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

After a conversation, the three discussed the upcoming sect war.

War is certainly profitable, but how to seize the opportunity and grab the benefits from the right position is a question worth pondering.

After gaining benefits, how can one withdraw unscathed?

In the end, no concrete plan was found, since the war had not broken out, and it was unknown whether it would be an offensive or defensive operation, or the exact location of the battle.

After the group became acquainted, at Lu Nian's request, Shi Ying and Wang Qian also sat down to the side.

Shi Ying was quite outgoing and quickly joined the conversation. Because of her alchemy skills, she and Lu Nian were more familiar with each other than Chen An and Lu Nian.

In her early years, Shi Ying showed talent in alchemy. Lu Nian wanted to take Shi Ying away and adopt her as his goddaughter, and pass on all his knowledge to her. Unfortunately, Shi Ying was unwilling, and no matter how he tried to persuade her, it was no use.

Lu Nian felt it was Chen An's fault, and he always had a dark face whenever he saw Chen An.

It took a long time for the relationship between the two sides to ease, but during this period, Shi Ying still frequently sought out Lu Nian to learn alchemy.

Chen An has never stopped making offerings to Lu Nian.

"Uncle Lu, I didn't even recognize you just now. You're still Uncle Lu? You've turned into a living person!" Shi Ying looked Lu Nian up and down, looking shocked.

"Cough cough..." Lu Nian couldn't sit still when he heard the teasing. He was pursuing Yu Lanhua and things were just starting to look good. He couldn't let Shi Ying ruin it.

He now regrets letting Shi Ying sit with them; the younger generation should stand obediently.

Chen An is a very good person, so why is his maid so lacking in emotional intelligence? Even if a male disciple had a better talent for alchemy, Lu Nian would still have given him a good beating afterward.

But she's the lovely Shi Ying. She's just a little girl who doesn't know any better. How can we, as her elders, hold it against her?

Shi Ying made a face and said, "Uncle Lu, you said last time you would teach me the second-level alchemy technique, are you going to or not?"

"Say something nice, and I'll think about it." Lu Nian almost laughed out of anger when he heard Shi Ying's words.

Shi Ying raised her voice slightly and said, "Uncle Lu, you are the most skilled alchemist on Hundred Refinement Peak. You can't go back on your word. Only if you take me as your disciple can I find a beautiful master's wife in the future."

"Uncle Lu, just think about it, with such a cute and talented apprentice as me, your future master's wife will definitely be very happy."

Yu Lanhua chuckled unconsciously. She wasn't beautiful, but she was still happy to hear Shi Ying's praise. She felt that the girl in front of her was innocent and lacked the scheming of aristocratic families.

The Golden Core family has many Foundation Establishment Pills, but the disciples of the Golden Core family have even more. As long as the disciples have good cultivation talent, each of them will have a chance to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage once. After that, it depends on their own abilities.

When it comes to interests, the younger generation of the family lacks vigor and vitality. Each of them feels that they have been treated unfairly by the family and hopes to get more resources.

Yu Lanhua hadn't seen such an innocent and lovely girl as Shi Ying in a long time, and a feeling of affection began to grow in her heart. She didn't even realize that because of Shi Ying's presence, she also gained points with Lu Nian.

Wang Qian remained silent to the side, just as she had when she was standing. She always saw herself as a maid, and only under certain circumstances could she act coquettishly towards Chen An.

In Wang Qian's worldview, Chen An is absolute.

Wang Qian was poor when she was young and was almost sold to a brothel by her father. Later, she embarked on a cultivation journey, but still had no one to help her and was coveted by many hungry wolves, so she could only try to adapt to this world on her own.

It wasn't until Chen An found her again that she finally had a moment of peace and no longer needed to worry about danger.

As a young girl, Shi Ying was a young lady from a wealthy family, protected by both her parents. Later, she embarked on a cultivation journey, with Chen An protecting her, and steadily learned alchemy techniques.

After becoming an alchemist, all the Qi Refining stage disciples she encountered greeted her with smiles. Although her cultivation talent was poor, she never cared about the future and always enjoyed happiness.

While practicing the Cauldron and Furnace Technique, Wang Qian was also learning about this world, hoping to provide Chen An with more help.

The deeper one's understanding of the spiritual world, the deeper one's fear of the outside world.

Lu Nian and Yu Peiyao both gave Shi Ying gifts.

Wang Qian did not.

Lu Nian and Yu Lanhua are Foundation Establishment cultivators, so they wouldn't consider what Wang Qian might think.

For several days in a row, people came to visit and bring gifts. Some disciples who were not very familiar with him also joined in, simply because they had heard some news.

Two Foundation Establishment seniors stayed at Chen An's dojo for several hours. One of them was Lu Nian, an alchemist from Hundred Refinement Peak, and the other was a Foundation Establishment expert from the Yu family, a Golden Core cultivator.

In addition, Chen An was an easy-going person, and these Qi Refining disciples, thinking of giving small gifts to curry favor, all went to visit him in twos and threes.

With more people, some who hadn't originally planned to go were now in a dilemma. Chen An had two Foundation Establishment friends, and if they didn't give gifts now, they might not be able to get Chen An's help in the future.

In the eyes of ordinary Qi Refining disciples, how could Foundation Establishment seniors possibly value their resources? They could exploit them, but they wouldn't do anything about it.

As more and more disciples came to visit, Chen An began to face a dilemma.

Wang Qian then remembered that her senior uncle Yu Lanhua had asked Chen An to help gather a group of Qi Refining disciples.

The Qi Refining disciples who came to Chen An's door all brought gifts, and the two sides established contact. Could we recruit all these people into Chen An's team to curry favor with the Yu family?

The Qi Refining stage cultivators of the sect are destined to participate in the war in the future anyway. Rather than being scattered to different places in the future, it is better to gather them together now.

Following the Yu family of Jin Dan, there's always someone to look out for you.

"Qian'er, you're so smart." Chen An cupped Wang Qian's pretty face and kissed her.

Because he had received so many gifts in recent days, Chen An hadn't considered the matter yet, but Wang Qian had already made a decision for him.

Chen An asked, "Qian'er, please continue, what exactly should we do?"

Wang Qian blushed and said, "It's not appropriate for us to handle this matter. Why don't we tell Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother Wang about the sect war and let them worry about it?"

"Both of my senior brothers are intelligent people. This is a test for them. I believe they will find a way."

"Besides, the two of them don't get along normally, so there's no need to worry about them colluding in private."

"However, there is one problem: the war has been delayed for so long, and we have gathered so many people but cannot offer any benefits. These people may harbor resentment."

"After all, we don't have the resources to support so many people."

Chen An clapped his hands, his eyes narrowing, and said, "This is easy to handle. Once we find the person, we can get the Yu family to help us. They can't possibly let me find the person and then not give me any benefits, can they?"

"Moreover, these Qi Refining stage disciples don't need to be supported. Before the war starts, they can do whatever they need to do."

"We only need to use the Yu family's resources to buy off a small number of people and let them control those below them."

"If Liu Hao and Wang Rulong knew that war would break out in the future, they would probably be very excited, after all, they have never been easy to deal with."

As night deepened, after Chen An and Wang Qian finalized their plan, an ambiguous atmosphere filled the air.

"Senior brother, I..." Wang Qian wrapped her arms around Chen An, her hands starting to wander. Recalling the scene of their dual cultivation, she couldn't help but kiss Chen An.

"You, you..." Shi Ying covered her eyes, her face flushed, and ran away as if fleeing.