Wind copper was a very precious divine material. Many sects had it, but only in small quantities.

Long Chen was holding a fist-sized chunk of this ore. If refined, it should produce a one-inch-wide sphere of wind copper. That was quite valuable.

“This is good, but it’s not even close to enough to pay for everything,” said Guo Ran.

“Who said that there was only this one piece? Are you saying that as long as there was enough of this, it would work?” asked Long Chen.

“It would… but how much do you have? As long as you have a hundred chunks this size, it should be enough to build Xia Chen’s armor,” said Guo Ran.

The soft armor they had planned to make didn’t actually require too many divine materials. The main problem was how taxing it was to inscribe runes onto each and every thread of it.

On the other hand, Guo Ran’s hard armor had to cover his entire body, with each piece requiring its own separate formation. Hence, it would cost a lot more.

That was why at the very least, Guo Ran wanted to make the soft armor for Xia Chen. As long as they could make one set of this armor they imagined, it would bring Guo Ran immense pride, even if he didn’t get to wear it. That was the pride of a craftsman.

“Well then, based on that, I have enough for you to build a set for every member of the Dragonblood Legion,” said Long Chen.

Finding an empty space, Long Chen tossed one of the divine pillars onto the ground. Guo Ran and Xia Chen’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

This giant pillar of wind copper divine ore was something they had never dreamed of possessing. It was several miles thick and tens of thousands of meters tall.

“There’s a dragon vein inside the pillar!” exclaimed Xia Chen suddenly as he examined it. He immediately found that this was no ordinary wind copper divine ore. “Boss, where did you get this?”

“From Pill Valley’s secret realm. So, is it usable?”

“There’s a dragon vein sealed inside with karmic luck. That’s a priceless treasure. If turned into a formation, the power inside it would make the formation extremely terrifying,” said Xia Chen. He was unwilling to turn such a treasure into some armor.

“Xia Chen, no. If you don’t have that armor, it won’t matter. No matter how terrifying the formation, it won’t do anything if you’re dead,” said Guo Ran.

Xia Chen’s defenses were too weak. He had to hide in the dark, but if he was noticed, he would be the main target.

“I don’t know anything about dragon veins or forging around them. The only thing I could suggest is…”

Suddenly, one giant pillar after another crashed onto the ground. Xia Chen and Guo Ran were dumbfounded.

“There are so many!”

“There were a total of one hundred and eight of these. Being a nice person, I left two of them for Pill Valley, but I took the rest. I’ll leave you eighteen for now. The rest I’m keeping so that Evilmoon and Little Heaven can absorb their energy. You can experiment with refining the wind copper or extracting the dragon vein energy. It’s up to you. All I ask is that you work on that armor. Perfect it, and then you can make one set after another. I want the entire Dragonblood Legion to be properly fitted,” said Long Chen.

“That…”

Guo Ran and Xia Chen exchanged a look. Guo Ran said, “Boss, making this kind of armor takes up a lot of time. It also requires many expensive materials. Since we have the main ingredient here for the soft armor, I’d make a conservative estimate that every set of armor would take three to five hundred million spirit crystals and also one to two months to make. We have over twelve thousand people in the Dragonblood Legion, and to make one for every person… even if we worked ourselves to death, it would take decades.”

Long Chen smiled. “It doesn’t need to be so exaggerated. The two of you can wear the perfect armor, but the other brothers don’t need such high requirements. Just make sure that what you make for them has the maximum offensive and defensive power. Too much assistance wouldn’t actually be a good thing. It would make them dependent and influence their cultivation motivation. Also, don’t be so rigid in your thinking. For example, some of the initial refining of the wind copper doesn’t need to be done by the two of you personally. You can get some help, either from the original devil race or from Zheng Wenlong. Our time is more important than saving money,” said Long Chen.

“Why? Did something happen outside? Is it because of that phenomenon?” asked Guo Ran and Xia Chen.

They had been cut off from the outside world for months, and they had been so focused on the armor that they had lost track of time.

Long Chen said, “I’ll tell everyone later. Other than the core techniques, make a list of what kind of aid you need. First, refine the wind copper and start making the armor. After experimenting with it and perfecting it, start creating as many sets as possible. We don’t have that much time.”

Later that day, they gathered the Dragonblood Legion. Even the warriors that were in seclusion were called out.

Gu Yang, Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and Yue Zifeng were all present. Meng Qi, Chu Yao, Tang Wan-er, and Cloud had also come. Only Liu Ruyan was missing. She was in a critical cultivation moment and couldn’t be disturbed.

“Brothers, there is something I have to tell you. The current Martial Heaven Continent has changed…”

Long Chen explained what the qi flow eruption meant, and how powerful ancient sects and families had appeared on the continent. Monsters that had been hibernating for countless years were starting to awaken.

The Dragonblood warriors were startled, not having expected so much to have happened while they were in seclusion. So even monsters from the ancient era had sealed themselves to come to their era. It seemed a new era of competition was about to come to the continent.

Long Chen’s gaze swept over everyone. “Empyreans with fully awakened manifestations are now no longer rare. As for ordinary Empyreans, they are as common as dogs, and the geniuses from past eras have now appeared. In fact, they were once so famous that their names were recorded in historical texts. Maybe even some famous cultivation techniques or Battle Skills were actually made by them. Each and every one of them was the most dazzling figure of their generation. As for the era that we were born in, it is the worst era as we face the arrival of all these monsters. But it is also the best era because we now have company. Otherwise, if we were completely unrivaled, wouldn’t it be lonely? I gathered you today to tell you that the times have changed. Don’t get lost in your former glory. The time where we destroyed Heavenly Fate Island and crushed the other peak heavenly geniuses is in the past. Now, if you don’t want to get trampled by others, you have to possess a higher level of power.”

“Boss, we didn’t slack off during this time. We’ve all been cultivating hard,” said Gu Yang.

Long Chen waved his hand, saying, “I didn’t say you were slacking off. Actually, you’re all working very hard. Your cultivation bases are advancing with every passing day. However, you are now lacking a certain something: a feeling of crisis. Without that feeling, your cultivation becomes something passive. It just becomes something that you do because the others around you are doing it. You were too outstanding in the last battle and started to feel unrivaled. Perhaps if it weren’t for my existence, it would have reached the point that you no longer even felt a desire to cultivate.”

Now that Long Chen said this, many of the Dragonblood warriors felt ashamed. They truly had gotten lost in their glory from the last battle. After all, they had reached the peak. They were now able to challenge the major powers of the continent. Once they stepped into the Netherpassage realm, wouldn’t this world belong to them?

They had lost that sensation of crisis. Although they continued working hard, it was just a habit. They weren’t actually actively working to get stronger.

“Boss, we were wrong.” Gu Yang was the first to admit his mistake.

Long Chen shook his head. “You weren’t wrong. If I was also at the peak, it would be normal for me to get lazy too. I’m not trying to criticize anyone. It’s just a warning that once you are unrivaled, you’ll need to find a new target to give yourself motivation. The great era is currently reaching its final stage. If you want to be unrivaled, you’ll have to become a Sovereign. Alright, that’s all I have to say about that. Let’s go. Aren’t there a bunch of hopping clowns at our door? Let’s go exercise our muscles.”