“You’re awake? Are you alright?”

The old man immediately sensed Long Chen’s awakening.

Long Chen stretched lightly. “I’m fine. It was just a dream.”

Long Chen sat up and found that he was drenched. It was like he had just gotten out of the pool.

Sensing his body, he knew that his injuries had not fully recovered. They had been too severe and would need some more time to heal. His injuries hadn’t just contained world energy but also divine energy.

Long Chen wiped some sweat off his forehead. Just now, he had had a nightmare. Within that nightmare, he had been within endless darkness, unable to move. He could only watch as his parents, his little sister, and everyone he cared about died in front of him.

All his struggling was useless in the face of the darkness. His roars, his howls, they were of no use.

All those people, all of his family, were wiped out by a large, merciless hand. Long Chen couldn’t even see who the owner of that hand was. That kind of despair and powerlessness almost drove him insane.

The nightmare had woken him up now, and although he knew it was just a dream, he still felt somewhat afraid.

“Old man, how many days have passed? Has anything happened outside?” asked Long Chen.

The old man told Long Chen what had happened during the past few days. Upon hearing about the phenomenon that had occurred on the continent and that they were entering the time of the qi flow eruption, Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked.

“Countless hidden powers are appearing one by one like fierce bears awakening from hibernation. Long Chen, you have to be careful. What you are facing this time are monsters who dominated their generation. Those monsters left behind a glorious record within the continent’s history, and it was precisely because they were unrivaled that they sealed themselves, waiting for the great era to come so that they might become a Sovereign. It could be said that every one of them is like you, the top of their generation. You can’t be careless,” warned the old man.

Although the old man constantly said that people had to have big guts and dare to cause trouble, Long Chen’s ability at causing trouble was just too great. The old man was no longer able to protect him.

Long Chen nodded. This battle had made him aware of the saying that a tiger couldn’t withstand a pack of wolves. If he hadn’t used Lu Zichuan to cut down Leng Wufeng, resulting in an opening appearing within their formation, he might not have been able to defeat them in the battle.

As for the Pill Fairy, she gave him even greater pressure. She was even stronger than Lu Zichuan and the others combined. She had reached a terrifying level.

“What about Meng Qi and the others? Do they know about this matter?” asked Long Chen.

“No. We’ve been keeping this quiet. Why worry the women?” The old man shook his head.

The old man always felt that men should handle things outside, while women handled things inside. Women shouldn’t be involved in everything. That was his greatest source of conflict with Qu Jianying.

In any case, this made Long Chen relax slightly. If Meng Qi and the others knew that he had gone to Pill Valley and been heavily injured, they would be worried. So it was better not to tell them.

Long Chen tried to stand up, only to grimace from his injuries. These wounds were very difficult to deal with. It had been so many days, but there was still some remnant energy ruining his healing.

“Now you should know just how powerful Empyreans with awakened manifestations are. With their world energy combined with the laws of the Heavenly Daos, ordinary people are specks of dust in front of them. For you to be able to survive in your current state is already amazing.” The old man had originally started to scold Long Chen a bit, only to switch to praise midway.

Long Chen’s physical body was so powerful that even the Xuan Beasts would have to look up to him. The stronger Long Chen was, the greater pride the old man felt.

Long Chen slowly stood, tottering like he was ill. The old man went to help him but was refused.

Long Chen took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He slowly circulated his 108,000 stars, causing life energy to swell within the primal chaos space. He immediately started to feel a bit better. Although he was still weak, he could walk.

“Little fellow, you’re finally awake! Here, drink some wine to wet your throat.”

At this time, Boss Bao and the others came rushing over. They immediately had Long Chen tell them what had happened in Pill Valley.

Looking at the jug of wine that they had brought, Long Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. When people were recovering from illness, who gave them wine to drink as soon as they woke up?

Fortunately, this wine came from the Wine God Palace, so it could be considered a tonic as well. Bao Buping and Chang Hao also came. Hence, Long Chen gave a simple explanation of what had happened in Pill Valley.

Of course, he didn’t mention the matter of the Pill Fairy not wearing any clothes. Hearing how Long Chen had toyed with Pill Valley and still escaped, Bao Buping clapped and laughed.

Long Chen couldn’t help bitterly smiling when he reached the end of his tale. He had almost lost his life in Pill Valley this time. Originally, he had thought that with the fragment of the Eastern Wasteland Bell, he could break through any barrier. Who would have thought that Pill Valley’s divine barrier was so monstrous? If Evilmoon hadn’t also had a trump card, he might have been forced to stay in Pill Valley.

“Chang Hao, what’s been going on outside?” asked the old man.

Chang Hao had been sent to find any information circulating in the outside world. Compared to Bao Buping, Chang Hao was more dependable in this regard.

Chang Hao had only just returned when Long Chen woke up, so they hadn’t had time to hear his report.

“I went to Clearwind City. There are now many more monsters present, and they are all Empyreans with awakened manifestations. I could sense powerful pressure from them, so there’s definitely no mistake. The most important thing though is that those Empyreans are not the ones who attacked Long Chen,” said Chang Hao gravely.

“It’s not Di Feng and the others?” Long Chen was startled. Weren’t they supposed to be the first group of awakened Empyreans on the continent?

“It’s not something to be surprised about. There were many ancient powers with their own inheritances who went into seclusion during their most brilliant time. Back then, the qi flow of the continent was still very strong, and they extracted a portion of it for their own minor worlds. Just like hibernating bears, they accumulated a huge amount of resources and waited for this one day. Now that this day has come, they have slammed all their resources onto one genius, so making them an awakened Empyrean isn’t something difficult. In fact, perhaps those monsters had long since become awakened Empyreans, but had simply remained hidden. Now that the time is ripe, they are finally coming out.”

“Why would they come out at this time?” asked Long Chen.

“Ah, you still don’t know. The phenomenon that occurred indicates that in a few months, the qi flow eruption will occur. The earth will erupt, and the Martial Heaven Continent’s qi flow will gush out. That is the time when the various monsters will have to fight for the best qi flow. Coming out now is a show of power so that no one will disturb them when they fight for their own portion of the qi flow,” said the old man.

So there was such a thing? Long Chen had never heard of it. It seemed that this was an extremely ancient secret that only the senior generation knew of.

Through Chang Hao, they learned that the Central Plains’ four great cities had become exceptionally lively. Not only had those monstrous geniuses appeared, but there had also been battles between them, with each fight being so immense that it caused despair in others who watched. The arrival of those monsters was a blow to countless people’s confidence.

“Who knows when we’ll finally be able to awaken our manifestations as well,” sighed Bao Buping.

The old man’s expression darkened. He was about to speak when Long Chen said, “An awakened manifestation is just some mental comfort. If others have a sword but you have your bare fists, does that mean that you can’t beat them? Outer power is just outer power. True power requires you to have absolute confidence in yourself.”

There was no need for the old man to say anything. Boss Bao clapped Bao Buping on the back of his head, cursing, “Did you hear that? Does being powerful have a damn to do with awakening your manifestation? Long Chen isn’t even an Empyrean. There’s also Yue Zifeng who is the same as Long Chen. He doesn’t rely on the heavens for his power. With just his sword, he has also made a name for himself. If others have a sword, will you not dare to fight them? Are you going to wait until you are given a sword before fighting others? By that time, it will be too late.”

Boss Bao hit him in the back of the head again. Bao Buping was angry at being struck in the head, but he didn’t dare to say anything. The main thing was that there was no way for him to retort.

Boss Bao was about to hit him again when instead, he was struck in the back of his head. The old man raged, “Twice is enough. If you hit him again, you’ll turn him stupid. When I beat you, did I ever hit you in the same place more than twice?”

Boss Bao held the back of his head and cursed, “You might only hit the same place twice, but you hit me all over! Isn’t that worse than hitting the same spot?!”

“Oh, you want to go against me, huh? You think that after entering the Netherpassage realm, I can’t put you in your place?” The old man’s black cane was already raised. Long Chen hastily pulled the old man back.

Boss Bao and the others eventually left. Long Chen wanted the old man to transmit the eighth and ninth forms of Split the Heavens to him.

“I can teach you the eighth form. However, I can’t teach you the ninth,” said the old man.

“Why not?”

“Because right now, there is no one who can control the ninth form of Split the Heavens. If you used the ninth form, you would definitely die… and the same would be true for me.”

Long Chen stared in shock at the old man. He had never expected the ninth form to be like this.

When he thought back to how the old man had almost used the ninth form of Split the Heavens twice, cold sweat dripped down his back.