"I'm older than you."
"Uh."
"And my cultivation is higher than yours, too."
Looking at the stunned Luo Chen, Duan Feng chuckled. "So stop calling me Little Duan."
"Fine!"
Helpless, Luo Chen waved a hand and said, "Now that the Dao Discussion Platform is closed, Little Duan, what do you plan to do?"
Duan Feng's face stiffened. Seeing this, Feng Xia, who had been fraught with worry, couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Left with no choice, Duan Feng couldn't even be bothered to correct Luo Chen's way of addressing him anymore.
He sighed and said, "What plans could I have? Platform or no platform, a man still has to make a living and cultivate. I can only find another way out."
*Find another way out?*
Duan Feng actually possessed a decent craft in repairing dharma artifacts; Luo Chen knew this well.
Back then, when the sub-blades of Luo Chen's Jasper Saber had been damaged, Duan Feng had repaired them for him free of charge.
Later, on Luo Chen's birthday, Duan Feng had even gifted him a set of tips on maintaining dharma artifacts as a birthday present.
If Duan Feng opened a small artifact repair shop in Dahe Market, making a living would certainly be no problem.
However, opening a shop required starting capital, connections, and above all, time to build a reputation and cultivate a clientele.
And Duan Feng had none of those things.
One could easily imagine that whatever alternative path he sought in the future would almost certainly involve combat.
Who knew—he might very well end up turning into a bandit cultivator, living off killing others to seize their treasures.
They were neighbors, after all, and Luo Chen did not want to see him embark on such a perilous, precarious path.
"How about joining the Mountain Breaker Gang? Come to my Pill Hall, and you can live high and eat well with me."
Hearing this invitation, Duan Feng was quite surprised.
He hesitated. "Wouldn't that be improper?"
"What's improper about it? I'm the top alchemist of the Mountain Breaker Gang. With me covering for you, nobody will dare point fingers."
"I need to think it over."
"Fair enough. Once you've made up your mind, just let me know. When the time comes, Big Brother Qin, Sister-in-law Murong, and I will act as your guarantors together."
Luo Chen didn't push him.
Inviting Duan Feng to join the Pill Hall had been a whim, mentioned off the cuff.
Yet on deeper reflection, it was actually a very shrewd move.
Under his hard work over the past three months, the Pill Hall's earnings had soared, and Luo Chen's dividend share had grown larger and larger.
Yet at the end of the day, the lion's share of the pill profits was taken by Mi Shuhua and the Mountain Breaker Gang.
Compared to such an enormous interest group, Luo Chen's individual power was modest, and his words carried little weight.
However, if he could steadily increase his influence within the gang, he might well be able to renegotiate the profit-sharing ratio in the future.
Similar maneuvering was commonplace even in the day-to-day affairs of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
Back when Murong Qinglian and Qin Liangchen had gone all out to defend him, hadn't that also been an effort to secure an ally for the couple?
And when Luo Wudi was bent on opening up the trade route to Snow Lotus Market, wasn't he also trying to support his friend at the ninth level of Qi Refining?
What Luo Chen was doing now operated on the exact same logic as when he had invited Gu Caiyi to the Pill Hall.
Moreover, Duan Feng was different from Gu Caiyi.
This man had a very simple mindset; his sole desire was to increase his strength, whether in realm or combat prowess.
He was also formidable. Among the vast sea of rogue Qi refiners in Dahe Market, he could easily rank in the top ten.
Such a person was relatively easy to keep in check.
Besides, Luo Chen had no intention of controlling him; he merely wanted to plant seeds of goodwill!
Even if Duan Feng later moved on to a better place, he would remember Luo Chen's kindness, and there might come a day when he would lend a helping hand.
Lastly, even if Duan Feng joined the Pill Hall, Luo Chen wouldn't be paying his salary!
The Mountain Breaker Gang would pay it for him!
Perhaps some of it came from the pill profits Luo Chen generated.
Still, Luo Chen couldn't pocket that money anyway, so he might as well use it as an effortless favor to win Duan Feng's goodwill.
***
The sudden closure of the Dao Discussion Platform sent shockwaves through Dahe Market.
The ripple effects it brought were colossal!
First and foremost, just as Luo Chen had anticipated, a large number of small vendors suffered near-fatal blows.
Without the platform drawing massive foot traffic, the heavily marked-up goods suddenly found no buyers at all.
Luo Chen had prepared in advance, promptly instructing Feng Xia and Yuan Xiaoyue to slash their prices.
Milk tea that had previously cost one spirit stone per cup was immediately discounted to two cups for one spirit stone.
On top of that, they introduced a summer beverage—chilled spirit-infusing fruit tea, both delicious and cheap.
Yuan Xiaoyue did the same, increasing portion sizes without raising prices to sharpen their competitive edge.
Those who had failed to prepare ahead of time, however, were left in miserable straits.
Luo Chen had no leisure to care about their survival; he only knew that another massive consequence had already begun interfering with his daily travel.
"Which batch is this?"
Luo Chen looked down at the mangled, shattered remains of the cultivator beneath his feet, his face somewhat dark.
Hearing the suppressed anger in his voice, Zhou Yuanli cautiously replied, "The third batch. It's also the one with the highest cultivation—his realm was already at the eighth level of Qi Refining."
"A stray cultivator like this dared to rob me?" Luo Chen found it utterly absurd.
Were they blind? He had two eighth-level Qi Refining cultivators as bodyguards out in the open!
Zhou Yuanli smiled wryly. This was hardly some run-of-the-mill stray cultivator.
The man possessed extremely rich combat experience, along with a prized superior-grade flying sword artifact.
If the two brothers scouting ahead hadn't uncovered the ambush in advance, Luo Chen would certainly have been caught off guard in the sudden skirmish.
Luo Chen took a deep breath, casting his gaze toward Fallen Phoenix Mountain in the inner city.
"These audacious fools—they were probably regulars on the Dao Discussion Platform, weren't they?"
"Indeed. Today's man was named Feng Yijian. He once ranked ninety-seventh on the Dahe Prodigy Roll. In a one-on-one duel, his combat strength was quite remarkable."
*One-on-one?*
Too bad he was facing one against six today.
Luo Chen and Dongfang Liang, who ostensibly were only at the seventh level of Qi Refining, hadn't even needed to lift a finger.
Zhou Yuanli and the other three bodyguards had blasted him into minced meat in an instant. The superior-grade flying sword Feng Yijian had just unleashed hadn't even reached Luo Chen.
Luo Chen rubbed his brow. Recently, such ambushes and robberies had grown increasingly frequent.
With the Dao Discussion Platform closed, the numerous Qi Refining experts who had once gathered there suddenly had nowhere to go.
Among them, cultivators from clan backgrounds were fine, as they could return to serve their families.
However, those rogue cultivators from outside, or even local ones, abruptly lost their livelihoods.
Yet they were accustomed to fighting.
Deprived of an outlet and having lost a steady stream of cultivation resources, all while armed to the teeth, homicidal impulses naturally flared in their hearts.
The outer market had practically devolved into nonstop chaos.
Several early- and mid-stage Qi rogue cultivators suffered immensely, turning one after another to the Mountain Breaker Gang, the Great River Gang, and the Xuanyi Society just to seek a sliver of protection.
And as the top alchemist of the Mountain Breaker Gang, the exceedingly wealthy Danchenzi—Luo Chen—naturally fell into the sights of those rogue cultivators who lived by the blade.
Ninth-level Qi refiners might still have a few reservations.
Yet those reckless seventh- and eighth-level cultivators, short on foresight but bold in their martial skill, harbored no scruples whatsoever.
During Luo Chen's commutes, they had struck several times.
Sometimes they came in groups of three to five, sometimes as lone ambushers.
If this continued, there was no guarantee a ninth-level Qi refiner wouldn't eventually step in personally.
"They really take me for a fat sheep to butcher!"
Cursing under his breath, Luo Chen sent his men to clear the battlefield.
The mid-grade dharma robes were shredded, and the storage bag had also burst apart under the bombardment. Only a mid-grade dharma artifact held in the corpse's hand and the superior-grade flying sword that had soared into the air remained intact.
"Liu Qiang!"
Liu Qiang looked up.
With a flick of Luo Chen's hand, the flying sword hovered before Liu Qiang.
"Last time, you rendered great service protecting me and suffered heavy injuries. This superior-grade flying sword is yours as a reward."
*Rewarding it to me?*
Liu Qiang froze for a moment, then accepted it with immense delight.
A superior-grade flying sword! In the past, it would have been worth over two thousand spirit stones.
With the recent chaos driving artifact prices up, buying one at Wanbao Pavilion would cost at least three thousand!
"Hall Master is truly generous! Liu Qiang thanks you for the reward."
Luo Chen paid it no mind, tossing the other mid-grade dharma artifact to Dongfang Liang, who had the lowest cultivation.
He received another round of effusive thanks.
The other three bodyguards harbored no resentment either. In the previous two ambushes, aside from keeping the spirit stones and pills, Luo Chen had distributed most of the remaining spoils among them.
It was simply Liu Qiang and Dongfang Liang's turn this time.
Luo Chen's gesture was remarkably generous.
Yet he was compelled to do so by circumstance.
With more and more bandit cultivators hunting for treasure, his security grew increasingly vital.
Among the five bodyguards under him, aside from Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang, the other three had not been particularly valued in the gang previously.
They didn't possess very good dharma artifacts.
To enhance their combat power, Luo Chen simply made a generous display using borrowed spoils.
"Still, when will these days finally come to an end?"
Luo Chen sighed, feeling more or less resentful toward that Golden Core Master.
The root of all this trouble lay with that fellow.
Unfortunately, the ceaseless turmoil Luo Chen wished would end showed no signs of stopping.
Because an even greater chaos had already arrived.
"An ancient ruin has been discovered in the Guyuan Mountain Range. It's confirmed to be the ruin of a Golden Core Master."
The moment he arrived at Crescent Moon Valley, he learned the news from Murong Qinglian and the others.
***
"Confirmed?"
"How was it confirmed?"
Standing among the crowd, Luo Chen asked curiously.
This time, it was Sikong Shoujia's turn to enlighten him.
"The array surrounding that ruin is the renowned Heavenly Craft Spirit Snatching Array."
"Only the Golden Core Masters of the former Ghost Spirit Valley could lay down this array. Ordinary Core Formation cultivators couldn't even set it up."
Luo Chen grew even more curious. "Ghost Spirit Valley? There's no such sect in the Jade Cauldron Domain!"
Stroking his beard, Sikong Shoujia said leisurely, "It's only natural that you of the younger generation wouldn't know the name."
The faces of Luo Chen and the others stiffened. *What's with the senior act?!*
Everyone here was of the same generation; you're well into your late decades, but aren't you still in the Qi Refining stage?
That's right—our cultivation world doesn't care about worldly seniority; seniority is drawn by cultivation realm!
"Back then, sixteen sects jointly launched the War of Reclamation, led by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect and supported by the other five superior sects. You should know all their names."
"Among those sixteen, the remaining ten sects were also illustrious entities. The Luoyun Sect and Mount Ailao were among them, while Ghost Spirit Valley was a grand sect of arrays."
"During the War of Reclamation, Ghost Spirit Valley contributed immensely, laying arrays upon every mountain and quelling demons across every river."
"Unfortunately, during a beast tide led by a rank-four Beast Emperor, Ghost Spirit Valley's encampment took a devastating blow. Perfected Jade Cauldron was unable to reinforce them in time, resulting in the near-total annihilation of Ghost Spirit Valley."
"Later, an old Golden Core from Ghost Spirit Valley rushed over to gather the remnants and somberly withdrew from the War of Reclamation."
"Four hundred years have passed, and that old Golden Core passed away long ago. With no successors, Ghost Spirit Valley gradually declined. Today, only a single branch remains in the form of a cultivation clan, subordinate to the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect."
Listening to Sikong Shoujia's vivid recount, everyone couldn't help but feel their hearts stir with yearning.
The War of Reclamation!
What a magnificent, earth-shaking spectacle that must have been.
Sixteen sects had marched together against the Lianxia Mountain Range, cutting through a million demons, finally securing the Jade Cauldron Domain and carving out a new land of cultivation for humanity.
Yet in that vast war, while there were rising figures like Master Yunhe who shot up like meteors, there were also tragedies like Ghost Spirit Valley, where an entire sect perished.
"Great sects that suffered catastrophic losses like Ghost Spirit Valley weren't just one. There was also the Minghuang Sect, the Haoran..."
"Hold on, hold on, you're drifting further and further off topic!"
Luo Chen cut through Sikong Shoujia's long-winded tangent, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
"When Ghost Spirit Valley's camp was destroyed back then, shouldn't they all have died? Why would someone run thousands of miles away to the Guyuan Mountain Range to set up an array?"
Sikong Shoujia spread his hands. "How should I know? In any case, the corpse of Ghost Spirit Valley's Supreme Elder was never found back then. Everyone assumed he hadn't died, but right up until the sect faded into obscurity, the Supreme Elder never returned, so people assumed he had long been devoured by demon beasts."
"Now, however, it seems that Supreme Elder possessed considerable skill after all, having managed to flee into the Guyuan Mountain Range."
Through his explanation, everyone finally understood.
As it turned out, the Heavenly Craft Spirit Snatching Array was a top-tier rank-three grand array, one that could only be laid out by a Golden Core array grandmaster.
Given sufficient time, its power could rival a rank-four grand array, making it more than capable of resisting a rank-four Beast Emperor.
Furthermore, this array possessed a unique characteristic!
It did not strictly require spirit stones to maintain; it could draw upon the land and ley lines, absorbing free ambient worldly spiritual energy from the surroundings.
Even after countless years, the array could remain intact.
Thus, someone deduced that the ruin discovered in the Guyuan Mountain Range was the resting place of a Golden Core Master—specifically, the Supreme Elder of Ghost Spirit Valley.
"Rumor has it that someone from our gang managed by pure luck to step into the outer perimeter of the array and discovered several spirit herbs over five hundred years old. If one reaches the inner sanctum, there might even be millennial spirit herbs!"
Sikong Shoujia clicked his tongue in wonder, clearly tempted to go exploring himself.
Someone nearby asked doubtfully, "Didn't this happen four hundred years ago? How could there be five-hundred-year or millennial natural treasures?"
The moment the words left his mouth, everyone looked at him like he was a fool.
The man froze, then realized his folly, his face instantly flushing red.
The Supreme Elder of Ghost Spirit Valley had passed away four hundred years ago, but the flora in the Guyuan Mountain Range hadn't only existed for four hundred years.
Under the protection of the grand array, the resources within could easily grow undisturbed to far greater ages.
Never mind a thousand years; even ten-thousand-year spiritual objects were not out of the question.
"Wait a moment, are you saying our Mountain Breaker Gang discovered this ruin?" Luo Chen caught the implication in the old man's words.
Sikong Shoujia nodded. "Of course! The Guyuan Mountain Range has always been our main stomping ground. It's only natural that cultivators from our gang would be the first to stumble upon such a massive ruin."
At these words, the cultivators of both the Pill Hall and the Medicine Hall grew excited.
If the Mountain Breaker Gang had discovered the ruin, shouldn't the spoils belong to the Mountain Breaker Gang?
As members of the gang, wouldn't they get a share?
Even if they couldn't get a direct cut, actively applying to explore would give them the advantage of local access.
For a moment, the cultivators of both halls were itching with anticipation.
Seeing this, Luo Chen, who had initially felt a flicker of excitement, gradually cooled down instead.
There were no walls that didn't leak wind, and the Mountain Breaker Gang was hardly an ironclad sect with absolute cohesion.
Now that even they knew, how much longer until all of Dahe Market found out?
Perhaps anyone with reasonably sharp ears was already aware!
And when a Golden Core ruin was involved—the resting place of a sect's Supreme Elder, no less—the sheer volume of treasures it might contain was simply unimaginable!
A feast of this scale would likely never fall to ordinary rogue cultivators like them.
Yet just because Luo Chen remained levelheaded did not mean others could.
Over the next two days in particular, the news leaking out of the Guyuan Mountain Range grew increasingly sensational, driving everyone into a frenzy.
Lishan Seeds—the seeds of a rank-two spirit fruit that could aid Foundation Establishment cultivators in their training, especially effective for Earth-path practitioners.
An eight-hundred-year Root of Heaven and Earth—one of the main ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills. At such an extraordinary age, its medicinal potency was scarcely inferior to an ordinary low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.
If consumed raw, it could boost a cultivator's chances of Foundation Establishment by twenty percent out of thin air.
If refined into Foundation Establishment Pills by an alchemy master, it would yield mid-grade pills at the very least, bumping the success rate from a low-grade pill's thirty percent up to forty percent!
Beyond these two spirit herbs, there were various precious ingredients such as Purple Monkey Flowers and Shadow Scale Grass.
These items alone were more than enough to stir everyone's deepest desires.
Yet these were merely wild natural treasures. It was rumored that the Supreme Elder had carried more than half of Ghost Spirit Valley's assets when joining the War of Reclamation.
Inside, there was no shortage of Foundation Establishment Pills, and perhaps even resources for Golden Core formation.
Under the lure of such immense riches, the entirety of Dahe Market boiled over.
Every day, hundreds, even thousands of cultivators poured into the Guyuan Mountain Range.
Even the threat of demon beasts had been cast entirely to the back of their minds.
Luo Chen watched the situation unfold, never expecting that the fallout from the Golden Core ruin would soon reach Crescent Moon Valley.
Standing on the cliffside terrace, Luo Chen looked down into the valley.
Luo Wudi was negotiating with Murong Qinglian.
The conversation between the two was conducted out in the open without any concealment; any cultivator paying the slightest attention could hear every word.
"The Medicine Hall will provide fifty people to enter the mountains with me to identify and harvest spirit herbs."
"That's too many. Taking away so many people at once will make it impossible for the Medicine Hall to operate normally."
"It's not too many. Besides, for any herbs found, the cultivators may keep thirty percent of the proceeds for themselves."
"Still, too many people have already gone to that ruin. It's far too dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
Luo Wudi glanced at the surrounding cultivators watching them and gave a light chuckle.
"Then why don't you ask them whether they want to go?"
Murong Qinglian looked at the eager faces of the Medicine Hall cultivators and let out a wry smile.
"Fine, do as you please!"
Luo Wudi clapped his hands. "Those who want to go, come register with me. Higher realms get priority!"
In an instant, eighty percent of the Medicine Hall's cultivators swarmed toward him, every single one hoping to be chosen.
Luo Chen watched all this impassively.
When he turned around, he found a group of Pill Hall cultivators staring down with burning eyes.
"What are you looking at!"
Without warning, a thunderous roar erupted.
Luo Chen stared at them with a chilly gaze. "A bunch of old, weak, women, and children—do you want to go throw your lives away too?"
Most of them fell dead silent.
Yet someone still muttered under their breath, grumbling about how blocking someone's path to the Dao was akin to murdering their parents.
It was Luo Erduo!
Luo Wudi's nephew.
"Whoever wants to go, get lost right now! This hall master won't stop you!"
"However, once you step out this door today, don't ever bother coming back!"
Before the words had even settled, Luo Erduo couldn't wait to fly down toward the valley floor.
A few other cultivators also hesitated for a moment before leaving the Pill Hall.
"You lot... sigh!"
The one sighing was Qu Hancheng, because almost all of those who left were fire workers, and the ones with relatively higher cultivation realms at that.
Seeing that Luo Chen's anger had not subsided, Qu Hancheng could only offer a wry smile.
The team's hearts were scattered; it was getting hard to lead them!
"Hall Master..."
"What, do you want to go too?" Luo Chen snapped, turning his head.
Qu Hancheng said in panic, "This old man is well advanced in years and still has a few little ones to look after. How could I just pack up and go? It's just that, with some people gone, will the afternoon alchemy work still proceed?"
Luo Chen let out a breath of relief and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Proceed! Why wouldn't it!"
"Not only will we refine pills, we'll refine them on a grand scale! Full blast! High volume!"
"When the time comes, let them fight to the death while we peacefully refine pills. Mi Li, Tang Quan, stop researching the Myriad Wonders Pill for now. I'm giving you a task: refine extra Fasting Pills."
"When the time comes, Elder Sikong can send men to set up stalls at the various entrances to the Guyuan Mountain Range. While they eat the meat, it's not like we can't drink the broth!"
At these words, everyone in the Pill Hall was dumbfounded.
The sharper ones, like Gu Caiyi and Sikong Shoujia, felt their eyes light up instantly.
Chapter 124