Zhuo Tianxiang descended the boat first, while the others followed him. Clearly, his status was very high even within Pill Valley. The experts guarding the transportation formation all bowed toward him.

As for Zhuo Tianxiang, he only nodded slightly in reply. Although these people were all Life Star experts, the guards had to be deferential to Zhuo Tianxiang’s group.

“This is normal. Within Pill Valley, rather than having a high cultivation base, having high alchemy skills is the most important thing,” said an elder upon seeing Long Chen’s curious expression.

Long Chen immediately understood. Pill Valley’s foundation was their medicinal pills. They represented the alchemy world’s greatest glory. So compared to cultivation base, alchemy was more important.

However, to have four Life Star experts guarding a single transportation formation, Pill Valley’s wealth was truly frightening.

“Just raising cultivation base is useless. Training your alchemy arts is the most important thing. Fighting and other coarse work can be easily handled by others. That’s why you don’t need to feel inferior about having a low cultivation base. There are countless medicinal pills in Pill Valley that can raise your cultivation base. But raising your alchemy arts depends on yourself. Remember, alchemy arts are the most important thing in Pill Valley,” said Zhuo Tianxiang.

In Pill Valley’s eyes, no matter how great your cultivation talent was, at best you would just be a high level fighter. Alchemy was the truly important thing.

“Yes, many thanks for Protector Zhuo’s reminder. Disciple will remember your words,” said Long Chen.

Zhuo Tianxiang suddenly felt something was off. Sweeping out with his divine sense, he saw Long San staring at his butt.

He was startled. What illness did this brat have? He suddenly noticed a strange emotion in Long San’s eyes.

“What the, is this brat…”

Zhuo Tianxiang’s hair stood on end. He suddenly thought of something strange. When he had gone through Long San’s memories, he hadn’t seen any memories of him falling for girls. In fact, even his memories of women were indistinct.

He hadn’t particularly noticed that before, but now with Long San staring at his butt, he immediately thought of it.

He felt like Long San’s gaze was like a viper’s, sweeping back and forth across his butt. Goosebumps raised across his skin.

“This bastard, he’s a homosexual?” Zhuo Tianxiang suddenly felt noxious. It was no wonder he had been feeling disgusted by him from the start. So this was the case.

“Long San, you walk at the front!”

Zhuo Tianxiang immediately stopped and made Long Chen come forward.

Long Chen hastily stopped staring and said, “How could disciple possibly walk in front of you? Disciple does not dare. Disciple would rather stay here and stare at Protector Zhuo’s grand back. That is disciple’s glory.”

Zhuo Tianxiang was enraged. His suspicion that Long San was a homosexual increased even more.

“If I tell you to go to the front, then go to the front!”

“Yes! Disciple will go immediately!” Long Chen acted cowed and walked to the front. But inside, he was ecstatic. With all the tricks up his sleeve, getting out of Zhuo Tianxiang’s close watch was easy.

“Zhao Xiang, I suddenly recall I have many things to handle. I’ll leave Long San to you. You’ll be in charge of everything when it comes to Long San,” said Zhuo Tianxiang to one of the experts beside him.

“Me? But my alchemy arts are far inferior to yours!” said that Zhao Xiang.

“It’s fine. Long San is definitely smart enough to enter the Divine Pill Hall. He’ll get specialists to teach him alchemy arts at that time. With his talent, all you have to do is make sure he has what he needs. Give him everything he wants. If there are any difficulties, you can find me,” said Zhuo Tianxiang.

“Yes. Many thanks, Protector Zhuo!” Zhao Xiang was extremely grateful. The other experts all had envious expressions.

Long Chen was like a piece of fat meat in their hands. They would all be getting some benefits.

That was because his future accomplishments would be amazing, and they would have contributed merit in bringing such a genius to Pill Valley. If their luck was good, they would be getting quite some benefits.

Originally, they had thought Zhuo Tianxiang would be consuming this piece of meat on his own. But now Zhuo Tianxiang had abandoned this piece of meat and had tossed it to them.

Long Chen was walking at the front, and hearing Zhuo Tianxiang’s words, a ‘disappointed’ expression appeared on his face. Inside, he patted himself on the back. As expected, shameless moves were the most effective. Now it would be much easier for him to act in the future.

Zhuo Tianxiang kept walking behind Long Chen the entire time before they stepped into the transportation formation and were brought away.

The scenery before them changed, and they appeared in front of a huge valley. Two high mountains soared into the clouds, and a large river slowly flowed at the center.

Spiritual qi that had been condensed to practically the pinnacle washed over them. With each breath, it flowed into them, completely opening their pores.

“What immense spiritual qi!” Although Long Chen had been expecting Pill Valley to be a wonderland, such dense spiritual qi still shocked him.

Let alone cultivators, even ordinary people would have their longevity increase by breathing in such dense spiritual qi all year around. Living a few centuries would definitely be no problem. To ordinary mortals, this place was definitely an immortal wonderland.

“Take note of your appearance. Now that we’re within Pill Valley, don’t act like a country bumpkin. If you look too excited, others will laugh at you,” snorted Zhuo Tianxiang.

Long Chen cursed inside. So what if he was a country bumpkin that hadn’t seen the world? But he put on a deeply respectful expression.

The more Long Chen acted like this, the more Zhuo Tianxiang couldn’t bear to look at him. He said, “I have things to do, so I’m going. You can bring Long San to the Pill Management Department to register.”

Zhuo Tianxiang took out a jade plate. It lit up and enveloped him, and he vanished.

“We should get going.” Once Zhuo Tianxiang left, Zhao Xiang took out a flying boat and brought everyone into the valley. With the high mountains to their side and the lake below, it was a beautiful scene.

“Haha, Long San, Protector Zhuo has a sharp tongue, but he’s softhearted. You don’t need to be afraid. As Pill Valley’s disciple, you should feel the glory and grandness that a disciple of Pill Valley should possess. What you see before you will become your greatest support. If you’re happy, you can shout it out. None of us will laugh at you.” Zhao Xiang smiled as Long Chen appreciated the scenery around.

He was different from Zhuo Tianxiang. His status was just average, and he had to take advantage of when Long San hadn’t soared yet to form a good relationship with him. Once Long San soared, his own station would rise with him. This was the best moment to help him out.

“Many thanks, Elder Zhao Xiang,” said Long Chen.

“There’s no need to be so courteous. This valley continues for two hundred thousand miles. It has eighty-one wonders, and three hundred and sixty turns. Each turn brings with it different scenery…” Zhao Xiang politely explained everything. He intentionally slowed down the flying boat to show the various spectacles.

Long Chen had no choice but to sigh in admiration. Each wonder, each turn brought with it a change. It occurred at a strange rhythm that seemed to be showing things to him in sequence.

“Could it be that each wonder represents a different mental realm of alchemy?” asked Long Chen.

As soon as he said this, Zhao Xiang and the others became stunned, staring at him like he was a monster.

“Long San, you really are a genius amongst geniuses. This valley’s eighty-one wonders represent the eighty-one shackles one will encounter along the path of the Alchemy Dao. Normally, when disciples run into bottlenecks and can’t progress, they will come to this valley and walk around it, trying to comprehend its profundities to create an opportunity to break through. Long San, for you to be able to see such a thing shows that your future accomplishments will be limitless!” praised an elder. This was not just purely boot-licking, but true praise for Long Chen’s terrifying comprehension ability.

“Eighty-one shackles? What idiot concluded that? The Alchemy Dao is a Grand Dao, and a limitless Dao at that. Who could possibly capture all its profundities? What a joke,” sneered Long Chen inside.

As he continued forward, he truly saw that each wonder was a mental realm for alchemy, and seeing them could truly raise a person’s comprehension. But trying to represent the sum of the Alchemy Dao in eighty-one mental realms was a complete impossibility.

Originally, Long Chen had felt some respect for Pill Valley, but after seeing this, that respect silently vanished.

When they reached the end of the valley, what greeted them was a huge ancient castle. This castle had to be ten thousand miles wide at least. There were two large statues at the front of the castle. They were the same height as the castle and emitted a divine aura.

“These two are the gods we of Pill Valley believe in, Lord Brahma and Fallen Daynight.” Zhao Xiang and the others respectfully stopped and bowed toward the statues. They murmured something, but Long Chen didn’t hear what they said.

That was because he was staring closely at the two huge statues. The left one was holding a scroll in his hand. He looked very handsome and scholarly. He was Lord Brahma.

The other one was a rougher looking man with facial hair. He held a pill furnace in his hands and was gazing into the distance. He was Fallen Daynight.

“Fallen Daynight? Lord Brahma?”[1]

For some unknown reason, flames of fury rose in Long Chen’s heart as he stared at these two statues. He had an urge to smash them apart. That startled him. What was going on?

At this time, Zhao Xiang and the others finished paying their respect and led Long Chen past the two statues. Their flying boat landed on a large platform.

“Long San, come. I’ll bring you to register at the Pill Management Department.”

[1] Fallen Daynight is 落天夜, literally falling heaven/sky/day night. Procounced Luo Tian Ye.

Lord Brahma is 大梵天, literally great nirvana or lord Brahma. Here, I would assume the Brahma is referring to the Buddhist Brahma and not the Hindu Brahma. Generally the middle character is used for Buddhist things, and it could refer to Brahman (notice the extra n at the end) on its own, but combined with the last character, it refers to Brahma and the Nirvana of Buddhism. The Nirvana Scripture has the same name, in the sense that it could be called Lord Brahma’s Scripture, or Lord Brahma could be called Lord Nirvana. Pronounced Da Fan Tian.