As he walked along, Zhang Chen clearly felt that the spiritual energy here was much denser than elsewhere. Some of the mountains where the direct disciples were located even had spiritual plants and demon beasts.
It was like a paradise.
Dong Delang stopped in front of a mountain peak and shouted, "Senior Brother Li, I've brought Junior Brother Zhang here."
"Zhang Chen, come up here."
Li Mumin's voice came from the mountain. His voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible.
Li Mumin only mentioned Zhang Chen's name, so Dong Delang naturally couldn't go up.
"Senior Brother Dong, I'm going." Zhang Chen arched his hand towards Dong Delang.
"Go ahead, Junior Brother." Dong Delang didn't show the slightest displeasure. In fact, he wasn't familiar with Li Mumin.
Li Mumin was a prestigious direct disciple and wouldn't lower his status to go to the outer door to find Zhang Chen. It just so happened that he saw Dong Delang at the inner door and ordered him to bring Zhang Chen.
When Zhang Chen hesitated about whether to go into the cave in front of the mountain peak, Li Mumin's voice rang out again.
"Come in."
"Yes."
Entering the cave, Zhang Chen finally saw Li Mumin.
Perhaps because he had just broken through and his realm was unstable, some parts of Li Mumin's body would sometimes turn into blood flow.
It looked very strange and terrifying, as if it was about to fall apart at any moment.
Moreover, the Foundation Establishment stage aura he emitted could not be restrained. It was like a huge mountain was pressing down on Zhang Chen, making him unable to stand up straight.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother, on reaching the Foundation Establishment realm and becoming a direct disciple!" Zhang Chen bowed and congratulated him.
Li Mumin smiled. "Thanks to you for always exchanging blood essence for me."
"Senior Brother's talent is outstanding. It's only a matter of time before you reach the Foundation Establishment realm. Zhang Chen doesn't dare to be presumptuous…" Zhang Chen said earnestly.
"Alright, I said I would reward you after reaching the Foundation Establishment realm," Li Mumin said directly. "A direct disciple can take in a servant to manage the cave abode on the mountain peak.
"After becoming a direct servant, you don't have to participate in the sect assessment anymore. I see that you're only at the fifth level of Qi Refinement. Clearly, your aptitude is not good. You can manage the cave abode on the mountain for me in the future."
Zhang Chen's expression changed. He never expected such an outcome. "Thank you for your good intentions, Senior Brother. I'm confident that I can pass the assessment."
If his aptitude was really not good, becoming a direct servant would be a good life-saving method.
However, how could Zhang Chen, who already had a top-grade spiritual root and a modifier, become a direct servant?
If it weren't for the fear of exposing his secret, he might have already reached the Foundation Establishment realm.
Li Muming frowned. "Do you think being my servant is shameful? There are many outer disciples who want to be my servant!"
"It's just a mutually beneficial deal for me to exchange the demon blood for you. There's no need for you to reward me," Zhang Chen said neither arrogantly nor humbly.
Li Mumin was somewhat displeased. "So, do you want me to go back on my word? I, Li Mumin, have always kept my word!
"To tell you the truth, when I went to the sect's main hall to be promoted to direct disciple, I overheard a conversation between some elders. Elder Black Blood's grandson was born with poor aptitude and has no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment realm.
"Therefore, the Black Blood Elder plans to use a large number of outer sect disciples as blood sacrifices to forcibly improve his grandson's aptitude and foundation. I'm protecting your life by making you my servant!"
Zhang Chen was a little shocked. Elder Black Blood was actually planning to sacrifice the lives of a large number of outer sect disciples to improve his grandson's aptitude.
He was really treating outer sect disciples like livestock!
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Chen solemnly bowed: "I sincerely thank Senior Brother, but I still have to refuse.
"In the year and a half that I exchanged blood essence for my senior brother, I had also saved a lot of it. I just didn't swallow it for fear of attracting attention, so I am still at the fifth level of Qi Refinement.
"If I can refine all of it and reach the seventh level of Qi Refining, I should be able to compete in the next Inner Sect Competition and not have to worry about blood sacrifices."
Upon hearing Zhang Chen's words, Li Mumin was taken aback.
Although he had given them a lot of demon blood, the competition for selling demon blood in the outer sect was intense. The sect could still collect demon blood every day.
Ordinary disciples could not refine large amounts of demon blood. It was already difficult for them to exchange for three bowls of blood essence a day. He didn't expect Zhang Chen to still have so much demon blood left.
And Zhang Chen has been at the fifth level of Qi Refinement all along. He thought Zhang Chen was just barely able to exchange for three bowls of blood essence, without any extra blood to consume.
After a moment of silence, Li Mumin spoke again, "In that case, I won't force you anymore, but since I said that I would reward you, I will definitely reward you.
"I have raised several Qi Refinement stage demon beasts in the beast garden. I'll reward you with one. You can use my token to go and collect it."
With that, Li Mumin threw out a token.
This time, Zhang Chen did not refuse. He took the token and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."
"I'm already at the Foundation Establishment stage, and I need more blood essence. I need at least five bowls a day. Can you manage that?" Li Mumin asked in a low voice.
"I'll do my best." Although Zhang Chen was eager to obtain more demon blood, he did not give an affirmative answer.
Other people already found it hard to replace three bowls of refined blood in a day, let alone five. It would be abnormal to be too confident.
"Alright, I need to stabilize my cultivation level for the next half month. Come find me then," Li Mumin valued Zhang Chen's ability, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to persuade him with reasons when Zhang Chen refused earlier.
"Then I won't disturb you anymore, Senior Brother." Zhang Chen bowed and took his leave.
As he left the cave and walked down the mountain, Zhang Chen sighed in his heart.
His original strategy was to hide himself and wait until he was strong enough, but now he had to attract attention.
Luckily, he had Li Mumin as his senior brother to lean on.
And thanks to Li Mumin's successful Foundation Establishment, he heard inside information. Otherwise, he could have really been used for blood sacrifice.
In the future, he couldn't hide himself too much and still had to show some talent.
"Oh! Senior Brother Dong, you're still here?" Zhang Chen realized that Dong Delang was still at the foot of the mountain.
"Start to finish, since I brought Junior Brother here, I naturally have to bring Junior Brother back," Dong Delang obviously wanted to befriend Zhang Chen and establish a relationship.
"Thank you so much, Senior Brother." Zhang Chen saw through but didn't expose it.
"I wonder what Senior Brother Li instructed Junior Brother to do. Perhaps I can help."
"It's nothing. I'm just exchanging blood essence in the outer sect. You don't have to bother, Senior Brother."
…
As they walked and talked, they seemed like old friends who had known each other for years.
"Senior Brother Dong, I've arrived. Please go back now."
"Alright, I'll take my leave then."
After sending Dong Delang off, Zhang Chen returned to his cave abode and took out the blood storage bottle containing the blood essence.
"Let's raise my cultivation level to the seventh level of Qi Refinement first!"
Zhang Chen poured out the blood essence and began refining it. His aura quickly soared.
In just a dozen breaths, he had already raised his cultivation level to the seventh level of Qi refining.
"Next, I'll wait for the inner sect competition and become an inner sect disciple."
The fact that Elder Black Blood wanted to sacrifice an outer disciple to improve his grandson's aptitude weighed heavily on Zhang Chen's mind, like a giant boulder.
Being cautious, he felt that only by becoming an inner sect disciple could he be safe.
After all, with the modifier, he had a chance of becoming an immortal. As long as he could survive, he would definitely dominate the cultivation world.