Fu Chaosheng soon confirmed Luo Chen's conclusion. "There are countless cultivation families in the Central Continent, but only one true sect. Every family here ultimately answers to it. And its influence doesn't stop at the Central Continent. It is the strongest power in the entire Mountains and Seas Realm. If you're accepted into the Star Gate, you'll be joining it. Opportunities like that don't come easily."

For the first time, Luo Chen saw a side of Fu Chaosheng that his years as a merchant had usually kept hidden. Outside the Central Continent, he had dealt with others patiently because business demanded harmony and compromise. Here, he was no longer speaking as an elder of the Heaven Origin Trade Alliance but as a disciple returning to the greatest Holy Land under heaven, and the pride he took in that status was impossible to miss.

To be fair, it was also that very pride that gave him the confidence to remain composed whether facing the righteous and devilish factions of the Northern Sea, the late-stage Chanting Monk, or Luo Chen...