"Welcome to the Setting Sun Alchemy Shop, everyone!" Jiang Yong said with a dazzling smile. The crowd cheered as the opening went wild. "Today, we will have some announcements and hold a little competition. The winner of the competition will win the new products that we will reveal in a few minutes. But before that, I would like to invite an esteemed Knight of the Kingdom, Sir Remon."
"Sir Remon? That is such a coincidence, he was in the previous competition held by The Floating Ghost Alchemy shop too."
"Now that you said it, I remember too. He lost by a small margin. It was so weird."
"Will he participate again, if he does, we have no chance at all."
The crowd was arguing fervently as they were speculating. While they were doing so, Sir Remon walked up to the stage in his shiny armor and looked at the opening.
"Sir Remon, thank you for coming. We are honored to have you here." Jiang Yong said with a smile as he helped the knight to sit.
"Now folk. I would like to start with the announcements. It has been a couple of difficult years for us to survive in this competitive market. After all, when our rival was selling two heaven-defying medicines, we were selling only ordinary stuff. It was expected for us to fall from grace, but no more.
The Setting Sun Alchemy Shop proudly announces that, from today onward, our shop sells Rejuvenating Cream and Body Cultivation Paste!"
With this revelation, the crowd went deadly silent. A second ago, all the people in front of the shop were cheering madly, but now, there was complete silence and all of them were looking at Jiang Yong like she was a clown.
"Hah! I was wondering what this was all about. Turns out you are selling our creams by changing their names! How rich!" An elderly man said laughingly. He was the branch manager of the Floating Ghost Alchemy. "What is your master plan? Are you gonna purchase from our shop and sell it by raising its price? Are you gonna make a profit by that?"
"Haha! I really thought the shop was coming back to life, but it seems like it was nothing."
"They can't go to the wall with their heads up, so they try to steal from others. How pitiful."
The crowd was thinking the shop really wanted to do what the Branch Manager said. They were about to leave, but Jiang Yong's next words, stop them.
"Our medicines are better than what the Floating Ghost Alchemy is selling."
"Don't talk big, girl. If you sully our reputation, you will go down." The Branch Manager said with amusement.
"As you all know, Sir Remon is a Master Alchemist besides being the Knight of the Kingdom. His achievements are bigger than both alchemy shops can achieve in their lifetimes. We invited Sir Remon today because we wanted him to bear witness." Jiang Yong ignored everything the Branch Manager said and looked at the crowd. She brought out two containers and placed them on the table in front of Sir Remon.
The Knight took the cue and opened one of them. The smell of the medicine oozed out and everyone in the crowd felt the potency of the cream.
"The first one is, Rejuvenating Cream." Sir Remon said as he smelled it. "I can feel it nurturing my skin. Not only that, it is repairing some of the scars I have."
"Can it heal old scars if I use it long-term?" Sir Remon asked.
"It can." Jiang Yong smiled brightly. "Rejuvenating Cream, unlike the other creams on the market, can stop aging. It can heal and youthen the skin as well. It is a great product that every gender would love to have."
"Impossible!" The Branch Manager said with a spiteful shout.
"Are you doubting my honesty, Mr. Hamlin? Or my expertise?" The Knight asked with a snort?
"Even our original medicine can't do that!" The Branch Manager shouted. "How can a cheap copy do it?"
"It is because these medicines are not copies, Mr. Hamlin." Jiang Yong said with a sigh. "I understand your frustration, but can you please be more open-minded?"
"You!" The old man looked at the stage in anger but didn't know what to say. In the end, he watched without saying anything.
In the meantime, Sir Remon picked up the second container and opened it. The paste wasn't as potent, but it was still stronger than what the other shop was selling. And that Sir Remon was testifying, the crowd was expectantly waiting for his next words.
"This cream can strengthen muscles. Once the paste is applied it will slowly cultivate the body and over time, muscles will be stronger and more flexible. It is amazing." Sir Remon praised without holding anything back.
"Cheap copy!" The old man said. "Yours cannot help with finding the acupoints!"
"That is not a negative trait, Mr. Hamlin." Jiang Yong smiled as she shook her head, "The medicine sold in your shop can indeed help anyone using it to feel their next acupoints. But you have to understand, finding acupoints, meditating… These are important steps every cultivator must experience to find their paths.
Your medicine, by making it easy, actually severs the path of cultivators. Because they miss the chance to find their inner selves through meditation. That is why prolonged exposure to this medicine makes it ineffective. It is not that the medicine does not work the longer one uses it. But the body forgets the feeling of meditation."
"You!" Old Man Hamlin was boiling with anger. Not because she was telling lies, but because it was the truth. This was a secret of their shop. They kept that information for years and now it was exposed. How could he let that happen? If the word got out, they would be dead. "Don't tell lies! Don't you dare to spout bullshit!"