Leaving Shui Wuhen’s residence, Long Chen was filled with anticipation. If Shui Wuhen could reach Foundation Forging, he would truly have found a reliable backer for himself.

Shui Wuhen had at first been confused upon seeing Long Chen bringing her a medicinal pill and liquid. Long Chen directly explained that they were special medicine he had refined just for her. Although she found this odd as she didn’t know much about alchemy, she still consumed them due to her trust in Long Chen.

As soon as she did, her expression became one of wild delight. She immediately felt her mental state enter a state of emptiness, and her perception of the Heavenly Daos gradually grew clearer.

The greatest gain was that she actually felt her bottleneck weaken slightly. She was far too familiar with that feeling. She had felt that three times in the past; unfortunately, she had never been able to grab hold of that opportunity.

Now, without Long Chen’s reminder, she immediately knew what to do. She focused on entering a perfect meditative state to take advantage of this opportunity.

For Sea Expansion experts, advancing to Foundation Forging wasn’t as simple as just attacking the barrier.

Shui Wuhen had already been at the late Sea Expansion realm for almost five hundred years. She had tried attacking Foundation Forging three times, but she had failed.

Trying to reach Foundation Forging through force was useless. It relied on grabbing hold of a certain kind of opportunity that the Heavenly Daos bestowed on you. When a person’s mind entered a state of complete calm, it would be easier to grasp that opportunity.

But the world was filled with countless worries. No one was truly able to keep their mind and heart in a perfect state of calm with no distracting thoughts.

After failing three times, Shui Wuhen had already become a bit dejected. She hadn’t managed to feel this kind of opportunity in the last three hundred years. She had already accepted that she would never be able to reach Foundation Forging.

Now Long Chen had given her another chance. Furthermore, her comprehension of the Heavenly Daos had never been this clear before. She would go all-out in her attempt to seize this opportunity and forge an immortal platform.

Foundation Forging referred to creating a platform on top of the expanded sea. This platform was sometimes called the immortal platform. It was also sometimes called the Dao platform. It was the foundation for your chance of ever becoming an immortal or god.

It could be said that only once you reached Foundation Forging were you a true cultivator. As for those so-called immortals and gods, they were just a legend. But it was true that once you reached Foundation Forging, your lifespan would extend a great deal.

Sea Expansion experts had a lifespan of around fifteen hundred years. However, Shui Wuhen would only have a lifespan of twelve hundred years.

That was because most women, especially beautiful women, would train in a kind of secret art. At the price of reducing their lifespan, they could maintain their youthful appearance.

That was also why there were many old men in Sea Expansion but not many old women.

But once you reached Foundation Forging and created your immortal platform, you would be able to absorb the exceedingly thin immortal qi in the air. Then your lifespan would increase to five thousand years, and your youthful looks would be restored.

Long Chen was only able to help out this much. The rest would be up to Shui Wuhen. According to reason, she should have a good chance.

When Long Chen returned, he saw Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er holding hands and quietly whispering about something. He didn’t know what they were saying, but when they saw him, they immediately turned red and shut their mouths.

“To talk badly about someone behind their back, each person is punished with one kiss.”

Long Chen suddenly swooped down and gave Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er a kiss each. The two of them released a tempest of fists against him.

He laughed and rushed off to his private training room. The trial was about to start, and he had to take advantage of this time to increase his strength.

Out of the Four Heavenly Geniuses, he had run into two. That bear had already become enemies with him. Thus, there would definitely be someone to play with in the trial.

Shui Wuhen had told him that he was an earth attribute expert. If he summoned the Cry of the Heavenly Daos, then whether it was heaven or earth, endless energy would become his to use.

He was different from a fake like Huo Wufang. He was a true rank two Celestial, and the two of them were as different as heaven and earth. Although Long Chen wasn’t afraid of him, if he was speaking frankly, his chances of winning weren’t high.

As for Zhong Wuyan, she was clearly no kindhearted woman. As soon as she opened her mouth, it was like she wanted to take a bite out of someone. Furthermore, Long Chen felt she was too arrogant. She liked to look down her nose on people. That was something that he didn’t like. Although she wouldn’t necessarily be an enemy, the chances of them becoming allies were essentially zero.

As for the other two, he doubted they would be well-disposed toward him, especially that Water Pipe. He would very likely make things hard for him in the trial.

According to Shui Wuhen, this trial was extremely beneficial. So many people would be going all-out for this trial. It was because Long Chen knew this trial was so important that he trusted that Zhao Wuji would definitely tidy all the bricks so he could participate.

Right now, Long Chen needed to urgently increase his strength. Otherwise, in the trial, he might get suppressed. Then it wouldn’t be so fun.

He took out his pill furnace. He needed to personally refine some higher grade pills to condense the cyclone.

“Ah, how refreshing.” Long Chen had only just opened the furnace when it began to dimly shine. As he poured in his Spiritual Strength, the furnace’s runes grew brighter, almost looking like they were alive.

He had only just poured in the powders when they instantly merged. The pill furnace also gave him much greater control, and he didn’t need to worry about the flame suddenly growing and turning the ingredients to ashes.

Also, the pill furnace’s runes were being activated by his Spiritual Strength, which absorbed the air’s energy and poured it into the pills.

The furnace shook slightly. Long Chen was stunned. He had actually refined it so quickly. Opening the lid, he saw nine, jade-like sparkling pills that were still slowly rolling in the furnace.

“Damn, they’re all nine-ring pills. This is too amazing.” Long Chen gulped. This was the best pill furnace he had ever encountered.

In his delight, he refined nine furnaces of pills in one go, and they were all nine-ring pills. And with the nourishment of his soul, the pill furnace only became better.

After that, he placed the furnace back in the primal chaos space and had Huo Long refine on its own. In any case, Huo Long didn’t have anything better to do. The beast flames it had confined were only able to give him a single bite of energy after a whole day’s recovery. Huo Long had nothing else to do during the rest of the day, so it directly became Long Chen’s hardworking apprentice.

As Huo Long’s strength increased, its intelligence also grew. It actually gave birth to the slightest bit of soul energy. It was able to communicate simple thoughts with Long Chen, and it could even use its soul energy when refining.

BOOM!

An explosive sound came from Long Chen’s body. He was delighted, thinking that the cyclone had been fully formed. But then he realized he was wrong. Instead, he had advanced to the third Heavenstage of Xiantian.

Although he hadn’t deliberately cultivated, the enormous amount of energy in over a thousand Enlightenment Palace Pills had pushed his cultivation base higher.

Eighty-one nine-ring Enlightenment Palace Pills were consumed in just a few hours. It went without saying that the energy contained in nine-ring pills was truly enormous. The cyclone had grown much larger.

Long Chen estimated that he would completely condense it with just a hundred more pills. He was about to continue refining when Tang Wan-er called him out. Everyone had gathered. The trial was about to start.

Long Chen tidied up and walked out with Tang Wan-er. He had only just come out when he saw Meng Qi talking to Shui Wuhen.

“It was a failure?” Long Chen couldn’t help being disappointed upon seeing Shui Wuhen. Her aura hadn’t changed in the slightest.

Shui Wuhen was doing her best to suppress her emotions, but she was unable to conceal the excitement and delight in her eyes. She didn’t hide the truth from him. She whispered, “It was a success.”

“But your aura…”

“Fool, the Foundation Forging realm is different from other realms. Even if I managed to take advantage of this opportunity, condensing the foundation takes a long time. Only through a great deal of time and effort is it possible to create the immortal platform.

“Only once the immortal platform takes form will I go through the baptism of heavenly tribulation and become able to sense the immortal spiritual qi in the world. Only then will I be a true Ancestor-level expert.

“I’ve already begun to condense the foundation in my qi sea. In other words, I’ll quickly become an Ancestor-level expert. It's just that others aren’t able to sense it yet.” The constant solemn and stern expression on Shui Wuhen’s face finally disappeared. She seemed like a woman in the springtime of her youth, and a smile of excitement appeared on her face.

“Haha, congratulations big sister. Doesn’t that mean that I can be as crazy as I want in the Xuantian Dao Sect now?” Long Chen was also incomparably excited. The feeling of having a reliable backer was truly good.

Seeing his evil smile, Shui Wuhen’s excitement faded by at least half. She warned, “Long Chen, you little brat, you better not intentionally cause any trouble. Even once I advance to Foundation Forging, my status will only be on the level of the vice sect master. When it comes to combat abilities, I most definitely won’t be on the same level as a true Ancestor.

“Most importantly, there’s still the sect master above the vice sect master. That’s a person who has lived so long they’ve practically reached the level of a living fossil. Don’t mess around, because if you end up disturbing that person, we’ll all be doomed.”

Long Chen awkwardly smiled. “Big sister, do you think a well-behaved person like me would intentionally cause trouble?”

After saying that, he saw Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er looking at him oddly. It could not be more obvious what they were thinking: they didn’t believe him! That made Long Chen feel even more awkward. How could these two girls not know how to stick up for him?

Shui Wuhen said, “Alright, let’s focus. Make sure to keep this matter secret. Also, gather up the others. In two hours, we’ll be heading out to the trial region.”