Chapter 1594: Appropriate Preparations
A burnt smell came from the Blazing Dragon Cauldron. He had failed his refinement of the Empyrean Pill yet again. This was already his third try.
According to his calculations, they should all have succeeded. However, for some reason, the moment they merged, the medicinal powders instantly ignited and turned to ash.
After failing three times, even Long Chen was starting to lose confidence.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down. The worst thing was to be vexed while refining pills.
After two hours, he began his fourth refinement. This time, he was delighted to see the medicinal powders finally merge together with the Heavenly Dao Fruit. There was no unexpected expulsion.
Not daring to tarry, he controlled his flame carefully to merge them. After an hour, the Blazing Dragon Cauldron quivered ever so slightly. The lid popped open, and a translucent pill appeared.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be called a pill. There was no fragrance, no pill lines, no fluctuations of a medicinal pill whatsoever. It looked completely ordinary.
It was like a pearl of unclear water. It was exceptionally unremarkable. Long Chen stared at it for a long time. Had he succeeded or not?
However, in the end, he gave it to Guo Ran. After eating it, the two of them waited patiently to see any changes.
Just as Long Chen’s heart was sinking, Guo Ran let out a startled cry as his aura began to transform. An aura of primal chaos appeared. Although it wasn’t very dense, it was definitely the aura of primal chaos.
“Boss, I really have become an Empyrean!” cried Guo Ran, filled with excitement.
Guo Ran could feel some kind of new energy awakening within him. His sense of the Heavenly Daos was also growing clearer. It felt like he was the ruler of this s.p.a.ce, as if all the surrounding Heavenly Dao energy belonged to him.
Sensing the aura of primal chaos growing stronger within Guo Ran, Long Chen finally sighed with relief. After losing four Empyrean Heavenly Dao Fruits, he had finally succeeded.
Long Chen couldn’t help but smile bitterly. His luck was really garbage. Why had this formula been the last one? If it had been the first, he would have saved three Empyrean Heavenly Dao Fruits. That would have represented three new Empyreans.
However, he was used to his bad luck, so he brushed it off. It was fine since he had succeeded in the end.
Long Chen continued refining. With this experience, he completed the refinement of the eleven remaining Heavenly Dao Fruits.
He distributed them to Gu Yang, Li Qi, and Song Mingyuan. Yue Zifeng was devoted to the Sword Dao and didn’t use Heavenly Dao energy to a.s.sist him.
According to Yue Zifeng’s deduction, the Sword Dao should be above the Heavenly Daos. Cultivating the Sword Dao was to go against the heavens. Therefore, he shouldn’t completely comply with the will of the heavens.
Long Chen naturally didn’t force Yue Zifeng to consume it. Now there were eight more Empyrean Pills. Two of them were for Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er, but Long Chen struggled over the remaining six.
Originally, he was saving one for Yue Xiaoqian. He didn’t know how she was, or whether or not she needed one.
According to the Seventh Elder, Yue Xiaoqian was currently secluded in the original devil race’s inheritance land. If she came out, she would definitely come to find him immediately.
As for Ye Zhiqiu, Long Chen hadn’t gotten any news of her. All he knew was that she was in the Northern Xuan Region.
However, considering she possessed an innate ice spiritual body that led to a powerful expert coming to find her and have her join her sect, she was definitely important to them. Considering the change in heaven and earth, any sect with any foundation would condense all their karmic luck onto their most talented disciples so that they could become Empyreans. Ye Zhiqiu most likely didn’t need his Empyrean Pill.
After thinking over it, he kept the two Empyrean pills for Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er and gave the remaining six to Gu Yang.
He told Gu Yang, Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and Yue Zifeng to pick out an a.s.sistant amongst their own groups.
The four of them were captains. At first, the Dragonblood Legion had only had three hundred and sixty members, but now there were over twelve thousand. For the four of them to lead so many people was clearly a bit taxing. Promoting four vice-captains could lessen the burden on them.
As for the other two, Long Chen told Gu Yang to pick out the two strongest wood cultivators. They were the strongest s.h.i.+eld of the Dragonblood Legion’s lives. With two powerful Empyreans amongst them, their healing capabilities would rise and their enemies would have even less chance of targeting them.
It could be said that they were the secret heroes of the battle of the Grand Han. Without them, then no matter how hard the Dragonblood warriors had fought, it would have been unavoidable to have some casualties. So Long Chen cared deeply about the healers’ abilities.
When those two women received the Empyrean Pills that could change their future, they were full of grat.i.tude toward Long Chen. Long Chen had changed their lives. Originally, their talent wasn’t particularly exceptional, but now they had ascended with Long Chen into the sky. They had never dreamed that they would become legendary existences.
Gu Yang, Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and Yue Zifeng all picked out their a.s.sistants and gave them the Empyrean Pills. It wouldn’t be long before twelve terrifying Empyreans would appear in the Dragonblood Legion.
Furthermore, after the battle of the Grand Han, all the Dragonblood warriors could become rank nine Celestials whenever they wanted. This terrifying legion was definitely the one with the greatest potential in the entire continent.
Long Chen told everyone to keep quiet about their advancement. It would be best if the outside world did not learn of it yet. Even the new disciples who had just joined were to be kept in the dark about it. Who knew if any spies had mixed into the crowd?
In any case, they only needed a small portion to face constant challenges. Furthermore, the Xuantian Dao Sect’s original disciples were starting to soar as well. Hua s.h.i.+yu, Zhao Ziyan, w.a.n.g Zhen, Su Mo, Mu Qingxuan, and the others were undergoing the baptism of the divine pool. They would soon advance to become Empyreans, and they could handle the challenges in the future.
In any case, it was best for the Dragonblood Legion to act low-key for now. There were still many things for the Xuantian Dao Sect to complete. They had to be careful and not let victory go to their heads.
After arranging all this, it had already been half a month. Long Chen stealthily took a trip to the original devil race’s base in the Grand Xia Ancient Nation.
This time, Long Chen didn’t see the Seventh Elder. Apparently, something urgent had happened within the original devil race, and the Seventh Elder had been forced to go back.
Long Chen handed all the Heavenly Dao Fruit he had on him to the Elder-in-charge and told him to quickly bring them back to his race.
Long Chen then went to the Wine G.o.d Palace to see his parents. As a result, he only managed to see his mother and Xiaoyu.
When he asked about his father, his mother immediately started to rage. She said that Long Tianxiao was completely enraptured by the Wine Dao, and if he wasn’t drinking wine, he was learning how to make it. He rarely spent time with them now.
Fortunately, Xia Youluo often came to see them. She would bring them to the imperial palace for fun, making Xiaoyu very happy.
When his mother had been preparing to send Xiaoyu into the imperial school for her to learn some things, Xiaoyu immediately refused. She didn’t want to leave her parents.
After all, she had always been with them. Parting suddenly, even if it was just for a few hours, made her feel afraid of the unknown.
However, after being accompanied by Xia Youluo for a while, Xiaoyu managed to make friends her age and began to play with her companions all day. She began to attend lessons with them, learning about poetry, songs, literature, etc.
In any case, she was very happy learning in the imperial school, putting Long Chen at ease.
Long Chen spent three days there. He paid his respects to the High Priest and Xia Yuyang. He also asked Xia Yunchong about Xia Chen.
Xia Yunchong said that Xia Chen was most likely a disciple from a branch of the Grand Xia’s imperial family. He had no real connection with the Grand Xia, and no one knew where he was. Long Chen couldn’t thank him even if he wanted to.
The Grand Xia, Grand Zhou, and Grand Chu were all calm. Only the Grand Han’s interior was filled with battle and fire. Refugees fleeing from within were constantly coming to the other three ancient nations.
The three nations did their best to take in these refugees. They gave them land for them to set up their homes and what tools they needed. Although it was a little bitter, at least they could make their own living now. That was a thousand times better than staying in the Grand Han.
With the Grand Han filled with internal warfare, the commoners were never sure whether or not they would live to see the sun rise or set each day.
When Long Chen heard this, he didn’t quite know what to feel. It was no wonder Xia Yuyang had said that warfare was cruel. The glory went to the highest people, while the ones who paid the debt for the battle were always the innocent commoners.
Although Long Chen couldn’t quite approve of Xia Yuyang’s methods, he had no choice but to admit that Xia Yuyang was the most benevolent ruler he had ever seen. Whether or not his decision was right or wrong, at least the Grand Xia’s commoners could live without fear of being killed the next day.
Three days later, Long Chen left the Grand Xia and went to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. During this time, the Eastern Xuan Region was completely calm. At least, it was calm on the surface.
There was no sound from Pill Valley, the Corrupt path, the ancient races, the ancient family alliance, the Bloodkill Hall, or even the Xuan Beasts.
Long Chen knew that this was thanks to Qu Jianying’s actions in the background. After all, the Martial Heaven Alliance was the collective alliance of the Righteous path. The collective power of all those sects was truly terrifying.
However, Long Chen trusted that his enemies wouldn’t let things go after such a loss. Although Pill Valley had paid their compensation, he knew that they hated him to the bone now.
They were like hunters hiding in the dark right now. They would keep waiting until they could launch a fatal blow.
“Evilmoon, have you finished digesting the energy from the blood gourd?” asked Long Chen.
“Pretty much. I’ve recovered about ten percent of my power and can help you out with more things now. However, this is already the limit. Any more than this, and my power will provoke Yun Shang’s seal. It’s too bad your cultivation base is too low. If you were at the Life Star realm, then working with me, you could cut down Netherpa.s.sage experts like cabbages. Your Yuan Spirit is powerful, and although it’s not divine energy, it can combine with my energy to unleash a true divine attack. However, a Yuan Spirit’s energy has its own limits. Once we launch such an attack, it will use up all the energy of your Yuan Spirit, and it won’t be able to fight alongside your true body,” said Evilmoon.
“f.u.c.k, how irritating. Why am I never strong enough?” raged Long Chen.
“Why don’t you check what kind of enemies you have first? You can already dominate your realm and even the realm above you. Is that not enough for you?”
Long Chen thought about it and supposed that was true. It wasn’t that he wasn’t strong enough, but that he was truly skilled at courting death. He had even courted over some Netherpa.s.sage experts.
Long Chen quickly arrived at the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. After resting for a few days, the old man recovered to his peak state.
“Come. If you want to be crazy, I’ll accompany you!”
In a secluded room within the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, Long Chen and the old man were sitting in front of each other, their palms against each other’s. They slowly closed their eyes.