Furious Elder Sun

"Long Chen, you go too far!"

Elder Sun arrived at Long Chen's Immortal Cave, his beard and hair standing on end from anger, his eyes glinting with murderous intent. This startled Tang Waner and Qing Yu, who immediately became defensive.

Long Chen emerged from his room unhurriedly. Looking at the fuming Elder Sun in front of his Immortal Cave, he shook his head and said, "You are an Elder of the branch, yet you are shouting like a shrew early in the morning. Don't you think that's beneath your dignity?" Long Chen said with a mocking face.

"Bullshit! Long Chen, you actually dared to scam me. The item you gave me is not the complete set at all!" Elder Sun gritted his teeth. However, he wasn't so angry that he lost his mind; he didn't mention the Cultivation Technique, just referring to it as "the item."

"It's not the complete set? So what?" Long Chen said.

"You… you clearly said that the item was divided into an upper and lower part…"

"Stop."

Long Chen waved his hand in a gesture to halt him, saying with a serious face, "Elder Sun, I remember saying that the item was divided into upper and lower parts, but I never said it was divided into two parts."

"Are you talking nonsense? What is the difference between 'upper and lower parts' and 'two upper and lower parts'?" Elder Sun raged.

"You're wrong. My item has an upper part that is a single whole, while the lower part is divided into two sections. I gave you the lowest section, so I'm right!" Long Chen spread his hands helplessly.

"Asshole! That item is clearly divided into three parts: upper, middle, and lower. What use is it to give me the upper and lower parts?" Elder Sun's face turned livid with anger.

He had obtained the two pieces of black zircon and studied them repeatedly, finding them incredibly profound. However, when he tried to circulate his Spiritual Qi according to the patterns on them, he found it impossible to connect them.

After trying several times without success, Elder Sun nearly ruptured his meridians by forcing his Qi. Realizing this brute-force approach wouldn't work, he studied the two meridian diagrams for two days and two nights, finally realizing the problem—the middle part was missing.

Elder Sun was so angry he nearly vomited blood. He came to find Long Chen in a rage, his face naturally looking extremely ugly.

"That's just how they say it where I'm from. What are you going to do about it?" Long Chen put on a rogue-like appearance, acting like a dead pig that isn't afraid of boiling water.

Tang Waner and Qing Yu couldn't say a word as they watched the grim-faced Elder Sun and the rogue-like Long Chen.

Elder Sun's face was livid, his chest heaving like a bellows, fists tightly clenched. It looked like he might strike at any moment.

Yet Long Chen just watched him with a mocking expression, as if to say, "If you have the ability, then strike; I'm not afraid of you."

In the end, Elder Sun didn't dare to strike. He wasn't a fool; he knew that even if he attacked, he couldn't kill Long Chen and would only bring immense trouble upon himself, so he had to endure it.

"Speak, what is your goal?" Elder Sun asked in a hoarse voice. It was a miracle he hadn't been angered into silence.

"That's more like it. Young people shouldn't have such a temper. Here! I've already written a prescription to clear your anger. You just need to go get the medicine according to the list, and all your problems will be solved." Long Chen stretched out his hand, and a list appeared in it, which he handed to Elder Sun.

Elder Sun took the list from Long Chen with trembling hands. When he saw the dense list of medicinal herbs and the quantities required, he immediately spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"Long Chen, you go too far!" Elder Sun roared.

"Too far? Hehe, do you have dementia? Don't you remember what you did back then? Don't act all high and mighty with me. I sold you the most powerful treasure just so you could taste what it feels like to be bullied. When you forced me to kneel, how majestic were you? Using your Bone Forging pressure to make me submit? You were so badass, weren't you? On the battlefield, you even wanted to borrow someone else's knife to kill me. Hehe, keep being badass! Now the middle volume is in my hands. Either you do as I say, or you can get the hell out. Of course, you can strike me. If you dare to strike, hehe, a branch Elder attacking a Disciple in private, you can just roll out of the Xuantian Branch." Long Chen cursed.

Although he was deliberately suppressing his emotions, the memory of Elder Sun targeting him repeatedly—first humiliating him, and finally trying to kill him and putting Chu Yao and Tang Waner in danger—made his killing intent boil.

Long Chen held a piece of black zircon in his hand, identical to the two he had given Elder Sun. When Elder Sun saw it, he became angry again. The zircon in Long Chen's hand was indeed divided into three parts: upper, middle, and lower. Only then would the pattern be complete.

"Old man, make your choice. Are you willing to be scammed once, or twice?" Long Chen snorted.

Since they had already fallen out, Long Chen didn't bother pretending to be polite. His meaning was clear: if you want the full map, you need to be scammed one more time. You can refuse, but if you do, you'll only have two useless stones. Even if he complained to the branch, Long Chen could claim it was an installment-based transaction; no one would make things difficult for him, and the matter would just be dropped.

Because both sides had received half of what the other had, but Long Chen had taken a huge advantage—those two stones were useless without the full pattern. Meanwhile, the large amount of precious medicinal herbs Long Chen received were real treasures with intrinsic value. So now, Elder Sun was hooked by Long Chen. He looked at the black zircon in Long Chen's hand, then at the list in his own.

"Fine, I agree. But you must swear that after I get these things, you will give me what you have in your hand," Elder Sun said, gritting his teeth.

He realized that while the herbs on this list were fewer, their quality was a tier higher than the previous ones. Needless to say, the value of these herbs wouldn't be much less than the previous ones, possibly even higher. If this continued, he would really have to spend his life savings. But if he didn't agree, his half-life savings would go down the drain, and he absolutely wasn't willing to let that happen.

"Fine, I, Long Chen, swear that if Elder Sun can procure every item on this list without error, I will certainly hand over what I have to Elder Sun. If I break this oath, may I be blasted to pieces by the five heavenly thunders," Long Chen said in a deep voice.

The "five heavenly thunders" was a sinister folk oath. To be struck by lightning meant one was already a villain, but those struck by the five heavenly thunders were wicked to the core. Those struck by the five heavenly thunders would suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, never to be reincarnated.

Seeing Long Chen take the oath, Elder Sun took a deep breath, grabbed the list, and turned to leave. However, when Elder Sun left, his face was extremely ugly, as if his own father had died; it was grim enough to be frightening.

"Long Chen, what are you doing? It looks quite scary," Tang Waner had forgotten the awkwardness of the previous days and asked with concern.

Just now, Elder Sun had been on the verge of exploding several times, and Tang Waner had been extremely nervous, almost stepping in to intervene. Qing Yu was also terrified. After all, she wasn't a Daoist; she was just an ordinary Inner Sect Disciple who couldn't resist the pressure from Elder Sun, and her face was still a bit pale.

"Nothing. This old guy wants to become my Disciple. There aren't that many good things in the world where you can just become a Disciple whenever you want. I arranged some tasks for him. If I'm satisfied, I'll give him a little benefit and allow him to become my Named Disciple. I didn't expect this bastard to ask me for benefits just after making a little progress. It's truly unreasonable," Long Chen started spouting nonsense.

Tang Waner certainly didn't believe Long Chen's act. She looked suspiciously at the black zircon in Long Chen's hand, and suddenly realized: "So that's it."

"I was wondering why you were smiling so insidiously back then. I guessed right. Long Chen, are you really going to scam Elder Sun? Aren't you afraid he'll turn hostile?" Tang Waner said with worry.

She knew Long Chen's character—he either didn't scam people, or if he did, he would scam them to death. When she first entered the branch, she had experienced it; Qi Xin had been scammed miserably by him.

"Scamming is such an ugly word. This is a clearly priced transaction. I am passing my Cultivation Technique to him in its entirety, so how can you call it scamming?" Long Chen shook his head, looking righteous.

"I don't believe you. Your eyes gave you away. Your face clearly says: 'I'm scamming you!'" Tang Waner pouted.

Long Chen was startled: "Really? Is it that obvious?"

Tang Waner and Qing Yu were amused by Long Chen, and the worry in their hearts dissipated quite a bit. Tang Waner tapped Long Chen lightly, suppressing a laugh: "Stop fooling around, I'm talking to you about serious business."

Long Chen said with a wronged expression: "I am talking about serious business."

"Will you really give him your Cultivation Technique exactly as it is?" Tang Waner asked curiously.

"Of course."

"I still don't believe it," Tang Waner shook her head.

"I really do want to pass the Cultivation Technique to him completely, but it depends on whether he has the life for it," Long Chen sighed.

Seeing Long Chen's inscrutable expression, Tang Waner felt a bit annoyed and reminded him: "I'm telling you, don't play games; it's very dangerous."

Long Chen looked at Tang Waner's pretty face, blinked, and said: "I'm telling you, don't play with fire; it's very dangerous."

The same words, but coming from Long Chen, were full of ambiguity. Tang Waner immediately thought of their previous kiss, and her face turned as red as a ripe apple from embarrassment. She covered her face and ran back to her room, locking the door tightly again.

"I am telling you both, don't play with fire; it's very dangerous," Sister Qing Yu looked at Long Chen seriously and warned him sternly.

Sweat broke out on Long Chen's forehead. I really dug a hole for myself and jumped in. He hurriedly said respectfully: "Yes, I will strictly follow Sister Qing Yu's instructions!"

Over the next two days, Long Chen continued to refine the medicinal powder. During this time, the entire branch was deathly silent.

Because whether they were new Disciples or old ones, everyone was in seclusion, and basically none would come out for a month. They had to properly digest the benefits from this battle, thereby making their Foundation more solid, while simultaneously tempering their Dao Heart.

Two days later, Elder Sun returned.