Special Gift

"Aman, ever since we entered the Imperial Capital, you have been eating non-stop. Don't you feel stuffed?" Tang Waner looked at Aman, her face full of shock.

Ever since entering the Imperial Capital, Aman had been eating meat non-stop. That's right, just eating continuously for days and nights.

Sometimes, when Aman was tired, he would sleep for less than an hour before waking up from hunger, then continue eating desperately. Seeing this, Tang Waner and Chu Yao were almost stunned.

Aman made a wry face and said, "There's no other way. This meat hardly has any energy. I have to keep eating to offset my consumption, otherwise, I wouldn't even be able to walk."

Only Long Chen knew that for Aman, eating was a form of cultivation. The better he ate, the faster his cultivation progressed.

However, this ordinary beef could barely maintain his life force; it couldn't provide any significant energy.

But if Aman didn't eat, he would immediately collapse. Every cell in his body would go on strike if it didn't receive nourishment.

"Whoosh."

Suddenly, a giant python as thick as a water bucket pounced toward the group. It was a First-Rank Demonic Beast.

Cold-blooded, low-rank Demonic Beasts had very low intelligence. It was one thing that it couldn't sense the group's cultivation levels, but to dare attack when Xiaoxue, a Third-Rank Demonic Beast, was right beside them was absurd.

Seeing the giant python, Aman's eyes immediately lit up. Food had delivered itself to his doorstep, which filled him with wild joy.

"Pfft."

Tang Waner extended her jade-like hand and flicked her finger. A tiny wind blade flew out, piercing directly through the giant python's skull. With its momentum undiminished, it punched a fist-sized hole into a large rock in the distance.

What shocked Long Chen was that the hole was as smooth as if cut by a blade. Tang Waner's casual strike was actually able to pierce through hard rock as if it were tofu.

Aman didn't care how the giant python died; he only needed to know that this giant python was about to enter his stomach.

"Aman, let me process it."

Seeing that Aman was about to take action, Long Chen hurriedly stopped him. He knew that Aman was nearly starving to the point of madness and wouldn't care about taste; he would just eat it raw.

If it were just himself, it would be fine, but fearing that Chu Yao and Tang Waner might not be comfortable with it, he took out a huge grill, skinned the giant python, cleaned it, and placed it on the grill.

With a wave of his hand, a pale blue flame surged out, instantly engulfing the giant python's carcass.

Long Chen's Beast Fire was extremely powerful. If he hadn't controlled it with all his might, such a giant python would have been burned to ashes in an instant.

However, as an alchemist, Long Chen's Soul power was extremely strong, and controlling heat was his most basic skill. In just a few breaths, he had roasted the giant python until it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a mouth-watering aroma.

Long Chen used a knife to cut off a large piece of snake meat and went to the side to share it with Tang Waner and Chu Yao. As for the rest, it belonged to Aman and Xiaoxue.

However, Xiaoxue was very sensible and knew that Aman was starving, so it only ate a little bit before stopping. The rest of the meat was swallowed by Aman.

The python meat was roasted perfectly; it was crispy, delicious, and melted in the mouth. Although no seasoning was added, the two women still ate it with endless praise.

"It's a pity we didn't bring the Qi Ling Fish out, otherwise Sister Yao'er could have enjoyed a feast," Tang Waner said with some regret.

Long Chen ate a piece of snake meat and suddenly asked, "I'm just curious. You call Yao'er 'sister,' and Yao'er also calls you 'sister.' Which one of you is actually the older sister and which is the younger one?"

Chu Yao giggled, a trace of cunning appearing on her pretty face, and said to Long Chen, "Who do you think is older between the two of us? Who should be the older sister?"

Long Chen was stunned. Seeing both women staring at him intently, he immediately understood that this question was probably not easy to answer. It was a linguistic trap; answer it wrong, and he would offend someone.

But what kind of person was Long Chen? How could he watch himself jump into a trap? His eyes shifted from their pretty faces to their graceful figures. He stared for a long time until both women were blushing furiously, and only then did Long Chen sigh and say:

"I really can't tell which one of you is bigger."

This double entendre made the two women blush so hard they looked like they were about to drip blood. They both spat simultaneously and said angrily:

"Hooligan!"

"Improper!"

Long Chen laughed arrogantly.

However, Long Chen always felt it was strange. According to Tang Waner's usual personality, if Long Chen dared to openly flirt with her like this, she would have already started pounding him with her fists, and maybe even landed a flying kick or two.

Could she have been assimilated by Chu Yao's gentleness? If that were the case, it would be too boring. Who would he tease when he had nothing to do in the future?

"Long Chen, what are your plans after returning this time?"

After recovering a little, Chu Yao asked softly.

Long Chen put the last piece of meat into his mouth, wiped his mouth, and smiled bitterly: "What plans could I have? I'll just cultivate desperately after returning. I don't know when I'll be able to break through the Bottleneck."

"Otherwise, with this level of cultivation, entering the Nine Li Secret Realm would just get me beaten like a dog. Especially that guy called Yin Luoze…"

"It's Yin Luo. Can you stop teasing people, please?"

Long Chen's words almost made Tang Waner choke on her laughter, and she said with a hint of reproach.

"Yeah, especially that guy named Yin Luo. I cut off one of his four legs, so I reckon he'll be very unhappy. He'll likely settle the score with me in the Secret Realm," Long Chen sighed.

Thinking of Yin Luo's terror, the smiles on Chu Yao and Tang Waner's faces vanished, replaced by worry.

"That Yin Luo is truly terrifying, especially since he has fused with Innate essence blood within his body. Although he cannot control it yet, as his cultivation increases, he will gradually gain control over the Innate essence blood."

"Then he will be able to use the Innate essence blood in his body to invoke the power of heaven and earth to attack. The attacks using the power of heaven and earth are simply too terrifying."

"Last time on the battlefield, he probably wasn't very familiar with his Innate essence blood yet, fearing that it would cause a backlash from the power of heaven and earth that would kill him, so he didn't dare to use too much power."

"But even so, you saw the power of his strike; it was truly terrifyingly strong!"

Thinking of Yin Luo's final strike, Chu Yao still felt lingering fear as she said that the strike was too terrifying.

This time, Yin Luo was injured. After reflecting on his pain, he would definitely cultivate desperately, hoping to kill Long Chen in the Nine Li Secret Realm to avenge the humiliation of his severed leg.

"Long Chen, with your combat strength, if you break through to the Tendon Tempering Realm, even if you can't kill Yin Luo, self-preservation won't be a problem."

"But if you can't reach the Tendon Tempering Realm before entering the Nine Li Secret Realm, it will be dangerous," Tang Waner said with some worry.

The reason Long Chen was able to achieve a complete victory this time was entirely due to Chu Yao's secret technique, which supported him with Spiritual Qi as vast as the sea.

If not for Chu Yao, let alone fighting Yin Luo, even that Evil Path Elder would have killed him.

Long Chen also knew his weaknesses. He had two major pain points: one was his Realm, and the other was insufficient energy.

Although compared to ordinary core-level Disciples, the energy of his Fengfu Star was definitely not inferior to anyone's.

However, Long Chen's Fengfu Battle Body and Heaven-Opening were both massive energy consumers. Although their combat strength was boundless, the duration was too short.

Therefore, Long Chen now faced two paths. One was to improve his cultivation as quickly as possible and break through to the Tendon Tempering Realm.

The other was to condense the second star of the Nine Stars—the Yuheng Star. Long Chen believed that as long as he condensed the Yuheng Star, the boost from the dual-star power would make his combat strength even stronger and more enduring.

Compared to battle skills, Long Chen didn't need many, because his Spiritual Qi simply couldn't support so much consumption.

The key was that Long Chen was stuck at the Bottleneck. He didn't know when he would be able to break through the shackles and enter the Tendon Tempering Realm.

This Bottleneck was indescribable. He had clearly reached the Peak of the Blood Condensation Realm, but he just couldn't break through, which annoyed Long Chen.

However, Long Chen knew that such things couldn't be rushed. Instead of struggling against the Bottleneck, it was better to collect Materials for the Yuheng Pill and condense the Yuheng Star.

Having killed so many Evil Path powerhouses this time, he would definitely be able to exchange for a great deal of resources. Long Chen didn't need anything else; the only thing he needed was medicinal herbs to refine the Yuheng Pill.

As long as he collected them all, no matter how many, he had to refine a few pills first, even if it only condensed a prototype of the Fengfu Star.

Long Chen had a premonition that once his Yuheng Star was opened, it would definitely cause his combat strength to skyrocket.

Seeing Long Chen's expression was somewhat serious, Chu Yao didn't want Long Chen to be under so much pressure, so she pulled Long Chen and said:

"What did you do yesterday when you went to the Alchemist Guild and that Huayun Pavilion?"

Yesterday, amidst his busy schedule, Long Chen had taken the time to visit these two places. Chu Yao and Tang Waner had been accompanying Long Chen's mother and hadn't gone with him, so they didn't know what he had done.

Long Chen chuckled and said, "I first went to the Alchemist Guild to pay a visit to the new Guild Master. After all, he has been very caring toward our Long family; it would be too rude not to visit."

"Besides, I asked the new Guild Master a few things about the Alchemist Guild."

"As for Huayun Pavilion, I mainly went to see if they had anything I needed. Hehe, you wouldn't believe it, but I actually bought something."

A pitch-black stone appeared in Long Chen's hand, about the size of a goose egg, covered in ancient patterns and exuding an aura of vicissitudes.

The two women were slightly stunned. They reached out to take the strange stone from Long Chen's hand, but after looking at it for a long time, they couldn't figure out what secret this stone held.

"It looks very ancient. The patterns should be natural, carrying an aura of antiquity, but it doesn't seem to have anything special," Chu Yao said with some confusion.

Long Chen feigned mystery and said, "It's normal that you can't see anything special; after all, you are still young. Let me tell you: the most special thing about this stone is—it is very ancient!"

"And then?" Tang Waner asked.

"That's it."

"Are you messing with us?" Tang Waner said with a look of disdain.

Long Chen chuckled without speaking, gently stroking the stone, his eyes full of satisfaction. However, no matter how one looked at the smile on Long Chen's face, it always felt a bit hair-raising.

"Long Chen, you aren't thinking of plotting against someone again, are you?" Chu Yao understood Long Chen very well and couldn't help asking timidly.

"How could that be?"

Long Chen shook his head like a rattle, looking righteous as he said, "How could I, Long Chen, be that kind of person? This is a gift I intend to give to someone."

But neither Chu Yao nor Tang Waner really believed Long Chen's words, because the smile on his face earlier was just too wicked.

Tang Waner suddenly realized something and said, "I think I know who Long Chen intends to give this gift to."