Chapter 114: A real man lives between heaven and earth, how can he live under others for long?

What do I think of Mi Junping?

Luo Chen was stunned for a moment; why bring up that woman for no reason?

Sikong Shoujia stared at Luo Chen nervously; he was here on a mission and needed to know Luo Chen's true thoughts.

Then, he discovered that the gaze Luo Chen was looking at him with was becoming stranger and stranger.

It seemed to be a feeling of "soulmate"?

Suddenly.

"Elder Sikong, I understand you!"

Understand me?

"A real man lives between heaven and earth, how can he live under others for long!"

"You are virtuous and respected, have a deep realm, broad knowledge, and are approachable. For so many years, you have made countless great contributions to the gang."

"In your old age, you can only be a small clerk in my Alchemy Hall; it's simply an insult!"

"To tell you the truth, even I, the Hall Master, can't bear to watch."

"Don't worry, if you want to get rid of Mi Junping, then I will definitely support you in becoming the Master of the Merit Hall!"

No!

What are you talking about!

The first few sentences, to tell the truth, made Sikong Shoujia's blood boil and his eyes fill with tears.

But that last sentence made him completely unable to hold on.

Luo Chen continued: "Mi Junping, a woman, long hair, short knowledge! Narrow-minded, harsh to others; the brothers in the gang have long been dissatisfied with her."

"If it weren't for her father being a Foundation Establishment cultivator... so what if he is a Foundation Establishment cultivator! The Poshan Gang is everyone's gang, it's our alliance of loose cultivators."

"She has no talent and no virtue; she is not worthy of holding the position of Hall Master."

"Elder Sikong, I will definitely support you in taking the position!"

"Stop talking, stop talking, I beg you, stop talking."

Sikong Shoujia covered Luo Chen's mouth repeatedly; his old face was now as white as snow.

What was all this!

Luo Chen was still enjoying it; it was rare for him to fan the flames once.

Unfortunately, the other party didn't take the bait.

"No, I just wanted to ask what you personally think of Mi Junping." Sikong Shoujia gritted his teeth and went straight to the point: "I mean, if you and her were to become Dao companions..."

This time, it was Luo Chen's turn to cover the old man's mouth.

"Stop!"

"I don't like women older than me!"

Sikong Shoujia didn't react; age?

We are cultivators; we have a lifespan of at least eighty or a hundred years, and often a thousand or eight hundred years; you're talking to me about age?

"Age is not a problem, Little Luo. I'm an experienced person, you..."

"Then why don't you go and propose marriage yourself!"

One sentence choked Sikong Shoujia.

Seeing his appearance, Luo Chen understood perfectly.

It was estimated that Mi Shuhua had sent him to sound him out.

Thinking on a deeper level, it had to be about the Jade Marrow Pill.

Before, he could only refine low-grade Jade Marrow Pills, so Mi Shuhua didn't value him very highly.

Once, he joked, "If you don't abandon me, I am willing to worship you as my foster father," but Mi Shuhua didn't take it to heart.

The reason for this was that refining low-grade Jade Marrow Pills wasn't actually that difficult.

Given a few decades, if the Alchemy Hall developed well, Mi Shuhua could always support a few talents who could refine low-grade Jade Marrow Pills.

But involving middle-grade ones, it wasn't that simple.

Mi Shuhua didn't have the confidence to cultivate talents who could refine middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills.

As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had to face the pressure of forming a core, so naturally, he couldn't go into battle himself.

Under these circumstances, Luo Chen's importance was completely highlighted.

Indispensable!

Therefore, Mi Shuhua was tempted now.

He wanted to bind Luo Chen to the Mi family's ship through the simplest and most direct marriage alliance.

But Luo Chen didn't want to.

He would rather exchange benefits and cooperate with each other—you are good, I am good, everyone is good.

But marriage?

What could Mi Junping bring him?

She couldn't bring anything!

After the marriage alliance, it would be nothing more than some resources from the Mi family, but Luo Chen could already leech those things now.

Just like the precious Small Spirit Gathering Array.

Comparing the two, the cost-effectiveness of a marriage alliance was too low.

It was only beneficial to Mi Shuhua and the Mi family, but for Luo Chen, it was quite tasteless.

Finally, Sikong Shoujia returned without success.

After reporting to Mi Shuhua, the other party just waved his hand casually, indicating not to dwell on this matter anymore.

It was just a casual move to begin with.

Luo Chen's refusal didn't hinder the relationship between the two sides.

As long as the Jade Marrow Pill could still be stably refined, the two sides were no different from one family.

And could Luo Chen stably refine the Jade Marrow Pill?

That was a nonsense question!

A month later, in the pill-nurturing room of the Alchemy Hall.

The "Big Three" accompanied Mi Shuhua, counting the number of pills.

"Three hundred bottles of low-grade Jade Marrow Pills."

"One hundred bottles of middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills."

After getting this quantity, Sikong Shoujia breathed a sigh of relief, and Gu Caiyi was also very happy.

Compared to last month, there were twenty fewer bottles of middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills, but it didn't drop too much.

It was mainly because for a period of time, Luo Chen was hiding in the inner city and didn't come to the Alchemy Hall to refine pills.

After Mi Shuhua got this quantity, he couldn't help but nod.

"You have done very well!"

"Especially Luo Chen, his alchemy skills have already stabilized."

Luo Chen was counting spirit stones happily on the side!

That was what Mi Shuhua had just brought over; it was his share of the profits from last month.

A total of 1,300, which was truly a huge sum of money.

If his original savings were added, Luo Chen's savings had once again returned to 2,500.

Moreover, at the Chen Yue snack stall and Mixue Bingcheng, the earnings for last month hadn't been settled yet.

Although they hadn't been settled, by mastering the raw materials and the sales data, Luo Chen had a count in his heart of how much could be earned.

If settled, his savings would break 3,000 for the first time!

Perhaps compared to some long-standing Qi Refining ninth-level cultivators, it was still a bit less.

But Luo Chen's consumption had never stopped this month.

Whether it was buying extra Dust-Transforming Pills or An-Shen incense, he had spent quite a few spirit stones.

On the milk tea shop side, he had invested six or seven hundred spirit stones.

In general, every spirit stone was used on the cutting edge.

Hearing Mi Shuhua's praise, Luo Chen smiled foolishly.

Putting the spirit stones, four bottles of Dust-Transforming Pills, and a box of An-Shen incense into his storage bag.

Luo Chen rubbed his hands and, taking advantage of Mi Shuhua's good mood, asked some questions about cultivation.

"You said refining spirit power?"

Mi Shuhua stroked his beard; his spiritual sense swept over Luo Chen, and he was still at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

He smiled: "Refining spirit power in the late stage of Qi Refining is not a matter of one morning or evening, and there are no shortcuts; it only relies on hard work."

"Is there really no shortcut?" Luo Chen was unwilling to give up.

His cultivation progress was visible to the naked eye every day.

But when it came to spirit power refinement, there wasn't much progress.

He occasionally discovered this problem when familiarizing himself with spells in the back mountain.

For the same ordinary spell, Zhou Yuanli only needed a small amount of refined spirit power to cast it.

He had to continuously inject a large amount of spirit power; although the speed was very fast, the power was about the same.

The gap between the two appeared in the refinement degree of their spirit power.

His spirit power was too hollow.

Perhaps because he had always relied on pills for cultivation, although Luo Chen's total spirit power far exceeded those of the same rank, the consumption for releasing spells was also greater.

Hearing Luo Chen's persistent questioning, Mi Shuhua pondered for a while.

"Actually, it's not that there are no shortcuts, but this shortcut, I'm afraid you can't use it right now."

"En? Please speak directly!"

"Cultivation technique!"

Mi Shuhua looked at Luo Chen and spat out two words lightly.

"All Qi Refining stage cultivation techniques, as long as they involve the late stage, more or less have the effect of actively refining spirit power."

"But this effect depends on the grade of the cultivation technique."

"What you are practicing now is Changchun Gong, and this technique comes from the Medicine King Sect."

He shook his head, "It is rumored that Changchun Gong is derived from the Medicine King Sect's 'Everlasting Evergreen Scripture'; it only absorbed the continuous characteristic of the 'Everlasting Evergreen Scripture'. But the most famous evergreen characteristic of the 'Everlasting Evergreen Scripture' was not left in Changchun Gong."

"And this evergreen characteristic, at the Qi Refining level, is the refinement of spirit power. After reaching Great Perfection, the spirit power is like green brilliance, full of vitality; even when one's lifespan is about to end, the spirit power is still incomparably refined, and it can even preserve one's youthful appearance."

Listening to this explanation, Luo Chen had a massive headache.

Involving his natal cultivation technique, he had no way out.

He couldn't just change to a cultivation technique that was good at refining spirit power now, could he?

However, Mi Shuhua's next words also destroyed this last bit of luck.

"In reality, most of the cultivation techniques that loose cultivators can come into contact with, or those circulating in the market, are all simplified and simplified again by major sects before they are circulated."

"Their core characteristics have almost all been removed from these simplified cultivation techniques."

Luo Chen was astonished, "Then how do we loose cultivators solve the natal cultivation technique for the Foundation Establishment stage after luckily breaking through to Foundation Establishment?"

Mi Shuhua gave a bitter smile, "How else can we solve it? Go to the black market to dig for it, go to the auction to buy it, or try our luck in secret realms."

Luo Chen frowned, "If that's the case, I'm afraid the cultivation technique obtained won't be that compatible with one's own spirit root, right?"

Mi Shuhua sighed and agreed with Luo Chen's guess.

Seeing Luo Chen still frowning, he comforted him:

"Actually, you don't have to worry; spirit power refinement is a matter for the entire late stage of Qi Refining; only disciples of major sects will carry out refinement when they first enter the late stage of Qi Refining."

"Like us loose cultivators, many only start to ponder this matter after reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining."

"Even without those good cultivation techniques, grinding day by day will always grind out a body of refined spirit power."

Whether spirit power is refined or not doesn't have that much impact on battles of the same rank.

After all, many people rely on magic tools to fight.

As long as it is ensured that the spirit power is enough to control the magic tools, there is indeed no difference between refined and hollow.

But this had some impact on Luo Chen; he was better at spell battles.

Moreover, from the "Qi Refining Insights" that Mi Shuhua gave him back then, he also knew that breaking through to Foundation Establishment, besides the Foundation Establishment Pill, the refinement degree of a cultivator's spirit power was also the most critical point.

That was why he started worrying about this matter at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

But even Mi Shuhua couldn't give him much help.

"If it really doesn't work, wait for the auction to open next year and see the auction items of the Spirit Medicine Pavilion!"

"En?" Luo Chen raised his head abruptly.

"The Medicine King Sect is the alchemy major sect of the entire thirty-six regions of the Eastern Wilderness, although in high-grade pills it cannot compare to the Mingyuan Sect, which has an Alchemy Saint. But in low-grade pills, it is even better."

"And narrowing the scope to the six regions of the Far East, as long as it is related to pills, it almost cannot escape the Medicine King Sect."

"Almost as long as it is a pill related to cultivation, the Medicine King Sect will be involved."

Facing Luo Chen's expectant gaze, Mi Shuhua talked eloquently.

"And for refining spirit power, they also have special pills—Spirit Refining Pills."

As soon as this name came out, Luo Chen instantly understood its effect.

Spirit Refining Pill, a pill for refining spirit energy.

"This pill is divided into first to third grades, enough for cultivators in the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation stages to use."

"But because most sect cultivators' cultivation techniques have the effect of refining, the sales of Spirit Refining Pills are not good. The Medicine King Sect mostly exports them to regions outside the Eastern Wilderness for sale."

"At the last auction, they didn't auction Spirit Refining Pills."

"But I remember that once before, the Spirit Medicine Pavilion took out five bottles of second-grade Spirit Refining Pills. It's not impossible that next year, they will also take out a few bottles for auction."

Luo Chen asked curiously: "Second-grade Spirit Refining Pill, can I use it?"

"It is not recommended to use it, so you had better hope that they can take out first-grade Spirit Refining Pills aimed at the Qi Refining stage!"

Mi Shuhua smiled, and seeing that Luo Chen had expectations, his mood was no longer so low, and he also breathed a sigh of relief.

He couldn't let this precious treasure be in a bad mood!

"By the way, I have some news about Shan Xiu, who once robbed you."

"When the time comes, I will give you an explanation."

Before leaving, Mi Shuhua gave Luo Chen a piece of good news.

For an enemy who had once attacked him head-on and robbed him, if the other party didn't show up, Luo Chen would really feel like he had thorns on his back.

But unless a loose cultivator really ran into the mountains, they would always show up in front of people.

Especially low-grade cultivators!

Deep mountains and great marshes were not places to go; high-grade spirit beasts were everywhere.

Major sects, people didn't take a fancy to them, and they couldn't even be a vassal.

As for going to the mortal world to rot, that was even more impossible.

In reality, having stayed in the market for a long time, seeing many old and frail cultivators still struggling bitterly instead of going to the mortal world to enjoy themselves, Luo Chen had also been puzzled.

Later, it was Wang Yuan who personally gave him the explanation.

Cultivators cannot stay in the mortal world for long.

This was an iron order, and also a hidden rule.

As for the real reason, Wang Yuan didn't explain it clearly either; anyway, he just said that cultivators cannot live in the mortal world for long.

Therefore, Shan Xiu showing traces after more than a month was within expectations.

He even hid for longer than Luo Chen had expected.

If Mi Shuhua could bring that guy's head in front of him, that would be the best.

Even if he didn't bring it now, knowing that the other party was active in Snow Lotus Market, Luo Chen was relatively at ease.

Mi Shuhua left, and today's work also came to an end.

What remained were some trivial matters like replenishing medicinal materials and cleaning the pill cauldron.

Luo Chen didn't need to worry about these things; Gu Caiyi would arrange them for him.

After greeting, Luo Chen returned to the inner city under the escort of bodyguards.

The time was still early, and he took a detour to Bai Shi Square.

Yuan Xiaoyue greeted him, and they agreed to go to the Sihe Academy later to settle the accounts for last month.

As for the milk tea shop, Luo Chen was very surprised.

"Duan Feng, why are you here?"

Cough, cough.

Duan Feng coughed; having recuperated for more than a month, his injuries had recovered by more than half.

But because his viscera were injured and the freezing energy had remained for too long, he had left some sequelae in his lungs.

He would cough once or twice from time to time.

"I feel that my body is almost recovered, so I came out for a walk and helped Sister Xia with some chores."

"That's great, but I don't have any spirit stones to pay you a salary."

Duan Feng pulled the corners of his mouth and didn't care about these things.

Feng Xia walked out from the small door and said: "There is still a little bit of work to finish; I have to wait a while."

"It's fine, you guys go ahead and get busy; I'll wander around."

Luo Chen was bored, so he walked to the opposite side of Bai Shi Square.

Near that piece of jade wall, buildings were already standing in great numbers.

Registration points, gambling dens, wine restaurants—the storefronts serving the Luofeng Mountain Dao Discussion Platform had already taken shape.

He looked up at the jade wall; besides the battle schedule for tomorrow, there was also a separate list.

Ranked at the top was the Foundation Establishment list.

However, the names on the list were few and far between.

The only Foundation Establishment cultivator Luo Chen recognized was one named Nangong Jin.

The reason he knew him was also because when he was choosing the milk source, he learned that the Nangong family raised a batch of Fuzhu deer, so he learned a little more about this family.

"Ranked third; who did he lose to?"

Shaking his head, Luo Chen looked at the Qi Refining list with great interest.

Ranked first, coincidentally, also surnamed Nangong.

Nangong Qin, ninth level of Qi Refining!

With the blessing of the Spirit Eye Technique, a series of battle records appeared after the name.

Won against so-and-so, lost to so-and-so; there was even Duan Feng's name in the battle records.

He and Nangong Qin had dueled twice, one win and one loss.

Besides Nangong Qin, the ones below were Li Ao, Yan Mingyao...

It wasn't until the ninth place that he discovered Duan Feng's name.

"Last month, he fought to the death to keep his position in the top three, but after only one month of recuperation, his ranking slipped to ninth."

"Tsk tsk, the competition for the ranking on the Dao Discussion Platform is quite fierce!"

"I wonder what ranking I would get if I participated."

Recently, Luo Chen had familiarized himself with the magic tools in his hands to an extreme degree.

In terms of offense, he had the high-grade magic tools Fire-Tip Spear, Soul-Breaking Nail, and Jade Blade.

In terms of defense, he had the Four-Image Cauldron and high-grade magic robe.

As for the flying magic tool, that Snow-Treading Board was barely usable.

However, he relied more on the high-grade magic tool Cloud-Treading Boots, as well as his own Xiaoyaoyou and Wind-Riding Technique for movement.

Besides these, he also had the Soul-Losing Bell and the quantity of thousands of discarded Jade Marrow beads.

And these were just external objects.

His most powerful assets were his spells.

"However, my combat experience with cultivators is still too little. On the Dao Discussion Platform with a limited environment, I'm afraid that after using many methods once or twice, the enemy will have defenses."

"Perhaps I can consider challenging some not-so-strong cultivators on the list in the future to hone my combat experience?"

For a time, he not only felt eager to try.

As for late-stage Qi Refining cultivators participating, they needed to bet a magic tool.

He wasn't worried at all; he had a few low-grade magic tools in his hands that he didn't need, which could be used for betting.

Luo Chen was actually very clear that blindly practicing in seclusion was not appropriate.

Even if he accumulated more wealth, if he encountered an enemy one day and was defeated, his wealth would be snatched by others.

Even if he saved his life, his many efforts would become a mirror image.

Appropriate honing of protective means was also very necessary.

Although he occasionally found some spirit beasts to exercise himself, to tell the truth, first-grade spirit beasts really didn't have much intelligence.

Even some powerful ones only acted on instinct.

For things like protective arts, one still had to find human cultivators to fight to increase them quickly.

Moreover, Mi Shuhua also mentioned a point today, which was that cultivators who fought frequently usually had much stronger spirit power refinement than those who practiced in seclusion.

It could be seen that fighting could also play a part in refining spirit power.

However, this matter was not urgent; he would talk about it when he had time later.

Luo Chen watched for a while, then took Yuan Xiaoyue and Feng Xia, who had finished work, home.

In the courtyard, he settled the accounts for last month with the two of them separately.

The earnings of the Chen Yue snack stall were very stable, still around six hundred spirit stones; he gave Yuan Xiaoyue sixty spirit stones, and the other party returned home happily.

On the milk tea shop side, Luo Chen was very surprised.

In the first month, the gross income was actually over five hundred spirit stones.

After deducting more than one hundred in costs, which included raw materials and rent, four hundred remained.

Luo Chen took away three hundred and thirty and pushed seventy spirit stones to Feng Xia opposite him.

"Is it this much?" Feng Xia was a bit surprised.

Luo Chen smiled slightly, "It's not much; the fixed salary is paid according to the fifty you had at the Hundred Herbs Hall, and the extra twenty is your share of the profits."

Feng Xia was, after all, a late-stage cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining; hiring her for a month and only giving her seventy spirit stones.

It had to be said that Luo Chen was still very satisfied.

"In the future, the business in the shop will only get better and better, and Sister Xia, you will also be able to share more spirit stones."

Feng Xia happily accepted those spirit stones.

Touching the spirit stones, Feng Xia hesitated for a while and said: "Actually, sometimes there are too many people, and I can't handle it; otherwise, last month might have earned more."

"I know this, so I said very early on that after you are familiar with it, we can recruit another person." Luo Chen nodded.

"What do you think of Little Duan?"

Hearing Duan Feng's name, Luo Chen didn't react for a while.

Feng Xia sighed, "Instead of waiting for his injuries to heal and going to the Dao Discussion Platform to fight to the death, it's better to sell milk tea steadily in the shop. Neighbors in the courtyard have changed a lot over the years; Little Duan looks cold, but he is actually a very good person, and I don't want him to die on the Dao Discussion Platform."

Luo Chen blinked; Sister Xia, is that really the case?

However, he didn't expose her and smiled, saying: "If Little Duan is willing, I don't mind. But he doesn't have a share of the profits, only a fixed salary of fifty spirit stones per month."

"Fifty is not little; after saving for a few years, he can open a small shop to repair magic tools. Well, he has a lot of insights into repairing magic tools."

As she spoke, Feng Xia herself agreed with her own idea.

However, this matter was rejected by Duan Feng the next day before Luo Chen left.

"Before my injuries heal, I will help Sister Xia sell milk tea."

"I don't want spirit stones."

"After my injuries heal, I still have to go to the Dao Discussion Platform to hone myself."

This was his reply; Feng Xia couldn't force it, and Luo Chen naturally didn't refuse.

A free worker gained!

When leaving the city, Luo Chen suddenly remembered one thing.

The spirit power fluctuations on Duan Feng's body were clearly not much different from before, but as his injuries gradually recovered, why did he feel much stronger than before?

"Could it be that he is using the battles on the Dao Discussion Platform to carry out the final spirit power refinement of the late Qi Refining stage?"

Inexplicably, Luo Chen thought of this point.

If this was really the case, perhaps he really had to consider taking time to go on stage and fight a few rounds when he had nothing to do. ===== CHAPTER 116 =====