"I don't know how much I need. I'll exchange for 20 bowls of blood essence first. If it's not enough, I'll bother you again."
Whether it was enough or not was not up to Zhang Chen. It was just an excuse to obtain demon blood in a different way.
"Sure." Li Mumin nodded. 20 bowls of blood essence was not a small amount.
After exchanging for the demon blood, Zhang Chen left without mentioning anything about Zhou Wenting and the other two.
It was mainly because he was afraid of things getting out of hand and exposing the fact that he did not sell demon blood.
Back in his cave, Zhang Chen took out the two spells he bought in the market, Divine Forging Technique and Spiritual Eye Technique.
Both of these spells could not take effect immediately and required years of practice and accumulation.
Putting down the Spiritual Eye Technique book, Zhang Chen planned to practice the Divine Forging Technique first.
Zhang Chen sat cross-legged and focused his thoughts according to the method in the Divine Forging Technique. He visualized a divine hammer, constantly pounding his mind like a piece of iron.
There was a rhythm to the hammering. It was not random hammering.
Each time he pounded, he shattered some distractions, making his mind more pure, compact, and solid.
His mind also became tired and damaged and he could not continue pounding all the time.
After half a day, Zhang Chen felt that his mind had reached its limit, so he stopped pounding and picked up the Spiritual Eye Technique book.
The Spiritual Eye Technique used spiritual Qi to transform the eyes into a kind of spiritual eye that had the ability to see through illusions.
However, because it was acquired, the body could not adapt and rejected this kind of eye, so there would be blindness as a side effect.
After the modification of the modifier, Zhang Chen did not have this hidden danger and could not wait to cultivate.
Spiritual energy circulated in the meridians around his eyes according to the route recorded in the Spiritual Eye Technique book.
Due to the special nature of the Blood Nerve Technique, Zhang Chen's eyes emitted a red light that looked very evil.
On the other side, in the first cave abode of the inner sect.
Zhou Wenting said, "I received news that Zhang Chen came back safe and sound."
"What about Sun Jian? Is he back?" Xu Yi asked.
"No." Zhou Wenting shook his head.
"Not back yet? Then what are you going to do next? In my opinion, supporting me in reaching the Foundation Establishment realm is the simplest and most direct way." Xu Yixian pressured.
"Sun Jian went out on a mission assigned by the sect. He might have gone to capture demon beasts. Let's wait a few more months and see." Zhou Wenting continued to procrastinate.
Xu Yixian's face sank. "Zhang Chen's return to the sect means that Sun Jian hasn't completed the task we gave him. What do you plan to do next?"
"We don't know the specific situation yet. Let's wait for Sun Jian to return before making a decision. I'll get someone to keep an eye on Zhang Chen." Jiang Xianghong also used an excuse to delay.
He and Zhou Wenting would not support Xu Yixian in reaching the Foundation Establishment realm unless it was absolutely necessary.
Based on their understanding of Xu Yixian, after he reached the Foundation Establishment realm, not only would they not get back their resources, but they would also be forced to become Xu Yixian's subordinates.
"Alright, let's wait another two months." Since the two of them were unwilling, Xu Yixian could only agree.
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
During these past two months, Zhang Chen had been practicing the Divine Forging Technique and the Spiritual Eye Technique. After two months of cultivation, he had already seen results.
On the surface, he still maintained the seventh level of Qi Refinement, but his mind had reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement.
There were no experimental subjects for the Spiritual Eye Technique, so he didn't know the specific effect. However, his eyes had become somewhat magical, occasionally flashing red light.
"It's been seven days. I can go to Senior Brother Li to exchange for demon blood. I can also go to the beast garden to get blood." Zhang Chen stood up and walked outside.
Inside the first cave abode of the inner sect.
Xu Yixian mocked, "Sun Jian has left the sect for three months and hasn't returned. He's probably dead."
"Sun Jian is most likely dead, and he died at the hands of Zhang Chen." Zhou Wenting's expression was ugly.
Jiang Xianghong was surprised. "Zhang Chen just advanced to the inner sect, how could he kill Sun Jian?"
"Although I don't believe it either, I heard that the demon beasts under Sun Jian's name have been transferred to Zhang Chen, so he must have killed Sun Jian." Zhou Wenting's face was gloomy.
Jiang Xianghong was a little flustered. "Then won't Li Mumin find out about our investigation?"
Xu Yixian felt that his chance had come. "If you support me in reaching the Foundation Establishment realm first, you won't have to worry about Li Mumin's revenge."
The other two had conflicted and unwilling expressions.
Xu Yixian's eyes were burning as he pressed them, "The earlier we make a decision, the better."
The two of them looked at each other and reluctantly said, "Alright, but in order not to lose our cultivation, we won't give you a large amount of blood essence at once. We will only give you the blood essence that we refine every day."
"You're really wishy-washy," Xu Yixian said, but he was elated in his heart.
…
Zhang Chen left Li Mumin's cave abode and arrived at the beast garden.
"Senior Brother Zhang, are you here for the demon blood?" Wang Zhengang greeted him warmly.
"Yes." Zhang Chen nodded. "Junior Brother Wang, please give me the array formation token."
As Wang Zhengang handed over the array formation token, he said softly, "Senior Brother Zhang, a while ago, Senior Brother Zhou Wenting came to the beast garden to ask about you."
Zhang Chen narrowed his eyes. "Thank you for your reminder, Junior Brother Wang. Do you happen to know anyone in the Internal Affairs Hall?"
"Yes, Senior Brother Zhang, do you have any instructions?"
"If Zhou Wenting and his group receive any capture missions, please let me know. I can offer you 10 bowls of blood essence as a reward, Wang Junior Brother."
Zhang Chen wanted to deal with Zhou Wenting and his group, but the sect did not allow fellow disciples to fight against each other, so he could only wait until they left the sect.
He had to take action against Zhou Wenting and his group outside of the sect!
Although Wang Zhengang understood his intentions, he couldn't resist the temptation of 10 bowls of blood essence. "Rest assured, Senior Brother Zhang. I will have my friends in the Internal Affairs Hall keep an eye on them."
"I'll have to trouble Junior Brother Wang."
"It's no trouble, no trouble at all."
In the following days, Zhang Chen immersed himself in cultivation again.
Meanwhile, Zhou Wenting and the other two, who were afraid of Li Mumin's retaliation, did not leave the sect to hunt this year. Instead, they handed over a demon beast they had previously fostered.
Time passed quickly, and a new year arrived.
As inner sect disciples, they could receive a bowl of blood essence on the day of the new year. Almost all inner sect disciples came to the Internal Affairs Hall.
As soon as he arrived at the Internal Affairs Hall, Zhang Chen saw many people talking and discussing.
However, because the environment was too noisy, he only vaguely heard the words 'inner sect mission, recruiting disciples'.
Zhang Chen didn't pay attention to it and went to the window to hand over his identity token. "I'm here to collect my blood essence and demon blood."
"Alright, Senior Brother." The Internal Affairs disciple took the identity token and began to verify the registration.
Soon after.
"Senior Brother, this is your blood essence and demon blood. Apart from that, I have something to inform you."
Zhang Chen was a little surprised. "What is it?"
"This year's inner sect mission has been changed to go to recruiting disciples in the mortal world. In a few days, the sect will arrange for Senior Brother to go."
Now he understood what the disciples were talking about before.
Zhang Chen was not surprised. This was normal. There were not many outer sect disciples left in the Blood God Sect. They definitely needed to be replenished as soon as possible.
"Huh? If that's the case, doesn't that mean that Zhou Wenting and the others will also have to leave the sect to do missions?"
Thinking of this, Zhang Chen hurriedly asked, "Is the time to accept the mission unified or can we receive it at any time?"
"It's unified," the Internal Affairs disciple replied.
Hearing these words, Zhang Chen was pleased, but he still confirmed carefully, "Does this mean that all the inner sect disciples will go out together?"
"Yes."
"Alright, thank you, Junior Brother."