Fantasy: Starting with a bowl, you can exchange it for endless cultivation.

Zhong Hong beamed with joy.

These spoils alone amounted to nearly 300,000 taels of silver.

Including the value of elixirs, weapons, martial arts techniques, and cultivation methods, it is worth at least 600,000 taels.

I never expected that my secret protection of Gu Chen would bring me such benefits.

He glanced at Gu Chen and said, "Young friend Gu Chen, I killed these people, so the spoils should rightfully belong to me. However, it was because of you that I had this opportunity. Consider these spoils your share; you can take ten percent."

He can eat it all.

But I felt that their eating manners were a bit unsightly.

If it weren't for Gu Chen, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to obtain these spoils of war.

Let's give one-tenth to Gu Chen.

The spoils, all added together, were worth 600,000 taels of silver.

Even if only one-tenth is given to Gu Chen, it would still amount to 60,000 taels.

That's quite a lot, especially for a powerful expert like Gu Chen who has reached the peak of the True Essence Realm.

With his salary as the head of the Night Watch of the Fire Palace and the supply of elixirs, it would take him half a year to receive resources equivalent to this amount of money.

What's more, he had just saved Gu Chen's life.

Considering the life-saving grace, he could say he had done right by Gu Chen.

Without him, Gu Chen wouldn't have gotten a single point and would have died at the hands of these Japanese pirates.

Giving Gu Chen 60,000 is a way of befriending this rising star of the Night Watch in advance and building a good relationship with him.

Upon hearing this, Gu Chen quickly revealed his joy and said, "Senior just saved my life, and now you want to share the spoils with me. These people were all killed by you, how can I accept this?"

Gu Chen said this.

But he was thinking about it in his heart.

Even one percent is not bad.

These items are worth more than 600,000 taels of silver, and 10% of that is 60,000 taels.

In addition to the 240,000 taels he had on him.

He then had more than 300,000 taels of silver.

I'm one step closer to breaking through to the mid-stage of the Core Formation Realm.

Hearing Gu Chen's declining reply, Zhong Hong smiled and said, "If I give it to you, just take it. Stop with the formalities."

Upon hearing this, Gu Chen smiled and said, "Then this junior will accept without being impolite."

"Hmm." Zhong Hong directly gave 60,000 taels of silver notes to Gu Chen, and then gave another 6,000 taels to the Cheng family guard who helped him search for the corpses.

The guard was moved to tears: "Senior, do I have one too?"

"Well, I'm in luck today, you should take some too," Zhong Hong said with a smile.

The guard quickly put away the silver and was moved to tears of gratitude by Zhong Hong.

For someone at the fourth level of the Innate Realm, six thousand taels of silver was quite a lot; it was enough for him to buy pills to break through to a minor realm.

After distributing a portion of the silver notes to Gu Chen and the Cheng family guards.

Zhong Hong put all the other items directly into his storage bag.

Then he ordered the Cheng family guards to move all the corpses here and burn them together.

He and Gu Chen returned first.

There are Cheng's cargo ships here, and there are supplies on board.

Gu Chen went back and told Cheng Mengling to bring her own people and drive it away.

The pirates' cargo ships had no supplies on board.

All the valuables were on those pirates, and Cheng's guard looted them and gave them to Zhong Hong.

On their way back to the coastal dock of Lihuo Prefecture with Zhong Hong.

Gu Chen said to Zhong Hong, "Senior, now that you have appeared, you no longer need to stay in the shadows. You can stay at my residence. With you here, those petty scoundrels will definitely not dare to plot against me again."

"Yes, that's fine." Zhong Hong nodded upon hearing this.

Since you've chosen to show yourself...

Naturally, there was no need to stay in the shadows and follow Gu Chen around all the time anymore.

Otherwise, staying in the dark, not being able to eat or sleep well, would be very difficult to endure.

It would be better to just stay at Gu Chen's residence.

This way, we can both protect the ancient artifacts and enjoy a fulfilling life.

of course.

This kind of life won't last long.

The battle for control of the Yuehai County mining guild is less than a month away.

After staying for a while, he would take Gu Chen to Zhongzhou to participate in the competition.

One of his purposes in secretly protecting Gu Chen was...

He was also there to personally escort Gu Chen to Zhongzhou to represent the Second Prince in the war.

The second prince of the mining gang valued it highly.

This matter cannot be allowed to fail.

The second prince wanted to test Gu Chen's true cultivation level.

They also wanted to see if Gu Chen was truly at the peak of the True Essence Realm. If he concealed his cultivation level and it was discovered by the Crown Prince, he would be unable to fight in his place.

That would be troublesome.

If he's asked to find someone at the last minute, he might not be able to find someone stronger than Gu Chen in terms of ability to challenge opponents of higher levels.

Of course, if the Second Prince wanted to test Gu Chen's cultivation level, he would only use questioning and observation methods, not the methods the Crown Prince planned.

To directly control Gu Chen, he grasped Gu Chen's hand and probed his body with his divine soul power.

Doing so would not only chill Gu Chen's heart, but also offend Shangguan Wuqing, Qin Ming, and others.

Gu Chen was, after all, one of his men and a prodigy of the Night Watch. If Gu Chen simply possessed a powerful special physique, then there was no secret to him.

This will make Gu Chen hold a grudge against him.

If a rift develops, it will be difficult for Gu Chen to be used by him in the future.

"Gu Chen, I've come here for two reasons. First, to secretly protect you from assassination attempts by the Mitian Sect and the Yamamoto family. Second, to inform you of something: in the next month, the Second Prince, along with the Crown Prince and the Body Sect, will choose one person to participate in a competition regarding the ownership of the first- and second-tier mining gangs in Yuehai County. The competition requires that the contestant's cultivation level cannot reach the sixth-grade Breaking Aperture Realm. The Second Prince has chosen you to fight in his place," Zhong Hong said to Gu Chen.

"This is a great opportunity. The Second Prince asked me to tell you in advance that as long as you can win this competition for him, he will reward you with a divine ability." Zhong Hong said, "A divine ability? That's something that even the two Heavenly Venerable Realm experts would covet. You must seize this opportunity."

Gu Chen was startled upon hearing this.

To fight for ownership of the mining gang.

The Second Prince, the Crown Prince, and the Emperor Tizong are going to hold a competition.

The mining gang was previously found to have spies.

Gu Chen guessed that the Divine Dynasty would definitely take this opportunity to seize control of the mining gang.

I never expected it to end like this.

The three parties will each select a being who has reached the True Essence Realm Perfection but is not yet at the Breaking Aperture Realm to engage in a duel.

It's all about who has the stronger ability to take on challenges beyond their level.

If that's the case, then what about the Second Prince?

He is indeed the most suitable player to play.

Could it be that what his second senior brother said before, that his master told him not to rush to break through to the Breaking Aperture Realm after he broke through to the True Essence Realm Perfection, saying that there was an opportunity for him?

Is this what you're talking about?

To win the contest for the second prince.

You will then receive a supernatural power as a reward.

Supernatural powers transcend the realm of martial arts.

It is something incredibly profound, capable of mobilizing the power of heaven and earth for one's own use.

These are the two supreme beings of Heaven and Earth, beings whose abilities would even make terrestrial immortals envious.

He actually wanted to use it as a reward for himself.

If he could obtain it, it would indeed be a great opportunity for him.

"I see." Gu Chen nodded, then asked, "Senior, where is the competition taking place? Is it in Zhongzhou or Yuehai County? Do we need to go there beforehand?"

"You should stay in Li Huo Prefecture for a while to adjust your condition. We'll set off for Zhongzhou in half a month," Zhong Hong said.

"Okay." Gu Chen nodded.

The two returned to the coastal dock of Lihuo Prefecture.

They landed next to Cheng Mengling and the others.

"Brother Gu!" Cheng Mengling called out.

When Gu Chen returned, the guards who had given him directions did not return; instead, an unfamiliar old man returned with him.

Cheng Mengling couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Before she could even ask, Gu Chen said, "The matter is resolved. You just need to take your men and bring the Cheng family's cargo ship back. It's located on an island not far from where the cargo ship was hijacked. I've already had that guard wait for you there."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Mengling nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

He immediately took the Cheng family members, boarded a cargo ship, and brought a new crew and a captain to that island.

Since Gu Chen did not explain how he solved it.

She didn't bother to explain the identity of the old man beside him, so she wisely refrained from asking further questions.

Gu Chen and Zhong Hong returned to the Li Huo Prefecture Night Watch Division and inspected the area.

Gu Chen instructed Qian Fu to bring two maids and servants to his residence.

Make room available for Zhong Hong to live in.

He will be responsible for Zhong Hong's daily life from now on.

Qian Fu couldn't discern Zhong Hong's true strength, nor did he recognize Zhong Hong; he simply assumed he was some powerful retainer recruited by Gu Chen.

I didn't ask any more questions.

They went down to make the arrangements immediately.