by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“But when Pill Valley cooperated with them to create the medicinal wine, Pill Valley’s people began to secretly spy on the way the Wine God Palace’s disciples made their wine. The Wine God Palace’s disciples warned and chided them several times, but they refused to change their ways. The conflicts between them grew.
“The Wine God Palace’s disciples are prideful, while Pill Valley’s people like to look down on others. As a result, the conflicts grew until there came a day when the Wine God Palace noticed that Pill Valley had been selling their medicinal wine behind their backs. In their fury, they directly kicked out Pill Valley’s people and ceased the production of the medicinal wine. As for the Pill Valley, they had already learned the techniques for making wine, and so they didn’t care. However, when they began to make their own medicinal wine, they suddenly became dumbfounded. Despite clearly knowing the formula and process of creating the wine, the effect of their medicinal wine was not even a tenth as good as the original wine from the Wine God Palace. At that time, Pill Valley finally understood that the true arts were still in their hands, and that they fundamentally couldn’t learn them. They tried to fix things with the Wine God Palace, but the Wine God Palace directly told them to scram,” laughed Qi Hao.
“Amazing. The Wine God Palace’s integrity is admirable,” praised Long Chen. This Wine God Palace truly had guts to say such harsh words to Pill Valley.
“But of course. In the entire Martial Heaven Continent, the number of people who would dare say such a thing to Pill Valley can be counted on one hand.” Qi Hao nodded.
“Does the Wine God Palace have many powerful cultivators guarding it? How are they so daring?” asked Long Chen.
“I don’t know. The Wine God Palace’s disciples all focus on making wine, and they don’t like interacting with the outside world. But the Wine God Palace is an extremely special existence in the entire continent. Many sect masters of large sects will go to the Wine God Palace to worship the Wine God’s statue and give them a tribute. The Wine God Palace will normally give them some good wine in return. It’s said that the wine made by the experts of the Wine God Palace can allow a person to comprehend the Heavenly Daos. It’s extremely beneficial to top experts, so all the large sects treat the Wine God Palace very respectfully. Even Pill Valley doesn’t dare to attack the Wine God Palace,” said Qi Hao.
Long Chen sighed inside. This world was truly huge, and there were many things that surpassed his imagination. Even wine had such a terrifying inheritance.
“I’ll definitely have to take a trip to the Wine God Palace,” said Long Chen with anticipation.
“With brother Long’s character and such astute evaluation skills, you’ll definitely be welcomed by the Wine God Palace.”
“Ah, that’s right, I had something else I wanted to talk about. What did you say about the Grand Han again?” Long Chen returned to the main topic. He felt like it would be very difficult to end up mediating things with the Grand Han. Learning a bit more about it now wasn’t a bad thing.
“The Grand Han is a bunch of shameless egomaniacs. It’s like they think the whole continent was made by them, as if the origin of all the culture and magical arts in this world came from them. A long time ago, the Grand Han acquired all kinds of inheritances from the Grand Xia. It was originally a cultural exchange, and the Grand Xia didn’t hold back. But then they suddenly realized something was off. When the Grand Han learned something, they would start saying that they had been the original innovators. They refused to admit that they were just stealing the culture of my Grand Xia.
“At first, it was just a few of them saying this. But later, more and more people refused to admit the truth, saying that all our culture was theirs. If they were just that shameless, then fine. But then they started accusing the Grand Xia of stealing their culture, that our techniques were taught by them! Those fucking… cough, forgive me for being too excited, brother Long.” Qi Hao immediately felt embarrassed when he burst into obscenities.
“Are there really such people?” Long Chen almost didn’t believe it.
“You think that’s it? That was just the start! They became more and more arrogant, tampering with historical and cultural documents. Anything with any fame ended up originating from them, whether it was historical events or famous people! According to them, when the Wine God became a god, the Wine God supposedly comprehended the Dao and ascended right within their Grand Han Ancient Nation!” raged Qi Hao.
“What’s the point? Is bragging like this interesting?” Long Chen didn’t understand.
“To put it frankly, it’s simply that their citizens don’t feel enough national pride. Their history isn’t dazzling enough. Without enough of a foundation, they steal from others. In any case, the events from that long ago cannot be confirmed. It’s all about who’s more shameless and whose skin is thicker. Furthermore, as time passed, it turned out their shamelessness was actually brilliant. Right now, all their civilians are full of intense pride, as if other than the ones in the Grand Han, everyone else is a country bumpkin.
“In the past few thousand years, the Grand Han became more and more arrogant, to the point that their youngsters are like madmen! They go around worshipping idols. Right now, the Grand Han has three supreme geniuses called the Three Monarchs. Each of them looks like a girl, but somehow they have countless admirers who are practically crazy with adoration. Other than the Three Monarchs, they also have the Eight Princes. Don’t you think they’re begging you to call them the eight bastards?[1]
“But with the embellishment of the Grand Han, these people end up becoming national icons. Not only do countless people worship them within the Grand Han, but even some of the Grand Xia’s ladies idolize them! There are countless women marrying into the Grand Han. Fuck, it really pisses me off. And the Grand Han’s civilians grow more and more united, as well as more and more arrogant. The young women go all-out cultivating in order to pursue their idols, while the young men also want to become those idols. Now they have countless geniuses rising in their ranks. Before, the Grand Han was the weakest of the four ancient nations, but now they’re the strongest. Tell me, what kind of damn logic is this?!” Qi Hao was venting, just a bit away from cursing.
Long Chen couldn’t help but find it funny. Fundamentally, there was nothing wrong with cultivating in order to become an idol and have others pursue you. However, this was very irritating to the Grand Xia.
“In truth, the Grand Xia’s men can take their vengeance. Why don’t you seduce their women as well?” Long Chen smiled.
“Brother Long, the Grand Han’s confidence is overinflated. Their women always marry within their nation. Even if they were to become nothing more than a maid, they can’t marry outside. If they do, not only will they be looked down upon, but their family will also never acknowledge them for the rest of their lives. However, let me tell you, the Grand Han’s women… yes, they really are beautiful. There are many of them that are the ‘tender and soft as water’ kind.” An expression of adoration appeared on Qi Hao’s face when he mentioned the Grand Han’s women, as well as an expression of bitterness like feeding pigs the best cabbages.
Long Chen shook his head. The Grand Han’s history was truly curious. But as long as the Grand Han didn’t have a good relationship with the Grand Xia, he was at ease.
Right now, Long Chen didn’t know that the Xuan Master had already given the four great powers a slap in the face. He thought it was likely he was already on a wanted list, so he had to be careful.
After chatting a bit longer with Qi Hao, they quickly finished the wine. Long Chen took out the best wine the Xuantian Dao Sect had to offer, but he quickly realized that this wine was like horse urine when compared to the wine they had just drunk.
After getting a rough understanding of the situation within the Grand Xia, Long Chen got up to say farewell. Qi Hao directly sent Long Chen to the next checkpoint so that he didn’t need to be checked twice.
“Brother Qi, our meeting can be
considered fate, as I had an immediate sense of familiarity upon seeing you. This little one doesn’t have any good gifts for you, but here is an insignificant medicinal pill. It’s not worth any money, but you can keep it to remember our meeting.” Long Chen gave Qi Hao a jade bottle before leaving. After drinking his fine wine and learning so much, he’d feel bad not leaving something behind.
It was a common occurrence for cultivators to exchange gifts. Qi Hao didn’t particularly care about it too much. He only opened the jade bottle once Long Chen was far into the distance and gone from his sight.
“Heavens, this is… this is…” Looking at the sparkling medicinal pill that had a small figure moving around agilely within, he realized it was a top grade eighth tier pill. It was a rarely-seen Foundation Building Pill.
Qi Hao’s talent wasn’t very good. He had attacked the Foundation Forging realm twice, failing both times. He no longer had any hope of advancing to Foundation Forging in his lifetime. But this top grade Foundation Building Pill allowed him to see that hope once more.
“Squad Captain, look at the secret report we just received from the Grand Han!” When Qi Hao returned to his border city, someone gave him a sealed letter.
“What? One of the Grand Han’s Eight Princes were killed? The killer was - Long Chen!” Qi Hao’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
[1] =prince, =bastard. It’s just two new characters inserted within the term for prince.
Chapter 1173 Not Seeing Her
Long Chen quickly arrived at a border town with a transportation formation.
But this was just a minor transportation formation. He sat through three similar transportation formations as well as one major transportation formation before arriving at the Grand Xia Ancient Nation’s imperial capital, Grand Xia City.
The transportation formation brought him outside the city. The guards here had already reached the Foundation Forging realm, and their leader was a King.
After paying the transportation formation and showing his identification badge again, he finally managed to enter.
Once he was in Grand Xia City, he was filled with shock. It was truly worthy of being one of the Central Plains’ four grand ancient nations. With a diameter measuring in the tens of thousands of miles, it was filled with countless soaring buildings that were both grand and luxurious, while also being simple and refined.
The most shocking thing to Long Chen was that each one of these buildings had countless formation runes on them that released immense pressure. Just any random building had terrifying defensive power, and there was no need to say anything about the city walls.
As the capital of the Grand Xia, this was a no flying zone. Everyone had to walk.
Long Chen saw countless experts as he walked through the streets. He even saw Hall Master-level experts just aimlessly wandering.
Hall Master-level experts were not rare, Kings were everywhere, and Foundation Forging and below were as common as dogs. Long Chen’s eyes had truly been opened to the world.
Within Grand Xia City, these figures that could shake the outside world were common citizens strolling around.
He followed the central street forward, seeing all kinds of buildings. There were quite a few with signboards saying they were from such-and-such a sect or power.
These were buildings that various powers had established in the Grand Xia. Many sects had side businesses in Grand Xia City, but whether they were selling or buying things from within their borders, they had to pay a certain tax.
Regretfully, Long Chen was still unaware of this, but the Xuantian Dao Sect did not have any businesses in Grand Xia City.
They had had such a business many years ago, but recently, the Xuantian Dao Sect had been unable to make ends meet, and they hadn’t had any special things to sell. Setting up a shop in this place was too expensive, so they left.
Long Chen asked around, and after an hour of traveling, he appeared at a fork in the road. Going right, it wasn’t long before he saw a dome. He smiled.
“Huayun Auction House.”
When those bright golden words appeared in his eyes, Long Chen knew he had found his target.
Walking inside, he directly took out a jade tablet that Zheng Wenlong had given him. The owner quickly came to see Long Chen in a private room.
This auction house just so happened to be a branch business that Zheng Wenlong was in charge of. He knew that these people were all Zheng Wenlong’s trusted aides, so he didn’t waste any time. He directly asked the owner where the original devil race’s headquarters was.
He quickly received a map and saw that it was just a few streets away. When he arrived there, he found out that it was a refinery.
This was a refinery business that only made Treasure items and below. Within Grand Xia City that had countless high-level forging places, such a small business would find it difficult even surviving. Its business would be dismal.
However, this refinery not only made Treasure items and below, but it also made various other items such as furniture. Their craftsmanship was exquisite, and there was the occasional wealthy person with status who wanted to buy some of their wares. Their business didn’t look too bad on the surface.
“Senior, may I help you?” Long Chen had only just entered when a maiden seeming to look around sixteen years old greeted him.
Looking at her, Long Chen sensed an indescribable aura within her eyes. He smiled. Yes, this was the original devil race’s specific aura. He was very familiar with it.
“Mi Xi Ha Wei Ya.” Seeing there were no other guests within the refinery, he quietly whispered to her.
Shock filled the maiden’s eyes, but she quickly collected herself and said, “Come with me!”
Long Chen followed her deeper into the refinery. They passed all kinds of weapon storehouses before appearing in a large space with dozens of smiths dripping with sweat, right in the midst of forging something.
Entering a separate room, a dozen experts were currently chatting while holding weapons in their hands.
When Long Chen and the maiden entered, these experts looked at them indifferently, but Long Chen could clearly sense their nervousness.
“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen!”
Suddenly, one of them stood up and looked at Long Chen with delight.
“You are…?” Long Chen didn’t recognize this person.
“Did you forget? In the Immemorial Path, we met when you were with the sacred daughter!”
“Greetings, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen!” Hearing that he was Long Chen, those experts suddenly dropped their weapons, kneeling toward him with one knee on the ground and raising their right hands over their chests in an ancient etiquette.
“There’s no need for this…” said Long Chen awkwardly. He wasn’t used to this kind of etiquette. How could men so easily kneel to others? Long Chen wouldn’t kneel to others, so he wasn’t able to accept it when others knelt toward him.
“Senior apprentice-brother, the leader has said that you are our benefactor. Everything we have is because of you, so we are eternally grateful,” said one of the original devil race’s experts.
Looking at these sincere faces and their eyes that seemed to reveal the depths of their hearts, Long Chen could clearly sense their feelings. He couldn’t help but feel emotional. In this world, there weren’t that many people who knew how to be grateful.
Ever since he had risen in the Phoenix Cry Empire, he had shown grace and favor to countless people. Although he never did that while expecting something in return, some people received other people’s kindness and simply treated it as if that was natural, as if other people owed them.
Compared to them, the original devil race’s experts gratified him.
“As long as you remember this in your hearts, it’s fine. There’s no need to say it with your mouths, or it won’t mean as much.” Long Chen patted the one who spoke on the shoulder. These were true men worthy of respect.
“Senior apprentice
-brother Long Chen, I should bring you to see the Elder. The rest of you, don’t delay senior apprentice-brother’s proper business.” The maiden smiled.
“Ah, you must be busy, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen. You should go handle what you need to first.” Those experts felt bad for taking up his precious time.
“Alright, then I’ll go greet senior first. When I have time, let’s drink together.”
Long Chen smiled and followed the maiden down a twisting corridor. After passing through a secret door, he finally reached a secret room where a man was currently meditating. Only when the door was opened did he slowly open his eyes.
Just as he opened his eyes, Long Chen felt like two sharp blades had shot toward him. Although there was no danger, that sharp aura was impossible to conceal.
“What a powerful expert! And his cultivation base is still at the Hall Master-level.”
Long Chen was shocked. This person’s aura showed he was at the Hall Master-level, and yet he was the strongest expert on that level that Long Chen had ever seen.
“The original devil race’s Yue Minghan greets our benefactor.” This expert also knelt on the ground and took that strange posture just like the others had.
“Senior, I can’t accept this!” Long Chen immediately raised him up. He was completely unused to this kind of etiquette. He bitterly smiled. “Senior, can we skip this kind of custom? I don’t like restrictions, and having so much propriety makes me feel unnatural.”
The expert stood and smiled faintly. “This etiquette must be carried out at least the first time. It’s so that we always remember who has helped us. If you don’t like it, this etiquette can be waived in the future.”