Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
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In Pill Valley’s eyes, no matter how great your cultivation talent was, at best you would just be a high level fighter. Alchemy was the truly important thing.
“Yes, many thanks for Protector Zhuo’s reminder. Disciple will remember your words,” said Long Chen.
Zhuo Tianxiang suddenly felt something was off. Sweeping out with his divine sense, he saw Long San staring at his butt.
He was startled. What illness did this brat have? He suddenly noticed a strange emotion in Long San’s eyes.
“What the, is this brat…”
Zhuo Tianxiang’s hair stood on end. He suddenly thought of something strange. When he had gone through Long San’s memories, he hadn’t seen any memories of him falling for girls. In fact, even his memories of women were indistinct.
He hadn’t particularly noticed that before, but now with Long San staring at his butt, he immediately thought of it.
He felt like Long San’s gaze was like a viper’s, sweeping back and forth across his butt. Goosebumps raised across his skin.
“This bastard, he’s a homosexual?” Zhuo Tianxiang suddenly felt noxious. It was no wonder he had been feeling disgusted by him from the start. So this was the case.
“Long San, you walk at the front!”
Zhuo Tianxiang immediately stopped and made Long Chen come forward.
Long Chen hastily stopped staring and said, “How could disciple possibly walk in front of you? Disciple does not dare. Disciple would rather stay here and stare at Protector Zhuo’s grand back. That is disciple’s glory.”
Zhuo Tianxiang was enraged. His suspicion that Long San was a homosexual increased even more.
“If I tell you to go to the front, then go to the front!”
“Yes! Disciple will go immediately!” Long Chen acted cowed and walked to the front. But inside, he was ecstatic. With all the tricks up his sleeve, getting out of Zhuo Tianxiang’s close watch was easy.
“Zhao Xiang, I suddenly recall I have many things to handle. I’ll leave Long San to you. You’ll be in charge of everything when it comes to Long San,” said Zhuo Tianxiang to one of the experts beside him.
“Me? But my alchemy arts are far inferior to yours!” said that Zhao Xiang.
“It’s fine. Long San is definitely smart enough to enter the Divine Pill Hall. He’ll get specialists to teach him alchemy arts at that time. With his talent, all you have to do is make sure he has what he needs. Give him everything he wants. If there are any difficulties, you can find me,” said Zhuo Tianxiang.
“Yes. Many thanks, Protector Zhuo!” Zhao Xiang was extremely grateful. The other experts all had envious expressions.
Long Chen was like a piece of fat meat in their hands. They would all be getting some benefits.
That was because his future accomplishments would be amazing, and they would have contributed merit in bringing such a genius to Pill Valley. If their luck was good, they would be getting quite some benefits.
Originally, they had thought Zhuo Tianxiang would be consuming this piece of meat on his own. But now Zhuo Tianxiang had abandoned this piece of meat and had tossed it to them.
Long Chen was walking at the front, and hearing Zhuo Tianxiang’s words, a ‘disappointed’ expression appeared on his face. Inside, he patted himself on the back. As expected, shameless moves were the most effective. Now it would be much easier for him to act in the future.
Zhuo Tianxiang kept walking behind Long Chen the entire time before they stepped into the transportation formation and were brought away.
The scenery before them changed, and they appeared in front of a huge valley. Two high mountains soared into the clouds, and a large river slowly flowed at the center.
Spiritual qi that had been condensed to practically the pinnacle washed over them. With each breath, it flowed into them, completely opening their pores.
“What immense spiritual qi!” Although Long Chen had been expecting Pill Valley to be a wonderland, such dense spiritual qi still shocked him.
Let alone cultivators, even ordinary people would have their longevity increase by breathing in such dense spiritual qi all year around. Living a few centuries would definitely be no problem. To ordinary mortals, this place was definitely an immortal wonderland.
“Take note of your appearance. Now that we’re within Pill Valley, don’t act like a country bumpkin. If you look too excited, others will laugh at you,” snorted Zhuo Tianxiang.
Long Chen cursed inside. So what if he was a country bumpkin that hadn’t seen the world? But he put on a deeply respectful expression.
The more Long Chen acted like this, the more Zhuo Tianxiang couldn’t bear to look at him. He said, “I have things to do, so I’m going. You can bring Long San to the Pill Management Department to register.”
Zhuo Tianxiang took out a jade plate. It lit up and enveloped him, and he vanished.
“We should get going.” Once Zhuo Tianxiang left, Zhao Xiang took out a flying boat and brought everyone into the valley. With the high mountains to their side and the lake below, it was a beautiful scene.
“Haha, Long San, Protector Zhuo has a sharp tongue, but he’s softhearted. You don’t need to be afraid. As Pill Valley’s disciple, you should feel the glory and grandness that a disciple of Pill Valley should possess. What you see before you will become your greatest support. If you’re happy, you can shout it out. None of us will laugh at you.” Zhao Xiang smiled as Long Chen appreciated the scenery around.
He was different from Zhuo Tianxiang. His status was just average, and he had to take advantage of when Long San hadn’t soared yet to form a good relationship with him. Once Long San soared, his own station would rise with him. This was the best moment to help him out.
“Many thanks, Elder Zhao Xiang,” said Long Chen.
“There’s no need to be so courteous. This valley continues for two hundred thousand miles. It has eighty-one wonders, and three hundred and sixty turns. Each turn brings with it different scenery…” Zhao Xiang politely explained everything. He intentionally slowed down the flying boat to show the various spectacles.
Long Chen had no choice but to sigh in admiration. Each wonder, each turn brought with it a change. It occurred at a strange rhythm that seemed to be showing things to him in sequence.
“Could it be that each wonder represents a different mental realm of alchemy?” asked Long Chen.
As soon as he said this, Zhao Xiang and the others became stunned, staring at him like he was a monster.
“Long San, you really are a genius amongst geniuses. This valley’s eighty-one wonders represent the eighty-one shackles one will encounter along the path of the Alchemy Dao. Normally, when disciples run into bottlenecks and can’t progress, they will come to this valley and walk around it, trying to comprehend its profundities to create an opportunity to break through. Long San, for you to be able to see such a thing shows that your future accomplishments will be limitless!” praised an elder. This was not just purely boot-licking, but true praise for Long Chen’s terrifying comprehension ability.
“Eighty-one shackles? What idiot concluded that? The Alchemy Dao is a Grand Dao, and a limitless Dao at that. Who could possibly capture all its profundities? What a joke,” sneered Long Chen inside.
As he continued forward, he truly saw that each wonder was a mental realm for alchemy, and seeing them could truly raise a person’s comprehension. But trying to represent the sum of the Alchemy Dao in eighty-one mental realms was a complete impossibility.
Originally, Long Chen had felt some respect for Pill Valley, but after seeing this, that respect silently vanished.
When they reached the end of the valley, what greeted them was a huge ancient castle. This castle had to be ten thousand miles wide at least. There were two large statues at the front of the castle. They were the same height as the castle and emitted a divine aura.
“These two are the gods we of Pill Valley believe in, Lord Brahma and Fallen Daynight.” Zhao Xiang and the others respectfully
stopped and bowed toward the statues. They murmured something, but Long Chen didn’t hear what they said.
That was because he was staring closely at the two huge statues. The left one was holding a scroll in his hand. He looked very handsome and scholarly. He was Lord Brahma.
The other one was a rougher looking man with facial hair. He held a pill furnace in his hands and was gazing into the distance. He was Fallen Daynight.
“Fallen Daynight? Lord Brahma?”[1]
For some unknown reason, flames of fury rose in Long Chen’s heart as he stared at these two statues. He had an urge to smash them apart. That startled him. What was going on?
At this time, Zhao Xiang and the others finished paying their respect and led Long Chen past the two statues. Their flying boat landed on a large platform.
“Long San, come. I’ll bring you to register at the Pill Management Department.”
[1] Fallen Daynight is , literally falling heaven/sky/day night. Procounced Luo Tian Ye.
Lord Brahma is , literally great nirvana or lord Brahma. Here, I would assume the Brahma is referring to the Buddhist Brahma and not the Hindu Brahma. Generally the middle character is used for Buddhist things, and it could refer to Brahman (notice the extra n at the end) on its own, but combined with the last character, it refers to Brahma and the Nirvana of Buddhism. The Nirvana Scripture has the same name, in the sense that it could be called Lord Brahma’s Scripture, or Lord Brahma could be called Lord Nirvana. Pronounced Da Fan Tian.
Chapter 1331 Divine Pill Hall Test
The ancient castle felt like a giant beast emitting a desolate aura. Once Zhao Xiang led Long Chen into the palace, they weren’t checked or questioned. Zhao Xiang simply greeted the guards and walked in with Long Chen.
Once they were inside, Long Chen saw that the entire castle was supported by a huge formation. The spiritual qi inside was several times denser than outside, which made Long Chen once more sigh at Pill Valley’s wealth.
Long Chen saw that this place, which was a holy land to alchemists, was bustling with activity. He saw quite a few young disciples walking around. But they all seemed to be in a rush and ignored him.
The thing that shocked him was that some of them were extremely young. Some only looked to be sixteen or seventeen, and their cultivation bases were only in the Meridian Opening realm.
“Pill Valley cares about alchemy, not cultivation base. The younger the disciple, the more potential that can be unlocked while they’re in Pill Valley. And the lower their cultivation bases, the more room for their Spiritual Strength to grow. So it’s normal for you to see disciples with low cultivation bases. However, the competition between disciples is intense. Those who can enter Pill Valley are all alchemy geniuses. But even geniuses become ordinary people here.
“Geniuses are all used to being arrogant existences worshipped by others, so when they come here, they all go all-out cultivating. There’s practically no need to encourage them. You see how busy they are. Even friends will only nod toward you in passing. That’s because they feel that speaking is a waste of time. They need to spend all their time on cultivation,” explained Zhao Xiang.
“Wow, is there a need to go all-out like this?” Long Chen was stunned. They didn’t even want to waste the time to speak?
Long Chen felt like he had been training hard, but now in comparison, it seemed that he was a slacker.
“Hehe, they have no choice. Sometimes, just honor and glory are enough to drive a person to do their best. Everyone wants to stand above others and not be trampled on. Within Pill Valley, alchemy is everything, so they have no choice but to cultivate their alchemy arts to the peak. As long as your alchemy arts are great enough, you can get whatever you want. Furthermore, alchemists walk a different path from ordinary cultivators. They don’t need to remain hasty. As long as you become strong enough, you can get as many resources and beauties as you want. You won’t even need to ask; they’ll simply flock toward you. Hehe, you understand!” Zhao Xiang winked at Long Chen.
The benefits were this great? It seemed living in Pill Valley would be amazing.
For normal cultivators, once they reached the Xiantian realm, they could theoretically start producing progeny. And that wouldn’t stop them from advancing in the future.
But the majority of cultivators wouldn’t start doing so immediately after reaching the Xiantian realm. That was because the higher the realm of the parents, the greater the purity of their Spirit Blood, and the greater chance their progeny would inherit their bloodline and be termed geniuses.
That was why most cultivators would cultivate until they reached their peak before they considered getting a partner and creating progeny.
For male cultivators, they would usually find one or more Dao-companions after reaching the Xiantian realm, but they wouldn’t have progeny.
For males, becoming Dao-companions with someone else wouldn’t cause any problems for them. But female cultivators normally wouldn’t choose to become Dao-companions.
This related to problems of the heart. For many men, women were like wealth to be gained, and this satisfied their desire to conquer others. But they didn’t have that many real emotions toward this act.
But for women, when it came to these matters, especially during their first time, it caused large ripples in their hearts. Normally, they would only dual cultivate with the one they loved.
This was different from the attitude of male cultivators. As for what was different, it was that one cared about the heart, while the other cared about appearances.
For a woman to love a man represented a large change in their mental realm. Losing their virginity would definitely cause their mental realm to become chaotic for a while.
Cultivation was like rowing against the tide. If you weren’t moving forward, you were going back. So for men, dual cultivation wouldn’t normally cause that big of an impact, but it would cause quite the impact for women.
Unless the woman simply didn’t love the man and was also simply doing it for his looks, in which case she could also get the same benefits. But normally, the gains didn’t make up for the losses.
But alchemists were different. Even women didn’t need to care that much about that aspect. As long as their talent and comprehension were high enough, they didn’t need to necessarily maintain a perfectly clear heart.
That was why Pill Valley didn’t prohibit their disciples from doing such things. Zhao Xiang was telling Long Chen this to give him motivation. After all, he was a man.
Zhao Xiang explained Pill Valley’s rules and restrictions on the way. It was about the same as any sect.
They quickly arrived at a stately building. This was the Pill Management Department, a place where all the new disciples went to register themselves. They were also in charge of all the missions inside Pill Valley.
With Zhao Xiang leading the way, the process was very simple. Long Chen simply handed over his badge, and the rest was left up to Zhao Xiang. It was quickly handled.
Long Chen obtained a new badge, a true disciple badge.
“This is an inner disciple’s badge. It’s not that useful and just part of the process. Your goal is the Divine Pill Hall, a place where the elite disciples cultivate. The treatment they get there is a thousand times better than what an inner disciple will ever get!
“Pill Valley has millions of outer disciples and over eighty thousand inner disciples. As for the Divine Pill Hall, they only have three thousand disciples.
“This number never changes. The Divine Pill Hall expels the lower ranking disciples when new disciples join. Take a look. The next competition for inner disciples to get into the Divine Pill Hall is in ten days. This competition only occurs once every two months, and only the top thousand inner disciples are qualified to compete. I was thinking that you should only compete in the competition after this one, but Protector Zhuo said time is pressing. Only by entering the Divine Pill Hall will you receive the best treatment.
“You’re just an
inner disciple right now, and Protector Zhuo is only able to give you a few resources. After all, there are those ancient bastards holding us back. But if you join the Divine Pill Hall, all kinds of precious resources will be provided to you, and they won’t dare to say a thing.”
“Yes, this disciple understands Protector Zhuo’s kindness. Ah, speaking of which, Elder Zhao, have you heard of the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture? Will disciple have a chance to train in it?” asked Long Chen.
“That… that might be a bit troublesome. The first volume is freely available to any disciple and isn’t top-secret. But the second volume requires a certain status and position in order to train in it. Most of the time, you have to reach the level of a Tower Master to learn it.” Zhao Xiang shook his head. Even he wasn’t qualified to learn the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture.
“Really? Disciples can’t learn it?” Long Chen couldn’t help being disappointed. He had come entirely for the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture. If he couldn’t learn it, then he would have come for nothing.
“In truth, disciples can also learn it. But it depends on how outstanding you are. As long as you can put on a stunning enough display, I trust Protector Zhuo will definitely help you obtain it,” comforted Zhao Xiang, afraid of him losing motivation.
Long Chen passed the next few days in a private room. In it, there were several stacks of jade plates as tall as a grown man, numbering in the thousands.
Each of them contained ancient alchemy canons. They recorded alchemy theories or even lost summaries. Some theories were left behind by ancestors and were the result of their life’s experience.
“Idiots, if a person read too many of these, they probably wouldn’t even be able to refine pills after!”
Long Chen was secluded in his room on his own, studying these things. That was because this was related to the competition to join the Divine Pill Hall.
The competition had two parts, theory and practice. He didn’t just need to know how to refine pills, but he also needed to be able to discuss the theory behind the refinement as well.