Chapter 8: True Martial Seventh Level

"Little beast, get over here now."

By the time Long Cangqiong and his group had stormed Pill Square, Long Yan had already ventured to the Wanbao Trading Company, so they had to return to the Long Family, standing in unison outside the mansion's gate as if they were awaiting some important person.

If others knew these higher-ups were waiting for nothing more than a prodigal, they would hardly believe it.

As soon as Long Yan and Zhang Yibai, who was lugging a large sack, squeezed out from the crowd, Long Cangqiong's thundering voice echoed forth.

"Grandpa."

Long Yan lifted an eyebrow, then nonchalantly strolled over to Long Cangqiong and respectfully greeted him.

In his memory, this grandpa had cared about him a great deal. Though he couldn't cultivate, his grandpa never despised him, instead showing him even more care and concern.

"Great Elder, Five Elders."

Next, Long Yan paid his respects to Long Xinghe and Five Elders.

In his past life, he was an orphan. This life, having a family and relatives, felt a lot different. Although he is a playboy, his uncle and several elders of the Long family were good to him.

"Half a year has passed, and you've grown taller."

Long Xinghe patted Long Yan's shoulder and said, laughing happily.

"Zhang Yibai, what is it that you are carrying?"

The Great Elder noticed Zhang Yibai standing aside, carrying a large sack, and curiously asked.

"Spirit stones."

Zhang Yibai answered.

"What?"

Everyone was stunned. That big of a sack had to contain at least eight or nine thousand spirit stones.

"Where did you get all these spirit stones?"

"Young Master just sold twenty supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pills at the Wanbao Trading Company for exactly ten thousand spirit stones."

Zhang Yibai puffed up his chest, as if he'd earned the spirit stones himself.

"What, you actually sold the supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pills?"

Long Cangqiong almost spat up a mouthful of old blood. Truly wasteful! Those were Supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pills, valuable pills that people out there struggled to get their hands on, and they had been sold!

"You wastrel, if you don't give me a satisfactory explanation, I'll thrash your buttocks till they bloom."

Long Cangqiong shot Long Yan a fierce glance and then, flipping his large sleeve, walked into the mansion.

Soon, everyone entered the mansion and proceeded straight to the conference hall.

"Spill it honestly. When did you learn how to refine pills?"

Long Cangqiong purposely put on a stern face, but he was overjoyed inside. He was now fairly certain that Long Yan could refine pills; from what Long Kun had said, at a minimum, Long Yan should be on par with a second-grade Alchemist.

Long Yan touched the tip of his nose, slightly frowning: "You want the whole truth?"

"Crap! Are you itching for a beating again?"

Long Yan shrugged, walked over to a chair, and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. "Actually, pill refining isn't all that difficult. It's the same principle as 'prolonged illness turns the patient into a doctor' - you all understand. I've just consumed more pills than others, that's how I learned."

Looking at Long Yan, it seemed as if refining pills was as easy as eating a meal – a simple task.

Upon hearing this, everyone almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. They felt an urge to strangle Long Yan. If pill refining was that simple, the world would be teeming with Alchemists.

"Little beast, have you lost your mind?"

Long Cangqiong lashed out with his foot, only missing Long Yan because he'd moved out of the way in time.

"If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you, but you have to hand over all the high-grade Crimson Blood Pills that you refine to the family from now on."

Long Cangqiong took a seat, far from believing Long Yan's tall tale. However, he realized this was Long Yan's secret and there was no need to press if Long Yan didn't want to talk about it.

"Hand them over for free?"

"Ridiculous! I know your weight, do you think I would take advantage of you? It's a fixed price per pill, each high-grade Crimson Blood Pill equals four hundred spirit stones."

Long Cangqiong glared fiercely at Long Yan. Long Yan was always scheming, and he knew clearly that it wouldn't be possible without giving Long Yan some benefits.

"Four hundred spirit stones is too little, at the Wanbao Trading Company..."

"Three hundred."

"Done deal."

Long Yan quickly interjected. If he didn't agree right away, there might not even be two hundred spirit stones left.

"Hmph, youngster, you think you could outsmart me, ever heard of the saying 'the older, the wiser'?"

Sneering at Long Yan's frustrated face, Long Cangqiong was secretly thrilled.

"Who would've thought that though Yan'er's martial art talent is average, his pill refining talent is extraordinarily high. Good, good, hahaha!"

After Long Yan left, Long Cangqiong was laughing so hard that his mouth almost stretched to the back of his head.

"Second brother's child can't be bad, Yan'er will definitely achieve great things in the future."

Long Xinghe was also overjoyed.

"Who would've thought that a pill refining genius was born in our Long family, may our ancestors bless us."

"We must nurture him well."

Several Elders were also beaming, completely forgetting the joint marriage between the Lin Family and the Bai Family.

"Xinghe, you will be responsible for the medicinal materials. From now on, no one is allowed to disturb Yan'er, let him focus on studying Pill Dao. Also, try to gather some books about pill refining."

At this moment, Long Cangqiong saw Long Yan as a prodigal son who has returned, a golden boy worth more than a treasure.

............

"To think that ten thousand spirit stones could only help me break through one level, sigh."

In the depth of the night, within the practice room, Long Yan ended his cultivation with a slight sigh.

After refining and absorbing ten thousand spirit stones, he had broken through to the Fifth Level of the True Martial Realm.

Previously, ten thousand spirit stones helped him continuously break through to the fourth level of the True Martial Realm. Now, ten thousand spirit stones can only barely help him break through one level. He doesn't know how many spirit stones he would need to reach the ninth level of the True Martial Realm.

In the follow-up, Long Yan stayed in the practice room to cultivate. With the Long family supplying medicinal materials, he did not go to the Wanbao Trading Company again. He handed all the supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pills he refined to the Long family, and in return, he received a large amount of spirit stones.

Long Cangqiong originally planned to keep the supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pills to cultivate strength for the family. But when he found out Long Yan could actually refine hundreds of them every day, he decided to publicly sell the pills, setting the price at five hundred spirit stones each.

For a time, the supreme-grade Crimson Blood Pill became the signature product of Ling Wu City, and it virtually dominated the whole pill market in Ling Wu City, making even the Wanbao Trading Company pale by comparison.

Soon, half a month passed by.

"At last, I have reached the seventh level of the True Martial Realm."

In the practice room, a smile crept onto Long Yan's face. After absorbing the energy from a hundred thousand spirit stones, he finally broke through to the seven level of the True Martial Realm.

"I can go to the Ten Thousand Poison Forest now."

After straightening his robe, Long Yan left the practice room.

"He's out."

Outside the practice room, two males and a female had been waiting for a while.

"Long Yan, we've been waiting for you for so long, you're really something."

A young man dressed in a jade-white robe appeared domineering and spoke sharply.

"It's you guys."

Long Yan was naturally familiar with the three of them, Long Hao, Long Ziyue, and Long Yu - all were the direct descendants of the Long family.

Long Cangqiong had three sons: Long Xinghe, Long Chengtian, and Dragon Star.

The sharp-tongued young man from before was Long Hao, Long Xinghe's youngest son, and was slightly older than Long Yan by half a month. Long Ziyue and Long Yu were the son and daughter of Dragon Star, Long Ziyue was older than Long Yan by three days, while Long Yu was younger.

"I didn't know you guys were here."

Long Yan showed no change in his expression. From his memory, apart from Long Yu who was kind to him, Long Ziyue and Long Hao were indifferent towards him.

"You guys need something from me?"