“She is an Empyrean,” answered Chu Yao.

Of the people here, only Chu Yao was an Empyrean. Long Chen, Tang Wan-er, and Meng Qi were still a bit confused as to what an Empyrean was.

Chu Yao explained, “Do you still remember Favored from the Eastern Wasteland? Favored, Celestials, and Empyreans are all the same concept. They are all born from the Heavenly Daos. When Peng Wansheng likened Favored, Celestials, and Empyreans to commoners, officials, and crown princes, he was generally correct. They are all born from the Heavenly Daos, but the degree in which the Heavenly Daos favor them differs greatly.”

“So putting it simply, it’s a case of each level suppressing the last?” asked Tang Wan-er.

“Yes, that’s about it. The suppression of the Heavenly Daos is even greater than the suppression between cultivation realms. That’s why Life Star experts can easily kill Soul Transformation experts when they’re at equivalent Celestials ranks, but a rank five Life Star Celestial is only a match for a rank seven Soul Transformation Celestial. For example, if two children are fighting, if one is a true son while the other is adopted, the father will naturally treat their own son a bit better. But when it comes to the difference between Empyreans and Celestials, it’s like one is the father’s son, while the other is someone else’s son. The Heavenly Daos won’t even care about the other person’s death,” said Chu Yao.

“I heard Leng Yueyan say that someone who hasn’t awakened their manifestation isn’t even an Empyrean. What does that mean?” asked Tang Wan-er, referring to what Leng Yueyan had said to Sha Guangyan.

“She is correct. Right now, we aren’t true Empyreans. We are more accurately sprouts that can become Empyreans. The mass of primal chaos behind us when we fight is a primitive manifestation. All our manifestations are like that right now. That primal chaos manifestation is at most able to allow us to use a portion of the Heavenly Dao’s energy. We can’t control the energy of the whole world. True Empyreans who have awakened their manifestations are in control of heaven and earth. Just like Peng Wansheng said, they are the crown prince of the world, and everyone else has to kneel before them. In front of Empyreans, all Celestials have to kneel and accept their fate,” said Chu Yao.

“They’re that powerful?” Even Long Chen was shocked. The Empyreans he had fought weren’t even true Empyreans yet? Just how terrifying would they be once they had awakened their manifestations?

“Yes, they’re that powerful. However, awakening your manifestation is not easy. Each manifestation has its own name, and only one such manifestation can exist at any time. In other words, each Empyrean with an awakened manifestation is unique. So Leng Yueyan is right that Sha Guangyan was trying to make himself look better by calling himself an Empyrean. An Empyrean who hasn’t awakened their manifestation is not a true Empyrean,” said Chu Yao.

“Then can you awaken your manifestation? What do you need to do to awaken it?” asked Tang Wan-er.

Chu Yao shook her head. “Awakening one’s manifestation is not simply a matter of effort. It’s up to the will of the heavens.”

The will of the heavens? That was what Long Chen hated the most. If things had gone according to the will of the heavens, he’d have long since died. Shaking his head, he asked, “Have the others woken up?”

“Everyone else is awake. You sat here for ten days, and no one wanted to disturb you. But after so much time, we decided to come over,” said Meng Qi.

“I’ve made you worry. Let’s go over to them.” Long Chen rose and stretched his waist, slapping himself in the face a couple of times. After talking for a bit, he felt much more refreshed.

The losses of the Dragonblood warriors had been a heavy blow to him. But after the pain, you had to wipe away your tears and continue forward. Those fallen brothers were still watching, so Long Chen had to act in a way befitting their deaths and lead everyone onward.

The entire Dragonblood Legion was gathered, and after resting, they had fully recovered. Most importantly, their mental states were much better now.

“Boss!” They all looked at Long Chen.

Long Chen nodded. “Remember, we don’t have time to feel sad, and we don’t need to feel sad. Our lives are the continuation of our brothers’ lives. Not only can we not be sad, but we have to live even happier than before, not just for ourselves, but for them. If the positions were reversed and we were the ones to die, we’d also want the same. So starting today, forget that useless pain and sorrow. Everyone, work hard on cultivation, because the first thing we’ll need to do is get revenge!”

Long Chen’s voice was icy and filled with killing intent. Whoever made him feel pain would have to pay a heavy price.

“Revenge!”

“Revenge!”

“Revenge!”

The Dragonblood warriors roared out furiously. This blood debt would have to be paid.

“Boss, let’s completely annihilate the Corrupt path, ancient races, and ancient family alliance,” said Guo Ran high-spiritedly.

“Are your big words useful? When will you change this habit? With our current power, we aren’t able to destroy any of them. Do you even believe your own words?” demanded Long Chen.

“Cough, boss, I was speaking for you. With your power, you’ll definitely be capable of it,” said Guo Ran.

“Don’t bring up such useless things, and sucking up to me doesn’t have the slightest use. If I really was unrivaled, then so many of my brothers wouldn’t have died with the ringleaders escaping.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Boss, it’s not your fault. Those people are all peak heavenly geniuses. Ever since they were born- no, even before they were born, they were raised with various resources. But you had to win everything you have with your fists. And if that Undying Willow hadn’t appeared at that time, you would have killed Peng Wansheng, so you’re still unrivaled!” quibbled Guo Ran.

Guo Ran was speaking from the heart. Geniuses were created from three percent talent, seven percent luck, and ninety percent piles and piles of resources.

In the Eastern Wasteland, Long Chen’s talent was low, and his luck wasn’t even worth mentioning. It should be called bad luck instead. As for resources, he didn’t have a huge background, so all his resources were accumulated bit by bit. Not only did he have to find them for his own cultivation, but he even had to raise a huge force like the Dragonblood Legion with them.

So there was no way to compare Long Chen’s accomplishments with those geniuses who were fated to become geniuses even before they were born.

One relied on everything their family bestowed them, while the other gathered what he needed bit by bit with his own power. They were as different as heaven and earth.

This was the aspect that the Dragonblood warriors most admired and worshiped Long Chen for, aside from his heaven-shaking power. In their hearts, Long Chen was the only true expert.

“Stop sucking up. Let’s get to business. Thanks to the Life God Tree, your mental realms have far surpassed your cultivation bases. You can raise your cultivation bases without worry now, so your current goal is to reach the peak of the Jade Core realm. You won’t run into any bottlenecks or cause your foundation to grow unstable no matter how fast you go. So I want you to turn yourself into medicine jars now. Go all-out to increase your cultivation base. Go into seclusion, and come out only when you’ve reached the peak of Jade Core,” said Long Chen.

“Yes!” Everyone nodded.

“Guo Ran, take back everyone’s weapons and armor. I’ll inject item-spirits into them. All of you will have a pair of true Ancestral items soon,” said Long Chen.

“Really?” Everyone was delighted. Giving their weapons spirits would increase their power by over ten times. At that time, the Dragonblood Legion would truly be unrivaled.

“Guo Ran, your personal armor is made of multiple parts that I’ll add individual item-spirits to. At that time, you’ll be in possession of dozens of Ancestral items. However, you’ll need to work hard and quickly raise your cultivation base. Otherwise, if you simply had multiple Ancestral items but not enough Spiritual Strength to nourish them, what would you do?” Long Chen stared at Guo Ran intently. He was worried about this fellow secretly being lazy.

“Boss, don’t worry, that definitely won’t happen! For my complete Ancestral item armor, I’ll consume medicinal pills like crazy! Even if I can’t eat them, I’ll stuff them down somehow!” Guo Ran was smiling excitedly. If each part of his armor was its own Ancestral item, just who could block him? His eyes were shining brightly. He had an urge to go into seclusion right at this moment.

After saying a few more words, Long Chen took out the mountains of medicinal pills that Huo Long had refined during this time.

These medicinal pills were perfect for increasing Jade Core cultivation bases. They were all top grade pills.

These were refined by one of Huo Long’s split bodies and the Blazing Dragon Cauldron working together. The Blazing Dragon Cauldron wasn’t a fighting Ancestral item so its power was limited. However, its alchemy abilities were amazing.

Each person was given ten thousand top grade pills. Long Chen’s estimate was that this would bring them to the peak of the Jade Core realm. Even if it wasn’t enough, it wouldn’t be that far off.

The majority of the Dragonblood Legion was at the mid Jade Core realm, with a small portion at the late realm. These pills would naturally be enough.

While they were in seclusion, Long Chen would have Huo Long refine a few more. In any case, any leftovers could be sold to the Huayun Sect for more resources.

Everyone went into seclusion. Two days later, Meng Qi came over, her matter finished. The millions of souls she had gathered had devoured each other until only the fifteen thousand strongest souls remained.

These souls were extremely powerful, but Meng Qi had already erased their minds. They were mindless soul essence essentially, which made it easy for Long Chen to use them to create item-spirits.

With his experience in creating an item-spirit for the Heaven Flipping Seal, Long Chen didn’t have to do them one by one. Instead, he added souls to over a hundred of them at once.

When those souls were injected into the weapons and armor, the dull and lifeless pieces of metal suddenly began to shine brightly, their runes lighting up like they had come to life.

This signified that the process had gone off properly. The light slowly dimmed, but now all those items had a slight air of life to them. The newly born item-spirits were in slumber now and required someone to nourish them with their souls. When they woke, the person who nourished them would become their first generation master. All Ancestral items were very loyal to their first-generation master.

Long Chen worked for five days before completing all the Ancestral items. He finally sighed in relaxation and fell asleep.