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

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 with a mission and needed to know Luo Chen's true thoughts.

Then, he found that the look Luo Chen gave him was becoming more and more strange.

It seemed to be a feeling of "soulmate"?

Suddenly.

"Elder Sikong, I understand you!"

Understand me?

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

"You are virtuous and respected, your realm is profound, your knowledge is broad, and you 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 deacon in my Pill Hall; it's simply an insult!"

"To be honest, even I, the Hall Master, can't bear to watch it."

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

No!

What are you talking about!

To be honest, hearing the first few sentences made Sikong Shoujia's blood boil and his eyes fill with tears.

But at that last sentence, he completely collapsed.

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 is our loose cultivator alliance."

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

"Elder Sikong, I will definitely support you to take the position!"

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

Sikong Shoujia hurriedly covered Luo Chen's mouth; his old face was now as white as a sheet.

What is all this!

Luo Chen was still not satisfied; it was rare for him to fan the flames.

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 became 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 eight hundred or a thousand years, and you talk to me about age?

"Age is not a problem, Little Luo. I am a person who has been through it, you..."

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

One sentence choked Sikong Shoujia.

Seeing his appearance, Luo Chen knew it clearly in his heart.

It was estimated that Mi Shuhua sent him to probe his tone.

Thinking deeper, it had to fall on the Jade Marrow Pill.

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

Once he joked, saying that if you don't abandon me, I am willing to worship you as a foster father, and Mi Shuhua didn't take it to heart.

The reason for this was that the refining of low-grade Jade Marrow Pills was actually not that difficult.

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

But involving middle-grade, 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 he naturally couldn't go into battle himself.

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

Indispensable!

So, Mi Shuhua was tempted now.

He wanted to tie Luo Chen to the Mi family's boat with the simplest and most direct marriage.

But Luo Chen didn't want to.

He would rather exchange interests, cooperate with each other, and have everyone be happy.

But marriage?

What could Mi Junping bring him?

She couldn't bring anything!

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

Just like precious things like the Small Spirit Gathering Array.

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

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

In the end, Sikong Shoujia returned without success.

After returning to report to Mi Shuhua, the other party just waved his hand casually, indicating not to tangle with this matter anymore.

It was just a casual move in the first place.

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 a family.

So could Luo Chen stably refine Jade Marrow Pills?

This was a nonsense question!

A month later, in the pill-nurturing room of the Pill 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 number, 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 fall too much.

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

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

"You have done a very good job!"

"Especially Luo Chen, his pill-refining skills have already stabilized."

Luo Chen was counting spirit stones beside him!

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

A total of one thousand three hundred, which was truly a huge sum of money.

If he added his original savings, Luo Chen's savings had returned to two thousand five hundred once again.

Moreover, the earnings for last month hadn't been settled yet at the Chenyue snack stall and the Honey Snow Ice City.

Although they hadn't been settled, by mastering the raw materials and sales volume data, Luo Chen had a rough idea of how much he could earn.

If they were settled, his savings would exceed three thousand for the first time!

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

But Luo Chen's consumption hadn't stopped for a single moment over the past month.

Whether it was the extra purchase of Dust-Transforming Pills or the Soul-Calming Incense, he had spent quite a few spirit stones.

As for the milk tea shop, he had invested six or seven hundred spirit stones into it.

All in all, every spirit stone had been used where it mattered most.

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

He put the spirit stones, four bottles of Dust-Transforming Pills, and a box of Soul-Calming Incense into his storage bag.

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

"You're talking about refining spiritual power?"

Uncle Mi stroked his beard, his spiritual sense sweeping over Luo Chen, who was still at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

He laughed: "Refining spiritual power in the late stage of Qi Refining is not a matter of a single day or night, and there are no shortcuts; it only relies on the effort of grinding."

"Are there really no shortcuts?" Luo Chen was unwilling to give up.

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

But when it came to the refinement of spiritual power, there wasn't much progress.

He occasionally discovered this problem while familiarizing himself with magic techniques in the back mountain.

For the same ordinary magic technique, Zhou Yuanli only needed a small amount of refined spiritual power to cast it.

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

The gap between them lay in the refinement of their spiritual power.

His spiritual power was too hollow.

Perhaps because he had always relied on pills for cultivation, although Luo Chen's total spiritual power far exceeded those of the same rank, releasing magic techniques consumed more.

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

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

"Hmm? Please speak plainly!"

"Cultivation technique!"

Uncle Mi looked at Luo Chen and softly spat out two words.

"All Qi Refining stage techniques, as long as they involve the late stage, have to a greater or lesser extent the effect of actively refining spiritual power."

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

"You are currently practicing the Changchun Gong, and this kind of technique comes from the Medicine King Sect."

He shook his head, "It is rumored that the 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 the Changchun Gong."

"And this evergreen characteristic, at the Qi Refining level, is the refinement of spiritual power. After reaching great success, the spiritual power is like green brilliance, full of vitality; even when the end of one's life is approaching, the spiritual power is extremely refined, and it can even preserve one's youthful appearance."

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

When it came to his core cultivation technique, he was helpless.

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

However, Uncle Mi's next words also extinguished this last bit of luck.

"In fact, most of the techniques that rogue cultivators can come into contact with, or those circulating in the market, are all simplified and simplified again by major sects before being released."

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

Luo Chen was astonished, "Then how do we rogue cultivators solve the problem of our core cultivation technique for the Foundation Establishment stage after luckily breaking through?"

Uncle Mi gave a bitter smile, "How else can you solve it? Scour the black market, buy at auctions, or try your luck in secret realms."

Luo Chen frowned, "In that case, I'm afraid the technique obtained wouldn't be that compatible with one's own spiritual roots, right?"

Uncle Mi sighed, agreeing with Luo Chen's guess.

Seeing Luo Chen still frowning, he consoled him:

"Actually, you don't need to worry; refining spiritual power is a matter for the entire late Qi Refining stage. Only disciples of major sects will start refining as soon as they step into the late Qi Refining stage."

"Like us rogue cultivators, many only start pondering this matter after being promoted to the ninth layer of Qi Refining."

"Even without those good techniques, grinding day by day, one can always grind out a body of refined spiritual power."

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

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

As long as you ensure that your spiritual power is sufficient to control the magic tools, there is indeed no difference between refined and hollow.

But this had some impact on Luo Chen, as he was better at fighting with magic techniques.

Moreover, from the "Qi Refining Insights" book Uncle Mi had given him, he also knew that breaking through to Foundation Establishment, besides the Foundation Establishment Pill, the degree of refinement of a cultivator's spiritual power was also the most critical point.

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

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

"If it really doesn't work, wait until the auction opens next year and see the items from the Spirit Medicine Pavilion!"

"Hmm?" Luo Chen raised his head abruptly.

…….

……

"The Medicine King Sect is a major alchemy sect in the thirty-six domains of the entire Eastern Wasteland, although it cannot compare to the Mingyuan Sect, which has Alchemy Saints, in terms of high-grade pills. But in terms of low-grade pills, it is even better."

"And narrowing the scope to the six domains of the Far East, as long as it involves pills, it almost always cannot escape the Medicine King Sect."

"Almost as long as it is a pill related to cultivation, the Medicine King Sect will have some involvement."

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

"And for refining spiritual power, they also have a specially made pill—the Spirit Refining Pill."

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

Spirit Refining Pill, a pill for refining spiritual energy.

"This pill is divided into first to third tiers, enough to be used by cultivators in the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation realms."

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

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

"But I remember one time in the past, the Spirit Medicine Pavilion brought out five bottles of second-tier Spirit Refining Pills. Who knows, maybe next year, they will also bring out a few bottles for auction."

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

"Not recommended; so you'd better hope they can bring out the first-tier Spirit Refining Pill aimed at the Qi Refining stage!"

Uncle Mi smiled, and seeing that Luo Chen had some expectations and his mood was no longer so low, 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 that Shan Xiu who intercepted and killed you."

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

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

For an enemy who had once openly intercepted and killed him, if the other party never showed up, Luo Chen would really feel like he had a thorn in his back.

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

Especially low-grade cultivators!

Deep mountains and marshes are not places to go; high-grade demon beasts are everywhere.

Major sects don't look down on them; they can't even be vassals.

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

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

Later, it was Wang Yuan who explained it to him personally.

Cultivators cannot stay in the mortal world for long.

This is an iron rule, 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, it was within expectations that Shan Xiu would show traces after more than a month.

He even hid for a little longer than Luo Chen had expected.

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

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

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

The rest were just trivial matters like replenishing medicinal materials and cleaning the pill furnace.

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

After saying goodbye, Luo Chen returned to the inner city under the escort of his bodyguards.

The time was still early, so he took a detour to the White Stone Square.

Yuan Xiaoyue greeted him, and they agreed to settle last month's accounts at the Sihe Academy later.

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

"Duan Feng, why are you here?"

*Cough, cough.*

Duan Feng coughed; after recuperating for more than a month, his injuries had mostly recovered.

But because his internal organs were injured at the time and the freezing energy remained for too long, it caused some sequelae in his lungs.

He would cough every now and then.

"I feel like my body is mostly recovered, so I came out for a walk and to help Sister Xia with some chores."

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

Duan Feng twitched the corner of his mouth, not caring about these things.

Feng Xia walked out from the small door and said: "There are still a few things to wrap up; it will take a while."

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

Bored, Luo Chen walked to the opposite side of White Stone Square.

Near that jade wall, buildings were already standing tall.

Registration points, gambling dens, and restaurants—shops serving the Mount Luofeng Dao-Discussion Platform—were already taking shape.

He looked up at the jade wall; besides tomorrow's match schedule, there was also a separate list.

At the top of the list was the Foundation Establishment ranking.

However, there were very few names on the list.

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

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

"Ranked third; did he lose to someone?"

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

The one ranked first, coincidentally, also had the surname Nangong.

Nangong Qin, ninth layer 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; Duan Feng's name was actually in the battle records.

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

Besides Nangong Qin, those below were Li Ao, Yan Mingyao...

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

"Last month, he fought to the death to keep his top-three position, but after just one month of recuperating, his ranking slipped to ninth."

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

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

Recently, Luo Chen had become familiar with the magic tools in his hands to an incomparable degree.

For offense, he had the high-grade Fire-Tip Spear, Soul-Breaking Nail, and Jade Blade.

For defense, he had the Four-Image Cauldron and a high-grade magic robe.

As for flying magic tools, that Snow-Stepping Board was barely usable.

However, for movement, he relied more on the high-grade Cloud-Stepping Boots, as well as his own "Carefree Travel" and "Wind-Riding Technique."

Besides these, he also had the Soul-Losing Bell and thousands of waste Jade Marrow Beads.

And these were just external objects.

His most powerful assets were his magic techniques.

"But 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 less strong cultivators on the list in the future to hone my combat experience?"

For a moment, he couldn't help but feel eager to try.

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

He wasn't worried at all; he still had a few low-grade magic tools he didn't use, which he could take to bet.

Luo Chen actually knew very well that blindly cultivating hard was not appropriate.

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

Even if he saved his life, all his efforts would become like flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water.

Appropriately honing his Dao-protection methods was also very necessary.

Although he had found some demon beasts to train himself in the past, to be honest, first-tier demon beasts really didn't have much intelligence.

Even some of the stronger ones only acted on instinct.

For things like Dao-protection techniques, one still had to fight human cultivators to increase them quickly.

Moreover, Uncle Mi also mentioned a point today, which is that cultivators who fight frequently usually have much stronger spiritual power refinement than those who cultivate hard.

It can be seen that fighting can also play a part in refining spiritual power.

But there was no rush for this matter; he would talk about it when he had time in the future.

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

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

The earnings of the Chenyue snack stall were very stable, still around six hundred spirit stones; he gave Yuan Xiaoyue sixty spirit stones, and she went home happily.

As for the milk tea shop, it was a pleasant surprise for Luo Chen.

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

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

Luo Chen took 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 fifty, as you had at the Hundred Herbs Hall, and the extra twenty is your share."

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

I have to say, Luo Chen was still very satisfied.

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

Feng Xia happily accepted the 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 keep up; otherwise, we might have earned more last month."

"I know that, so I said a long time ago that after you get familiar with it, we can hire another person." Luo Chen nodded.

"What do you think of Little Duan?"

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

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 come and gone for so many years; Little Duan looks cold, but he's 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 so?

But he didn't expose her, smiled and said: "If Little Duan is willing, I don't mind. But he won't have a share; he will only have a fixed salary of fifty spirit stones a month."

"Fifty is not bad; 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 the 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 him, and Luo Chen naturally wouldn't refuse.

A free worker added!

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

The spiritual power fluctuations on Duan Feng's body clearly weren't 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 spiritual power refinement of the late Qi Refining stage?"

Inexplicably, Luo Chen thought of this point.

If that was really the case, perhaps he should really consider taking time to go on stage and fight a few matches for no reason.