This was the first time Luo Chen had ever laid eyes on Mi Shuhua.
He was the "Old Man Mi" Qin Liangchen always spoke of, the leader of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
A full head of white hair framed a round, wrinkled face that practically beamed with vitality. Coupled with his prominent belly, he looked remarkably like a laughing Maitreya Buddha.
Placed in the mortal world, he would have passed for nothing more than an ordinary, wealthy old patriarch.
Yet Luo Chen—and indeed every rogue cultivator in Dahe Market—knew very well that he was far more formidable than his genial appearance suggested.
As everyone knew, Foundation Establishment was the very first major bottleneck on the path of cultivation.
This world was richly endowed with natural resources and teeming with worldly spiritual energy. By all rights, breaking through this threshold should have been straightforward.
Yet among those who attempted it, barely one in ten thousand ever succeeded.
Only sect cultivators found Foundation Establishment comparatively easy.
The reason lay in the fact that the method for concocting Foundation Establishment Pills remained firmly within the grasp of the great sects.
Even if a formula for the Foundation Establishment Pill occasionally leaked out, the major sects would spare no expense to seize it back.
And if the formula could not be recovered, the person who had it would be brought back regardless—dead or alive.
Thus, unless an ordinary rogue cultivator stumbled upon some extraordinary fortune, their only hope was to vie for the Foundation Establishment Pills released by the major sects each year.
Yet whenever a single Foundation Establishment Pill surfaced, it almost invariably stirred up storms of bloodshed.
Astronomical prices at auctions were commonplace.
Consequently, though Dahe Market teemed with countless rogue cultivators, the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators to emerge from their ranks over the years remained pitifully small.
Over the past century, amid the constant coming and going of cultivators, only two had ever broken through to Foundation Establishment within Dahe Market.
Mi Shuhua was one of them.
After achieving Foundation Establishment, he became the leader of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
He was a man of broad vision, extraordinarily benevolent toward low-level cultivators, and never stingy with aid whenever he came across those struggling to survive. Even when cultivators met untimely deaths in the mountains, he did everything in his power to care for their families.
It was precisely because of this that he gradually won over the hearts of the people.
Under his leadership, what had once been merely a loose alliance of impoverished rogue cultivators scraping together resources in the mountains grew steadily into a formidable power.
By now, the Mountain Breaker Gang was the largest force in Dahe Market outside the six superior sects.
The gang boasted over a hundred late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators and more than a thousand in the middle stage, while countless low-level rogue cultivators depended on doing odd jobs for them just to make a living.
Luo Chen himself, for instance, had benefited considerably from the Mountain Breaker Gang when concocting Fasting Pills back then. The cultivators who frequently ventured into the mountains had the highest demand for them.
Outside the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion, Mi Shuhua stood with hundreds of gang members gathered before a colossal jade wall.
Paying no heed to the tens of thousands of onlookers surrounding them, he pointed at the jade wall and announced in a clear, resonant voice, "In this battle, I hope you will all unite with one heart and mind to bring down our opponents!
"The victors may keep all their spoils of war. I, Mi Shuhua, will not take a single coin!
"For those who fall in battle, you may entrust your families to me. Should you leave behind children blessed with spiritual roots, I will spare no effort in raising them as cultivators!
"Furthermore, if we win this battle, I shall produce a Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward for everyone. Naturally, there is only one, so it will go to whoever first reaches peak Qi Refinement Layer 9.
"And once that person achieves Foundation Establishment, they and I will work together to secure Foundation Establishment Pills for the rest of you!
"Our Mountain Breaker Gang seeks only to shatter the mountain blocking our immortal path, so that every one of us may attain Foundation Establishment!"
As soon as these words rang out, the hundreds of Mountain Breaker cultivators shouted in unison, as though they had known all along, "Victory is ours!"
The crowd of onlookers watching from outside, meanwhile, was completely shaken.
Mi Shuhua actually possessed a Foundation Establishment Pill!
What was more, he was willing to part with it and bestow it upon someone else as a reward!
What a truly magnificent gesture!
At the same time, the spectators broke into excited chatter over the various promises Mi Shuhua had just made.
Watching this unfold, Luo Chen could not help but marvel at Mi Shuhua's extraordinary magnanimity. It was no wonder Brother Wang Yuan and Brother Qin were willing to acknowledge and follow him.
Luo Chen's gaze swept over the Mountain Breaker cultivators, seeing how their passions ran high, as if every last one of them was itching to step up and fight.
Wang Yuan stood among them, his gaze cold and sharp.
Qin Liangchen and his wife, Murong Qinglian, were also present, heads held high without a trace of fear.
*Wait, Fellow Daoist Zeng is there too? And he's right near the very center of Mi Shuhua's inner circle!*
From the chatter around him, it turned out Zeng Wen was the "Sick Tiger" of the Seven Tigers of Mountain Breaker.
Just as Luo Chen was wondering about this, a deep rumble echoed from the passage beside the jade wall.
Then, under the watchful gaze of the multitude, the massive doors slowly parted.
A long, pure-white passage opened up, where seven Foundation Establishment cultivators stood before the entrance with calm expressions.
Another Foundation Establishment cultivator walked out from within—none other than Deacon Miao Zhen, the head of the Sword Pavilion whom the cultivators of Dahe Market knew well.
He exchanged a few polite words and then stepped aside, clearing the way.
Without hesitation, Mi Shuhua led the nine late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators inside.
The remaining gang members followed, either presenting jade token admission passes to enter the corridor or showing specialized iron plaques that were inspected before they were permitted through.
Watching those iron plaques pass by, Luo Chen blinked. *Wait, don't I have one of those too?*
Only after every member of the Mountain Breaker Gang had filed inside did the other rogue cultivators finally press closer to the massive jade wall.
They were in no rush to enter, knowing full well that their way of participating in this grand opening differed from that of the Mountain Breaker Gang.
"So this is the roster for the eighteen death matches! I've been waiting days for this!"
"Let me see who's fighting whom, so I can place my bets!"
"With my fifty years of experience living in Dahe Market, I know most of the top fighters from both gangs. Who wins and who loses will be obvious at a glance!"
A total of nine matchup pairings were displayed vertically from one to nine.
A clash of late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators on such a scale was rarely seen under normal circumstances, so everyone paid rapt attention.
Yet no sooner had the crowd crowded around than startled exclamations rang out.
"Who is this Min Longyu? Does the Great River Gang even have someone like that?"
"And this Bai Qi—I've never even heard the name!"
"Yang Rusheng? That sounds familiar. Wait, isn't he a rogue cultivator from Tianye Market? When did he join the Great River Gang?"
"Shameless! The Great River Gang actually brought in outside help!"
"They're supposed to be a local gang, yet they brought in ringers for the death match? Doesn't that count as cheating?"
Cheating?
Of course it didn't!
The rules disclosed from the start had only restricted cultivation realms; they had never forbidden either side from recruiting outside help.
It was simply that the Mountain Breaker Gang had chosen to deploy trusted experts from within their own ranks, people whose backgrounds they knew inside and out.
The comparatively weaker Great River Gang, on the other hand, had managed to recruit four rogue cultivators from outside regions from who-knew-where.
One or two were names people had occasionally heard, while no one even knew where the other two had come from.
Still, cursing aside, the most pressing matter for the gamblers was predicting the outcome of each bout.
"No matter where they come from, they can't exceed the bounds of the Qi Refinement stage. In the end, it all comes down to their methods!"
"Right! And if you want to win five out of nine, the match order becomes crucial!"
"The first match is the opening clash—both sides are bound to go for the kill. Let me see who's stepping up first."
"Han Dang, Heart-Devouring Tiger, head of the Seven Tigers of Mountain Breaker! Isn't that an easy win? I'm going all in!"
"Brother, you dare bet that boldly? Gambling requires wisdom! Do you even know what tricks this Min Longyu has up his sleeve?"
"Heh, what do you know? What kind of figure is Han Dang? He's at peak Qi Refinement Layer 9, someone who could break through to Foundation Establishment at any moment! That Min Longyu crawled out of who-knows-what backwater ditch—as if he could be Han Dang's match! Wisdom? Going all in *is* wisdom!"
Amid the chatter, Luo Chen circulated the Spiritual Eye Art to read through the entire roster and the sequence of matches.
The first match, the fifth match, and the final ninth match were undoubtedly the three most critical duels.
Neither side would willingly concede any of these three, meaning both would inevitably field their strongest fighters.
Heart-Devouring Tiger Han Dang versus Min Longyu.
Broken Blade Xu Renke versus River-Muddying Dragon Gao Tingyuan.
Mad Blade Wang Yuan versus Xiao Wuyan.
Seeing the names for these three matches, Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.
He was actually familiar with most of the combatants in the latter two bouts!
*Is Brother Wang really that strong? Strong enough that Mi Shuhua put him in the final, decisive anchor spot?*
Gao Tingyuan's participation had been a given, but his luck seemed rather terrible, drawing Xu Renke.
The name "Broken Blade" commanded even greater renown than Han Dang, the head of the Seven Tigers. His combat prowess was formidable, making him truly peerless among those in the same realm of Qi Refinement.
If Gao Tingyuan died on the Dao Discussion Platform, that would be wonderful.
It was settled—Luo Chen was now a ten-year fan of Broken Blade Xu Renke, ready to cheer for him with all his might when the time came!
While thoughts flickered through his mind, ticket sales and inspections had already begun at the entrance to the Dao Discussion Platform.
Several cultivators who had already placed their bets nearby rushed eagerly into the passage.
"Forget that for now, hurry and buy tickets!"
"They're only selling ten thousand tickets in total, and once you deduct the complimentary family passes for both gangs, there won't be many left!"
"Give me one! Here's a hundred spirit stones!"
Even after deducting complimentary passes, there were still over nine thousand tickets.
Whatever else could be said of the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion, this grand opening alone would net them nearly a million spirit stones from ticket sales alone!
And that was without even mentioning the revenue from the trade fair, the auction, and the gambling dens.
Luo Chen wandered outside patiently, occasionally checking on the betting stalls and occasionally lingering under the jade wall to listen to the crowd debate who would win and who would lose.
The atmosphere felt remarkably like watching the World Cup in his previous life, where fans would pull apart players from both teams and compare them one by one.
From defense to offense, overall tactical awareness to individual specialty techniques, and even their appearances and murderous auras—everything was fair game for discussion.
Honestly, the vibe wasn't half bad!
Time passed quickly, and before long, several hundred members of the Great River Gang arrived as well.
Without lingering in the slightest, they merely cast a glance at the jade wall before heading straight inside.
Luo Chen paid particular attention to Gao Tingyuan, the "River-Muddying Dragon" everyone had been discussing.
He was a short, stocky man exuding a fierce, ruthless aura.
He looked nothing like the impoverished Gao Ting'e whom Luo Chen had slain, making it hard to believe they were full brothers.
Gao Tingyuan looked thoroughly grim, likely having seen the name of his opponent.
Yet he could not let it show.
Being placed in the pivotal fifth position showed that his boss, Wang Haichao, held his strength in high regard and expected him to secure a victory for the gang.
How could he afford to show weakness now?
To that, Luo Chen could only say: *Good riddance if you die!*
As cultivators filed inside one after another—even several Foundation Establishment figures among them—the crowd waiting outside showed no sign of thinning.
Over ten thousand people gathered before the jade wall, waiting for the grand opening ceremony of the Dao Discussion Platform to begin.
The people of the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion had already announced that a Water Mirror Art had been cast upon the jade wall, which would project the scenes from within in real time.
Supposedly, to maintain the Water Mirror Art, the pavilion had even arranged for two Foundation Establishment cultivators to take turns casting it.
Naturally, some were left lamenting with bitter regret that they hadn't managed to buy an admission jade token.
After all, the Water Mirror Art on the jade wall could only transmit images, not sound.
And the leaked program schedule had explicitly mentioned song and dance performances!
Just as the hubbub reached a fever pitch, a sudden shout rose above the din.
"Something urgent came up at home! Selling one ticket to the highest bidder!"
Chapter 58