“Oh, why? Were you so touched by my words that you decided to fall in love with me?” Lu Yanxue looked up and jested.
“Fell in love with you?” Chen Fan let out laughter and then shook his head.
Despite his cheerful denial, he wagered that if he had met her during his last life, he might have fallen in love with her.
Jiang Churan, Xu Rongfei, Yu Wenjin, and Lu Yanxue, every one of them were outstanding members of society. However, Chen Fan in his last life was just a no account, and therefore, he would have been attracted to anyone of them.
Unfortunately, there and then, the boy in front of Lu Yanxue was no longer an inexperienced average joe; instead, he was the North Mystic Celestial Lord. He had long since surpassed worldly sentiments, such as that of joy and love. His goal was to achieve immortality, to become one with the very fabric of time and space. Anyone Chen Fan met during his new life would not have any chance of capturing his heart.
Chen Fan kept his thoughts to himself. He could register the sadness behind the girl’s joyful mask. She was a living and breathing human, and no human would feel happy go lucky after being offered to a stranger as a gift.
“That’s enough talking, let’s go, I will show you around the ancient Lin City.”
Lu Yanxue gathered herself and threaded her hand through Chen Fan’s arm while smiling.
After the two were gone, Lu Haixuan emerged from a shadow and said: “Grandpa Long, what do you think of Chen Beixuan?”
“He said he is from Chu Zhou City and knew Yanxue on the way here. We might have to take his words with a grain of salt. “Lu Tianlong heaved a sigh and then said: “I have never heard of any famous martial arts families in Jiang Bei, much less Dharma Spells casters or Physique Refinement Masters.”
“If the Lu family was not bound to Tian Nan Region, we might be able to solve the mystery.” Lu Haixuan heaved a sigh.
“There is no need to worry, HaiXuan. I have already sent a delegate to Chu Zhou City to investigate. We should gain a handle on the situation pretty soon.” Lu Tianlong furrowed his brows and said: “Your first and foremost task is to reach the peak of Internal Force cultivation. We are a martial arts family, and therefore, nothing would trump personal strength. If our family could sire another Grand Master, even that high lord at Zhong Hai wouldn’t be able to confine our influences.”
“Yes, Grandpa Long.” Lu Haixuan answered with a somber face.
Lu Tianlong nodded back in approval.
Lu Haixuan and Lu Yanwu were both cream of the crop among the younger generation of the Lu family. Despite their different skill sets, they had achieved illustrative achievements in their own fields. It was a sign that the Lu family was about to rise to power.
More Martial Artists arrived at the conference on the second day compared to the day before.
The number of participants had exceeded two hundred. Chen Fan had never thought that there could have been so many powerful warriors hiding in plain sight. So much so that he felt lucky that he had been able to live past thirty without a serious run in with one of these deadly fighters.
He set up his kiosk during the day and in the night, he planned to accompany Lu Yanxue and Miao Xiaoqian to the Lin City.
Chen Fan was not in a hurry since he had already achieved his objective of finding Spirit Medicine. As he had learned yesterday that what he was looking for was hidden inside of the Li Family and the Medicine God Valley Sect, waiting to be claimed by him—and he would. Whatever Spirit Medicine he could scour from the event would be icing on the cake.
“Shoot! There is someone selling body-tempering type of pills? I am in luck!”
A man with dusty clothes and a long fluffy beard saw Chen Fan’s banner and exclaimed. He came up to Chen Fan’s kiosk and slammed the desk. “Hey, kiddo! How many of those Physic Refining Pills do you have? I will take them all.”
So saying, he produced a suitcase with a coded-lock. The suitcase popped open as he punched in the code. The man pulled the lip back, revealing a suitcase full of green money, they were American Dollars.
There must be at least a couple million in that case.
Chen Fan sat still and didn’t even waste a glance on him.
“Hey, did you hear me?” The middle aged Martial Artist squinted at Chen Fan as annoyance danced in his eyes.
Martial Artists were well known for their bad tempers. After all, if they could do things the easy way, why would they have to wait and be patient?
Chen Fan sat still unflinchingly.
The people around them looked to the middle aged martial artist with pity. By then, a friend of the martial artist finally pulled him to a side and warned him: “Blood Blade, can’t you read? He is only asking for thousand-year-old herbs or Special artifacts. He is not interested in any other form of payment.”
“That’s absurd!” Blood Blade snorted.”Thousand year old medicines are family treasures at some of the most powerful households.”
He looked at Chen Fan and studied him more carefully. Chen Fan was of average looks and he found it hard to make the connection between this ordinary boy with any resemblance of power. However, the big man standing behind the boy caught his attention. Nonetheless, he wagered that the hulking frame, despite its size, should not be able to withstand a few punches from him.
That being said, as an experienced warrior, Blood Blade refrained from making any moves for now. Instead, he asked his friend.
“If he won’t accept money, are we going to just watch him and do nothing?”
“Someone already tried.” The other martial artist grinned at him. “This boy carried not just a superior-grade Body-Tempering Pill, but also supreme-grade elixirs. The Lu family, Li Family and the Medicine God Valley Sect were interested in hiring him, but they all got turned down. Last night, six martial artists had ganged up on him, including Tutuli from the Diamond Temple. Guess what happened?”
“The guardian of the Diamond Temple? Isn’t he a Physique Refinement expert?” Blood Blade was shocked slightly, so he asked: “What happened?”
Even though he lived overseas, he had heard of the Diamond Temple. Although he was confident that his power was greater than the guardian of the Diamond Temple, the guardians were the last people he would think to tick off.
“They were crushed, like little chicks. I mean literally crushed! Only one out of the six escaped the murder scene, rumor had it that he was finished off by a spell right in front of Miss Jin Yi.”
“What?” Blood Blade gasped.
“The Medicine God Valley Sect is not well known for their spell casting skills, but Miss Jin Yi reached the mid-stage of the Dao-Reaching level at the very least. Plus, she also had powerful Dharma Artifacts at her disposal. Yet the boy still was able to kill someone right under her nose? And what did you say? Someone had murdered a Physique Refinement Expert from the Diamond Temple? What?”
“I told you so, don’t piss him off.” The other martial artist shook his head and said: “I know you think that young man looks nothing extraordinary, we all did. However, he must be a master of the Dao-Reaching Level. The man behind him must be a rare Physique Refinement Master.”
“Physique Refinement Master?” Blood Blade’s face turned pale.
The more powerful one becomes, the better they understood the power of a Physique Refinement Master.
Compared to a normal martial artist on the battlefield, a Physique Refinement Master only required some metal armor in order to storm the battle scene like an unstoppable tank. They were invincible before regular weapons and firearms. The Physique Refinement Masters were some of the toughest opponents one would find and therefore, everyone wanted to be one of them. That in part explained the popularity of the Body Tempering Pill.
The thought of a Physique Refinement Master’s power made his hair stood on end. He bowed to his acquaintance who might have just saved his life thankfully.
After Having gotten the memo, Blood Blade returned to Chen Fan’s kiosk. This time, he plastered on a respectful look and smiled: “Mr, Chen, I don’t have a thousand-year-old medicine, but I have something else that might be of your interest.”
“OH? Bring it on.” Chen Fan looked up and saw the object Blood Blade held out for display. His interest was piqued immediately.
In Blood Blade’s hand, he saw a golden figurine of a humanoid with an eagle head and a pair of wings on his back. The craftsmen ship was nothing special if not crude, however, the little statue carried an otherworldly quality that would make one’s head spin if staring at it for a long time.
“Amazing Soul Energy… Ah not.. This is Devotion Energy.” Chen Fan furrowed his brows.
As soon as his Immortal Will came into contact with the statue, many pictures appeared in his mind. In those pictures, he saw many men and women kneeling before a statue with the likeness of the figurine.
“Kaboom!”
Suddenly, the energy inside the statue exploded, rippling out toward Chen Fan.
The world around Chen Fan changed. In a blink, he was sitting in the scorching desert, surrounded by foreign men and women wrapped in white robes. These men and women kneeled before a large golden entity that had a man’s body and an eagle’s head, holding a golden stave.
“Impurity!”
Chen Fan was the only person standing, sticking out like a sore thumb, therefore, The eagle-headed entity picked Chen Fan out very quickly. It made a squeaking sound.
Suddenly, the entity lifted its leg and pressed his golden foot, the size of a basketball court onto Chen Fan.
“A puny Soul Remanent, how dare you offend me!”
Standing before such a terrifying sight, Chen Fan was not flinching at all. Instead, he snored with contempt. He knew he was in a constructed reality and the presence of the powerful entity was no more than an illusion.
“Arise!”
Suddenly, he charged up his power and started the Soul Refining Art. A few streaks of Immortal Will shot out from his body and materialized in this world in the shape of a large silvery blade.
“Kill!”
Chen Fan snarled and threw the blade at the entity.
The silvery blade traced a long arc as it flew toward the target when it finally landed on the statue, the large blade was only the size of a toothpick.
However, the blade sliced through the golden Staude like butter. It even tore a large gush in the constructed space, scarring the sky with a long and ugly wound, revealing the dark abyss in between layers of realities.
“Swoosh!”
The constructed world shattered and Chen Fan was once again sitting in the Lu family manor.
It took a few seconds for the flood of clamor around him to reclaim his ears. Once the golden figurine came back into focus, Chen Fan realized that time had not passed since his trip to the other world. He registered that the energy coming off from the statue had diminished slightly.
“A Soul Remnant… I should be more careful next time.”
Chen Fan sat still, but his face had paled ever so slightly.,
Materializing the Immortal Will into physical form was a technique used for cultivators who had reached Ethereal Enlightenment or Divine Sea. Although Chen Fan had shattered the constructed reality, he had sustained a minor injury by forcing himself to use the high-level technique.
“However, the injury was worth it if I can gain energy inside the figurine.”
Chen Fan looked to the golden figurine with great interest.
“Mr. Chen, what do you think of my offer?” Blood Blade asked cautiously after a long pause.
“It will do.” Chen Fan nodded readily. He produced a china bottle and siad: “There is fifty Physique Refining Pill, is it enough?”
“Of course, of course!” Blood Blade took over the bottle and twisted the cap open. Suddenly, a refreshing fragrance filled his nose. He knew it was the real deal, so he nodded joyously.
He set down the golden statue and was about to leave, Chen Fan shot out a hand and grabbed his arm.
“I will give you one more bottle if you tell me everything you know about this… thing.”
“Really?” Blood Blade was pleasantly surprised.
He didn’t think that Chen Fan would be so interested in this tacky trinket.
He obtained this figurine while he was on a mission in the middle east. A local tycoon had used it as a pledge for his loyalty. Blood Blade was told that the figurine had uncanny properties, but so far, he had found none. He had kept it simply because of the amount of gold that was used to create it.
“No problem, I will fill you in.” Blood Blade pounded his chest and siad.
After Blood Blade disclosed what he knew about the statue, Chen Fan finally learned the story behind it.