Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-23

“What lowly slave dares block my path? You’re asking for death!”

Along with this cold shout, a long whip whistled through the air as it shot towards Long Chen.

That whip moved extremely quickly and craftily. The person attacking him was surprisingly a whip master. Long Chen should have been able to dodge, but it was more difficult with him holding the little girl.

Fury arose within him; it was now already too late for him to dodge. Protecting the little girl, he used his spiritual energy to protect his body and prepared to forcibly take the blow on his arm.

Just at that moment, a huge figure arrived in front of Long Chen.

Bang!

Wilde grinned at Long Chen. It was he who took the blow on his back for Long Chen.

Long Chen’s eyes darkened. He wanted to see exactly who it was that had attacked, but that carriage was already speeding away.

A surprised sound came from it, as that person clearly was startled by Wilde’s arrival. However, the carriage still didn’t stop.

“Are you okay Wilde?” asked Long Chen, suppressing his anger.

“Brother Long, I’m fine. I’ve been hit so many times since I was a child that I’m already used to it,” grinned Wilde.

But the clothing on his back was torn, exposing his skin. A line of blood was slowly flowing out.

A woman suddenly came by and grabbed the girl. She wept inconsolably as she thanked Long Chen and Wilde.

Wilde smiled goofily, and Long Chen consoled her with a couple of words before leaving.

But Long Chen was stifling a stomach of anger. To barge down such a busy and crowded road and actually hit someone with a whip... Long Chen was planning on having a good look into the person who dared be so bold.

Although Wilde’s wound that was dripping with blood appeared frightening, it was just a flesh wound.

This amazed Long Chen; just how powerful was Wilde’s physical body? That person, who had attacked viciously, was extremely powerful, but his attack only broke Wilde’s skin.

As the two of them walked, Wilde’s stomach suddenly let out a growl that was as loud as thunder. Long Chen stopped distractedly, suddenly realizing that there was a bun store right beside them from which the smell of meat was wafting out of.

Wilde embarrassingly said, “Brother Long, I’m not hungry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m hungry, so let’s go have a snack.” Long Chen brought Wilde into the bun store and found a table for the two of them to sit at. Directly handing a gold coin to the owner, he said, “Bring out all the buns in your store.”

“Brother Long, I’m really not hungry. I only need some rice,” Wilde hastily said.

That was because he had had countless experiences of people seeing him eat and immediately breaking off relations with him. Wilde was afraid of this calamity repeating itself again.

“Wilde, you blocked a whip for me. From now on, you’re like a brother to me, and I, Long Chen, would also block a whip for you. Therefore, you shouldn’t say anything to me that you wouldn’t say to a brother, okay?” Long Chen seriously said.

Wilde was someone who had blocked a whip for him after only just meeting him. Such a person was worthy of being called brother by Long Chen.

“Brother Long… I….”

Wilde suddenly began to cry loudly. In all his years of homeless wandering, this was the first time he felt this warmth and the first time someone ever treated him this well.

“Good bro, don’t cry. Between us brothers, we don’t cry, we sweat. Tears are for cowards.” Long Chen patted Wilde’s shoulder.

“Okay brother Long. I’ll listen to you. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do.” Wilde wiped away his tears.

Long Chen considered telling him that he should have some more confidence, but when he thought about how he had mistakenly built a chimney instead of a well, he decided against it.

At this time, the owner of the bun shop brought over a basket. Long Chen smiled, “Wilde, eat as much as you want. Brother Long has plenty of money, so don’t hold back for me.”

Wilde nodded and no longer stood on courtesy. The fist-sized buns were swallowed each with one bite, one after another.

Although he had long since prepared himself, Long Chen was still shocked by Wilde’s appetite. Even after all of the over three hundred meat buns had been eaten, Wilde still seemed to want more.

By now, the owner was extremely anxious. All his buns were gone now, and there was no way for him to make more in such a short time.

Three hundred buns were only about six silver coins. But when he went to give Long Chen the change, the two of them had already left.

When the two of them returned to Long Chen’s home, he first brought Wilde to see his mother. Mrs. Long was quite frightened at first due to how large Wilde was.

But after seeing Wilde was so easy-going and childlike, she quickly calmed down. When Long Chen told her what Wilde had been through, Mrs. Long immediately agreed to let him stay with them.

Once Wilde was settled down, Long Chen went to go refine pills. While refining in his own home, he didn’t need to be worried so much as in the alchemist guild, so he unleashed his powerful Spiritual Strength fully, quickly increasing his pill refining speed to its peak.

Three full days passed before Long Chen once more came out of his room. He had unceasingly refined for three days and three nights. He now held almost a hundred FengFu Pills, and all of them were middle grade.

Other than the FengFu Pill, Long Chen had also refined the very popular Blood Condensing Pill, Qi Condensing Pill, the Poison Cure Pill, etc. These were all to be sold to the guild to pay back his credit loan.

Just as Long Chen exited his room, Bao-er walked over with an embarrassed expression. Long Chen couldn’t help distractedly asking, “Bao-er, what’s going on?”

“Young master… uh…” Bao-er was a bit flustered.

“Whatever it is, just tell me,” laughed Long Chen.

“Well uh… in the house… there’s… no more food,” she uneasily said.

Wilde’s appetite really was just too great. Knowing how pitiful Wilde’s life had been, Mrs. Long had specifically told the kitchen to make more food.

But the result was that just three days later, over a month’s supply of the Long family’s food had been eaten. Mrs. Long had secretly taken out a piece of jewelry for Bao-er to go sell.

Bao-er had felt that this kind of thing should first be consulted with Long Chen, so she had come to find him.

Long Chen laughed and patted her head. “Little girl, you really have become smart. I’ll handle this matter.”

Bao-er was Long Chen’s personal maid, and despite how poor the Long family had been, Bao-er was unwilling to leave. Long Chen had long since begun to see her as a little sister.

“Young master, there’s also not even enough food for dinner tonight,” she reminded. At this point, she was practically the manager of the entire household. The bookkeeper had felt that there was no opportunity for advancement at the Long household, so he had long since left.

“Okay, I’ll handle it right now.” Long Chen still had a few gold coins on him, but that was just chump change. He called over Wilde and the two of them left to go to the alchemist guild.

There was no real reason why he had brought Wilde along. Long Chen just wanted to develop his thinking some more. Wisdom was related with experience after all.

Arriving at the guild, Long Chen went directly to the medicinal ingredient room and handed over dozens of round medicinal pills to the youth in charge.

This youth was scared witless; he clearly remembered that Long Chen had only come three days ago for these medicinal ingredients. How did he manage to come back with these medicinal pills in just three days? On average, it was around half a year before people came back with enough pills to pay off their credit.

Putting aside his shock, he dutifully took them and professionally examined each one.

Seventeen middle grade and thirty-six low grade medicinal pills. Even though he had the utmost confidence in his tools, he was still in disbelief.

When he confirmed that there was no mistake, he deducted the debt Long Chen had on credit. In the end, there were still some pills left over.

“Master Long Chen, for these remaining medicinal pills, do you plan on using them to exchange for medicinal ingredients or should I exchange them for gold coins?” the youth respectfully asked.

“Convert them all to gold coins.”

“Alright, please wait a moment.” That youth hastily flipped through a book with the most recent market prices for the medicinal pills. He had to calculate the price in accordance to that criterion.

“Master Long, in total, it’s 8,170,000 gold coins.”

Long Chen nodded. The alchemist guild wasn’t for-profit, so this price was very fair. It was only a tenth less than the market price, and being able to enjoy so many special treatments in exchange was definitely extremely worth it.

“Give it to me on two crystal cards. Two million on one card, and the rest on the other,” said Long Chen.

When he returned home, Bao-er was already waiting at the gates. She handed Long Chen a red invitation card. “Young master Shi Feng sent over an invitation to you.”

Long Chen opened it and smiled. Shi Feng had exited his seclusion after breaking into the Blood Condensation realm. He had prepared a feast in the Heroic Assembly House and invited everyone to celebrate with him. When he calculated how many days had passed, it seemed about right.

“Bao-er, here. Do good work as the housekeeper and this young master will purchase you a generous dowry in the future, letting you marry in style,” laughed Long Chen as he handed a crystal card to Bao-er.

Bao-er’s face was completely red, but when she saw the number on the card, her expression changed to complete disbelief.

“Little rich girl, the Long household’s future work will be handled by you. Oh right, go and buy back all of my mom’s jewelry. Even if it costs you ten times as much, it’s not a problem,” said Long Chen.

“Yes, don’t worry young master, Bao-er will handle it properly.” Bao-er patted her chest several times and stood completely straight with confidence.

Long Chen nodded and brought Wilde along to the Heroic Assembly House.

The Heroic Assembly House was a famous restaurant in the capital. The people who ate there were extremely rich. The main attraction was, of course, the imposing name, and adding on the good food, it became a favorite place for the royalty and nobility to party.

At its top floor was a large round table. At this time, it was packed with all kinds of delicacies. However, at the moment, everyone was just idly chatting, and no one picked up their chopsticks.

When they saw a certain figure walk in, everyone hastily stood up.

“Brother Long-“

“Brother Long-“

“Lord Long-“

Shi Feng, Fatty Yu, and the others all called out to him, but when they saw Wilde behind them they all jumped.

Shi Feng was already considered very large, but he was still small in front of Wilde.

“Let me introduce you to my brother, Wilde.”

When they heard his introduction, everyone hastily greeted Wilde, but all Wilde did was nod and foolishly laugh.

Only when Long Chen arrived did they all sit down to eat. Shi Feng raised his glass. “Brother Long, I won’t say any unnecessary words. I, Shi Feng, toast to you!”

Shi Feng deeply engraved his gratefulness to Long Chen in his heart. He would have needed several years before reaching the Blood Condensation realm, but now that he reached it so early, it would definitely be a huge help to him in the future, allowing him to reach even higher heights.

“We all toast to you as well, brother Long!”

Fatty Yu took the lead and everyone stood up. With the medicinal liquid Long Chen had given them, they had quickly begun sensing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth. Shou Hou from the Daybreak Marquis and fatty Yu had already reached the first Heavenstage of Qi Condensation.

All this had only been possible due to Long Chen’s support. Everyone was filled with gratitude to him.

“Cheers!”

Long Chen laughed. No matter what, these people had all helped each other in troubled times. They were his good friends.

After a couple of drinks, everyone started to chat. Only Wilde was completely focused on eating.

Long Chen had intentionally asked Shi Feng to order some extra food. Luckily, Wilde had already eaten a lot before coming; otherwise, he might have scared fatty Yu and the others to death.

Everyone was talking about their current situations. Not only were they full of vigor, but now that they could cultivate, their fortunes within their families had also risen in accord.

The most important thing was the news that Long Chen had become a Pill Apprentice had passed throughout practically the entire imperial capital. Long Chen’s relationship with fatty Yu and the others was something everyone knew about.

Therefore, each of their families had secretly told them to make some good relations with him. This relieved them of the constant pressure they were under.

Just as everyone was conversing, footsteps suddenly came from below. Shi Feng frowned. “I definitely told the owner to keep an eye out. I already reserved the entire restaurant, so how is there still someone coming up?”

“Whatever, having more people is also fun.” Fatty Yu had clearly become a bit tipsy and his tongue had become loose.

A voice rang out at this moment. “Everyone in here get out. I don’t want to have to eat with a bunch of lowly degenerates.”

Long Chen’s expression immediately turned cold, and the veins in his hands jumped out angrily.