Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
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“Wan-er!” Meng Qi glared at Tang Wan-er. The pure Cloud was being led astray by Tang Wan-er.
“I’ll sleep next to Long Chen.” Unexpectedly, Liu Ruyan actually volunteered to be next to Long Chen.
As a result, Long Chen slept in the middle, with Cloud, Meng Qi, and Tang Wan-er to his left, and Liu Ruyan and Chu Yao to his right.
“What are you looking at me for?” Once the lights were out, Long Chen found Liu Ruyan staring at him.
“It’s nothing. I’ll just quietly keep watch over you,” said Liu Ruyan indifferently.
Damn, so it was no wonder Chu Yao and Meng Qi had been laughing stealthily. So Liu Ruyan was present to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t try anything questionable.
They stayed in the Wine God Palace for three days. Long Chen once more had a battle with Fatty Tu, but he was amazed to find that the fatty’s skills in the finger-guessing game had improved. Who knew how he had trained, but in their battle, Long Chen won some and lost some before the two of them collapsed from drinking.
During this time, Long Chen also went to the Grand Xia’s imperial palace to see the emperor Xia Yuyang, the crown prince Xia Yunfeng, Xia Yunchong, and Xia Youluo.
Xia Youluo in particular was no longer the pampered and unreasonable princess. She had matured and now acted refined and graceful. But for some reason, Long Chen felt like he liked the old her more.
Xia Youluo’s eyes rippled when she saw Long Chen. It seemed that she had many things that she wanted to say, but she didn’t say them in the end. She merely smiled and raised a cup of wine to him.
There were many things contained within this cup of wine, but as for what they were, Long Chen didn’t know. Perhaps even Xia Youluo herself didn’t know.
Xia Yunchong was still the same as ever. He hadn’t grown reserved just because of Long Chen’s power, something Long Chen was gratified by.
When Long Chen asked Xia Yunfeng how the situation with the ancient nations was recently, he was silent for a moment before saying, “While the Grand Xia, Grand Chu, and Grand Zhou are flourishing, the Grand Han almost destroyed itself with its internal battles. However, in the past few months, their internal battles suddenly stopped. The curious thing was that based on our investigation, there was no interference from Pill Valley.”
“Did you not think about dividing the Grand Han’s territory?” asked Long Chen.
Xia Yunfeng shook his head. “Brother Long, taking over the territory might be easy, but none of the ancient nations want to accept the Grand Han’s commoners. We’ll only accept some refugees affected by the internal battles inside the Grand Han and give them a place to recuperate. The Grand Han’s people believe that the universe started with them, and that it’s only natural for others to treat them well. Even in the territory we gave to the refugees, problems are constantly sprouting. To help the elderly and young, we sent over emergency relief resources, but there were so many of them in the end that we couldn’t afford the cost, so we gave them seeds and farming tools so that they could provide for themselves. But instead of farming, they want to make the space we gave them their own territory. Brother Long, tell me, don’t you think they’re stupid?”
Xia Yunfeng couldn’t help sneering at their foolishness.
“They’re such marvels?” Long Chen couldn’t help being amazed.
Xia Yunfeng said, “It can’t be blamed on them. It’s simply the result of the Grand Han’s imperial family’s indoctrination. They instilled the sense in their people that they were above the human race, constantly making up legends to fool their people. Hence, their commoners are the victims. Nevertheless, this kind of brainwashing can’t be fixed in just one or two generations. So to maintain the nations’ stability and unity, the other three ancient nations don’t want to take them in. The only worrisome thing is that the Grand Han’s chaos suddenly calmed down. Furthermore, some rumors say that the protective gods of the Grand Han have awakened. It seems someone is creating legends for the Grand Han once more.”
Keeping the people ignorant in times of chaos was the best way to keep the peace. Making up some protective gods could make the people feel hopeful and fill them with vigor. There were several examples of such things occurring in the Grand Han’s history. But for educated people aware of history, such a thing would be useless. If the Grand Xia’s leaders tried such a thing on its people, they would be scoffed at.
“Protective gods?” Long Chen also sneered. When had this world gained so many protective gods? Rather than getting stronger themselves, they hoped for others to protect them?
The next morning, Long Chen stealthily brought Meng Qi and the others away. They were afraid of the sadness from leaving, so they decided not to say goodbye.
After leaving the Grand Xia, Cloud transformed into her true form, bringing them speeding away. After advancing to the eleventh rank, Cloud’s speed even amazed Long Chen.
Divine light flowed across her feathers, bringing her speeding away. The space ahead of them seemed compressed. Cloud’s speed was starting to break the laws of spacetime.
After less than a few hours of flying, they arrived at an empty land. Cloud landed here and unleashed the power of her bloodline.
A passageway appeared in the air. Cloud brought Long Chen and the others into the passage.
The scene before them changed. They entered a desolate desert without the slightest signs of life.
Heaven and earth rumbled. One large figure after another appeared in the sky. They were all experts of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. This place was actually one of their strongholds.
Those experts transformed into human form. Their leader was a graceful and beautiful woman, which released immense pressure. She was actually a powerful twelfth rank Xuan Beast.
In total, eighty experts of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race had come. The woman bowed deeply to Long Chen. “Respected experts of the human race, thank you for your grace toward the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. We will never forget this in our lifetimes.”
This woman was the stronghold’s strongest expert. The others knelt on the ground.
“You’re too courteous. Cloud has been with us since she was a child, and she saved us from crisis multiple times. We’re a family, and you’re our family as well,” said Long Chen.
Cloud was a member of the Dragonblood Legion, and her matters were the Dragonblood Legion’s matters. There was no need for others to thank them for such a thing.
At this time, other Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrows began to fly over, but they were younger and unable to transform yet. They curiously looked at Long Chen and the others.
Long Chen said, “I came here today to tell you that there is no need to hide any longer. The great era has come, causing the world’s qi flow to erupt. Hiding within minor worlds will affect your growth. If you continue like this, you will miss your best time to soar. As for the Xuan Beasts, as long as I say the word, they won’t dare to touch you for at least a while. That’s why I hope you can call out the entire Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race to grasp this opportunity. I will leave Meng Qi here so that you can probe the inside of the Myriad Spirit Diagram. The divine abilities of your Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race are inside. It will allow you to raise your power as fast as possible.”
The current Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was forced to hide. They spent the majority of their time within their secret strongholds.
Most of those strongholds were in desolate minor worlds that weren’t suitable for cultivation. Only by entering the Martial Heaven Continent could they properly cultivate.
Before this, they had been forced to be secretive upon entering the continent, afraid of being noticed by the experts of the Xuan Beasts. If noticed, they would rather fight to the death than try returning to their strongholds, as they didn’t wish their enemies to know where the strongholds were.
So despite being such a powerful race, the Cloud Chas
ing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was suppressed and forced into such a state. Long Chen wanted to bring them back into the continent so that they could soar. Then he would have raised another powerful ally.
As for the Xuan Beasts, he trusted that they wouldn’t take action against them. They had witnessed the destruction of Heavenly Fate Island.
Most importantly, he had also destroyed their headquarters, ruining the resources they had been stockpiling for countless years. That was a grievous blow to them, and they would be forced to lie low for a while. This was the best chance for the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race.
Chapter 1997 The Xuan Beasts’ Congratulatory Gift
Very quickly, a heavy piece of news spread throughout the Martial Heaven Continent. The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrace race that had been hunted down by the Xuan Beasts was no longer hiding. They were establishing their headquarters in the Eastern Xuan Region.
At the same time, Long Chen announced that the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was allied with the Dragonblood Legion. If anyone dared to touch the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race, he would go to their home for his next tribulation.
For Long Chen to publicly support the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was a bit surprising but within reason. However, his promise was a bit vicious. Just his Life Star tribulation had been enough to destroy Heavenly Fate Island and the headquarters of the Xuan Beasts. That kind of tribulation wasn’t something that just anyone could survive.
At the same time, the Martial Heaven Alliance also came out in support of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. While Long Chen was now outside the Martial Heaven Alliance, he was still one with them. However, he was no longer under the Martial Heaven Alliance. He now allied with them.
After establishing their territory, countless Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrows began to flock over from their strongholds. Long Chen hadn’t expected them to number in the millions.
However, the majority of them were still young and hadn’t fully grown. That was because when the Xuan Beasts had suppressed them, many of the seniors of their race had fought to the death. As for the weaker members, they could only do their best to reproduce as much as possible.
This generation’s leader of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was named Que Yuzhu. She was at the mid twelfth rank, equivalent to the human race’s second step of Netherpassage.
Within the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race, there were a total of eleven people on Que Yuzhu’s level. However, they didn’t have a single existence on the level of the late twelfth rank.
The human race’s Netherpassage realm was split into four steps, while twelfth rank Magical Beasts were the same but merely with different names. They were the early twelfth rank, mid twelfth rank, late twelfth rank, and the great circle of the twelfth rank. And just like the Netherpassage realm, the difference between each level was vast.
When the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race declared they were coming out once more, the Dragonblood Legion naturally came to their new headquarters, while Qu Jianying and the others from the Martial Heaven Alliance were also present. However, the old man didn’t come. He only sent Boss Bao and the others.
Boss Bao stealthily told Long Chen that the old man had been completely infuriated last time, even breaking tables and chairs in his rage. It had taken quite a bit of that kind of venting before he calmed down.
Originally, he had also been thinking of coming, but upon thinking that he would see Qu Jianying, he had decided not to come.
Long Chen couldn’t help sighing inside. Was this a case of growing more like a child the older you got?
Originally, he had just been expecting the Martial Heaven Alliance to come, but even Zheng Wenlong was here, bringing a celebratory gift and representing the Huayun Sect. To use his words, as long as there was business to do, they would come.
After greeting him, Long Chen smiled. “Brother Wenlong, don’t blame me for not sending you an invitation. I was afraid you would come find me for the debt I owe you.”
Long Chen had used the Scarlet Blood Spirit Fish and quite a few medicinal pill formulas as collateral to take out a huge loan. That had been the only way to create the divine items for the Dragonblood Legion.
Those things were still in Zheng Wenlong’s hands, but they hadn’t been turned into money just yet. It could be said that Long Chen owed him a huge debt.
“Hiding from your debt, is it? When have I ever demanded you to pay me? As long as you’re still living well, my profits will continue to come rolling in,” laughed Zheng Wenlong.
The amount of money that Long Chen had borrowed from Zheng Wenlong was so great that it could affect the entire operation of the Huayun Sect. However, in the long view, the profit exceeded the risk.
Most importantly, the Huayun Sect was now going all-out in raising alchemists. They were crazily snatching up the medicinal pill market, and Pill Valley’s monopoly was being broken. This was thanks to Long Chen.
Even the Corrupt path, ancient races, ancient family alliance, and the others were secretly buying pills from them.
The Huayun Sect was a true neutral sect, and as long as there was business to do, they would do it. They wouldn’t inflate prices, while the quality of the pills was guaranteed. The prices of the Huayun Sect’s pills were in general a tenth lower than Pill Valley’s.
Just ten percent wasn’t much, but medicinal pills took up sixty percent of a sect’s yearly resources budget. The remaining forty percent was enough for the sect’s construction needs, maintenance, administration, and other necessities. Medicinal pills were truly the lifeblood of a sect.
Most importantly, they had entered the great era where countless geniuses were rising. The large sects were willing to spend all their money on raising those geniuses.
So this had become a crazy era for buying medicinal pills. The demand had exceeded the supply, so Pill Valley had long since adjusted the prices of their pills to get more money, and they were continuously increasing the price as the demand increased.
That dissatisfied their customers, but there was no way around it because of their monopoly.
However, the medicinal pill formulas that Long Chen had released destroyed that monopoly. The Huayun Sect had announced that they were hiring alchemists, and they were also focusing more on nurturing their alchemists.
The current Huayun Sect was encroaching on Pill Valley’s businesses, but Pill Valley couldn’t do anything about it. They even suspected that there were traitors amongst their higher-ups who had sold those pill formulas to the Huayun Sect, so they had started an internal investigation.
So the money that Long Chen had borrowed was truly nothing when it came to the profit that his pill formulas would bring in. However, they were still in the early stages, and his formulas still hadn’t made up the money he had borrowed. It would take at least half a year before he paid off that debt with his pill formulas.
Today was a lively day for the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. The various large powers sent over congratulatory gifts. Even quite a few people came from the neutral powers.
As long as the neutral camp’s people didn’t participate in battles, they could suck up to either side. They didn’t want to offend either side, at least on the surface.
Furthermore, the neutral camp’s sects were very crafty, only sending some of their senior people over, not their sect leaders. That was perfect, as they could give face to Long Chen and the Martial Heaven Alliance without offending the Xuan Beasts.
“Someone from the Xuan Beasts actually came?”
Guo Ran and the others’ expressions changed. There were over ten experts who had come bearing the air of the Xuan Beasts. The Dragonblood warriors prepared their weapons. As long as they caused the slightest fuss, they would cut them down.
“You’re…” Que Yuzhu noticed them. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Senior Yuz
hu, we’re gratified to see you still alive.” The speaker was an elder who was the leader of this group. He wept.
Guo Ran and the others slowly loosened their grips on their weapons. It seemed that they had misunderstood.
Through Que Yuzhu’s introductions, they learned that these people belonged to the Cloud Rain Lightning Sparrow race, a branch of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race.
When the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was expelled from the Xuan Beasts, quite a few experts of the Cloud Rain Lightning Sparrow race were hunted down as well. They had been hiding this entire time, on their last breaths. Upon learning that the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race had come out once more and established their own territory, they immediately rushed over. Seeing Que Yuzhu, they were filled with emotions.
Que Yuzhu was also crying. She thought back to how glorious the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race had been back in the day. Now they had fallen to this extent and even implicated their allies.
“Alright, starting today, the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race is rising back to its former glory! You will share that glory with us,” promised Que Yuzhu.
Que Yuzhu’s promise was serious. Her cultivation base might not be strong enough to promise such a thing, but she had already seen the hope of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. It was Long Chen.
The Myriad Spirit Diagram had already been opened for them. The majority of their divine abilities had originally been lost, but now that their inheritances were being restored, they were rapidly growing stronger. The fact that they no longer had to hide in minor worlds also improved their cultivation circumstances.
Other than that, Long Chen had started on creating transportation formations connecting the Martial Heaven Alliance’s headquarters, the Xuantian Dao Sect, and this place. There were also formations connecting them to hundreds of other powers so that they could share their spirit gathering formations to cultivate.
This was a joyous occasion. The Martial Heaven Alliance had gained another ally with limitless potential. They had once more grown stronger.