by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
In that state, their cultivation bases progressed at astounding speeds without causing their foundations to become unsteady. Furthermore, it also advanced their mental realms. In that dream-like state, they comprehended many things they hadn’t even thought about before.
While the Dragonblood Legion cultivated blissfully, the Xuantian Dao Sect was undergoing daily change. Millions of experts were working day and night, and huge constructions rose into the sky one by one. They were built so fast that people found it unreal.
Day by day, time flowed on. After five whole months, Long Chen and the others all came out of seclusion.
They had no choice but to come out as the Xuantian Dao Sect’s construction had been completed. Now, the Xuantian Dao Sect was ten times grander than before. Its palace soared into the clouds, appearing luxurious, grand, and imposing.
The plaza was made of all-new material, and there was a formation supporting it. The patriarch’s statue had also been reconstructed, shining brightly like a mirror.
The entire Xuantian Dao Sect had changed, giving the air a feeling of energy. With the construction finally over, today was a celebration.
The Xuantian Dao Sect was filled with tables. The fine wine and delicacies had long since been prepared. When Long Chen and the others appeared, it caused an uproar.
Everyone saw that after five months, the Dragonblood warriors had gone from early Sea Expansion to mid Sea Expansion. Gu Yang, Guo Ran, and the other captain-level experts had even reached the seventh Heavenstage. They were at late Sea Expansion.
It had only been five months! This cultivation speed was absolutely shocking. Looking at them, even Foundation Forging experts had to sigh emotionally. This world would be theirs in the future.
Long Chen finally understood why the Immemorial Altar Lamp was an exceedingly precious existence even in the ancient era. Its ability to assist cultivation was truly heaven-defying.
Everyone’s cultivation bases had soared during this time. In the first month, they had all reached the third Heavenstage. Then their cultivation speeds had begun to slow down.
But that was only in comparison to their previous speed. Compared to the outside world’s cultivation speed, it was still shocking.
Long Chen had also found some rules about the Immemorial Altar Lamp. It also allowed people to establish their foundation quickly, letting their foundation become flawless.
But as their cultivation bases grew, the effect lessened. In truth, this was intentionally done by the Immemorial Altar Lamp.
At the beginning, Long Chen hadn’t understood. But then he had realized that the Immemorial Altar Lamp was different from ordinary treasures. It had its own rules. The higher the realm, the more it would withdraw its blessings. It had those using it go out and comprehend some things on their own. Otherwise, they would form a dependence on it.
If people formed a dependence on it, then that wouldn’t be helping, but ruining their futures. Forming a dependence would be a destructive blow to a cultivator, which was why it pulled back its blessings. This was also one of the reasons it was such an amazing treasure in the ancient era.
It was most useful in the early stage of a realm. In the middle stage, its blessings would lessen, and by the late stage, it essentially had no effect.
During the celebration, Long Chen saw Feng Geyin and the others that had fought with him. They laughed and drank until they were dizzy.
The celebration lasted for seven days and seven nights. At this point, the Xuantian Dao Sect was the overlord of the Eastern Wasteland. No one could resist them.
Once the celebration was over, the various sects left. Through this interaction, they were put at ease by the Xuantian Dao Sect’s attitude. They all received considerable payments for their work.
Once all the guests had left, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s people continued celebrating for three days. The Xuantian Dao Sect had now reached an unprecedented state of unity. They were all aligned, mentally and physically.
Several days later, at dusk, a large flying boat slowly descended upon them.
[1] Here, Long Chen says that what he did was “Drowning of the Seven Armies”. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a general flooded the Han River, drowning his enemies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fancheng
[2] When Tang Wan-er asks “and then”, the literal meaning is “down below”.
Tang Wan-er: “And down below?”
Long Chen: “Down below… there’s nothing.”
Chapter 967 Move Out, Target: the Central Plains
When the flying boat arrived above the Xuantian Dao Sect, Ouyang Qiuyu hastily went out to greet it. The flying boat had a flag waving to indicate its affiliation: the Xuantian Dao Sect.
The Xuantian Dao Sect it indicated was not the branch sect within the Eastern Wasteland. It was the head Xuantian Dao Sect located in the Central Plains. Every ten years, the head sect would send flying boats to the branch sects to bring disciples who met the qualifications back to the head sect.
Those disciples all had to have reached Sea Expansion, and they needed to be no older than fifty.
“Ouyang Qiuyu, leader of the Eastern Wasteland’s branch sect, greets senior from the head sect.” Ouyang Qiuyu hastily bowed.
Long Chen and the others had no choice but to follow. But Long Chen merely bent his waist slightly to indicate that he was bowing.
In reality, Long Chen looked down on this move. The flying boat took a full incense stick’s time to descend. The people on it refused to show themselves, intentionally waiting for all the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples to gather and bow to them. That was irritating to him.
Stairs descended from the flying boat. A group of people walked down, all their auras vast like a sea.
The person at the front was a middle-aged man with a stern face. His long hair fell to the back of his head, and his brows were raised, giving off a strict feeling.
“Is everything prepared?” he asked Ouyang Qiuyu.
“Reporting to senior, everything is prepared. This time, the Eastern Wasteland’s branch sect has a total of 417 people who qualify to be sent to the Central Plains to take the test,” answered Ouyang Qiuyu.
The truth was that other than the Dragonblood Legion, there were few that met the qualifications. Amongst those remaining people, some were disciples sent from other sects.
Their sects had entrusted them to the Xuantian Dao Sect, as their own sects didn’t have the power to properly raise them. If they were sent to the Xuantian Dao Sect, they could go to the Central Plains.
These sects felt that holding back their disciples was worse than letting them go to another sect. If their disciples could take root in the Central Plains and gain some skills, when the time came, they might come back and bring them over to the Central Plains as well or improve their original sect.
This was emotional persuasion. If it paid off, then it would pay off extremely well. Those disciples that were sent off might leave their family or partners back in the sect. They were like a kite string connected to them, making it so when they did gain power, they wouldn’t forget to repay their original sect.
“In accordance with the rules, we will leave in three days to give the disciples time to say goodbye to their friends and family. Arrange a residence for us,” said the middle-aged man. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was filled with unquestionable dignity.
“Yes, the arrangements have long since been prepared.” As Ouyang Qiuyu spoke, Sea Expansion Elders came forward to lead them away.
A total of thirty-eight people came off the boat. Only that middle-aged man’s aura was reserved so that no one could tell his cultivation base. However, the pressure he gave off made it unquestionable that he had to be a terrifying King.
The others who came off the boat were all young disciples. Their cultivation bases were all at Foundation Forging, but their auras were extremely condensed. Just like the middle-aged man, they gave off an immense pressure.
Once they had left,
Guo Ran speechlessly said, “They really know how to be posers. We came out to greet them, but they didn’t even glance at us.”
Long Chen nodded. Ouyang Qiuyu and Shui Wuhen, along with the other higher-ups, had left with that middle-aged man’s group. The disciples remaining didn’t quite know what to do.
“Let’s scatter.” Long Chen waved his hand, telling the disciples to go do whatever they were doing before. This had been nothing more than a show.
“Long Chen, I have to leave.” Once they returned, Yue Xiaoqian reluctantly opened her mouth.
“Sister Xiaoqian, you’re not going to stay with us?” Tang Wan-er grabbed Yue Xiaoqian’s hand.
“Aunt Yu said I can’t go with Long Chen to the Central Plains,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Why not? Long Chen, go ask aunt Yu to have Xiaoqian accompany us,” said Tang Wan-er.
During this time, Tang Wan-er had surprisingly begun to stick up for Yue Xiaoqian, because Yue Xiaoqian was younger than her and naturally naive. Tang Wan-er treated her as a little sister that needed protecting.
When she was with Meng Qi, she felt herself to not be sensible or mature enough. But with Yue Xiaoqian, she felt like she had a true partner, and the two of them had been chattering incessantly this entire time.
“It’s not a good time for Xiaoqian to accompany us to the Central Plains.” Long Chen shook his head.
Yue Xiaoqian began to cry, causing Tang Wan-er to be infuriated. “You scoundrel Long Chen, what are you talking about?”
“Sister Wan-er, don’t make things hard on Long Chen. The Central Plains are where the world’s strongest experts reside. It’s not a good idea for me to go with you there,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen was helpless. There was no way around this, as there were just too many experts in the Central Plains. According to aunt Yu, some were approaching the level of gods. If Yue Xiaoqian went, it would be all too easy for her identity to be exposed.
“Don’t worry, once I establish myself in the Central Plains and build up a new stronghold, we can still be together,” comforted Long Chen as he held Yue Xiaoqian’s hand.
“I know. I just… I don’t want to part,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Don’t worry, it won’t be too long. We’ll quickly meet again. There are still many things for you to handle here in the Eastern Wasteland, but I’ve already told Zheng Wenlong to send all the medicinal pills to your new stronghold. Just get through this hard time.”
Zheng Wenlong was already in motion, gathering hordes of alchemists and teaching them the new pill formulas. He had done repeated tests with the pill formulas and had confirmed that there were no problems with them. He was already starting to refine them in bulk.
It was the same as the Bone Tempering Pills. Long Chen would first get a bulk order of them, and only then would they be sold on the market. Right now, Long Chen was in a race against the clock.
The matter of the medicinal pills was now no longer as desperate as five months ago, as a huge number of medicinal pills had reached the original devil race’s disciples. With new cultivation resources, those disciples broke through bottlenecks, delighting the entire original devil race.
In front of everyone’s unwilling gazes, Yue Xiaoqian left. But this parting was temporary. The Eastern Wasteland was currently enjoying an unprecedented level of peace. Everything was extremely calm.
The Corrupt path, the ancient races, and the ancient family alliance’s matters had all been handled. Although the Eastern Wasteland’s Corrupt path had taken heavy losses, the Righteous path didn’t move to completely exterminate them. They left this leeway, so the Corrupt path also didn’t dare to commit a huge taboo and send their experts to the Eastern Wasteland. Perhaps in the Righteous and Corrupt path’s higher-ups’ eyes, the fight in the Eastern Wasteland was nothing more than a game. A temporary win was just that, temporary.
However, the Corrupt path truly did hate Long Chen to the bone now. This time, he had slapped them in the face extremely viciously, and more than once at that.
The ancient races and ancient family alliance were compensated, and so they had won back some face. But Long Chen was sure that once he arrived in the Central Plains, things would not be very peaceful.
As for the Bloodkill Hall, he had always been on guard against them, but he had heard that the head Ling Yunzi had cut off had been sent back to the head Xuantian Dao Sect. The Xuantian Dao Sect had sent the Bloodkill Hall a warning, but as for what the result was, none of them knew.
To sum it up, Long Chen was enjoying a rare moment of peace in the Eastern Wasteland. But once he entered the Central Plains, that peace wouldn’t necessarily continue. Furthermore, the Central Plains was packed with many geniuses, and Long Chen didn’t like his odds of continuing this peace.
Time truly passed quickly. The third day arrived in what felt like the blink of an eye. In front of Ouyang Qiuyu and Shui Wuhen’s reluctant gazes, Long Chen stepped onto the flying boat with everyone else.
The flying boat began to shine, and then instantly disappeared from the Xuantian Dao Sect’s sight. Everyone felt a feeling of loss.
“That troublemaker has finally left.” Ouyang Qiuyu didn’t feel the slightest relief as she watched the flying boat depart. Instead, she felt mournful.
“That’s right. He can finally cause trouble for others. We’re free.” Shui Wuhen smiled, but tears streamed down her face.
Ever since knowing Long Chen, she had viewed him as a little brother. He had never treated her as a monastery head, and she had never treated him as a disciple.
But now that he had left for a place full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers like the Central Plains, with his temperament, he might never come back. Their smiles were covered in tears.
Shui Wuhen didn’t quite know what feeling she had for Long Chen. Normally she gave him a strict face, afraid if she was too lax with him, he would end up causing his own death. But now thinking of his simple-minded smile, she felt it to be so warm, so intimate. But now it was gone.
“Sister, people need space to grow. If he’s to be a dragon, he has to soar into the sky. Don’t be too sad.” Ouyang Qiuyu patted Shui Wuhen’s shoulder.
“Do you think Long Chen will return?” asked Shui Wuhen.
She understood Long Chen’s temper far too well. Now that he was going to the Central Plains, either heaven and earth would flip, or he would die a miserable death. And the probability of the latter was much higher.
“That’s not something we can know. All we can do is not bring him more trouble… as well as pray for him.” Ouyang Qiuyu looked into the distance and sighed. She really was worried about Long Chen now that he had left…
Long Chen and the others only realized that the flying boat was its own space once they got on it. It was much bigger than it appeared on the outside.
Furthermore, on the flying boat, they could see everything outside. The flying boat was see-through from the inside and was also shockingly fast. As soon as it started moving, the Xuantian Dao Sect disappeared. That made them all feel a bit mournful.
Everyone had emotions. The feeling of leaving a familiar place for a foreign land was one of both excitement and nervousness.
Even Long Chen felt that contradictory feeling. He wanted to stay behind and enjoy his peaceful life longer. But he also wanted to go to the Central Plains and investigate his origins.
Although he wasn’t actually doing any investigating, he knew his parents had to have shocking origins. Right now, he didn’t have the qualifications to investigate. If he tried with his current power level, he would probably just get himself killed.
Other than the mystery of his origins, he also had hot blood flowing through his veins. He thirsted to compete with other peak geniuses, wanting to step onto a larger playing field and see a vaster sky.
“You are Long Chen? Get out here.”
Long Chen and the others had just taken a seat within the boat when a person at the front icily shouted.
Ch
apter 968 A Show of Power to Blunt Their Arrogance?
The person demanding Long Chen come out was a Foundation Forging expert. Long Chen had known since before getting on the flying boat that these people were disciples from the Xuantian Dao Sect’s previous generation.
Ten years a generation, and they were already Foundation Forging experts. It was truly amazing for them to be Foundation Forging experts in their early thirties.
Furthermore, he saw that they were all at least rank two Celestials. Some were even rank three Celestials. Such geniuses were much stronger than the ordinary Foundation Forging experts he had encountered before.
In the Eastern Wasteland, with their cultivation bases, they could establish their own sects. But in the Central Plains, they were no more than ordinary disciples.
The one shouting at Long Chen was a man with long hair that scattered naturally around him. He seemed to possess a certain amount of status, as the others listened to him.
Although he appeared indifferent and didn’t look directly at them, Long Chen clearly saw him eyeing Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er with his peripheral vision. Looking at his arrogant manner, Long Chen knew exactly what kind of fart he was about to release.
“I don’t have time for you,” said Long Chen icily.
His voice caused the head sect’s disciples’ expressions to change, especially the man at the front. His expression sank, and his aura began to rise.
“Long Chen, you don’t want to join the head sect?” he shouted coldly.
“Are you the patriarch of the sect?” sneered Long Chen. “It seems you aren’t. Since you aren’t, it seems you’re bragging a bit too much. If you really had any position in the Xuantian Dao Sect, you wouldn’t have run over here to handle such a matter. A poser routine that lacks any technique or skill like this is something we’ve all long since stopped playing.”
“Long Chen, I, Wang Mang, challenge you to a battle!” shouted that person. He took out a badge that was made of an unknown material. It was like metal but not metal, like wood but not wood. The Xuan character was carved into it, and the back had Wang Mang’s name.
