A group of dozens of young men and women had appeared at the gates to the academy. There was a particular mark on their chests. Also, their clothes were completely different from what the academy’s disciples wore.
This group of people looked around, and seeing only a sweeper in broken-down clothes, they pointed and called out to him.
Long Chen was in the midst of sweeping when he was disturbed. It was like a rock had been thrown on a calm lake. The ripples completely broke his beautiful feeling, and he couldn’t help frowning.
The current Long Chen now understood why the elder had previously said that his realm wasn’t high enough to sweep before this. He was currently trying to grasp that feeling. It was a much higher realm and difficult to grasp. Just as he started to experience it, a group of people caused ripples to disturb him. He was almost broken out of this state.
Ignoring them, Long Chen continued to sweep according to his previous rhythm. His Spiritual Strength wrapped around the broom. However, he found that the damage was difficult to repair.
The more he tried to maintain that feeling, the more it slipped away from him. Like sand in the hand, the tighter he held it, the faster it flowed through his fingers.
“Hey, brat, are you deaf?”
Just as he was persevering to maintain this state, that duck voice man barged over to Long Chen and shouted in his ear.
Long Chen’s fury instantly soared. At that moment, any of that feeling vanished. It was like he was woken from a dream. A vein throbbed on his forehead.
“When the heart is covered in dust, desire blinds the eye, anger rages through the soul… When the heart is not clear, you cannot see your path, and every step is difficult…”
Long Chen took a deep breath and muttered to himself. After a bit, his anger was slowly suppressed, and that feeling slowly resurfaced.
That sweeping elder had imparted something that was not necessarily a kind of cultivation method, but a principle of pursuing a small path of the Dao until it encompassed the entire Dao. If Long Chen could comprehend it, mastering this one piece would be equivalent to mastering everything. That was why Long Chen was trying to hold on as much as possible.
“Fuck, I’m talking to you…!” That person grabbed Long Chen’s collar when he saw this beggar-like person muttering to himself.
“Every step is difficult… Fuck you!” Long Chen’s fury exploded beyond control.
Unable to maintain that state, Long Chen slapped this person in the face. His face caved in and blood splashed. Without even being able to make a grunt, he was sent flying.
“You bastards, you want to die?! I’ll send you to the path of reincarnation for free!” Long Chen roared like a furious lion.
Amongst this group of youngsters was a middle-aged man. That man furiously shouted, “Brazen brat, you don’t know how to respect your elders. Capture him!”
Following his orders, the dozens of young people around him charged forward, pouncing on Long Chen from every direction.
Unexpectedly, these youngsters were at the ninth Heavenstage of the Divine Flame realm. Their divine flames raged once they attacked.
BANG!
“Ah!”
“Aiya!”
As soon as those people pounced on Long Chen, the sound of bones breaking and screams rang out. In the blink of an eye, those people were on the ground.
Although their auras were powerful, it seemed that their combat experience was lacking. There were hundreds of openings in their moves. Let alone Long Chen, even Luo Bing, Luo Ning, and the others were easily able to defeat them. Their combat power was as weak as sheep.
“Brazen disciple! This Heaven Master will-”
The middle-aged man suddenly unleashed his powerful aura, but just as his aura was unleashed, he was slapped in the face. Stars revolved in his eyes, and heaven and earth seemed to spin around him.
BANG!
Long Chen kneed him in the abdomen. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and curled up like a shrimp.
Long Chen grabbed hold of him and then slapped him like it was free. Twenty slaps were finished in one moment, and his head swelled like a pig’s.
It seemed that Long Chen had managed to vent his anger, and he gradually returned to calm.
“When your mood is good, the entire world becomes bright. When your mood is bad, the world becomes dark. Senior’s words are truly priceless gems.” Seeing those people lying on the ground, Long Chen nodded. He felt even greater reverence for that sweeping elder.
He also understood just how much effort the elder had put into helping him comprehend this. Understanding was one thing, but actually doing it was another matter.
“Long Chen, have you seen the Nine Flower envoy…”
Just at this moment, Heaven Master Yun Yang was leading a group of people this way. Midway through, he saw the people lying on the ground.
Seeing the middle-aged man’s current state, he exclaimed, “Heaven Master Ji Li, is that you?”
That Heaven Master Ji Li, the middle-aged man, struggled to climb up. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, with a dozen teeth included.
“Little bastard, you…” He pointed at Long Chen and cursed. In his rage, a rune appeared on his forehead.
He seemed to be summoning some ultimate move. As a result, a lightning spear appeared in Long Chen’s hand. In front of everyone’s dumbfounded gazes, he pierced Heaven Master Ji Li’s chest.
Long Chen was as quick as lightning, striking with no warning at all. By the time everyone reacted, Heaven Master Ji Li was lifted into the air by the lightning spear.
“Ignorant rat, if you dare to say any more arrogant words, Boss Long San will send you to the yellow springs today. If you don’t believe me, you can try it.”
Icy killing intent simmered in Long Chen’s eyes. He was like a death god calmly looking at his prey.
“Long Chen, you can’t. This is an envoy from the Nine Flower Sect. They came to discuss the Dao with us,” exclaimed Heaven Master Yun Yang.
He cried out inside. Just how did Long Chen appear here? And how did the Nine Flower envoy suddenly show up here? He knew Long Chen’s character far too well. Ji Li’s life was now in Long Chen’s hands, and if Long Chen wanted to kill him, no one could stop him.
The Nine Flower envoy had appeared without giving prior notice. At the gate, they showed their status, and the disciples in charge of receiving them sent a report, as well as telling them that others could receive them.
However, Ji Li and the others refused to wait and barged through, just in time to see Long Chen. The result was as such.
Long Chen didn’t seem to hear Heaven Master Yun Yang’s words. He stared coldly at Ji Li who was filled with shock and rage, but Long Chen’s gaze made him afraid. He clenched his teeth and spat out:
“Fine, I, Ji Li, admit defeat.”
The pill furnace shuddered, and its runes lit up before gradually going out. Long Chen smiled.
“Moon Refiner, your control is growing greater and greater. It really is great having you two.”
Huo Long and Moon Refiner were working together flawlessly. With Long Chen as well, practically not even a trace of the medicinal pill’s energy leaked out. Their cooperation was so perfect that it couldn’t even be described with words.
The pill furnace opened, and nine round medicinal pills appeared before Long Chen. They were dark and gloomy, almost looking dirty. They looked like medicinal balls, not medicinal pills.
However, when he picked one up, he applied a bit of force, and that layer of grime shattered, revealing a crystalline pill.
Within it were some slender lifeforms moving about. They were like tiny dragons swimming through the sea.
“As expected of the Divine Whisker Daffodil. With it as the main ingredient, the Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pill’s is extremely gentle. The water dragon power within it can completely absorb the medicinal energy without the slightest waste. Normally, the Flame Spirit Pill is explosive and violent, but with the addition of the Divine Whisker Daffodil, that wild beast became an obedient rabbit. It’s truly a priceless treasure,” sighed Long Chen.
The Divine Whisker Daffodil’s effect was marvelous. It even surpassed his expectations. This pill, which was used to explosively raise a person’s realm in the Divine Flame realm, normally had negative side effects. Other than a body being able to only absorb a limited amount of its power, the flame poison contained in the pill was particularly harmful. Consuming it in large amounts was taboo. The flame poison would attack the heart and invade the soul. Done badly, it could only lead to bedevilment.
However, with the addition of the Divine Whisker Daffodil, the medicinal pill became extremely gentle, and no matter how many were consumed, there was no worry about flame poison.
While water and flame could subdue each other, when used properly, they could actually support each other as well. The mysteries behind this phenomenon were still unclear to Long Chen.
Long Chen consumed one of the Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pills. It melted the moment it entered his throat and spread throughout every inch of his body. His 108,000 stars quivered slightly, and absorbed that energy.
A portion of the Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pill’s energy nourished his physical body, while another portion nourished his 108,000 stars. Long Chen could clearly feel his physical strength slowly rising.
However, the energy that went to his stars was clearly insignificant. It was unable to even cause a ripple.
“It seems that the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art also knows that my physical body isn’t strong enough. The majority of the energy is sent to my physical body to strengthen it, while only a small portion strengthens the stars.”
Long Chen consumed all nine pills, and found that his 108,000 stars didn’t change in the slightest afterwards. That made Long Chen sigh.
Perhaps the amount of pills that he would require in the Divine Flame realm would be unprecedented. After all, nothing like this had happened before, where consuming nine top grade pills resulted in no discernible change.
Long Chen refined pills as he consumed them. When he had consumed over three hundred pills, his 108,000 stars finally shuddered.
The flame seedlings on his stars split in two. Divine flame energy burst forth, and if Long Chen didn’t control it, that explosive aura would have destroyed this room that he was in.
“Second Heavenstage of Divine Flame.”
Long Chen’s heart shook. His divine flames didn’t grow with each realm. Instead, they split. Another ball of flames appeared on every star. Despite there being double the amount of divine flames, he sensed that his divine flame had multiplied many times. That power made even Long Chen feel fear.
“Is this heaven-defying? Advancing one Heavenstage results in the divine flame power multiplying?”
In his battle against Chu Yang, Long Chen had unleashed his full power several times, but even when the Daynight Divine Radiance appeared, he still had most of his divine flame energy.
If it was then multiplied with every advancement, his divine flame power would essentially be endless. He would never be able to use it all.
“With this, there’s no need to worry about running out of divine flame energy. I can freely unleash my ultimate moves instead of spending them thriftily like money.” Long Chen clenched his fists, his eyes blazing with excitement.
In the past, when he fought with enemies, the first thing to do was to get a grasp of the circumstances to make sure every bit of energy was used properly, avoiding the case where a miscalculation resulted in him not having enough energy and being defeated. He was undefeated because he didn’t dare be defeated. Just one defeat would be the end.
Thus, a constant worry for him was using up all his energy. However, now he didn’t need to worry about it any longer.
During the next few days, Long Chen spent all his time refining and consuming pills. The Divine Whisker Flame Divine Pill had no side effects, and he could eat it like food without any negative side effects to his body.
A full ten days passed. Long Chen managed to firmly raise his cultivation base all the way to the fifth Heavenstage. His 108,000 stars had five clumps of flames above each of them.
At this level, he was no longer able to contain his aura. He had no choice but to stop. When he broke through, all the stones and trees around him were blasted apart.
He spent three days outside just pulling in his aura until it was under control. Now he needed to consolidate his realm.
Although the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art never resulted in his foundation growing unstable, allowing him to freely raise his realm, if he couldn’t actually control it, then there was no point. That would actually lower his combat power. It would create weaknesses in the middle of combat. He had to be able to control his power in order to properly use it.
After advancing to the fifth Heavenstage, he temporarily stopped raising his realm. He had Huo Long and the Moon and Star Refining Furnace continue refining pills. He went to see Luo Bing, Luo Ning, Mu Qingyun, Li Cai, and the others. He gave them two treasure Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pills.
For a high level pill like this, even for Long Chen, refining treasure pills was very difficult. If he was lucky, then he would get one or two treasure pills every dozen furnaces of pills he refined. They were very precious. The ten thousand Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pills he had consumed were only ordinary spirit pills.
Here in the immortal world, it was possible to refine pills above ordinary spirit pills. Treasure pills were above spirit pills, and contained the profundities of the Heavenly Daos. Even for masters of alchemy, it required luck to refine them.
When it came to low level pills, treasure pills weren’t all too rare. But for the Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pill, it was exceedingly rare for a treasure pill to appear. Their effect was tens of times greater than a spirit pill. They also contained the essence of the Heavenly Daos, increasing the consumer’s comprehension of them.
Above treasure pills were golden pills, but those weren’t sold on the marketplace. They were too rare. They were priceless commodities. As for their effect, there weren’t many people who knew of them.
Luo Bing, Luo Ning, and the others were around the fourth and fifth Heavenstages. When they consumed one of the treasure Divine Whisker Flame Spirit Pills, the immense power made them cry out in shock.
