Chapter 15 The Opening of Heaven

Everyone's heart raced. Did Long Chen really intend to rebel? However, what left everyone dumbfounded was that Long Chen's hand lingered in front of the Seventh Prince, without falling. The Seventh Prince had originally been so frightened that he closed his eyes; after waiting for a long time without any unusual occurrence, he slowly opened his eyes. He saw Long Chen holding a jade token in his hand, with a faint smile on his face, completely different from the cold-blooded killer he had been just moments earlier. "Seventh Prince, take a good look. This is an alchemist's identity token. Do you think I need to kneel before you?" The Seventh Prince had narrowly escaped death; now he was so terrified by Long Chen that he had lost his courage and had no time to distinguish the authenticity of the token. "No need... absolutely no need," said the Seventh Prince, looking at Long Chen, his eyes filled with fear. The killing intent that Long Chen had released earlier had made him feel the fear of death. For someone who had always lived a life of luxury, not wetting his pants was already a display of bravery. "Thank you for your understanding, Seventh Prince," Long Chen said with a slight smile. For such a second-generation heir, all he needed to do was intimidate him. Even with the alchemist's token, the Seventh Prince wouldn't truly dare to act against him, after all, this was still the Phoenix Ming Empire. "Get up," Long Chen said as he slowly extended his hand towards the Seventh Prince, who had collapsed in fear on the ground. The Seventh Prince was taken aback; looking at Long Chen, he momentarily couldn't react, hesitantly extending his hand. After all, he was a prince; besides, he had only been used by Zhou Yaoyang. If Long Chen truly held a grudge against him, it would mean he had fallen into Zhou Yaoyang's scheme. Although Long Chen didn't care, being schemed against felt extremely unpleasant. By doing this, he was essentially giving the Seventh Prince a way out. The Seventh Prince was only fifteen years old, tall in stature but pitifully lacking in experience. With Long Chen's mix of intimidation and kindness, he was momentarily at a loss for words and didn't know what to say after standing up. "Seventh Prince, why don't you sit for a while longer?" Long Chen suggested. "Oh, no, um, I have some matters to attend to, I’ll take my leave now," the Seventh Prince hurriedly turned and left the Literary Hall. When he walked out of the hall, he felt his legs were somewhat weak. However, he was deeply scared of Long Chen. Just now, he even thought he saw the smile of the Grim Reaper, feeling that his life and death were completely in Long Chen’s hands. After seeing the Seventh Prince leave, Long Chen turned around and glanced at the group of young masters who had been involved in attacking him. However, with Long Chen severely injuring Zhou Yaoyang, they were too frightened to move. Now that they saw Long Chen looking at them, their expressions changed, and they hurriedly stepped back. Long Chen couldn't be bothered to pay attention to them. Although they had previously made him gnash his teeth in hatred, they were no longer on the same level now, and that hatred had diminished significantly. Slowly walking to Zhou Yaoyang, who was now barely breathing, Long Chen saw his face and eyes glazed over, looking like he could die at any moment. "Long Chen, you can't kill him. We should send him to the Alchemist Association; he might still be saved," Shi Feng advised as he walked over. After all, this was not a competition arena but a private fight, and if someone died, Long Chen wouldn't be able to escape responsibility. "Rest assured, as the saying goes, good people do not die in vain, and calamities last for a thousand years. Look at him, with his eyebrows in disarray and his forehead sunken, he has the appearance of a petty person. Such people generally do not die easily. Did you not see how rosy his complexion is?" Long Chen smiled. The group, including the fat man, was speechless. Zhou Yaoyang could be considered a pretty boy; the reason his eyebrows were disheveled and his forehead was sunken was not due to his appearance but because Long Chen had slammed him. His entire body had been flattened, and his form had been distorted. Moreover, that rosy complexion? It was because his blood circulation was obstructed and had pooled in his face, appearing somewhat red, but he had already turned purple, so it had nothing to do with being rosy. Long Chen reached into his bosom and took out a pill, stuffing it into Zhou Yaoyang's mouth. "Slap! Slap!" Two loud slaps sounded as they struck Zhou Yaoyang's face, allowing the pill that he couldn't swallow to successfully enter his abdomen. Although Long Chen hated Zhou Yaoyang to the core, he still maintained a degree of restraint. Although Zhou Yaoyang's injuries were severe, he would definitely not die. By taking the healing pill he had refined himself, it would ensure that his internal organs were not harmed. As for the external injuries, heh heh, that was a problem for the Zhou family to solve. Long Chen only needed him to stay alive. "You guys, if you don't want Zhou Yaoyang to die, hurry up and carry him away," Long Chen said coldly, pointing at the group of stunned young masters. Only then did they react, quickly and cautiously carrying Zhou Yaoyang and placing him on the table, even lifting the table away. They also took away Wang Mang, who had already fainted in the corner. "You, you, and you, come over and clean up the bloodstains on the ground," Long Chen ordered the young masters. These guys had often mocked and ridiculed Long Chen in the past. Although he didn't plan to take revenge on them, assigning them some work to do was a way to vent his anger. The young masters pointed out by Long Chen couldn't help but shiver and didn't dare to say a word, quickly going to clean up. They worked diligently, and in no time, they had cleaned everything up, even finding all of Wang Mang's missing teeth. Surprisingly, it was over half an hour after they had finished cleaning that the old lecturer finally arrived. However, the old man looked at Long Chen with some confusion before he began his usual boring lecture. Long Chen couldn't help but curse inwardly: "You old geezer, you must have accepted Zhou Yaoyang's benefits; otherwise, you would not have arrived half an hour late." Damn it, Long Chen secretly scorned. He had originally thought that scholars were inherently noble, but today, this idea was overturned. He felt deceived; the good impression the old man had left on him previously had completely vanished. It was still that same sleep-inducing rhythm. After enduring it, they had lunch and collectively headed to the Battle Skill Pavilion. The fat man and others did not go and directly returned home to take their medicine. Today, seeing Long Chen take action shocked them, but it also seemed to show them their future; they couldn't wait any longer. After entering the Battle Skill Pavilion, Long Chen flipped through several battle skills but found them unsatisfactory. The power of the skills was mediocre and no longer caught Long Chen's eye. He read very quickly, finishing flipping through hundreds of battle skills in less than an hour, and he couldn't help but shake his head. No wonder it was open for free; all of them were garbage battle skills, with convoluted operation routes and poor power. However, only those at the Blood Condensation Realm had the qualifications to enter the second floor of the Battle Skill Pavilion. Moreover, other battle skills didn't hold much use for Long Chen. He already had Wind Chase Steps for movement and Bull Strength for combat; the top battle skills here were not much different from those, and even if he learned them, they wouldn't be of great use. Long Chen couldn't help but let out a sigh and was about to stop wasting time when suddenly his heart stirred slightly, and he glanced at the very bottom corner of the bookshelf. On other bookshelves, each skill was neatly placed in a square, but that particular place was a chaotic pile of things. The items there were also martial arts skills, but many were old and nearly all were incomplete secret techniques. To put it bluntly, they were scrap, and it would be a shame to throw them away, so they were piled in a corner. When Long Chen's gaze swept towards that corner, a roll of tattered animal skin paper caught his attention. The roll of animal skin paper was very old, but with his strong soul power, he felt a very ancient aura emanating from it. Reaching out, he took the tattered animal skin paper from the rubbish heap, and Long Chen's heart suddenly shook. Perhaps others couldn't see the unusual qualities of this animal skin, but he could clearly sense waves of terrifying pressure emanating from it due to his powerful soul power. The surface of the animal skin was covered with dots and patterns, many places already damaged, which were marks of erosion from endless years. Long Chen speculated that the owner of this animal skin must have been an extremely terrifying existence; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to leave such terrifying will even after so long. It was laughable that such a terrifying item was treated like rubbish and tossed here. Long Chen hurriedly examined the animal skin. He saw a picture on it, and ancient characters labeled two words: "Open Sky." What great ambition! Long Chen couldn't help but be shocked. What kind of martial arts skill dared to take such a name? It was too arrogant! Looking at the picture, Long Chen furrowed his brows. He saw nine red dots labeled on it, and nothing else. Between the nine dots, there seemed to be a faint thread connecting them, but due to the age, it was hard to tell if it was originally present or if it was a crack that appeared later. "Time's up! All young masters, put down the secret manuals in your hands!" At that moment, a cold voice echoed throughout the Battle Skill Pavilion, and everyone couldn't help but sigh; time had passed too quickly. Some felt dejected, as they could only come once a month, which was too frustrating. Long Chen looked at the tattered scroll in his hand, feeling somewhat reluctant. His time was too precious, and waiting for a month was intolerable. Seeing everyone leave in order, Long Chen slowly walked out, but he still held onto that scroll of tattered animal skin paper. The Blood Condensation Realm expert at the entrance slightly changed his expression and was about to speak when Long Chen already opened his mouth. "Sir, I would like to take this tattered animal skin paper back to study. Please accept this as a gift." Long Chen said as he tossed over a Dan without waiting for the man to respond. The Blood Condensation Realm expert was about to scold him when he suddenly saw the Dan and his expression changed. Grabbing the Dan, he was astonished to find it was a Blood Condensation Dan, precisely what he needed most. What was more important was that this Blood Condensation Dan was a medium-grade one, worth dozens of times more than an ordinary Blood Condensation Dan. Blood Condensation Realm experts needed to harness the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to refine their bloodlines to make their blood more domineering and powerful. And the Blood Condensation Dan could multiply the effects of blood condensation several times. With this Dan, he could save at least half a year's effort. The expression of the Blood Condensation Realm expert changed several times, but in the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of the Dan and glanced at the tattered animal skin Long Chen held. "Remember, I didn't see anything," he said. Long Chen understood his meaning. It was clear that if he was discovered, he wouldn't take responsibility, and Long Chen would be branded with the label of a thief. Long Chen didn't mind and left with the tattered animal skin, while the Blood Condensation Realm expert carefully examined the Blood Condensation Dan in his hand. "I didn't expect him to have such a treasure. No, I need to investigate his background," the Blood Condensation Realm expert said before disappearing back into the Battle Skill Pavilion. After Long Chen left, he headed straight home. Since he dared to throw out that Blood Condensation Dan, he wasn't afraid of the man investigating him. Now he needed people to know that he was an alchemist, an alchemist highly regarded by Master Yunqi, and that was enough. This was what they called using a tiger skin to make a flag. He used this method to tell others that Long Chen was no longer the useless boy they could easily manipulate; if they wanted to move against him, they needed to consider the consequences. While Long Chen walked, contemplating how to gradually unearth the mastermind behind the scenes, he unknowingly entered a small alley. Suddenly, a giant net fell from the sky, and before Long Chen could react, he was instantly covered. Startled, Long Chen was already airborne.