Long Chen's voice was very gentle as if he were just greeting an old friend. His bright smile was extremely sincere.
But in their eyes, that smile was even more terrifying than a vicious Magical Beast. Who could possibly ruthlessly beat people like this and then still speak so gently to them immediately after?
"Long Chen… you… don't go overboard!" cried out the cross-eyed man fearfully.
"I never go overboard. I just want to have a conversation. I have my own secret problems. You can only blame yourselves for growing a face that was just asking for a beating. If I hadn't beat you, I would have been afraid the heavens would strike me with lightning," sighed Long Chen helplessly.
"You…!"
"Well, let's get to business. Continuing on from where I left off, I'm very happy you guys are here. On my own behalf, I warmly welcome you three with my heartfelt congratulations." Long Chen even clapped a couple of times for them before continuing:
"I was lacking manpower, but your arrival totally fixes that problem! I just happened to need some people to help me make some fish cages.
"And you, Mr. Cross-eyed, I really must thank you for bringing me such a gift. I really must apologize for my previous crudeness. So, I hope you won't make me feel any more guilty about that beating. You understand, right?"
Long Chen extended his hand, his meaning obvious. If he didn't hand over his life ring, Long Chen would have to make himself feel even more guilty.
"Please, that's my ancestor's… ok, I'll give it to you." The cross-eyed man had just been about to refuse when Long Chen began to shrug his shoulders and legs as a warm-up. He immediately threw over his life ring.
"Hehe, ah, brother Zhao's sincerity is really too much; I really can't accept. Ah, well I guess I'm just becoming soft-hearted. No need to thank me," Long Chen sighed as he took the life ring.
The cross-eyed man's vision darkened as he became so dizzy with anger that he almost fainted. This person really was too shameless! Who would thank someone for robbing them?!
"Long Chen, you're also from a powerful family. How can you be such a scoundrel? This is the conduct of a small person," said one of them indignantly.
"No, I'm not from a powerful family. So being a small person is just in my nature. Being a scoundrel is my virtue, robbing is my profession, and beating up others would have to be my greatest hobby." Long Chen tried using his divine sense to enter the life ring.
The three of them turned green from rage at this shameless display. This completely toppled their understanding as noble disciples. Long Chen didn't care the slightest bit of his status. That both infuriated and terrified them.
In just a couple breaths' time, Long Chen broke through the life ring's original spiritual imprint and managed to see what was inside.
What surprised Long Chen was that a life ring really wasn't the same as a spatial ring. Instead of being a neat and square area, it was the shape of a sphere.
It had an area of around thirty meters. Inside were some small gardens. In the middle was also a small pond. Around it were a few small shrubs and plants.
"Interesting." Long Chen took out his Immortal Chrysanthemum and placed it into the life ring. Using his Spiritual Strength, he dug out a small hole and planted it within.
Originally, the Immortal Chrysanthemum, despite him leaving some of its original soil around its roots, would have died within three days in his spatial ring. That was because living things couldn't be stored within a spatial ring. Even living plants could not be stored without them dying.
But at this time, the Immortal Chrysanthemum had yet to die. Although planting it here wouldn't allow it to continue growing, at least it wouldn't die.
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A living Immortal Chrysanthemum was much more useful than a dead one. That was because once a precious natural treasure died, a part of its essence would be lost just like that. That was something that could not be avoided.
But now with the life ring, this Immortal Chrysanthemum could live for longer. It was just unfortunate that this life ring's quality was too inferior. Otherwise, the Immortal Chrysanthemum could have continued to grow within the life ring.
"Due to this ring, I won't steal your tiles." Long Chen nodded his head contentedly.
They relaxed when they heard that. But the cross-eyed man was filled with pain.
Although he had no major use for that life ring, he had always acted as if it were some divine item. That was because such things were incredibly few in number, and only a few people had ever possessed or even seen one.
No matter who he was with, as long as he showed off his life ring, he would immediately become the center of attention. With his bragging skills, he would speak of his ancestor's glory.
Furthermore, because the life ring wasn't that practical, it wouldn't cause others to go rob him. And so it had never been snatched away.
But now he had run into Long Chen. And it had just happened that Long Chen was in need of such a thing. That caused the cross-eyed man's heart to bleed.
"Mr. Cross-eyed"
"My surname is Zhao!" retorted the cross-eyed man.
"Brother Zhao Cross-eyed"
"My name is Zhao Tianhao!"
Slap!
An ear-ringing slap landed on his face as Long Chen raged, "Now your name is Cross-eyes! If you dare interrupt again, I'll throw you into the water to feed the fishes!"
The cross-eyed man glared at Long Chen, but he didn't dare open his mouth again. By now he was completely terrified of this shameless scoundrel.
With a wave of his hand, Long Chen suddenly covered the three of them with a white powder. The three of them were taken by surprise, but they didn't immediately sense anything odd from the powder.
But after a while, they sensed that something was wrong. Their bodies were becoming unbearably itchy, especially around their wounds. They weren't able to bear it and began to scratch.
As soon as they scratched, even their insides became itchy and they couldn't help but cry out.
"Hehe, I saw that you guys don't like to be cooperative so I gave you guys some itching powder. Now we can discuss business." New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on no/vel(b)in(.)co/m
Long Chen extended his hand, giving them three medicinal pills. "This is a temporary cure. It can stop the itching for two hours. As long as you all work properly, two hours later, I will give you the full cure. But if you are stubborn, you can choose not to eat it. But I'll tell you right now that my itching powder is not ordinary. Without scratching off your own skin, there's no way you'll stop it."
The three of them angrily decided to obediently eat his cure. Immediately after consuming it, the itching completely disappeared. It was as if that itching before had just been a dream.
"Ok, now I'll give you your jobs. Go cut down some branches to weave into cages for me. Make them according to the standards of the cage I have here. If each of you can't make one in two hours, no antidote."
After he finished saying that, the three of them continued to just foolishly look at him. He sinisterly laughed, "You can continue just standing there, but I guarantee that two hours later, you'll be in so much pain you won't want to live."
The three of them blanched and immediately flew into action. They began chopping down branches and weaving them according to Long Chen's cage.
But Long Chen had really overestimated these spoiled disciples. The things they weaved caused Long Chen to curse. There were so many huge gaps between their branches that even a tortoise would be able to swim through; how could it possibly be used for catching fish?
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"Hey, work properly! You, Cross-eyes, didn't you say you can see through things accurately? Are you making cages or a boat? Does that look like the right shape?!"
Long Chen finally had no choice but to teach them how to work one step at a time.
Only at this time did Long Chen have a chance to check his second fish cage. Pulling it out, splashing came from within.
"There's actually seven in this one!" After all, Long Chen had left this cage in the water for about twice as long.
He checked the medicinal pill he had wrapped in grass and placed within the cage. Despite having soaked in water for so long, it hadn't dissolved much at all.
Long Chen thought about it and decided to take a dagger and cut the medicinal pill into smaller pieces. That way the flavor released would be even denser.
He then threw it back into the water. Returning to his original location, he saw the three of them had finished weaving.
Although there were still many small gaps, they had used some thinner branches to cover up those spots. Although it was ugly, it could at least be used to catch more fish. Once they swam into it, they wouldn't be able to escape.
At this time, the three of their expressions were somewhat ugly. Their bodies were incessantly trembling. Obviously, the itching powder had already begun to affect them again. But with their experience from last time, they didn't dare to go scratch again and could only bitterly endure it.
Seeing Long Chen arrives, the three of them looked at him expectantly. By now they had already realized how terrifying Long Chen was and didn't dare do anything to provoke him.
Long Chen handed them new medicinal pills that could let them stop the itching for six hours. He knew with their previous experience, they wouldn't dare run.
The three of them stayed by the waterside, weaving fish cages for him. It went without saying that under this pressure, their weaving skill quickly skyrocketed. If there came a day when they were no longer able to cultivate, they could still rely on their weaving to make a living.
After a whole day, they had weaved over thirty fish cages. Long Chen threw them into the water, placing them at least several hundred meters apart to attract more fishes.
Each loop around the pool would take him close to four hours. He would continuously circle around, raising the cages and collecting the fish inside.
Because the medicinal pill had its own limits, Long Chen didn't require any more cages. He set the three of them to bring up the cages for him as he just sat there, waiting for them to bring him buckets of Wonder Carps.
Two days later, Long Chen's life ring contained hundreds of Wonder Carps. Long Chen finally decided to stop fishing.
One reason was that the medicinal pill had finally dissolved away, and the other reason was that he temporarily had enough fish for his uses. In any case, he would be staying within the Xuantian Monastery in the future. There would still be chances for him to get more, so there was no need for him to take all the fish away.
A small fire was burning away next to the pool. Dozens of Wonder Carps were being cooked, the smell causing people to drool with desire. Even Long Chen had to constantly swallow his saliva.
"Ok, you've all worked hard. These fishes can be your reward. After eating you can head off."
Long Chen took the lead to take a fish and began eating it. As soon as he bit into, the flavor immediately exploded throughout his mouth, making him want to eat even more.
After eating just that one, he handed over the antidote to the itching powder to them and walked off alone.
The three of them watched him leave and then looked at each other. They began to wildly devour the food. In just a short moment, they completely finished over all of them.
"This Long Chen isn't that bad," sighed one of them, licking his lips.
"You absolutely can't let boss Lei hear that. Remember which faction we're in," said the cross-eyed man.
The three of their hearts shook, and they hastily nodded.
"Ok, just let this matter pass like this. No one says anything. Otherwise, if boss Lei hears about it, he might feel we're too useless and kick us out," he solemnly continued.
After that, the three of them also walked away from this place.
Of course, Long Chen didn't care what those three thought of him. In any case, he had already obtained something good. After treating them to such a feast, they were even.
Walking over a small mountain, a voice suddenly attracted his attention.