Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

Two black stones, one yin and one yang.

A hidden paradise, a key to everything.

Yin and Yang unite to open the gate to the celestial realm.

Holding the black stone emanating spiritual energy in his hand, Chen An probed his storage bag with his divine sense and discovered that the black stone Liu Hao had given him earlier had moved slightly.

The two black stones thus came into Chen An's hands.

Is it destiny?

Chen An didn't think so; he didn't believe in fate.

When Zhou Wen first started cultivating, he held a black stone that emitted spiritual energy, but he failed to even establish his foundation. This shows that the black stone does not represent destiny.

Liu Hao, holding the black stone, probably made many attempts to test it, even consulting some important figures, but in the end he only came to the conclusion that it was a useless stone and did not gain any benefit.

Does Chen An have the means to rise to prominence with Blackstone?

Even without Blackstone, Chen An would still rise to power; Blackstone was merely an auxiliary tool.

Zhou Wen and Chen An talked for a long time.

It describes how brave and resourceful he was in his youth, fighting against rogue cultivators.

It was said that he had suffered many physical injuries.

It is said that he once had a long talk with a Golden Core elder in the sect.

He also said that he once wanted to sell the Black Stone to a sect in exchange for a chance to establish a Foundation Establishment.

In the end, Zhou Wen chose to give the black stone to Chen An.

"Uncle Chen, do me a favor."

"The Ye family aren't bad people, and Ye Hongyi, that girl, won't be too bad either."

"If there's an opportunity, it would be best to help her."

"Don't let her become cannon fodder in the sect war."

"Thank you, Uncle Chen."

"Uncle Chen, don't worry, I will die in the Monster Beast Mountain Range. No one else will ever know about Black Stone."

Chen An cupped his hands and said, "Senior Brother Zhou, rest assured, as long as Fellow Daoist Ye does not harm me, I will certainly live up to your expectations."

Zhou Wen chuckled and said, "If anyone else had agreed with me, I wouldn't have believed it, but since Fellow Daoist Chen said so, I believe it. Fellow Daoist Chen is a person with great fortune, and he will surely embark on the path to immortality in the future."

After Zhou Wen left.

Chen An's consciousness followed him the whole time.

From a certain point onward, he even suspected that Zhou Wen might be a top-tier expert playing around in the mortal world.

It should be impossible.

Zhou Wen's life has been somewhat tragic.

He believed himself to be the chosen one, embarking on the path to immortality, but reality weighed heavily on his back, forcing him to take risks time and again to acquire resources.

The stone, imbued with infinitely pure spiritual energy, allowed him to cultivate smoothly, but it couldn't help him break through to a higher realm at crucial moments.

For ordinary cultivators, the Qi Refining stage is the easiest to pass, but for Zhou Wen, it's the beginning of purgatory.

Even cultivators with five spiritual roots face bottlenecks in the Qi Refining stage. They develop resistance to pills, and when spiritual energy is poured into their bodies, a large portion leaks out like a sieve.

If Zhou Wen had top-tier cultivation, he wouldn't be living such a stifled life.

The strong have dignity.

Chen An placed the two black stones into two separate storage bags.

Apart from the initial fluctuation.

There were no further changes.

Lu Nian and Yu Lanhua returned the next day.

Hunting monsters is a long process.

It doesn't matter if you can't defeat the monsters; as long as you can escape, you have a chance to defeat them.

After the base is established, people can return to rest at any time and receive treatment if they are injured. However, those who fail to escape are simply destined to die.

Yu Peiyao returned with injuries.

Her waist armor was struck by the claws of a Tier 1 Fierce Ape, causing her internal injuries. Fortunately, her teammates intervened in time to stop the Fierce Ape.

If left to face it alone, even with the strongest armor, the ferocious ape could still kill her on the spot.

Despite being injured, Yu Peiyao appeared excited and wanted to continue hunting demons.

But the deputy captain, Yan Gang, was frightened.

Yu Peiyao, who was at the peak of Qi Refining, had absolutely no combat experience. During the joint fight against the monster, she did not even know to use her magic weapon to block, and was easily approached by the fierce ape.

It's hard to imagine how Yu Peiyao cultivated to the peak of Qi Refining.

Chen An stared coldly at Yan Gang.

Yan Gang had promised before he left that he would not let Yu Peiyao get into any trouble, but on their first demon hunt, something went wrong and Yu Peiyao got injured. What about the next demon hunt?

Chen An couldn't let Yu Peiyao take advantage of the situation, so he simply sent a telepathic message to Yan Gang, asking him to take the initiative to respond.

Yan Gang knelt on one knee and said, "I have failed in my duty and have let down those entrusted to me. I am willing to cut off one of my arms and resign from my position as deputy captain."

Chen An is not a kind person.

He gave Yan Gang a choice, and it was Yan Gang himself who was willing to take Yu Peiyao with him.

Yu Peiyao is now injured.

Yan Gang, as the protector, bears direct responsibility.

The cooperation between Chen An and Yu Peiyao is related to Chen An's future position in the sect war. If Yan Gang causes a rift between the two sides, even Yan Gang's death would not be enough to make up for it.

Chen An said coldly, "Fine, I gave you a chance, but you failed in your duties. You are to blame for Junior Sister Yu's injury!"

Yu Peiyao was startled when she heard the two talking about cutting off Yan Gang's arm. Were they all so reckless when doing things outside the sect?

Yu Peiyao quickly interrupted the two, saying, "Senior Brother Chen, Senior Brother Yan, my injury is not serious. Besides, joining the demon hunting team means participating in real combat, and getting injured is common. This time it was an accident, and I will get better in the future."

"It's not to the point that Senior Brother Yan has to lose an arm and leave the demon-hunting team."

Chen An smiled and nodded at Yu Peiyao, then asked, "Junior Sister, what do you think should be done about this? After all, you are the victim. Back in the Xuan Yang Sect, I assured you there would be no danger. Now that something has happened, there has to be a price to pay."

"I made a mistake in judging people this time, and I will give half of the profits from this demon-hunting operation to my junior sister as medical expenses."

Yu Peiyao's eyes lit up when she heard about the 0.5% profit margin.

Back when they were at the Xuan Yang Sect, Yu Peiyao had discussed the distribution of profits with Chen An many times, but Chen An wouldn't budge an inch. Now that she's only injured, Chen An is already offering her half a percent of the profits.

Yu Peiyao is not good at fighting, but she has her own area of ​​expertise: interpersonal relationships and scheming.

She understood why Chen An did this.

The first thing is to give Yan Gang a warning.

Secondly, because of her aunt Yu Lanhua's existence, Yu Peiyao's value is higher, and the price that was originally agreed upon needs to be re-planned. Chen An is willing to offer more benefits.

Yu Peiyao said, "Let's forget about the severed arm. After all, Senior Brother Yan also contributed to the formation of the demon-hunting team. I'll just take 10% of Senior Brother Yan's reward for this demon-hunting as punishment. Is that alright?"

Chen An nodded and looked at Yan Gang, who also agreed.

After Yan Gang left.

Yu Peiyao looked at Chen An and said, "Your methods of managing your subordinates are truly harsh. I only suffered a minor injury, and you want to cut off someone's arm and cut off their path."

Chen An said, "I once said that I would send you to another team. Yan Gang himself was willing to keep you and promised not to let you get hurt. But this is only the first time he hunted a demon, and he let you get hurt. This is his own dereliction of duty. When you make a mistake, there will be a price to pay. There is no such thing as being too strict or not strict."

Yu Peiyao said, "It was my request to go find the Fierce Ape. He only agreed to it to please me. If something happens, I'll feel bad if he's the one who gets punished."

The two tacitly avoided discussing the new distribution of profits.

Late at night.

Yan Gang arrived at Chen An's location.

Chen An took out a bottle of pills and handed it to Yan Gang, saying, "This is your reward."

Yan Gang smiled and reached out to take it, asking in confusion, "Senior Brother Chen, I wonder what this Senior Sister Yu's identity is, that she wants us to act in this play?"

Chen An said, "We are equal partners. As for why we have to act, it's because I'm worried that she'll go too far and ruin herself."

"If she really goes through life and death trials here, I'll also have a headache, since no one can be sure of surviving a life-or-death situation."

"And I need a living partner."