A tall woman stepped towards us cautiously, her long hair waving from side to side. Light green robes hung off of her loosely, concealing the shape of her body. “Hello sir, my name is Bai Shu Ren. I heard you were selling rare medicine here?” She glanced around dubiously.

“Yes, yes I am. What would you like? I have most of the common medicine at multiple cycles of refinement. I also have many more specific medicine ready.” I said.

Hui Ming leaned closer to me, “She’s from the Emerald Fire Sect,” she whispered. I nodded, indicating that I had heard her.

She took out a piece of paper and began chanting off a list. “Do you have the Violet Abyssal God Pill, at the fourth cycle?”

I put a hand to my chin. I didn’t remember the names of all my medicine, but this one rang a bell. “I think I have it. D-”

“Do you have a third cycle Blood Moon Pill?”

“Oh yes, I definitely have this one. It has a cool name, don’t you think? I’ll go ge-”

“How about a third cycle Azure Lifelotus Pill?”

“Yes, I’m almost certain.”

“Salve of Eternal Light, second cycle?”

“Yes?”

“Life Preservation Water, third cycle?”

“I believe so.”

“Angel Life-Death Elixir, first cycle?”

“You grocery shopping for cycle tier medicine? Let me see that list.” she hesitated, and then passed me her paper. There were at least fifty items on the list. “Are you trying to buy me out? You can’t possibly need all of these.”

“But I’ve been looking for all of these. I can’t find anybody who is willing to sell them at a low price,” she pouted.

I narrowed my eyes. I handed the slip to Hui Ming. “There you go, I have about eighty percent of those.” Hui Ming left to find the vials.

“How much money do you have on you?” I asked.

She smiled sheepishly. “Uh, twenty thousand shards.”

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“Oh no you don’t. Go, shoo. Bring back two million and we’ll talk.”

She looked like she was going to say something, but she stopped. “Alright…” she said and left.

Hui Ming stumbled in with a box of medicine. “Where did she go?”

“The lady only brought twenty thousand shards. I sent her back to get some more. I guess we’ll have to wait for a bit longer. Can you bring me a book, please?” I asked.

“I already did,” she said with a proud smile. She reached into the box and seized an alchemy textbook, holding it like a trophy.

“Wow! Thanks!” I said. She radiated joy like a sprout in the sun. We went back to waiting, it seemed we would be doing a lot of that today.

Less than an hour later, the door to the shop opened again. Five people walked through, their light green robes swaying to their gait. One was the lady from earlier, but she had brought company this time. She brought a shriveled old man and three burly bodyguards, one of bodyguards carried a briefcase.

The old man approached me, his wooden sandals clicking against the floor. He pressed his lips together as if squeezing a lemon. He spoke with a tone I could only describe as overwhelmingly sour. “Young man, let me take a look at that medicine.”

“Xiao Li,” I said. Hui Ming pushed the box across the counter.

The old man grabbed a potion vial, scrutinizing its label. His hands skimmed across the smooth glass vial, feeling its contours. “You claim this is a fourth cycle Lion Fire Potion?”

“Yes.”

“Humph,” he grunted, “As if.”

I put a hand on Hui Ming’s kneecap, just in case she did something stupid. The old man flicked off the cork and raised it to his wrinkled nose. The sides of his nose flapped about as he sniffed, like sheets hung out to dry on a windy day. He breathed out and took two more short sniffs. “Eh?”

I rolled my eyes. “Hey old man… are you done?”

He glowered at me and grabbed the vial again, this time pouring a bit into his mouth. His previously shriveled eyes shot open. “It’s.. genuine,” he whispered. He reached into the box and grabbed one box after another, his motions becoming more frantic every time he tested a new product. After he sniffed a quarter of the products in the box, his hands turned rigid. He pointed a long finger me, “You-!”

A sword flashed from behind me, his finger spun through the air and landed on the ground. Blood poured out, viscous and slow like honey.

I began to move to stop Hui Ming and help the old man, but I stopped myself. Who did this old man think he was, barging into my shop like he owned the place? What an arrogant idiot.

“You little fucker!” he screamed, and the soft tingling returned to my skin. He crouched down and grabbed the sword at his waist with his remaining four fingers. The other people also pulled out their weapons. I was the only one still relaxed.

Hui Ming’s own aura filled the room, dominating the geezer’s. His face changed once he realized where he stood in this hierarchy. I didn’t bother stopping Hui Ming, and let it play out as it would.

“I- I’m Master Shi! A master from the Emerald Fire Sect! You can’t-!” the old man squeaked.

Pathetic. Where did all that arrogance go? Actually, where had it come from in the first place?

I didn’t want to make an enemy out people unnecessarily. The whole point of creating this Medicine House was to make positive connections. But that came with keeping a strong image as well. Nobody respected pushovers, especially not in the culture of this world.

“I respect the Emerald Fire Sect, but not you,” I said. “Scram!” Hui Ming stomped the floor in tandem with my words, making the entire room shake.

Master Shi bolted out of the room. I used Control to close the door before the rest of them could escape. “Hey, that's pretty good,” I said to Hui Ming, “Nice timing.”

Shu Ren remained composed while her companions stood frozen, their eyes darting between Hui Ming and door. “I’m not going to ask you why you brought that idiot. So, are you buying this stuff or not?”

“Of course,” she said politely, “I’m sorry about Master Shi.” She handed me the briefcase and I gave her the box of medicine.

I sighed. I had to rethink how this shop worked. After they left. I stood and hung a sign outside. “Troublemakers Die.”

Underneath that was some friendlier text, “One piece of medicine per person, bring a minimum of ten thousand soul shards.”

Cutting Master Shi’s finger gained us a fair bit of notoriety. More and more people started coming in. Word spread that we were legitimate, and important people began showing up at my doorstep.