Chapter 7088: The Huayun Trading Company’s Situation |
“What… was that…?!”
Within a secluded mountain range, Shen Qingxue and the others stood in front of the Seven Treasure Colored Glass Tree with faces as pale as paper. There was even a touch of terror in their eyes.
Long Chen had brought them into the Seven Treasure Space just now. They had slaughtered their way onto the seventh level and entered a room. And in that room, they had encountered an absolutely terrifying existence. Even with Long Chen and Zi Yan present, they had been wiped out. Just thinking back to that terrifying figure made them shiver.
As expected, he’s become a triple-manifestation Divine Sovereign…
Long Chen sighed to himself. He had brought them to the Nether Emperor’s space, and just as he had expected, the new throne had already appeared.
When Long Chen entered, he took advantage of when everyone was blocking the Nether Emperor to destroy that new throne. However, even without that throne, the Nether Emperor still managed to wipe them out. Even at the same cultivation, he was on a completely different level compared to the nine star heir.
The other reason everyone had been crushed so easily was that it was impossible to bring in the violet-gold polearm and the Heavenly Devil Zither. If they had these two divine items, Long Chen felt like they would have had the ability to fight the Nether Emperor. Of course, that would only make them qualified to fight him. Having seen the Nether Emperor’s terrifying abilities just now, he knew that their hopes of winning were practically nonexistent.
Long Chen continued to feel very suspicious about how the Nether Emperor appeared in the Seven Treasure Space. This clone of the Nether Emperor seemed to be imperceptively linked to his true body. It was like millions of invisible strands connected them. His rate of growth was simply too fast, and perhaps it was linked to his true body’s recovery. This time, if it hadn’t been for everyone’s help, Long Chen really would have had no confidence in breaking its throne.
Destroying the throne was the only way to sever the connection between the clone and its true body. However, the clone would keep trying to rebuild the throne. Long Chen had to keep an eye on him. He could build, but he couldn’t be allowed to finish.
Long Chen came out of his stupor and smiled at her. “You should all be proud of yourselves. Losing to him isn’t anything embarrassing. That is a figure whose name shakes the nine heavens and ten lands!”
Everyone grew even more curious. “Who is it?”
“The Nether Emperor.”
Long Chen’s answer made them all gasp. Even in their wildest imagination, they had never expected this.
The Nether Emperor was a domineering overlord of the primal chaos era, the master of the Netherworld. They had just exchanged blows with the master of the Netherworld!
“But…” Shen Qingxue wanted to ask more questions, but she felt like it wasn’t wise to pry.
Long Chen smiled. “It’s a clone of the Nether Emperor. But it is no ordinary clone. I believe that it is somehow connected to the true body. I used a secret art to imprison him, but I cannot stop him from growing. Thus, every now and then, I have to go smash his throne to inhibit his growth; otherwise, he might actually become strong enough to escape one day.”
“One look from a clone was almost enough to make my mind crumble. How terrifying!” said Liao Yuhuang. When facing the Nether Emperor, she found herself unable to move the moment his scarlet eyes locked onto her.
The others nodded. Originally, the battle in the divine capital had filled them with confidence in themselves. That was especially true of Shen Qingxue—with the violet-gold polearm, she was practically unstoppable among her peers. However, in front of the Nether Emperor, she was quickly turned back into an ant. It felt exactly like what she’d felt back in the Violet Abyss, while being utterly trampled by Long Chen.
“Big sister Zi Yan was incredible. We could only tie down the Nether Emperor thanks to her!” said Liao Yuhuang.
Liao Yuhuang truly idolized Zi Yan. Zi Yan’s attainments in terms of the Music Dao had reached a level that Liao Yuhuang could not even imagine. Even without the Heavenly Devil Zither, she was incredibly powerful. Indeed, without her, Long Chen would not have been able to break that throne.
Liao Yuhuang was filled with anticipation at the thought of being able to stay by Zi Yan’s side.
“In truth, you all did very well. I intentionally didn’t tell you anything because I wanted you to see what a true expert is. I don’t want you to get conceited. I was actually thinking that we would get wiped out and then come up with a specific strategy to break the throne, but you did so well that we succeeded on the first try,” said Long Chen.
“How evil, Long Chen!” exclaimed Xin Yu. Of them all, she was the one with the weakest Dao-heart. She almost peed herself when she first felt the Nether Emperor’s aura. Furthermore, her specific divine abilities and magical arts were completely ineffective against the Nether Emperor. That feeling of powerlessness was enough to drive a person mad.
However, although they had been beaten, they no longer felt like it was a loss after learning it was the Nether Emperor. Instead, they felt proud.
“Zheng Wenlong has come. I have to go see him. If you want to continue challenging the Nether Emperor, go ahead!” said Long Chen.
“Go. We’ll try again in a bit. After all, you don’t often get a chance to test yourself against someone like the Nether Emperor!” said Zi Yan.
She had felt completely suppressed the moment she faced the Nether Emperor, and that resulted in her being unable to unleash her full abilities. But she had seen some unprecedented things in the Nether Emperor’s techniques. It was like peering into a whole new world. She naturally wouldn’t give up on a chance to explore this new world.
Long Chen nodded and left them with the Seven Treasure Colored Glass Tree. With a flash, he appeared in the divine capital.
Zheng Wenlong laughed delightedly when he saw him. “Brother Long, congratulations. Your name is once more spreading through the nine heavens and ten lands!”
He seemed like he had lost weight, and he was also a bit pale. Long Chen couldn’t help being worried. “Brother Wenlong, what happened? Did you end up going to the battlefield?”
Zheng Wenlong was not a fighter by any standards. His cultivation base was built mostly through faith energy. Although he was an expert of the new era, his actual combat power was average at best among his peers. On the other hand, his status was exalted; someone like him wouldn’t step onto a battlefield lightly. Even if he did, he would be a general, not a soldier. So how had this happened?
Long Chen could tell that Zheng Wenlong was injured, and it was no light injury either. Even with medicinal pills, he hadn’t fully healed.
Zheng Wenlong awkwardly said, “The situation of the Huayun Trading Company is very unstable. We’re fighting across multiple fronts, and it’s very difficult. Otherwise, I would have personally come to a place as important as the divine capital.”
“Quick, take this medicinal pill. Tell me what happened!” Long Chen handed Zheng Wenlong a medicinal pill and sat down with him.
When Zheng Wenlong took this pill, he was shocked to find that it was refined from mutated medicinal plants. It wasn’t just the main ingredients; judging from its aura, every single ingredient came from a mutated plant.
By this point, every single alchemist worth their salt had already started refining pills from the new mutated medicinal plants. The problem was that mutated medicinal plants were incredibly rare. Much like all other living beings, herbs and fungi had gone through the tribulation of the long night, and most had perished rather than adapted. Thus, if a pill required three or four types of mutated plants, it could be considered quite challenging to put together.
At the same time, the difficulty refining them increased greatly. It was hard to purify mutated medicinal plants, and their medicinal nature also changed after mutating. Certainly, this also meant that effectiveness of the pills made of mutated plants was bound to be much higher, but… alchemists simply didn’t have enough of them to practice, and if they did, the failure rate was ridiculously high.
Putting it simply, it was as if every alchemist was starting over. They had to train hard to make sure their techniques could keep up in this new era, and this kind of training had no shortcuts. They had to accumulate new experience bit by bit and eventually rework the entire alchemy system. This required both resources and time.
The Huayun Trading Company, for instance, was in control of a large stock of medicinal plants, yet none of their alchemists had ever refined this kind of completely mutated medicinal pill. They had more resources than others, but due to how precious those ingredients were, any alchemist capable of refining such a pill was still practicing with simpler formulas.
“Brother Long, I’ll take this pill, but I can’t eat it. It would be a waste of a treasure,” said Zheng Wenlong.
This pill’s value was unimaginable. Furthermore, it would provide insights for countless alchemists. It couldn’t be consumed just like that.
“Don’t mess around and just eat it. If you want some to study, I can just give you a couple!” Long Chen tossed over another medicinal pill as if it were a piece of candy, stupefying Zheng Wenlong.
“So tell me, what’s going on?”
