Chapter 463 - One Hundred Thousand Heavenly Pills

The small town was certainly not this busy on a normal day. Perhaps due to the Ancient Demon Domain qualifiers, it had grown crowded in recent times. Long Chen stood on the main street and felt like there was a sea of people around him.

He looked down and asked, “Let’s go. Qi Qi, do you want to follow me?”

“Of course! I want to be with the puppy!” Huangfu Qi was startled and hurriedly hugged Xiaolang tighter. Xiaolang begged Long Chen for help with his eyes.

Through the language of beasts, Long Chen told Xiaolang, “Just hold on a little longer. Haha. I really need to repay the girl for giving me such a good piece of information, so just keep her company ...”

Xiaolang could only bear it for the moment. To be honest, the girl was adorable, and he did not hate her. However, it was frustrating that he was almost an adult, yet this young girl was treating him like a puppy.

Long Chen had already explained the Day of the Nine Suns to Xiaolang, so if they succeeded, it would benefit Long Chen greatly. That was why he had to endure it ...

Long Chen led Huangfu Qi through the crowd, and soon, they approached the edge of town. Suddenly, a teenager with a small mouth and large cheeks, like a monkey, stood in front of Long Chen. This teenager was dressed like a servant, but he was at the Eighth River Stage. In the Cangyang Kingdom, he would have been considered a high-ranked master.

“Stop!” he commanded haughtily.

“What do you want?” Long Chen asked. He wasn’t even aware that the brat was talking to him at first.

“I’m not talking to you. Get out of the way.” The boy glanced at Long Chen in disgust, then he turned his gaze to Huangfu Qi. His expression suddenly became very friendly, and he asked gently, “Little girl, what is your name?”

“You’re a bad person! I’m not telling you my name!” Huangfu Qi glared at him, annoyed, then continued playing with Xiaolang in her arms.

“Bad person? I’m not a bad person. I’m a very good person.” The boy smiled, then he continued, “Little girl, you’re so cute; my young master would be very happy to meet you. Why don’t you come with me? If my young master likes you, he’ll reward you with at least a thousand Heavenly Passage Pills! What do you think?”

Huangfu Qi counted for a while, then glared at him in contempt. “A thousand Heavenly Passage Pills? That’s not even enough for me to spend in a day!”

She turned to Long Chen and asked, “Big Brother, is he trying to block us?”

“I guess so.” Long Chen was laughing to himself. This guy had to have a death wish for provoking this young lady. Being at the Fourth Passage Stage, almost no one in this town was a match for her.

“You bad man! I’ll teach you a lesson.” It looked very strange when Huangfu Qi attacked, but the brat was rolling on the ground seconds later.

Long Chen grinned, not dwelling on this matter. Huangfu Qi indeed looked adorable, and many guys did like girls of her type.

She had likely encountered many inconveniences such as this along her journey here.

Very soon, they exited the small town and traveled towards the Ancient Demon Domain. The closer they got, the more shocked Long Chen was at the thickness of the Earthly Qi in the region.

“Although the Ancient Demon Domain has a lot of Earthly Qi, it’s so ugly! The Earthly Qi at my home is white, like mist! It’s very pretty!” said Huangfu Qi.

There were many people going to the Ancient Demon Domain. These people likely came from different parts of the Divine Martial Empire, and no one knew each other, so they did not talk much. Long Chen followed the crowd so he would not need to worry about whether he was heading in the right direction. It would be bad if he missed the deadline.

The Ancient Demon Domain consisted of a gray mountain range.

After about four hours, Long Chen and the rest of the people finally arrived at the foot of a mountain. The entrance to the Ancient Demon Domain was just ahead, though it was shut. A sea of people crowded in front of the entrance, and with one glance, Long Chen guessed that there were tens of thousands of people present.

All he could see was a sea of black that was the tops of peoples’ heads. The scary part was that most of the people here were experts who were at least at the Heavenly Passage Realm, so everyone was at least as strong as the Sword Emperor. If Long Chen had not experienced huge improvements after Ling Xi left, he would have been very stressed.

Most of them are at the First Passage Stage, a small portion at the Second Passage Stage, and an even smaller number at the Third Passage Stage. Hardly anyone is at the Fourth Passage Stage, but there are probably a few. Huangfu Qi is one of them. Long Chen roughly figured out his competitors.

In order to get the Emperor Flame Pearl, the first step is to enter the Ancient Demon Domain. Any plans to strive hard will only come after that ... Long Chen thought to himself.

“There’s one day left until registration begins. We’ll stay here for one night first,” Huangfu Qi said next to him.

“Mhm.” Long Chen nodded, then he found a quiet place to sit down. Huangfu Qi trotted over hurriedly to follow him. She squatted down with Xiaolang still in her arms, patting him gently as she whispered, “There are many bad people here. Be a good dog; don’t be scared. I’ll keep you company.”

More and more people gathered at the entrance of the Ancient Demon Domain. Long Chen quickly entered his cultivation state, and the day passed quickly. When he opened his eyes and stopped his cultivation, there were about a hundred thousand people gathered there.

About seventy to eighty thousand were there to participate in the qualifiers, while the rest were accompanying family or friends. Everyone present had an anxious or excited expression.

Eighty thousand people competing for seventy spots—entering would be no simple feat.

However, the journey of cultivation was a competition against hundreds of millions of people. Only the best of them could continue the journey upwards and reach the peak.

A few hundred people emerged from the Ancient Demon Domain. They were all wearing black clothes that were identical and strange. Like the people of the Martial Alliance, the character for “demon” was embroidered on their chests, and it radiated an evil and intimidating energy.

“Those people must be the disciples of the Ancient Demon Domain. Their cultivation levels are between the Third and Sixth Passage Stages.” Little Cat could clearly tell their cultivation levels.

“Sixth Passage Stage? That’s an expert who has cleared six of his meridian points.” This was nothing to Little Cat, but Long Chen knew that while he could kill a Third Passage Stage cultivator and barely hold up against someone at the Fourth Passage Stage, he stood no chance against anyone of the Fifth Passage Stage and above.

Although his physical body was tough, the boost it brought to his overall strength was not unlimited. Even if he used the Dragon Soul Transformation, a Fifth Passage Stage cultivator had a hundred times more Qi than him. With such a gigantic gap between them, his body’s toughness, which was equivalent to the best body tempering technique of the Heaven tier, was not enough to give him the advantage.

When the black-clothed people fanned out into a row, they all took out documents from their Universe Pouches to start registering the attendees. Every person who wanted to participate in the qualifiers had to prove their identity first.

Long Chen was prepared with his identity token.

Very soon, under the instruction of the black-clothed people, the large crowd of seventy thousand formed several hundred lines. They all lined up obediently because they knew that if they caused trouble at a time like this, they would likely be killed instantly.

Long Chen and Huangfu Qi lined up at almost the tail end of one of the lines.

The lines moved in an orderly manner. The disciples of the Ancient Demon Domain worked efficiently, and after just two hours, most of the people had been registered. The people who had completed their registrations waited for the event to truly begin.

“I can’t believe I‘m really participating in the Ancient Demon Domain’s qualifiers! Now that I’ve thought about it, it’s basically like a dream.”

“It’s not even a good dream. You’re only at the First Passage Stage! It’s already a very rare chance to participate in the qualifiers, and based on past events, only Third or Fourth Passage Stage cultivators can pass. It’s stressful.”

“Less than twenty years old, but already at the Fourth Passage Stage? How much of a psycho would that person be? If I’m unlucky enough to encounter a Third Passage Stage cultivator, it will be an instant kill.”

There were many discussions happening around Long Chen.

That was when someone said, “Did you guys hear? There are three rounds this time, with each round eliminating ninety percent of participants. For every round you pass, you’ll be rewarded with Heavenly Passage Pills. The amount will increase with every round. I heard that if you’re one of the seventy who pass all three rounds, every person will receive at least ten thousand Heavenly Passage Pills!

“That’s not all. The top ten, top three, and champion of each round will get much more than that. There was once someone who was the champion for all three rounds, and I heard he received a hundred thousand Heavenly Passage Pills!”

“A hundred thousand!” Long Chen initially only wanted to pass the qualifiers and did not think about the ranking. But when he heard about a hundred thousand Heavenly Passage Pills, he was very tempted. He had consumed three hundred Heavenly Passage Pills just to enter the First Passage Stage. Advancing to the Second Passage Stage would likely take more than a thousand. If he had a hundred thousand pills, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Heavenly Passage Pills until he reached the Sixth Passage Stage.

Without Heavenly Passage Pills, he could not become strong. If he could not become strong, he would not get the Emperor Flame Pearl.

It looks like I will have to work hard for the one hundred thousand Heavenly Passage Pills. I don’t have a person like my master protecting me anymore, so I need to get Heavenly Passage Pills on my own. I don’t think I’ll get many chances to receive large lump sums of Heavenly Passage Pills in the Ancient Demon Domain, thought Long Chen.

It was Huangfu Qi’s turn to register.