The flying boat quickly left the Heaven Devouring Forest, no longer suffering any more attacks. Furthermore, as they flew by, the giant trees would open a path for them, which revealed the light of the sun.

“Protector Zhuo is mighty. You managed to completely intimidate those wood idiots. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome,” said a Life Star expert emotionally.

The other Life Star experts nodded. If Zhuo Tianxiang hadn’t managed to intimidate the tree demons, it really would have been troublesome.

“Hmph, those tree demons have been cultivating for too long, even their heads have started to solidify. They’re actually acting more and more unscrupulously. Back then, Pill Valley gave them some space and respected their living habits. Each time we passed, we would slow down. But those idiots actually took that as us being afraid of them. They would block our flying boats several times and threaten us. If we didn’t do this, it probably wouldn’t be long before they started demanding a toll for us to pass,” sneered Zhuo Tianxiang.

“This detestable Heaven Devouring Forest doesn’t even place Pill Valley in its eyes. It seems our prestige is dropping more and more. It’s all because of those stubborn old bastards who are hidebound by convention. Otherwise, who would dare to say a word if we eliminated a few sects like the Xuantian Dao Sect?” raged a Life Star expert.

Long Chen quietly listened. Suddenly, Zhuo Tianxiang glanced at him, and Long Chen knew that this bastard was about to kick him out, so he took the initiative.

“Seniors, it seems that you’re talking about major classified matters. Does disciple need to step away?” probed Long Chen.

Zhuo Tianxiang had been about to send Long Chen away on the pretext of him needing to cultivate. After all, some things weren’t appropriate for him to know. But now that Long Chen had put it like this, he didn’t feel right kicking him out. Although Zhuo Tianxiang still disliked Long San inside, he still felt that raising a powerful genius alchemist would bring him great benefits. If he kicked him out here, it would imply that he still thought of him as an outsider.

“There’s no need, you’re not an outsider, and you can know some things. You just have to remember them in your heart and not bring them up,” said Zhuo Tianxiang in the end.

“In truth, Long San will learn of this sooner or later. Learning it now isn’t a bad thing.” One of the Life Star experts explained, “Pill Valley can be said to be the strongest power within the entire continent. Whether it’s in terms of power or wealth, we completely beat the Xuantian Dao Sect. If we wanted to, we could crush them like ants.”

“What’s the Xuantian Dao Sect? Is it very powerful?” Long Chen acted stupid.

“Cough, I forgot you only encountered the alchemy world in the Eastern Wasteland and don’t know anything about sects,” said that elder.

Zhuo Tianxiang had gone through his memories and knew that Long San was completely focused on alchemy and knew very little about the cultivation world. As for mentioning the Xuantian Dao Sect, it was just to vent some of his resentment at them.

“In any case, all you need to know is that Pill Valley is the strongest existence in the world. However, although we have all that power, a group of conservative old men still control Pill Valley. As a result, Pill Valley’s position is dropping more and more in the world, its dignity being erased. Even a declined sect dares to provoke our prestige. It really is infuriating.”

“Isn’t the cultivation world one where the strong are respected? If they don’t submit, then just beat them. Can’t you just beat them into submission?” asked Long Chen, continuing to try and learn any secrets.

“It’s Pill Valley’s higher-ups. They’re too conservative and refuse to use our power to intimidate the world. It pisses me off…”

Hearing that elder’s explanation, Long Chen learned that Pill Valley’s interior was not united. Instead, there was a fierce fight going on inside.

Long Chen summarized that Pill Valley had two factions. One was the conservative faction, while the other was the radical faction. The competition between the two sides was extremely intense.

The so-called conservative faction was an advocate for staying neutral and not participating in any struggles. They focused on alchemy and were indifferent to anything else.

The other faction, the radical faction, was unwilling to let Pill Valley go nowhere like this. Instead, it should be Pill Valley that controlled the continent.

The radical faction criticized the conservative faction for being pedantic. They had also been the ones to allow the Huayun Sect to slowly grow. After all, with Pill Valley existing first, if they had simply annihilated the Huayun Sect with a thunderous blow at the start, there wouldn’t be anyone who could compete with them.

But the conservative faction had its own principles and was indifferent. They felt like representing Pill Valley’s foundation was enough. The rise and fall of the cultivation world had nothing to do with them.

Long Chen hadn’t expected the situation to be like this. But to express his standpoint, he immediately began to curse the conservative faction for not showing initiative and not working on advancing. They stagnated, holding back Pill Valley’s development.

Long Chen’s display satisfied Zhuo Tianxiang and the others. At the very least, in terms of character, this Long San was not bad. They needed this kind of highly proactive youth.

“Protector Zhuo, if you need anything, just tell me. Disciple will definitely accomplish it even if I must go through raging fire or deep water! After all, I, Long San, am also a member of Pill Valley, and I have the responsibility to push Pill Valley forward and excavate all my potential. I’ll work hard to overthrow those pedantic rulers stopping Pill Valley’s growth. I’ll make them all get lost!” Long Chen cried with righteous indignation as if the conservative party had somehow committed great atrocities against him.

These words were mostly just big talk. Zhuo Tianxiang and the others also felt that it was a joke that a small little disciple could overthrow the conservative faction.

But they also approved of his attitude, so Zhuo Tianxiang nodded. “Good. Long San, just remember that as long as you work hard enough and are loyal, you’ll definitely receive the best grooming within Pill Valley. Once we arrive at Pill Valley, I’ll tell you how to act. However, although your alchemy talent’s decent, don’t get easily satisfied. There are plenty of geniuses in this world. Your current accomplishments are nothing, so you need to work hard on improving your alchemy arts. No matter how good your talent is, you can’t slack off. If you don’t have the willpower to work through the boredom and loneliness, you won’t have any big accomplishments. We all have a high view of your talent, so work hard.”

“Yes, disciple understands. Disciple will immediately enter seclusion and bitterly train!” Long Chen said his goodbyes and returned to his room. Locking the door, he drank some wine and fell asleep, beginning his bitter training.

Because of the Underworld Soul Ghost Curse, he was only able to use his spiritual yuan to form his flame energy. That was the only way to prevent the curse from reactivating. Other than refining pills, he couldn’t do anything right now.

In the past few days, he had been forced to be extremely careful with all these experts staring over his shoulder. It was truly tiring. When he finally had a chance to rest, he naturally took a good nap.

Long Chen didn’t know how long he had been sleeping for when he suddenly heard someone knock on the door. He hastily sat up and warmed up his pill furnace, looking like he had just been refining pills. Only then did he open the door.

“Working hard is good, but you need to balance it. After four more hours, we’ll arrive at Pill Valley. Therefore, Protector Zhuo wants you to make yourself presentable. Switch out your robes.” One of Pill Valley’s experts handed Long Chen a set of ocean-blue embroidered robes.

Long Chen washed up. His messy hair was tied into a knot behind his head. After putting on the robes, he looked much more alive and refreshed. With his tall stature, the robes even made him appear handsome. If he walked down the streets, he’d definitely turn a few heads.

“Haha, not bad. As expected, the clothing makes the man. You’re like a whole different Long San.” When Long Chen came out, the elders were quite moved. He was like a completely different person.

He had been like an impoverished beggar when they had first met him. But now, it was like he had become a prince. The visual impact was quite great.

“Truly not bad, but handsomeness doesn’t have that much use. Of course, if you were able to seduce the Pill Fairy, that would be a different story.” Zhuo Tianxiang looked over Long Chen. For some unknown reason, the image of Long Chen appeared in his mind as he looked at Long San.

“Who is the Pill Fairy?” asked Long Chen.

“Haha, little fellow, Protector Zhuo was just joking. Don’t start getting carried away by your wishful thinking. WIth your current power, you don’t even have the qualifications to meet the Pill Fairy,” laughed one of the elders.

“Using this bit of time we have, I’ll test you and see how well you’ve progressed after everything we’ve taught you.” Zhuo Tianxiang directly began to test Long Chen on the foundational alchemy arts of Pill Valley. Long Chen answered all his questions easily

The most shocking thing to Zhuo Tianxiang and the others was that Long Chen was able to infer concepts completely beyond what they had initially taught him. Just from the foundational skills they had taught him, he proposed various theories. A portion of those were wrong, only looking right in theory, and Zhuo Tianxiang immediately corrected them, but this terrifying comprehension ability still amazed them.

Furthermore, his control over his Pill Flame had also reached a very high level. Even these old alchemists were stunned.

But then thinking of his terrifying Spiritual Strength, they supposed that such precise control was only natural.

“We’ve arrived.”

Just at this moment, the flying boat stopped in front of a huge transportation formation. There were countless experts guarding it, all of them wearing the robes of Pill Valley.

“Long San, just follow me,” said Zhuo Tianxiang. Long Chen’s heart turned cold as he realized what Zhuo Tianxiang was intending. In the future, Zhuo Tianxiang would be looking after him. But Long Chen didn’t want to keep interacting with this fellow. He was worried about being seen through.

“Many thanks, Protector Zhuo!” However, he had no choice but to put on a grateful expression as he thought of how to escape this fellow.

As he descended the flying boat with Zhuo Tianxiang, he suddenly thought of an idea, and a wicked grin appeared on his face. He tightly followed behind Zhuo Tianxiang, locking his eyes on Zhuo Tianxiang’s butt.