Chen Chen gradually disappeared into the miasma.

He stopped immediately afterwards.

"System, is there anything valuable nearby?"

"Yes, there is a poisonous herb that can absorb miasma, 18 meters to the left."

...

When daybreak arrived, Chen Chen returned to the Sixteenth City, looking weak and vulnerable.

"Master... there are enough Spirit Stones in here for us to purchase those arrays and Spirit Cannons for the Sixteenth City. Master, please make a trip to the supply point while I go get some rest."

After handing over the storage ring to Xiao Wuyou solemnly, Chen Chen staggered back to the city.

The State of Jin cultivators were silent and speechless.

'This successor of the Tianyun Clan seems really weak. He must have had his Yang energy drained.

However, they dared not say anything or ask any questions and could merely sigh in their hearts.

'The successor has put in so much effort for the State of Jin!'

...

Upon returning to his residence, Chen Chen immediately perked up and opened the spiritual beast bag.

Green Bean had already awakened in the spiritual beast hide bag and his aura had surged several times. It was surprisingly comparable to the peak of the Core Formation realm! However, its body became greener.

"I wonder if Green Bean has a suppressive effect on the demon race."

Chen Chen continuously thought about it.

His body refinement had now reached the middle of the Core Formation realm while his Qi training had reached the early-stage Core Formation realm. His cultivation level coupled with the Omni Divine Blade would be enough for him to slay a weak Nascent Soul demon.

If Green Bean joined in...

After he thought about it, Chen Chen shook his head. 'This is a Black Tortoise, I'd better not take it out unless I reach a critical juncture.'

Chen Chen was undoubtedly glad that Green Bean had awakened but deep down, he was still feeling melancholic.

His cultivation level was improving too slowly. Although his body refinement was at the middle stage of Core Formation on the surface, he obtained it only after the Thunder Tribulation and various tough battles.

Without those, the progress of his body refinement cultivation level stagnated as a matter of course.

On the contrary, he improved every single day in Qi training and he reckoned that it wouldn't take long for him to meet and even exceed the level of body refinement.

That left Chen Chen with no choice but to consider the matter of self-abuse...Of course, it would be best if it was painless!

...

While thinking about those matters, half of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators in the city had gone to the supply point 50 kilometers away in a group.

They had sold themselves in exchange for Spirit Stones for purchasing items at the supply point. Even if no one robbed them along the way, they would have to be escorted. They could also take the chance to supervise Xiao Wuyou and see if he had abused his authority to keep the Spirit Stones for his personal profit.

When they came back, a few Nascent Soul realm cultivators all had flushed faces and seemed agitated about overspending.

It seemed that they had never spent so many Spirit Stones in their lives.

"There are fifty... fifty Spirit Cannons which cost us a total of 200,000 medium-grade Spirit Stones. Each Core Formation realm attack launch would consume 50 medium-grade Spirit Stones while each Nascent Soul realm attack would require 200 medium-grade Spirit Stones. Disciple, stow them away properly. They shall be in your custody from now on."

Xiao Wuyou's voice was a little shaky as he handed over a storage ring to Chen Chen.

In his opinion, it was not a Spirit Cannon, but the lives of fifty State of Jin cultivators!

Chen Chen took the storage ring and took out one of the Spirit Cannons. The Spirit Cannon was about five meters long and was made of black iron. It was thick and hard, with dense array formations engraved all over it.

And at the end of the cannon, there were special depressions that were meant for Spirit Stones to be lodged. Given its size, the cannon could be loaded with about 500 pieces of Spirit Stones at a time.

"Do you want to try launching one cannon?" Chen Chen asked, looking at everyone.

They shook their heads profusely while thinking, 'What a joke, a single shot is going to blow our arm off, how can we try it randomly!?!'

The items at the supply point definitely won't be problematic!

After the Spirit Cannon was given to Chen Chen, Xiao Wuyou took out an array diagram.

"This is called the Yuan Gang Formation, it is a first-class defense array and just ten of them will be enough to completely cover our fifty-kilometer defense line. The array diagram costs 10,000 medium-grade Spirit Stones, and the cost of setting up a Yuan Gang Formation is also 10,000 medium-grade Spirit Stones."

"How strong is the defense?" Chen Chen asked.

"As long as we are willing to invest more Spirit Stones, it will absolutely be impenetrable to those under the Essence Soul realm," Xiao Wuyou said with trembling cheeks.

Such an array was stronger than the protective array of most major clans.

The clan protection array was an array that the clans had set up using their savings of thousands of years.

Chen Chen nodded in satisfaction. He automatically ignored the part about "investing Spirit Stones".

With the array diagram, the Sixteenth City began to lay the array in the heat of the day.

The Yuan Gang Formation was unlike the protective array of other clans, which required a variety of factors and had to change the terrain to adapt.

It had a high adaptability and could be set up anywhere. The only drawback was that it consumed too many Spirit Stones and had a high cost.

However, the Sixteenth City couldn't help it either. The second line of defense was protected by the Canopy Formation but they did not dare to move the terrain at will or transform the Great Wall.

It took the hundreds of State of Jin cultivators two days to set up ten Yuan Gang Formations along the fifty-kilometer defense line.

With that formation in place, everyone felt a great sense of security.

However, some people also had some doubts.

When they were setting up the formation, they met the cultivators from the Seventeenth City and the Fifteenth City.

After a few conversations, the truth about how many enemies those two cities had faced that day naturally came to light.

"Could it be that we have been conned?"

Some cultivators were conflicted but since they had already signed the indentures, they could not regret or go back on their word.

As cultivators, they could not afford to be embarrassed but they were secretly wary of Chen Chen.

'This person is terrible, he can't be trusted easily!'

'More than fifteen Nascent Soul realm cultivators? Psht!'

As time passed,more and more people learned the truth, and everyone looked at Chen Chen with peculiar looks in their eyes.

Chen Chen completely ignored them, as if it had nothing to do with him.

...

On the other hand, in the military camp behind the Sixteenth City.

After three days of suffering the side effects, the golden-armored general finally felt a little better and was able to speak, but he just couldn't get out of bed yet.

On the first day, he kept foaming at the mouth and shivered continuously. On the second day, he was overwhelmed with endless pain that made him feel like he was getting stabbed by knives. On the third day, his body itches all over and he felt like he would be better off dead.

Despite all these experiences, he was still conscious and hence, he had completely made up his mind in the past three days!

No matter what, he had to leave the Sixteenth City! It was not a place for humans!

Hence, as soon as he came to his senses, he called his subordinates into the tent.

"Yang Kai... Go to the supply point to look for my Senior Brother and ask him to take me out of here. We can go anywhere, as long as we don't leave the Sixteenth City."

The sergeant named Yang Kai wanted to say something but stopped.

To be honest, the State of Jin cultivators had been quite diligent these days, and he felt that he should give this group of people another chance.

The golden-armored general, however, seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and reluctantly took out a storage ring which he then handed to Yang Kai.

"Yang Kai, you have been my subordinate for such a long time and you are the person I trust the most. You're also the most reliable person I can count on. I treat you like a brother and I'm not going to lie to you but this ring contains all my assets. Hand it to my Sixteenth City and tell him to make sure to find a solution... If I can be transferred away from the Sixteenth City, you can likewise break free from this misery too."

Seeing the look of determination on the general's face, the Foundation Establishment cultivator named Yang Kai gritted his teeth, took the storage ring and walked out of the tent.

Looking at the back of his subordinate, the golden-armored general lay down on his bed again, while heaving a sigh of relief.

'Senior Brother might be a greedy money grubber but he is still quite reliable. I might be bankrupt now but that's better than dying.'

His only worry now was that the demons will come again before he gets transferred elsewhere.

"Please don't let any demons come by in the next few days..."

The golden-armored general prayed in his heart and unknowingly drifted off to dreamland.