by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
That secret made Long Chen sneer inside. He had found out that the outside world’s Bone Tempering Pills had had something deliberately done to them to make their medicinal effect lower.
In the beginning, he had thought that whoever had done this must have some mental disorder. What was the point of turning good medicinal pills into trash?
But after thinking about it, he realized that the person who had done this was most likely the seller of these pills. By not changing the price of the pill, but reducing its effect by fifty percent, those who wanted to temper more bones would have to purchase an exorbitant amount of Bone Tempering Pills. This was definitely conning people.
It was no wonder that the Bone Tempering Pill had conned so many geniuses to death. This was definitely done by some immoral merchant behind the scenes.
Furthermore, he had found out that this was true of both the Righteous and Corrupt paths.
All the Bone Tempering Pills had had their effects cut in half. However, it was impossible to notice this. You couldn’t tell from either looking at it or even from consuming it.
It was only possible for Long Chen with his Pill Sovereign memories. He was able to tell something was wrong because according to the medicinal pill’s formula, tier, and quality, the medicinal effect did not match.
All the Bone Tempering Pills sold outside were the same. That was because a certain existence had monopolized the Bone Tempering Pill market. All sects could only get them from the Pill Tower.
And thus, Long Chen had come up with a certain conclusion: under the outer semblance of being a holy land, the Pill Tower was actually a bunch of shady wolves.
But at the very least, they were fair about it. They conned both the Righteous and Corrupt paths equally. Otherwise, if they only conned the Righteous path but not the Corrupt path, the Righteous path would definitely be doomed.
When he thought of that, Long Chen realized a certain something. With the Righteous path and Corrupt path constantly fighting, and the Pill Tower taking a neutral position, selling medicinal pills to everyone, then wouldn’t the party benefiting the most be the Pill Tower? Neither the Righteous nor Corrupt paths dared to offend them for fear of losing access to medicinal pills. That really was comical.
“Sixteen bones? Wouldn’t that be the level of the sect leader? Heavens! Then wouldn’t we be able to sweep through the entire secret realm?” Guo Ran was filled with disbelief.
Each extra bone you tempered would greatly increase the amount of energy that could be stored within the bones. That would make a person incredibly strong. Tempering sixteen bones was practically something he had only heard of in legend.
“Don’t get excited too early. I said that under the normal bone tempering process, you would be able to temper sixteen bones. But since we’ve all chosen complete tempering, these pills can at most let us temper four bones,” said Long Chen.
“Wh-what?!” Guo Ran stuttered. The difference between four bones and sixteen bones was far too great.
“There’s no way around it. To undergo complete tempering, each time you temper one bone, you also have to go through every single bone in your body. That’s the only way to make sure every bone gets tempered.
“The previous Bone Connecting Pills you consumed created energy channels within every single one of your bones.
“Pretend the bone you’re attempting to temper is a beggar, and you’re trying to feed it some bread. But in order to feed that beggar, you first have to feed the two hundred and five beggars that are in front of it. You need to make your rounds through each of them before getting to that last one. Do you understand?” smiled Long Chen.
Chapter 424 Four-Temper
“No way? It’s this exaggerated?” Guo Ran was stunned.
“It’s not the slightest bit exaggerated. Only in this way is it possible to temper each and every bone in the body. With each bone, you have to temper all the other bones as well,” said Long Chen.
“Then wouldn’t it require decades to undergo complete tempering?” Guo Ran felt slightly hopeless. He had already eaten the Bone Connecting Pill and thus connected all his bones. He had no choice but to undergo complete tempering at this stage.
“You’re extrapolating according to normal standards. For other cultivators, for each bone you temper, it costs twice the amount of the previous time, and the time required to temper it also doubles accordingly.
“For them, to temper eight bones requires over a year’s time. First-rate bone tempering requires at least three years.
“But we’re not the same. For us, each bone we temper requires the same amount of time. If it took three to five days to temper the first bone, it will take three to five days to temper each and every bone.
“In fact, once we near the end, we’ll temper them faster and faster. That’s because we tempered each of our bones with each tempering, so by the end, each bone’s requirements go down, and the bones you’ve already tempered don’t need further energy,” explained Long Chen.
“Oh? Then I’m relieved. You really scared me just now. If we had to keep bone tempering for decades, then my springtime of youth would all have been lost,” sighed Guo Ran.
“But after you finish tempering each bone, you’ll need to undergo one final total tempering. That total tempering will be a bit painful.” Seeing Guo Ran’s expression suddenly change, Long Chen laughed, “It’s not like you think. Once each bone in your body is tempered, just what level do you think your strength will explode to? If I haven’t misjudged, the amount of power your armor can release is directly proportional to your own physical strength. At that time… hehe… you understand.”
Hearing that, Guo Ran’s eyes lit up. Long Chen was absolutely correct. His armor was something that amplified his own power. Although his armor looked ordinary, there were countless steel wires tightly bound around his muscles. Each one of his movements pulled on those threads, and adding on a few mechanisms that were activated by his fingers, it would multiply his original power.
“Hehe, boss, you really are awesome. Then we’re on track to become the strongest squad ever. But if the amount of Bone Tempering Pills we have is only enough for four bones, then just what astronomical number will we need for complete tempering?” Thinking of that, Guo Ran began to sweat.
“Good word. Astronomical really is accurate,” nodded Long Chen.
“Don’t praise me at this kind of time. How are we supposed to get more Bone Tempering Pills?” Guo Ran was filled with worry.
“There will always be a way. Haven’t you already noticed? As our cultivation bases gradually increase, the enemies we come into contact with also grow stronger.
“If we cultivate like ordinary people, our lives will definitely become incredibly miserable in the future. The path of cultivation is just that cruel. Once you’ve stepped onto it, don’t even think of escaping.
“Trouble will constantly come to find us. So we have to think of any way we can to get stronger. Only then can we live with dignity,” sighed Long Chen.
“I understand boss. There is no path of retreat for us anymore,” nodded Guo Ran. “Speaking of which, do you think I should make Wilde a set of armor? If I start now, then I should be able to finish it before the secret realm’s exit opens. With Wilde’s strength, hehe…”
If he made a set of armor for Wilde, then with Wilde’s abnormal strength, he would definitely become a practically godlike killer.
“Do you think Wilde is like you and understands how to use those controls and maneuvers? When are you going to start using your head?”
“Oh, I forgot.” Guo Ran clapped himself in the head with embarrassment.
With Wilde’s intelligence, getting him to learn how to control his kind of armor would be heaven-defying.
Back then, for Long Chen to teach him the simplest way of circulating his qi, Long Chen had almost died of anger. And Long Chen considered himself someone with decent patience.
“Speaking of which, have you seen Wilde in the
last two days?” asked Long Chen.
“Yesterday I went over there. Wilde was still sleeping then, and the ground was littered with feathers. That Violet… cough, that bird is only half-eaten right now. It seems it’ll take Wilde some more time to completely finish it.” Guo Ran suddenly remembered how Long Chen didn’t want him mentioning the Violet Phoenix Sparrow’s name. Those four little fellows were currently guarding the perimeter, and after being subdued by humans, their intelligence had increased. That topic was taboo.
The Violet Phoenix Sparrow was a peak fifth rank Magical Beast, and its flesh contained a great deal of energy. For an ordinary person, they would need half a day to digest just a mouthful of its flesh. Even with Wilde’s abnormal body, he needed to sleep for a few days to digest that energy. It could be seen just how terrifying the amount of energy in that flesh was.
“Currently, Wilde really is too frightening. Just the power of his blood and qi is enough to terrify me. And I’m his brother; if it was someone else, they wouldn’t even dare get close to him,” exclaimed Guo Ran.
Some kind of special aura had now appeared from Wilde’s body, and that aura was even more terrifying than that of a high ranking Magical Beast.
Long Chen smiled. Wilde was a warrior from the barbarian race that consumed all beasts as food. Now that he was consuming the flesh of two peak fifth rank Magical Beasts, that barbaric aura of his had become even clearer.
He still clearly remembered the aura from the barbarian race expert in the Abyss of Fiends. When he compared that aura to Wilde’s, he found they really were similar. However, Wilde’s aura was far weaker than that expert’s.
But with the support of this powerful flesh, that barbaric aura of his continued to grow, meaning Wilde’s body was beginning to awaken.
According to that expert, their barbarian race didn’t need to cultivate any secret techniques. Once their flesh reached a certain level of power, they would automatically awaken their abilities.
He had also mentioned something about the Barbarian God’s blessing. Long Chen still didn’t know what that meant, but Yue Xiaoqian had told him that this world truly did have gods.
If there were gods present, then what were they doing? Why would they let the world become so chaotic?
“Boss, how about I make you a set of armor too? Your power would multiply, and you could definitely slaughter everyone,” said Guo Ran.
Long Chen shook his head. “That’s not my fighting style. If I wear armor, that’s equivalent to not having enough confidence in my own physical body, and it will affect my Dao-heart. I’m not the same as you; you are someone who wants to become a crafting god. Wearing your own armor will further stabilize your Dao-heart. The two of us walk different paths.
“Once I finish refining the Bone Tempering Pills, I’ll start refining Bone Forging Pills for everyone to increase your cultivation bases. At the very least, everyone has to be able to reach the mid Bone Forging realm.”
The amount of medicinal ingredients he had were limited. At most, he could only allow everyone to temper four bones. But the good thing was that after tempering four bones, they had all set down a foundation for the rest of their bones. Although they hadn’t completed the tempering process, even their non-tempered bones had become much stronger, passively increasing their strength. For close-range fights, this increase was very precious. But the cost for it had also been shocking.
Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by. Long Chen had finished refining all the Bone Tempering Pills and was now focused on refining the Bone Forging Pills to increase everyone’s cultivation bases.
After continuously refining medicinal pills for a month, even Long Chen felt like he would puke. Just looking at his pill furnace was enough to make him dizzy.
But the good thing was that he didn’t need to refine that many Bone Forging Pills. Even though they were refined by Long Chen, each person could only consume ten of them. That was already the absolute limit. In fact, for ordinary Bone Forging Pills, just consuming three of them was the limit.
The Bone Forging Pills were different from Bone Tempering Pills. They were used to increase cultivation base and needed to be combined with spiritual qi. They needed to be slowly absorbed, or it was possible for your realm to become unstable and your foundation to become flawed.
Over this fortnight, everyone had consumed the Bone Tempering Pills like eating rice, and once all the Bone Tempering Pills had been consumed, everyone had finally tempered four bones.
As for which four bones those were, they were naturally the small bone of the two arms and legs. That improved both speed and power, and it was always the first four bones that people tempered. Millenia of experience had told everyone that those four bones were the best.
After finishing the bone tempering, Long Chen had everyone rest for a few days to stabilize the medicinal energy in their bones before increasing their cultivation bases.
Hearing that they had a slight vacation, Guo Ran immediately pulled over Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, Li Qi, and Yue Zifeng, finding a secluded place to compare notes.
Gu Yang and the others were also full of mettle. After their seclusion this time, they felt as if their bodies had completely transformed, and so they also wanted to have a good fight to test their new strength.
In any case, with a metal monster like Guo Ran present, they could bring out their full strength. What could go wrong?
The few of them left, leaving behind only Long Chen and the five women on Compass Mountain. They had only just left their seclusion, and each of them was full of energy. This chance to increase their strength had completely transformed them.
Even the always taciturn and unsmiling Ye Zhiqiu had a faint arc to her lips. Even she was unable to conceal her excitement.
“Now what should we do Long Chen? Do we go find that woman for revenge?” asked Tang Wan-er.
Speaking of revenge, their expressions all turned icy-cold. Yin Wushuang was too sinister, and not one of them didn’t hate her to the bone.
Long Chen shook his head. “She can’t run away. If we go looking for her like this, our chances of finding her are too low. It’ll just waste everyone’s time. For the next few days, we’ll rest for a bit and adjust our mental states. Other than that, I also have gifts for you and Meng Qi.
“Gifts?”
“The first one is for you, Wan-er.”
Long Chen smiled and took out a stone the size of a baby’s fist.
Chapter 425 Dividing Treasures
“Wind spirit stone?”
Tang Wan-er let out a startled exclamation. With her innate wind spirit body, she could instantly sense the vast amount of wind energy in this stone.
That was something that Tang Wan-er would long for even in her dreams. To her, such a thing was a gift from the heavens, and there was nothing else more suitable for her.
“Thank you, Long Chen!”
Tang Wan-er received the wind spirit stone excitedly, wanting to immediately go absorb the wind energy within it.
Wind spirit stones contained the purest wind energy within heaven and earth. They contained profound wind mysteries, and if she could comprehend some of them, it would greatly increase her abilities.
Although Tang Wan-er’s family wasn’t poor, they weren’t an ancient family. There were many things that had been lost over time, and she couldn’t rely on her family for anything. Thus, her future cultivation would all be up to herself. Otherwise, her family wouldn’t have sent her to the Xuantian Monastery to cultivate. That just proved her family was much inferior compared to the last place 108th monastery.
“You’re this happy about just one?” laughed Long Chen.
“Could it be that you have more?” Tang Wan-er was filled with shock.
“If it was just one, it’d be far too lacking to be a gift for you. If I’m going to give you something like this, I’d have to give you at least a mountain of them.” Long Chen laughed and handed a ring to Tang Wan-er.
At first, she thought he was joking, but the instant she looked at what was inside the spatial ring, her eyes popped wide open with disbelief. With her understanding of Long Chen’s abilities, she supposed it might be possible for him to gather a few dozen wind spirit stones. But seeing the mountain of wind spirit stones in the ring, she was absolutely stunned.
“What is it Wan-er?” The others looked at her with surprise. Just what had she seen to make her so speechless?
“Take a look.”
Tang Wan-er handed over the spatial ring to them. When they saw what was inside, they were just as shocked as Tang Wan-er.
“How did you get this, Long Chen?” asked Chu Yao.
“Naturally, I got it through adventuring.” Long Chen gave a simple recount of how he had ended up noticing wind spirit stones being blown around within the Misty Mountain Valleys.
“Wow Long Chen, you even thought of such a clever method!” praised Chu Yao. The other women nodded. Long Chen was bold and daring, but he also paid attention to the smallest details. The reason he had his current accomplishments was not by coincidence.
“But why does this mountain of wind spirit stones have a portion cut out from the top? Logically, you would have only cut it at the bottom,” wondered Tang Wan-er.
“Long Chen, you’re definitely hiding something. Hurry and own up.” Meng Qi stared at Long Chen with a touch of suspicion.
“Ah, you’re overthinking it. These wind spirit stones are things I worked so bitterly for. Their origin is definitely completely pure.” Being stared at by Meng Qi, Long Chen began to lose some confidence.
“I don’t believe you. Just now, your spiritual fluctuations changed. You’re definitely hiding something.” Meng Qi smiled in an unforgiving manner.
“Yes, hurry and own up.”
Chu Yao and the others also followed Meng Qi, taking an attitude of if he didn’t talk, he would be harshly punished.
“Tang Wan-er, do you even have a conscience? I gave you such treasures, and you stand with them as well? Tch, you really turn hostile faster than the flipping of a page.” Even Tang Wan-er had now betrayed him.