Chapter 1613: Conning Grandmaster
Long Chen now had the title of the old patriarch of the Evil Spirit Sect. Looking through the memories of the sect leader he had just slain, Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh.
This Zhao Mankun was really unlucky. Just as his longevity was running out, he had managed to comprehend life and death, reaching half-step Netherpassage. After a year of preparing himself, he had made his determination to attack the Netherpassage realm. However, he had only just stepped into the Netherworld when he was killed by Long Chen, and his body was taken over by Long Chen’s Yuan Spirit.
However, this was not technically a possession since he was unable to use Zhao Mankun’s energy. He was only able to use his own energy within this body. He couldn’t activate the Corrupt path’s techniques.
Possession required a long time to stabilize, and doing so would cause his Yuan Spirit to adapt to this body. Then when he returned to his real body, it would feel unnatural.
Although possessing Zhan Mankun’s body would allow Long Chen to use this old fellow’s status to do many things, for example personally taking a trip to Pill Valley, the ancient races, the ancient family alliance, the Xuan Beasts, making some money, killing some people, and venting some rage, it wasn’t worth it in the long run.
That was why Long Chen was just controlling the physical body. If a real fight started, he would be exposed.
However, even if he couldn’t personally fight, just this husk was enough for him to do many things. For example… getting this Grand Elder of Pill Valley killed.
When Long Chen said that whoever killed him would become the new sect leader, all those Life Star experts’ eyes turned red.
Although that Grand Elder was powerful and surrounded by intense flames, he was an alchemist, not a flame cultivator. In just a few seconds, he was surrounded by danger on all sides.
“Zhan Mankun, you’ve gone insane! Do you know the consequences for this?!” roared the Grand Elder. He was unable to comprehend why the Evil Spirit Sect’s old patriarch would act like this.
“Fool, you bewitched my disciple while I was attacking the Netherpassage realm, wanting to completely overturn my Evil Spirit Sect. If I don’t give your Pill Valley a harsh lesson, won’t you start thinking that the entire Corrupt path is your dog? All of you, start using some real power! You’re all cowards! Even now, you don’t dare to kill him? You useless things, if you don’t start fighting seriously, you’ll regret it!” shouted Long Chen furiously.
He had noticed that although these Corrupt experts looked to be fighting fiercely, they were all holding back. They clearly wanted to capture the Pill Valley Grand Elder alive rather than kill him.
After all, a Grand Elder was an extremely important position in Pill Valley. They were afraid.
However, following Long Chen’s shout, these people clenched their teeth. One of them raised his blade, and blood-colored light exploded out of it, transforming into countless skulls that attacked the Grand Elder.
That Grand Elder raised flame barriers, but the skulls blasted large holes through them.
As his defenses were torn apart, the other Corrupt experts didn’t hesitate. They attacked.
At this moment, it revealed how vicious the Corrupt path’s experts were. With his defenses broken, the others all launched their strongest killing blows. The Grand Elder was instantly annihilated in body and soul.
“Good. A person must be firm and decisive. If you hesitate over everything, what accomplishments could you possibly have? If you always wait to see what other people are doing before you act, you won’t even be able to grab crap while it’s still warm. You, yes you, you’re the next sect leader.” Long Chen pointed at the Corrupt Elder who had attacked at full power first.
That Elder was delighted and hastily fell to his knees and kowtowed. The other Elders were holding parts of the Grand Elder’s corpse. The one holding his head couldn’t help being disappointed. He had thought that he would be the next sect leader.
“Hmph, you don’t like it? A sect leader must have further vision and daring. Without that daring, what could you possibly accomplish? The opportunity was right in front of you, but you let it slip away for nothing. Tell me, how could I possibly give the sect to you?” Long Chen looked at the Elders with disappointment.
“Patriarch’s teachings are correct!”
Those Elders hastily bowed. His words were correct. All of them had hesitated. It was just that one of them had been one step faster than the others. As a result, that one step had resulted in him becoming the sect leader. His status was instantly elevated far above them.
“Everyone, return to the palace.”
Long Chen slowly walked back in with his hands clasped behind his back and sat on the throne. The gates were closed tightly, and a formation was activated to turn this into a restricted space. No one else could get close.
The Elder that was the future sect leader respectfully stood by Long Chen’s side. That was a sign of his new status. When Long Chen wasn’t present, everyone would have to listen to him.
Although he wanted to conceal it and act low-key, he couldn’t conceal his excitement.
Just now, he had been standing with the rest. Now, he was standing beside the patriarch. To say the others weren’t jealous would be a lie. However, what could they do?
“Don’t blame your patriarch for not giving you a chance. You all had this opportunity, but you hesitated, letting one person grasp it. Now I’ll give you another chance. As long as you can grab hold of it, although you won’t be able to be promoted to sect leader, I guarantee you can easily comprehend life and death when you reach the peak of the Life Star realm. I will easily promote you to half-step Netherpassage,” said Long Chen.
“What?!”
All the Elders were shocked. How could it be so easy to go from the peak of Life Star to half-step Netherpassage?
“Perhaps you don’t believe me? It’s true, in the rest of the world, there’s no one else who can do this. However… I can.”
Long Chen waved his hand, and a thick black chain appeared. All the Elders let out startled cries and retreated as it thudded into the ground.
They didn’t sense any pressure from the chain, but they did sense a powerful aura of death that made them instinctively distance themselves from it. It was like being too close would cause their life force to rot.
“This is…”
All the Elders were stunned. Some of them were old monsters that had lived for hundreds or thousands of years, but even people as experienced as them couldn’t recognize what material this chain was made of.
“This chain is a priceless treasure I obtained from the Netherworld. As long as your cultivation base reaches the peak of Life Star, you can understand the true essence of death by binding yourself with these chains. You’ll be able to experience the process of going from living to dead, from dead to living. After a few times, you’ll come to naturally understand life and death,” said Long Chen.
“You really are a conner. If they bound themselves with these chains, well I believe the part about experiencing going from living to dead, but the dead to living part? Absolute nonsense.”
Just as Long Chen was conning these people, Evilmoon couldn’t help opening its mouth. This chain was the weapon of one of the Skinners from Purgatory. The death energy coming from it would guarantee that anyone who touched it would die.
“Now you want to talk? Didn’t you say you were going into seclusion?” raged Long Chen.
“By going into seclusion, I meant I am busy absorbing energy and can’t help you fight. It doesn’t mean I have to keep my mouth shut,” said Evilmoon indifferently.
Hmph. Long Chen ignored it. He was holding the chains in his hands, as this body was already dead, while his Yuan Spirit wasn’t afraid of it. He continued.
“This chain comes from the Netherworld and can allow one to experience the cycle of life and death. However, don’t start dreaming too early. The chain only guarantees that you can comprehend life and death. As for surviving the Netherworld, it’ll be up to your luck. As for me… have you all not noticed that the fluctuations of my Yuan Spirit are completely different from before?”
“Could it be…?”
“Patriarch, you’ve already become a Netherpassage expert?!” The Elders cried out in shock.
“Hahaha…” Long Chen didn’t reply and laughed instead. As for what that meant, he left it up to them.
This mysterious laughter shocked these Elders, as well as delighted them. Ignoring the Netherpassage realm, just the half-step Netherpassage realm was something countless Life Star experts wouldn’t dare to achieve even in their dreams.
“So, let me tell you. In the future, Pill Valley will just be a fart. With this chain, in less than a hundred years, our Evil Spirit Sect can give rise to over a hundred Netherpassage experts. Half-step Netherpassage experts will number in the thousands! At that time, we’ll unite the Corrupt path and topple the Righteous path. The Martial Heaven Continent will be ours! As for Pill Valley, who gives a damn?”
Long Chen’s words shocked and delighted these Elders, as well as inspired them. This fortune had truly come suddenly.
“However, there is only one chain, and it is to be our Evil Spirit Sect’s secret treasure. No one is to spread a word of it past these walls, otherwise…” Long Chen’s expression suddenly turned cold.
“Patriarch, don’t worry! We will add these memories to the Corrupt God Seal so that no one can learn of it!” cried an Elder.
“Good. You’re quite smart. Then let’s discuss the plan for dominating the Martial Heaven Continent within a hundred years. The majority of you are at the Life Star realm, and as long as you have enough resources, you can quickly reach half-step Netherpassage. However, I don’t want just you to advance. I want everyone to advance collectively and continuously over time. To do that requires one thing: money and a lot of it at that. That’s why all of you must listen well. Our Evil Spirit Sect needs money, so all of you are to go borrow money from all the various sects using the name of the Evil Spirit Sect. It doesn’t matter how high the interest rate is. The only thing that matters is how much money you can get. Even if they want our divine item as collateral, even if they want a personal IOU from me, that’s all fine. This is called borrowing chickens to get eggs. We will use their money to raise our power, and in a hundred years, the Martial Heaven Continent will be ours. At that time, hehe, would we still even need to repay that money? The most important thing now is to gather as much money as possible, but remember not to expose the matter of the Netherworld chain to anyone. I will decide what order you get to advance to half-step Netherpassage based on how much money you can get. Of course, the first one will be the new sect leader, but the rest of the rankings are up to you all. I should also tell you that the more you contribute and the more money you gather, the greater your position will be in the future. You’ve already missed one chance, so if you miss this second chance, no one will be able to help you. Go!”
Long Chen waved his hand, and those Elders instantly vanished from sight as they flew out of the palace.
“Long Chen, you really are shameless. I, Evilmoon, have never seen someone like you in all my years,” sighed Evilmoon emotionally.