Tomb of the Exile

Three days later, Long Chen emerged from his Immortal Cave looking exhausted. Outside, the area was already crowded with people; not only his own supporters but also those from Ye Zhiqiu's side had arrived.

Li Qi, Song Mingyuan, and five Core Disciples had also come. That day, they had all shown great support for Long Chen.

It was a pity that their support had not been able to sway the branch's decision. Regardless, they felt heartfelt respect for Long Chen.

His strength was not the greatest, but he dared to resist, dared to face challenges head-on, and was fearless.

"Yo, so lively. Are you all here to see me off?" Long Chen joked as he walked out of the Immortal Cave, looking at the crowd.

"You really are my good brothers and sisters. But this formation is a bit shabby. At the very least, you should be holding ribbons and cheering and dancing to have more Aura."

Seeing Long Chen look so exhausted, everyone assumed he was under immense pressure because of the exile.

However, no one mocked him. After all, that was a path of certain death. The fact that he could choose this path was enough to prove his courage.

What was most rare was that there was no fear or despair in Long Chen's eyes; instead, he was joking with everyone.

Tang Waner walked up to Long Chen, and before she could speak, tears were already flowing.

Long Chen couldn't help but smile and say, "You can't cry anymore from now on. I've said it before: whoever makes you shed tears, I will make them shed blood. Are you trying to make me stab myself?"

Tang Waner wanted to smile, but she couldn't. Her heart was filled with bitterness, and she didn't know what to feel.

She had a mountain of words she wanted to say, but at this moment, she couldn't utter a single one.

"Don't worry. What kind of person is your Long Chen? A born villain. As the saying goes, good people don't live long, but pests live for a thousand years. I won't have any trouble," Long Chen comforted her, seeing Tang Waner still crying.

"Then you have to promise," Tang Waner said, gazing at Long Chen with her beautiful eyes.

"Fine, I promise. I promise to return alive," Long Chen said solemnly, extending a hand.

"Good, then I will believe you. If you lie to me, I will hate you for the rest of my life."

Slap!

Tang Waner extended her jade hand and patted Long Chen's large hand. She didn't know why, but receiving Long Chen's promise made her feel much more at ease. She knew Long Chen was a person who valued his word.

At this moment, Qing Yu walked over, gently straightened Long Chen's collar, and whispered, "You must pay attention to your safety this time. You are not allowed to be careless ever again, understand?"

Facing Qing Yu's sister-like affection, Long Chen felt a slight ache in his heart, but he suppressed his emotions and nodded.

"Boss, you must come back. We will go take revenge together," Guo Ran walked over at this moment, looking reluctant to part.

Long Chen patted Guo Ran's shoulder and said, "Good brother, I will return. When that time comes, we will settle the score with them."

"However, I want to tell you one thing: you possess the Dao Heart to become a powerhouse. You understand the true meaning of protection."

"But your talent is not good, so you will suffer greatly in the future. If you want to become a true powerhouse, you need to find another path."

Guo Ran nodded. He understood what Long Chen meant. He had no advantage in direct cultivation and needed to find other Breakthroughs.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, the sky darkened. A giant hawk flew over and landed on the ground. Its massive body, over twenty zhang long, made people feel extremely oppressed. It was clearly a Third Stage Demonic Beast.

Standing on the back of the hawk was a person—an Elder. He said to Long Chen, "Time is up. Say your goodbyes to your friends."

Long Chen shook his head with a faint smile and jumped onto the hawk's back. "What is there to say goodbye for? It's not like I'm not coming back."

Looking at his reluctant brothers, Long Chen said loudly, "Alright, everyone go back and cultivate hard. I'm just going out for a spin and will be back."

The Elder gently patted the hawk. The hawk flapped its wings, and a terrifying gale blew past. It soared into the sky and vanished in an instant before everyone's eyes.

Watching the figure disappear, everyone exchanged greetings and returned to their respective factions. Now that the gap had widened, if they didn't cultivate desperately, the gap would only grow larger.

Tang Waner returned to her Immortal Cave and saw countless bottles and jars laid out on the table, along with a note.

The note told Tang Waner that these Medicinal Pills were called Tendon-Moistening Pills, used by those in the Early Stage of the Tendon Tempering Realm. They could increase the speed of Spiritual Qi nourishing the tendons and accelerate cultivation.

Looking at the handwriting on the note and the plump pills in the bottles—these were made by Long Chen after three days and three nights of sleepless work.

Tang Waner could no longer hold it in and burst into tears. Qing Yu was by her side, gently consoling her:

"Long Chen will come back. He worked so hard to refine these Medicinal Pills because he was afraid that during this time, without the help of points, the gap between everyone would become too large."

"So, what you need to do now is to quickly distribute these Medicinal Pills. You and Zhiqiu also need to seize the time to improve your strength."

Tang Waner wiped her tears and nodded. "Sister Qing Yu, I understand. I will work hard to become stronger and settle the score with that bunch of bastards."

…

After Long Chen set off, inside an Elder-level Immortal Cave in the branch, Elder Sun sat cross-legged on the ground. In front of him was a young Disciple; judging by his attire, he was a Senior Brother-level powerhouse from the Enforcement Team.

"Feng Hai, have you remembered everything I told you? First, retrieve Long Chen's spatial ring, and then imprison his Soul within this Soul-Locking Bead. Do not forget," Elder Sun said in a deep voice.

"This Disciple remembers," the man answered, bowing.

"Although you are already a Middle Stage Tendon Tempering Realm powerhouse, the Rocky Wasteland is filled with Third Stage Demonic Beasts, and there are even Fourth Stage Demonic Beasts wandering about."

"I will give you two Breath-Concealing Pills. Once you take a Breath-Concealing Pill, as long as you don't erupt with your own Aura, no Demonic Beast will detect your presence."

"Take one when you go, and after you finish Long Chen's matter, take one when you return. That will be enough. Remember, this matter cannot leak out," Elder Sun warned again.

"Yes, this Disciple understands."

"Good, go. After this matter is done, I will personally take action to help you reach the Late Stage of the Tendon Tempering Realm."

"Many thanks, Elder!"

The man was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed to Elder Sun before retreating.

Watching the man disappear, a sinister smile appeared on Elder Sun's face. This time, Long Chen, let's see how you can escape.

…

Sitting on the flying Demonic Beast, Long Chen discovered they were flying straight north. The path was filled with high mountains and dense forests, with intersecting ravines—very treacherous terrain.

"Have you ever regretted it?" Long Chen hadn't said a word the entire time, but the Elder spoke first.

"No. Even if I had to do it again, the result would be the same," Long Chen shook his head. He knew he had his own helplessness.

The Elder looked at Long Chen and sighed with emotion, "Young people are great. Seeing you reminds me of when I first arrived at the branch. Hehe, sixty years have passed in a blink of an eye. The sharp edges I once had have long been smoothed out."

"By the way, Elder, I would like to ask you for a favor," Long Chen saw that this Elder was amiable and began to scheme.

"Hey, hey, we can chat, but don't expect me to help you cheat," the Elder looked at Long Chen's eyes and immediately became vigilant.

He thought Long Chen would ask him to drop him off somewhere else—since no one would know, Long Chen could just return to the branch, and the exile would be considered complete.

"You misunderstood me. I'm not asking you to help me cheat. I'm asking if, after we reach the Rocky Wasteland, you could help me kill one Third Stage Demonic Beast," Long Chen said.

"That is not a problem," the Elder readily agreed.

"This journey is a bit long; it will probably take a day of flying to arrive. You are mentally exhausted right now, so you might as well take this time to rest," the Elder reminded him.

Long Chen nodded. He really needed to rest. After three days and nights of refining Medicinal Pills without sleep, he was extremely exhausted.

Entering the notoriously dangerous Rocky Wasteland in this state was definitely not a good thing. He had to seize the time to recover his strength.

Hum.

A giant Divine Ring appeared behind Long Chen, and he began to absorb the energy of heaven and earth. Nowadays, Long Chen's Divine Ring was no longer a secret, so there was no need for caution.

However, after Long Chen summoned the Divine Ring, the hawk was startled. The Elder quickly pacified it, and only then did it resume normal flight.

It had to be said that the effect of the Divine Ring was truly powerful. In just three short hours, the Spiritual Qi in Long Chen's body had reached saturation.

When Long Chen opened his eyes again, he found that the terrain ahead had begun to change. The ground gradually flattened, and he could see fierce beasts appearing from time to time.

Along the way, Long Chen saw many fierce Demonic Beasts from the air: ten-zhang-long colorful tigers and giant pythons thicker than water vats appeared continuously.

Some Demonic Beasts let out angry roars when the hawk flew over them, clearly a form of warning.

Long Chen was secretly shocked. These Third Stage Demonic Beasts were too terrifying; it was no wonder that for so many years, not a single person had been able to return to the branch alive.

Those Demonic Beasts were old monsters that had lived for who knows how long. Their Aura was countless times stronger than that of Little Snow.

One had to know that Little Snow had only just entered the Third Stage—it didn't even count as an Early Stage Third Stage—yet it had such terrifying combat power.

The Demonic Beasts on the ground that had carved out territories here had clearly been entrenched here for many years, having long advanced to the Middle Stage or even the Late Stage, possessing boundless combat power.

Let alone Long Chen, a rookie only in the Blood Condensation Realm, even a Middle Stage Tendon Tempering Realm powerhouse might not be able to return alive.

Furthermore, it was said that those Core Disciples who had chosen exile in the past were all in the Tendon Tempering Realm at the time, and even then, they had all died here one by one.

But Long Chen had his unavoidable reasons for choosing exile. This place was dense with Third Stage Demonic Beasts, making it the perfect place to collect Demonic Beast blood essence and concoct the Ten Thousand Beast Blood Essence.

During those three days, not only did he refine the Tendon-Moistening Pills, but he also prepared all the medicinal powders for concocting the Ten Thousand Beast Blood Essence. As long as he had Demonic Beast blood essence, he could immediately produce it and rapidly increase his cultivation.

This was why he had chosen exile: it was the only path for him to rapidly increase his cultivation; otherwise, he would never be able to catch up with others.

When the dawn of the second day arrived, a wasteland appeared ahead, jagged with giant rocks like the corpses of monsters, filled with an eerie Aura.

The Grave of the Exiled—the Rocky Wasteland had arrived.