Once Long Chen returned to the Xuantian Dao Sect, the disciples blazed with passion. The news that Long Chen had crushed all the experts of the Southern Xuan Region had already spread throughout the sect.

Once Long Chen returned to Crouching Dragon Mountain, he saw Hua Shiyu, Zhao Ziyan, Wang Zhen, Mu Qingxuan, and Su Mo. The Xuantian Dao Sect’s karmic luck had grown explosively, and they had undergone a divine baptism, allowing them to become Empyreans. They and the newly joined Empyreans were at the bottom of Crouching Dragon Mountain to greet Long Chen.

As for rank nine Celestials and below, they felt too inferior to even come and greet him. They were in the midst of hesitating over whether or not they should thicken their faces and come anyway when Long Chen had Guo Ran gather all the core disciples at the Soul Transformation realm to celebrate.

Those disciples went wild with joy. When Long Chen saw over a hundred thousand Soul Transformation disciples gather at Crouching Dragon Mountain, he jumped in shock. During the time that he had been gone, the Xuantian Dao Sect had gained another large batch of disciples.

One reason was because many people worshipped him. He was the number one person of the Eastern Xuan Region’s junior generation. No one else could cover up his light. To be in the same sect as him was a kind of glory in itself.

Another reason was because of the massive scale of the Xuantian Dao Sect’s reconstruction. It was truly shocking, and to be able to join such a powerful sect would definitely give them limitless prospects. Even people from other regions were attracted by the Xuantian Dao Sect’s fame.

Many people had only seen images of Long Chen fighting. Now that they saw him in person, they were impassioned.

When Long Chen saw so many fiery gazes looking at him, his own emotions stirred. He saw the purest emotion in those eyes as well as the staunchest confidence. They worshipped him. People worshipped the strong, or perhaps what they worshipped was unrivaled power.

Only by following such an expert could they also grow stronger. Anyone exceptionally powerful would definitely have geniuses following them.

The Dragonblood Legion’s warriors were also impassioned. The reason they could follow Long Chen was mostly thanks to luck. The Dragonblood warriors who had joined him at the Xuantian Dao Sect were the weakest disciples who had been abandoned by the others. Long Chen had felt pity for them, and he had helped them at a critical moment, saving their lives and allowing them to reach their current height.

The Xuantian Dao Sect was filled with heavenly geniuses, but none of them could join the Dragonblood Legion. The original members were filled with pride and gratitude.

“Brothers and sisters, welcome to the Xuantian Dao Sect. This is our home. Those who sincerely join the Xuantian Dao Sect are my brothers and sisters, and I will fight for all of you.” Long Chen was also a bit emotional as he faced these passionate feelings.

Those disciples’ passion only grew as he spoke. They all knew about his history. He had risen from a small nation in the secular world of the Eastern Wasteland. Although he had been surrounded by enemies, not one of them could say that he didn’t care about his people. Even his enemies had to admit he was a hot-blooded man. These disciples felt their own blood heating up just by hearing him speak.

“If you can raise your blades for me, I can also fight for you. I would sacrifice my life for my brothers and sisters. However, I won’t allow anyone to betray me. I know many of you have come with your own intentions. As for who you are, I won’t say anything directly.” Now, the impassioned crowd grew cold.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, who would dare? Just point them out, and we’ll tear them to pieces!” shouted a disciple.

“Yes, we won’t allow traitors amongst us! Those people are the worst!”

These disciples’ confidence in Long Chen had reached a fanatical level. It was practically at the level where they would believe anything that came out of his mouth. Perhaps that was the blindness of worship. It caused people to lose their own ability to think as they stubbornly believed what they believed.

Quite a few people’s expressions changed slightly. They saw Long Chen’s sharp eyes seeming to see everything in their heads.

Long Chen waved his hand, making the angry people calm down. He said, “Due to my special cultivation technique, I am very perceptive toward other people’s hearts. I can sense whether a person has good or bad intentions toward me. Because of that, I can fully trust the brothers of my Dragonblood Legion, and they can trust me. We don’t have the slightest suspicions toward each other. The people with ulterior motives, have you ever seen any other group of over ten thousand people that would entrust their lives to each other without the slightest hesitation? I believe that you haven’t. You haven’t seen such a thing, nor have you ever heard of such a thing. If a single person amongst those ten thousand people was disloyal, it would completely fracture the entire group. However, there is no such person in my Dragonblood Legion. I will brag a bit and say that in this entire world, only I have the ability to form such a group. For those who joined the Xuantian Dao Sect for your own purposes, I can ignore what you’ve done. In fact, I won’t even expose you today. I will give you an opportunity. I know you were probably incited to do so by a loved one, or perhaps you want to sell information for money, or perhaps you want to instigate trouble to prevent the Xuantian Dao Sect’s growth. The reason isn’t important. The important thing is that I’m giving you a chance. I don’t care what sect sent you here as a spy, or whatever goal you have. As long as you can sincerely devote yourself to my Xuantian Dao Sect today, then you will be one of my Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples. No matter who is forcing you, my Xuantian Dao Sect and I, Long Chen, will stand up for you.”

Long Chen’s voice caused quite a few conflicted expressions to appear amongst the crowd.

One disciple walked forward and said, “Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, I’ve let you down. I am a spy sent from the Harmonic Phoenix Gate. The gate master had me stay here to provide him with information. I’m sorry, I-”

Suddenly, a black mark appeared on that disciple’s forehead. It rapidly spread, covering his body like a spiderweb.

“It’s a death contract!”

A woman cried out in shock as she recognized this curse. This kind of curse would make a person essentially a slave. If they went against orders, the curse would activate, taking their life.

It was an incredibly sinister technique. That disciple clearly hadn’t taken it willingly. Now that he went against it, he had signed his own death penalty. People were impressed by his bravery, as well as infuriated by what he had gone through.

Long Chen pointed a finger at that person. The black mark that had been rapidly spreading reversed. Black qi surged out of it toward Long Chen’s finger, and Long Chen’s arm began to turn black.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, you can’t!” That disciple immediately cried out, wanting to pull away. However, Long Chen’s finger had a powerful suction force that prevented him from doing so.

All the disciples’ hearts were pounding wildly. Long Chen was using himself to take the curse. That was because this kind of curse was extremely difficult to deal with. It could not be expelled because if it was forcibly expelled, it would kill that disciple along with it.

Long Chen smiled. “Since you could brave death and show your true feelings, how could I let you die? Don’t worry, this little curse can’t do anything to me.”

The black mark on the disciple quickly vanished. Long Chen raised his hand, and his Spiritual Strength surged. Black qi was leaping chaotically around his hand.

“Meng Qi, help me out.”

Meng Qi nodded and formed a few hand seals. A spiritual rune appeared between her hands and fell on Long Chen’s black palm.

Buzz.

That rune landed on the black qi, and a scene actually appeared within it. It revealed a skinny elder forming hand seals with a shocked expression.

“Gate master?!” That disciple immediately recognized the elder.

“Someone despicable enough to curse his own disciple can be called a gate master? Looks like you need to be smelted down and reforged anew. Get going.”

Long Chen looked at the bitterly struggling elder within the black qi. Long Chen’s Yuan Spirit appeared and pointed a finger. A ray of divine light shot into the black qi.

“No!”

That elder let out a single cry before his head exploded. His Yuan Spirit died.

This kind of contract was double-sided. Although one person was the victim and the other was in control, there was still a spiritual connection between them.

Although Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength was great, he wasn’t skilled in soul arts. Meng Qi was the one capable of using the connection formed by the curse to form a bridge back to the elder. That elder wasn’t even able to break the connection once she used it. Long Chen didn’t give him any chance and killed him while he could only watch.

Once that elder was killed, the black qi scattered. Lightning runes appeared on Long Chen’s arm, and his originally black arm instantly returned to its normal color.

Long Chen patted the disciple’s shoulder. “Congratulations. Starting now, you are a disciple of my Xuantian Dao Sect. As long as you are loyal to the Xuantian Dao Sect, we will not let you down.”

“Many thanks, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen… I…” That disciple knelt as thanks. In the future, he would no longer be a chess piece.

However, Long Chen held him up, gravely saying, “Men shouldn’t kneel so easily. Amongst brothers, this kind of etiquette is an insult.”

That disciple couldn’t speak through his tears. There was no way for him to express his gratitude.

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, I was also forced!”

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, I also have that on my body!”

“Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen, please save me!”

Seeing that person being saved, over a thousand disciples immediately began to cry out for Long Chen’s help, causing the others to jump in shock.

“There are actually this many?!”