“I didn’t think that Long Chen’s alchemy skill was so terrifying,” said Elder Long with shock.

They had done a thorough investigation of Long Chen and were aware that he knew how to refine pills. But they had had no idea that his skill in alchemy was so high.

Long Chen was a martial artist. Dual martial and pill cultivation was essentially a dead path. Alchemists would always focus on alchemy, and all their techniques would be focused on their Pill Flame. They wouldn’t learn other techniques.

However, Long Chen also had thunderforce, as well as the nine forms of Split the Heavens and a multitude of other skills. According to reason, even if such a person had once been a grandmaster of alchemy, they would still be crippled from learning those abilities.

“Long Chen has many unknown secrets. He has never had a mountain to rely on but was still able to reach this level. He must have something he depends on. Countless people have grown greedy for his secrets, which resulted in his path being so thorny. He must possess a tough lifeforce. If we could use him well, he would be of great assistance to our Long family. Aotian and the others are about to return. We can introduce them properly then. With Long Chen assisting Aotian, our Long family might be able to far surpass the others. But Long Chen isn’t so easy to control, so we’ll have to think of a way to entice him. We also have to be careful of the Ye family. They’ve been keeping a close eye on Long Chen. We cannot allow them to kill him. The Ye family has already seen through our goal, so this is the most dangerous moment for Long Chen. I’ll leave this matter to you,” said the Deputy Elder.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve prepared everything. There’s just one thing. Long Chen and the original devil race…,” probed Elder Long.

The Deputy Elder thought about it and said, “That truly is a problem. The original devil race is the enemy of the entire world. If caught, the Ye family will have an aboveboard reason to target Long Chen, while we’ll be helpless. However, it’s not as important as the rest. Just keep an eye on the Ye family’s movements. Long Chen won’t expose himself so easily. Moreover, the Star Field Divine World will soon open. The Ye family’s attention should be focused there. We cannot overlook this matter, but we also cannot ignore it.”

“Then I understand. I’ll arrange things now. I’ll make things easy for Long Chen to express our sincerity.” Elder Long nodded and left.

…

Within two hours, Long Chen’s twenty million points in winnings and his original three hundred thousand points were used up.

He now had three hundred and seventy new twelfth tier medicinal ingredients, as well as stocks of over twenty different kinds of divine material. Despite the shocking amount of wealth which was twenty million points, he found that these points were just a drop in the ocean of this treasury.

Long Chen wished he could plunder this entire treasury. Originally, he had been planning on buying even more twelfth tier ingredients, but Wan Qing had stealthily stopped him and told him that she had some of the ingredients.

Pill Valley was focused on raising her. Ever since the Pill Fairy had become the divine daughter, her interest in alchemy had faded, resulting in Wan Qing becoming the future leader of Pill Valley.

She had started refining twelfth tier pills now, and having come to the divine families for an exchange of knowledge, she naturally couldn’t appear too poor. She had brought quite a few precious ingredients with her.

Wan Qing gave one of every ingredient she had to Long Chen. After Long Chen planted them within the primal chaos space, he would have an endless supply of them.

Long Chen calculated it, and adding on the ones that he had found himself, as well as the ones that Zheng Wenlong had helped him gather, he had over thirteen hundred twelfth tier medicinal ingredients.

He was able to refine over two hundred different pills with these ingredients. He had truly managed to profit this time. With twelfth tier pills, he could quickly raise his realm.

Having encountered Feng Fei here in the divine families made him feel immense pressure. The demon king that she had killed had given him a sensation of mortal danger even though it had just been a corpse. For Feng Fei to be able to kill it and keep its corpse perfectly intact meant that her power was unfathomable.

Having spent the money, Long Chen felt that it was time to leave. He said goodbye to Elder Long as well as Shen Chengfeng and the others.

“Long Chen, why don’t you come join the divine families? I’ll give you my commander spot. You can lead us into being the first legion,” said Shen Chengfeng sincerely.

Long Chen laughed, “Even without me, you can become the first legion. You just need time. Work hard.”

Long Chen left with Wan Qing, and they sat on a transportation formation to the Martial Heaven Continent.

However, when they returned, Long Chen was shocked. He thought that they had been brought to the wrong place. The clear sky had vanished, and a haze covered the sky, filling the world with a deathly air.

“While you were in the divine families, the Martial Heaven Continent underwent this transformation. The aura of other worlds has started to creep in, causing spatial disturbances. The seals on the other worlds are weakening, and their laws are mixing into the continent. Darkness will soon envelop the world. This is also why it’s called the dark era,” said Wan Qing with a sigh. This upcoming tribulation might not be one that they could survive.

In the past, a Sovereign had always been there to get the Martial Heaven Continent through the dark era. But even then, less than a tenth of the experts during those times managed to survive. Now, there was no Sovereign at all.

“Don’t worry. We just need to be able to face them ourselves,” said Long Chen.

Wan Qing shook her head and suddenly her eyes reddened. “I’m not afraid of anything else. I just don’t want to see you and big sister Qingxuan fight to the death. She’s been in seclusion in the divine palace the entire time. No one has seen her. I feel like she’s getting farther and farther from me.”

Long Chen grew gloomy. There was nothing anyone could do about this.

The two of them eventually parted. Instead of returning to the Martial Heaven Alliance, Long Chen went to the Wine God Palace.

Upon meeting Long Xiaoyu again, he saw that she had grown again. She grew delighted upon seeing him.

His father and mother were still the same. His mother was tending her garden, while Long Tianxiao was immersed in winemaking. The Wine God Palace was isolated from the rest of the world, so they didn’t sense the danger to the Martial Heaven Continent.

It was only here that Long Chen managed to feel at peace. He accompanied his family in a quiet, happy dinner before going to see the High Priest.

He went by Tu Qianshang’s little house, but he wasn’t home. When Long Chen asked around, he learned that Tu Qianshang was still roaming the outside world. It had been a long time since he had returned.

After that, Long Chen arrived at the High Priest’s residence. The High Priest immediately laughed and indicated for him to sit, bringing out his wine. When Long Chen reached out to pour the wine, the High Priest waved his hand, doing it himself.

“What kind of impression did the divine families give you?” asked the High Priest.

“To tell the truth, my impression of them isn’t very good.” Long Chen took a light sip of the wine and instantly felt refreshed. This wine seemed to be able to make him forget all his vexations.

“Oh? Why?”

“I can’t say. The divine families just give me a very strange feeling. Other than the Pill Doyen, I was unable to see through the others. The only one I have a good impression of is the Pill Doyen,” said Long Chen.

Long Chen didn’t hold anything back when it came to the High Priest. He had great trust in this senior.

“The Divine Pill Division’s Pill Doyen should be Yin Chang, right? He’s definitely worthy of admiration.” The High Priest nodded.

Long Chen was startled. “You know the Pill Doyen?”

“I don’t remember the exact time because it was so long ago, but he came to the Wine God Palace and used the Pill Dao to discuss the Wine Dao. He gave me a marvelous impression. He allowed me to see many things that I had never seen before. That is why I chose to allow the collaboration with Pill Valley for the medicinal wines, but you also know that not all people are able to make alchemy their conviction.”

Long Chen was surprised to learn that there was actually such a history behind the Wine God Palace and Pill Valley’s collaboration.

“You should be careful of the divine families. They are a den of tigers. The divine families have their own secrets, and as an outsider, they will definitely not allow you to be a part of them. If you get too close to them, you’ll get burned,” warned the High Priest.

Long Chen nodded. “The divine families are like a riddle, but I have no choice but to work with them. However, I’m not being careless with them.”

Long Chen had no choice but to work with the Long family. Other than for the benefits, he had a feeling that his origins were very likely related to the Long family.

However, such a thing could not be directly investigated. The divine families were on guard against him, and even the Deputy Elder had been probing him. If he asked about it directly, it would immediately raise the Long family’s alarm. Right now, he could only take things one step at a time.

The only one that Long Chen could possibly trust was the Pill Doyen. He gave Long Chen a feeling of absolute trust. It was a strange feeling. Moreover, Long Chen was unable to fully trust Shen Chengfeng, Elder Long, or the Deputy Elder.

“Have you witnessed any of the geniuses of the divine families who are Sovereign sprouts?” asked the High Priest.

“Sovereign sprouts?” asked Long Chen. Could it be...?