by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Yue Xiaoqian laughed. “Dislikable. How could it be that exaggerated?”
On the other hand, Long Chen was confident in his feet. Even if the fish wouldn’t die from the smell, they would definitely faint.
The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art focused on physical strength; thus, the amount of sweat he worked up was naturally great. Since entering the Immemorial Path, Long Chen hadn’t washed his feet. Once he took off his shoes, that smell might even make himself faint.
“Last time, why did you leave without saying goodbye?” asked Long Chen.
“Sorry…” Yue Xiaoqian’s expression became a bit unnatural. Although she was still veiled, he could sense that.
“There’s no need to apologize. It’s just that when you left without saying goodbye, I thought I’d never see you again. I felt… uncomfortable,” sighed Long Chen. Her sudden departure truly had made him feel dejected last time.
The world was so huge, and there were countless dangers. Sometimes a single goodbye could last forever. Every time he thought of that, Long Chen would feel unwell.
“I… have my own secret sorrows,” said Yue Xiaoqian quietly. Her veil was becoming wet.
Long Chen summoned the courage to take off her veil, revealing her flawless face. Although he had seen it before, seeing it again still made his heart pound. That beauty could truly infatuate a person.
He took out a clean cloth and gently dabbed away her tears. “You’re worried about implicating me?”
Yue Xiaoqian was moved but also sorry. She took the cloth and wiped her own tears. “I’m from a different world than you. My people are enemies of the entire Martial Heaven Continent, so I can’t have dealings with you. That would implicate you. But you fool, you actually helped Xiao Die when you already knew my identity. I…” Yue Xiaoqian continued to cry.
Her status was special. She wasn’t accepted by the world. Anyone who dared to make contact with her would be mercilessly killed.
While cultivating the Heavenly Devil Heart Grand Technique, she had received a backlash, harming her soul. She had needed a precious medicine called the Heavenly Netherworld Soul Replenishing Roots to heal. When Long Chen had learned that, he had refined a Heavenly Star Soul Replenishing Pill for her. Once she had taken it, she had immediately recovered.
Furthermore, Long Chen had also sent her a pile of Bloodfiend Sea Expansion Pills. Those were the best pills for those advancing from Xiantian to Sea Expansion.
Although the human race had a great deal of those pills, this action of his still made her endlessly grateful. If the outside world learned of Long Chen’s actions, he would be hunted down by the entire world, labeled a traitor to the human race. By sending her those pills, he had essentially been handing his life to her.
Never in her dreams would she imagine someone she had only met once would treat her so well. So facing him now, she felt both emotional and ashamed.
“No matter how you put it, we are battle companions that fought through life and death together. If I could just watch as you suffered, I wouldn’t be Long Chen.” Long Chen smiled.
“Thank you.” Yue Xiaoqian smiled through her tears. That was another kind of beauty, like a peach blossom after a rainfall.
“Xiaoqian, I think you should put your veil back on,” said Long Chen suddenly with a bitter smile.
“What, do you not like looking at me?” Yue Xiaoqian was surprised and a bit disappointed, but she still put her veil back on.
“No, I like looking at it. But my heart can’t bear it. If you don’t believe me, just feel!” Long Chen pulled Yue Xiaoqian’s hand and placed it over his heart. Currently, it was pounding wildly.
“You’re doing that on purpose.” Yue Xiaoqian blushed and turned away. But she could still feel his powerful heartbeat.
“In all honesty, I didn’t do it on purpose,” said Long Chen. Yue Xiaoqian’s charm was just so strong that it was fatal. Otherwise, Long Chen wouldn’t ask her to veil herself again. A feast for the eyes was also a delight.
“Fine, whether it was on purpose or not, I like it either way!” Yue Xiaoqian smiled. Her hands were lightly twisting the corner of her robes in a bashful manner. She could tell that this was Long Chen’s strange way of praising her beauty. She suddenly brazenly grabbed his hand but had a nervous light in her eyes. “How have you been since we parted?”
Long Chen was an old fox in this manner. He knew Yue Xiaoqian wanted to get closer but was also embarrassed. He quickly held her hand and said, “I’ve been very well. All I do is fight and kill, and then kill and fight.”
Long Chen gave her a simple narration of what he had experienced, starting from the battle in the Jiuli secret realm. But he found that she was extremely curious about the world, and she made him explain things in greater detail. As a result, this simple narration took a whole day.
“Long Chen, you’re a good person. It’s no wonder that many big sisters like you,” said Yue Xiaoqian with a complicated expression.
“How about you stay with us? It’ll be livelier with more people,” said Long Chen. He felt a bit guilty, as these words were clearly used to seduce people.
But seeing that Yue Xiaoqian didn’t reply, he immediately became awkward. He had ruined the good atmosphere with a single sentence.
“Ah, Xiaoqian, how about I give you a gift!” Long Chen suddenly took out an egg.
“An Earth Dragon’s egg?” Yue Xiaoqian was startled.
Long Chen was also startled. But now that he thought about it, he had already experienced Yue Xiaoqian’s vast knowledge. She knew the heavens, she knew the earth, and she knew everything in between.
“Yes, it really is an Earth Dragon’s egg. It’s yours now. In the future, you’ll have a powerful housepet. I hope you won’t decline, as that will make me feel bad,” said Long Chen.
Yue Xiaoqian looked at Long Chen and suddenly hugged him, surprising him. It seemed this happiness had come too suddenly? If he had known this would happen, he would have given it to her as soon as he saw her.
“Bastard, you evil person, I know you’re seducing me!” Yue Xiaoqian cried into Long Chen’s embrace.
Long Chen’s excitement vanished. The hand he had been about to embrace her with turned rigid. He didn’t know whether he should embrace her or pull it back. How did his pick-up arts fail? It was over for him; he had been seen through. As expected, routines couldn’t be depended on. He couldn’t help but feel regret.
“But although I clearly know that, I can’t refuse it. So you’re a bastard!” Yue Xiaoqian held on tightly, her tears drenching his robes.
Long Chen didn’t know what to do. His pick-up arts had been seen through. This was his first time running into such a situation. He suddenly recalled that Yue Xiaoqian seemed to have a kind of mind-reading ability.
Thinking of that, he felt a cold breeze on his back. Failure, failure, absolute failure. Now that this routine had failed, it was awkward.
Yue Xiaoqian cried for a while before slowly leaving Long Chen’s embrace. Looking at him, she cried, “I’m afraid!”
“Afraid of what?”
“I’m afraid to bring you disaster. I’m afraid you’ll be killed because of me. I don’t fear death, but I am afraid of seeing you die,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“I’m not afraid of dying.” Long Chen shook his head.
“That is not the worst outcome. The most terrifying one is that you will live, but you will hate me. That would make my life worse than death,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Why would I ever hate you?”
“If one day my status is exposed, you’ll be hunted down by the entire world. If your companions are all killed one by one, you’ll hate me. You’ll hate me for causing their deaths. You might even kill me in your hatred…” Yue Xiaoqian once more began crying.
Her words caused Long Chen’s heart to quiver. That really was a big problem. He still didn’t possess the power to fight the entire world.
“Xiaoqian, don’t cry. Let’s talk about our future!”
Long Chen gently sat her up properly.
Chapter 855 Cultivating Backers
Seeing Long Chen’s solemn expression, Yue Xiaoqian stopped smiling. Suddenly she felt embarrassed and turned away, facing Long Chen with her back.
“Xiaoqian, do you trust me?” Long Chen asked.
“Of course, otherwise…” Yue Xiaoqian cut herself off, blushing.
Long Chen’s heart pounded. Her charm was too strong. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Then let’s talk seriously about what we can do for each other. I know a bit about your original devil race. Everything I’ve heard about you is negative, but I’m a rather stubborn person and I don’t trust what other people say. I only trust my own senses and intuition. And my intuition says you’re a good person, and Xiao Die was also a good person. Then I am also willing to believe that your original devil race is also full of good people. That is my intuition!”
“Thank you, Long Chen.” Yue Xiaoqian was extremely moved. This was her first time hearing that there was someone in this world willing to trust her original devil race.
“On the other hand, I am full of suspicions of my world. So I want to know everything about the original devil race. Can you tell me?” asked Long Chen.
Yue Xiaoqian looked into Long Chen’s eyes. They seemed full of warmth and sincerity, as if looking into his eyes could allow a person to see into the core of his heart.
“Since you trust me this much, I’ll tell you a few secrets about my original devil race,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
From her story, Long Chen learned that the original devil race was an enormous existence numbering in the tens of millions.
The place they lived in was called the Skyscraping World. That was a minor world that one of the original devil race’s supreme ancestors had created.
That minor world was the only place the original devil race could call home. When they entered the Martial Heaven Continent, they would immediately be sensed by the Heavenly Daos, which caused a special phenomenon to manifest around them. They would be hunted down by the Martial Heaven Continent’s experts with their full power.
However, the Skyscraping World was not a complete world, and it did not possess a complete set of laws. When they wanted to advance through receiving the baptism of heavenly lightning, they had to go to the Martial Heaven Continent.
To conceal their auras from the Heavenly Daos, they had to gather devil cores. But they were too difficult to find.
After Yue Xiaoqian had gathered such a huge amount of devil cores with Long Chen in the Jiuli secret realm, the entire original devil race was excited for a long time.
Those experts stuck at the peak of their realm could finally stop bitterly waiting for their turn to use the limited devil cores.
That had made the entire original devil race feel profound gratitude to Long Chen. That was why his picture had circulated throughout their race, and if any of their disciples roaming the outer world ran into him when he was in trouble, they were to fight to the death to help him.
Those devil cores were constructed into special Enchanted items that could conceal their aura. As long as they didn’t release their full power, they wouldn’t be recognized by others.
So they had begun stealthily entering the Martial Heaven Continent, gathering the resources they needed. This was the original devil race’s first time in countless years having their disciples roam the Martial Heaven Continent in such numbers. It brought them immense benefits.
Previously, they had been in a secluded state. Everything was to be done by themselves, which harshly impacted their ability to grow.
Now, they were finally able to gather more resources from the Martial Heaven Continent, allowing them to rapidly develop.
As for why the original devil race was the world’s enemy, in truth, Yue Xiaoqian also didn’t know. All she knew was that her mother had told her that once she learned that secret, she would no longer be allowed to leave the Skyscraping World.
“Everything really has changed. The original devil race has become the public enemy of the world? Those damn fuckers.”
“Senior, you…” Long Chen was startled. The silent Eastern Wasteland Bell had suddenly released such a curse.
“You can keep chatting,” said the Eastern Wasteland Bell before becoming silent again. But its voice contained an unconcealable fury.
“What is it, Long Chen?” asked Yue Xiaoqian upon seeing the change in his expression.
“Oh, nothing. Xiaoqian, let’s talk. I want to cooperate with your original devil race,” said Long Chen.
“Cooperate?” Yue Xiaoqian didn’t understand.
“Yes. I will supply you with the resources you need, allowing you to grow stronger,” said Long Chen.
Yue Xiaoqian was startled. This idea of Long Chen’s was too crazy. If the world learned about this, his life would be over.
“You don’t need to be startled. Helping you is also helping myself. My prediction is that this world will sooner or later flip on its tail. I need a powerful ally that can help me when I don’t have enough power,” said Long Chen.
“You really trust us that much?” Yue Xiaoqian was about to cry again.
“Yes, since I’ve chosen to trust you, I’ll trust you completely. I trust that you’ll never betray me!” Long Chen gently brushed back Yue Xiaoqian’s soft hair, completely sincere.
“Thank you, Long Chen, really thank you…” Yue Xiaoqian was extremely moved by his trust.
Once she had calmed down a bit, Long Chen continued, “When you return, think of a way to send me a list of what you most need at that time. For example, medicinal pills, weapons, armors, etc. I’ll think of a way to set up a secret channel to send them back to you. Hopefully, you’ll be able to quickly get stronger. That way, I’ll also have a powerful backer for myself.”
He wasn’t afraid of the struggles on the cultivation path. But as his cultivation base increased, he was coming into contact with more and more secrets, and he was feeling less and less safe.
He felt that if he was alone, if he ended up fighting against an enormous existence, he would definitely be mercilessly exterminated. He had long since been thinking of creating an alliance. But small alliances were useless, and as for supreme powers, they wouldn’t care about a weakling like him.
As for devoting himself to the Xuantian Dao Sect, that was impossible. His experiences in the Xuantian Dao Sect had always been full of turmoil and troubles. Long Chen had no hopes for the Xuantian Dao Sect.
Although there were people like Shui Wuhen and Ouyang Qiuyu whom he had good relationships with in the Xuantian Dao Sect, what about later? Ouyang Qiuyu might be able to help him now, but what about once he entered the head sect? Who would back him then?
So he needed to establish a trustworthy alliance. And he hadn’t been lying. He didn’t believe what he saw or heard. He just trusted the intuition the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art gave him. That intuition had never tricked him.
Not only could he get a dependable ally, but he could also make a flawlessly beautiful woman feel thankful. Long Chen felt that his luck really wasn’t that bad
He told Yue Xiaoqian to summon all the disciples roaming in the outside world back. There was no need for them to take that risk. If they were exposed, it would raise the guard of the Martial Heaven Continent.
He told her about his plan. Yue Xiaoqian was surprised that he had such powerful communication channels. He actually had a relationship with the Huayun Sect and the Pill Tower. She practically worshiped him for that, causing Long Chen’s vanity to be completely satisfied.
The general plan was for her to have a list in her mind when she went to ask her clan leader for approval. That way her leader would be able to get an idea of what the plan was about. After all, Yue Xiaoqian had to discuss this with the higher-ups, as this matter was too important.
But he was startled to learn that Yue Xiaoqian’s mother was the clan leader. Only then did he recall that Xiao Die had called Yue Xiaoqian the sacred d
aughter.
“Xiaoqian, how did you come here?” asked Long Chen.
“Our original devil race has an ancient transportation inheritance. As long as we know the coordinates, we can transport ourselves in. When the Immemorial Path opens, we can transport in with the assistance of the outside world’s transportation formation,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Did you find anything here? Or do you have some target?”
“Yes. Up ahead, I can sense some kind of summoning. There should be something my original devil race needs there.”
Long Chen hastily took out his map and asked Yue Xiaoqian the general location. He was startled to find that the place she was talking about was marked as the Netherworld Devil Palace on the Xiao tribe’s map
Furthermore, that place had been concealed by the aboriginals, so outsiders didn’t know that location. Their maps didn’t say there was a trial in that region.
The two of them went directly over there. Long Chen intentionally put away the map, having Yue Xiaoqian lead through her senses. He didn’t want the map to mislead her.
But, a few days later, the place she found was exactly the same place marked on the map. Now it was confirmed that she wanted something in this place.
After half a day, Long Chen finally found a mark on the bottom of an unremarkable stone. It was also a transportation formation.
The two of them stood together as Long Chen activated the formation. Their vision suddenly darkened as they appeared in a huge underground space.
As soon as they arrived, Long Chen’s heart shook. This was a huge plaza, and at the center was a giant stone statue.
The statue depicted a man holding a sword with both hands. His eyes looked right at the entrance of the plaza, exactly where Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian were standing.
An indescribable pressure fell on the two of them. It was like that statue was alive, making people feel an urge to bow down in worship.
The two of them walked in and saw eight stone gates. Each gate was three hundred meters tall, and each one of them had immortal characters written on them. Long Chen didn’t recognize those characters.