Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 497 Oh, I've come up with another idea.

After finishing their business, the two chatted for a few more minutes.

The main conversation consisted of comments on different magical artifacts, or polite exchanges about continuing cooperation if needed in the future.

They gradually started talking about the abnormalities in the body of the Broken Gold True Lord.

After all, his condition, where his vital energy was so depleted that his eyes were slightly dark, was not common among cultivators, let alone Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Anyone who sees this will be filled with doubt.

"Sigh, it's actually the same thing as last time."

When the Broken Gold True Lord mentioned this, he seemed a little embarrassed: "When you came last time, I happened to receive a rare item from an old friend."

"I was busy forging weapons in the middle, so I didn't have time to deal with it."

"About two months ago, the Giant Elephant Soul-Severing Spear was finally completed, and I had some free time."

"So I figured I might as well find something to do since I was just idling around, and I took that strange object out again."

"Well, how should I put it?"

The Broken Gold True Monarch chuckled self-deprecatingly: "The item itself is a good one, and it can be basically confirmed that it is an ancient artifact from ancient times."

"Unfortunately, the restrictions on it are a bit too complicated, and the materials used are too insidious, even offensive to the natural order."

"In addition, I failed to pay attention to two small details during the process, which resulted in a lot of wasted effort."

His tone was ambiguous, and his words were rather tactful.

Obviously, that kind of thing is not suitable to be discussed openly.

It's fine to talk about this privately among close friends, but it's not appropriate to say too much in front of cultivators from the Holy City.

Moreover, the implication that it violates the natural order is already quite clear.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen immediately understood the situation.

The so-called strange object is most likely a demonic artifact left behind by a demonic cultivator, or it is an evil object from a wicked sect but whose nature is not much different from that of a demonic artifact.

He wouldn't say he's an expert in everything, but he's certainly quite knowledgeable.

He knew that if he didn't handle it properly, especially if he started without mastering the corresponding demonic cultivation method, he would easily suffer a backlash and lose a lot of vital energy.

As for the existence of demonic artifacts in the new cultivation world, that's nothing unusual.

As the saying goes, a large forest has all kinds of birds.

The so-called demonic path in the cultivation world originates from a small group of cultivators who want to take shortcuts.

As long as there are people in the new cultivation world who want to take shortcuts, the demonic path will inevitably develop as well; the only remaining issue is the degree of its development.

However, at this point, Xiao Chen suddenly felt a little curious.

Could it be that the development of demonic arts in the new cultivation world is also ahead of that in the Storm Sea?

However, this issue is clearly not suitable for discussion with Lord Shattered Gold.

Moreover, he was clearly not a true demonic cultivator; he was most likely only interested in the crafting techniques used on demonic artifacts.

Of course, theoretically speaking, such hobbies are extremely dangerous.

As one's understanding of the demonic path deepens along the way, one inevitably encounters various temptations.

If one's self-control is not strong enough, it is easy to fall into the evil path and be unable to extricate oneself.

However, even though Xiao Chen had guessed this situation, he did not offer any advice.

Firstly, since the two haven't had much contact, bringing this up directly might feel a bit like speaking too much without a close relationship.

Secondly, these things are not really useful just by talking about them.

Once you're tainted by the demonic path, it can be more terrifying than alcoholism or gambling addiction in some ways.

At this point, while it's not fair to say that one completely ignores the advice of outsiders, it's more likely that one simply turns a deaf ear.

The only way to change the situation is to either figure it out yourself or have external forces intervene and change the circumstances; otherwise, nothing will work.

"I see. Then we should pay more attention and take good care of ourselves during this period to try to make up for lost weight."

So Xiao Chen didn't press further, but simply followed up with his concern: "Although losing some vital energy in the short term isn't a big problem, if it drags on for too long, it could damage your very foundation."

"You people who are so engrossed in studying the arts often forget to eat and sleep."

"But actually, only by taking good care of your health can you make better and longer-term progress."

These words were actually heard by Xiao Chen from elsewhere, and when he said them, they sounded rather old-fashioned.

However, to the ears of the Broken Gold True Lord, it sounded somewhat familiar.

Absolutely right, that's the taste!
Back when he was still in the Holy City, he would occasionally see the powerful figures from the seven great clans, or the managing cultivators of the Holy City.

Those people especially love to care for others; they're almost all cut from the same mold.

Judging from this, Fellow Daoist Xiao in front of me should be quite satisfied with the spiritual weapon.

Overjoyed, he neglected to maintain his facade and subconsciously spoke according to his usual habits.

However, True Monarch Shattered Gold did not point it out. Instead, he pretended that he had not guessed anything yet: "Fellow Daoist is very thoughtful."

"I did neglect it a little before, and I was already thinking about taking care of it."

"The main reason is that I have to stay here for a while, so it's not very convenient to move around. But the supplements I ordered are on their way and should arrive tomorrow."

After giving a few words of agreement with a normal expression, the two went outside the cultivation room and sat for a while.

After chatting for about half an hour, Xiao Chen calmly got up to say goodbye.

According to the plan he had devised before coming here, his next step should be to go and discuss countermeasures with Grandpa Cai.

If you can find a good excuse, then show your face again to further solidify your false identity.

If there's no good reason, then pretend to continue your seclusion, but actually go back to explore the inner world of the Vast Sea Secret Realm first, and come back when you have free time after you're done.

However, now that he has successfully obtained the fully fused spiritual artifact, Xiao Chen's mentality has undergone some subtle changes.

What to say?

It's somewhat similar to the feeling he had when he was young, finding a relatively straight wooden stick and wanting to pluck it from the roadside flowers and plants.

Having acquired a powerful new weapon, his instinct was to find something to poke at it and test its feel.

So much so that after Xiao Chen came out of the cave, he couldn't help but slow down his escape speed and look around to find a suitable target.

Unfortunately, looking at the whole process, there wasn't a suitable target to make a move.

Firstly, even in the new cultivation world, only the Holy City has a relatively large number of Nascent Soul True Monarchs; they are still very rare in other places.

Secondly, due to the scarcity of spiritual energy, let alone finding Nascent Soul level demons in the wasteland, not even the footprints of Golden Core demon beasts can be seen.

Judging from the current situation, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Giant Elephant Soul-Severing Spear may not have a chance to be fully utilized until it enters the inner realm.

"Or perhaps I should go back and train with a powerful demon?"

Xiao Chen thought for a moment: "It just so happens that there are still a few fish that have escaped the net over at the Sea of ​​Compassion. We can go back and see if there are any new clues."

"It's just that the Kunpeng Sea is in between, so going back and forth is a little troublesome."

Although his escape speed was already very fast, it would still take him a month or two to travel.

Considering that the inner realm will most likely open within two months, rushing to open both is clearly not a good option.

While he was pondering, Xiao Chen had already returned to Pingyi City.

Compared to half a year ago, when the city was rather deserted, now one can easily tell that there are many more independent cultivators active on the streets.

In particular, there are now a large number of street stalls.

The stalls often use a long wooden stick or bamboo pole to hang colorful wine flags.

Then they would use earthenware jars, porcelain bottles, gourds, and even bamboo tubes to hold the spirit wine and loudly hawk it for sale.

This really puzzled Xiao Chen, who didn't quite understand what was going on.

Normally, it would be reasonable for Pingyi City to become slightly more prosperous as Cai Youde became famous and the Cai family seized the property from the Shang family.

But the question is, why are there so many more vendors selling alcohol?

If Xiao Chen remembered correctly, it was not easy to do business in spirit wine in the cultivation world. Usually, only family cultivators could participate.

This is because even spirit wines made with the same recipe can have different storage periods.

Faced with the market where it often takes ten years or even decades or hundreds of years to get started, it is often difficult for independent cultivators to participate.

This kind of work requires long-term investment, and while the returns are relatively considerable, they are not enough to be called exorbitant profits.

Most of the time, only cultivation families or even some small sects would do this.

Out of curiosity, Xiao Chen stopped and observed for a while.

Only then did they realize that those spirit wines were just a facade, and there was more to them than met the eye.

What those vendors were actually selling were medicinal herbs and elixirs that had been dissolved in the wine beforehand.

Now, within the blessed land of Zejing, the supply of herbal elixirs has been monopolized by the Holy City's special envoy, causing prices to continue to rise.

Therefore, in addition to using elixirs of metal and stone as substitutes, some cultivators who were afraid of the poison in the elixirs came up with this method to bypass the Guiyun Sect's inspections.

In addition, spirit wine itself contains abundant spiritual energy.

After the elixir is added, the taste changes, creating an opportunity for counterfeiting and encouraging many vendors to take advantage of the situation.

They mix genuine spirit wine that has been dissolved with elixirs with fake spirit wine that has been dissolved with inferior elixirs or even has only a false amount of spiritual energy and sell it together.

In the short time that Xiao Chen stood there watching, a rogue cultivator and a street vendor got into an argument.

One side claimed to have bought counterfeit alcohol, while the other side accused the other of making false accusations, attracting many passing cultivators to watch the spectacle.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what a perfect example of 'the higher-ups have policies, the lower-downs have countermeasures'!"

Xiao Chen chuckled: "If you can't sell spirit pills privately, then sell spirit wine that has been melted down with spirit pills."

"If we continue down this path, it could be replaced by something else in the future, and it will be impossible to completely eliminate the problem."

"This can be considered the wisdom of the masses, which is truly rare."

However, this is merely a superficial appearance.

When Xiao Chen quietly arrived at the Cai family's study and met with Old Master Cai...

They then discovered that the other party was planning to use the clan's stored spiritual herbs to have the clan's alchemists mass-produce low-grade spiritual pills for making spiritual wine.

"Isn't this a bit risky?"

Since it concerned the Cai family, Xiao Chen asked one more question: "Didn't you say you were going to focus on fighting for the assets recently? How come you have time to deal with these things?"

"The key question is how many spirit stones we can earn this way."

"If the Guiyun Sect finds out, wouldn't that be a loss outweighing the gains?"

However, Old Master Cai explained, "Reporting to Senior, this matter is the intention of Guiyun Sect."

"Otherwise, how could it be done so easily under such a pretext?"

“At this critical juncture, even cultivators without any problems can be arrested and taken back for investigation.”

"Without the authorization of Guiyun Sect, even if the people below had the guts of a bear and the courage of a leopard, they wouldn't dare to commit such a crime against the wind."

"That's true, such a trick shouldn't be able to fool anyone." But Xiao Chen was somewhat surprised: "Why use this method? Wouldn't it be simpler to just open a new herb shop?"

It should be noted that if Guiyun Sect were to do it this way, it would require going through two more intermediaries: the Cai family and the peddler.

Normally, at least 20% of profits would be lost, or even more.

"Sigh, that special envoy really went too far back then."

Grandpa Cai continued to explain: "He not only closed all the other medicine shops in the entire blessed land, but only kept one in the market."

"And before leaving, he left behind a manager to oversee the accounts."

"We need to split the extra spirit stones we earn with Guiyun Sect 30/70."

Ah this.

The classic 30/70 split.

To avoid any misunderstanding, Xiao Chen confirmed again: "He wants to take 70%?"

Grandpa Cai nodded: "So Guiyun Sect doesn't want to directly offend that special envoy, nor does it want to earn less than before, even though the pills have become twice as expensive."

"That's why we turn a blind eye to those vendors outside."

"The old man is now leading his clansmen to help, but in reality, he's just helping Guiyun Sect make money."

"Once things are done here, we can bring back more properties over there."

"It's just that the rogue cultivators outside don't know this, and might think it's some good thing, a privilege belonging to the four major families."

Oh, now Xiao Chen finally understands; there are actually several layers of relationships involved.

In this way, even if the Holy City's special envoy comes back to investigate in the future, Guiyun Sect can still shift the blame to those vendors.

If the other party is still not satisfied and insists on continuing the investigation...

Then arrest and punish the disciples in charge of patrolling and some of the small families that provided the spiritual herbs.

Generally speaking, that's where it ends.

If the special envoy is determined to pursue the matter relentlessly, then the Cai family in the middle should be brought out as the 'masterminds', and it should be said that they conspired and planned all of this.

To put it bluntly, those vendors, the outer disciples of the sect, and the Cai family were just three layers of scapegoats.

They were all pawns used by the Guiyun Sect to secretly oppose the Holy City.

"So the Cai family's actions actually carry the risk of being purged afterward."

Xiao Chen asked, "Can't I refuse this?"

His false identity is now with the Cai family.

Therefore, he certainly doesn't want any problems to arise in the Cai family, nor does he want any potential hidden dangers to emerge from the Cai family.

However, upon hearing this, a slight bitterness appeared on Old Master Cai's face: "Alas, there really isn't a good solution at the moment."

"It may be that things will only get better after the senior breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage under a false identity."

Within the blessed land of Zejing, only the four major families are qualified to be third-level scapegoats.

Those two families with Nascent Soul True Monarchs still alive would definitely not agree, so there was really no other choice.

From the Cai family's perspective, the best solution is almost always to agree, while taking on the risks and seizing the Shang family's assets.

Relatively speaking, they are scapegoats in the third layer, so the risk is not particularly high.

If they don't agree, it will incur the displeasure of the Guiyun Sect.

They were also worried that the Shang family would agree in exchange for the Guiyun Sect's favoritism and protection towards them.

That would be pleasing neither side, so it's better to be bolder and try to fight for a better future for the family.

Mr. Cai did this partly out of necessity, but it was also a risky move.

However, he was originally a risk-taker, otherwise he wouldn't have considered genuinely cooperating with the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

After all, he still doesn't know that Xiao Chen is not actually a cultivator from the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

However, it's also hard to say whether Grandpa Cai simply felt he was already on the Reverse Immortal Alliance's pirate ship and decided to give up entirely.

Compared to such a serious matter as colluding with the rebels in secret, being a potential scapegoat seems insignificant.

"Yes, don't worry, that day won't be far away."

Xiao Chen reassured him, "When Cai Youde breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, he will naturally be known as a Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Cai family."

"At that time, everything that should be there will be there, and nothing will be missing."

He was truly sincere about this.

Whether it was to better conceal their identity or out of a sense of reward.

Xiao Chen will sincerely try to help the Cai family gain some benefits in the future.

Of course, if he could break through to the Nascent Soul stage as a genius teenager within just a few years.

Then there's probably no need to go out of your way to get it; you'll certainly get plenty of benefits that come your way.

Even if we can't say that everyone in the family will rise to prominence, the Cai family will at least benefit greatly.

"By the way, speaking of which, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you."

Xiao Chen immediately relayed the information and possible speculations he had heard from Zhang Cunfu.

Then he asked, "I have something important to do recently, so I definitely won't have time to cultivate at Guiyun Sect."

"Is there any way to make a public appearance and still refuse their invitations without arousing too much suspicion?"

Upon hearing this request, even Grandpa Cai couldn't help but frown.

Given their current situation, refusing the Guiyun Sect's invitation was not an easy task.

Moreover, for ordinary cultivators, being able to cultivate in blessed lands is actually a great thing.

If there were another chance to go to the cultivation room within the spiritual vein, that would be an even greater opportunity that would be fought over fiercely.

Even though the Cai family has its own spirit-gathering array, the cultivation effect is not as good as that of a cultivation room built in a spiritual vein.

In other words, normally they shouldn't have rejected such a gesture of goodwill at all; on the contrary, they should have happily accepted it.

If they refuse, it might actually indicate that there's a problem.

There's really no good reason to avoid arousing suspicion.

"On my way here, I came up with a reason."

Xiao Chen took the initiative to ask, "I heard that in the early years, many members of the Cai family died unexpectedly, which greatly weakened the family."

"Let's not discuss the truth today."

"How about we say we're worried about leaving them outside and want to stay in the clan to cultivate?"

This reason is indeed plausible, because for cultivators, especially genius cultivators, safe growth is a matter of utmost importance.

However, Mr. Cai felt that this reason was not quite appropriate.

He pondered for a few moments, then said tactfully, "Your idea is indeed quite good."

"There might be some minor issues in certain aspects."

Don't wait for him to finish.

Xiao Chen interrupted directly, "Well, it's just the two of us here, no need to be so subtle. Just tell me what's wrong."

“I’m not the kind of person who cares about these little things or gets angry about them.”

Grandpa Cai immediately nodded: "What you say is true, senior. It's mainly because I'm getting old and my speech isn't very fluent."

"Incidentally, he is also a bit timid when it comes to thinking about problems."

"If we say we are worried about safety after going to Guiyun Sect, then conversely, we are doubting that Guiyun Sect can guarantee order within the blessed land."

"It can't even protect the core disciples who can enter the training room."

"Although that's not what we meant, once it gets out, some unscrupulous people will inevitably misinterpret our meaning."

"They might even go and slander us to the Guiyun Sect."

Old Master Cai's words were quite tactful; in fact, there was no need for outsiders to slander him. Guiyun Sect itself should have developed doubts and dissatisfaction upon hearing them.

The main problem is that the Cai family is in an absolutely weak position when facing the Guiyun Sect.

So much so that it must be handled with extreme care.

Very annoying!

Xiao Chen felt that it would be much more difficult for him to take the newly acquired Giant Elephant Soul-Severing Spear and rush into Guiyun Sect to kill the three Nascent Soul cultivators inside.

That's probably easier than coming up with a damn reason here.

However, this false identity was prepared for a future trip to the Holy City.

Unless you've made up your mind not to go to the Holy City again, and you don't want to compete for the new Three Talents Strengthening Divine Pill, or any other possible breakthrough spiritual items.

Otherwise, one should patiently make preparations in advance to avoid revealing one's true colors in front of the Nascent Soul Venerable in the future.

Never mind, a small act of impatience could ruin a great plan.

Xiao Chen simply lay down on the rocking chair in the study, looking up at the exquisite patterns on the skylight: "It seems I still have to trouble you, old gentleman, to help me think of a better reason."

"Of course, there's no need to push yourself too hard."

"If all else fails, we can just say I'm still in seclusion and postpone the breakthrough."

Grandpa Cai first said that it wasn't hard work.

Then, frowning, he paced back and forth in the study, pondering possible solutions.

However, this reason is indeed not easy to find.

He walked back and forth for about 15 minutes, thinking of almost every reason he had ever heard before, but still couldn't come up with a suitable excuse.

Instead, Xiao Chen suddenly sat up: "Hey, I've come up with another idea."

"What do you think about us announcing to the public that I'm going to search for treasure in the secret realm?"

"This secret realm will probably open in about two months, so I have to go there first. I won't have time to come back to this blessed land until it's over."

That's right, what Xiao Chen was talking about was actually what he was planning to do next.

The only difference is that he is actually going to the Vast Ocean Secret Realm.

However, nominally, he planned to announce that he was going to a secret realm in the new cultivation world.

Of course, this idea requires an essential prerequisite: "In the next two months, will there be any secret realms or ruins suitable for Golden Core cultivators to enter?"

Upon hearing this question, Grandpa Cai paused for a moment.

After pondering for three breaths, he said with slight hesitation, "There is no such place in the Zejing Blessed Land or the surrounding area."

"Unless you travel thousands of miles to Dongsha Fudi, there happens to be a relic there that opens every year in late spring and early summer."

"However, the journey is long and the situation in the ruins is complex, so we may encounter danger."

(End of this chapter)