BOOM!

Long Chen’s fist smashed into a large hand. However, he found that it wasn’t a human hand, but a wooden hand.

As soon as he blocked it, another whistling attack came for the back of his head. He hastily reached his other hand out, using his fingers as claws to catch it.

After catching this hand, he realized that its owner was an extremely refined wooden puppet. The details on its fingers were perfect, and it even had fingerprints.

Although it was a wooden puppet, it was as hard as metal, and as Long Chen caught its fist, it rapidly retreated. Suddenly, it sent a downward kick toward Long Chen’s shoulder.

Long Chen snorted and also gave it a kick, striking its leg. This time, Long Chen used eighty percent of his power, and he blew apart its leg. But he also felt a burst of pain in his foot and grumbled inside about how hard it was.

His current physical body was extremely powerful, to the point where even Treasure items would find it difficult to injure him. However, kicking this wooden puppet caused him a burst of pain. It was extraordinary.

The wooden puppet rapidly fell back again after its other leg kicked at Long Chen. He was startled, as this didn’t make sense. With both its legs off the ground, how was it retreating?

Long Chen smashed apart its other foot and realized what it was. There was a rod supporting the puppet’s body beneath its butt. There should be some mechanism below that controlled its attacks. Even as Long Chen smashed the puppet and grabbed the rod, it continued to move around him rapidly.

“So the mechanism is activated once you walk into a set range at which point the wooden puppet will attack you from the front, back, left, and right. Hehe, there are a total of four attacks, and they all come from different directions. Interesting.”

With his hand on the rod, feeling it move around, he gradually came to understand the puppet’s function. It truly was interesting. The person who had set it up had calculated the person’s retreat path, so these four attacks could all cause quite a bit of damage.

If a person blocked the first attack from the front, they would assume their enemy was at the front, and then it would be easy to fall for the next attack.

Just at this moment, a miserable scream rang out and a figure flew by Long Chen’s body. After being in the mist for so long, he had gotten accustomed and could now see things within a few meters.

He saw a man whose shoulder had been destroyed. As this man shot past him, it was clear he probably hadn’t understood what was happening before being sent flying by a wooden puppet.

That injury on his shoulder was exactly where the wooden puppet had first tried to hit Long Chen. This fellow had probably been struck without sensing anything.

“This level of spiritual perception toward danger is truly amazing.”

Long Chen was speechless. Although the puppet’s attack was sudden, the surrounding space was essentially still. The puppet would cause quite a disturbance when it attacked, but this person hadn’t been able to sense it? Truly marvelous.

He was sure that any Dragonblood warrior would be able to dodge all the wooden puppet’s attacks. That was due to their experience from life and death battles.

He continued forward for several miles. Suddenly, he heard the sound of digging. What was going on? Was someone trying to bury the evidence of killing someone? That was far too brazen.

“Guo Ran, what do you think you’re doing?” But when he got closer, he saw that it was Guo Ran digging.

“Boss, the core of the mechanism is down below. I want to go study it,” said Guo Ran.

“Why waste the effort? Once you pass, you’ll have plenty of things to study and research.” Long Chen was speechless.

“Boss, you just don’t understand! If I don’t figure it out, I won’t be able to sleep at night! Ah, boss, I hear that Han Yunshan was stripped naked, and his little dingding was blown off by a firecracker. It was done by you, right?” said Guo Ran.

“His little dingding is so weak?” Long Chen was startled. But then he quickly realized that with his spiritual yuan sealed, Han Yunshan hadn’t been able to protect himself. As for his life rod, that place was naturally weaker. Then that really was possible.

“Damn, you really know how to work. When I heard that news, I almost died of laughter. That idiot deserves to be played to death,” said Guo Ran excitedly.

“Are you really planning on digging more? It might be very deep, or maybe someone will stop you before you get there. Don’t waste the effort.” Long Chen didn’t have a high opinion of Guo Ran’s choice.

“I have to dig more. I just can’t drop this matter,” said Guo Ran.

“Alright then, go ahead. I’m moving on.”

Long Chen didn’t bother him any longer. In truth, Guo Ran was a very passionate fellow. His talent and passion toward forging arts and mechanisms were incomparable. Since he had decided on this, Long Chen didn’t force him to stop. He could do what he wanted.

Three days later, Guo Ran finally dug his way to the core. But what dumbfounded him was that the underground core was one complete piece, and he was unable to break it open to see the secrets within.

Just as he was preparing to break a piece of it to see inside, an Elder appeared and harshly berated him, warning him not to break public property. Only then had Guo Ran left, almost crying. But that was something that happened later.

Long Chen continued onwards. He suddenly saw some disciples rushing forward without any misgivings. They weren’t afraid of activating the mechanisms at all, startling him.

“Wow, there are some smart fellows.”

Long Chen saw a certain thing in their hands. It appeared to be a seed. Sometimes those people would suddenly stop and slowly detour before continue to rush off.

Startled, Long Chen tested it by walking into those spots. As expected, he met a puppet’s attacks. That made him a bit depressed. Where had they obtained those seeds?

“Don’t miss this opportunity! The divine seed capable of sensing the attacking puppets is here! With this divine seed, you’ll be able to pass this trial easily, safely, quickly, and painlessly! Quick, come take a look! They’re almost sold out!” Long Chen suddenly heard shouting.

He rushed over and saw a slim but shrewd-looking man shouting. Seeing Long Chen arrive, his eyes lit up.

“Oh, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, hello! I’ve long since heard of your great name. Do you want to buy a divine seed? I know that a peerless hero like you doesn’t need such a thing, but I trust that the people by your side will need it. How is it, do you want to buy any for your people?” he asked.

Long Chen laughed. This fellow really knew how to talk. Worried Long Chen would refuse because of his prestige, he immediately gave him a way to purchase it without losing face.

“What kind of seed is it? What’s the price?” asked Long Chen.

“Even I don’t know this seed’s name. I came up with its name myself, but if I say it, I’m afraid you’ll laugh at me, so I won’t say it. As for its price, I sold it to others for a thousand middle grade spirit stones, no haggling at all. But for you, I’ll only charge eight hundred. How about it?” He looked sincerely at Long Chen.

“Haha, do you think I’m an idiot? Just now, there was someone who said they bought it for a hundred middle grade spirit stones. For you to sell it to me for eight hundred, do you dare to raise the price even more?” demanded Long Chen.

“Ah? Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen… don’t get angry. I probably sold it for the wrong price. Since that’s the case, I’ll punish myself and give it to you for only eighty, no… fifty middle grade spirit stones! What do you think?” he said hastily.

Long Chen almost laughed. He really had no integrity. He came up with the prices on the spot.

“I’ll buy one.” Long Chen was extremely curious about what this seed was, and he didn’t care about the price. But he didn’t want others to treat him as a cash cow.

After receiving the money, that person was delighted and hastily gave Long Chen a small seed.

The seed was the size of a pistachio. Its shell was slightly opened, and there was a layer of dust over it.

“Little fellow, you really have some skill. Seeds from the Tree Demon Chi Fruit are sold by the dozens for low grade spirit stones, but you’re selling them for fifty middle grade ones. Not bad, not bad,” laughed Long Chen.

That person’s expression immediately changed. He hadn’t expected Long Chen to recognize this extremely unknown fruit. He thought he was about to become hostile.

“Don’t panic. I’m just praising your business sense. This Tree Demon Chi Seed has been infected by the Marvel Carp Camphor Flower’s powder. It makes the seed very sensitive. Any trace of wood energy will make it germinate a bit, and that way it’s possible to sense where the wooden puppets are. Not bad, not bad,” praised Long Chen.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen is erudite and easily saw through junior disciple’s methods,” he said. He hadn’t expected this trick of his to be easily seen through.

The reason why he dared to sell this so openly was because basically no one recognized those two things. The former was no precious medicine, while the latter was a very neglected item.

“You should know how to refine pills, correct?” asked Long Chen.

“I’m just an amateur who can refine rank four medicinal pills. My talent was too low in that regard, so I had no more room to grow. That’s why I changed to the money-making path. I worked hard to gather as many resources as possible and spend them on myself, and that’s the only way I managed to muddle my way to the Central Plains,” answered that man. He was smiling, but his voice was clearly a bit bitter and helpless. There had to be some unspoken grievances within his story.

“There are no high or low paths to getting stronger. To rely on your own smarts to make money isn’t embarrassing. It’s much better than those idiots who are just a waste of food,” laughed Long Chen.

“Many thanks, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen.” This man hadn’t expected Long Chen to praise him instead of looking down on him.

It had to be known that in his eyes, Long Chen was the true heavenly genius. He had never thought such a person would look favorably upon him.

“What’s your name?” asked Long Chen.

“Junior brother is Qian Duoduo.”[1]

“...”

“It’s not that I really have so much money, but that my surname is Qian, and my parents hoped I wouldn’t have to worry about money, so they gave me that name,” he hastily explained.

“Not bad. People who stand on their own two feet are all worthy of respect. But this kind of business method is a bit lacking.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Please give me pointers, senior apprentice-brother,” asked Qian Duoduo respectfully.

Long Chen looked around, and coincidentally seeing a fellow walking past, he shouted, “Little fellow, come over!”

[1] Qian=Money Duo=lots.