“A heaven-shaking battle?” Long Chen involuntarily felt some interest.

Lu Fang-er nodded. “Three days ago, within a mountain valley outside the Forest of Darkness, your Xuantian Supermonastery’s number one expert, Han Tianyu, fought an intense battle with another man. That was truly a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering battle.”

Although it had been three days, that scene was still deeply imprinted in Lu Fang-er’s mind.

“Han Tianyu fought with someone? Was it Yin Luo?” asked Long Chen.

Lu Fang-er shook her head. “It wasn’t Yin Luo. That man was wearing a cloak, and from what I could see of his face, he was pretty handsome. His lower chin was a bit round. I think he called himself…”

“Mo Nian?” Long Chen couldn’t help but blurt out.

“Yes! He called himself Mo Nian. What an odd name. Wait, you know him? Were you also there?” asked Lu Fang-er.

“I wasn’t there. Of the people who can fight on the same level as Han Tianyu, and who also like that kind of attire, perhaps he is the only one.”

However, Long Chen felt curious. Although Mo Nian liked to fight, why would he fight with Han Tianyu in the Jiuli secret realm, where danger was lurking on every side?

“How did they start fighting?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But Mo Nian was continuously cursing Han Tianyu for being an idiot. He said something about how he had never worn a mask and he would disdain doing any shady, shameful business. There was also something about hurting his dogshit brother? I don’t really know.” Lu Fang-er’s expression was a bit odd.

In her eyes, a person like Han Tianyu was a high and lofty existence who wouldn’t easily talk with anyone else.

And that man had also been on the same level as him, a top expert. But he had actually wildly cursed Han Tianyu, something which should have been beneath his dignity. So she found it particularly bizarre.

“A mask?”

Long Chen’s expression stiffened as he thought of a certain something.

It couldn’t have been because of that, right? Calculating the time, it seemed that their battle had happened after the time he had worn a mask and almost played Han Tianfeng to death.

At that time, Han Tianfeng had used his teleportation talisman to flee at a critical moment, while Long Chen had never taken off his mask during the battle.

Later when he was provoked by a group of Corrupt disciples, he had led an army of Magical Beasts to slaughter over half of them. The Corrupt Chosen had told him to tell them his name.

He had then extremely flashily left behind Mo Nian’s name for them. Now hearing about this battle from Lu Fang-er, he could immediately think of what had happened.

There had definitely been someone who had recorded his dramatic self-introduction. Who knew what divine channels Han Tianfeng had in order to learn that the masked man had been Mo Nian.

Most likely, he had sent out an arrest warrant for Mo Nian. At the same time, this news must have also reached Han Tianyu.

For a genius on Han Tianyu’s level, being able to fight with a genius on the same level as himself was definitely extremely exciting, and he had definitely heard Mo Nian’s name before.

With how much Mo Nian enjoyed being in the spotlight, he would never hide his whereabouts. Adding on the first monastery’s vast number of followers and spies, as well as their special communication abilities, finding Mo Nian wouldn’t be difficult.

Reaching that point in his thoughts, Long Chen’s expression became odd. It seemed that after he had messed around, it was Mo Nian who had taken the blame.

“Do you know Mo Nian?” asked Lu Fang-er.

“Yes, I know him. We can count as friends.”

After all, Mo Nian had already received a gift from him. That leg he had given him was definitely enough to make them friends, right? Even if Mo Nian learned the truth, he wouldn’t actually get angry… right?

“Long Chen, I am really unable to understand you. How did you manage to become friends with someone on that level?” praised Lu Fang-er.

This was what it meant for birds of a feather to flock together. The stronger a person was, the fewer friends they had by their side. That was because those that could be friends with them had to have a corresponding strength themselves.

A horse does not share the same trough as sheep; a phoenix does not fly with sparrows. Those who were not on the same level were unable to become true friends.

For Long Chen to say that they could count as friends meant that he had a strength that Mo Nian looked favorably upon. Even if he wasn’t on the same level as Mo Nian, he was definitely not far off.

“That’s right, what was the final result. Who won?” Long Chen cared more about the result.

Previously, Mo Nian had fought an intense battle with Yin Luo. Once he had gone home and gone into seclusion, it was unknown how much his strength had advanced.

“The two of them fought a shocking battle. The ground for many miles collapsed, and all the mountains in the vicinity were razed to the ground. It was an incredibly fierce battle. However, neither of them used their full strength. I’d guess they were just testing out their opponent. Han Tianyu had very likely been looking for a pretext just to appraise Mo Nian ever since entering the secret realm.

“The two of them only fought for an hour, and neither of them managed to get an advantage over the other. From the way they fought, it seemed they had too many misgivings, and they didn’t bring out their true fighting strength.

“In the end, Han Tianyu said he would settle this debt with Mo Nian later, while Mo Nian furiously cursed Han Tianyu for being shameless, and that if he wasn’t convinced, they could have a real fight. Han Tianyu was also infuriated, but he still endured. After a couple sneers, he left.

“Once he left, Mo Nian cursed repeatedly for a while before also leaving. He said something about being unlucky to run into a mental case.” Towards the end, Lu Fang-er began to cover her mouth since she was laughing, feeling that for a genius on his level to openly curse someone like that was extremely funny.

As for Long Chen, he wasn’t able to laugh. If Mo Nian learned that it was Long Chen who had set him up in secret, then Long Chen really didn’t dare be sure that he wouldn’t turn hostile.

However, Long Chen also wasn’t afraid of him. If he really was shameless enough to turn hostile against him, then he had better hand over that leg first.

“Let’s stop talking about that. Since I’ve run into you, we should team up. With you here to protect me, I’ll definitely feel much more at ease,” laughed Lu Fang-er. She intimately pulled on Long Chen’s arm.

Long Chen’s expression stiffened slightly. Lu Fang-er was also a rare beauty. It was just that by always being beside Meng Qi, her beauty was naturally eclipsed. But that didn’t change the fact she was also a beauty that could only be found every thousand miles.

Having such a beauty holding his arm, Long Chen couldn’t help but have his heart pound quicker, and his face was feeling warmer and warmer.

When Lu Fang-er sensed that change in Long Chen, she laughed mischievously, “I really like your current expression, hehe. This means you haven’t been completely corrupted. If you had appeared all natural, I really would have to carefully interrogate you.”

Long Chen felt an urge to both laugh and cry. It seemed Lu Fang-er was still playing the role of Meng Qi’s top advisor. He would definitely have to be a bit more careful around her.

“Hehe, you’ll have to learn to become accustomed to this. Meng Qi and I are the best of sisters, and we swore to never part. So if you want to marry Meng Qi, you’ll have to bring me along and marry me as well.” Lu Fang-er put on an expression of not caring either way, but there was clearly some nervousness deep within her eyes.

“There was also such a good thing for me? Then it seems I really did profit,” laughed Long Chen.

Long Chen could sense that after he laughed, that nervousness in Lu Fang-er’s eyes diminished a great deal. It seems Lu Fang-er wasn’t as free and careless as she appeared.

To Long Chen, Lu Fang-er was one of those ‘little sister’-like people. She had a kind heart, touched with some mischievousness, which made her easy to approach and become friends with.

“Let’s go deeper into the Forest of Darkness. With you by my side, I’ll feel much safer.” Lu Fang-er pulled Long Chen, jumping onto the Golden-Scaled Bull’s back.

Long Chen thought for a moment and decided to return Little Snow to his spiritual space. He could clearly sense that in Little Snow’s presence, Lu Fang-er’s Magical Beasts felt extreme terror.

The two third rank Magical Beasts opened the path, while the Two-Tail Spirit Cat was guarding its back. On their way, they went past that Corrupt Chosen’s corpse, and Long Chen found his spatial ring.

Little Snow’s attack had been extremely powerful and could easily destroy a spirit ring. The fact that this spirit ring was still intact meant its quality was quite high.

Putting away the spatial ring, they continued deeper into the Forest of Darkness.

“Beast Tamers have one advantage within forests: with Magical Beasts by your side, the pressure they release will scare away most of the poisonous insects. But a human, no matter how powerful, is unable to scare away those bugs and will constantly be attacked,” explained Lu Fang-er from atop the bull.

Those poisonous wild insects were unable to sense pressure from humans. But they were extremely sensitive towards the pressure released by Magical Beasts.

After learning that, Long Chen couldn’t help but curse himself for being stupid and not thinking of that before. If he had known that and summoned out Little Snow at the beginning, he wouldn’t have had to travel so carefully and slowly.

“Wait a moment. That is a White Jade Water Vine.” Long Chen suddenly called out, jumping off towards a large tree. Beside that tree was an odd vine that was completely white like jade.

“What kind of use does such a vine have? I’ve seen it before, and when I cut it apart, all that’s inside is some clear water. The medicinal energy within it isn’t high.” Lu Fang-er was puzzled. She had already confirmed that this vine didn’t have any value.

“The Jade White Water Vine itself doesn’t have any value, but where it grows, it’s very likely for something else to grow along with it. Oh, it really is here!” Long Chen’s eyes brightened. Not far from the vine was an unremarkable little plant only the size of a palm. Little yellow flowers grew out of it. “This is called White Jade Soul Grass. It’s an extremely rare medicinal ingredient that can nourish the soul. I can refine a soul nourishing pill from it, but it won’t be as good as the soul nourishing pill I sent Meng Qi back then. However, its effect is still pretty good, so in a bit, I can help you refine a soul nourishing pill as well.”

“Then… wouldn’t that be too precious?” Lu Fang-er couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. Soul nourishing pills were incredibly expensive. The main thing was that their ingredients were too rare. Even in the Wind Spirit Pavilion, which was filled with soul cultivators, there were only a few people who had an opportunity to consume a soul nourishing pill.

In fact, other than Meng Qi, only the pavilion master’s son, Feng Xiao-zi, had had the chance to consume one. Furthermore, that was something the pavilion master had spent a great deal of effort to obtain.

Soul nourishing pills were just too difficult to obtain. Even with money, it was difficult to obtain them. So Lu Fang-er was incredibly moved when she heard Long Chen would refine one for her.

“Didn’t you say you’re always with Meng Qi? Since Meng Qi has had one, you can’t be treated unfairly, right?” laughed Long Chen.

Lu Fang-er reddened. She helped excavate the White Jade Soul Grass with Long Chen. Long Chen once more made some space in his life ring for it.

After that, the two of them continued forward. With Magical Beasts by their side, it was much more relaxing. Long Chen spent his time searching for traces of rare medicinal ingredients.

Suddenly, an angry roar rang out as they were traveling. Lu Fang-er’s Magical Beasts immediately stopped.