Chapter 422: A Gift

When Long Chen and the others returned to Luopan Mountain, the entire mountain was covered in corpses, and blood was slowly flowing down its slopes.

Guo Ran, Gu Yang, and Xu Yang were clearing the battlefield, collecting the dead men's spatial rings while retrieving the steel nails from their bodies.

These were all Guo Ran's treasures and had to be recovered. Guo Ran was very clever. Long ago, he had attached his own unique soul mark to those steel nails, allowing him to easily sense their presence within a radius of a hundred feet.

Guo Ran had made those things through painstaking work, and losing even one pained him. Since the last battle between the Righteous and Corrupt paths, Guo Ran had understood the pain of running out of ammunition and supplies. He would always keep enough weapons on hand.

So he was usually unwilling to discard even a single steel nail. By now, essentially all the steel nails on the battlefield had been recovered, apart from some still lodged in people's bodies.

Under normal circumstances, the force with which Guo Ran's ingenious mechanism fired the steel nails would definitely send them straight through a human body.

The steel nails left in those bodies now had essentially already passed through one person's body, or even two, before entering the final person's body and remaining there.

“Guo Ran, why don't we just give them up? Picking these things out is too difficult,” Gu Yang complained a little.

Digging those things out of corpses really was rather annoying. He had no taboos about it; the problem was that it was sticky and unpleasant.

“Go rest with Xu Yang. I'll do it slowly on my own. Hehe, these things are like my children. I can't bear to throw them away,” Guo Ran laughed.

“Shooting so many children out at once. You're really quite something,” Gu Yang said, shaking his head.

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener heard another meaning. Gu Yang's words left Guo Ran a little dumbfounded. “Gu Yang, you're wicked.”

“”

Gu Yang was a little confused. Just as he was about to speak, a bird's cry suddenly rang out, and a huge figure flew down from the sky.

“The boss is back! Hehe, Sister Ye, Brother Mingyuan, Brother Luo Cang, Brother Zifeng, it's been a long time.” Seeing Long Chen and the others arrive, Guo Ran hurriedly greeted them.

After everyone met, their previous heavy mood lightened considerably. Upon learning that Guan Wennan and all the others had died, Guo Ran and Gu Yang could not help feeling sad. They had not expected that, of so many people who had entered, only a few would still be alive now.

When it came to that bitch Yin Wushuang, everyone gritted their teeth, wishing they could eat her flesh and sleep on her skin. That bitch was simply too hateful.

“All right, this is how the path of cultivation is. Nobody knows when someone will fall. What matters most is that while we're alive, we cherish these feelings.

“From today onward, our first objective is revenge. Our brothers cannot die in vain. Blood debts must be repaid in blood,” Long Chen said in a deep voice.

“Boss, we'll listen to you, but who are our enemies?” Guo Ran could not help asking.

He did not understand what hatred could make Yin Wushuang target Long Chen like this.

Long Chen had always acted openly and honorably and had never offended her. Why did she keep trying to drive him to his death?

“The people behind this incident are the senior leaders of the First Monastery. Yin Wushuang is merely carrying out their orders.

“However, by my calculations, the First Monastery was only targeting me. I had originally planned to kill myself just after entering the secret realm.

“But Yin Wushuang was more sinister. She wanted me to be Han Tianyu's stepping stone, constantly slandering me and building an image of an unforgivable bandit in my camp, then having Han Tianyu kill me as a messenger of justice to add another touch of glory to his image.

“Then the situation gradually went beyond her control, and she began to realize how serious the problem was. When her people couldn't find me, they began hunting you everywhere to lure me out. This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.

“At the time, I was in seclusion somewhere and didn't know what was happening outside. After I emerged, the battle at Luopan Mountain occurred.” Long Chen briefly analyzed the matter.

According to Long Chen's analysis, if the First Monastery wanted to target him, it would never think up so many tricks. A simple, direct approach would better fit a cultivator's character.

If someone else carried out the orders and only targeted Long Chen, he would fear nobody. But a woman like Yin Wushuang, unable to target him, would attack those around him. That was something Long Chen could not tolerate.

“No matter what, Yin Wushuang must die,” Long Chen said hatefully.

“That bitch must die. Otherwise, our brothers will die in peace,” Gu Yang also said with murderous intent.

“But that bitch is hiding now and doesn't dare face us head-on. We can't find her. If we search like headless flies, we'll fall into her trap and let her mock us in secret.

“The most important thing for us now is to improve our strength. Before Han Tianyu emerges from seclusion, we must increase our strength as much as possible. There'll be a fierce battle when the time comes,” Long Chen reminded them.

“Don't worry, Boss. I won't be a coward anymore in this battle alongside my brothers. I want to let loose and fight a great battle,” Guo Ran said confidently.

Long Chen nodded, glanced at the battlefield, and said, “Are these your masterpieces?”

“Yes, Guo Ran did all of this by himself. Brother Xu and I didn't even have a chance to fight,” Gu Yang said admiringly.

Gu Yang still had not recovered from the shock of the earlier battle. Clad in armor, Guo Ran had been like a killing machine.

With every movement of his hands and feet, countless concealed weapons flew out from unexpected places, making them impossible to guard against. From beginning to end, Guo Ran had chased that group down to kill them.

In the end, only one Supreme-level expert remained, but Guo Ran still smashed him to death with an iron fist, leaving people terrified.

That Supreme expert was extraordinarily powerful, but no matter what moves he used, he could not injure Guo Ran, who was entirely encased in armor.

And Guo Ran's armor was exquisitely designed. Such a large suit of armor could actually perform all kinds of nimble movements without the slightest clumsiness.

So Guo Ran only needed to attack, ignoring that man's attacks entirely, and that powerful Supreme expert had died so grievously at his hands.

Xu Yang sighed and said, “To be honest, I've encountered countless battles in my life, but this is the first time I've seen such a terrifying one.

“Hehe, that's because you haven't seen our previous battles. I guarantee they'd make your blood boil,” Guo Ran said with a smile. The fellow was a little embarrassed by the praise, but he actually knew how to be humble and change the subject.

That was very rare. This fellow really had begun to change his temperament. Long Chen said, “What were you doing before? Was killing them not enough? Were you still playing at dismemberment?”

“Ahem, no, I want to recover my babies. You know it isn't easy for me to make these things. Huh? Boss, what's with that expression?” As Guo Ran spoke, he noticed the contempt in Long Chen's eyes.

“You pig, can't you gather these corpses and burn them to ashes? Would your nails burn to ashes too?” Long Chen said, rather speechless.

“”

Guo Ran slapped his thigh. “Oh, why didn't I think of such a simple method?”

He had also been frustrated while pulling the nails out of flesh and blood. They were all lodged deep inside, so he had to cut through the flesh before he could remove them. This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.

Not only Gu Yang and Xu Yang, but even he could no longer bear it. After all, this was human flesh, not pork.

Xu Yang was an outsider. Too embarrassed to say anything, he could only lower his head and work alongside him, but Gu Yang could not help complaining a few times.

“Whew.”

Long Chen took a breath. “I see all your cleverness has gone into casters. All right, go gather the corpses. Once you've gathered them, have Xiaozi burn them for you.”

The Little Purple that Long Chen mentioned was Chu Yao's pet, the Purple-Feathered Phoenix. Now the entire Purple-Feathered Phoenix had advanced to the fourth rank. Even Supreme experts could not withstand the flames it released and could only hide in embarrassment. Burning a few corpses was child's play.

Hearing Long Chen's words, Guo Ran began gathering together the bodies with nails in them.

Everyone followed to help. Xu Yang had just started off when Long Chen stopped him. “Xu Yang, what are your plans? Are you ready to stay with us?”

Long Chen was grateful to Xu Yang. This was someone who knew how to repay kindness and had come to deliver the news regardless of the danger to his own life, enough to prove his loyalty and courage.

Long Chen wanted to bring him in, but following Long Chen was very dangerous, even though he could provide them with many cultivation resources.

Compared with that danger, however, those resources might not be so precious, so Long Chen wanted to hear what Xu Yang thought.

When Xu Yang heard Long Chen invite him to join the group, his eyes reddened with excitement. What kind of person was Long Chen? The greatest dark horse in this secret realm, comparable to the peerless experts, an invincible being among those of the same rank.

How glorious was it for Long Chen to invite him to join the group and treat him as one of his own?

But after that excitement, embarrassment appeared on Xu Yang's face, and he said, “Thank you, Brother Long, for being able to put up with me. Although I come from a humble background, I can't abandon the kindness my master has shown me. I hope Brother Long will forgive me.”

Long Chen nodded and understood what Xu Yang meant. Xu Yang might have come from a very small sect, but his sect had treated him kindly. He would never betray it and follow Long Chen.

Judging from Xu Yang's words, his clan had very likely poured a great deal of effort into him and might have staked everything on him.

That was because some sects had to buy their places in the secret realm from major sects, and those places were very expensive.

Sending them there was equivalent to the sect making a great gamble, so from Xu Yang's words, Long Chen could appreciate his difficulties.

“It doesn't matter. Whatever happens, we're brothers. I don't have anything to give you. Here are twenty Bone Sacrifice Pills and ten wind spirit stones. If we're brothers, don't refuse.” Long Chen handed a jade bottle and ten wind spirit stones to Xu Yang.

“Brother Long, you mustn't do this...” Xu Yang was shocked. He had heard of Bone Sacrifice Pills. They were unimaginably precious.

And the ten wind spirit stones Long Chen handed him were ten times better than the one he had obtained before. The wind energy was unimaginably pure.

“If we're brothers, don't say useless things. Just keep them. You could risk your life to bring the news and save my friend from danger. If you won't accept them, you're looking down on me,” Long Chen said, deliberately putting on a stern expression.

“In that case, I'll accept them. Brother Long's kindness is immense. I, Xu Yang, will never forget it.” Xu Yang bowed respectfully to Long Chen and departed.

After Xu Yang was sent on his way, Li Qi, who had fallen unconscious not long before, also woke up, and everyone could not help rejoicing.

After the celebration, Long Chen continued with his alchemy, having everyone take turns standing guard and begin sacrificing their bones in preparation for the approaching battle.