“Xia Chen really stayed just like that? It’s hard to believe.” Gu Yang and the others felt that this was too sudden.

“He wanted to join from the start. It’s just that experts always have to find an excuse so they won’t embarrass themselves.” Long Chen smiled.

Gu Yang gave him a thumbs-up. “Boss is wise.”

Long Chen shook his head. “There’s nothing wise about it. Even if he didn’t join, I would do my best to help him when he needs it. Xia Chen is like us and doesn’t like owing favors. Considering our compatible characters, we’d sooner or later be one family.”

As soon as Long Chen had seen Xia Chen here, he had essentially seen through the latter’s thoughts. Although Xia Chen was strong, he was isolated from the rest of the world and wasn’t able to hide his emotions as well as others. As for Long Chen, having had to deal with all kinds of people since childhood and enduring countless setbacks, he could guess a person’s character and thoughts with just a glance. So he wasn’t surprised that Xia Chen would join at all.

However, the fact that Guo Ran would be so excited about Xia Chen joining was a bit of a surprise. The two of them had hit it off as soon as they met, so much so that it was like they regretted not having met earlier.

The only bad side to Xia Chen joining was that the pressure on Long Chen to make more money had increased. He had long since heard that formation cultivator was a profession that burned the most money in this world. Furthermore, it was the kind of profession that cost greatly but didn’t get any return.

Most of the time, a formation cultivator’s income would come from being hired by others to establish or design formations.

The Dragonblood Legion was full of warriors. They might be good at fighting, but making money was not their forte.

Fortunately, the best money-making profession was alchemists. As long as Long Chen continuously refined pills, he would be able to raise this huge legion.

Long Chen told Li Tianxuan and the patriarch that Xia Chen had joined the Dragonblood Legion. The patriarch was shocked, while Li Tianxuan was calm as if he had long since expected this.

Li Tianxuan was extremely clear on the charisma a heaven-defier had. That kind of charisma was difficult to resist for men and women. As soon as Xia Chen had come, Li Tianxuan had known that he wouldn’t be able to leave.

The next day, Xia Chen and Guo Ran excitedly ran over to Long Chen. Guo Ran shouted, “Boss, boss, we spent all night formulating some formations for the troops! It can increase the battle power of the Dragonblood Legion by over ten times!”

“Ten times?”

Long Chen almost jumped out of his chair. The Dragonblood warriors had already gone through the tempering of the blood soul stone and the blood essence stone. Their power had been raised to a terrifying level already. If their power was increased by another ten times, wouldn’t they be equivalent to Empyreans?

Xia Chen nodded. “With my formations plus Guo Ran’s armor and weapons, if the two are made to complement each other, it will form a natural cycle of strengthening. Ten times is just an initial hypothesis. If we can reach the point where all ten thousand are one, the power that can be unleashed will be enough to shake heaven and earth.”

Xia Chen was confident and full of excitement. Formation cultivators didn’t only have solo formations but also had formations for troops.

Of course, Xia Chen had no troops under his command before this. Now that he had the most elite legion on the continent, the dream he had never been able to obtain had finally become reality.

Just as Long Chen had said, Xia Chen greatly wished to join the Dragonblood Legion but didn’t know how to. Long Chen’s actions had given him a way to join without losing face.

The Dragonblood Legion was the most suitable place for him in this world. Here, he would be able to show his greatest splendor.

“This is a good thing. What do you need from me?” asked Long Chen.

“Money.”

Xia Chen blushed, while Guo Ran was very direct.

“No problem. I can give some devil cores to Zheng Wenlong and the money will flow in,” said Long Chen.

“We can’t. These devil cores are priceless treasures that we need. We can’t sell them. Boss, you should go tell the Xuan Master that the sect’s five billion spirit crystals should be given to us. I’ll finish the construction of the Dao Sect’s formation, and that will increase its power even more than what it would have been otherwise. It will also save some money,” proposed Xia Chen.

“Alright, I’ll go mention it to the Xuan Master. It would be best if the Dao Sect’s construction progresses along with the Dragonblood Legion’s upgrade. We aren’t lacking money, we’re lacking time. If you run out of money, just tell me and I’ll think of something.” Long Chen patted his chest confidently.

“Haha, do you see? This is our boss. We just have to do our own work. There’s no need for us to bother with anything else.” Guo Ran patted Xia Chen on the shoulder, laughing.

Xia Chen was a bit emotional. “Not needing to worry about money really feels good. I’ve had so many bitter days of being broke and lacking confidence. If it weren’t for that, I’d have definitely gotten in the top ten of the Devil Slaughter Rankings. However, fortunately I chose not to try, or I’d have gone bankrupt.”

Xia Chen had always been a solitary figure. The materials for his formations had been purchased by himself, and they were very expensive. Although he had obtained some materials when he had gained his inheritance and had always been very meticulous with his formations, he had always been low on money. Now that he had found a big money bag called Long Chen, he felt how blessed the days when he didn’t have to worry about money were.

“Speaking of which, other than to show off, are there any other benefits of getting into the top ten?” asked Guo Ran suddenly.

“There are. I heard it’s an amazing reward, which is why I tried to get into it, but my wallet couldn’t handle the price.” Xia Chen shook his head. If he had had money, he was confident he could have gotten into the top ten.

“Who distributes that reward?” asked Long Chen. No wonder Qu Jianying had said that there would be another pleasant surprise.

“I’m not sure. It seems to relate to some kind of secret. All I know is that once the reward comes, the top ten will instantly soar,” said Xia Chen.

Long Chen nodded. Since that was the case, they just had to wait for the good news.

Long Chen immediately went to talk to Li Tianxuan. Li Tianxuan naturally didn’t refuse Xia Chen’s plan, so Long Chen arranged it.

In truth, Long Chen could have directly taken this money. Li Tianxuan had said that this money would belong to the Dragonblood Legion because the reward for heavily injuring the Corrupt path’s Devil Kings was enough to rebuild the sect.

However, the reward for injuring the Corrupt path would take some time to come, so Long Chen had been planning on using the spirit crystals to rebuild the sect first.

Now that there was a formation grandmaster present, there was no need to worry about it. They didn’t even need to pay for outside labor. They only needed the Dao Sect’s people to work together to finish it off. It was convenient and cheap.

Xia Chen changed some vital portions of the formation. The places that originally would have required spirit crystals to power had been switched with devil cores.

These devil cores’ most amazing point was that they were still alive in the sense that they continuously absorbed energy from the air that could be extracted to power the formation.

Those ancient formations didn’t have this ability and would instead require a huge amount of spirit crystals to function. Each time the formation was activated, it would cost a huge amount of spirit crystals. An ordinary sect wouldn’t even be able to afford that cost.

However, after being switched to devil cores, not only did that allow the formation to be activated to a certain level at all times, but any extra energy could be stored, saved for a real fight. It could also be converted to other kinds of energy. That was why these devil cores were such priceless treasures.

Xia Chen immediately began working with Guo Ran. He spent half his time rebuilding the Dao Sect, while the other half was spent refining the Dragonblood Legion’s battle formation. He was also working with Guo Ran to invent new armor and weapons that were connected to the formation, allowing the Dragonblood Legion to unleash even greater power.

Although the two of them had come up with the basic principles, going from theoretical to practical required constant testing. It was a long and arduous process.

Fortunately, both of them were shockingly talented in this regard, and both worked hard. The formation gradually took shape, and the Dragonblood warriors were drilling with them. They gradually began to feel just how powerful this formation was, exciting them. They were filled with anticipation for their future accomplishments.

While the two of them were busily working, the news that the Xuantian Dao Sect had obtained a fifteen billion spirit crystal reward spread throughout the Eastern Xuan Region.

The fact that Long Chen had split that reward into three equal portions also spread. The entire region was shocked that he had given one portion to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect and one to the families of the dead as compensation.

It had to be known that many sects only had a few hundred spirit crystals in total. Possessing a few million spirit crystals would make them a first-rate sect.

As for the Xuantian Dao Sect, it had instantly obtained fifteen billion spirit crystals. Countless sects were jealous, as well as regretful.

They had listened to other people’s enticement and decided not to participate in the battle of the Devil Abyss, allowing the Xuantian Dao Sect to devour the entire reward itself.

How could they not be jealous? The Heaven Splitting Battle Sect had only sent three thousand people. None of them had died, but they had been given five billion spirit crystals.

As a result, some people began to criticize Long Chen for his favoritism. The Xuantian Dao Sect had lost tens of thousands of disciples, while the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect hadn’t even lost one, yet both sides were getting the same five billion spirit crystals. Wasn’t he saying that the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s disciples were more valuable than the others?

Some experts even began to instigate trouble with the families of the dead, telling them to come out and criticize the Xuantian Dao Sect.

Regretfully for them, those families ignored them. It wasn’t as if they were fools. The current Xuantian Dao Sect was an enormous existence that they couldn’t do anything about. Furthermore, their compensation for the deceased disciples was already too generous.

Although some people might be affected by some rumors and feel a bit of dissatisfaction, they were well aware of Long Chen’s temper. Whoever dared to cause trouble for the Xuantian Dao Sect would be wiped out without hesitation. He wouldn’t mind reuniting them with their dead family members.

Long Chen couldn’t be bothered to explain those rumors. Li Tianxuan also sent word that the Xuantian Dao Sect was allied with the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, and the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect would fight to the death for them. According to reason, the reward should have been split in two ways.

The only reason it was split in three was because of their generosity to the families of the deceased. The compensation that the Xuantian Dao Sect had paid out was definitely over ten times what the other regions had given. If people didn’t believe that, they could go check and confirm for themselves.

With just that, those voices instigating trouble fell silent. Li Tianxuan’s words were absolutely correct. Any dissatisfaction was only because they hadn’t compared themselves with the other regions. As soon as they did, they realized how generous the Xuantian Dao Sect had been.

However, just as the first wave of rumors were placated, another piece of news caused new waves.