One pit after another

However, to keep the transaction discreet this time, Long Chen and Elder Sun chose to meet in a valley far away from the branch Sect.

After Elder Sun returned, Long Chen noticed that he had lost quite a bit of weight and hurriedly congratulated him on his successful weight loss.

Elder Sun didn't say a word. He threw a spatial ring to Long Chen, his eyes bloodshot as if they were about to spew fire, staring fixedly at Long Chen.

Elder Sun was in agonizing pain this time. The list of items Long Chen had requested consisted of extremely precious medicinal herbs, all with specific age requirements. Although the quantity was only one-third of the previous batch, the cost was significantly higher.

After exchanging for these medicinal herbs, all the points Elder Sun had accumulated over several decades were completely exhausted.

Elder Sun even suspected that Long Chen had planned this from the very beginning; these two batches of herbs were practically tailor-made for him.

After these two rounds of consumption, his merit points had hit rock bottom. Out of over a hundred thousand merit points, less than five hundred remained.

Elder Sun's heart was bleeding. If Long Chen dared to play him for a fool, he would stop at nothing to kill him, regardless of the cost.

Looking at the neatly arranged medicinal herbs inside the spatial ring, Long Chen couldn't help but squint his eyes with a smile. He reached out and tossed a piece of black zircon to Elder Sun.

Elder Sun reached out and caught the black zircon. He saw an ancient character carved on the back: "Slaughter."

"What an imposing character."

Elder Sun was overjoyed, but when he looked at the front of the black zircon, his expression changed drastically, and he roared, "Why is there nothing on this side?"

It turned out that while the back of the black zircon had a character, the front was completely empty—not even a single mark.

There was supposed to be something there, but Long Chen hadn't gotten around to processing it yet. Back in the Phoenix Empire, Long Chen had bought four such black zircons at the Huayun Auction House.

Although the black zircons were quite ancient, they didn't have much intrinsic value. The reason Long Chen had bought them was specifically to scam Elder Sun.

This old guy had coveted his Nine Star Hegemon Body Art and had made things difficult for him several times. The last time, he had even lured an Evil Path Elder to kill him. If not for Chu Yao's help, they would have both died there.

Although Tu Fang had wanted to stand up for Long Chen afterward and deal with this old guy, Long Chen knew that if this old ghost stubbornly insisted it wasn't intentional, Tu Fang might not be able to do much to him. The most severe punishment would likely just be expulsion.

If it was just expulsion, it wouldn't be enough to wash away the hatred in Long Chen's heart. "You want my Cultivation Technique, right? Fine, I'll give it to you."

So, Long Chen had mapped out the Qi Circulation path of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, originally intending to carve it across four separate stones.

Carving marks into black zircon was something basically no one could do, except for Innate-Grade experts using Sharp Weapons.

But that didn't stump Long Chen. He couldn't carve it, but he could draw it. As long as he drew the pattern well…

According to a very strange Pill Formula in the Pill Emperor's memories, Long Chen had concocted a miraculous medicinal liquid: Stone-Corroding Powder.

This substance was used by major Sects in the ancient era to erect monuments, because ancient monuments were unimaginably huge, some reaching a thousand zhang in height.

To carve characters on them, one needed not only profound internal strength but also a powerful Sharp Weapon.

If it were just those two things, it would be fine. But the person carving the monument wasn't a god, and not everyone had beautiful handwriting. Furthermore, for a monument with thousands of characters, if even one character was written wrong, the entire monument would be ruined. Who would let a monument with a typo be passed down? Wouldn't they be laughed to death by future generations?

Therefore, in the ancient era, monument inscriptions were first laid out according to the size of the text, then the characters were lightly drawn onto the stone. Only after repeated checks to ensure there were no errors would they apply the Stone-Corroding Powder to soften the rock.

The Stone-Corroding Powder was truly miraculous. Its corrosive effect wasn't permanent; it only softened the stone for a certain period. Once the medicinal effect wore off, the stone would return to its original texture.

The best part was that the marks carved into stone softened by the Stone-Corroding Powder carried an Aura of antiquity.

When Long Chen was carving, he had activated his divine ring, allowing his own Aura to seep into the strokes as much as possible, specifically so that Elder Sun could feel the Aura of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

After an "ancient treasure" was completed, Long Chen still needed to touch it up, soaking the chisel marks with medicinal liquid until there wasn't the slightest hint that they were newly made.

It could be said that Long Chen had put a tremendous amount of effort into this plan. After finishing the first piece, he had gone straight to find Elder Sun to cast the bait.

However, he hadn't expected Elder Sun's efficiency to be so high; he had only managed to carve two pieces before Elder Sun returned.

So, the third black zircon Long Chen had taken out that day was merely a semi-finished product. He had only finished the character on the back; he hadn't even drawn the front yet.

Long Chen should have gone to carve the pattern immediately that day, but he later changed his mind.

"Because there was never supposed to be anything on it to begin with," Long Chen said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Elder Sun clenched his fists tightly.

"I mean, there was never anything on it from the start," Long Chen said indifferently.

"Bullshit! Didn't you say the Cultivation Technique was divided into three parts: upper, middle, and lower? That as long as I handed those items to you, you would give me the middle part? Have you forgotten your oath?" Elder Sun roared.

"It seems you're getting old. Last time, I did say that according to your claims, this Cultivation Technique was divided into three parts.

But I never said I would give you the middle part, did I? I swore that I would give you what I had in my hand. That's right, what I had in my hand at the time was this thing," Long Chen said righteously.

At that time, what Long Chen had been holding was indeed this semi-finished product. It was just that Elder Sun had made an assumption, believing that what Long Chen held was the middle part of the Cultivation Technique.

Only then did Elder Sun realize he had been thoroughly duped. Unable to hold back any longer, he stretched out a large hand, moving like a phantom as he lunged at Long Chen.

"You bastard, go to hell!"

Long Chen had been prepared for this. Seeing the look in Elder Sun's eyes, he immediately summoned his divine ring. At the same time, stars appeared in his eyes, and his Aura erupted.

"Boom!"

The Zhan Xie in Long Chen's hand slashed fiercely at Elder Sun. Elder Sun's large hand collided with Long Chen's Zhan Xie, producing a loud explosion. The small hill beneath their feet shattered instantly.

Both Long Chen and Elder Sun were sent flying backward. Neither had gained the upper hand from this strike.

Long Chen was pleasantly surprised to find that although his cultivation level hadn't increased, after the great battle last time, his Physical Body strength had grown a bit stronger.

"Hum!"

With a wave of his Zhan Xie, vibrating the space around him, Long Chen pointed at Elder Sun and said, "You'd better give up. First, you can't kill me, so it's all futile.

Second, if you continue to fight, the consequence will be drawing the other Elders of the branch Sect here, and you still won't have a chance."

Although without Chu Yao's assistance, Long Chen's Spiritual Qi was limited and insufficient to support a prolonged battle.

But even if he couldn't defeat Elder Sun, he wasn't a corpse; couldn't he just run? Furthermore, this place wasn't far from the branch Sect. Even if he didn't run, if the two of them engaged in an all-out battle, it would inevitably attract the attention of the branch Sect.

By then, Long Chen would still be safe. Even if it went to the Sect Leader, the root cause was Elder Sun coveting Long Chen's Cultivation Technique. The most likely outcome would be Elder Sun being expelled from the branch Sect and ending up with nothing.

Even if Long Chen was suspected of 'fishing', it was a case of a willing fish taking the bait. Moreover, the Sect Leader and Tu Fang clearly favored Long Chen; Elder Sun would definitely not have a good ending.

"Long Chen, what exactly do you want before you'll give me the complete Cultivation Technique?" Elder Sun asked, trying his best to remain calm.

"Here, the prescription is already prepared for you. You just need to gather the ingredients according to it," Long Chen said. With a flick of his hand, a piece of paper drifted toward Elder Sun.

"Pfft!"

Looking at that white paper, Elder Sun spat out a mouthful of blood. This was the third prescription he had received.

"Huff!"

Elder Sun grabbed the white paper. Without even looking at the prescription on it, he tore the paper to shreds.

"Do you take me for an idiot? Falling for it again and again?" Elder Sun roared like a mad lion.

"Young man, don't be so hot-tempered. Stay calm, be cool! This time I swear, if you collect all the herbs on this list, I guarantee I will give you the complete Cultivation Technique. Remember, the complete one," Long Chen said. Another piece of white paper appeared in his hand and flew toward Elder Sun.

As if he had known Elder Sun would go mad, the handwriting on Long Chen's second piece of paper was exactly the same as the previous one.

Elder Sun took a few deep breaths, forcing down the urge to tear this white paper to shreds as well. His hands trembled slightly as he took the paper.

He used both hands to take it, not to show respect to Long Chen, but because his hands were shaking so violently that he couldn't see what was written if he held it with just one.

"You bastard, just kill me! The Qilin Fruit is rumored to be an ancient relic species; it vanished long ago after the great changes in the world.

Such a treasure, not to mention our branch Sect, even the main branch wouldn't have it. You're definitely doing this on purpose!" Elder Sun raged.

"Is that so?" Long Chen couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. As expected, the Qilin Fruit, the main medicinal ingredient for the Fengfu Star, was the hardest to find.

"Alright then, we can skip the Qilin Fruit. Just collect the other six medicinal herbs."

"I can't afford these. I have no money left," Elder Sun said coldly.

"Is that so? Then I regret to inform you that our transaction ends here," Long Chen said, shaking his head with an expression of pity.

"You…" Elder Sun's expression changed drastically.

"Don't act like you're the one suffering so much. I, Long Chen, can swear to the heavens that what I give you is the very Cultivation Technique I practice myself.

There are four stones recording the Cultivation Technique. I didn't know that one of them was trash, but I suspect that it was because of that stone that the name of the Cultivation Technique was complete.

And your luck wasn't great; that day I just grabbed one at random, and you happened to insist on that specific one. There was nothing I could do about that.

But even so, you didn't lose out. After all, you obtained most of the Cultivation Technique. Perhaps with your cunning, you might be able to comprehend it one day.

If not in a day, then a year; if not in a year, then a lifetime. If you can't comprehend it, you can let your descendants try. Anyway, since you're idle, just treat it as a toy for the kids," Long Chen reasoned.

Hearing Long Chen's sarcastic remarks, Elder Sun's eyes turned green with rage. Looking at the white paper in his hand, he took a deep breath and said:

"You swear you will give me the entire Cultivation Technique, without holding anything back?"

"I swear." Long Chen raised three fingers to the sky, looking very solemn.

"Fine, I'll trust you one last time. If I find out you've deceived me again, even if I have to die, I will drag you down with me!" Elder Sun gritted his teeth.

"Rest assured, I have no desire to die with an idiot like you," Long Chen replied coldly.

In the following days, Long Chen truly began to get busy, because he had to keep his promise and fill in the remaining parts of the Cultivation Technique.

However, Elder Sun's actions were a bit slow this time; it wasn't until ten days later that he finally came to find Long Chen.