by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Hmph, the future of my Pill Valley is not for you to worry about. You should worry about yourselves instead,” sneered the palace master.
The High Priest did not get angry, instead calmly saying, “What is there for us to worry about? We’re just a bunch of bored people who drink until we sleep. We live in the moment. But if anyone tries to prevent our peace, we’ll have no choice but to fight. You should know, sometimes drunkards don’t even know what they’ll do when they’re drunk. There’s no need for Pill Valley to intentionally antagonize me or test the bottom line of the Wine God Palace. If I wanted to kill you, even if you have the Brahma Divine Diagram, you wouldn’t have any chance to escape. That’s all I have to say. If you refuse to accept that, then don’t blame me for bullying the weak.”
The High Priest’s voice might be calm, but each of his words had power. They revealed his great confidence, shocking others. Each word was like a hammer, striking them in their hearts.
Even with the Brahma Divine Diagram, it would be impossible to escape? The Flame Divine Palace’s palace master’s expression changed several times, but in the end, he didn’t dare to say anything. Waving his hand, he led his people away.
“So the Grand Han was supported by Pill Valley. No wonder they were so arrogant. Brothers, break the legs of all these dogs of the Grand Han and toss them out of the Grand Xia! Don’t let these people stain our home any longer!”
The Flame Divine Palace’s group left along with Lu Qingfeng. But the others were ignored, resulting in the Grand Xia’s people turning on them.
The Grand Xia’s experts were like a flood, attacking those people who were supposedly from the Grand Han but had been invited from other regions.
If they didn’t fight back, then they had their legs broken at most. But those who resisted were beaten until they were dead.
One person loudly shouted, “Break all their legs, especially their third leg! Make sure to break it into eighteen pieces, or I won’t be able to resolve my resentment!”
Another person asked, “Then what about the women?”
“...”
It was chaos as those experts feigning they were from the Grand Han were beaten away.
Tu Qianshang returned to the Wine God Palace. After arriving in front of the High Priest, he stared at his butcher’s blade with an aggrieved expression.
“Long Chen was right, if you could master the balance between hard and soft power, then just reaching thirty percent in that soft power would have kept your blade intact. Now it’s too late,” said the High Priest.
“What do we do now? Should we eliminate them?” Looking at his blade, killing intent rose in Tu Qianshang’s heart.
“We still need to watch from the side. The great era is silently descending. A storm is coming. Heavenly geniuses will rise in this chaotic era, and it’s still impossible to tell who will rise and who will drown. Pill Valley isn’t so foolish. Their motives are unfathomable as they intentionally draw more chaos to the mix. The situation still isn’t clear, so for now, it’s best not to make any rash moves. We also have no need to do such a thing. We just need to watch Long Chen and how he disrupts things.”
The High Priest raised his wine cup with a smile. He had vaguely sensed something about Long Chen.
Chapter 1532 Swallow the Heavens Devour the Earth
“What are you thinking? Don’t tell me you’re going to jump off a cliff?”
Long Chen stood on the precipice of a cliff, a bottomless pit below him. He was looking down absent-mindedly. Evilmoon finally spoke.
Long Chen had been brought here by Evilmoon to escape their encirclement. It had been over two hours, and Long Chen had simply been standing there like a stone statue. Even Evilmoon became curious.
“Evilmoon, if I’m surrounded by powerful enemies again, don’t save me.” Looking at the pit below him, Long Chen made his resolve.
“Are you crazy? If I didn’t bring you away, you’d have definitely died,” said Evilmoon. It didn’t know if Long Chen had gone crazy to say such a brainless thing.
Long Chen shook his head. “You don’t understand. Right now, I’m growing too dependent on your power. I am losing confidence in myself, and that will affect my Dao-heart. I want to become an expert, a true expert. I can’t depend on others. I can only rely on myself. With you present, my sense of danger will become slow, and fleeing as soon as I encounter experts will be a blow to my confidence.”
“Is that a joke? Those people were two major realms above you and had divine items. Without me, what are you going to use to fight them?” demanded Evilmoon.
“You wouldn’t understand. To sum it up, I am fated to be courting death all the time. If I don’t court death now, death will creep up on even faster in the future. Ever since I started cultivating the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, my fate was practically set in stone. Right now, I am a caterpillar, and if I want to become a butterfly, I have to endure the pain of the cocoon. During this time, no one can help, and if anyone does, it would just be harming me. If a caterpillar does not go through the struggle of the cocoon, it will never become a butterfly. If someone cuts the cocoon and lets the caterpillar out of it, without having gone through that struggle, it won’t know how to fly. In the end, the caterpillar will simply die, never able to spread its wings. I am the same, so starting today, I definitely won’t run. Even if I am in desperate straits, don’t save me,” said Long Chen.
“It seems like there’s a bit of logic in your words, but if you die, you’ll lose everything. How will you become a butterfly then?” asked Evilmoon.
“It’s because my goals are very big. If I am unable to even handle the danger before me, how will I face the even greater dangers in the future? After having fled these times, I can clearly sense the power of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art dropping. It’s also forming a kind of rejection to me,” said Long Chen with a grave expression. He truly sensed the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s power weakening.
Furthermore, he himself was growing indecisive. He no longer had his absolute confidence to face the whole world. He had to find that confidence again, and the first step was to cut off all paths of retreat and give up his dependence on Evilmoon.
Of course, he wouldn’t be so foolish as to not use its divine power. It was simply that he wouldn’t choose to run. Either he fought to the death or killed his opponent. He had to maintain that sharpness to press forward regardless.
“Fine, I suppose we can count as having fought shoulder to shoulder. I will respect your dignity,” said Evilmoon.
“Thank you. Speaking of which, have you really not heard of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art?” asked Long Chen.
“No, I’ve never heard of it… but…” Evilmoon seemed to be thinking.
“But what?” asked Long Chen hastily.
“But… fuck, it seems I’m missing a few of my memories. I’ve remembered something, but also can’t remember it. It was definitely done by that bastard Yun Shang!” cursed Evilmoon. It broke into curses for Sovereign Yun Shang once more.
After cursing for a while, its anger was vented a bit, and it said, “Your cultivation technique is very unorthodox. Such a cultivation technique is unique. It doesn’t seem like the cultivation technique of the human race, nor of the Magical Beast race, Xuan Beast race, Blood race, Barbarian race, Ghost race, Devil race, Spirit race… Fuck, my head hurts. Damnit, there are even more memories missing than I thought! That bastard Yun Shang!”
Evilmoon once more broke into curses after listing hundreds of different races.
“Evilmoon, you actually know this many races? Can you explain them to me-”
“Don’t ask me about those! I’m missing a portion of my memories, and what you’re asking me is in that missing piece. If I try to forcibly recall them, it hurts,” shouted Evilmoon painfully.
Long Chen could only shut his mouth when it came to this. After a while, Evilmoon’s pain faded, but Long Chen didn’t bring it up again.
However, for Evilmoon
to list so many races shocked Long Chen. He hadn’t expected there to be so many races in this world.
Even in the Martial Heaven Continent, what he had seen was just the tiniest corner of it. This world was truly enormous.
Although Long Chen didn’t know whether Evilmoon even had a head or brain, it seemed mentioning this would give it a headache regardless, so he didn’t bring it up.
Long Chen sank into thought. Pill Valley was after him. Last time, after he had tried to soulsearch that disciple of Heavenly Fate Island, he had exchanged blows with a mysterious elder. That made him feel like there was even more danger than he thought.
The curious thing was, on his way back to the Central Plains, on his path to the Grand Han, everything had gone smoothly. He hadn’t fallen into any traps.
After considering this from multiple angles, he concluded that it was very likely due to Evilmoon, and that Heavenly Fate Island was unable to directly calculate anything about him. They had to read other people’s fate lines to determine the general possibility of where he would be.
As for his trip to the Grand Xia, it was only after he had revealed his face and fought against Lu Qingfeng that Pill Valley’s experts had come. Furthermore, there had been no one from Heavenly Fate Island. That meant that they hadn’t known he would be there.
That was because he hadn’t brought any direct blessing or disaster to the Grand Xia upon going there, so Heavenly Fate Island hadn’t been able to find that he would go there.
In other words, as long as his goal wasn’t very obvious, it would be very difficult for Heavenly Fate Island to calculate where he would be based on the flow of fate of his possible targets.
“It seems I’ll have to calm down a bit. I’ll first raise my cultivation base. I don’t know when I’ll finally be able to reach Soul Transformation,” sighed Long Chen as he tossed a pill in his mouth.
Although he had won in his fight against Lu Qingfeng, that didn’t make him excited. Instead, he was solemn.
Once Empyreans reached Soul Transformation and fully condensed their Yuan Spirits, their Yuan Spirit would help them fight, allowing them to unleash magical arts while the main body fought. That was the most frightening aspect of Soul Transformation Empyreans. In that fight, he had felt like he was fighting two people at once.
Although on the surface it looked like Lu Qingfeng was weak as he had almost been killed, that was because he hadn’t had a divine item to protect himself.
If he had, he would have been able to block Long Chen’s full-strength attack, or even if he was injured, his Yuan Spirit would take the place of his main body to form hand seals and fight back. To defeat him would have been much more difficult.
Most importantly, although he was an Empyrean, Lu Qingfeng did not possess as frightening a background as Sha Guangyan, Peng Wansheng, or Ye Qingkuang.
After such a long time, the three of them should have already solidified their cultivation bases and condensed their Yuan Spirits. Their power level would have completely transformed from the last time Long Chen fought them.
His own cultivation base was rising too slowly, and he could only rely on medicinal pills. Although he had plenty of them, he digested them too slowly. He ended up crushing the few in his hands just to vent.
“Long Chen, are you not worried about your foundation growing unsteady if you eat medicinal pills like this?” asked Evilmoon.
“That’s not something I have to worry about. Even if I ate a giant vat of pills a day, I would be fine. It just takes me too long to digest them,” sighed Long Chen. This was the most irritating point of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.
After reaching the tenth Heavenstage, the amount of energy required to advance again was ridiculous. He was eating medicinal pills every day and was still not seeing much progress. He was as slow as a snail, but there was no way around it.
“Long Chen, I have a divine ability in my memories called Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth. It’s a secret art of my dark evil dragon race. Do you want to learn it?” asked Evilmoon.
“A divine ability called Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth? You’ll teach it to me?” Long Chen was surprised.
“Yes. I feel like you aren’t bad. After considering it, I’ve decided I won’t mind teaching it to you. My dark evil dragon race relies on devouring other beasts to advance, and we’ll even devour members of our own race. That’s why we need a powerful devouring ability to digest the energy of our opponents. If you learned it, it would be greatly beneficial to your digestion of medicinal pills. However, this divine ability is unique to the dark evil dragon race. I can’t guarantee that you’re capable of using it,” said Evilmoon.
“That’s fine. If I really can learn it, I will owe you a favor,” promised Long Chen.
“Don’t need it. What am I supposed to do with a favor from you? With your ability to court death, no lives would be enough. I’m teaching you it for myself. On the off chance that you manage to live, my seal will be undone and I’ll regain my freedom,” said Evilmoon.
“On the off chance? You have this little confidence in me?” Long Chen was speechless.
“I’m only confident in your ability to court death. As for your ability to stay alive, I have no confidence in that,” said Evilmoon.
“Fine, up to you. Hurry and teach me this Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth divine ability,” said Long Chen expectantly.
Chapter 1533 A Mutation
Long Chen coughed up a mouthful of blood while sitting at the cliffside. That blood contained many broken bits of his internal organs.
He didn’t even remember how many times this had happened now. The evil dragon race’s Swallow the Heavens, Devour the Earth divine ability was too difficult to train in.
According to Evilmoon, he needed to condense eighty-one divine runes inside his stomach. These runes were things he had never seen before, and each of them possessed great destructive power. An explosion from one of them could shatter a mountain.
Fortunately, Long Chen’s physical body was strong enough. He had these runes slowly plaster themselves to the lining of his stomach. That was no problem.
Unfortunately, when he activated the runes, his stomach would instantly explode. If it was anyone else, they’d have long since turned to dust. However, he was still heavily injured each time.
If it weren’t for the support of the World Trees, Long Chen would have long since given up. This was not a technique for a human.
“It seems you really won’t be able to learn it. After all, it’s a divine ability of my dark evil dragon race. Although you possess dragon blood, you don’t possess dark energy. Just relying on brute force to condense the formation is essentially impossible,” said Evilmoon after Long Chen failed multiple times. It truly did seem a bit crazy for a human to cultivate a divine ability of the evil dragon race.
Long Chen didn’t reply. He was constantly attempting to form the formation, but whenever it formed, it would explode violently, and there was no way for his stomach to bear that power.
“Ah, I’m so stupid!” Long Chen suddenly clapped his leg. He waved his hand, and Lei Long appeared before him. After that, he formed hand seals, and divine runes began to form in the air.
“What are you doing?” asked Evilmoon.
Long Chen didn’t reply. He continued forming hand seals, and eighty-one divine runes quickly formed in the air.
“It’s useless. When these runes are gathered together, without dark energy as a mediator, they’ll immediately explode,” said Evilmoon.
Ignoring Evilmoon’s advice, Long Chen had Lei Long devour those divine runes at the exact instant that they gathered together.
“For now, I won’t create the formation. I’ll have Lei Long use its destructive power to reduce the power of these runes until they only have a trace of their power. That way, when I absorb them into my body and condense the formation, their power won’t be so great, and my body will be able to handle it,” said Long Chen.
“T
hat’s one option. But even if you can pull it off, such a weak formation will be useless. Ninety-nine percent of its effectiveness will be lost.”
“There’s no way around it. These runes come from my soul, so after condensing the formation, I can nourish them with my soul. Right now, they’re too berserk and refuse to listen. I’ll need to weaken them and try again.”
Bang!
At this moment, an explosive sound came from Lei Long’s mouth. Lei Long opened its mouth, and Long Chen was speechless. The divine runes had been destroyed already.
Lei Long transformed into a foot-long dragon that wrapped around Long Chen’s wrist, gently rubbing his arm with its head.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. We have no experience. We just have to try a few more times,” comforted Long Chen.
Due to not controlling its thunderforce perfectly while suppressing the divine runes, Lei Long had caused the divine runes to explode. This process was very difficult to pull off, especially toward the end. As the power of the divine runes weakened, Lei Long also needed to weaken its own power, or if their power was unbalanced, it would cause the runes to be destroyed again.
From the start, Long Chen hadn’t expected to succeed in one try. With his bad luck, he never hoped to succeed that easily.
As expected, his experience was accurate. He failed seven times in a row, but he wasn’t shaken at all. He persevered until Lei Long slowly opened its mouth, revealing a ball of eighty-one dim divine runes.
Long Chen sighed with relief. He had finally succeeded. However, this was just one of the steps. He still had no assurance in really learning the divine ability.
The divine runes, which had been shining brightly and releasing shocking divine power, were now dim. Long Chen cautiously swallowed the ball of runes and didn’t immediately start once they were in his stomach. It was only after an incense stick’s worth of time that he sent his Spiritual Strength into them to slowly paste them onto the lining of his stomach.
