by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Long Chen, will this affect the entire Dragonblood Legion’s development?” asked Meng Qi worriedly.
“Foolish wife, Cloud is our companion and also a member of the Dragonblood Legion. Its power is the Dragonblood Legion’s power. Even if it’s just for the sake of our future, we need Cloud to grow up healthy. Don’t worry, although it’ll be a bit tight, I think with a bit of adjustment, it won’t affect our progress.” Long Chen smiled.
Meng Qi blushed upon being called wife and she glared at Long Chen. But that made her feel warm.
“How are we supposed to adjust?” asked Meng Qi.
“Right now, each member of the Dragonblood Legion has quite a few points. It should be enough for them in the short term, so we won’t need to give any more for a while. As for the points that we have, although it’s not enough, there are other options. Divide the required resources into things that have to be bought with points in the sect, and things that we can get on our own.
“For example, I can get you precious medicines, and we can get some of the Magical Beast flesh, crystal cores, and bones on our own. Our disciples can occasionally go out for tempering, which will benefit their cultivation bases, and we’ll profit. We can even issue missions to get those things, which should be cheaper. Furthermore, I’m still getting points from selling medicinal pills to the outer sect. So there’s no need to worry about it right now,” said Long Chen.
“Long Chen, you really are amazing!” Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er excitedly hugged Long Chen, one on the left and one on the right. They even gave him a kiss each. Just as Long Chen was enjoying the feeling, another mouth came over.
“Hey, you’re too late. Let me kiss you instead!” Cloud actually learned from Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er’s examples. Long Chen hastily went up to hug and kissed it instead. He was afraid of being accidentally swallowed into its stomach.
Tang Wan-er and Meng Qi laughed. Cloud was truly adorable. The two of them continued to play with it, while Long Chen walked toward a depressed Guo Ran who was sitting on a distant boulder.
Chapter 1130 Group Seclusion
“What’s with the face? It’s not like anyone told you to have so little eloquence.” Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder.
“Boss, is it because I don’t know how to speak nicely that I can’t get any woman to like me?” asked Guo Ran.
“In truth, women are comparatively pettier, and your mouth is truly skilled at unwittingly infuriating them. Take what just happened as an example. That little hatchling is Meng Qi’s housepet, and you said it was ugly. Don’t you think that’s a slap to Meng Qi’s face? Meng Qi’s gentle and nice, and she doesn’t like fighting. If it had instead been Wan-er, she’d have kicked you flying,” said Long Chen.
“Boss, now that you put it like this, it seems that really is the case. I definitely have to fix the way I talk,” said Guo Ran solemnly. But then seeing Long Chen’s strange expression, he asked, “Boss, what’s with those eyes? Are you doubting my words?”
Long Chen shook his head vehemently. “You’re my brother, so it’s not that I doubt your words.”
Guo Ran smiled. “Haha, this is how my boss-”
“It’s that I fundamentally don’t believe them.”
“...”
Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder. “There’s no perfect person in this world. Sometimes a person’s shortcomings embody their character more than their strong points. You are you, so why change? Once you change yourself, will you still be Guo Ran? You admire me, so you imitate me. Are you planning on being my shadow for a lifetime? What would be the meaning of your existence, of the person named Guo Ran? Listen well, at the very least, if you can pull off a dream poser act, it would still possess great meaning.”
“Boss, I’m a bit confused. Am I supposed to take your words as praise?” asked Guo Ran.
“Of course it’s praise. Don’t you feel that it’s glorious to have used your own hard work and choices to go from an obscure nobody to your current height?”
“Boss, actually, I feel like all my current accomplishments are just because of you.”
“You’re wrong. No one in this world can truly help you. The only one who can help you is yourself. Amongst the people by my side, you’re the one with the weakest strength, the weakest talent, the weakest moral-.” Long Chen suddenly coughed and continued, “Your starting point is lower than other people, but you blazed an alternate path to reach your current level. That’s definitely not a coincidence. So there’s no need to feel inferior. Everything you have is the result of your own silent hard work and investment.”
Long Chen was the one who understood Guo Ran the best. The reason he liked to be such a poser was most likely because of his feeling of inferiority inside his heart. He needed to prove himself, which was why he wanted everyone to acknowledge him. He liked the feeling of being stared at by everyone, of being worshiped and revered by everyone.
But a feeling of inferiority was also a kind of heart-devil. If it was not erased, it might cause problems in the future. So Long Chen gave him this warning today.
“Boss, I understand. I will cast aside my sense of inferiority and be the true me. I won’t imitate anyone.” Guo Ran took a deep breath and nodded.
“Good, that’s perfect,” praised Long Chen.
“I am Guo Ran! I am me! Starting today, I will meet every day with confidence. I will declare to the world that when it comes to posing, I am serious!” cried Guo Ran.
“What the fuck?! There’s really no saving you!” Long Chen directly clapped Guo Ran on the back of the head, causing him to fall from the boulder he was sitting on.
Aggrieved, Guo Ran said, “Boss, didn’t you just tell me to be confident, to be myself?”
Long Chen sighed for a long time, calming himself down. Confident people didn’t need to be posers. Guo Ran was unable to understand his meaning.
“How is the armor forging?” Long Chen changed the subject. He was afraid if they continued this topic, he would lose control and slap him.
“I’ve restarted all of them.”
“Why?”
“After forging a few thousand sets, I found that my initial forging method had too many flaws. The runes weren’t compact enough, nor did they conform very well with each other, affecting the armor’s defensive strength. Furthermore, I recently had a breakthrough and thought of a kind of merging rune from the Ethereal Crafting Secret Record. After a few hundred experiments, my skill with it increased, so I went back to fix those old sets of armor. But since I’m just changing a few runes, it’s much easier than before, and it doesn’t take as long. Going back and fixing them increases their defensive strength greatly, so it’s worth it,” explained Guo Ran.
Long Chen didn’t know much about forging, but he trusted Guo Ran. If he thought restarting was best, it was definitely necessary.
“Work hard on them. From the battle against the Heaven Suppressing Magic Sect, you’ve seen that the Xuantian Dao Sect is not secure enough. We can’t entrust our lives to it. As cultivators, we need to constantly create our own trump cards to protect our future,” said Long Chen.
“Alright, I’ll work hard. Boss, you should go into seclusion. Originally, I came out this time to talk to you about getting more points, but it seems…” Guo Ran knew that the Dragonblood Legion didn’t have that many points to spare.
“How many?”
“According to my estimates, forging them all will take at least one billion points.”
“That’s no problem. Go get half a billion from sister Qing Yu for now. When you use them up, come back and get more,” said Long Chen.
Guo Ran hesitated, but in the end, he couldn’t help but open his mouth. “Boss, considering your contributions to the Xuantian Dao Sect…”
“Just go. Some things aren’t as simple as you imagine,” sighed Long Chen. Guo Ran was saying that as the Xuantian Dao Sect’s number one genius, the Xuantian Dao Sect should spend extra resources on grooming the Dragonblood Legion
. Otherwise, it would appear too stingy.
But the Xuantian Dao Sect had its own financial problems. Although the Xuan Master hadn’t exposed them, Long Chen could guess the Xuantian Dao Sect was not having an easy time.
It went without saying that the Xuan Master truly had some courage. That day, his offer of giving half the sect’s resources to Long Chen had completely won his trust and loyalty.
Long Chen’s principles were very simple. Those who treated him well he would repay ten times over.
The Xuan Master had even taken the risk of being implicated by the Heavenly Daos to help him. Although Long Chen had refused his gift, he still recorded his kindness in his heart.
In his eyes, any kind of resources could be slowly accumulated or obtained through other ways. But trust was always hard to get.
After sending off Guo Ran, Long Chen called over Tang Wan-er, Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and Li Qi. He directly gave them the rank six Heavenly Dao Fruits.
These were the gifts the Heaven Suppressing Magic Sect had traveled from so far away to give them, and they definitely couldn’t waste them. There were only four, so Guo Ran could do without one for now.
Although this would definitely draw attention, Long Chen couldn’t be bothered with that anymore. If they continued to hide their power, it would hinder the Dragonblood Legion’s development. Always hesitating wasn’t Long Chen’s style.
Regretfully, he hadn’t managed to kill Han Zhenyu, or there would be a rank seven Heavenly Dao Fruit.
But he was happy to find that the Heavenly Dao Tree was truly heaven-defying. Whether the Celestial that died was an innate or acquired Celestial, the Heavenly Dao Fruit would make the consumer an innate Celestial. In other words, all four of them were now innate rank six Celestials.
It was because of the Heavenly Dao Tree’s heaven-defying ability that Long Chen had refused the Life Star Bead. His aspirations were much greater than that. He wanted to raise a terrifying Dragonblood Legion that could run rampant throughout the continent.
After distributing the Heavenly Dao Fruits, he gathered the Dragonblood Legion and distributed some yuan spirit stones. He also took out a treasure.
That treasure was the Immemorial Altar Lamp. He hadn’t used it before because its effects on the late Sea Expansion realm were essentially negligible. At the same time, it was made from the life essence of great experts, and its core had been greatly harmed in the Immemorial Path. It was not a killing tool, but a tool for assisting with cultivation.
According to the Eastern Wasteland Bell, it contained the blessing of the great experts that had created it. It was such a precious item that even back in that era, it could be a sect’s foundation.
Later, Long Chen had spent countless resources on it to allow it to slowly recover in accordance with the method the Eastern Wasteland Bell had told him.
In the Foundation Forging realm, it not only allowed people to cultivate faster and granted them a closer connection to Heavenly Dao energy, but it also let a person build a flawless immortal platform. That was its strongest point.
Long Chen gathered all the disciples, but he left a dozen of them to guard the entrance. This was one of Long Chen’s secrets that no one else could learn about. Even in a private land like Crouching Dragon Mountain, caution was required.
When the Immemorial Altar Lamp’s soft light landed on their bodies, all the disciples felt as if they had become transparent, and if the world was one with them. There was no longer any separation.
They all felt like a drop of water that had landed in the sea. It was like this entire world was blessing them. They quickly took out their yuan spirit stones and started absorbing their energy.
The endless energy coming from the yuan spirit stones went directly to their original runes under the blessing of the Immemorial Altar Lamp.
Chapter 1131 Terrifying Consumption
Under the illumination of the Immemorial Altar Lamp, faint ripples enveloped them and they sank into a strange state. This blessing delighted Long Chen.
Although the Immemorial Altar Lamp’s blessing was not as monstrous as the Xuantian Tower’s blessing, its energy continued in an unending stream. It had definitely been worthwhile nourishing it.
As long as the Immemorial Altar Lamp wasn’t contaminated with the Death Qi of living organisms, it would never extinguish, allowing them to enjoy this blessing for as long as they desired.
Long Chen also took out yuan spirit stones and began to absorb their energy. For others, absorbing one stone took three days normally. But with the Immemorial Altar Lamp, that time was cut down to half a day.
As for Long Chen, he fully absorbed all the energy in a yuan spirit stone in just a few breaths.
As he absorbed more and more yuan spiritual energy, he had an urge to cry. His 108,000 runes were like hungry wolves fighting over a small piece of meat. It felt like each wolf got less than a trace of meat, making them howl in frustration.
As for the other disciples, Long Chen could clearly feel their original runes growing as they absorbed the yuan spiritual energy.
Others only had one original rune, while he had 108,000. Although his runes didn’t have as much energy as each of theirs in a one to one ratio, ten of his runes definitely contained more energy than one of theirs.
Even counting in a ten to one ratio, his consumption was still ten thousand times greater. That made him feel a sense of crisis. In the cultivation world, the most terrifying thing was not having powerful enemies, but a lack of funds.
He sensed the others’ progress and found that they condensed a second original rune in just three yuan spirit stones. For them to condense all nine original runes and merge them into the foundation of their immortal platform would probably require around fifty yuan spirit stones. Then they would be at the first Heavenstage of Foundation Forging.
Theoretically, the second Heavenstage’s runes would require twice the amount of energy of the first Heavenstage. Then that would be one hundred. And then the third Heavenstage would be two hundred. Then for the ninth Heavenstage… each disciple would require over ten thousand yuan spirit stones.
Ten thousand yuan spirit stones! And that was a conservative estimate! It would most likely take even more than that.
Right now there were thirteen thousand five hundred members of the Dragonblood Legion. The number of yuan spirit stones he had was not close to enough to allow all of them to reach the peak of Foundation Forging.
But what was worse was that even after absorbing a thousand stones for just his first rune, there was still practically no growth.
Long Chen steeled himself and spent a whole day. After absorbing thirty-six thousand yuan spirit stones, he condensed his second rune. When he was finished, he found that his two runes were like conjoined twins. They were not separate entities, but one whole body.
When the second rune was condensed, he clearly felt his 108,000 acupuncture points enlarge, and even the divine runes of Split the Heavens grew larger, as if their limit had increased.
“Could it be that the size of Split the Heavens’ divine runes are in accordance with the size of the acupuncture points? So then the larger my acupuncture points, the stronger they’ll get?” Long Chen was quite surprised.
Split the Heavens’ divine runes had originally been at the center of his corresponding acupuncture points, but after reaching Foundation Forging, those runes had been squeezed below, while his original runes took that position. They seemed to be afraid of his original runes and resigned themselves to staying beneath them.
As for his original runes, they ignored Split the Heavens’ divine runes. They both minded their own business. With the formation of his second original rune, his acupuncture points grew, and Split the Heavens’ divine runes grew with them. But even after strengthening, they stayed in their original position, not daring to move in the face of his original runes.
However, this consumption was too terrifying. Just on his own, his consumption could almost match the whole
Dragonblood Legion’s.
When he saw that the Dragonblood Legion’s disciples had already condensed their third rune, he received a large blow and decided to go into private seclusion.
When he absorbed yuan spirit stones, the Immemorial Altar Lamp wasn’t able to help much. The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was already strong enough to almost instantly suck the yuan spirit stones dry.
Returning to his room, he first refined a mountain of medicinal pills and elixirs for selling in the outer sect. These medicines were all ones that were used often, and so their price was cheaper. The outer sect disciples were big fans of them.
As for himself, he had the primal chaos space, and refining these medicines didn’t take any capital from him. However much they were sold for was how much money they made. Qian Duoduo had told him several times that if they increased the price so that they sold at eighty percent the price of what the Ten Thousand Pill Hall sold their medicines for, there would still be countless people buying their products, and they would make several times the profit.
That was because Qian Duoduo was still under the impression that Long Chen was secretly buying all his ingredients from outside. He felt they weren’t making enough. Although they sold a huge amount, their profit had to be limited.
But Long Chen declined, because this was how business was done. If you wanted to lower the price, there’d be no problem. But if you increased the price, no matter what reason you gave, it would cause some people to be dissatisfied.
That would influence the overall mood of the buyers. In any case, his medicinal pills were all obtained for free, so continuing to sell like this was fine.
At the same time, he also prepared enough medicines for Meng Qi’s food balls. Meng Qi had already issued missions to gather some resources. That way they could save some money, while also giving their money to the outer sect’s disciples.
As for the remaining portion, they had no choice but to buy them themselves. Although the Ten Thousand Pill Hall was enemies with Long Chen, they didn’t dare to make things too hard on Meng Qi. Therefore, they managed to buy what they needed.
