“What’s with the face? It’s not like anyone told you to have so little eloquence.” Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder.

“Boss, is it because I don’t know how to speak nicely that I can’t get any woman to like me?” asked Guo Ran.

“In truth, women are comparatively pettier, and your mouth is truly skilled at unwittingly infuriating them. Take what just happened as an example. That little hatchling is Meng Qi’s housepet, and you said it was ugly. Don’t you think that’s a slap to Meng Qi’s face? Meng Qi’s gentle and nice, and she doesn’t like fighting. If it had instead been Wan-er, she’d have kicked you flying,” said Long Chen.

“Boss, now that you put it like this, it seems that really is the case. I definitely have to fix the way I talk,” said Guo Ran solemnly. But then seeing Long Chen’s strange expression, he asked, “Boss, what’s with those eyes? Are you doubting my words?”

Long Chen shook his head vehemently. “You’re my brother, so it’s not that I doubt your words.”

Guo Ran smiled. “Haha, this is how my boss-”

“It’s that I fundamentally don’t believe them.”

“...”

Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder. “There’s no perfect person in this world. Sometimes a person’s shortcomings embody their character more than their strong points. You are you, so why change? Once you change yourself, will you still be Guo Ran? You admire me, so you imitate me. Are you planning on being my shadow for a lifetime? What would be the meaning of your existence, of the person named Guo Ran? Listen well, at the very least, if you can pull off a dream poser act, it would still possess great meaning.”

“Boss, I’m a bit confused. Am I supposed to take your words as praise?” asked Guo Ran.

“Of course it’s praise. Don’t you feel that it’s glorious to have used your own hard work and choices to go from an obscure nobody to your current height?”

“Boss, actually, I feel like all my current accomplishments are just because of you.”

“You’re wrong. No one in this world can truly help you. The only one who can help you is yourself. Amongst the people by my side, you’re the one with the weakest strength, the weakest talent, the weakest moral-.” Long Chen suddenly coughed and continued, “Your starting point is lower than other people, but you blazed an alternate path to reach your current level. That’s definitely not a coincidence. So there’s no need to feel inferior. Everything you have is the result of your own silent hard work and investment.”

Long Chen was the one who understood Guo Ran the best. The reason he liked to be such a poser was most likely because of his feeling of inferiority inside his heart. He needed to prove himself, which was why he wanted everyone to acknowledge him. He liked the feeling of being stared at by everyone, of being worshiped and revered by everyone.

But a feeling of inferiority was also a kind of heart-devil. If it was not erased, it might cause problems in the future. So Long Chen gave him this warning today.

“Boss, I understand. I will cast aside my sense of inferiority and be the true me. I won’t imitate anyone.” Guo Ran took a deep breath and nodded.

“Good, that’s perfect,” praised Long Chen.

“I am Guo Ran! I am me! Starting today, I will meet every day with confidence. I will declare to the world that when it comes to posing, I am serious!” cried Guo Ran.

“What the fuck?! There’s really no saving you!” Long Chen directly clapped Guo Ran on the back of the head, causing him to fall from the boulder he was sitting on.

Aggrieved, Guo Ran said, “Boss, didn’t you just tell me to be confident, to be myself?”

Long Chen sighed for a long time, calming himself down. Confident people didn’t need to be posers. Guo Ran was unable to understand his meaning.

“How is the armor forging?” Long Chen changed the subject. He was afraid if they continued this topic, he would lose control and slap him.

“I’ve restarted all of them.”

“Why?”

“After forging a few thousand sets, I found that my initial forging method had too many flaws. The runes weren’t compact enough, nor did they conform very well with each other, affecting the armor’s defensive strength. Furthermore, I recently had a breakthrough and thought of a kind of merging rune from the Ethereal Crafting Secret Record. After a few hundred experiments, my skill with it increased, so I went back to fix those old sets of armor. But since I’m just changing a few runes, it’s much easier than before, and it doesn’t take as long. Going back and fixing them increases their defensive strength greatly, so it’s worth it,” explained Guo Ran.

Long Chen didn’t know much about forging, but he trusted Guo Ran. If he thought restarting was best, it was definitely necessary.

“Work hard on them. From the battle against the Heaven Suppressing Magic Sect, you’ve seen that the Xuantian Dao Sect is not secure enough. We can’t entrust our lives to it. As cultivators, we need to constantly create our own trump cards to protect our future,” said Long Chen.

“Alright, I’ll work hard. Boss, you should go into seclusion. Originally, I came out this time to talk to you about getting more points, but it seems…” Guo Ran knew that the Dragonblood Legion didn’t have that many points to spare.

“How many?”

“According to my estimates, forging them all will take at least one billion points.”

“That’s no problem. Go get half a billion from sister Qing Yu for now. When you use them up, come back and get more,” said Long Chen.

Guo Ran hesitated, but in the end, he couldn’t help but open his mouth. “Boss, considering your contributions to the Xuantian Dao Sect…”

“Just go. Some things aren’t as simple as you imagine,” sighed Long Chen. Guo Ran was saying that as the Xuantian Dao Sect’s number one genius, the Xuantian Dao Sect should spend extra resources on grooming the Dragonblood Legion. Otherwise, it would appear too stingy.

But the Xuantian Dao Sect had its own financial problems. Although the Xuan Master hadn’t exposed them, Long Chen could guess the Xuantian Dao Sect was not having an easy time.

It went without saying that the Xuan Master truly had some courage. That day, his offer of giving half the sect’s resources to Long Chen had completely won his trust and loyalty.

Long Chen’s principles were very simple. Those who treated him well he would repay ten times over.

The Xuan Master had even taken the risk of being implicated by the Heavenly Daos to help him. Although Long Chen had refused his gift, he still recorded his kindness in his heart.

In his eyes, any kind of resources could be slowly accumulated or obtained through other ways. But trust was always hard to get.

After sending off Guo Ran, Long Chen called over Tang Wan-er, Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and Li Qi. He directly gave them the rank six Heavenly Dao Fruits.

These were the gifts the Heaven Suppressing Magic Sect had traveled from so far away to give them, and they definitely couldn’t waste them. There were only four, so Guo Ran could do without one for now.

Although this would definitely draw attention, Long Chen couldn’t be bothered with that anymore. If they continued to hide their power, it would hinder the Dragonblood Legion’s development. Always hesitating wasn’t Long Chen’s style.

Regretfully, he hadn’t managed to kill Han Zhenyu, or there would be a rank seven Heavenly Dao Fruit.

But he was happy to find that the Heavenly Dao Tree was truly heaven-defying. Whether the Celestial that died was an innate or acquired Celestial, the Heavenly Dao Fruit would make the consumer an innate Celestial. In other words, all four of them were now innate rank six Celestials.

It was because of the Heavenly Dao Tree’s heaven-defying ability that Long Chen had refused the Life Star Bead. His aspirations were much greater than that. He wanted to raise a terrifying Dragonblood Legion that could run rampant throughout the continent.

After distributing the Heavenly Dao Fruits, he gathered the Dragonblood Legion and distributed some yuan spirit stones. He also took out a treasure.

That treasure was the Immemorial Altar Lamp. He hadn’t used it before because its effects on the late Sea Expansion realm were essentially negligible. At the same time, it was made from the life essence of great experts, and its core had been greatly harmed in the Immemorial Path. It was not a killing tool, but a tool for assisting with cultivation.

According to the Eastern Wasteland Bell, it contained the blessing of the great experts that had created it. It was such a precious item that even back in that era, it could be a sect’s foundation.

Later, Long Chen had spent countless resources on it to allow it to slowly recover in accordance with the method the Eastern Wasteland Bell had told him.

In the Foundation Forging realm, it not only allowed people to cultivate faster and granted them a closer connection to Heavenly Dao energy, but it also let a person build a flawless immortal platform. That was its strongest point.

Long Chen gathered all the disciples, but he left a dozen of them to guard the entrance. This was one of Long Chen’s secrets that no one else could learn about. Even in a private land like Crouching Dragon Mountain, caution was required.

When the Immemorial Altar Lamp’s soft light landed on their bodies, all the disciples felt as if they had become transparent, and if the world was one with them. There was no longer any separation.

They all felt like a drop of water that had landed in the sea. It was like this entire world was blessing them. They quickly took out their yuan spirit stones and started absorbing their energy.

The endless energy coming from the yuan spirit stones went directly to their original runes under the blessing of the Immemorial Altar Lamp.