As soon as Long Chen took out the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill, Meng Qi felt spiritual fluctuations as vast as a sea.

Even more shocking was that these spiritual fluctuations were coming from the pill. It was like it was alive. As she examined it, the Nine Louts Soul Condensing Pill also examined her with its Spiritual Strength.

Long Chen gently rubbed the pill. “Don’t be afraid, she’ll treat you very well. She’s going to be your master in the future.”

Long Chen had to comfort the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill because it actually didn’t want to part with him.

It was only after he comforted it that it jumped into Meng Qi’s hand. It was like a baby, curious about the rest of the world but also afraid of it.

After all, its spirit had only been awakened before that powerful lightning tribulation appeared to destroy it. So other than Long Chen, everything else was foreign to it.

Meng Qi immediately washed the pill with her Spiritual Strength to placate it. She slowly formed a connection with it, wanting to gradually gain its trust. Only then did she place it in her spiritual space.

Once it was within her spiritual space, lotus images began to appear on her body. The Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill was cultivating within her spiritual space.

As it cultivated, it immensely benefited Meng Qi. Even without her cultivating, her Spiritual Strength was continuously growing thanks to it. It was like this pill had been made for her.

Long Chen was not a Celestial or Empyrean. The Heavenly Daos even rejected him, so the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill had much greater trouble cultivating in his spiritual space.

In Meng Qi’s spiritual space, it was like a fish in water, using Meng Qi’s spiritual space to absorb the energy of heaven and earth to nourish itself, while also nourishing Meng Qi’s soul.

Meng Qi grew more and more delighted as she felt how the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill helped her. It had to be twice as effective as when she cultivated herself.

In other words, even without cultivating, her Spiritual Strength would be growing. If she did work with the Nine Lotus Soul Condensing Pill to cultivate, then the effect would be even stronger.

“Thank you.”

The always steady Meng Qi excitedly hugged Long Chen and took the initiative to kiss him. That was a rare blessing.

Before Long Chen could even carefully feel this experience, a tablet hanging on his waist began to flash.

“Something’s happened. Quick, let’s go take a look!”

Long Chen hastily rushed away with Meng Qi and Chu Yao. They went toward the central mountain.

In an underground hall, there were three hundred and sixty stone pillars with divine runes flowing on top of them. Xia Chen was sitting at the center of the hall. There were so many runes moving on the ground that a normal person would immediately get dizzy just by looking at them.

As for Xia Chen, he was closely examining those constantly changing runes. Long Chen, Meng Qi, and Chu Yao were unable to understand the runes.

“Have you found our target?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes! Today, three people have stealthily approached the Xuantian Dao Sect before silently leaving,” said Xia Chen.

“Do you know who they were?” asked Long Chen.

“The runes are underground, and they can only sense their general tracks. If you want to, I can activate the runes to see aboveground, but that will make them easier to sense. The Mechanism Sect is also skilled in various runes, so I haven’t done such a thing. Although I didn’t get a look, they found the best vantage point outside the Xuantian Dao Sect’s grand formation, so they definitely didn’t come with good intentions.”

Xia Chen’s talent in formations was amazing. Just through a single ancient tome he had found, he had come up with countless formations of his own.

He came up with marvelous twists and turns to create unique formations. For example, those underground runes he had set up to keep watch were based on a formation from the ancient era. Even a formation master wouldn’t be able to sense them.

Long Chen sank into thought. “They’re probably the only ones capable of peeping on the Xuantian Dao Sect.”

Although he also had enmities with others like the Corrupt path, the ancient races, and the Xuan Beasts, he was sure that they wouldn’t make a move at this time.

When Long Chen had fought Zhao Wuji, he had seen that Tian Xiezi and Kun Pengzi were just watching. They had had no intention of joining in.

It wasn’t like they didn’t have a chance or an excuse to. It was that they didn’t want to make a move rashly. There had been so many supreme geniuses present, and exposing their trump cards in front of them would only benefit others while harming themselves. Without absolute assurance, they wouldn’t make a move.

If they had been able to endure back then, then there was even less chance of them attacking him now. What they needed to do now was sit to the side as they watched others fight.

“Why would they first spy on the Xuantian Dao Sect and not this place?” asked Meng Qi. Long Chen had already publicly left the Xuantian Dao Sect. If others were to attack the Xuantian Dao Sect, wouldn’t that be a provocation of the Martial Heaven Alliance?

Even if it was just a probe, they should have probed this place first. It was odd.

“They’ve appeared again.”

Xia Chen suddenly whispered. Long Chen hastily looked at the runes changing on the ground. This time, he saw three runes in particular slowly moving, while the other runes only blinked.

“This time, there are three waves of people. They’re moving directly to the Xuantian Dao Sect’s formation! Eh, curious. After touching the restrictions, they use a formation disc to run. What’s going on? Are they trying to scare us?” wondered Xia Chen.

“It’s a feint.” Long Chen slowly sneered.

“The Xuantian Dao Sect has entered a high alert state. Should we send them a message?” asked Xia Chen.

“No need. These people have no reason to attack the Xuantian Dao Sect. This is entirely to bait me to go over there to help, and then they’ll attack-”

“Boss, there’s movements on our side as well! There are many people!”

Xia Chen pointed to one region. Countless marks were slowly moving there like trickling sand. Around three hundred miles from the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race’s territory, they came to a halt.

“Hmph, they want to establish an illusion formation? Interesting!” sneered Xia Chen. These newcomers actually thought that they were being very covert.

“How many people are there?” asked Long Chen.

“Around ten thousand, but every one of them is a powerful expert. Those dark red runes indicate that they have reached the Netherpassage realm. There are at least three thousand Netherpassage experts,” said Xia Chen. He was starting to grow excited. He hadn’t fought in such a large-scale battle before.

“I’d guess there are more than that. There are some people that you can’t sense even with a formation,” warned Long Chen. That was because the Stone race was a curious existence, and their auras were very strange. Xia Chen’s formation might be able to sense ordinary lifeforms, but the Stone race might be able to slip through.

“Boss, don’t worry, this time I’ll let you see just how powerful a formation master is. Hehe, of course, the strongest is your money!” laughed Xia Chen.

“How long do you estimate before they attack?” asked Long Chen. After all, Xia Chen was a formation master and should have some predictions.

“At the earliest, it will come in two days!” declared Xia Chen after carefully examining the runes on the ground.

“Why would it take so long?”

“Because they are setting up the best hiding formation, the Heaven Cheating Sea Concealing Spirit Hiding Formation. Such a thing takes a long time to set up, but with it, they should be able to easily break through the first three outer layers of protection I’ve arranged without anyone sensing it. The Mechanism Sect really has a lot of money,” said Xia Chen enviously. Setting up such a formation also required an ocean’s worth of resources.

“Look, they’ve vanished!” Xia Chen suddenly pointed at the runes indicating their existence. Those runes had now vanished, meaning they had concealed themselves.

“So we can’t find them anymore?” asked Meng Qi.

“We can’t find them now, but that’s fine. When they enter the barrier I set up, I’ll be able to see them. If they want to stay in their current formation, it will take two to three days for them to move that far covertly.”

“It really was a feint. They scare the Xuantian Dao Sect to draw everyone’s attention there, while they target this place. They don’t want to kill me, they want to destroy the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race.” Killing intent appeared in Long Chen’s eyes.

“Why would they target the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race?” asked Chu Yao.

“There are most likely two reasons. They are trying to form a good relationship with the Xuan Beasts, and perhaps even the Xuan Beasts are secretly supporting their attack this time. The other reason is to force me into a passive position. If I did fall for their feint and went to stand guard over the Xuantian Dao Sect, they would be able to deal a huge blow to the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. They know that if that happens, I won’t wait for them to find me. I’ll immediately attack them. I left the Martial Heaven Alliance through a secret transportation formation that the alliance head let me use. They don’t have any news of my whereabouts. All they know is that I went to the Martial Heaven Alliance’s headquarters a few days ago, so they believe I’m most likely there,” said Long Chen.

“How complicated,” sighed Chu Yao.

“Actually, it’s not that complicated. They think they understand me, but I understand them better. I do smell the hint of a scheme behind the Mechanism Sect’s actions, but I don’t need to care about it. We’ll be ruthless this time and make sure to teach these arrogant fellows a lesson,” said Long Chen. “Xia Chen, I’ll leave this place to you. I’m going to see if anyone has awakened their manifestation.”

Long Chen left with Meng Qi and Chu Yao, leaving behind Xia Chen whose gaze was locked on the changing runes on the ground.

“Come. This time, I’ll use boss’s money to smash you to death.”