Long Chen arrived at the Treasure Exchange Pavilion, no longer as silent as he had been the previous time. All the members of the Green Faction had been especially attentive to the Sky Martial Realm Competition this time around and therefore knew of him.
However, Long Chen was still unfamiliar with the crowd and hence, nobody took the initiative to greet him. The mutters and discussion around him was to be expected though.
“He could even defeat Feng Wutian who had used the Fire Bath of the Vermillion Bird. He’s incredibly young as well. Long Chen is truly astonishing.”
“Indeed. Though he’s a little young and inexperienced, with some training and time, he’s sure to play an important role in the Green Sun Hall.”
“I heard the chief elder of Green Sun Hall, Liu Yuan, has already submitted his name for the inner faction selection. Though it’s impossible for him to pass, to even have the qualifications to be nominated means he has a rating of at least four stars.”
“But of course. The reason why Long Chen didn’t get the Zenith Crystal Sword is because of Dongfang…”
“Let’s not talk about the inner faction!”
Long Chen passed by these two middle-aged men. When one of them mentioned the Zenith Crystal Sword, the other immediately stopped him.
Long Chen knew what they were implying. From their point of view, the fight over the Zenith Crystal Sword should have between Long Chen and Chu Yunyao. The appearance of someone of the inner faction had broken the rules set by the outer factions. However, everyone could only complain about this, since the main body of the Lingwu Family was the inner faction.
“Is the inner faction so influential? If I don’t enter the inner faction, I’d probably be at the bottom for my entire life.”
Long Chen shivered at the thought.
Soon enough, he reached the Treasure Exchange Pavilion where he could exchange beast spirits and demonic cores. There was a wall here and a small, sealed channel the size of a plate. It was items were presented, and Long Chen was unable to see who was at the other side.
“Place your demonic cores and beast spirits here. Oh, and your identification jade plate too.”
A low voice resounded from the other side of the wall.
Long Chen did not waste time and placed everything on a there. A pale arm then reached out, collecting everything.
Upon seizing the beast spirit and demonic core from the Heart Corrosive demonic beast, the person paused and suddenly asked, “Aren’t you going to refine this level 4 profound grade beast spirit?”
Long Chen now knew that even people of the Treasure Exchange Pavilion knew of him.
Long Chen was definitely a beast cultivator in everyone’s eyes. He was at the Deity Dan Realm and ought to have refined beast spirits, yet had not done so.
Others had thought that he had not found a suitable beast spirit, but upon finding out he had gained that of the Heart Corrosive demonic spirit, they all assumed Long Chen would refine it.
“I’m not in a hurry to do that.”
“Oh…”
That person answered with an ‘oh’ but did not say more. However, from that tone of his, Long Chen could tell that that person felt that he was not satisfied with even the beast spirit of a level 4 profound grade being, and must be extremely arrogant.
“Here’s your identification jade plate. You will gain 250 contribution points in this exchange.”
It was more than he had expected. Long Chen was in a great mood and thanked that person, before arriving at the area where the Spirit Recovery Fruits were. There, a Spirit Recovery Fruit could be seen put on display.
“I want this Spirit Recovery Fruit.”
Long Chen told the staff in charge of this area, who was an elegant woman.
When Long Chen had come the previous time, this woman had seen him once. She did not remember much about him other than that he needed Spirit Recovery Fruits.
This time, Long Chen had a reputation and her attitude became much better. She laughed sweetly, “That’s 9 contribution points. You did mention you needed Spirit Recovery Fruits the last time.”
Noticing this beautiful woman and her engaging manners, his nature as an arrogant son of a great background revealed itself as he teased, “I did come here to buy Spirit Recovery Fruits, but I’m also here to visit you.”
“How talkative. You’re asking for a beating.”
She grinned, covering her mouth.
Long Chen knew when to stop and enquired, “Sister, may I know if there are other spirit medicines in the Treasure Exchange Pavilion that can improve one’s spirit?”
She thought for a moment, “If you’re talking about Spirit Recovery Fruits, there aren’t that many. Headquarters will only order to replenish their supply of spirit medicine, but not increase the numbers. But I do seem to recall there being a Spirit Grass on the second level in the Treasure Exchange Pavilion. It’s a profound middle grade spirit medicine.”
“Spirit Grass?”
Lingxi became quite emotional as she whispered in Long Chen’s ear, “Hey, the Spirit Grass is a lot more potent than the Spirit Recovery Fruit. It’s almost a profound high grade spirit medicine. A Spirit Grass is comparable to a hundred Spirit Recovery Fruits. If I have a Spirit Grass, I’ll be able to take on someone at the Earth Dan Realm.”
Upon hearing Lingxi mention she did need it, Long Chen asked, “Sister, may I know how much this Spirit Grass costs?”
The woman shook her head after hearing this question, “Let’s not talk about the price just yet. Only cultivators at the Earth Dan Realm are allowed to go up to the second floor.”
“Huh?”
Long Chen paled. The rigid and strict hierarchy in the Lingwu Family was really making him feel quite depressed.
“But if you really need it, on account of you calling me ‘sister’, I might be able to do something about this.”
“Then thank you so much, Sister!” Long Chen was excited.
“Don’t get too excited.”
She knitted her brows, “Spirit Grass is a profound middle grade medicine, and is considered to be quite precious. It is very helpful in increasing one’s comprehension, and without 300 contribution points, it’s impossible to obtain it.”
Upon hearing the number 300, Long Chen was about to keel over.
“I only have around 240 contributions now. To get 300, I’ll need to enter the Sky Martial Realm again, but Liu Yuan, that old geezer wants me to give him 500 contribution points. What should I do?”
Long Chen furrowed his brows.
“If you aren’t in urgent need of it, you can come purchase it after you have sufficient contribution points.”
Long Chen nodded and thanked her before bidding her farewell, heading in the direction of the Green Willow Residence.
“Oh well. I’m not going to care about that old geezer. It’ll be hard to sell that level six profound grade beast spirit anyway, so I might as well make sure Lingxi gets stronger and keep her safe. My opponents are going to be too strong, and if she tries to show off, she might even lose her life just like this.”
He returned to the residence and got Lingxi to refine the Spirit Recovery Fruit, and then produced a Thunder Flame Crystal.
“The Thunder Flame Crystals really helped me a lot in this battle. I still have 38. What will happen if I fuse with all of them? If a rank 1 Thunder Flame Physique is equivalent to a profound middle grade body tempering battle technique, how about a rank 2 Thunder Flame Physique?”
Since his real Qi had expanded by much, Long Chen tried to fuse with more Thunder Flame Crystals. Unexpectedly, the eleventh was much easier than it had been when he had fused with the tenth.
With the suppression from his Qi, Long Chen spent about an hour in pain but no real danger, and fused with the eleventh Thunder Flame Crystal.
“Next is the twelfth…”
While fusing with the crystals, Long Chen found himself unable to tell the passing of time, and after goodness knew how long, he had already fused with the fifteenth crystal.
Here onwards, Long Chen found it difficult. He had no choice but to undergo Dragon Soul Transformation.
“After I fuse with these Thunder Flame Crystals, I’ll enter the Sky Martial Realm and then help Lingxi get the Spirit Grass. I’ll then leave the Lingwu Family and look for the Crimson Blood Sacred Sect.”
Long Chen had a clear goal.
However, while he was preparing to fuse with the sixteenth Thunder Flame Crystal, there was an urgent rapping on his door. Long Chen opened it and was met with the sight of an anxious Gan Lin.
Gan Lin had always given Long Chen the impression that he was not easily rattled. However, with that anxious look on his face, Long Chen was alarmed and asked, “Senior Brother Gan Lin, what happened?”
Gan Lin quickly answered, “Long Chen, there’s someone from your family looking for you. Quick, go to the Martial Arts Hall.”
“Family?”
Long Chen was surprised. That would mean the people of the Yang family. For people of that family to come all the way to the Lingwu Family, this meant that something terrible had happened!
Long Chen had a bad feeling about this and rushed towards the Martial Arts Hall. In moments, he saw the man who was beginning to look old- Yang Yuntian.
“Second Uncle, what happened?”
Yang Yuntian grieved as he looked at Long Chen, “Chen’er, Lingqing has been taken by people of the Crimson Blood Sacred Sect!”