“Long Chen!”

“It really is Long Chen! How were we blind before?”

“He is standing right there amongst us, and no one noticed.”

Ye Lingshan’s words immediately caused the experts present to erupt into shouting. They hadn’t even noticed Long Chen’s existence.

This resulted in Long Chen’s illusory art being completely useless. All the experts stared at him in shock. Right now, Long Chen was the man of the moment in the Martial Heaven Continent. Although he was wracked with controversy, his fame was so great that his name was deeply imprinted in everyone’s minds.

With his identity revealed by Ye Lingshan, Long Chen directly dispelled his illusory art. He shrugged, shaking his head. “I’m not the slightest bit interested in this toy. It’s already broken, so why bother? Unless your brain is broken.”

“You… why would you curse me?” Ye Lingshan frowned angrily.

Long Chen hastily flapped his hand. “No, that’s not what I meant. That Venerate Platform is truly broken, with most of its abilities already lost. In truth, you… ah, I shouldn’t say it.”

“Saying half and then stopping while people are confused isn’t a good manner,” said Ye Lingshan coldly.

“If I told you, it would make you feel worse. We’re not friends, so I’m worried that you’ll beat me once I tell you. I don’t feel like it.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Hmph, so the grand first place of the Devil Slaughter Rankings is a coward. Are the rumors really true? Is your first place ranking false?” Ye Lingshan looked up and down at Long Chen suspiciously.

So, she wanted to play the provocation game with him. That was too immature. Long Chen was speechless.

“Nonsense, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen-” Qingqing on the other hand stood up to defend Long Chen. She was about to explain what Long Chen had done in the headquarters.

“Qingqing, you foolish girl, you fell for such a simple provocation. Don’t embarrass yourself.” Long Chen smiled and pulled on Qingqing. Turning to Ye Lingshan, he said, “To compete with a broken platform, even if your head isn’t broken, it definitely isn’t normal. Since you want to know, I’ll tell you. This Venerate Platform is already useless. In the ancient era, there should have been a reward to those who managed to climb to the top. Did you see those nine runes on the final step? They are called Heaven Descending Spirit Runes. They gather Heavenly Dao energy that would bless the person who succeeded. However, they merely flickered and didn’t give you any reward when you got to the top because they are already broken. That reward is the true crux of becoming a Venerate. So let me put it this way. Even if you do one day become a Venerate, it would have nothing to do with this broken-down platform.”

If it had been someone else saying this, others might not have believed them. However, since these words were coming from Long Chen, their confidence was shaken.

In truth, some people had said that this platform was essentially useless and couldn’t be used to prove anything, but people refused to believe it.

Long Chen then continued, “However, I wouldn’t say that this platform is completely useless. At the very least, it can temper a person’s will. It’s just that this tempering no longer has any corresponding nourishing effect, making the tempering a torture. Many of the people already have signs of faint damage to their souls. Although your will grows stronger, the damage to your soul is worse. You should be careful.”

After saying that, Long Chen tossed a medicinal pill at Ye Lingshan. Ye Lingshan reached out and caught it.

“This is…” When she saw it, she was stunned. Light was flowing brightly around the pill like it was covered by a screen of light. Within that screen of light were nine little fish slowly swimming. Those fish were actually runes emitting intense life fluctuations.

Light flowed out of the pill, forming a halo that spread for thousands of meters. All the experts bathed in that light felt their minds clear, and it was like their souls had been cleansed by a mysterious energy.

No one was capable of recognizing this pill or even judging its tier. However, they all knew it was incomparably precious.

“This is a rather high grade soul nourishing pill that can heal your damaged soul. Right now is the best time for you to heal the damage. If you eat it quickly, it can not just heal your soul, but it can also increase your Spiritual Strength by thirty percent,” said Long Chen.

“Thirty percent?!” The experts jumped in shock. What kind of concept was a thirty percent increase in Spiritual Strength? It was insane!

“If you had been bestowed the reward from the Venerate Platform, it would have increased your Spiritual Strength by at least fifty percent. However, a medicinal pill is still just a medicinal pill and cannot compare to runes that have been accumulating energy for an unknown amount of time. Thirty percent is already the limit,” said Long Chen lightly.

She didn’t know if Long Chen was telling the truth or not, but Ye Lingshan clearly felt her spiritual injury healing just by holding the pill. Even without consuming it, the effect was greater than the pill that she had consumed before.

“Then… many thanks.” Ye Lingshan reddened slightly. She couldn't refuse this pill, but considering that she wasn’t a friend of Long Chen’s and her previous provocation toward him, she was naturally very embarrassed.

This was something that would affect the rest of her life, so she couldn’t refuse. She swallowed it, and the pill instantly dissolved, entering her throat like pure water. Ninety percent of its energy surged toward her spiritual sea.

Ye Lingshan’s manifestation appeared out of her control. Vast Heavenly Dao energy flowed around her, and a spiritual pressure that grew greater and greater appeared.

Finally, the Spiritual Strength and manifestation faded. Ye Lingshan’s face was no longer pale, and there was a bright light shining in her eyes. It felt like the air around her had changed.

“Many thanks,” said Ye Lingshan to Long Chen.

“No need. In the future, we’ll be friends. As for what happened before, we don’t need to talk about it,” laughed Long Chen.

Long Chen was trying to keep Ye Lingshan quiet about what had happened before in the restaurant. As an independent cultivator, Ye Lingshan had experienced much more than the innocent Qingqing. His teasing toward Qingqing had just been some random words, but if Qingqing knew their meaning, he would definitely have no face left to see her.

Ye Lingshan glared at Long Chen, clearly finding this condition difficult to accept. But she didn’t say anything more.

“Alright, you can continue playing. Qingqing, didn’t you say that Clearwind City has a Divine King Shrine? Let’s go take a look.” Long Chen pulled Qingqing away.

“Mister Long Chen, can I ask a question? Should we continue training here?” asked a bold independent cultivator.

Long Chen looked back. “You can train here, but you should prepare a large quantity of soul nourishing pills. In truth, this Venerate Platform has little value, but it would be a pity to throw it away. In any case, you don’t need to care too much about it. In the current cultivation world, there’s no way to restore it. Why do you think others would just leave this treasure here for anyone to use?”

He and Qingqing walked away. Ye Lingshan looked at Long Chen’s back, not knowing what to say.

“Ah, that’s right, I almost forgot about this. You are Ye Lingshan, correct? I just want to say that based on my years of experience, you and senior Qu Jianying are particularly well-suited for each other. If you were to take her as a master, it would definitely be your best decision,” said Long Chen suddenly.

Ye Lingshan was truly powerful. Her strongest aspect wasn’t her cultivation base or her talent, but her practically fanatical drive. Such a person would have limitless prospects as long as they didn’t die.

Although his Dragonblood Legion wasn’t accepting people, he could help out Qu Jianying like this. After all, what if he succeeded in pulling her in?

“Thank you. I will consider it.” Ye Lingshan nodded.

Long Chen nodded back and left. Qingqing whispered, “Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, can you be my big brother in the future?”

“Aren’t senior apprentice-brother and big brother the same thing?”

“No, I want you to be like my big bro who protects me if anyone bullies me, just like the first and second commanders. If anyone dares to bully the second commander, the first commander will go all-out to protect her. You already said that I was too foolish to go outside, but if I was the little sister of first place on the Devil Slaughter Rankings, who would dare to bully me? What do you think, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen?” Qingqing looked at Long Chen expectantly.

What kind of logic was that? Long Chen thought to himself that if she were to become his little sister, it would be a calamity to her. He couldn’t do it, but he didn’t know how to refuse.

Suddenly, they heard shouting in the distance.

“Quick, something terrible has happened! Di Ruyun and Lu Qingshan are having a deathmatch in Clearwind Valley! Hurry!”

Long Chen was about to ask who Di Ruyun and Lu Qingshan were, but he suddenly saw that Qingqing’s expression had completely changed. “What is it?”

“It’s bad. We should hurry over too. Lu Qingshan is our first commander.” Qingqing was panicking. She immediately pulled Long Chen over to a transportation formation packed with people. Fortunately, people recognized him and made way for him.

“I’m coming too. Perhaps I can help.” Ye Lingshan also appeared.

The transportation formation lit up, and they appeared in another transportation formation.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, quick, it’s that direction!” Qingqing pointed.

“Let’s go.” Long Chen wrapped an arm around Qingqing and shot off like a bolt of lightning.