The room only had one giant bed. Then the question was, how should they sleep?
Meng Qi, Chu Yao, and Tang Wan-er had already grown familiar with Long Chen. Although they hadn’t gotten to that last step, some vague touching had been achieved.
However, there was now also an innocent Cloud and an icy Liu Ruyan.
“I’ll sleep next to big brother Long Chen!” Cloud was still like a child and didn’t have as many taboos.
“Be careful of him eating you,” warned Tang Wan-er.
“I don’t believe it! Big brother Long Chen doesn’t eat people. Only Wilde does!” said Cloud without understanding what Tang Wan-er was indicating.
“Wan-er!” Meng Qi glared at Tang Wan-er. The pure Cloud was being led astray by Tang Wan-er.
“I’ll sleep next to Long Chen.” Unexpectedly, Liu Ruyan actually volunteered to be next to Long Chen.
As a result, Long Chen slept in the middle, with Cloud, Meng Qi, and Tang Wan-er to his left, and Liu Ruyan and Chu Yao to his right.
“What are you looking at me for?” Once the lights were out, Long Chen found Liu Ruyan staring at him.
“It’s nothing. I’ll just quietly keep watch over you,” said Liu Ruyan indifferently.
Damn, so it was no wonder Chu Yao and Meng Qi had been laughing stealthily. So Liu Ruyan was present to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t try anything questionable.
They stayed in the Wine God Palace for three days. Long Chen once more had a battle with Fatty Tu, but he was amazed to find that the fatty’s skills in the finger-guessing game had improved. Who knew how he had trained, but in their battle, Long Chen won some and lost some before the two of them collapsed from drinking.
During this time, Long Chen also went to the Grand Xia’s imperial palace to see the emperor Xia Yuyang, the crown prince Xia Yunfeng, Xia Yunchong, and Xia Youluo.
Xia Youluo in particular was no longer the pampered and unreasonable princess. She had matured and now acted refined and graceful. But for some reason, Long Chen felt like he liked the old her more.
Xia Youluo’s eyes rippled when she saw Long Chen. It seemed that she had many things that she wanted to say, but she didn’t say them in the end. She merely smiled and raised a cup of wine to him.
There were many things contained within this cup of wine, but as for what they were, Long Chen didn’t know. Perhaps even Xia Youluo herself didn’t know.
Xia Yunchong was still the same as ever. He hadn’t grown reserved just because of Long Chen’s power, something Long Chen was gratified by.
When Long Chen asked Xia Yunfeng how the situation with the ancient nations was recently, he was silent for a moment before saying, “While the Grand Xia, Grand Chu, and Grand Zhou are flourishing, the Grand Han almost destroyed itself with its internal battles. However, in the past few months, their internal battles suddenly stopped. The curious thing was that based on our investigation, there was no interference from Pill Valley.”
“Did you not think about dividing the Grand Han’s territory?” asked Long Chen.
Xia Yunfeng shook his head. “Brother Long, taking over the territory might be easy, but none of the ancient nations want to accept the Grand Han’s commoners. We’ll only accept some refugees affected by the internal battles inside the Grand Han and give them a place to recuperate. The Grand Han’s people believe that the universe started with them, and that it’s only natural for others to treat them well. Even in the territory we gave to the refugees, problems are constantly sprouting. To help the elderly and young, we sent over emergency relief resources, but there were so many of them in the end that we couldn’t afford the cost, so we gave them seeds and farming tools so that they could provide for themselves. But instead of farming, they want to make the space we gave them their own territory. Brother Long, tell me, don’t you think they’re stupid?”
Xia Yunfeng couldn’t help sneering at their foolishness.
“They’re such marvels?” Long Chen couldn’t help being amazed.
Xia Yunfeng said, “It can’t be blamed on them. It’s simply the result of the Grand Han’s imperial family’s indoctrination. They instilled the sense in their people that they were above the human race, constantly making up legends to fool their people. Hence, their commoners are the victims. Nevertheless, this kind of brainwashing can’t be fixed in just one or two generations. So to maintain the nations’ stability and unity, the other three ancient nations don’t want to take them in. The only worrisome thing is that the Grand Han’s chaos suddenly calmed down. Furthermore, some rumors say that the protective gods of the Grand Han have awakened. It seems someone is creating legends for the Grand Han once more.”
Keeping the people ignorant in times of chaos was the best way to keep the peace. Making up some protective gods could make the people feel hopeful and fill them with vigor. There were several examples of such things occurring in the Grand Han’s history. But for educated people aware of history, such a thing would be useless. If the Grand Xia’s leaders tried such a thing on its people, they would be scoffed at.
“Protective gods?” Long Chen also sneered. When had this world gained so many protective gods? Rather than getting stronger themselves, they hoped for others to protect them?
The next morning, Long Chen stealthily brought Meng Qi and the others away. They were afraid of the sadness from leaving, so they decided not to say goodbye.
After leaving the Grand Xia, Cloud transformed into her true form, bringing them speeding away. After advancing to the eleventh rank, Cloud’s speed even amazed Long Chen.
Divine light flowed across her feathers, bringing her speeding away. The space ahead of them seemed compressed. Cloud’s speed was starting to break the laws of spacetime.
After less than a few hours of flying, they arrived at an empty land. Cloud landed here and unleashed the power of her bloodline.
A passageway appeared in the air. Cloud brought Long Chen and the others into the passage.
The scene before them changed. They entered a desolate desert without the slightest signs of life.
Heaven and earth rumbled. One large figure after another appeared in the sky. They were all experts of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. This place was actually one of their strongholds.
Those experts transformed into human form. Their leader was a graceful and beautiful woman, which released immense pressure. She was actually a powerful twelfth rank Xuan Beast.
In total, eighty experts of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race had come. The woman bowed deeply to Long Chen. “Respected experts of the human race, thank you for your grace toward the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. We will never forget this in our lifetimes.”
This woman was the stronghold’s strongest expert. The others knelt on the ground.
“You’re too courteous. Cloud has been with us since she was a child, and she saved us from crisis multiple times. We’re a family, and you’re our family as well,” said Long Chen.
Cloud was a member of the Dragonblood Legion, and her matters were the Dragonblood Legion’s matters. There was no need for others to thank them for such a thing.
At this time, other Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrows began to fly over, but they were younger and unable to transform yet. They curiously looked at Long Chen and the others.
Long Chen said, “I came here today to tell you that there is no need to hide any longer. The great era has come, causing the world’s qi flow to erupt. Hiding within minor worlds will affect your growth. If you continue like this, you will miss your best time to soar. As for the Xuan Beasts, as long as I say the word, they won’t dare to touch you for at least a while. That’s why I hope you can call out the entire Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race to grasp this opportunity. I will leave Meng Qi here so that you can probe the inside of the Myriad Spirit Diagram. The divine abilities of your Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race are inside. It will allow you to raise your power as fast as possible.”
The current Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was forced to hide. They spent the majority of their time within their secret strongholds.
Most of those strongholds were in desolate minor worlds that weren’t suitable for cultivation. Only by entering the Martial Heaven Continent could they properly cultivate.
Before this, they had been forced to be secretive upon entering the continent, afraid of being noticed by the experts of the Xuan Beasts. If noticed, they would rather fight to the death than try returning to their strongholds, as they didn’t wish their enemies to know where the strongholds were.
So despite being such a powerful race, the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race was suppressed and forced into such a state. Long Chen wanted to bring them back into the continent so that they could soar. Then he would have raised another powerful ally.
As for the Xuan Beasts, he trusted that they wouldn’t take action against them. They had witnessed the destruction of Heavenly Fate Island.
Most importantly, he had also destroyed their headquarters, ruining the resources they had been stockpiling for countless years. That was a grievous blow to them, and they would be forced to lie low for a while. This was the best chance for the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race.
