Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 841
“In truth, you aren’t aware of it, but the stars above our heads all have people living on them. Some experts control this starfield, and those experts are the gods and immortals we talk about. According to my memories, shooting stars are instead called flying stars. They’re huge stars in movement and are actually the same as our flying boats. Gods use these flying stars to travel… Pill Fairy, don’t laugh. This is all true.”
The Pill Fairy was again unable to contain her laughter. But with her previous experience, she managed to stifle it. It was just that holding back was difficult.
On the surface, it seemed possible that shooting stars were objects used to travel through the cosmos. After all, the speed at which they flew through space made it seem like they were used for travel.
Seeing the Pill Fairy was quiet, Long Chen cleared his throat. “However, Wan Qing, don’t worry. I’m not strong enough right now, but once I become a true Warrior of the Starry Sky, I promise to buy you a shooting star to play with!”
“Shooting stars can be bought?” Wan Qing asked in amazement.
“As long as it has substance, it has value and can be bought.”
Wan Qing actually believed Long Chen’s nonsense and obediently nodded. But then she suddenly recalled that she hadn’t finished her coursework for today, and she hastily rushed off to study alchemy.
The Pill Fairy was unable to bestow her with a disciple badge of the Divine Pill Hall. However, no one had the qualifications to prevent her from accepting a worker. That was because her status was so high.
“You really know how to talk nonsense. Even I almost believed it.” When Wan Qing was gone and it was just the Pill Fairy and Long Chen, the Pill Fairy finally laughed.
“Yup. Even I almost believed myself.” Long Chen sighed. To be able to brag to the point where even you believed your bragging was also a kind of realm.
“Long San, you feel different compared to others. Being with you is interesting. With your humor, wit, and kindness, you should have many girls after you, right?”
Now that it was just the two of them, the atmosphere lightened. The Pill Fairy took out a jug of fruit wine and poured it into cups.
“I suppose. I have many beauties, but even more hot-blooded brothers.” Long Chen raised the cup and smelled the fruit wine. It wasn’t bad. He actually smelled something familiar about it.
He realized that this familiarity reminded him of the Wine God Palace. It seemed that Pill Valley had managed to secretly learn a few things from the Wine God Palace from their cooperation back then. However, the true skills still rested with the Wine God Palace.
Long Chen directly told the Pill Fairy the truth. After just their few interactions, he had surprisingly felt that he could completely trust the Pill Fairy. He didn’t bother lying to cover his identity.
The Pill Fairy stared at him, while Long Chen also surprised himself. The hand with which she was pouring the wine quivered, and her eyes contained shock, as well as gratitude.
“Thank you for trusting me.” A faint redness appeared on her face.
Long Chen quickly realized that the Pill Fairy had investigated the background of Long San. Considering the competition between the conservative faction and the radical faction, both sides definitely kept a tight watch over the other. The information behind Long San had probably been memorized by the Pill Fairy.
This information was based on Zhuo Tianxiang’s investigation into Long Chen. According to his soulsearch and investigation, Long San didn’t have any friends or lovers. For Long Chen to say such a thing now, it was clear that he wasn’t concealing anything from the Pill Fairy.
Long Chen also didn’t know why he would say such a thing. But unexpectedly, this ended up winning him the Pill Fairy’s trust. The two of them ended up closer than before.
“It’s strange for me to say this, but for some reason, when I first saw you, I felt a kind of familiarity with you. My intuition told me that you weren’t a bad person, but you were hiding huge secrets. You should have your own goal in coming to Pill Valley. That’s fine. I just hope you won’t help them. I’m not saying that because of the conservative faction, but because of Pill Valley and the entire continent. Once they gain power, the entire world will be thrown into chaos, and a rain of blood will pour over the cultivation world. Long San, you’re a good person. Otherwise, you would neither get vengeance for Duan Tianqiao, help some random girl, nor entrust your life to someone you don’t even know that well. I don’t think that we’ll be enemies. I’m not asking you to stand on my side, but please don’t help them. That would put me in a difficult spot,” implored the Pill Fairy. Under her beautiful eyes, even someone with a heart of steel would soften.
“Thank you as well. I truly do have my own goal here in Pill Valley, and I also don’t want to be enemies with you. As for my relationship with them, I’ll definitely have to give them an ‘explanation’. But I guarantee I won’t make things hard on you,” promised Long Chen.
Long Chen felt that the Pill Fairy was a very kind person. She possessed her own terrifying martial might, but she didn’t use that to bully the weak.
Moreover, she didn’t have the slightest arrogant attitude. Compared to the beauty Dan Yanxue, well, Dan Yanxue wasn’t even qualified to be compared to her. The Pill Fairy possessed a natural charismatic air.
Although Long Chen didn’t agree to leave his faction, his promise still brightened her mood.
“A gentleman’s words can be trusted. Let us clasp hands as our promise.” The Pill Fairy extended a pure, jade-like hand.
“Alright. While I’m no gentleman, I definitely won’t break my promises.”
Long Chen also extended a hand. After lightly clasping hands, this oath was fully established.
The Pill Fairy clearly became much more relaxed. “Long San, if you have any difficulties, you can tell me. As long as I’m capable of it, I’ll help you.”
Long Chen’s heart began to pound. The Pill Fairy was Pill Valley’s number one figure amongst the junior generation. Furthermore, her background was terrifying. Perhaps it really was possible for her.
“I won’t hide the truth from you. What I want is to cultivate the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture,” said Long Chen. Perhaps he could reach his goal through the Pill Fairy instead of being used by Zhuo Tianxiang.
To obtain the Nirvana Scripture from Zhuo Tianxiang’s side would be very difficult. He didn’t even know how high his chances were of succeeding. He had always been worried about this.
The Pill Fairy knitted her brows and frowned. “I have cultivated the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture, but I am unable to transmit it to you. Even if I betrayed the teachings of my ancestors and wanted to teach it to you, my cultivation base is not high enough to do so.”
Long Chen’s heart sank. Even the Pill Fairy was powerless to help. Then it seemed it would be even more difficult than he had thought to obtain it from Zhuo Tianxiang.
However, the Pill Fairy then said, “But don’t be disappointed. In just over a month, the Heaven Dragon Flame Region will be opened. Once you enter the Heaven Dragon Flame Region, you’ll have a chance to come into contact with the second volume of the Nirvana Scripture.”
“The Heaven Dragon Flame Region? What’s that?” asked Long Chen, delighted.
“The Heaven Dragon Flame Region is Pill Valley’s ancestral land. It is a corner of a broken world and a land of flames. There are Earth Flame Spirit Beasts roaming around, and disciples are able to go and try to subdue them. This is a benefit given to disciples once every three years. However, only the top three hundred disciples of the Divine Pill Hall and the top five hundred of the Flame Divine Palace are qualified to enter,” said the Pill Fairy.
The Flame Divine Palace was something Long Chen knew about. Pill Valley had alchemists and flame cultivators. The Divine Pill Hall was for the best alchemists, while the Divine Flame Palace was where the flame cultivators gathered. Elder Zhu came from the Flame Divine Palace.
&nbs
p; “Within the depths of the Heaven Dragon Flame Region is the Flame God Tablet. The second volume of the Nirvana Scripture is inscribed on it. However, the tablet’s immortal characters are different from the immortal characters most people are familiar with these days. I’m worried that even if you see it, you won’t be able to understand what’s written,” said the Pill Fairy apologetically. Those characters on the tablet were incredibly difficult to understand. The second volume of the Nirvana Scripture that Pill Valley used was a translation of that original inscription. But most likely, there was quite a bit of deviation between their translation and the original.
“The Heaven Dragon Flame Region, eh? I’ll definitely have to take a look. Thank you, Pill Fairy. To thank you, how about I bring you out to play?” Long Chen stood up, prepared to go back to cultivating. He merely tossed out a joke.
“Alright.”
However, Long Chen’s joke wasn’t declined by the Pill Fairy. Unexpectedly, she agreed.
Chapter 1353 Working Together With the Pill Fairy
In the outer regions of Pill Valley, there was a plaza near a river. This was a place where outer disciples would gather.
These outer disciples that were geniuses in the outside world were only ordinary here.
In the rest of the world, outer disciples weren’t very useful. They mostly just used up resources, and when there were too many of them, the sects would kick out a few who had no potential.
However, in Pill Valley, even outer disciples could bring them profit. That was because their cultivation relied on refining a large number of medicinal pills. Their profit made up for their consumption.
So Pill Valley didn’t kick out these outer disciples. Even if their talent was lacking compared to others, they were still alchemists. In fact, anyone who could enter Pill Valley was monstrously talented. But your status depended on just how much of a monster you were.
These disciples had to refine pills to exchange for cultivation resources, and Pill Valley had many cultivation rooms with powerful formations that could assist them. However, those rooms weren’t free for outer disciples.
Outer disciples didn’t even get a tenth of the benefits that inner disciples were blessed with. In fact, there were essentially no benefits. Everything they had was gained through them working hard on their alchemy.
Some outer disciples would come to the outer regions of Pill Valley to gather medicinal ingredients.
The outskirts of Pill Valley were mostly wild land. But this wild land was actually Pill Valley’s medicinal garden. Other than a few special regions with people guarding them though, the rest was just wilderness.
That was because some medicinal ingredients could only grow in the wild. If they were planted in a medicinal field, they might be affected by other ingredients, or their growth would be stunted, or they might simply outright die.
So the outskirts of Pill Valley had quite a few precious medicines growing. Some were high tier, and some were low tier. Disciples could gather them based on their own requirements.
The majority of the medicinal ingredients that disciples practiced their alchemy with were obtained through trading merit points with Pill Valley. Once they refined those medicinal ingredients into pills, they could exchange the pills for more merit points. It was the same as farmers working for landlords.
The earth, seeds, and fertilizer, all came from the landlord. If you worked hard and managed to grow the crops, then once the various costs were subtracted, you could still make some money.
However, this money was based on your own success. Some people who failed too many refinements would even end up owing money.
So there would always be a few disciples out gathering medicine. As long as they could gather some rare ones or ones that Pill Valley was currently lacking, they would make a bit of money. They could keep these medicinal ingredients or exchange them. It was very beneficial to everyone.
As for this large plaza, it had become a place for outer disciples to trade their excess medicinal ingredients. There were all kinds of medicines displayed.
Long Chen and the Pill Fairy were currently strolling through this plaza. But both of them had disguised their faces so others wouldn’t be able to recognize them. If they didn’t, it would cause a huge disturbance.
“Thank you, Long San. It’s my first time being able to come out and have such a relaxed stroll.” At this time, the Pill Fairy had made her face look ordinary and was wearing the robes of an outer disciple. However, her eyes were as enchanting as ever.
Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh emotionally inside. He had once said that different people had different hardships.
Someone like the Pill Fairy, with a majestic status within Pill Valley, wasn’t even able to go for a simple stroll. Just what was with this world?
Everyone was envious of what others had while not caring about what they possessed themselves. They didn’t realize that as they envied others, others also envied them.
Through their chatting, Long Chen felt that the Pill Fairy was actually a very pitiable person. She lived under a spotlight, and under it, she had to live according to specific standards. She was unable to walk out of this spotlight or even learn what the outside world was like.
“As long as you want to, I’ll accompany you at any time.”
Long Chen walked alongside the Pill Fairy. Smelling her specific fragrance, he felt a peaceful feeling in his heart. As they were walking, he suddenly paused because he saw a square melon.
“Hey, little fellow, is this melon of yours sweet?”
As soon as Long Chen said this, he regretted it. But it was too late.
“Scram!” The disciple holding the melon immediately exploded in fury and walked off.
“Why was that person so rude? If you wanted to buy his melon, why would he get mad if you asked him if it is sweet?” wondered the Pill Fairy.
“It was my fault. That’s a bitter melon.” Long Chen looked at the Pill Fairy awkwardly. Only after speaking had he realized that this was a sixth tier medicinal ingredient, the Earthen Bitter Melon, something used to expel the accumulated internal heat that was stored up within alchemists. For him to ask if it was sweet or not was definitely asking to be cursed.
The Pill Fairy looked at his embarrassed expression and couldn’t help but laugh. It was a lovely sound, but it just made Long Chen even more embarrassed. That Earthen Bitter Melon was strange. Some kind of mutation had to have occurred in it. Normally, they would be a light green color, but this one was dark green.
Originally, Long Chen had been thinking about buying some snacks for Wan Qing, but instead he ended up in such an awkward position.
“Are your Violet Jade Cherries sweet?” Long Chen pointed to a pile of cherries on a vendor’s booth.
“They are.”
“Can I taste one?”
“No.” That vendor’s reply was extremely direct.
“Hey, if I don’t try one, how will I know if it’s sweet or not?”
“These Violet Jade Cherries are very precious. I’ll taste one and you can use my expression to judge whether they’re sweet or not,” replied the vendor coldly.
So, this fellow thought he could compete with him? This was Long Chen’s first time running into such an opponent. The Pill Fairy stood to the side as Long Chen began to stubbornly argue with the vendor until they were both red in the face.
She found it funny, but she also felt that this way of living was more authentic; no one had misgivings about her due to her status. She felt an unprecedented relaxed feeling.
Then as Long Chen began to argue with the vendor over whether the Violet Jade Cherries were sweet or not for an incense stick’s worth of time, she became speechless. One side had to have a taste of one, while the other refused.
“Hmph, you won’t let me taste one? Fine! I just won’t buy any! What’s so amazing about them? I have plenty of money, and I’ll just spend it on even better stuff!” raged Long Chen. He hadn’t even managed to swindle away
a single cherry. Could it be that his conning divine ability had declined by so much?
“Hmph, is having money amazing? I have plenty of good stuff here. If you won’t buy them, someone else will!”
“Oh, you have White Eye Lotuses? Those aren’t bad. How much for one pound?” Long Chen suddenly turned toward another one of the other vendor’s wares.
“Thirty for one pound.” The thirty he mentioned was merit points.
“Thirty? That’s too expensive. Can it be cheaper?” Long Chen directly began to bargain.
The Pill Fairy was startled. These lotuses weren’t actually expensive. They could be easily gained from Pill Valley, and their quality would be greater than what was sold here. She didn’t know what he was doing.
“One pound for thirty, two pounds for fifty. The more you want, the greater the discount.” It seemed this vendor wasn’t so easily angered. He still conducted his business properly.
“Alright, pack some more… more… more… come on, I don’t want to keep asking.”
“How much do you want? The bag’s full.”
“Keep packing until the discount’s 100%.”
“Bastard, you’re just wasting my time!”
Finally, the disciple snapped. He charged out at Long Chen while picking up a cane from the ground.
Long Chen pulled the Pill Fairy away with him as he fled. He didn’t know how far he ran, but the plaza had long since vanished behind them. The enraged disciple was easily thrown off.
Long Chen and the Pill Fairy arrived at a secluded forest path, and the Pill Fairy was shaking with laughter. This Long San was truly evil.
However, she didn’t feel any loathing for this. While Long San was domineering on the surface, he didn’t use his power to bully the weak.
Even when he had been cursed and chased away by a Xiantian realm disciple, he had just laughed and fled. The Pill Fairy had never seen such a person in Pill Valley.
The Pill Fairy’s face suddenly reddened and she pulled her hand out of Long Chen’s grasp. Just now, it had been Long Chen who had pulled her away. She hadn’t noticed before, but now that she did, her heart pounded.