to catch fire—I just bought them!" In the arid, barren desert, several old farmers trudged through the scorching sands; one younger man asked weakly.

The blazing sun had drained his strength—he could only walk while mourning his new shoes.

"I asked the Bronze Dragon—it said keep going southeast, and you'll reach the Southern Marshes," the village chief said, annoyed with himself.

"Did… did the Bronze Dragon say how long it would take?" the young farmer asked.

"Uh, no, but no matter how far, a few days should do it. When we came by boat, we circled all around—it took only a month. Now we're going straight, it'll be faster than by boat," the village chief declared confidently.

"I feel something's wrong," another companion in the group interjected. "Village chief, have you ever traveled far before? Left the marshes? Seen a desert?"

"N-no, but what does it matter? The Bronze Dragon said go straight—it said, 'If you've got the guts, walk—you'll make it.'" The village chief spoke nervously.

The young farmer said: "I think you misunderstood. He meant, 'If you can walk there, you're truly capable.' Village chief, let's turn back—take the boat."

"A dozen magic crystals for a ticket? Are you mad? Walk, walk, don't waste time."

"But Star Lord reimbursed our boat tickets, didn't he?"

"Reimbursement is reimbursement, but saving money is still money—save it, and you can fix your house and find a wife."

As they chattered, hoofbeats rang out behind them—they turned to see a sleek, jet-black "horse" carrying four figures, one of whom was the Bronze Dragon who had tricked them into walking home.

The jet-black "horse" emitted a faint mist that fell onto the sand, visibly causing the grains to "bleed" outward.

As the two groups passed, the four riders on the horse tilted their heads, staring blankly at them—the Bronze Dragon especially looked horrified: "Are you all insane?"