Chapter 146: An Invitation from the Peak Master

Liu Chen wandered around for a little longer, but after finding no Magic that interested him, he went straight to the Purple Cloud Valley’s Flying Ship. He presented his Inner Sect Disciple Token and returned to his room on board.

Pushing open the window to gaze into the distance, Liu Chen remembered that it was the middle of the night. The far-off landscape was pitch-black, but the area just outside Fire Dragon Valley was as bright as day.

‘I’ll cultivate for a while first.’

Liu Chen gave up on the idea of investigating the matter and simply closed the window to practice his Cultivation Technique. An hour drifted by. Liu Chen completed his cultivation, then used the Concentration Technique to refresh his mind.

Feeling refreshed, Liu Chen pushed open the window. He was still greeted by the dark night and the brightly lit Fire Dragon Valley plaza in the distance.

“You’re back pretty early!”

Just as Liu Chen was about to close the window, Yang Haichen passed by and couldn’t help but look over. He considered himself to have returned quite early; many other senior brothers were still milling about below, some even negotiating with Loose Cultivators.

“Come in and talk.”

Liu Chen immediately stood up and opened the door. Yang Haichen accepted without hesitation and walked right in. Liu Chen then closed both the door and the window.

“Is the matter with Jackal taken care of?”

Liu Chen couldn’t help but ask. Jackal was the key to securing future food supplies for the back of Purple Bamboo Peak; the Fire Wolf Gang leader would be responsible for helping him gather recipes, ingredients, and seasonings from the Marketplace.

“Not yet. They’ll start processing the Loose Cultivators after the major families are done. I estimate we’ll have a result by noon.”

Yang Haichen shook his head. He had found Jackal and brought him before a True Disciple of the Hundred Affairs Hall.

If he passed the screening, he could sign a Spirit Contract with me at the Hundred Affairs Hall and become my Servant when we get back. If he failed, it would prove Jackal lied, and that would be the end of that.

“So we’re not heading back to Purple Cloud Valley until noon?”

Liu Chen couldn’t help but ask. If that was the case, he could only spend the day cultivating.

“It’ll probably be evening. Aside from the matters with the family disciples and Loose Cultivators, the Three Immortal Sects and the major families also need to negotiate the participation slots for future Fire Dragon Valley trials. Speaking of which, I have no idea what rewards we’ll get for this.”

Yang Haichen shook his head. Based on his observations, those families wouldn’t give up until dawn. Then there were the Loose Cultivators and the allocation of slots to deal with. They’d be lucky if the Flying Ship could set sail by the afternoon.

“This would have been a great opportunity to sell Spiritual Cuisine. What a pity.”

Liu Chen couldn’t help but yawn. He had thought they would return directly to Purple Cloud Valley once the trial was over. He hadn’t expected to be stuck on the Flying Ship for some time, which was frankly a bit exasperating.

“You should get some rest. I’m going to go rest for a bit, too.”

Yang Haichen slowly stood up. It wasn’t that he hadn’t rested in Fire Dragon Valley, but who would dare to truly let their guard down in a place like that? Now that he was on the Flying Ship, the moment he relaxed, he felt the exhaustion hit him.

“Take care, Senior Brother.”

After seeing Senior Brother Yang out, Liu Chen closed the window and began to organize his loot. Or more accurately, to organize his Storage Rings. He had sorted through them briefly before, but now that he was safe, Liu Chen naturally wanted to reorganize them properly.

Liu Chen now had nearly thirty Storage Rings, which could be divided into three tiers.

The highest tier was, without a doubt, the one gifted by his master. Liu Chen estimated it could store a million Spirit Stones. Next were the Storage Rings from the Black Feather Dynasty Princes and the female ghost, which looked a bit higher-grade than ordinary ones; they could hold up to two hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

As for the most common Storage Rings, they could only hold fifty thousand Spirit Stones at most.

The Storage Ring from his master was the one he used most often. The rings from the four Black Feather Dynasty Princes and the female ghost were kept as spares. Liu Chen planned to sell all the rest.

Liu Chen wore the six most special Storage Rings on his hands, three on each. He didn’t have to worry about the one from the female ghost in Fire Dragon Valley; after all, Fire Dragon Valley was gone. As for the rings from the four Princes of the Black Feather Dynasty, it was inevitable that they would fall into the Black Market, so it wouldn’t be strange for someone like him to have one.

In terms of the resources available to the Trial Disciples, Liu Chen was likely near the bottom of the pack. But in terms of personal wealth, he was probably the richest. It was perfectly normal for Storage Rings to change hands.

‘If I collect all my debts, I can fill four Storage Rings with Spirit Stones.’

Liu Chen couldn’t help but mutter to himself. Excluding the Storage Ring from his master, filling the other five special rings completely would take a million Spirit Stones. Right now, Liu Chen had over three hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

Adding the more than five hundred thousand Spirit Stones owed to him, he would have just enough to fill four of the Storage Rings, leaving the last one to hold items for his various disguises.

The Storage Ring gifted by his master would be for daily use. Perfect.

‘It’s a good thing I don’t have a Soul Slave. If I had to wear a Soul Ring too, I’d run out of fingers.’

After he finished organizing, Liu Chen studied the ten Soul Rings in his hand. Excluding the most unique, central Fire Dragon Soul Ring and the one in which Nangong Mu was temporarily residing, Liu Chen had three empty Soul Rings and five that already contained Soul Slaves.

He could only confirm that the Soul Slave in one of them was at the Meridian Passage Realm; the others were still unknown. However, judging from the fluctuations they emitted, none of them could compare to the central Fire Dragon Soul Ring.

After putting all the Soul Rings away, Liu Chen was relieved that they could be stored inside a Storage Ring. Otherwise, it would have been quite a hassle.

With the trivial matters settled, Liu Chen began to cultivate. The Flying Ship was definitely not a suitable place to practice the Celestial Thunder Technique, so the only thing he could work on was the Bright Eyes Technique.

Spiritual Power, specially converted, merged into Liu Chen’s eyes. When Liu Chen opened them and gazed into the distance, the once pitch-black area became bright.

At the Beginner level, the Bright Eyes Technique only granted night vision, but this ability was already very useful, especially in the dark.

At Minor Success, however, it could increase his observational power threefold. This wasn’t a magnification of objects; his field of view wouldn’t change at all, but it would reveal far more detail within his sight.

An hour later, he had achieved Minor Success in the Bright Eyes Technique.

The first light of dawn filtered through the window. Liu Chen stretched his limbs, then opened his door. On the plaza outside Fire Dragon Valley, the number of disciples and Cultivators had not decreased; on the contrary, it had grown.

However, the disciples of the Three Immortal Sects were gone. Clearly, the post-trial Token collection was over.

The plaza was now filled with either family disciples chatting idly or areas where Loose Cultivators had set up stalls.

Liu Chen stood on the Flying Ship and looked down below. Using the Bright Eyes Technique, he felt the entire picture become clearer. Details that would be completely unnoticeable with normal vision now presented themselves in his mind. The feeling was very satisfying to him.

“Young Friend Liu, the Peak Master requests your presence…”