by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“Sorry, it was my first time fighting, and I didn’t have any experience,” apologized Long Chen awkwardly, scratching his head.
The current Long Chen had once more returned to the appearance of an innocent boy. It was truly difficult to associate him with the previous Long Chen. Of course, it was a bit easier considering the three people lying on the ground.
“Big sisters, don’t worry. I will remember your favor today. If you need any help in the future, just come and find me, Long San.”
Long Chen smiled at the maidens. Without even looking at the three bodies on the ground, he left.
Once he vanished, the maidens looked at each other. It was unexpected that the seemingly weak boy was so powerful.
Then looking at the three bodies, they were no longer in the mood for the swings. Not even daring to touch the three of them, they also fled.
Long Chen followed the small path forward. This winding path went around many mountains and brought him to quite a few beautiful sceneries. He saw people napping, he saw people playing chess, and he even saw maidens playing the zither. The people here all seemed very leisurely.
He could see that these people were borrowing external force to make themselves relax. They were doing their best to remove as much tension from their bodies as possible.
People also saw Long Chen walking along the path. They nodded toward him slightly in greeting, and Long Chen also nodded back.
But there were also people who icily glanced at him and then continued with whatever they were doing. There were even some who had clear hostility for him.
Long Chen estimated that these people were probably near the bottom of the rankings. His arrival was a threat to them.
As he continued forward, he saw fewer and fewer people. He also saw people with spears on their collars, marking them as people on his side.
But they didn’t express any emotion upon seeing him. They looked at him like he was a stranger.
The people with shields on their collars also only looked at him indifferently. They didn’t make any moves, which he found curious.
“Could it be that those three didn’t run into me by coincidence? They were set up? So Zhuo Tianxiang didn’t publicly announce that I was part of the radical faction, but why? Why didn’t they greet me? Are they trying to watch me for longer before deciding anything?”
Or was it that it depended on his display? If he was tough enough, they would let him join the radical faction, but if he wasn’t, they would just toss him amongst the opportunists?
Just as Long Chen was wondering about Zhuo Tianxiang’s goal and walking with his head down, he saw a pair of eyes staring at him with surprise.
“Oh, it’s been a long time. Are you still well?” Long Chen smiled and greeted that slim and beautiful figure.
Chapter 1337 Duan Tianqiao
That figure was precisely the Eastern Wasteland’s alchemy genius, Duan Tianqiao.
It had been several years since they had seen each other. Duan Tianqiao‘s appearance hadn’t changed much. But there was a change in her eyes. Her life in Pill Valley hadn’t been very easy.
“Long San, you’ve finally come.” Duan Tianqiao was sitting in a pavilion. She had a massive bone book in her hands and had been in the midst of studying it.
The secular world’s books were normally written on paper or beast hide. Within sects, most ancient records were recorded with spiritual jade plates. One reason was because they were easy to use, and another was because they lasted a long time.
But they also had a drawback. That was that high level runes could not be recorded within them. That was why sects would use the bones of high ranking Magical Beasts to create bone books.
These bone books could record runes clearly. Furthermore, they even contained the spiritual mark of the expert that carved the runes, making it easier for others to comprehend them.
Duan Tianqiao was a beauty in her own right. She had delicate and pretty features, almond eyes and cherry lips. Adding on her petite figure, she was definitely lovable.
Now looking at Long Chen, she had a complicated expression. Scooting over slightly, she said, “Please, sit.
“Then I won’t stand on courtesy.”
Long Chen sat beside her. He couldn’t help saying, “Thinking about past events truly makes a person emotional.”
“That’s true. Back in the Eastern Wasteland, I remember that we were on opposite sides. At that time, you were quite fearful.” Duan Tianqiao also thought of many things that had happened in the Eastern Wasteland. She smiled.
Back then, it had been Long Chen, Chai Liehuo, and Fang Chang against Huo Wufang. The fighting between them had been very intense.
After the competition, Duan Tianqiao had left the Eastern Wasteland with the Tower Ancestor. She didn’t know what had happened later.
“Aren’t you the one who’s doing well in Pill Valley? In the future, I’ll need senior apprentice-sister Tianqiao to look after me.” Long Chen smiled.
After all, Duan Tianqiao had come here three years before him. She had to know more about the Divine Pill Hall than he did.
“I wouldn’t dare to say I could look after you, nor do I dare to accept you calling me senior apprentice-sister. Just protecting myself is difficult enough. In the monthly rankings, I’m always in the bottom thirty. I don’t know when I’ll be squeezed out.” Duan Tianqiao shook her head.
“Just being able to enter the Divine Pill Hall is amazing enough,” comforted Long Chen. It seemed Duan Tianqiao hadn’t been doing too well. Being at the bottom of the rankings of the Divine Pill Hall meant that she had to worry about being expelled at all times.
“Long San, you’ve only just joined the Divine Pill Hall, and you have two months to improve yourself. You have to take advantage of this time to enter the Divine Pill Pavilion to study. There are countless ancient tomes that will be very beneficial for you. Also, don’t join the competition between factions, or it’ll be very troublesome. You won’t even be able to focus on cultivating. If a newcomer joins a faction, they won’t be able to establish footing at all,” warned Duan Tianqiao.
Newcomers would be unable to establish footing? Long Chen instantly understood why Zhuo Tianxiang hadn’t announced what side Long Chen was on from the start. It was to give Long Chen a chance to establish his own footing.
In truth, Long Chen’s guess was only half right. Zhuo Tianxiang wanted him to quickly establish his footing inside the Divine Pill Hall. He possessed his own unique status in the Divine Pill Hall.
But as a newcomer, if he expressed which side he was on from the start, the other side would immediately try to suppress him. It would place a target on him.
That was why Zhuo Tianxiang had decided to let Long Chen start off on his own. In any case, he had his status as Dan Bishi’s final apprentice. There was no need for him to be timid. Now he was just quietly watching him.
In any case, with Long Chen’s talent, Zhuo Tianxiang wasn’t worried about him getting kicked out of the Divine Pill Hall in two months. The radical faction was hoping for Long Chen to explosively grow under the pressure. After all, they didn’t need a useless coward.
“Alright, I understand.” Long Chen nodded.
“The two factions will use both soft and hard tactics to force you to join them. As long as you refuse to join either side and stay neutral, they won’t bully you too much,” continued Duan Tianqiao.
Why did this feel so childish? But then he thought about it. These disciples hadn’t encountered anything other than alchemy. Their intelligence was truly like that of children.
“You still don’t know how to check the rankings?” asked Duan Tianqiao.
“Uh, I really don’t.”
Duan Tianqiao asked for Long Chen’s badge and pressed down on a protruding part of its back.
The back of the badge actually flipped over, and a small mirror-like crystal appeared from inside. There were designs carved into it that he couldn’t understand.
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�Rank 2306? How could your ranking be so high after only just joining the Divine Pill Hall?” Duan Tianqiao was filled with disbelief.
It had to be known that the disciples that had only just joined had low rankings. But as a special treatment for newcomers, as long as they weren’t too weak, they wouldn’t appear in the last three spots at first.
This was a chance for the newcomers to benefit from joining the Divine Pill Hall. But usually their ranking would still be in the bottom ten. That was why Long Chen’s rank shocked Duan Tianqiao.
“How are the rankings decided?” asked Long Chen. He didn’t care about his ranking. In any case, he knew he wouldn’t be at the bottom.
“The rankings are determined by the proctors through a comprehensive evaluation of the disciples. It’s very accurate. Long San, it seems your prospects will definitely be limitless. Remember to look after me.” Duan Tianqiao smiled.
“But of course. As people from the same region, we should naturally help each other.” Long Chen patted his chest confidently. Seeing Li Kang and Duan Tianqiao in Pill Valley had truly made him feel like meeting old friends.
“However, if you’re joining the neutral faction, don’t go running off to the inner sect disciples. It will draw ire from others. That’s because everything about the Divine Pill Hall is supposed to be secret. New inner disciples that join have to think of their own way to survive. If you expose what’s happening here, both factions will be offended. Thereafter, no matter how good your talent is, you won’t be able to survive in the Divine Pill Hall,” said Duan Tianqiao.
Long Chen now understood. No wonder Li Kang had said that Duan Tianqiao hadn’t spoken to him after joining the Divine Pill Hall. So there was such an unwritten rule.
He supposed that made sense. If everyone who joined the Divine Pill Hall entered the neutral faction, the conservative and the radical factions wouldn’t be able to get new members.
No wonder those maidens had offended those three fellows by warning him not to join a faction. So their words had been taboo. Now, he felt even more grateful to them.
In this age, everyone only swept their own doors of snow. Who cared if other people’s roofs were covered in frost? The number of kind people was truly low.
Even though Long Chen and Duan Tianqiao could count as old acquaintances, her telling him so much was probably also dangerous, as it could offend others. He had to remember this favor.
“Long San, try to be low-key. Hurry to the Divine Pill Pavilion. That’s where all of Pill Valley’s alchemy tomes are gathered. It would be best if you went in and didn’t come out until the next test. Cherish this time to study,” said Duan Tianqiao.
“Alright, I’ll go and take a look.”
Long Chen nodded and rose. Suddenly, over ten of the Divine Pill Hall’s disciples surrounded the two of them.
“Long San, you really are brazen. You dare to beat our people?” These people were wearing the same robes as the three people Long Chen had beaten.
Seeing these people, Duan Tianqiao paled. She was clearly afraid of them.
“Little slut, you’re even trying to form a relationship with Long San? It seems you don’t want to continue staying in the Divine Pill Hall!”
Pow!
One of the disciples was in the midst of cursing Duan Tianqiao when Long Chen slapped him across his face. Half his face caved in and he flew into the distance, fainting without even being able to let out a sound.
Everyone jumped, including Long Chen. His slap was now a kind of instinct. If he hadn’t managed to hastily pull back ninety percent of his power, that person would have died.
The main thing was that Long Chen was unable to just stand there as someone in front of him pointed and cursed at a weak woman. He had almost caused a calamity for himself.
“All of you scram. If any of you targets her again, I’ll kill you all.”
Long Chen was truly infuriated now. He might be fine if they targeted him, but targeting the people by his side was unacceptable.
His furious roar drew quite a few others in the surroundings over.
“Brat, it seems you don’t want to stay in the Divine Pill Hall anymore!” roared the lead disciple.
“Fuck your mother!”
Long Chen suddenly attacked. That person let out a cold snort and dodged his hands, sending a kick at Long Chen’s ribs. He was actually an expert at close-range combat.
This attack was sharp and well-practiced. The disciples he had brought along all cheered.
But their cheering was severed halfway like a knife had cut it. Long Chen had easily grabbed that person’s leg.
“Fuck off!”
Long Chen threw him like a sand bag, doing a half spin before tossing him out.
The disciples were startled and tried to catch him. But Long Chen had thrown him so strongly that these disciples were knocked away, vomiting blood.
“Amazing! Brother, you’re so skilled! Can I know your name?” Just at this moment, a group of people walked over. They had a small spear embroidered on their collars.
“I am Long San.” Long Chen cupped his fists to these people. They were ‘his people’.
“Long San, the last apprentice of senior Bishi?” That person was delighted to hear this.
“Yes. And brother, you are?”
“Haha, this junior is Zhang Yutao. I didn’t expect to encounter you, brother Long. Come, let’s go find a place to hold a welcoming feast.” Zhang Yutao smiled.
Long Chen nodded. When he said goodbye to Duan Tianqiao, he saw her worry. He knew that by joining Zhang Yutao’s faction, he would be signing up for a lifetime of trouble.
Long Chen smiled to tell her not to worry. He had long since joined this faction, and he left with Zhang Yutao’s group.
As for the disciples that Long Chen had beaten, they watched him leave with rancor.
Chapter 1338 Berserk Blood Flame
At the top of a high mountain, where the clouds gently blew by, there was a glorious palace building. This was the true Divine Pill Hall.
The Divine Pill Hall was a special place for disciples to practice alchemy. Behind the large palace building was an ancient pavilion. This was the Divine Pill Pavilion, being well-known as one of the most important places in Pill Valley. It was packed with various alchemy secret arts and scriptures.
Long Chen was currently holding a bone book. He was enthusiastically reading it, as it was secret art named the Explosive Blaze Art.
This kind of secret art condensed flame energy into fighting skills. It possessed great power.
Long Chen had been immediately attracted to it. The art described within it contained profound principles for the transformations of flames, which made it very difficult to understand. But its power was definitely terrifying.
If he used Star Fall in combination with it, Star Fall’s destructive power would greatly increase. How could Long Chen let this chance slip by?
This was already his third day since joining the Divine Pill Hall. By the time Zhang Yutao had led Long Chen up the mountain, he had already explained the general situation. He also said that this was one of Zhuo Tianxiang’s tests for him.
In truth, from the moment Long Chen had walked through the gates, to when he fought with the opposing side, to now, Zhang Yutao and the others had always been watching.
Zhuo Tianxiang had told Zhang Yutao that if Long Chen continued being such a coward, he could simply continue being bullied. He would only be pulled into their faction once he had finally had enough and attacked back.
Furthermore, Zhang Yutao told Long Chen to maintain this kind of mood. Right now, the struggle between the two factions didn’t leave room for face.
Currently, the Divine Pill Hall had the Divine Spear Alliance and the Divine Shield Alliance. They represented the radical faction and the conservative faction respectively.
If others heard this name, they might think the conservative faction was very modest and low-key, but the truth was that in order to make sure its
power remained stable, the Divine Shield Alliance’s disciples were all very arrogant.
That was because only by being arrogant and showing their power could they intimidate more people and win more authority.
In comparison, it was the Divine Spear Alliance that was weaker. Under the suppression of the Divine Shield Alliance, they found it very taxing to continue fighting. Their influence over the Divine Pill Hall’s disciples as a whole was dropping.
That was why the Divine Spear Alliance not only needed people with great alchemy arts but also someone who could draw enough influence. That was why if Long Chen continued being a coward, he wouldn’t be very useful to the Divine Spear Alliance. They needed a disciple that dared to fight.
Of course, the prerequisite was that this disciple’s alchemy skills could keep up. That was why after telling Long Chen a few things, Zhang Yutao had sent Long Chen to the Divine Pill Pavilion to study.
Long Chen wasn’t interested in the alchemy arts here. Rather it was the magical arts and Battle Skills here that he needed.
To ordinary disciples, his actions were the complete opposite of what they should be doing. The Divine Pill Hall’s disciples were alchemists who cared about alchemy. To train in fighting techniques was not proper.
But Long Chen was too lazy to bother with the strange looks people gave him. He needed to find a way to increase his repertoire of flame magical arts, because his Pill Sovereign memories only had knowledge of alchemy, but nothing of flame fighting techniques.
“Long San, let’s go. I’ll bring you to switch out your Earth Flame. Everything’s been arranged, and someone’s already holding the line for us.”
Zhang Yutao came and interrupted Long Chen’s studying. That was because Long Chen had said that he needed a better Earth Flame.
One of the main reasons that he only managed to refine three rings in the trial previously was because of his Pill Flame.
He was unable to use Huo Long’s power here, and the Earth Flame he had been given wasn’t strong enough. That was why he had asked Zhang Yutao for a stronger Earth Flame.