Chapter 139: Going Out

Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Going Out

On the morning of September 21st, Liu Chen was in his room, examining a jade-white longsword. This was the longsword he had condensed after his Golden Sword Technique evolved into a unique form.

Generally, the Golden Sword Technique was used to condense a Spirit Sword for ranged attacks. However, Liu Chen had no shortage of long-range attacks, so he intentionally sacrificed some of its ranged power in exchange for extending the sword’s duration.

The standard Golden Sword Technique could only be maintained for a few breaths at most. After all, it was a ranged attack; hitting the target was all that mattered. But Liu Chen’s now-unique Golden Sword Technique could be maintained for at least an hour.

Based on Liu Chen’s assessment of his own combat prowess, if he couldn’t defeat an opponent within an hour, it was definitely someone he couldn’t beat at his current stage. His best option would be to slip into the shadows and flee.

On the afternoon of September 22nd, Liu Chen evolved the Recovery Technique he had bought from Senior Brother Xie Xichen into his own unique version. Whether it was reducing swelling, stopping pain, or closing wounds, it all happened in an instant. The only limitation was that it couldn’t regenerate limbs; it could only heal wounds.

Still, this was more than enough to handle most injuries. If it were a true life-and-death crisis, it was better to escape first, cultivate for a while longer, and then seek revenge, rather than hoping to rely on Magic to recover after a desperate fight.

However, the evolution of his Recovery Technique created a rather serious problem: Liu Chen had run out of Magic he could secretly practice in his room.

These twenty-some days of frenzied practice had made Liu Chen accustomed to the process of cultivation. Suddenly having no more Magic to practice in his room felt very strange.

So, Liu Chen turned his attention to the Solid Spirit Technique, which he originally hadn’t planned to deliberately practice. But since the Solid Spirit Technique was already at the Perfection Realm, this process only lasted until noon on September 23rd.

The Spiritual Veins of the Solid Spirit Technique were constantly being refined in Liu Chen’s mind, eventually evolving into a self-perpetuating, cyclical network. This directly increased the duration of the original Solid Spirit Technique’s effect from one day to half a month.

This was the duration that Spiritual Cuisine could be preserved. As for Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, or even creations of Spiritual Power, which already lasted longer than Spiritual Cuisine, their preservation time would be correspondingly extended when Liu Chen used his Solid Spirit Technique on them.

’I can’t use the improved Solid Spirit Technique when I sell Spiritual Cuisine in the future. I’ll have to use the old version.’

Liu Chen’s eyes narrowed. He then prepared four portions of Spiritual Cuisine and left his room.

"There are only seven pillars of light left before this trial ends. Aside from the contests for the pillars that happen every night at midnight, Fire Dragon Valley is completely peaceful. You could even say this trial has devolved into a networking event for the disciples of the Three Immortal Sects and the various families. Just from the news I’ve gathered, twelve of our fellow disciples from Purple Cloud Valley have already agreed to become Honored Guest Elders for their respective families."

After lunch, Xie Xichen spoke leisurely as he leaned back in a reclining chair. The contests for eleven pillars of light were already over. Purple Cloud Valley had participated in eight of them, with a record of four wins and four losses.

Under these circumstances, his and Yuan Hui’s failures were no longer so conspicuous, and they had slowly regained their rightful status among the Inner Sect Disciples.

"Is it the same with Thunder Mountain and Qingxu Hall?"

Liu Chen couldn’t help but ask. He wasn’t sure if the Inner Sect Disciples of Thunder Mountain and Qingxu Hall had quotas for Servants, but the upper echelons of the Three Immortal Sects must have anticipated this situation. The fact that the pillars of light in Fire Dragon Valley continued to appear one by one suggested that the Three Immortal Sects were intentionally maintaining this state of affairs.

"You may not know this, Junior Brother, but the situation is likely even more pronounced at Thunder Mountain and Qingxu Hall. Below their Outer Disciples, they even have a rank of Servant Disciple. In some ways, their Outer Disciples are a lot like us right now; they don’t need to participate in Sect missions and just need to earn resources to cultivate on their own.

Their Inner Sect Disciples get a quota of five Servants and one Outer Disciple. If twelve of our own junior brothers from Purple Cloud Valley have already made deals with those family disciples, you can only imagine how it is for the other two sects."

Xie Xichen fell silent for a moment. For this trial, every Inner Sect Disciple from Purple Cloud Valley who hadn’t yet advanced to the Meridian Passage Realm was participating. However, Qingxu Hall and Thunder Mountain had sent a pre-selected group.

If you were to count the number of disciples, even excluding the Servant Disciples from the other two sects, Qingxu Hall would still have the most, followed by Thunder Mountain. Purple Cloud Valley would be last.

But in terms of the strength of disciples at each Realm, Purple Cloud Valley was basically always number one.

In Purple Cloud Valley, each Steward and Elder would take on one or two apprentices at most. This meant the masters had plenty of time to teach. You could say the masters were the ones chasing after their apprentices to cultivate. In Qingxu Hall and Thunder Mountain, however, it was the apprentices who had to beg their masters for guidance, with no guarantee they’d learn any real skills.

"I see..."

Liu Chen’s eyes narrowed. This was information he had never heard before. After their chat, Liu Chen didn’t head straight back to his room. The only Magic left that he could practice in that small space was the Concentration Technique, but that Magic would likely evolve into its unique form in about another hour. There was no need to rush it.

In fact, after the Concentration Technique had reached Perfection, Liu Chen’s mental state had already recovered by ninety percent. He looked no different from his usual self. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

As for the final ten percent, if Liu Chen understood correctly, it wasn’t something the Concentration Technique could solve. Even if it evolved into a unique form, it wouldn’t be able to completely restore his mental state. He still needed a good night’s sleep.

However, with the Concentration Technique, Liu Chen could immediately return to his normal routine once he went back; he wouldn’t end up sleeping for several days straight.

If not for the fact that Yuan Hui’s debt of twenty thousand Spirit Stones was bound by a Spirit Contract signed with the Law Enforcement Hall, Liu Chen would have been tempted to forgive the debt just for this one Magic skill. Unfortunately, once the Law Enforcement Hall was involved, it was no longer a private matter.

After chatting in the courtyard for a while longer, Liu Chen returned to his room, changed into the robes of a Purple Cloud Valley Inner Sect Disciple, and slowly walked back outside.

"Junior Brother, you’re...?"

Yang Haichen couldn’t help but ask. Aside from when they had assembled outside Fire Dragon Valley, this was the first time he had seen Liu Chen wear the Inner Sect Disciple robes. And from the looks of it, his junior brother was probably planning to go for a stroll.

"Since Fire Dragon Valley is so safe right now, I plan to go out for a walk and maybe buy a few things that catch my eye."

Liu Chen replied frankly, then headed out of the courtyard on his own.

After Liu Chen disappeared, Xie Xichen and Ren Xunchun, who had been in their own rooms, came right out. The three of them exchanged a look, then tacitly followed him.

As soon as he stepped out of the small alley, Liu Chen saw numerous fellow disciples setting up stalls on the street. At first, no one paid any attention to Liu Chen as he walked among the stalls, stopping here and there to occasionally inspect something.

It was impossible for all the Purple Cloud Valley Inner Sect Disciples to know each other. As for probing someone’s cultivation, they were all disciples of Purple Cloud Valley; no one would commit such a rude act. Everyone just assumed he was some ordinary Inner Sect Disciple who wasn’t very social.

That is, until someone noticed that Xie Xichen, Yang Haichen, and Ren Xunchun—three well-known figures among the Purple Cloud Valley Inner Sect Disciples—were occasionally glancing in Liu Chen’s direction.