It was a piece of paper. He slowly unfurled it and read what was written on it. There was simply one line written by a woman’s hand.

“Now will you be happy?”

Seeing this line of words, Long Chen’s expression changed. He sensed that this matter was not ordinary.

“Yutao, what’s going on?!” Killing intent began to rise in Long Chen’s eyes.

“What do you think? Others got bored of playing with this slut and tossed her away. As for you, Long San, you were just second-hand goods, hehe!” sneered a disciple.

“Die!”

Long Chen suddenly roared furiously and punched that disciple’s head.

There was no suspense. His head exploded like a watermelon.

Long Chen’s punch was too terrifying and too sudden. The disciples beside him were all splattered with blood.

“No!”

That disciple’s soul appeared in the air, but a flame spear suddenly shot out of Long Chen’s hand, incinerating his soul. That disciple was instantly killed.

The other disciples were all shocked. They had never expected Long Chen would dare to kill people. They all became pale, too terrified to move.

“Long San… you’ve caused a calamity now.” Zhang Yutao also jumped in fright. Now even he was worried.

“I don’t care about that right now. Tell me, why would Duan Tianqiao commit suicide? Who is she asking if they will be happy now?” demanded Long Chen.

Zhang Yutao explained this matter from the start. Panic wouldn’t help now. At this time, people were already rushing away to report this matter to the Elders.

Under Long Chen’s interrogation, Zhang Yutao had no choice but to explain Duan Tianqiao’s history. Originally, her talent was not bad, and she easily became an inner disciple. But wanting to join the Divine Pill Hall was extremely difficult.

She tried several times without succeeding. Later on, one of the Divine Pill Hall’s disciples gave her some pointers, allowing her alchemy skill to advance by a great deal, making her eligible to finally enter the Divine Pill Hall.

Duan Tianqiao was extremely grateful to that disciple, and under his pursuit, the two of them became alchemy Dao-companions.

It was only later that Duan Tianqiao learned that this disciple had only helped her to pull her into the Divine Shield Alliance. Furthermore, this person also had other Dao-companions. Duan Tianqiao had immediately felt used. She had had a huge fight with that person, and she had formed an urge to kill herself at that time.

It was the Pill Fairy that had come to support Duan Tianqiao, advising her to leave the Divine Shield Alliance and join the neutral faction.

Furthermore, she had even given out a warning that no one was to mention this matter again. At that time, this matter had caused quite a ruckus before things had gradually calmed down.

Duan Tianqiao had managed to escape the shadow of her past and once more began cultivating her alchemy. But the emotions that hadn’t worked out from back then still caused quite an influence over her, and in the end, she was unable to improve her ranking. She was stuck at the bottom, always in danger.

Just yesterday, when someone had cursed Duan Tianqiao for being a slut, Long Chen had thought that someone was intentionally trying to find trouble with him. He hadn’t known there had been such a story behind it.

Now, it seemed that this person’s curse had provoked Duan Tianqiao’s inner wound. Adding on how her alchemy had stagnated for so many years, she had felt like there was no more meaning in living, and decided to end her young life.

“Why did you have to do this? People always grow by facing the bumps on their way. They mature amid lies and schemes. Did you really think this life no longer had meaning to you? If you really hated this world, why is it that you would face toward the east before death? Don’t worry, I will bring your ashes out of this emotionless world and back to your home.”

Long Chen sighed and gently brushed Duan Tianqiao’s face. He closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

Just at this moment, the Pill Fairy walked over in an imperial dress. Seeing Duan Tianqiao’s corpse, sadness appeared in her eyes.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for. Wherever there are people, there will be competition, a survival of the fittest. You’ve already done what you could do. I’d just like to ask you to leave Duan Tianqiao’s ashes to me after she’s cremated. I hope to return her ashes back to her home. Perhaps that was her only desire before her death,” said Long Chen.

“Long San, you randomly killed someone?! Come with me!”

Just at this moment, a group of Elders seized Long Chen. Long Chen didn’t resist and let them bring him away.

The Pill Fairy looked at his stubborn figure as it gradually faded. An indescribable pain appeared in her heart.

“Pill Fairy, this matter…” Jiang Zijun also rushed over.

“Don’t try to explain anything. I don’t care if you know about this or not. Your struggles in the future have nothing to do with me. Move. I’m bringing her away.” The Pill Fairy gently picked up Duan Tianqiao’s body. Without even looking at Jiang Zijun, she left.

Jiang Zijun awkwardly made way for the Pill Fairy. The Pill Fairy had always been a gentle person. For her to say such a thing meant she was truly infuriated.

…

“Long San, you’ve killed two people now. This is truly troublesome…” Kan Dongze was disappointedly speaking to Long Chen in prison.

He repeatedly brought up his shortcomings, how he was too impetuous, how he didn’t use his head, and how he was definitely going to be executed now.

“Although that disciple truly said something he shouldn’t have said after Duan Tianqiao’s death, killing him is still unforgivable. We’ve already reduced your punishment as much as possible. Right now, the only thing you can do is accept Luo Xiao’s challenge. Luo Xiao is a rank seven Celestial and a flame cultivator. Since you haven’t cultivated flame magical arts, you’ll definitely die. That’s why you have to work hard during this time to cultivate flame fighting skills to face Luo Xiao. We’ve already done our best and won ten days for you to train. Long San, I want to hear what you think,” said Kan Dongze.

“I’m not thinking about anything. So what if I have to switch to become a flame cultivator? Others are unable to do dual martial-pill cultivation, but I’ve always wanted to try it. I just want to know if after I kill Luo Xiao, will I be able to challenge the person that caused Duan Tianqiao to commit suicide as revenge for her?” asked Long Chen.

Kan Dongze laughed inside. Originally, he had been thinking of how to convince Long Chen to switch to become a flame cultivator. He hadn’t expected him to be so brazen as to instantly agree. Furthermore, he was even thinking about future challenges. This simply proved that he had been completely bedeviled.

“As long as you can kill Luo Xiao, everything else is no problem. As for the matter of avenging Duan Tianqiao, we’ll definitely set it up for you. Whether or not you’ll be able to kill that person will be up to your own abilities though,” said Kan Dongze.

“Good. Then I want to start training in flame magical arts right now. I’m already impatient,” said Long Chen confidently.

“Alright, then I’ll find a powerful flame cultivator to secretly train you during this time. Good luck. I look favorably upon you.” Kan Dongze patted Long Chen on the shoulder encouragingly. But when he turned to leave, a cold smile appeared on his face.

However, when Kan Dongze left, he didn’t see a cold smile also appear on Long Chen’s face.

…

Time passed by, and five days were gone in an instant. Within Zhuo Tianxiang’s private room, other than Zhuo Tianxiang, Dan Yanxue, and Kan Dongze, a red-haired elder was also present.

This elder had extremely intense flame energy fluctuations coming from his body, and they caused space to twist around him. He was a terrifying Life Star flame cultivator with immense power.

“Elder Zhu, how is Long San’s cultivation?” asked Zhuo Tianxiang.

“Reporting to Protector Zhuo, everything is going very smoothly. This Long San is definitely a genius with terrifying comprehension ability. Furthermore, his willpower is very strong. He chose to use the peak level of the Raging Flame Body Tempering process. Even as his body is incinerated, his expression doesn’t change. He’s a ruthless person. In order to increase the power of his physical body, he undergoes the body tempering process for sixteen hours a day, and with the best possible medicinal pills offered to him, the rate at which his body is strengthening is monstrous. If I didn’t personally witness it, I wouldn’t believe it. He’s truly suited to walk the path of a flame cultivator,” said the red-haired Elder Zhu emotionally.

Long Chen’s body was ‘strengthening’ so quickly that Elder Zhu found it hard to believe.

Long Chen was using this body tempering process to slowly reveal the real power of his physical body. That way, the increase of his battle strength wouldn’t be too sudden and expose him.

“Good. Then when he fights Luo Xiao, he won’t lose. As long as he can force it into a draw, we can get past this. Looks like I was worried for nothing... However, Elder Zhu, don’t be careless. Long San is a very important chess piece for us. Since there’s not much time left before the Heavenly Dragon Flame Region opens, you have to raise his power as much as possible. No matter how many resources it costs, we’ll get it all back a hundred, no, a thousand times,” said Zhuo Tianxiang.

“Yes, your subordinate understands. I’ll go check on him right now. I won’t let him slack off at all,” promised Elder Zhu.

Once Elder Zhu left, Zhuo Tianxiang, Dan Yanxue, and Kan Dongze all smiled. Long San had given them quite a few pleasant surprises.

…

BOOM!

Flames filled the sky. Long Chen was surrounded by countless flame runes, looking like a god of fire. Flame runes had even appeared in his eyes.

“Hahaha, good, excellent! Long San, after exhausting so much Earth Flame essence, your physical body is already comparable to body cultivators,” laughed Elder Zhu.

Bang!

He was laughing when Long Chen’s fist landed squarely on his face. He flew back with a pained groan.

“Long San, are you mad?!” raged Elder Zhu.

“I’m not mad. I just wanted to test my power,” said Long Chen coldly. “There’s not much more time. I want to take Luo Xiao’s head in just three moves.”

Long Chen slowly raised his head. His eyes contained an icy killing intent that made Elder Zhu shiver.