Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048

by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k

  However, now the Dragonblood Legion’s numbers had risen, and the opponents they were facing were powerful heavenly geniuses. He would most probably be fighting one on one, only occasionally throwing out area attacks. His area attacks were now ineffective.

  “You can get rid of your three-hundred area-mechanisms. Switch them all for power runes. You only need five close-range life protecting methods in your armor as well. Switch the rest for power runes. You should walk the path of a berserk power fighter,” suggested Long Chen.

  “Alright, I’ll listen to you boss.”

  “Are those runes on your wings for speed? Why are there so few?”

  “I only have three speed runes, and even they aren’t very high level. I also can’t carve them in a more concentrated way or they’ll cancel each other’s effect.”

  Guo Ran was helpless about it. The majority of the runes he could engrave were for King items. The Xuantian Dao Sect didn’t specialize in forging items, so King items were their limit.

  As for the Ethereal Crafting Secret Record, Guo Ran had yet to comprehend many of those runes and couldn’t add them to his forging.

  “That’s no good. With just power and no speed, you won’t be able to hit anyone. I’ll go ask Zheng Wenlong to get some forging tomes and material for you,” said Long Chen.

  If he wanted Guo Ran to forge Ancestral items, he couldn’t be stingy. Without going all the way, any money he did put in would just be wasted.

  “Put your personal armor to the side. Let me see your design for the Dragonblood warriors’ armor and weapons,” said Long Chen.

  Long Chen took out two pieces of paper. They were much simpler, but they still needed over a thousand mechanisms.

  “Not bad. You’ve carved a formation on the armor that lets everyone share their power for offense and defense. It’s ingenious,” praised Long Chen.

  Guo Ran was a genius when it came to forging. He knew that the Dragonblood Legion fought as a group. By placing formation runes on each set of armor he forged for them, they would be able to work together easier.

  Although there were only two options for sharing their power, one for a collective attack and one for a collective defense, this was still something Guo Ran had figured out how to do on his own. It was very impressive.

  “I’m planning to use the scale pattern for the armor. The back and heart will be specially protected. Each scale will have a defensive rune on the front, and the back will have an offensive rune linked to their weapons. That way, their weapon and armor will be connected and be able to boost each other’s power,” explained Guo Ran as he pointed out various parts of the diagram. “During the past few days, I tried forging two Ancestral items. My forging table and hammer are one hundred percent capable of forging Ancestral items.”

  “They’re that strong?” asked Long Chen.

  “Yes. This forging table seems to be a divine item in and of itself. The forging hammer is the same. As my forging skills continuously advance, it’s like they’re slumbering divine items slowly awakening their abilities. The weight of the forging hammer always suits me perfectly. It’s very strange. Now, each time I use them, I always kowtow to them first. I can feel a faint connection to them now,” said Guo Ran. His respect for the forging table had only risen. When he mentioned it, his mischievous smile was replaced with a devout expression.

  Long Chen nodded. It seemed that Guo Ran was someone with a great destiny. The forging table he had pulled out of an ancient tomb in the Jiuli secret realm had to possess an extremely terrifying history.

  “Forging Ancestral items isn’t a problem now, but there is one major problem. That’s the item-spirit. Without an item-spirit, an Ancestral item can’t possibly unleash the power an Ancestral item should possess. It will just be like a King item with a bit more energy,” said Guo Ran.

  Ancestral items were nourished by generations of experts. That resulted in a powerful item-spirit that could assist the master in unleashing the item’s full power.

  An Ancestral item needed an item-spirit. That wasn’t difficult. Even Forging Masters who could only refine King items were more than capable of adding an item-spirit to a weapon.

  However, the problem was nourishing that item-spirit. That process required centuries.

  For an Ancestral item to reach its peak would require millennia. That was what made them so precious, and it was simply impossible for Guo Ran to do the same in a short period.

  “You just forge them. I’ll handle adding the item-spirits,” said Long Chen. As long as Guo Ran was capable of forging them, it wasn’t a problem.

  Guo Ran didn’t disappoint Long Chen. In just three days, he brought a scale armor and sword set that were on the level of Ancestral items.

  However, they were still a mock-up and hadn’t had any additional runes inscribed on them. Guo Ran was just letting Long Chen see their appearance. If there was no problem, he would start forging them en masse. Over half of the Dragonblood Legion used swords.

  Long Chen sighed emotionally as he held the sword. Guo Ran was truly a blessing to him. Who would have thought that his forging table would be so amazing that it could even forge Ancestral items?

  The length, width, height, weight, shape, everything about it was very satisfactory. Long Chen told Guo Ran to imprint an image of a divine dragon on the weapons. That would be the mark of the Dragonblood Legion.

  Since Long Chen was satisfied, Guo Ran quickly finished the armor and sword. They were both fiery-red and contained a huge amount of flame energy.

  That was the result of being forged with Divine Flame Crystals. They possessed a powerful flame attribute, which wasn’t suitable for wood or water element cultivators.

  Fortunately, those two attributes were rather rare, and only a couple hundred of them existed in the Dragonblood Legion. The others could use these.

  Long Chen put on the armor and wielded the sword, testing their power. As expected, without item-spirits, there was no way to unleash the power of Ancestral items.

  Since everything was confirmed, Guo Ran went into seclusion and began to forge the scale armor and swords. Since the materials being used were of the highest quality, the forging table seemed to be receiving some kind of nourishment and seemed to be awakening.

  That delighted Guo Ran, and he began forging like his life depended on it. As for Long Chen, he sent a letter to Zheng Wenlong.

  Zheng Wenlong’s efficiency was extremely high, and in just ten days, he had gathered a large pile of forging runes and ancient tomes perfect for Guo Ran’s level. He had also brought over a mass of Ancestral items’ materials.

  Of course, Long Chen wouldn’t let Zheng Wenlong suffer a loss. He directly gave him a thousand Divine Flame Crystals and one of those giant divine crystals.

  When Zheng Wenlong saw that giant divine crystal, he was completely dumbfounded. The divine energy within it made it a priceless treasure. Even he didn’t possess the qualifications to auction off such a terrifying treasure.

  Long Chen said that Zheng Wenlong should simply take it and treat it as him paying off all his debts. He trusted the Huayun Sect and the way they conducted their business.

  After sending off Zheng Wenlong, Long Chen went into seclusion. The rest of the Dragonblood Legion also went into seclusion with a pile of medicinal pills that Long Chen had given them.

  Those were the pills he had plundered from Pill Valley. They had Pill Valley’s mark and so they couldn’t be sold. They should be used for private consumption. As a result, everyone entered a state of constant medication.

  Chapter 1397 Portal to the Spirit World

  “Long Chen, we’ve managed to get news of Chu Yao!” Long Chen was in the midst of eating his ‘food’ as fast as possible when Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er came flying into his room.

  Long Chen spat out the pills accidentally. Then he hastily stuffed them into his mouth and swallowed.

  “Are you serious?!”

  “Hehe, it’s true. The Huayun Sect’s people sent
this over. Open it!” Tang Wan-er pushed a jade case into Long Chen’s hands.

  Long Chen’s hands trembled. Despite having faced armies of thousands of powerful enemies, he had never been this nervous before.

  He slowly opened the jade case. Inside, there was a verdant leaf that looked almost crystalline. It emitted boundless life energy.

  The entire room became filled with life energy. The potted plants Meng Qi had placed in Long Chen’s room all began to rapidly grow as they overflowed with vitality.

  “The Dragon swims across the four oceans; the Phoenix flies throughout the nine lands. Seas of blood may block us, but we will never give up our path; Dragon and Phoenix will both live to old age.”

  These four lines were on the leaf. This was the promise the two of them had made to each other during the Phoenix Cry Lantern Festival.

  The first two lines were what Chu Yao had summoned the courage to say to express her life for Long Chen while she was stuck in an inescapable cage.

  The last two lines were what Long Chen had sworn in front of all the experts of the capital. Although they contained some of the frivolity of youth, the two of them truly loved each other. Seeing these words, Long Chen’s tears almost overflowed.

  These words were not written on the leaf. Instead, they were the result of the natural vein lines on the leaf. In other words, they had formed when this leaf was born. Although Long Chen didn’t know how Chu Yao had managed to do this, just from this small leaf, he could feel how much Chu Yao missed him and her heartfelt feelings.

  For him, Chu Yao had sacrificed far too much. She had gone all alone into the Central Plains, a foreign world. She had done this despite how much she yearned to be with him.

  All the case held was this leaf. There was no letter. But Long Chen could already understand Chu Yao’s heart. The emotions between them had reached the point that they couldn’t be described with words.

  Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er were both aware of his past with Chu Yao. They exchanged a look, both feeling pity.

  They had been with Long Chen this entire time. Although it had been dangerous and they had gone through countless battles, they were able to fight alongside Long Chen. They were much more fortunate than Chu Yao.

  “I wonder how big sister Chu Yao is lately. Why hasn’t she come to see us?” asked Tang Wan-er.

  “Chu Yao should be in a very critical period and can’t come. Otherwise, she’d definitely come and find us. Don’t worry, the current Chu Yao is stronger than any of us.” Long Chen gently stroked the leaf with a faint smile. He sensed many things from this leaf.

  “Stronger than any one of us? Is she stronger than you?” asked Tang Wan-er with disbelief.

  “At the very least, she’s stronger than the current me.” Long Chen nodded.

  This leaf contained a familiar aura. That was an aura he had felt from Pill Valley’s Pill Fairy, as well as the Illusory Music Immortal Palace’s Zi Yan. At the same time, he thought of four dislikeable figures that had appeared in the Immemorial Path. When Yue Xiaoqian was about to pass her tribulation, those four idiots had almost caused her to be killed by her tribulation.

  In his fury, Long Chen had provoked the Heavenly Daos and brought down heavenly punishment. That had ruined those four’s tribulations and scared them off.

  “Could it be that those four are also existences on that level?” wondered Long Chen.

  He felt boundless life energy from this leaf, as well as boundless Heavenly Dao energy. Although it was just a single leaf, it seemed to represent the will of the heavens. Its existence broke all the laws around it.

  “Meng Qi, Wan-er, your cultivation bases have pretty much stabilized. You should refine the rank nine Heavenly Dao Fruits. As for the remaining three, hand them to Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and Li Qi. Guo Ran doesn’t have the time.” Long Chen handed five rank nine Heavenly Dao Fruits to them.

  Four of them had come from Pill Valley’s Qu Dajiang, Dan Yanxue, Kan Dongze, and Jiang Zijun. Although they had been killed by the Alldevil monster and not him personally, as long as someone died around Long Chen, their Heavenly Dao energy would be absorbed by the primal chaos space and condensed into a Heavenly Dao Fruit.

  The fifth fruit came from the ancient family alliance’s Luo Minghao. He also wasn’t killed by Long Chen, but by Meng Qi.

  That idiot had been so incredibly unbridled that he had completely infuriated Meng Qi. He had spoken so many profanities and insulted Long Chen so much that she hadn’t hesitated at all.

  Wilde was sleeping, while Yue Zifeng had been brought away by Ling Yunzi to the Heavenly Sword Gate. But of course, those two had special cultivation paths and didn’t need the Heavenly Dao Fruit.

  Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er weren’t surprised when Long Chen brought the rank nine Heavenly Dao Fruit out. He had already told them everything that had happened in Pill Valley.

  However, he had wanted to raise their power before letting them refine the Heavenly Dao Fruit. The order of priority couldn’t be messed up.

  He also took out plenty of rank eight and rank seven Heavenly Dao Fruits for Meng Qi to distribute.

  Three months passed without any disturbance. No one came to find trouble for the Xuantian Dao Sect.

  Pill Valley didn’t do anything. Instead, a very unsettling piece of news spread. Problems had occurred in the circulation of pills coming out of Pill Valley, and that shook the entire cultivation world.

  People quickly managed to investigate the truth. When that Master Long San had plundered Pill Valley, he had taken all their medicinal pills and ingredients.

  This news threw the cultivation world into a panic. Without medicinal pills, the world would enter chaos.

  Pill Valley did their best to hide the truth because they hadn’t wanted to cause a panic. However, their ability at keeping secrets was far too lacking to succeed in such a venture.

  Countless sects turned to the Huayun Sect who viewed alchemy as a side business. Many sects were afraid of not being able to have their medicinal pill requirements be met by Pill Valley, so they secretly went to buy pills from the Huayun Sect.

  The Huayun Sect’s stock of medicinal pills was quickly bought out, but countless sects were won over by their actions. Even though the demand had been so high, they hadn’t inflated the price at all.

  Therefore, many sects began to sign long-term purchasing contracts with the Huayun Sect. The Huayun Sect always kept such contracts secret, and there were many measures in place to keep others from learning of them.

  As a result, the various large sects all formed agreements with the Huayun Sect. This way, they would have two sources for medicinal pills. This was the best option for them.

  Even those sects that had been hugging Pill Valley’s leg from the start were starting to sway. That was because Pill Valley was hard-pressed, and their interior was still a mess. They couldn’t bother with outsiders.

  These sects’ disciples had been killed by Long Chen because they had been currying favor with Pill Valley. However, Pill Valley hadn’t given them any compensation. It didn’t even say a single word of comfort. Now, even those loyal followers had no choice but to side closer to the Huayun Sect.

  Pill Valley couldn’t do anything as the Huayun Sect expanded its business into the pill market. Right now, they were doing their utmost to refine more pills to meet the market demand.

  They could only pick medicinal ingredients from their fields, but some of them took hundreds or thousands of years to mature. Without their previous stock, there was no way for them to meet the demand.

  All of Pill Valley was in disorder, and they truly hated Master Long San now. The Elders and disciples belonging to the radical faction were all repeatedly cursed, but they couldn’t even retort.

  However, after a moment of chaos, the waves passed. After calming down, the sects realized that they had been worrying over nothing.

  They already possessed a large stock of medicinal pills that could last them for many years. During this time, P
ill Valley or the Huayun Sect would be constantly trying to resolve this problem.

  If they couldn’t buy medicinal pills, well, others couldn’t either. Everyone would be on even playing grounds, so there was no need to panic.

  This wasn’t something that would cause some sects to be wiped out and others to dominate. So there was no need to panic. Everyone could suffer together.

  The waves caused by the shortage of medicinal pills passed. But another even more shocking piece of news spread throughout the world. The Heaven Devouring Forest’s tree demons had suddenly left this world, leaving behind a huge spatial portal.

  That portal led to the Spirit World. Rumor said that the Spirit World possessed countless treasures. Divine springs littered the ground, and just drinking a mouthful of its water could extend a person’s longevity by hundreds of years. The continent was rocked.

  Experts wanted to go adventuring, but this news came too suddenly. It had to be known that the Heaven Devouring Forest was one of the seven great forbidden zones. The lifeforms of the forest were even more terrifying than Magical Beasts. People suspected that it was a trap.

  However, there was no lack of people who wanted to go on adventures. Some experts finally couldn’t help going. The first person was a Life Star expert, and he was instantly rejected by the spatial portal. His physical body exploded, and only his Yuan Spirit escaped.

  People immediately realized that Life Star experts could not enter this spatial portal. So a Soul Transformation expert tested his luck. He was also forced back, but because his cultivation base was lower, he only suffered a light backlash.

  Finally, Jade Core disciples managed to go through the portal and enter the Spirit World. They entered one by one, but none of them returned.

  Yet, some sects still sent some of their disciples to test their luck. Finally, a disciple managed to return alive. He brought back a shocking piece of news: a huge war was being fought in the Spirit World.

  This news shook the Central Plains. This was the best chance to dredge up some benefits. The Righteous path, Corrupt path, ancient races, and ancient family alliance sent countless Jade Core geniuses to the spatial portal.