Great Invention

Seeing the handwriting on the paper Long Chen handed over, Elder Sun's face turned unsightly as he angrily said, "The Branch does not have so many varieties at all. You are clearly extorting me. With this many medicinal herbs, why don't you just go rob someone?"

On the list Long Chen handed to Elder Sun, hundreds of rare medicinal herbs were written in dense script, and there were even some names that Elder Sun had never seen before.

If it were just these medicinal herbs, that would be one thing, but the key was that the quantities listed afterward were too terrifying. Because generally, rare medicinal herbs are weighed by the qian.

Yet Long Chen's weights were calculated by the jin, and the most terrifying part was that he wanted a hundred jin of each. With hundreds of types of medicinal herbs, that amounted to tens of thousands of jin of precious medicinal herbs.

"Aren't you talking nonsense? If I could rob someone, why would I come looking for an idiot like you? Stop the chatter, are you going to do it or not?" Long Chen snorted coldly.

This was a portion of the Pill Formula for the Jade Balance Pill, along with some medicinal herbs Long Chen needed for himself. Besides the Pill Formula, the other medicinal herbs were all-purpose types, which were needed as secondary ingredients for refining general Medicinal Pills.

Long Chen could be considered to have been ruthless this time, demanding a hundred jin of each. You want my life? You want my things? I will grant your wish.

"But there's no need for so much! A hundred jin of each? Do you think these are cabbages?" Elder Sun raged.

"That's none of your business. Even if I used these medicinal herbs to start a fire and cook a meal, it wouldn't be your concern. If you're going to do it, then do it; if not, then forget it," Long Chen sneered.

"You… no, that's too much. My contribution points simply cannot buy so many things. You need to reduce it; I can only bear half at most," Elder Sun shook his head.

Long Chen snorted coldly and, ignoring Elder Sun entirely, walked straight outside.

"Hey, where are you going?" Elder Sun asked hurriedly.

"I am going to discuss this with Elder Tu Fang. If I offer this Cultivation Technique to the Branch, I wonder if I can exchange it for what I need," Long Chen said while walking outside.

"Hey, hey, wait a moment. Let's discuss this further," Elder Sun said hurriedly.

"There is nothing to discuss," Long Chen said decisively.

Elder Sun gritted his teeth: "Fine, I agree to your terms."

Only then did Long Chen sneer and toss the Black Zircon in his hand to Elder Sun. Elder Sun reached out to catch it, his heart unable to help but surge with joy.

"Don't dream. This Cultivation Technique of mine is divided into upper and lower parts. This is merely a deposit for you to verify its authenticity yourself. If you want the lower part, gather all the items and hand them to me."

"Of course, you can also use your supposedly clever brain to try to comprehend the lower part of the Cultivation Technique. But I will say it again: it's not that I look down on you, but that I truly do look down on you."

After Long Chen finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving behind an angry Elder Sun who looked at the Black Zircon in his hand alone.

When Long Chen's back had completely disappeared, the anger on Elder Sun's face vanished, replaced entirely by a look of pleasant surprise.

"Damn it, if I had known it would be this easy, why would I have risked dealing with him?"

For Elder Sun, this was truly a case of 'finding what one is looking for without looking for it.' Although Long Chen's asking price was very ruthless, it was still within the range that Elder Sun could bear.

He took a close look at the Black Zircon in his hand; it was about the size of a goose egg and had a pattern carved on it, though that pattern was not complete, but only partial.

However, even if it was just a part, one could see that it was a diagram of human meridians, marked with the circulation route of energy.

Elder Sun looked at it for a long time, the shock and wild joy on his face growing more intense, because he discovered that the energy drive in that image was extremely profound and complex. Even though it was only a small part, it was enough to shock him.

"What a powerful Cultivation Technique! I've made a huge profit this time."

Elder Sun couldn't help but laugh out loud, muttering to himself: "For such a powerful Cultivation Technique to be obtained by a kid in the Blood Condensation Realm is truly a waste of Heaven's gifts. Once I obtain the entire Cultivation Technique, it will surely help me enter the Pulse Opening Realm."

"Hehe, when that time comes, I'll kill Long Chen and defect from the Xuantian Branch. The world is so big; as long as I don't encounter a strong practitioner of the Innate realm, who would dare to stop me?"

Elder Sun seemed to see his own graceful bearing as he broke through to the Pulse Opening Realm, walking the world and looking down upon the masses.

It took a long while for him to come back to his senses, and he continued to look at the piece of Black Zircon. The front of the Black Zircon had a pattern, while the back was carved with ancient characters.

Elder Sun looked at it for a long time and finally recognized that it was the character for 'Reverse' (Ni). However, the font of this character was extremely ancient and not a standard ancient script.

"It seems this Cultivation Technique is extremely ancient. This kid Long Chen has such Heaven-Defying luck," Elder Sun couldn't help but sigh.

After looking at it for a while longer, he discovered that the pattern on the front was extraordinarily mysterious. Relying solely on this half of the pattern to deduce the entire set of the Cultivation Technique was absolutely impossible, otherwise, Long Chen would not have handed this piece of Black Zircon to him so easily.

However, obtaining this half of the Black Zircon made Elder Sun feel much more at ease; it let him know that Long Chen was truly willing to trade things with him.

As for why he had to find him, he also had some suspicions, but after Long Chen opened his mouth like a lion and asked for so many rare medicinal herbs, his suspicions were slightly alleviated.

Because these medicinal herbs, let alone Long Chen, even Elders who had served in the Branch for decades could not afford them.

Fortunately, Elder Sun had been in the Branch for a very long time and had occupied the fat position of the Xuantian Pavilion for decades, so his pockets were quite deep.

However, even so, Long Chen's slash was enough to make Elder Sun suffer a great loss; the contribution points he had accumulated over many years would at least shrink by half.

The most important thing was that many of these medicinal herbs were not available in the Branch and required traveling to a sub-branch to procure.

Elder Sun set off that very day and ran to the sub-branch, taking the list Long Chen gave him to make large-scale purchases.

Regarding Elder Sun's compromise, Long Chen was not surprised at all; everything was within his calculations.

Although Long Chen going to find him at this time seemed very abrupt and would arouse the suspicion of this old guy.

However, Long Chen had thrown out such high conditions and simultaneously paid half the deposit. Long Chen believed that under the temptation of the deposit, this old guy would definitely take the bait.

After returning from Elder Sun's place, he found that after a night of heavy drinking, everyone had woken up and had gone back to seclude themselves.

This great battle was very precious to them. With Long Chen back, they felt at ease and began to seclude themselves to absorb the benefits brought by this great battle.

Returning to his room, seeing that Tang Waner and Qing Yu were both in a state of meditation, he did not disturb them.

He turned to look for A Man, but A Man was not there either. Not only A Man, but even Little Snow had disappeared. After asking the servants, he learned that A Man and Little Snow had gone hunting with Cang Ming.

Only then did Long Chen suddenly realize that A Man had been hungry for the past few days, and ordinary Demonic Beasts were simply unable to satisfy his absorption.

Now that he had returned to the Branch, he naturally went to find his Master at the first opportunity to get a full meal, and Little Snow also relied on eating meat to cultivate, so A Man naturally had to take Little Snow along.

Forget it! Seeing that everyone was in seclusion, Long Chen didn't know what to do. He needed to wait for news from Elder Sun.

He believed that Elder Sun would be even more anxious than him and would help him collect the medicinal herbs at the fastest speed.

Thinking for a moment, Long Chen arrived at Guo Ran's Immortal Cave. Guo Ran's Immortal Cave was located at the very edge of all the Immortal Caves. Just as Long Chen arrived near the cave, he heard the clanging sounds of iron being hammered inside.

Long Chen entered the Immortal Cave and saw that the entire cave was like a garbage dump, filled with iron filings and some discarded ironware everywhere.

When Long Chen arrived, Guo Ran was still keeping his head down, continuously hammering away on a huge forging platform.

That forging platform was very large and covered with various auxiliary tools. Looking from a distance, it looked like an iron monster.

No wonder Tang Waner complained that Guo Ran's expenses had been getting higher and higher recently, constantly drawing points from her side.

So this kid had taken up a part-time job, preparing to switch professions to become a blacksmith in the future. Watching Guo Ran hammering a piece of iron with full concentration, Long Chen couldn't help but sigh that this kid actually had a serious side.

When he got close, Long Chen realized that Guo Ran was holding a steel nail about nine inches long with a pair of tongs in his hand.

The steel nail had just come out of the furnace nearby, and as Guo Ran's right-hand sledgehammer fell, sparks flew in all directions.

As the hammer continued to fall, the head of the steel nail gradually turned cold and black. Long Chen discovered that dense patterns had appeared on the head of the steel nail.

Although Long Chen knew nothing about forging, he knew that every time steel was tempered, it would gain an extra pattern.

Most weapons in the Phoenix Empire were formed in one go because the Empire's ironware was only ordinary ironware and could not withstand secondary tempering because the strength was insufficient; during secondary tempering, it would shatter.

Therefore, ordinary weapons were called 'First-Tempered Steel', and they only had one pattern when crafted. As time passed, the pattern would disappear, but experts could tell at a glance how many times a weapon had been tempered.

It was said that good weapons were tempered more than ten times, which was called 'Ten-Tempered Steel'. The more times a weapon was tempered, the fewer Impurities it had inside, and the higher the quality of the weapon would be.

It was said that superior steel could reach a hundred temperings, which was 'Hundred-Tempered Refined Steel'. Although steel was only the most common metal, after a hundred temperings, its hardness was very astonishing; even the scales of a Third-Rank Demonic Beast could be pierced.

Yet the steel nail in Guo Ran's hand actually had dozens of patterns, which meant that this steel nail had been tempered by Guo Ran dozens of times.

"Sss—"

Guo Ran had been keeping his eyes fixed on the steel nail in his hand. When the color of the steel nail reached a certain point, he swiftly plunged the steel nail in his hand into the water beside him.

The water in the bucket immediately churned. A moment later, Guo Ran lifted the steel nail in his hand and looked carefully at its head.

But when he looked at the head of the steel nail, he saw Long Chen in front of him, looking at him with a smile.

"Boss… ouch!"

Seeing Long Chen suddenly, Guo Ran was startled and loosened his grip, causing the steel nail to fall and slam heavily onto the top of his foot. Fortunately, the steel nail fell flat; otherwise, with the sharpness of that steel nail, his foot would have been poked with a hole.

However, even so, the finger-thick steel nail weighed dozens of jin. Caught off guard, Guo Ran was left grimacing in pain.

"Not bad. After leaving the Branch in the future, you won't starve to death. You're sure to change professions and become a blacksmith," Long Chen laughed.

Guo Ran rubbed the top of his foot and said somewhat irritably: "Boss, you are discriminating against me. You are discriminating against a future Master Craftsman. You have to apologize to me."

Long Chen couldn't help but chuckle and said: "No problem. If you let me witness the demeanor of a Master Craftsman, I will apologize to you."

Guo Ran's eyes lit up: "Hehe, Boss, you said that yourself! I'll let you see what a great invention is."