Chapter 277
Chapter 277 Grand Masterpiece
“Absolutely not!”
Elder Sun’s expression was ugly as he looked at that page . “There’s not even some of these in the entire monastery! You’re clearly just trying to rip me off . How am I supposed to get this many medicinal ingredients?!”
Long Chen’s page had hundreds of precious medicinal ingredients listed on them . Some of them were ones that Elder Sun had never even heard of .
And if it was just these medicinal ingredients, then that would be one thing . The main point was that the amounts Long Chen wanted of each one was too shocking . Most of the time, medicinal ingredients were measured in terms of grams .
But Long Chen required pounds of them! He wanted a hundred pounds for each medicinal ingredient . In total, he was asking for tens of thousands of pounds of precious medicinal ingredients .
“Aren’t you just wasting words? If I could find them, why would I ask for an idiot like you to do it for me? Don’t bother wasting your time . Will you do it or not?” snorted Long Chen .
This list contained ingredients for the Alioth Pill as well as another couple medicinal ingredients he needed for various pills . There were also various ingredients that were common secondary ingredients for a large number of pills .
This time Long Chen really had been ruthless . He asked for a hundred pounds of each of those . You want my life? You want my technique? Then let me help you out .
“But then you also don’t need this much! A hundred pounds of each of them? Do you think these medicinal ingredients are just cabbages?” raged Elder Sun .
“What do you care? Even if I wanted to use these medicinal ingredients to use as firewood, it wouldn’t have anything to do with you . If you want to accept this trade, then accept . If you don’t, then that’s fine too,” sneered Long Chen .
“You…! No, it’s too much! With my merit points, there’s no way I could buy this much . You have to cut it down . At most, I can only get you half of this amount . ” Elder Sun shook his head .
Long Chen icily snorted and ignored him, going to leave .
“Hey, what are you doing?” Elder Sun hastily called out .
“I’m going to go have a talk with Elder Tu Fang . I wonder whether I can obtain the things I want by offering my cultivation technique to the monastery?” Long Chen wondered as he walked .
“Hey, hey, wait a minute! Let’s keep discussing!”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” said Long Chen decisively .
Elder Sun grit his teeth . “Fine, I’ll accept!”
Long Chen smiled and directly handed that black zirconium to Elder Sun .
“Stop dreaming . This cultivation technique of mine is split into upper and lower portions . This is just my advance payment so that you know it’s not a fake . If you want the lower portion, you better gather up everything and give it to me .
“Of course, if you want to try and be smart you can try and experiment to figure out the lower portion . But let me say this one more time: it’s not that I want to look down on you, but I really look down on you . ”
After he finished speaking, Long Chen left, leaving behind a furious Elder Sun holding that black zirconium .
When Long Chen finally disappeared, Elder Sun’s fury was replaced with absolute delight .
“Fuck, if I had known it would be this easy, why would I have bothered with targeting him?”
Elder Sun was delighted by how easy this had been . Although Long Chen’s requirements were very high, it was still within the limit that Elder Sun could accept .
He carefully examined this black zirconium . It was the size of an egg, and here was a diagram carved on top of it . However, that diagram wasn’t complete .
But even though it was just a portion, he could see that it was a diagram of a person’s meridians . There were lines showing how to circulate energy .
Elder Sun stared at it for half a day, becoming more and more delighted . He found that this way of circulating energy was extremely profound and complicated . Although this was still just a portion of it, it was enough to awe him .
“What a powerful cultivation technique! This time I’ve really struck gold!” Elder Sun couldn’t hold back a laugh . He confidently said to himself, “For such a powerful cultivation technique to be obtained by a little Blood Condensation amateur really is a waste . Once I obtain the full technique, I’ll definitely be able to advance to Meridian Opening . Hehe, then I’ll easily kill Long Chen . Who cares if I have to betray the Xuantian Monastery? The heavens are so large . As long as I don’t run into any Xiantian experts, who would dare block me?”
Elder Sun seemed to envision a scene of him advancing into Meridian Opening, travelling freely throughout the heavens, arrogantly looking down on all .
Only after a long time did he come back to his senses . He continued examining that black zirconium . On the front side was that partial diagram, but there was also an ancient character on the back .
Elder Sun examined it for a while before recognizing it to be the character for Rebel . But the character was written in an extremely odd archaic manner, and not the standard ancient form . [1]
“Looks like this cultivation technique is extremely ancient . That brat Long Chen must definitely have some heaven-defying luck,” sighed Elder Sun .
He continued examining the diagram for a while, but he found that this technique was extremely profound, and there was no way that he could figure out the whole thing just by relying on this portion . Of course, that was also why Long Chen had given it to him so easily .
However, obtaining this black zirconium did fill Elder Sun with greater confidence . It seemed Long Chen really did want to go through with this trade .
As for why Long Chen had chosen him to trade for those things, that did make him suspicious . However, given how much Long Chen had asked for, his worries were lessened a great deal .
Let alone Long Chen, even Elders who had worked decades in the monastery wouldn’t be able to buy all the medicinal ingredients Long Chen had requested .
However, Elder Sun had worked in the monastery for a very long time, and he had also had the lucrative position in charge of the Xuantian pavilion for decades, so he had a great deal of savings .
Long Chen’s request would be extremely painful for him to fulfill, but he could still do it . However, half of all his savings would be gone .
But more importantly, most of these medicinal ingredients could not be found in the monastery . He had to make a trip to the supermonastery to buy them .
That very day, Elder Sun left to go to the supermonastery, purchasing all the ingredients listed on Long Chen’s list .
Elder Sun’s actions were completely in Long Chen’s expectations .
Although he knew that coming to find him at this time would definitely raise his suspicions, Long Chen was sure that by proposing such a high trade request and by also giving him half of his reward at the beginning, that old fellow would definitely take the bait .
Once he left Elder Sun’s immortal cave, Long Chen saw that everyone had already awakened from their drinking contest and had secluded themselves .
That huge battle had been extremely beneficial to them . Since Long Chen had returned and their hearts had been steadied, they all secluded themselves in order to absorb all the benefits of that battle .
Returning to his immortal cave, he saw that Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu were both in a meditative state, and so he didn’t bother them .
He then went to go find Wilde, but found that he and Little Snow had disappeared . After asking some workers, he found out the two of them had gone hunting with Cang Ming .
Wilde had been starving the entire time during these past few days . Ordinary Magical Beasts were unable to allay his hunger .
As soon as he had returned to the monastery, he had gone to see his master to get some food . Little Snow was similar to him in that he required meat to cultivate, and so Wilde had naturally brought Little Snow along as well .
Seeing everyone in seclusion, Long Chen didn’t even know what he should do . He was still waiting for news from Elder Sun .
He trusted Elder Sun would be even more impatient than him . He was probably gathering the medicinal ingredients as quickly as he could .
After thinking about it for a bit, Long Chen decided to go visit Guo Ran . Guo Ran’s immortal cave was the most isolated of all the immortal caves . As soon as Long Chen approached, he heard loud clanking and banging, the sound of forging, coming from within .
Entering his immortal cave, he saw the entire ground was covered with junk . Iron fragments were everywhere, as well as a couple failed items .
Even though Long Chen had arrived, Guo Ran’s head was still down . He was constantly beating something on his huge forging table .
That forging table was exceptionally large . It was covered with all kinds of forging utensils . From a distance, it almost looked like a beast made of ironware .
It was no wonder Tang Wan-er had grumbled to him that Guo Ran was spending more and more . He had constantly been asking for more points from her .
Most likely, Guo Ran was planning on changing profession to become more of a forger than a cultivator . Seeing him so focused on what he was working on, Long Chen sighed . Even this little fellow can be serious sometimes .
As he got closer, Long Chen saw Guo Ran was using a set of pliers to hold a nine inch steel nail .
That steel nail had only just been taken out of the furnace beside him . His right hand held a hammer that was smashing down over and over, sparks flying .
That steel nail’s head was gradually turning black as it was struck by the hammer . Long Chen saw that dense lines covered the top of the nail .
Although Long Chen didn’t understand much about forging, he knew that a single line would appear after that steel nail was tempered once .
Within Phoenix Cry, the majority of weapons had only gone through a single tempering . That was because Phoenix Cry’s forgers were just ordinary blacksmiths, and were unable to temper their weapons a second time . They weren’t skillful or strong enough, and so when they tried to let their weapons undergo a second tempering, they would automatically burst apart .
That was why ordinary weapons were only tempered once, and only had one line when created . After it cooled off, that line would fade, but professionals would all be able to tell just how many times a weapon had been tempered .
Furthermore, it was said that good weapons were all tempered at least ten times . The more times a weapon was tempered, the less impurities it would contain .
It was said that steel could be tempered up to one hundred times . Although steel was just a very ordinary metal, after being tempered a one hundred times, its hardness would be absolutely shocking . That level of steel was capable of even piercing through the armor of a third rank Magical Beast .
The steel nail in Guo Ran’s hand had tens of lines, showing how many times it had been tempered by him .
Guo Ran had remained focused this entire time . When the nail’s color had changed to a certain level, he immediately threw it into the water bucket beside him .
The water boiled for a moment before quickly calming back down . Guo Ran carefully took out the steel nail and examined it .
But when he went to examine it, he also saw Long Chen standing in front of him .
“Boss- ah!”
Guo Ran was given a fright, and his hand loosened for a moment, dropping that nail onto his foot . But he was fortunate that the nail landed on its side, otherwise with how sharp he had made it, his foot would have acquired a new hole .
However, that nail, which was only the thickness of a single finger, was still dozens of pounds . Having it smash on his foot still made him yelp in pain .
“Looks like if you ever leave the monastery, you’ll still be able to feed yourself by being a blacksmith . ” Long Chen laughed .
Guo Ran rubbed his foot vexedly . “Boss, if you discriminate against me, you’ll be discriminating against a future crafting god! You have to apologize . ”
Long Chen couldn’t help laughing . “Fine . If you can show me any of the style of a crafting god, I will apologize . ”
Guo Ran brightened . “Hehe, boss, don’t eat your words . I’ll let you see what is called a grand masterpiece . ”
[1] 逆 Ni