by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Ever since the thirty-sixth monastery had come to provoke them, only to end up running away dejectedly, the 108th monastery’s disciples had been incredibly excited.
Although the monastery had tried to keep this matter under wraps because they were afraid of causing their disciples to feel inferior due to being in the last rank monastery, there were still many disciples who had learned the truth.
However, their monastery’s ranking didn’t cause any sense of inferiority in those disciples. In fact, they were filled with confidence.
The fact that they, the last ranking monastery, were able to repel the thirty-sixth monastery, was an incredibly glorious thing.
That had actually ended up making their Dao-hearts even more solid. Cultivation had no shortcuts. No matter how many resources you had, without a firm Dao-heart, you would still be nothing.
In the beginning, they had pridefully claimed that they had managed to defeat a stronger enemy even though they had been weaker. But Long Chen had told them they were wrong. They had always been stronger.
Strength wasn’t necessarily just how high your cultivation base was, or what kind of background you had, or how powerful your Battle Skills were. It was more related to whether you had an expert’s heart.
Three days later, Tu Fang managed to bring back all of the Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills he had exchanged for with the merit points, and each disciple was given one.
The Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pill was a peak item amongst third tier medicinal pills. The monasteries ranked below fifty were unable to afford them.
Their disciples knew that they only managed to obtain one because of Long Chen’s consideration. Normally, such precious medicinal pills would be reserved for the core disciples.
When the disciples had brought up that they didn’t want the Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills so that they could be given to the core disciples, Tu Fang had told them that this was Long Chen’s decision. Many disciples had teared up at that.
The fact that Long Chen was always looking out for them moved them incredibly. This was Long Chen. As long as there were some benefits, he would never forget about a single person beside him.
Geniuses like Long Chen were always arrogant and lofty, viewing everyone else as worthless. If you were to go to the thirty-sixth monastery, then probably every single one of their inner disciples would be like that.
But Long Chen never had any of that loftiness. He considered each of them his brother.
After obtaining a Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pill, all the disciples returned to their immortal caves. They knew the only thing they could do was raise their own strength so as to not disappoint Long Chen.
As long as they weren’t thrown off too far by Long Chen, then they would still have more opportunities to battle side by side with Long Chen. For those opportunities, they had to go all-out to raise their strength.
Those disciples’ displays moved Tu Fang incredibly. Just how many people in this world weren’t selfish? The more members a group had, the harder it was to control. But Long Chen didn’t even need any tricks to make all these disciples loyal.
During this time, all the monastery’s disciples were busy refining the Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pill in order to increase the toughness of their tendons and increase their combat strength.
The Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pill was a rare medicinal pill that didn’t have any side effects. It could be continuously consumed in order to nourish the tendons until they reached their peak.
Tendon nourishing pills were originally extremely rare, and the majority all had unsavory side effects.
Most medicinal pills had side effects. One of those effects was that medicinal pills used to increase strength could only be used a total of three times.
The first time, the pill would be one hundred percent effective. But the second time, it would only be fifty percent effective. The third time, its effect would be halved once more, and by the fourth time, there would be very little effect.
And that was why the Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pill was so precious. It would stay effective no matter how many you consumed. Not only was its medicinal effect excellent, but it could also be consumed repeatedly without consequence until your tendons had reached their peak.
While all those disciples were refining the pill, Long Chen wasn’t just wasting his time. He was constantly refining Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills for the core disciples.
But Long Chen was somewhat helpless that his current Pill Flame was no longer able to keep up with his growth.
Using the Flame Salamander’s blue flame to refine a furnace of Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills would use up twelve hours, and it was extremely tedious. If he had a stronger beast flame, he would be able to refine them much faster.
Long Chen’s plan was extremely good. He would refine a whole bunch of Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills to turn all those beside him into experts.
Then when he wanted to show-off, he wouldn’t even need to personally take action. He could just wave his hand and have his brothers crush his enemies. That would be too delightful.
After half a month, Long Chen was completely exhausted from refining. However, it had been worth it. He had refined over two hundred Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills.
He gave each of the core disciples ten of them. Long Chen had utmost confidence in his medicinal pills. He was sure that their tendons would definitely reach their peak limits with those ten pills.
Long Chen was even more confident in his pill arts than his fighting skills. It was a pity his flame energy wasn’t good enough, or he would even be able to refine fourth tier medicinal pills.
Suddenly, he took out a tablet. Looking at that tablet, Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh.
That was the tablet grandmaster Yun Qi had left behind for him. Whenever he thought of grandmaster Yun Qi, Long Chen couldn’t help but feel upset.
Although grandmaster Yun Qi’s pill arts were only average, he was definitely a senior worthy of his respect. He had even sacrificed his life for him.
Although Long Chen had managed to kill the white-robed man responsible, he had never felt any better about it.
“I really wonder just what that Pill Valley is. For it to be able to be considered a holy land in the eyes of pill cultivators, it must be amazing…”
Long Chen had always been interested in Pill Valley. If it really was as sacred as grandmaster Yun Qi had said, then Long Chen definitely had to make a trip there.
Putting away Pill Valley’s tablet, Long Chen thought about whether or not he should refine more Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills.
The core disciples already didn’t need anymore. As for the outer and inner disciples, they didn’t need them right now. As long as they hadn’t reached Bone Forging, they could consume more Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills whenever.
Currently, Long Chen still had dozens of Three Connecting Flower Tendon Pills. But he knew that once he entered the Tendon Transformation realm, such an amount would be nothing. With the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s abnormal cultivation difficulty, he would need hundreds, thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands of times as many medicinal pills as others.
Thinking of that terrifying consumption, Long Chen had a huge headache. He now suspected that the Pill Sovereign memories were actually a set with the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.
As his cultivation base increased, he would end up using countless numbers of precious medicinal ingredients and pills. That was money. He would need to find a way to get more money.
Glancing at his pill furnace, he felt a wave of revulsion. He didn’t mind refining pills, but it was really too boring to sit still for hours on end like this. That was especially true with Long Chen’s lazy temperament.
Now that he didn’t have to refine for anyone else, and it was just for himself, he felt all his motivation fly away.
“Brother Long, I’m back!”
Just as Long Chen was about
to become lazy, a rough voice rang out. Long Chen felt his entire immortal cave shake.
He hastily ran out and saw Wilde rushing over. The heavy club on his back caused the ground to shake with each step.
But this time Wilde had learned how to control at least a bit of that force, and the rocks he stepped on didn’t all break.
“Aowu!” Suddenly, a huge figure rushed over at Long Chen. It was so quick that Long Chen hadn’t even reacted before he was knocked on the ground.
“Haha, Little Snow, you’re being naughty again!” After knocking Long Chen to the ground, Little Snow licked Long Chen’s face over and over again, causing Long Chen to be between laughter and tears.
Little Snow’s body was even more terrifying than before. He was almost thirty meters long now, and his claws were even larger than a table. The tips of those claws were like sharp steel, and surprisingly there were runes that had appeared on top of them.
Little Snow was now emitting a terrifying aura. That was a pressure that came from being a Wolf King. It was something that caused your soul to tremble.
“Little Snow, you’ve advanced to Wolf King?!” Long Chen stood and couldn’t help exclaiming his delight.
Little Snow had now reached the peak of the third rank, which was his innate limit. That was why that king pressure had become extremely obvious.
A Scarlet Flame Snow Wolf was originally an overlord amongst third rank Magical Beasts, an unrivaled existence. Now, Little Snow had really reached his peak.
Little Snow’s previous combat strength had already been terrifying. In the previous battle, Little Snow had only been in the mid third rank, yet he was able to easily kill core disciples.
Most importantly, Little Snow’s attacks were extremely sharp, and his attack range was incredibly large. He was most proficient in group battles.
“Brother Long, I heard a fight occurred in the monastery! I didn’t make it back in time!” Wilde was a bit disappointed.
Long Chen couldn’t help but laugh. It seemed Wilde had also become warlike. Back then, this fellow had been a good child who didn’t like fighting.
“Don’t worry about it. Once we enter the secret realm, there’ll be more than enough opponents. Wait, Wilde, you have an ancestral mark?!” Long Chen suddenly saw a faint red imprint that looked like a birthmark in the space between Wilde’s eyebrows.
That imprint was an octagon. It looked extremely odd, and it was like there was something inside it.
But it was impossible to see the thing clearly. When Long Chen tried to probe it, a powerful aura immediately destroyed his divine sense.
Long Chen was incredibly startled and involuntarily took a few steps back. That aura was terrifying. It was like he was seeing the scene of an ancient monster tearing apart the dome of the heavens.
“What is it brother Long?” asked Wilde.
“It’s nothing.”
Long Chen shook his head. Wilde’s body seemed to be hiding many secrets. But Long Chen trusted that Wilde didn’t even know what those secrets were.
Although that aura was incredibly terrifying, Long Chen hadn’t sensed any hostility from it, which relieved him.
Long Chen asked Wilde about how he had been. Wilde said the old man had brought him and Little Snow somewhere far away with countless powerful Magical Beasts. He and Little Snow had eaten their fill every day.
As for what those Magical Beasts’ cultivation bases were, Wilde didn’t remember. All he knew was that those Magical Beasts’ meat was extremely tough and hard to eat, but they allowed him to grow much stronger.
Most importantly, with last time’s experience, Cang Ming had prepared a huge amount of rations for Wilde.
Long Chen nodded. There seemed to be something sleeping within Wilde’s body. Perhaps it had something to do with the powerful state he had entered when fighting that Favored back then.
But no matter what, it was still a good thing. After giving Wilde multiple warnings about what not to do here, Long Chen brought Little Snow out of the monastery.
Chapter 305 Before it Rains, Make Your Preparations
“That little fellow Long Chen really is daring. And you, little fellow, you’re not that lacking anymore either,” praised Cang Ming. He patted Ling Yunzi on the shoulder. The first thing he had heard after returning was that the thirty-sixth monastery had tried provoking them.
As Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang had expected, as soon as he learned of it, Cang Ming’s temper had exploded. He was about to go over to the thirty-sixth monastery.
But Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang stopped him, telling him about how the matter had ended. Only then did Cang Ming calm down a bit.
When Cang Ming heard the whole story of how Long Chen and the others had ruthlessly returned the thirty-sixth monastery’s humiliation back to them, he almost began to dance in excitement.
Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang’s expressions became a bit odd as they watched him. That was especially true of Ling Yunzi. As far as he recalled, this was the first time he had seen Cang Ming so happy.
After Cang Ming had calmed down a bit, he said, “Little Ling-zi, ever since my senior apprentice-brother passed away, this is the first time I’ve been this happy.
“The reason I’m so happy isn’t just because our monastery has produced a genius like Long Chen, but because of you.
“Have you realized it yet? Your heart was covered in shackles of your own devising. As a sword cultivator, for your sword to become corroded by rust, you were essentially crippled.
“You know, I cursed you over and over again, but you never tried to fight back. All day, all you did was try to increase the monastery’s ranking to accomplish your master’s final wishes.
“Is ranking and fame so important? I personally went to your master’s grave and cursed him for a couple of days for leaving you with this problem.”
Ling Yunzi’s expression became a bit odd, but inside, he was extremely moved. Although this uncle-master of his had an explosive temper and was sometimes completely unreasonable, he had truly treated him well.
Cang Ming continued, “After his death, you jumped into a hole and couldn’t get yourself out. I could only watch as you did that to yourself. That’s why I never gave you any face whenever I saw you. The fact that a genius like you was wasting away was just too painful for me.”
“Uncle-master… I… I’m sorry…” Ling Yunzi thought back to when he was young and how Cang Ming had always looked after him.
At that time, this uncle-master cherished him even more than his master. In fact, when his master would punish him, it was always Cang Ming who pushed for leniency.
“Good child, it’s fine now that everything’s over. Seeing you recover your confidence and become the old, unyielding Ling Yunzi, uncle-master is extremely happy.” Cang Ming patted Ling Yunzi on the shoulder.
“It’s all thanks to Long Chen. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have even known that I had formed a heart-devil,” sighed Ling Yunzi.
Thinking of what he had done recently, he couldn’t help but call himself stupid. A grand sect leader, a powerful Xiantian expert, had actually formed a heart-devil without even knowing it.
Ever since his master had passed away and handed the monastery to him, he had been focused on the monastery, wanting to reverse their humiliation of always being in last place for the past three thousand years.
By doing so, he had unknowingly placed a set of shackles on himself. As he failed to change the monastery’s fate time after time, those shackles became incredibly heavy.
They had tightly bound Ling Yunzi’s Dao-heart. At the same time, it had also bound up his precious sword. At some point, he had been so focused on being the sect leader, that he had forgotten himself to be a prideful sword cultivator.
He only began to realize this once Long Chen arrived. Long Chen had stepped over the corpses of countless experts to bring about miracle after miracle.
He didn’t know he was a Divergent, and he knew even less about his own fate. But he always dared
to resist; he always dared to challenge his enemies.
When did Long Chen ever act like an ordinary person? He always dared to do what others didn’t. And yet, when he did those things, he didn’t even frown.
At first, Ling Yunzi had disliked Long Chen’s way of handling things. He had thought such actions were foolish and impetuous. A smart person would never act like Long Chen.
He had simply thought that this was a Divergent’s fate. They dared to challenge the Heavenly Daos. But the only ending for them was death.
But after seeing the miracles created by Long Chen, Ling Yunzi had realized he had been wrong, extremely, extremely, wrong.
What was a martial artist? Martial artists should always advance courageously. Whether facing a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, they had to charge through regardless. Otherwise, what were you cultivating for?
If you didn’t even have that courage, then why bother bitterly cultivating? Wouldn’t being an ordinary mortal with a lifespan of less than a hundred years be better?
Since you’ve chosen the path of cultivation, then you couldn’t care about how long you could stay on the path. The important thing was whether or not you could manage to show your own radiance.
From Long Chen, Ling Yunzi had realized that he was not just a sect leader, but more importantly, he was a sword cultivator. He had been so engrossed with his empty title of sect leader, that he had forgotten his own sword.
A sword cultivator’s most precious partner was the sword in their hand. But he had allowed this partner of his to become covered in years of dust.
Now, he had finally remembered his partner. He had recovered his sword cultivator identity and become the old, high-spirited Ling Yunzi.
Back then, if Luo Bing had really refused to admit she was a pig, Ling Yunzi would definitely have cut off her head. He had not been just trying to scare her.
Right now, he was a sword cultivator, not a simple sect leader. Now that he had broken through the shackles on his heart, he would no longer be a coward afraid of every little thing. This was the true him.
Cang Ming was incredibly happy to see this Ling Yunzi return. “Excellent, with an existence like Long Chen in our monastery, our ranking will go up whether we want it to or not, haha.”