Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 285
“Alright, that’s enough. The path of cultivation is just like that. No one knows just who will fall at any time. The important thing is that we cherish these feelings while we’re alive. From today onwards, our goal is revenge. Us brothers can’t be afraid of death, and a blood debt must be repaid with blood,” said Long Chen.
“Boss, we’ll listen to you. But just who exactly is our enemy?” asked Guo Ran.
He couldn’t completely comprehend just what Long Chen meant by revenge. Just what hatred had caused Yin Wushuang to target Long Chen like this?
Long Chen’s conduct had always been open and candid, and he had never offended her. So, why would she constantly be forcing Long Chen to this point?
“The true people behind the scenes are the higher-ups of the first monastery. As for Yin Wushuang, she is just the person executing their scheme.
“But according to my guess, the first monastery was probably only planning on targeting me. The original plan was probably to kill me as soon as I entered the secret realm.
“As for Yin Wushuang, she was even more vicious, wanting me to become a stepping stone for Han Tianyu. She constantly smeared my name, turning me into a heinous villain. Then, Han Tianyu, under the banner of justice, would kill me, bringing him another glorious achievement.
“Later, the situation gradually exceeded her control, and she realized that I was a serious problem. Since she couldn’t find me, she started to search for all of you. She wanted to kill you to force me out.
“I was in seclusion back then, and so I didn’t know what was going on outside. As soon as I exited seclusion, there was that fight on Compass Mountain.” Long Chen gave a simple explanation of what had happened.
According to his analysis, if it was just the higher-ups of the first monastery, they definitely wouldn’t have made it so fancy. Keeping it simple and direct was more in line with a cultivator’s temperament.
If it had been someone else handling this matter, and they were only to target Long Chen, Long Chen wouldn’t fear anything. But this matter had landed in Yin Wushuang’s hands, and to target Long Chen, she had targeted the people by his side. That was something Long Chen could not tolerate.
“No matter what, Yin Wushuang must die,” said Long Chen hatefully.
“Of course that slut has to die, or our brothers will not be able to rest in peace.” Gu Yang’s killing intent also surged.
“However, this slut is hiding somewhere right now and doesn’t dare face us head-on. We won’t be able to find her. If we really did just try to randomly look around for her, we would fall for her trap and probably even be ridiculed by her in secret. So right now, the most important thing for us is to increase our strength. Before Han Tianyu comes out of seclusion, we’ll raise our strength to the highest level possible. Then when the time comes, we’ll have a fierce battle,” warned Long Chen.
“Don’t worry boss, during this battle, none of us brothers will get scared. We’ll all kill as many as possible,” said Guo Ran confidently.
Long Chen nodded. Looking at this battlefield, he said, “Are these your masterpieces?”
“Correct. These were all done by Guo Ran. Brother Xu and I didn’t even have a chance to attack,” praised Gu Yang.
Gu Yang was still slowly recovering from his shock from that previous battle. The armored Guo Ran was just like a slaughter machine.
With a raise of his hand, countless concealed weapons shot out from unexpected places, making it so people couldn’t defend. Guo Ran had hunted them down to the last.
Even the final Chosen had been smashed to death with a single one of his metal fists.
Furthermore, that Chosen had definitely been very powerful. But no matter what he tried, he was unable to damage Guo Ran’s armor.
Not only was its defense incredibly high, but Guo Ran had also made it very exquisitely, and he was able to move very nimbly with it on.
So all Guo Ran had to do was attack. He could basically ignore other people’s attacks. That Chosen’s powerful attacks had been completely stifled by Guo Ran.
Xu Yang sighed, “To tell the truth, I’ve experienced countless battles in my life, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a terrifying fight.”
“Hehe, that’s because you haven’t seen our boss fight. I guarantee that would make your blood boil,” laughed Guo Ran. After being praised this much, he actually ended up knowing how to be modest and change the subject.
That was definitely something rare for Guo Ran. It seemed that little fellow was finally beginning to change. Long Chen said, “What were you doing just now? Was killing them not satisfying enough? You’re playing with their corpses?”
“Cough, no, no, I’m just gathering back my treasures. I can’t just so easily throw away the things I worked so hard to make. Eh? Boss, why are you looking at me like that?” asked Guo Ran. He noticed that Long Chen’s gaze had become very disdainful.
“Are you a pig? Why don’t you just gather all those corpses together and burn them? Do you think your needles would burn too?” Long Chen was a bit speechless.
Guo Ran clapped his leg. “Aiya, what a simple method! How could I not have thought of that?”
He had been depressed this whole time about having to take out these needles from the flesh. When these needles were stuck deep in a person’s body, the only option was to hack apart the flesh around it. Let alone Gu Yang and Xu Yang, even he found it a bit unbearable. After all, that was human flesh, not pig flesh.
Xu Yang was an outsider, and so he didn’t feel right complaining. He just lowered his head and worked. But Gu Yang hadn’t been able to hold back a few grumbles.
Long Chen sighed, “I find you really did use up all your smarts on forging. Just go gather the corpses, and Little Violet can help you incinerate them.”
The Little Violet Long Chen was referring to was Chu Yao’s Violet Phoenix Sparrow. Currently, the Violet Phoenix Sparrows had all advanced to the fourth rank, and the flame they could spit out was something even Chosen were unable to endure. Burning a few corpses was just playing around.
Guo Ran immediately began to gather the corpses that still had his needles in them.
Everyone else began helping, but Xu Yang was held back by Long Chen. “Xu Yang, what do you want to do next? Do you want to stay with us?”
Long Chen was truly grateful to Xu Yang, as he was a person who understood that favors had to be repaid. Ignoring the risk to his own life, he had come here to report the news to him. That was enough to prove that he was a loyal and virtuous person.
He wanted to pull Xu Yang over, but for Xu Yang to stay by his side was also very dangerous. Although he had the ability to offer many cultivation resources, compared to that danger, those resources were not so precious. So, Long Chen wanted to hear Xu Yang’s thoughts.
As for Xu Yang, being invited over by Long Chen, his eyes reddened. Just who was Long Chen? He was the greatest dark horse within the secret realm, was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with peak experts, and was unrivaled within his realm. The fact that Long Chen was inviting him to become a member meant Long Chen treated him as one of them. Just what kind of glory was that?
But after a brief excitement, he sighed, “Thank you, brother Long, for your respect. But I come from a humble origin, and I still haven’t paid back my debt to my sect. I can’t leave them, so please forgive me for declining.”
Long Chen nodded, understanding Xu Yang’s meaning. He was someone that had come from a small sect, and considering how much kindness his sect had given him, he couldn’t betray his sect by leaving to follow him.
According to what he knew about Xu Yang, it was very likely that his sect had spent a huge amount of resources to get him a spot for the Jiuli secret realm. For his sect to send him in was a true gamble. So, Long Chen truly could understand his difficulties.
“That’s fine. No matter what, we’re all brothers. I don’t have anything good to give you, but here are twenty Bone Tempering Pills and ten wind spiri
t stones. As brothers, don’t decline.” Long Chen pushed a jade bottle as well as ten wind spirit stones to Xu Yang.
“Brother Long, I can’t accept this…” Xu Yang couldn’t accept it. He had only ever heard of Bone Tempering Pills. But what he had heard was that they were unimaginably expensive.
Furthermore, these ten wind spirit stones were at least ten times better than the one he had obtained in the beginning. The wind energy inside it was incredibly pure.
“As brothers, don’t say anything useless. Since I’m giving them to you, just take them. You risked your life to give me information, which saved my friends from calamity. If you don’t take them, it means you’re looking down on me.” Long Chen intentionally turned hostile.
“Alright, then I’ll accept. I, Xu Yang, will never forget brother Long’s great favor.” Xu Yang respectfully bowed to Long Chen before leaving.
After Long Chen sent off Xu Yang, Li Qi, who had been unconscious this entire time, finally awoke, delighting everyone.
Once that brief celebration was over, Long Chen continued refining pills, while everyone else alternated between guarding and tempering their bones, all in preparation for the upcoming clash.
[1] Gu Yang says that Guo Ran has guts to throw out so many of his children at once. But the word for guts also means seed.
Chapter 423 Harsh Denouncement
News of the battle on Compass Mountain, as well as the news of Long Chen killing monastery disciples in the canyon, resounded throughout the entire secret realm.
Quite a few people ran over to confirm its veracity. Seeing the ghastly corpses, they were all horrified.
At the same time, countless criticizers spoke out against Long Chen, believing Long Chen to have a vicious heart and ruthless methods. Having slaughtered members of the same path, he was guilty of terrible crimes.
However, such words could only be said behind his back. That was because after those two huge battles, no one dared run out and provoke Long Chen again.
They could only express their own sense of righteousness behind his back. No matter how great the rewards offered, no one was willing to go to find trouble for Long Chen again.
As for that hand behind the curtain that had been constantly urging people on, it had become powerless. One reason was that the matter of someone deliberately targeting Long Chen had already become common knowledge. As cultivators, just how many people were so stupid? The majority of people had already seen through what had happened.
The other reason was that while some subordinates were busy trying to instigate people to target Long Chen, most people had already entered seclusion now. So just who would bother with them?
Just how many of them truly cared about who was good and who was bad? Those subordinates were just wasting their time. In just a few months, the secret realm’s exit would finally open.
At that time, there would be a huge battle between the Righteous and Corrupt paths. Those with weak cultivation bases would all die within the secret realm.
These people all considered the first monastery, as well as Long Chen, to be acting idiotically.
Before that huge battle, they were actually busy with internal strife. If that wasn’t idiotic, then what was? So most of the Righteous path’s experts were all just sneering at Yin Wushuang’s attempt to spread her propaganda.
As for the Corrupt path’s experts, they had long since vanished into seclusion. They were focused on that final battle.
They didn’t like internal strife. If the Righteous path wanted to fight amongst themselves, then that was fine. They would focus on increasing their strength, and when the time came, they would slaughter the Righteous disciples. In the end, wouldn’t those treasures that the Righteous disciples had risked their lives for end up in their pockets anyway?
Yin Wushuang had a group of people spreading her propaganda, but everyone was already in seclusion. Just who were they spreading that propaganda to? It wasn’t as if they could just shout as loudly as possible all day. If they ended up disturbing an expert’s seclusion, they would probably be killed directly.
After trying to instigate more people for two days without any results, Yin Wushuang could only helplessly give up. Her people all went into seclusion.
So this was the calmest time of the Jiuli secret realm. Other than some brazen experts or some criminals fleeing deeper into the secret realm, essentially everyone had entered seclusion and begun tempering their bones.
As for those disciples who had come from humble origins and didn’t have Bone Tempering Pills to use, the only thing they could do was focus on increasing their cultivation base, wanting to use their realm to make up for their lack of tempered bones.
Although that wasn’t very effective, it was better than doing nothing. That final battle would have to do with everyone’s life and death. No matter how many treasures they had gained in the secret realm, if they couldn’t leave, it would still be useless.
During this time, Long Chen was still focusing day and night on refining pills. At this time, the only person guarding them was Guo Ran.
Every time someone would furtively attempt to spy on them, Guo Ran would get rid of them with a single arrow. Those who were still focused on them at this time had to be enemies.
So, Guo Ran was now like a hunter patiently waiting for rabbits to take the bait. But after killing several people, a week passed without him having any more harvests. He began to feel bored.
Although watching Long Chen refine pills was something very pleasing to the eye, no matter how amazing it was to watch, after seeing it dozens or even hundreds of times a day, a person would still get tired of it.
“Boss, how much longer until you finish refining?”
“Not much. Right now we already have six thousand Bone Tempering Pills. After another two days, all the medicinal ingredients will be used up,” answered Long Chen.
After refining day and night, Long Chen had accumulated more and more medicinal pills. However, the medicinal ingredients only decreased.
Some of those living medicinal ingredients had been kept within his life ring. He wasn’t planning on using them to refine pills. After all, living medicinal ingredients were a hundred times more valuable than dead ones. In the outside world, Long Chen could obtain a massive amount of wealth from them. Furthermore, these living herbs were ones that people would fight over to buy, which would make the price skyrocket.
His life ring was packed with precious herbs, but Long Chen didn’t care whether or not they were comfortable inside. In any case, it was fine as long as they didn’t die. Even if their branches snapped or their leaves fell, even if they were on the verge of dying, it was still fine.
In any case, those things were priceless treasures in the outside world. Even half-dead herbs would be treated importantly by sects. Those sects definitely had ways to make them flourish again.
In the outside world, many precious medicinal ingredients had already gone extinct. But there were also some precious herbs that were all in the hands of certain sects and powers. They treated those precious herbs as things even more important than their wives, and sometimes they wouldn’t even let others know they had them.
Even if they were to sell them, they would only sell dried-up herbs. They would rarely ever let people know that they had the living versions that they could breed themselves.
It was only when something was so rare that no one could obtain it that its price would skyrocket. So, there were actually quite a few ‘extinct’ herbs that the larger powers possessed and kept secret from the rest of the world.
The price of those herbs was all controlled by those sects. As they steadily drove those prices higher, the smaller powers could only spend an exorbitant amount of money to purchase them. As a result, the larger sects only grew stronger, while the smaller sects always remained weak.
For example, Xu Yang’s sect was so poor that they were unable to even prepare Bone Tempering Pills for him. That wasn’t because they didn’t care
for Xu Yang enough. In fact, once Xu Yang left the secret realm, they would go all-out to groom him. Bone Tempering Pills were just too rare, and his sect only had the wealth to raise a single expert.
If they ended up giving their Bone Tempering Pills to Xu Yang, and he died in the secret realm, then his sect would decline even further. Xu Yang’s shoulders were carrying the fate of his sect right now. He was their one chance to rise, and so he couldn’t accept Long Chen’s offer.
This was also why the cultivation world, with its thousands and thousands of sects, still had most of its resources in the hands of just a few people. The smaller sects could only struggle while constantly on the verge of collapse.
As for the larger sects, even ordinary disciples could easily fight above realms with the Elders of smaller sects. That was the difference between them.
“Boss, if we completely absorb all these medicinal pills, how many bones can everyone temper?” asked Guo Ran.
“Splitting it equally, each person would get almost eight hundred Bone Tempering Pills, and according to the normal cultivation world’s theory, you would all be able to temper sixteen or more bones.”
The Bone Tempering Pills that Long Chen had refined were not the same as the ones in the outside world. The medicinal formula was several times’ better, and it was capable of fully activating the medicinal energy.
Most importantly, the medicinal ingredients Long Chen were using were either alive or had only just died, which further increased the medicinal energy. Furthermore, due to the fact that they were still alive, their medicinal energy was also easier to absorb. At the very least, Long Chen’s Bone Tempering Pills were ten times more effective than the Bone Tempering Pills on the outside world’s market.
He had seen many Bone Tempering Pills in other people’s storage rings. These were made with an inferior formula that was unable to fully bring out the medicinal energy.
However, according to his deduction, the difference between the two shouldn’t have been so large. After an investigation, Long Chen had discovered a certain secret.