by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Before even reaching the hunting zone, they had already obtained this many Cyan Scaled Monsters. They were incredibly excited, because according to the rules, the resources obtained during the journey would be split amongst everyone.
This was a typical case of first giving a slap and then giving a candy. First, the senior disciples were to give the newcomers a beating, and then to avoid them getting depressed, the senior disciples would hunt down sea demons and split the profits with them.
This psychological tactic tempered the newcomers’ arrogance and gave them newfound hope for their futures. It was quite the routine.
But now it was different from before. It wasn’t the newcomers profiting from the senior disciples. Instead, they were all profiting from Long Chen.
They continued on their way. As long as more Cyan Scaled Monsters appeared, Long Chen would toss out a lightning ball and knock them unconscious. Thunderforce was their bane, and in front of it, their combat power was essentially zero.
The flying boat peacefully flew along. Everyone wished for more attacks now so they could get more profit.
“I don’t care about the Neidans, but don’t throw out the meat. Leave it for Wilde,” said Long Chen.
Long Chen saw that the senior disciples only took in the Neidans, but they tossed aside the meat like it was trash. However, those corpses were what Long Chen and Wilde wanted.
Another couple hours passed and they had flown out of the region of the Cyan Scaled Monsters. But the amount of Neidans they had gathered caused the senior disciples to smile ear-to-ear.
Chapter 975 Hunting Region
“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, we’re rich!” exclaimed Wang Mang excitedly. They had gathered over three thousand Neidans. Splitting it equally, each one of them would get six. That was extremely great wealth.
Wang Mang had long since recognized and accepted the situation. After apologizing profusely to Long Chen and Meng Qi, he treated them all exceptionally respectfully. And due to the principle of not beating a smiling face, no one bothered quibbling with him over his actions.
Everyone was familiar with each other and had forgotten about their previous hostility. Having obtained this many Neidans, they were all happy.
These Cyan Scaled Monsters were huge, but in truth, they were only seventh rank. However, within their homeland of the sea, their power was comparable to eighth rank Magical Beasts. That made their Neidans even more valuable.
In just a while, their profit was equivalent to half a year’s rations in the Xuantian Dao sect. The senior disciples were incredibly excited, and at the same time, their reverence for Long Chen grew.
However, Long Chen didn’t feel much. Although these Cyan Scaled Monsters’ Neidans were valuable, he was an alchemist. He didn’t lack this money.
Furthermore, he had fought countless battles on his cultivation journey. There was one sentence that could sum up his experience: battle was the quickest way of getting rich.
Although Long Chen had left behind a portion of the profits he had obtained in the Eastern Wasteland to the Xuantian Dao Sect and Yue Xiaoqian, he wasn’t lacking money.
He had yuan spirit stones, peak grade Divine Mortal Molting Elixir, and Ten Thousand Spirit Blood. They were all priceless treasures. And even if he didn’t have such things, he also had his powerful alchemy skills. By refining a few rare pills, the money would flow in.
Furthermore, he was currently cooperating with Zheng Wenlong. He brought the pill formulas, while Zheng Wenlong brought the manpower and means. He shouldn’t be lacking money in the future.
After passing through that region, Elder Sha had once more summoned the flying boat’s barrier. Although they occasionally encountered a sea demon’s attack on their way, their power wasn’t strong and their numbers were low. They could essentially ignore those attacks.
The flying boat continued for a full day and night before it began to slow down and came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived at the hunting region!” Wang Mang and the others were delighted. They had clearly been waiting just for this.
This hunting region was something that generations of people had determined through countless years of experimentation with travel routes. People found that there weren’t powerful sea demons in this region, so this became the Xuantian Dao Sect’s hunting region when returning from the Eastern Wasteland to the Central Plains.
Different flying boats used different flying routes. Smaller boats could go in a straight line since they wouldn’t draw the attention of sea demons. That made it so that smaller flying boats could cross the sea much faster than larger ones.
Huge flying boats had to go in a twisting path to avoid the territories of strong sea demons. This particular route was something the Xuantian Dao Sect had decided upon through countless trials. They had a certain understanding of the distribution of the powerful sea demons, and this region was a relatively safe one.
They could undergo a short period of hunting here. Then, before they drew the attention of stronger sea demons, they were to immediately leave.
Normally, this short period lasted three days. They hadn’t hunted on the way here to avoid trouble on the way back, so this opportunity was something they had to properly grasp.
The flying boat stopped above the sea. Wang Mang and the others had already made their preparations, and they began to cast bait into the sea. This bait could draw over sea demons from thousands of miles away.
“Fellow disciples, let’s go all-out when the sea demons arrive. This is a benefit the sect gives us, and no matter how much we get, it’ll be split equally between us. It’s a rare opportunity, so work hard to kill more sea demons. We can only stay here for three days,” said Wang Mang to everyone. Normally, he would have ordered them. But now he didn’t dare to do so.
“Isn’t slaughtering sea demons like this going too far? They didn’t provoke us,” said Meng Qi. She was somewhat unwilling to undergo such a large-scale slaughter of the sea demons. After all, as a Beast Tamer, she didn’t want the sea demons to be slaughtered so recklessly.
“Senior apprentice-sister, this time you’re wrong. They aren’t innocent. They’re the scourge of the entire Martial Heaven Continent,” said a disciple. “You were in the Eastern Wasteland, but you must have heard of beast tides, right?”
“Yes.” Meng Qi nodded. Beast tides were truly terrifying events.
When the numbers of Magical Beasts grew too high, they would widen their territory, and that would inevitably clash with the human territory. Countless Magical Beasts would charge into human cities, terrifying everyone.
“The Eastern Wasteland’s beast tide that you’ve heard of is nothing compared to when the sea demons attack. There are countless sea demons in the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring, and every few years, they will gather on the shore and charge at the continent. If a region isn’t able to hold them, they will kill countless innocents. When I was young, I barely escaped from those sea demons. But the rest of my family died to them,” said that disciple. Looking back at his memories of that time, pain flashed through his eyes.
He continued, “There are just too many sea demons, and only by continuously slaughtering them can we barely maintain an equilibrium. That’s why all the Central Plains’ powers will encourage hunting sea demons; some sects even have hunting targets. So you shouldn’t feel any guilt for this. Compared to the Magical Beasts on the land, sea demons are all cold-blooded, merciless, and emotionless.”
“How strange. Then the sea demons only attack the Central Plains and not the other four regions?” asked Guo Ran.
“That’s because of the storm zones. The storm zones only exist on the side of the Eastern Wasteland and other regions. Due to the spiritual qi of the Central Plains, no such storm zones exist. In truth, the only reason why the Eastern Wasteland, Western Desert, Southern Sea, and Northern Source are able to survive is because of the storm zones. The Central Plains has its hands full just dealing with their own defenses, so no one would
reinforce the outer four regions. Those four regions are nothing more than four villages for the Central Plains,” explained the disciple.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the surface of the sea erupted. A huge figure soared into the sky, charging for the flying boat.
Everyone looked and saw it was a giant fish three hundred meters long. But its mouth took up the majority of its body. Looking at its aura, it should have reached the sixth rank.
Wang Mang waved his hand, and a golden light pierced through the fish’s head. It was instantly killed.
As soon as it was killed, a senior disciple slashed apart its body and took out a large Neidan from it. When the Neidan was extracted, it was the size of a house. But once it was exposed to the air, it rapidly shrunk until it was the size of a fist.
“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you can hold this along with the Neidans from before.” Wang Mang handed the Neidan to Long Chen, along with a spatial ring. Previously, he had been the one directing people to handle the Cyan Scaled Monsters, and the Neidans were in his hands. Although these things were to be split equally, he wanted to express that he had no intention of stealing the spotlight from him.
“You can keep them. Forget about that unpleasant disagreement. We all trust you to handle this, so you can direct everyone. After all, you have the experience.” Long Chen shook his head. He couldn’t be bothered to spend the effort.
The first fish was killed, and its corpse was tossed into the sea. This was done intentionally by Wang Mang so that its blood would draw over more sea demons.
Elder Sha stood at the front of the boat, indifferently watching without making a sound. It was like he was an outsider unrelated to any of this.
After just a moment, more sea demons began to charge out of the sea. Many of them had strange forms that the newcomers had never imagined. They had never seen such strange lifeforms.
Some of the sea demons were like fish, but they had feet or were covered in barbs, and most curious of all, there was a frog-shaped one with only one eye. All kinds of strange forms appeared.
But they had one thing in common: their brutal bloodthirsty nature. The first thing those sea demons did was devour the corpses of their comrades. Then they attacked the flying boat.
“The chance to get rich has appeared! Everyone, work hard!” shouted Wang Mang. Forming hand seals, runes revolved around him. Countless arrows shot through the sea demons’ midst.
At this time, it was possible to see the true power of the senior disciples. The attacks they unleashed were incomparably refined. Sometimes an arrow would pierce a sea demon’s body and directly take out its Neidan all in one move. That required incredibly precise control.
Only the senior disciples took action at first, as they needed to be examples for everyone, teaching them how to effectively kill the sea demons and take out their Neidans.
Different sea demons had Neidans at different positions. If the newcomers killed sea demons without extracting the Neidans, it would be a waste.
Eventually, the Eastern Wasteland’s disciples began to help as well.
However, as Sea Expansion disciples, they had only just come into contact with magical arts, so their control was clearly worse. Many sea demon corpses fell into the sea with their Neidans still inside, wasted.
Wang Mang’s expression sank slightly. If this was before, he would have begun cursing these people for being useless. But now he could only endure. However, he felt a great deal of pain. That was money!
The reason they were chosen for this mission was because they had planned and schemed for a long time. In fact, some had paid all their wealth as a bribe. If they didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, they would end up losing out a great deal. So seeing these disciples hunt so clumsily, he was a bit panicked.
“Dragonblood warriors, go out as well. Foundation Forging brothers, there’s no need for you to kill the sea demons. Just extract their Neidans. We’ll be in charge of our own duties,” said Long Chen. He had to agree that the Eastern Wasteland’s disciples were too clumsy. He saw that Wang Mang’s nose had tilted from rage.
The Dragonblood warriors took out Treasure items. Cold rays of light shot out, killing the sea demons.
Those sea demons were mostly sixth rank. There were only a few seventh rank ones, making killing them extremely easy.
Seeing this, Wang Mang’s expression improved slightly. The Dragonblood warriors killed each sea demon in just one attack unlike the other disciples from the Eastern Wasteland. Now he just had to be in charge of collecting the Neidans, and their efficiency leaped.
Two hours later, they had gathered over three hundred Neidans. But they were mostly all sixth rank Neidans.
Long Chen frowned. Wasn’t this just nonsense? Just how valuable could such things be?
“Wang Mang, come over. I need to ask you a few things.” Long Chen suddenly beckoned to Wang Mang.
Chapter 976 Don’t Say Anything
“What is it, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen?” Wang Mang, who was busy directing everyone, hastily ran over.
“If we continue like this, how much can we get after three days?” asked Long Chen.
“Ah, that’s a bit difficult to say. But in the previous generation, which was when I came, each person obtained plenty of points after exchanging the Neidans with the Dao Sect. For an outer sect disciple like me, that amount would take me five years of hard work to obtain normally,” said Wang Mang.
“It must have cost you a great deal to get such a job, correct?” Long Chen made a gesture with his hand, meaning money. Long Chen had seen this kind of routine many times.
“Yes, the only reason I could get this mission was because of the help from the Law Enforcement Hall. So senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, I truly am sorry,” said Wang Mang.
“I’ve already said not to bring up that matter again. As long as you don’t make yourself my enemy, I won’t make things hard on you. If you want to follow me, I also won’t treat you badly,” said Long Chen directly.
He could see that Wang Mang had many misgivings and was afraid he would make things hard on him in the Central Plains. Then he would really be doomed.
But in Long Chen’s opinion, he had just been used by others, and he could forgive that. If he wanted to join him, then he wouldn’t be petty. Everyone could talk openly.
“Junior disciple greatly admires senior apprentice-brother’s magnanimity. If the positions were reversed, I wouldn’t be able to have such an attitude,” said Wang Mang. After talking with Long Chen for this long, he sensed that Long Chen seemed to have the bearing of a king.[1] He didn’t put on airs, nor did he boss around others. Instead, he would occasionally joke and curse with the Dragonblood warriors rather coarsely.
But the more he acted that way, the more magnanimous he appeared. He was different from the experts Wang Mang had seen in the past. Long Chen possessed a kind of charisma that won him over.
“Let’s get to the important topic. Seventh rank Neidans should be more valuable than sixth rank ones. Why not draw over more powerful sea demons?” asked Long Chen.
“It’s not that we don’t want to, but that we can’t. Sea demons normally have their own range of movement. If they don’t smell blood, they won’t be drawn over. So our profit is mostly up to luck,” said Wang Mang.
“That’s what it was? Then if we ended up drawing eighth rank sea demons, or even ninth rank sea demons, what would happen?” asked Long Chen.
“That’s impossible. Eighth rank sea demons rarely appear, and ninth rank sea demons are on the level of a King,” said Wang Mang.
“Be quieter. Just tell me what would happen in that situation,” said Long Chen.
“Eighth rank sea demons we can handle, but if a ninth rank sea demon appears, Elder Sha won’t just stand still. He’ll end up taking action,” said Wang Mang.
“Then what about the Neidan?” asked Long Chen quietly.
“Hmm… according to the rules, everything obtained thro
ugh the hunting is for the disciples. Even if the Elder had to interfere, he cannot share in the profit. Senior apprentice-brother… you…” Wang Mang nervously stared at Long Chen.
“That’s enough. There’s nothing else, so just peacefully get rich. Don’t talk too much.”
Long Chen’s mind sank into the primal chaos space. He quickly picked over ten medicinal ingredients. Refining them into powder, he also stealthily drew in some essence blood from the sea demons, using the Earth Flame to refine a special medicinal pill.
This pill had no tier. It was Long Chen’s own invention, and it didn’t really have any value. But it could completely activate the power of the essence blood, and once it was tossed into the water, sea demons would all be drawn by the scent of the essence blood.
Long Chen looked at the indifferent Elder Sha. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. If he had access to such a powerful helper, he should use it.
Stealthily dropping the medicinal pill into the sea, he saw that no one noticed his actions. The medicinal pill dissolved and an invisible fluctuation spread.
After completing this, Long Chen nonchalantly returned to the front of the bow. That was where Elder Sha was standing, so no one else dared to approach. But Long Chen did.
“Elder Sha, disciple has something he wishes to ask you. Do you recognize this?” Long Chen handed a violet jade pendant to Elder Sha.
Elder Sha received it. His pupils shrank. “Nine-line Soul Calming Jade? And the most precious violet jade one… There’s a formation within the jade. This is…”
Elder Sha’s old hand lit up, shining the light onto the jade pendant. Long Chen saw countless speckles appear on the pendant. Although Long Chen didn’t understand such things, he knew this was a kind of complicated formation.
“Does senior know its origin?” asked Long Chen, his heart skipping a few beats.
Elder Sha shook his head. “This formation is too complicated. I’ve never seen it before, and I can’t tell its origin. But this jade pendant is not something an ordinary family or power could possess. Nine lines is a representation of status, and considering the violet jade’s quality, whatever power it came from is probably something that exceeds your imagination.”