“Complete tempering? That’s impossible!”

Meng Qi and the others were all dumbfounded. That was a term they had never even heard of. Sixteen temperings were already the limit.

That was because a person’s body could only bear so much energy from one kind of medicinal pill. In other words, the limit was sixteen bones. By the time you had tempered sixteen bones, your body would have formed a high resistance towards further Bone Tempering Pills. There was no way to temper a seventeenth bone.

Furthermore, the amount of resources required just to temper sixteen bones was already astronomical. A small sect would have to save up for millenia in order to accumulate that many resources.

Seeing their startled expressions, Long Chen smiled slightly and said, “Trust me. I’m not joking with you. There are people who undergo complete tempering. Mo Nian is already walking the path of complete tempering.”

To completely temper every bone in the body, that was far too shocking. Meng Qi and the others had never even imagined such a thing. That had already surpassed any of their understanding.

“In truth, complete tempering is not as unimaginable as you seem to think. I trust that many sects all know methods to undergo complete tempering; they just don’t use them,” said Long Chen.

“Why not? Because they can’t handle the cost?” asked Meng Qi

Long Chen nodded. “One reason is the high cost. The other reason is that after a person has made the decision to undergo complete tempering, then they absolutely must temper every bone in their body. Only once they temper every single one of them can they advance to the next realm.

“If something unexpected happens to just a single bone and they don’t succeed in tempering just that one, then in that lifetime, they would never be able to break through to the Meridian Opening realm. In other words, a sect would spend countless resources to create a single amazing Bone Forging expert, all for that investment to end there.”

Hearing this, the four of them were all dumbfounded. They had never heard of this matter. As for Long Chen, he also wouldn’t have known about this without his Pill Sovereign memories that gave him information about the Bone Tempering Pills.

When he had seen Mo Nian, he had sensed that his aura was incredibly condensed without the slightest bit leaking outside.

That was completely abnormal. No matter how high a person’s cultivation base was, that was still something difficult to achieve. Furthermore, Mo Nian was not deliberately bringing about that situation.

At that time, Long Chen had realized that Mo Nian had decided to undergo complete tempering. That was the only way his aura would be so condensed.

“All things in this world have advantages and disadvantages. So, I’m asking whether or not you all want to walk the path of complete tempering,” said Long Chen solemnly.

The four of them looked at each other, and it was Tang Wan-er who said, “Long Chen, complete tempering is fine and all, but we don’t have that many resources.”

“First ignore the problem of resources. I’ll handle that myself. I just want to know whether or not you’re willing to take this risk and undergo complete tempering with me,” said Long Chen.

“Since you’ve put it that way, do we even have a choice?” Meng Qi helplessly laughed.

“Putting it that way, does that mean you agree?” smiled Long Chen.

“Perhaps this is what it means if you marry a chicken, follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, follow the dog,” laughed Chu Yao stealthily.

“Yao-er, you bad girl!”

Meng Qi rebuked her and reached out to tickle Chu Yao, but Chu Yao laughed and dodged.

After this laughter, the grave atmosphere had lessened a great deal. Meng Qi said, “Long Chen, tell us what we should do. We’ll listen to you.”

Long Chen was extremely moved inside by their trust in him. They had essentially placed their own fates in his hands. That made him feel like the responsibility on his shoulders had grown even heavier.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and said, “Originally, I didn’t want you all to take this risk. However, after speaking with Mo Nian today, I was greatly shaken.

“In the future, it is very likely that we’ll be facing countless difficulties. The slightest mistake might cause a person’s life to be lost. And the loss of just one person will bring endless sorrow for everyone else.

“If we don’t want to have to feel that pain, then we all need absolute strength. Only powerful strength can guarantee our survival.

“You’ve also all seen that our enemies are all top geniuses. They were all blessed by the heavens, and we are at too great of a disadvantage.

“So, I want everyone to choose complete tempering. We can’t compare to them in terms of their innate superiority, so we’ll make it up through our own hard work.

“Since you’ve all chosen to trust me, then I won’t bother saying any meaningless words. Starting now, follow what I tell you to do.”

Long Chen had them first organize all the medicinal ingredients in their spatial rings, and he also took out over a hundred spatial rings of his own as well.

If they were to encounter medicinal ingredients they didn’t recognize, they could hand them to Long Chen for him to identify. In terms of medicinal ingredients, there was no one more familiar with them than him.

There were an incredible amount of items in these hundred-plus spatial rings, and so even though the five of them worked day and night, it took them two full days before organizing all the medicinal ingredients.

They had only just finished organizing the medicinal ingredients when a figure rushed over.

“Hahaha, boss, brother really missed you!”

The person who had come was Guo Ran. As soon as he arrived, he gave Long Chen a fierce hug.

“Greetings, sister-in-laws.” Not waiting for Long Chen to say anything, Guo Ran hastily greeted the four women with such an appellation, causing them to blush.

Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulders. “Why are you still at the peak of Tendon Transformation? Were you being lazy again?”

At this time, Guo Ran was surprisingly still at the peak of Tendon Transformation. That was something very dangerous within the current secret realm.

“Boss, it wasn’t that I was being lazy, but that I made a great invention. Hehe, boss, let me tell you, the current me is no longer the old me. On my way here, I killed over fifty Bone Forging experts. They were all idiots who wanted to kill me for my treasures because they saw my cultivation base was weak. Hehe, that really was satisfying.” Guo Ran’s face involuntarily lit up with pride.

“You can kill Bone Forging experts?” Tang Wan-er looked at him doubtingly.

“Faction leader, are you saying you doubt my words?” Guo Ran asked with a wounded expression.

“No, no, no, it’s not that I doubt your words…”

“Then you mean…”

“It’s that I don’t believe them at all,” laughed Tang Wan-er.

Even Long Chen laughed. Who would have thought that Tang Wan-er had also learned to be mischievous like this?

“Faction leader, hehe, then just take a look at how terrifying the current Guo Ran is!” Guo Ran didn’t get angry. Instead, he laughed, took a couple steps back, and did something with his wrist.

A strange sound rang out as Guo Ran body was almost instantly covered with a layer of metal. His entire body sparkled with a golden light, looking like he was a man made of gold.

This was a golden armor, but it wasn’t the same as ordinary armor. It was not something taken out from a spatial ring. Even Long Chen hadn’t clearly seen how that armor had appeared. It had happened too quickly.

BOOM!

Raising a single leg, he lightly stamped it on the ground, and the entire ground shook intensely. Spiderweb cracks spread out, instantly going out over a mile.

Tang Wan-er and the others all jumped in shock. They really hadn’t thought that Guo Ran would turn into such a strange, metal monster.

“Boss, do you want to have a little test with brother?” Guo Ran’s voice came out from within the armor, containing metallic friction that made his voice sound very odd.

“Come.”

Long Chen also wanted to see just how powerful this invention was. That slight stamp of his foot just now really had been very powerful. Killing ordinary Bone Forging experts shouldn’t be much of a problem.

“Then be careful.”

Guo Ran shouted and stamped on the ground. But somehow, he shot out incredibly quick, smashing a fist at Long Chen.

This fist brought with it a whistling gale that made it so Meng Qi and Lu Fang-er, who were very unsuited to close-range combat, found it hard to breathe.

BOOM!

Long Chen also punched out, colliding with Guo Ran’s metallic fist. The ground beneath Long Chen’s feet instantly collapsed, and a wave of qi surged out.

Chu Yao immediately summoned out countless wooden stakes from the ground that protected the rest of them. Only once that fierce gale passed did she put away her wooden stakes. They all saw that the place Long Chen was at was now a large crater.

“Truly not bad. This fist has the power to kill Favored. As for these small holes on your arm, those should be for shooting out concealed weapons, right? That way you’ll even have the ability to kill Chosen. Truly not bad.” Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh with emotion as he appraised Guo Ran’s armor.

With his divine sense, he had found that Guo Ran’s armor was extremely exquisite. Below the metal were countless mechanisms and springs that were set up smoothly.

Although Guo Ran’s physical strength wasn’t high, with each one of his movements, those springs would supplement him, giving him incredible strength. That attack of his just now definitely had the power to one-shot Favored.

Furthermore, through his divine sense, he saw mechanisms over his arms, stomach, back, feet, head, and even his butt; all of which contained many fine, inch-long needles.

Those needles were all covered in spiral patterns that indicated they were made from essence steel that had been tempered a hundred times. They could easily pierce right through a person’s body. The current Guo Ran was practically a killing machine.

“Hehe, boss really is boss. You saw through it with just a glance.” Although he was praising Long Chen, the pride within his voice could be heard by anyone.

With another burst of odd noises, the armor covering his body disappeared. However, his expression had an indescribable wretchedness to it now.

“Looking at your expression, it seems that you were acting the pig to swallow tigers,” said Long Chen.

“Cough, there really is nothing that can be kept from boss…” Guo Ran awkwardly coughed.

“Alright. Just bring out your harvest and help us organize the medicinal ingredients.”

Guo Ran truly had been busy. He had over sixty spatial rings on him. The four women all busily went back to work again.

At this time, Wilde finally awoke, most likely from the intense shaking. Seeing Guo Ran, he happily greeted him.

Wilde’s temperament was very simple and straightforward. Although he was a huge giant, his intelligence was limited. Everyone treated him as a little brother.

“Wilde, did anyone bully you on your way? If anyone did, just tell me, and I’ll help you vent your anger.” Guo Ran patted himself on the chest confidently.

“The people who bullied me were all beaten by me and ran away,” said Wilde.

“They ran away? You didn’t beat them to death?”

“Aiya! Now that you mention that, brother Long, it seems I’ve caused some trouble!” Wilde’s expression suddenly changed, and he patted his own head in vexation.