Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 324 Before the end of the year, bring Xiao Chen's head back to see me.
"Is Xiao Chen really that powerful?"

Jin Luan looked doubtful: "In any case, he is just a newly promoted Nascent Soul cultivator."

"How could it possibly play such an important role?"

Upon learning of the unexpected turn of events, her first reaction was naturally disbelief.

His eyes held a hint of doubt as he looked the two people in front of him up and down.

"Ah, it's perfectly normal for Your Highness Jinluan to have doubts; I understand perfectly."

The Wang family patriarch showed no sign of surprise, but instead patted his chest and assured, "But I can assure you that everything I just said is absolutely true."

"Although Xiao Chen has only recently broken through, the family treasures he possesses are truly formidable."

"Caught off guard, we suffered a great loss right from the start."

The patriarch of the Fan family also chimed in, "What Fellow Daoist Wang said is all true. We were ambushed by the Tiangang Sect and almost didn't make it back."

"This operation was clearly orchestrated by Gang Yuan and his gang to ambush and kill us."

They had already planned their story, and now they took turns pouring out their grievances and telling each other about their hardships.

Upon hearing this, the Observer Zhenjun, who was standing nearby, believed it to some extent: "I saw Xiao Chen on Red Flower Island before, and he is indeed a rare talent."

"Moreover, judging from subsequent intelligence, he is clearly a genius cultivator who pursues the path of comprehension."

"As far as I know, cultivators who pursue enlightenment have always been exceptional individuals."

"In that case, it's only natural that Xiao Chen's Nascent Soul stage strength is extraordinary."

This left Jinluan somewhat unsure of what to do.

Although she didn't know much about comprehending the Dao, she understood the phrase "a dragon among men".

It should be noted that within the sea race, any mutated demon beast with the bloodline of a divine beast possesses power far exceeding that of ordinary demon beasts of the same level.

Take Jinluan herself as an example; she benefited from the bloodline of Qingluan.

Therefore, he broke through to the fourth rank upon reaching adulthood.

Later, when facing other Nascent Soul Sea Fish, he was always invincible thanks to his innate fire technique.

If that's the case, then it makes sense that Xiao Chen is performing exceptionally well.
Although she still had some doubts, Jinluan knew that it was too late to pursue the matter further.

After all, the two sides are in a mutually beneficial relationship.

The sea creatures also need to use these traitors to put pressure on the western side.

Seeing that the three human True Monarchs had reached an agreement, it would be detrimental to the overall situation if they were pushed too far and did not cooperate properly.

Secondly, the situation of the sea people is different from that of the human people.

First of all, there is almost no affection between the different great demons; they are all just subordinates of the Venerable One.

Jinluan and Mudskipper are two completely different races, so naturally she doesn't care much about them.

Secondly, the Endless Sea is a place where the strong prey on the weak, and almost every few years a fourth-tier demon dies in battle.

Unlike the human race in the past, where it would take decades for a single True Monarch to fall.

Therefore, after thinking it over, Jin Luan did not delve into it further: "It seems that the Tian Gang Sect is cunning this time. Fellow Daoists, you have worked hard."

"But we can't just let this go."

"We have never suffered such a great loss since the start of the war."

"I will report to His Majesty and request that additional personnel be sent to deal with Xiao Chen."

Jin Luan first looked at Jianying Zhenjun: "Next, we must intensify our attack on Mozhang Sect and strive to capture Yunfeng Zhenjun as soon as possible."

"I heard a few days ago that Po Wang's injuries have almost healed."

"Then let him come along too."

Previously, during the hunt for True Monarch Wuzhang, the opponent fought back desperately and injured True Monarch Powang.

Actually, the injury wasn't very serious, but I've been receiving subsidies and spiritual items for the past year while slowly recuperating in seclusion.

After all, he was injured for the sake of the sea creatures' great cause, so he was somewhat taking the opportunity to slack off.

Originally, Jinluan considered her own advantages and, in order to put on an act that the sea tribe would not mistreat her if she worked hard, she did not press the matter too hard.

But now that we've suddenly suffered a setback, we can no longer afford to be so complacent.

Moreover, they have already given them a year to recuperate, so it can't be considered that they are mistreating them.

The Mirroring True Monarch also understood this point, so he directly agreed on behalf of him: "I also heard that Junior Brother Powang is almost fully recovered, but he still needs a little time to adjust."

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency, we will definitely be able to leave the pass and join the battle by the end of this month at the latest."

Jin Luan nodded, then turned to Fan and Wang and instructed them, "You two go back immediately to guard the front-line formation."

"Temporarily halt the offensive and focus on defending against the Tiangang Sect's counterattack."

They were sent to invade the Tiangang Sect in order to expand their gains and exert pressure.

The situation has changed, making an attack difficult in the short term.

Naturally, the priority should be to deal with the Mozhang Sect, which is already besieged.

However, those fourth-order formations that have already been occupied cannot be abandoned directly, otherwise it will take a lot of effort to take them back later.

So Jinluan specially sent the two of them back.

Fan and Wang exchanged a glance, feeling somewhat displeased.

But this result wasn't too bad, so they didn't protest and agreed together.

Anyway, they had already discussed it before they came.

If I'm sent back to defend, I'll stay inside the fourth-tier formation and not come out.

Protect the strongest central formation, and for the rest, send out some tribesmen to put up a token resistance and then abandon them.

Although this may result in some members of the tribe sacrificing themselves in vain.

But considering the generous reward, they figured they could afford the price; it was all for the sake of the family's development.

Once they had reached an agreement, the news was immediately relayed back to the sea tribe.

Outside Pudu Temple.

The enormous nautilus was stationed thousands of miles away, facing the temple's protective array that shimmered with dazzling golden light.

A large number of fourth-tier demons were gathering around to recuperate.

Every now and then, violent explosions would be heard, accompanied by bursts of spiritual energy.

That's because there's another group of powerful demons ahead, launching a full-scale attack on Pudu Temple.

If someone were to look down from above, they would discover that a total of seventeen fourth-tier demons had gathered in this sea area.

They are in groups of five, taking turns to rest, and they besiege each other for more than six hours every day.

And this rotation has been going on for more than half a year.

In other words, Pudu Temple possesses a fifth-order grand formation and has ample reserves of spirit stones, which can support huge expenditures.

Otherwise, it would have fallen long ago.

"They really are a bunch of useless idiots, a mob that can't accomplish anything."

A middle-aged man dressed in a crane cloak sat cross-legged on top of the nautilus shell, casually tossing out the intelligence he held, which immediately turned into a cloud of ashes and fell into the sea.

He turned his gaze to the Pudu Temple in the distance.

If it weren't for this obstructive array, he would have already seized the spiritual vein and the treasure, and wouldn't have wasted the spiritual items on those guys from the Zhaokong Sect.

Although I had long suspected that those profit-driven guys wouldn't work with any real sincerity.

But he still didn't expect that just because a mere new Nascent Soul cultivator had appeared, those good-for-nothings would cry and complain and make excuses.

What are these so-called reclusive traditions and the path to enlightenment? They are nothing but excuses for incompetence.

If Xiao Chen were to come here, he could easily crush him with one hand.

"There's a saying among humans that's true: 'One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black.'"

The man in the crane cloak withdrew his gaze and looked to the side: "Having mingled with those insects, even Jinluan has learned to make excuses and is not as obedient as before."

"What do you think?"

Below was a huge red crab, which trembled upon hearing this.

He was a little unsure of the Emperor's attitude, but he couldn't refuse to answer the question.

So he could only cautiously say, "That Jinluan has learned nothing good but bad, he has failed His Majesty's training, he deserves to die!"

The man in the crane cloak suddenly changed the subject: "Inform Yun Qing that its movements are far too slow."

"Bring Xiao Chen's head back to me before the end of the year."

"If you can't do it, then never come back."

Yun Qing was that green shrimp, who was tasked with eliminating all the cultivators who had participated in the new ruins.

Over the past two years, it has indeed cleaned up about a third of the people on the list.

This progress seems a bit slow.

However, considering that many of the disciples come from various sects, and many others, like Fazhao Luohan, have already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, the efficiency is actually quite astonishing.

Upon hearing this, even the red crabs couldn't help but silently mourn for the other party.

Then, a sense of relief arose in my heart, thankfully it wasn't it that was serving the Venerable One at the time.

Otherwise, this incredibly difficult hunting task would have fallen on its shoulders.

However, it immediately replied, "Your subordinate will go and inform Yun Qing right away."

He then hurried to the nearby sound transmission array to relay the latest orders.

At the end of the telepathic message, the red crab also offered a special suggestion: "His Majesty only specifically mentioned Xiao Chen. You should consult with Jin Luan and find a way to kill him and bring him back to report."

"As for the remaining prey that are difficult to handle, we can deal with them slowly later."

The reason for doing this was not because of her good relationship with Yun Qing.

It was simply because the red crab was worried that if Yun Qing failed in his duties, the Venerable One would have it take over the task.

With the help of the fourth-order sound transmission array, the message quickly reached Tingtao Sea.

Yun Qing, who was hiding on the outskirts of an island, preparing to ambush one of the true disciples, felt a chill run down his spine upon receiving the news.

How come another prey has broken through to the Nascent Soul stage?

It must have had the worst luck in its life to encounter such a terrible mission.

I carefully read through the intelligence that was sent along with it.

Yun Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief. Fortunately, this guy named Xiao Chen was a rogue cultivator, and he was currently within the territory of the Tiangang Sect, where the human race's power was weakest.

As far as he knew, there were originally only three Nascent Soul cultivators there.

Moreover, one person was injured, and another had just broken through and had almost no strength left.

If I can get there in time and work with Jinluan to trap Xiao Chen within the territory of the Tiangang Sect, there is still hope of taking him down.

With this in mind, Yun Qing took the red crab's advice and decisively abandoned the target she was currently lurking around.

They immediately set off at full speed to Qingcang Peak.

It even activated a teleportation talisman to increase its speed.

After all, the intelligence indicated that Xiao Chen was a rogue cultivator, so it had to hurry up and go.

To prevent the other party from running off to some more difficult sects for other messy reasons, or simply finding a place to hide and disappear.

If that happens, it's doomed.

However, this was simply an overreaction on its part.

In fact, Xiao Chen had been staying on Qingcang Peak all this time and had no intention of hiding at all.

In the past two weeks, various messages have been circulating back and forth.

He first spent six whole days reading through all the books stored in the library. Then, he began to practice different spells in sequence.

With survival as the top priority, we'll start with water escape techniques.

Because of the foundation laid during the previous cultivation of the "Northern Darkness True Water Robe".

In addition, I obtained one fourth-tier five-element spiritual item each from Old Dog Yi.

He naturally took out the water-type spiritual item without hesitation to accelerate his cultivation progress.

Therefore, it only took Xiao Chen three days to master the basics of the "Flying Clouds and Treading Waves Technique".

His escape speed has officially increased to three times that of the Golden Core stage.

Although no formal comparisons or tests were conducted.

However, judging from the speed at which Xiao Chen witnessed the Wang family patriarch fleeing, his escape speed has already surpassed that of the other party.

In other words, the next time the two meet...

Whether he chooses to fight or retreat, the initiative is now in Xiao Chen's hands.

In most situations, having high mobility almost guarantees an invincible position.

Next up is the defensive spell, "Four Symbols Mountain Suppression Cover".

This is also very important. After all, the Night's Edge is a trump card that should be saved for critical moments, so we have to rely on defensive spells to fight enemies in normal times.

When choosing the first of the four elemental runes, Xiao Chen picked the Black Tortoise.

It wasn't for any other reason.

However, considering that I don't have many fourth-tier spiritual items at the moment, I can use the fish fins that I recently acquired as a substitute for water-type spiritual patterns.

Thus, the other three types of spiritual objects are reserved for the cultivation of auxiliary spells.

Because the fins weren't very effective, it took him five days to master the spell.

In this way, Xiao Chen's offensive and defensive spells, as well as his escape techniques, were all upgraded.

It can be said that he has taken another step closer to becoming a true Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Once he has gradually completed the remaining auxiliary spells or magical artifacts, he can be removed from the category of "newcomer" in the usual sense.

Of course, in reality, Xiao Chen can no longer be viewed from the perspective of a newly promoted Nascent Soul cultivator.

This is simply a requirement he sets for himself.

However, when it came to the support spells...

Xiao Chen encountered a new problem: insufficient foundation.

During his Golden Core stage, he was busy breaking through to the next level and did not cultivate any auxiliary spells.

Although he chose to practice the "Junqi Fire Avoidance Technique" first to make it easier for himself to learn.

However, after two days, the fire-type spiritual items had been completely used up, and the cultivation progress remained stagnant.

Clearly, there are only two options left.

Alternatively, one can spend time slowly enduring the process, which is the method adopted by most cultivators.

Alternatively, one could collect additional fourth-tier spiritual items to accelerate their cultivation process.

Xiao Chen naturally chose the latter without hesitation.

I will never waste my time on any problem that can be solved with spirit stones.

Therefore, it was only half a month after he arrived at the Tiangang Sect that he went out to the local market to purchase supplies.

"Get a batch of fourth-tier spiritual items, and also get some talisman-making materials to take back."

As Xiao Chen walked, he wondered, "I wonder if there are any local delicacies around here?"

However, when he arrived at the market, he was taken aback.

Contrary to expectations of a bustling market, the Qingcang market at the foot of the mountain was almost deserted.

There were hardly any cultivators to be seen in the entire market, and most shops had their doors and windows locked. Only a few shops in the center were still welcoming customers.

It looked particularly desolate, like some kind of run-down little town.

"Oh no, did I come to the wrong place?"

Xiao Chen muttered a complaint, but he had already realized that the market was affected by the invasion of the sea creatures.

Actually, you don't even need to come and see for yourself; you can guess what's going on.

The situation was critical, and all capable independent cultivators had fled towards the Storm Sea, while many sect disciples were busy with defense.

Few people bothered to come to the market, so it naturally became deserted.

In fact, if Xiao Chen wanted to trade for a fourth-tier spiritual item, the best trading partner would undoubtedly be to go directly to Gangyuan Zhenjun.

It was simply because he was used to trading in the market.

In addition, he had been reading or cultivating all day these past two days without thinking carefully, so he subconsciously ran into the market.

"Well, since we're already here, let's go inside and take a look around."

Xiao Chen didn't pay attention to that and went straight to the remaining two shops in the city center.

To his disappointment, after visiting three shops, he found that none of them had fourth-tier spiritual items for sale.

Even the variety of items has decreased significantly; they are mostly materials such as demon cores, fish skins, and animal teeth obtained from sea fish or sea beasts during battles with the sea creatures.

"I was unaware of your presence, senior. I apologize for not welcoming you properly!"

Xiao Chen had just come in and taken a look around when a slightly overweight cultivator hurriedly ran over from a distance: "My name is Zhang Mingli, and I am the current market inspector."

"If you need anything, just tell me."

As he spoke, he directed the men beside him: "What are you all standing here for?"

"Hurry up and bring over some tables and chairs, and prepare some spiritual tea for the senior to quench his thirst."

Xiao Chen waved his hand: "No need for that trouble. Let me ask you, are fourth-tier spiritual items still sold here?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingli shook his head: "Reporting to senior, there were occasionally fourth-tier spiritual items before the great battle, but since last year they have been controlled by the sect and their circulation has been prohibited."

"Currently, it can only be exchanged for in the sect's contribution hall."

This result was not unexpected.

Xiao Chen immediately lost much of his interest, but still asked, "Do you have any branches of Jin Hua Fang around here?"

"It's the shop that sells high-quality pastries."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mingli paused for a moment, then nodded decisively: "Yes!"

"Please sit for a while, senior. What would you like to eat? I'll go get it for you right away."

As they spoke, the staff around them had already carried down a whole bunch of items from upstairs, including tables and chairs, screens, two large fans, an incense burner, and so on.

"You don't need to be so nervous. I'm not the kind of person with a bad temper."

Xiao Chen waved his hand again: "No need to sit. Just take me there.

"Remove these things; I don't need them."

He doesn't care about these formalities.

"Um... well, senior."

Zhang Mingli wiped away his cold sweat and quickly explained, "The Jin Hua Fang in the market has already closed."

"But I know the courtyard where their boss and his employees live."

"It will only take a quarter of an hour... no, half an hour. I can bring everyone here."

"What kind of pastry would you like to eat? I'll have them prepare the ingredients and bring them over so we can make it right here."

Xiao Chen frowned slightly after hearing the first half of the sentence.

Since it's already closed, are you trying to fool me?

However, after hearing the explanation that followed, he was also taken aback.

It seemed the other party wasn't lying, since the question was whether there were any branches, which they did have, but they were closed.

And it even managed to call people back.

"There shouldn't be any inconvenience, right?"

Xiao Chen thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you know them?"

"Don't force them if they don't want to."

Zhang Mingli immediately patted his chest and assured him, "Convenient, very convenient!"

“I used to go there often for pastries and I was very familiar with the owner.”

"Please rest assured, senior, they will definitely be willing to come for such a good opportunity, and I guarantee there will be no coercion whatsoever."

Xiao Chen looked at him seriously: "Don't lie to me."

"There's no need to call them over. I want a hundred servings of Golden Silk Glazed Pastries. Once they're made, just pack them up and send them directly to Bizhu Peak."

Since there were no spiritual materials here, he didn't plan to stay any longer.

There's no point in waiting here to make pastries.

Xiao Chen still planned to go back and talk to True Lord Gangyuan about trading spiritual items.

Zhang Mingli immediately agreed, "I would never dare to deceive you, senior."

"Once this is done, I will definitely send over one hundred servings of Golden Silk Glazed Pastries as soon as possible."

Xiao Chen turned and left.

But then I suddenly remembered the last time I bought pastries.

So he turned back and instructed, "By the way, the situation is special now. If you don't have enough materials, just make as many as you have."

"If they don't have any golden silk glaze pastries, then forget it. You can't make things difficult for them."

A hint of surprise appeared on Zhang Mingli's face.

But then he clasped his hands in a fist and bowed, loudly repeating, "This junior understands. If there aren't enough materials, we'll make as many as we have."

After watching Xiao Chen's figure disappear outside the market.

Zhang Mingli then straightened up, a hint of curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

He was curious because he had never met such a kind senior before.

He was excited because it was just a small matter to him, but if he handled it well, he could take the opportunity to leave a good impression on his own True Lord and others.

Xiao Chen guessed half right. Currently, the supply of raw materials in the market is indeed limited, and many things are missing.

If you strictly follow the existing ingredients, you can only make a few portions of Golden Silk Glass Pastry.

However, this does not mean that the Tiangang Sect lacks materials.

In the sect's warehouse, there are enough relevant materials, not to mention a hundred, a thousand or even ten thousand.

But precisely because of this, Zhang Mingli was able to openly and legitimately seek an audience with his sect's True Lord in the main hall.

Don't let his position as a market inspector fool you; he may seem to hold an important post.

In fact, the opportunity to meet the True Lord directly is very limited.

After all, the Tiangang Sect has no shortage of Golden Core cultivators, and those who are not true disciples generally have no say in the matter.

Zhang Mingli happily went to the sect's main hall and, as expected, received a special approval from True Lord Hanchuan, who was on duty inside.

And a compliment: "You did a great job delivering the items on time. You deserve a Class A contribution."

He felt a surge of joy and gratitude towards Xiao Chen.

Thanks to this senior, he almost got a first-class contribution for free.

(End of this chapter)