Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

If he could reach the Foundation Establishment level, even without Wang Yuan, he would have enough confidence to face various Foundation Establishment forces with ease.

However, faced with the growing suspicion of Duan Family’s ill intentions, Luo Chen was not idle.

In the marketplace, actions aimed at monitoring the Duan Family became increasingly frequent.

To prepare for the unexpected.

Meanwhile, in private, Luo Chen devoted more of his time to cultivation.

The Fireball Technique had reached the peak of mastery after all his practice.

Now Luo Chen was optimizing it to its limits.

As a result, he had more time to focus on learning other tactics.

In fact, while he was engrossed in his cultivation, Duan Feng visited him with a hesitation.

In the quiet stone house, after listening to Duan Feng’s intention, Luo Chen raised an eyebrow and asked,

“Are you saying that the Beast Tide may have come from the Duan Family?”

“Not just ‘may’, it probably is.”

Duan Feng’s expression was far from good. He had not expected to bring such a great calamity to the Luo Tian Creed because of his own actions.

Eleven of their brothers dead, two in the late-stage Qi Refinement phase lost their combat ability.

The damage was indeed considerable.

Seeing the indifferent expression on Luo Chen’s face, Duan Feng faltered.

“You’re not surprised?”

Luo Chen, in fact, was unsurprised. The circle of suspicions wasn’t that large to begin with.

It was merely a small matter of getting someone to verify it.

However, what Duan Feng said next did surprise him indeed.

“They definitely made a cunning plan, thinking that if they succeed in breaking the Luo Tian Creed, I would return to the Duan Family.”

“They even tried to tempt me with more enticing conditions.”

“But how could they persuade me like that? How could I not avenge a blood feud!”

Luo Chen was stunned.

From what he understood, instead of killing Duan Feng, they wanted to leave Duan Feng without any support, and have him return to the Duan Family?

Suddenly, he remembered that the Duan Family had been frequently reaching out to Duan Feng recently.

Right, Duan Qiankun would not be willing to kill his once beloved grandson.

Currently, what he desired most was for Duan Feng to cast aside past grudges and return to the Duan Family. Perhaps, he even offered many generous conditions for this.

“In that case, the Beast Tide incident serves more as a scare tactic to show Duan Feng the harsh reality of how weak the Luo Tian Creed is.”

“They underestimated me and Wang Yuan’s power, and we successfully survived the Beast Tide.”

Luo Chen pondered.

However, instead of feeling relieved, he got even angrier.

A scare tactic from higher-level cultivators is tantamount to a life-and-death test for lower-level cultivators like them.

“I still need time, I must endure!”

Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen worked urgently to suppress the restlessness within his heart.

Another month, another scheduled black market auction began.

Having already familiarized himself with the process, Luo Chen sat in the VIP seat, gazing at the auction hall which gradually grew less crowded, his expression somber.

The dwindling number of attendees had a reason.

It had to do with Zhenlong Black Market offering fewer and fewer items auctioned.

This sign made Luo Chen increasingly uneasy.

It signaled that the Zhenlong Black Market was wrapping things up, and its operations would continue to scale down.

It was highly likely that it would affect his cooperation with Tian Xingzi. Suppressing his unease, Luo Chen quietly watched the auction progress. Various types of magic tools and materials were auctioned off, one after another.

Tian Xingzi wasn’t pursuing high prices as eagerly as before, creating an impression of a blowout sale.

“The next item for auction is a Beast Controlling Technique, the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Scripture\'”

“This scripture has been passed down from outside of our region, and while it is only of the second order, its unique techniques are quite impressive.” “With the right methods and a specific kind of elixir, it allows cultivators to control a lower order Demon Beast.”

“It is rumored that this scripture comes from the Ten Thousand Beast Sect, which is a more powerful sect than the Yu Ding Sword Sect!”

“The starting bid for this second order technique is three thousand spirit stones, with an increment of no less than a hundred.”

The cultivators were quite interested upon hearing the name of this cultivation technique.

Not because it was a second-order cultivation method that corresponds to the Foundation Establishment level.

But because this technique could tame Demon Beasts.

This cultivation technique could be of significant help to the Great River District’s Rogue Cultivators, who often had to deal with Demon Beasts. The price was not too high either.

The starting price for a typical second-order cultivation method was often five thousand spirit stones.

Starting at three thousand represented a substantial discount.

Gazing at the jade slip containing the technique, Luo Chen’s eyes were alight. “Beast Controlling Technique?”

“At Crescent Valley, I still have a second order Blast Ape imprisoned below. I wonder if I can tame it using this technique?”

A few thousand spirit stones didn’t mean much to him now.

So he decided to join the bidding.

Eventually, he managed to win the auction for five thousand and five hundred spirit stones.

The price wasn’t high, but it wasn’t cheap either.

After all, this was not his Natal Qi Technique. The cultivators didn’t have absolute necessity for it.

Once he had the “Ten Thousand Beast Scripture” in his hands, Luo Chen lost interest in the rest of the auction.

The best items had already been sold in the auctions of the previous few months.

The items remaining now, while they might be attractive to other rogue cultivators,

did not meet Luo Chen’s requirements.

Suddenly, Tian Xingzi, having completed the auction procedures, came over to Luo Chen.

“Here are the Blood Ignition Pills for this month. Please count them, senior.” Without any refusal or pretense of generosity.

Tian Xingzi honestly swept his Spirit Consciousness over the pills, confirming the count before handing them over to Luo Chen.

Both of them sat in the VIP seats, the Sound Isolation Cover preventing those outside from hearing their conversation.

Tian Xingzi sighed: “Without the presence of a Great Sect, even though it provided many rogue cultivators opportunities to thrive recklessly, the number of cultivators has been continuously decreasing.”

This was the truth.

The number of rogue cultivators in the Great River District had been declining continuously.

Threatened by the Ghost City from within, and frequently invaded by Demon Beasts from the outside.

Even though it was a Rich Spirit Land, it was far from safe.