Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-998

That person was just about to detour a bit further away, but hearing Long Chen call him, he winced and came over.

“Does senior apprentice-brother need anything?” he asked.

“Of course. Seeing your forehead full and your bones out of alignment, I can tell you must have been beaten quite a bit. Aiya, even your head is swelling. I have a seed from a Divine Tree God that can let you find luck and avoid calamity, allowing you to safely pass this part of the trial. This kind of seed is something I just bought from this brother. Back then, I spent two thousand middle grade spirit stones, but I find that with my power, I don’t need this thing. So I want to trade it. How is it, do you want it?” asked Long Chen.

“You’re selling it to me?” Hearing this, that person immediately ran through some calculations. He shrewdly said, “This seed is now second-hand, so I’ll offer at most one thousand five hundred.”

“But… doesn’t that mean I’ll lose five hundred?” asked Long Chen.

“Let’s forget about it. I’ll continue onwards. Perhaps this region comes to an end in just a bit,” said that man, faking that he was about to leave.

“Fine, fine, I’ll take the loss. I’ll treat it as half selling and half giving,” said Long Chen with a ‘pained’ expression.

That shrewd person excitedly left with the seed. His appearance was like he had just made a fortune, making Qian Duoduo dumbfounded.

“Everyone likes to get things for cheap. It’s about how you can take advantage of that. Although there are many other factors in business, this is definitely a simple one. If you add it to your marketing techniques, your profit will definitely multiply. You can’t do business too rigidly,” laughed Long Chen as he turned to leave. He had already figured out the origin of the seed, so there was no need to waste any more time here.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen!” called out Qian Duoduo.

“What is it?”

Qian Duoduo clenched his teeth and asked, “Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you are a dragon amongst men. I don’t know if you think highly of this junior brother, but junior brother is willing to become your dog, your horse, whatever you need.”

“You want to join me, correct? It just so happens I need someone like you who knows business. But first, think of a way to avoid washing out,” laughed Long Chen, waving his hand in goodbye.

Qian Duoduo was pretty smart, and it seemed he also had some experience. Long Chen would be at ease with such a person handling things. If he gave him an opportunity, he would cherish it more than others.

Long Chen truly needed someone like him. The Xuantian Dao Sect was huge, and he would be busy. He needed someone to handle these things. Although he didn’t bother with business, he knew money was the number one requirement for cultivators. Without money, no matter how great your talent was, you would still starve to death.

The Dragonblood Legion needed to grow, and they needed great financial ability behind them. Upon arriving here, he saw that everyone’s talent could only count as average.

Any sect would focus their resources on the peak geniuses, and Long Chen didn’t want the Dragonblood Legion to become unevenly matched and eventually fracture. That was the situation he wanted to avoid the most.

If they couldn’t obtain enough resources from the sect, then they would need to prepare. Zheng Wenlong was only able to give him a few resources, and he couldn’t rely too much on him. After all, distant water couldn’t be drunk.

Before Zheng Wenlong fully established himself in Central Plains, he needed to rely on himself for resources. He had to allow the Dragonblood warriors to grow at least as quickly as the top disciples, or if they were thrown too far into the distance, the amount of resources they would get would shrink as well. Then it would just be an unending cycle.

The Dragonblood warriors needed to focus on cultivating, and he himself couldn’t be running around all day. So he needed someone skilled in this regard to help him handle things.

Qian Duoduo’s appearance gave Long Chen a pleasant surprise. He was smart enough, and as a person, he also seemed good. He’d think it over and see if he was worth grooming.

As he continued forward, he directly summoned the divine ring, and whenever he encountered one of the wooden puppets, he would smash it apart before moving on.

A few days later, he finally escaped from the mist. What was in front of him was a huge lake. The water was completely still and clear, looking like a mirror. It was beautiful and enchanting.

The lake was unimaginably huge, so huge that the other end could not be seen. There were quite a few people in front of it, unable to find a solution.

“Boss, you’ve come!”

There were thousands of disciples in front of the lake, racking their brains for a solution. One of them was a Dragonblood warrior.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you crossing?” asked Long Chen.

“The lake is very strange. There’s no way to swim or to fly across it,” he said.

He explained how people who tried to go over the air immediately fell, and people who tried to swim immediately sank into the depths of the lake, unable to float. Some people had tried to cross the lake, and right now, they were at the bottom of the lake, waving at them. A few disciples were now using a long rope to pull them back to the shore.

Originally, they had thought that if they couldn’t fly or swim, they could walk across the bottom. But after just a few meters, they found that the water began to condense around them. There was no way to continue forward, and as a result of going too far, there was no way back either.

“Were there people who crossed before?” asked Long Chen. If all the people had failed to cross, there shouldn’t be this few people here.

“Senior apprentice-brother Yan Mochen created a bridge with his earth energy and brought a group of people over. But after they crossed, the bridge collapsed. The foundation is right there.” A disciple pointed to a pile of dirt.

“I hear senior apprentice-sister Zhao Ziyan created a water bridge over the surface of the lake and brought a group of people over as well. The water bridge just disappeared after,” sighed another.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you’re so strong. You can bring us over, right?” asked a cute maiden, charmingly looking at him.

“No, I’m not a rank five Celestial; I don’t have such abilities. It’ll be hard enough to get myself across.” Long Chen naturally wouldn’t fall for such a thing. Furthermore, she wasn’t even that pretty.

Everyone was disappointed. They were unable to come up with anything for crossing this lake.

“Hmph, I just knew the Eastern Wasteland’s dogs were useless,” sneered someone within the crowd.

This person was crafty, and his voice was dispersed through the air so they couldn’t tell who was speaking. Everyone’s expressions changed.

“Idiot, your spiritual fluctuations sell you out.”

Long Chen waved his hand, directly pulling out the person who had spoken.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing! Don’t blame the wrong person!” cried that fellow.

“Good luck!” Long Chen tossed him over the lake.

That person fell after just a few hundred meters, sinking right to the bottom. Long Chen frowned. As expected, this lake was strange. With his power, that person should have flown hundreds of miles, not meters. Some unknown force was present.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, he’ll die like this. Then you’ll have killed someone,” warned a kindhearted stranger.

“It’s fine. He can definitely hold on for a couple of months. Once the trial is over, someone will naturally come and save him. And if no one saves him, he’ll have died after the trial. In other words, I wouldn’t have killed anyone during the trial. His death has nothing to do with me,” said Long Chen.

Everyone felt a chill as well as some sympathy for that fellow. What was the point of having such a wretched mouth? Now he had done it. If no one saved him, he would die in the water.

That was a terrifying death. It was almost impossible to move in that water. If he wasn’t crushed to death by the water, he would starve to death. Within this water, there was no way to absorb spiritual qi, and so he could only wait for death.

Even if someone saved him, it would be after the trial, and he would have lost his chance to join the Xuantian Dao Sect. Why bother?

Looking at this lake, Long Chen thought to himself that there was no way for him to cross it. He remembered back in the Xuantian Monastery, there had also been a river blocking the way. That river had been filled with man-eating fish, and he had used a catapult to fling him across.

But that move wouldn’t work here. This lake was too strange. He had a thought to summon Huo Long and fly across with the Dragonblood warrior, but there were so many people watching him and he felt embarrassed to go on his own. Furthermore, he didn’t know if it would work.

“Long Chen, I’ve finally found you! Die!”

Just as Long Chen was wracking his brain, a furious shout rang out. The air became icy as if it had suddenly become winter.

“Han Yunshan!”

Han Yunshan charged over, runes revolving around him. An ice sword appeared in his hands, and he slashed it at Long Chen.

“Die! Freezing Ice Terror Slash!” roared Han Yunshan. His sword suddenly exploded in size, and the Ice Qi emitting from it seemed like it could freeze a person’s soul.

This was one of his most powerful moves. Long Chen had tortured him and caused his family jewels to be destroyed. Even Heavenly Dao energy wasn’t fully effective at healing injuries there. Thus, his family line really might be severed.

Furthermore, many people had seen him naked and dragged along by a bull. Even if he made huge accomplishments in the future, it wouldn’t wash away that stain. His hatred for Long Chen had reached a peak, and he immediately attacked with his full power, not caring if he killed him.

“Double Dragon Destruction!” Long Chen formed hand seals, and two dragons blew apart the huge ice sword. Millions of diamond-like crystals filled the air, appearing beautiful and gorgeous.

Han Yunshan was stunned. He had thought that this move of his would at least heavily injure Long Chen, if not kill him. But instead of seeing Long Chen on his last breaths, a fist smashed into his nose, breaking his bones once more.

Han Yunshan’s face caved in and he fainted.

Everyone present only came to their senses now. They had only seen two dragons and a large explosion before everything ended. Han Yunshan was like a chicken in Long Chen’s hand.

“Isn’t… isn’t this a bit too exaggerated?”