Chapter 29

Among those few people, Long Chen immediately recognized one of them—it was Xia Changfeng, the prince of the Daxia Kingdom. However, what shocked Long Chen was the familiar face beside Xia Changfeng.

It was a woman, slender and fair-skinned, but always with a hint of arrogance on her face. She was the crazy woman Long Chen had encountered at the Alchemist Guild.

How could she be here? And it seemed she was quite familiar with the Daxia prince. Long Chen couldn't help but be puzzled.

There were about seven or eight people in the group. As soon as Long Chen noticed them, they had already entered a luxurious teahouse.

"Among them is the Fourth Prince," Chu Yao said, having also seen the group. She reminded Long Chen.

"Fourth Prince?" Long Chen was slightly taken aback. Wasn't the Fourth Prince known for being extremely low-key and not participating in the competition among the princes? Why would he be so high-profile, walking with the Daxia prince?

"He is also in disguise, but he has a ring mark on his finger that he forgot to conceal. The dragon-patterned ring he usually wears has a unique design that I can recognize," Chu Yao explained.

As a princess, she often pretended to be ignorant and rude, but she had a very keen observation of the habits of the various princes, so she could immediately identify the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince was actually in disguise? Long Chen's heart stirred, thinking about whether he could sneak in and use his divine sense to eavesdrop on their conversation.

However, seeing over a dozen Daxia elite soldiers guarding the entrance, he shook his head. This idea was hard to realize. It was still daytime, and it would be almost impossible to sneak in. He had to reluctantly abandon this thought.

"Chu Yao, I'll go back and prepare the materials to resolve the foreign spiritual energy in your dantian," Long Chen said.

A hint of reluctance flashed in Chu Yao's beautiful eyes, but she nodded obediently.

After parting ways, Long Chen returned home directly. As soon as he entered the house, a surprised shout came from inside.

"Brother Long!"

He saw Ah Man, who looked like a little giant, looking at him with surprise.

Long Chen was delighted. Ah Man now looked much more spirited, and what surprised Long Chen the most was that Ah Man was no longer the skinny figure he used to be.

His exposed arms were now a full circle thicker than when they first met, and the veins under his skin were clearly visible.

"Haha, Ah Man, have you been eating well recently?" Long Chen patted Ah Man's solid arm and laughed.

"Brother Long, I eat a lot every day, and I feel very strong. I want to stay with Brother Long and protect him," Ah Man patted his chest, sounding very confident.

Long Chen nodded and took Ah Man into his room, using his divine sense to examine Ah Man's body.

"What?"

He was startled by what he saw. After being fed for so long, almost eating dozens of cattle every day, the activated part of Ah Man's body cells was still less than one-tenth.

When he checked the meridians around Ah Man's dantian, he found that they had widened slightly. However, what made Ye Yang's heart race was that there was actually spiritual energy flowing in Ah Man's dantian.

"Ah Man, have you been practicing?" Long Chen asked.

"Brother Long, what is practicing?" Ah Man asked with wide eyes.

"Never mind."

Long Chen didn't bother to explain. After observing for a while, he found that Ah Man's dantian was still inactive, but there was a continuous flow of spiritual energy from the heavens and earth into his dantian.

"What a monstrous physique, absorbing automatically without cultivation."

Long Chen drew a sharp breath. This phenomenon had never occurred before. Now, with a large amount of spiritual energy stored in his dantian, it indicated that Ah Man's body, after becoming stronger, could automatically absorb the spiritual energy of the heavens and earth.

If other martial artists knew about this, they would be jealous to the point of madness. It meant that Ah Man would be constantly cultivating, whether he was eating or sleeping.

"Ah Man, I'll teach you some simple cultivation methods and how to use the energy in your dantian."

Given the special nature of Ah Man's dantian, Long Chen didn't plan to teach him combat techniques, as Ah Man only had four meridians, which made it impossible to trigger most combat techniques.

So Long Chen only taught him how to channel the spiritual energy to his arms and legs to passively increase his strength.

However, Long Chen overestimated Ah Man's intelligence. It took him three hours just to teach Ah Man how to activate his dantian, and even then, Ah Man was still confused.

Long Chen was extremely frustrated, but seeing Ah Man's innocent face, he couldn't vent his anger.

"Alright, if we keep teaching like this, I'll be exhausted before you learn anything," Long Chen sighed, looking helpless.

"Brother Long, I'm sorry. I'm too stupid. I might never learn," Ah Man said, looking dejected.

Ah Man was indeed too stupid. He couldn't even perform the most basic technique of sinking the energy to the dantian, and he couldn't even find his dantian.

Seeing Ah Man's disappointed face, Long Chen felt reluctant. Ah Man's body was incredibly powerful, and if he could harness the spiritual energy, the strength he could unleash would be terrifying.

Not just Ah Man, even Long Chen himself felt it was a waste. It was like a beggar with a gold mine, still living by begging.

Then, Long Chen's eyes lit up. He patted Ah Man's back and said, "I'll help you locate your dantian."

Soul power surged into Ah Man's dantian. Because Ah Man trusted Long Chen completely, there was no resistance, and Long Chen easily integrated his soul power into Ah Man's dantian.

Most importantly, Ah Man, who didn't know how to resist, finally found the location of his dantian.

"Now that you've found your dantian, the next step is to focus your mind on it."

"What does it mean to focus your mind on the dantian?"

"Use your will to activate your dantian."

"What is will?"

Long Chen took a deep breath, almost spitting blood at Ah Man's two questions, but he still patiently explained, "Concentrate all your attention on your dantian."

"Oh, and then?"

"Try to make it move."

"Should it rotate clockwise or counterclockwise?"

"..."

Long Chen was speechless. "It doesn't matter which way it rotates, as long as it moves."

Finding the location of his dantian, Ah Man still couldn't activate it. The dantian seemed to be not his own, remaining completely still.

"No, your attention is not focused. Close your eyes and try again."

Finally, under Long Chen's endless anticipation, Ah Man's dantian moved slightly. Although it wasn't fully activated, at least he had found the path to activate it, which relieved Long Chen.

"Good, now I'll use my soul power to guide the energy in your dantian once. Remember the process and the path."

With that, Long Chen's soul power activated, and Ah Man's dantian, which was originally calm like a still lake, instantly turned into a raging sea, as if a volcano was about to erupt.

"Ah Man, can you activate your dantian now?" Long Chen was delighted.

"No, I don't know what happened," Ah Man was startled by the surging spiritual energy in his body.

"Don't be afraid, remember the path I used."

Long Chen didn't bother to explain the acupoints, as Ah Man wouldn't remember them anyway. He just let Ah Man remember the feeling.

The soul power guided the energy in Ah Man's dantian to his arm. Originally, Long Chen intended to guide it step by step.

However, as soon as the energy from Ah Man's dantian entered his arm, it was like a wild horse breaking free, no longer under Long Chen's control, and a violent force surged out.

Ah Man felt a powerful force in his arm and instinctively threw a punch.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion, the terrifying punch shattered the entire roof, sending dust and debris flying, revealing the endless starry sky above.

"What a violent force!"

Long Chen was shocked. Just the punch wind was so terrifying; if someone were hit by the punch, they would be turned into a pulp.

Ah Man was also stunned by his own punch. He had never imagined he could have such strength.

Long Chen checked Ah Man's dantian again and found that the spiritual energy in it was almost depleted.

"Ah Man, go back and rest. Remember what I taught you and practice hard every day. Don't be lazy," Long Chen said seriously.

With such poor comprehension, if Ah Man were lazy, even a god couldn't teach him.

"Brother Long, don't worry. I will practice hard," Ah Man said, excitedly nodding and waving his arms.

After Ah Man left, Long Chen looked at the damaged roof, lost in thought. What secret did Ah Man have?

That punch shocked even Long Chen. If the Eighth-Browed Blood Condensation Realm expert were hit by that punch, he would surely die.

But Ah Man's body, with over 90% of his cells still dormant, was terrifying to think about if they were all activated.

However, thinking of Ah Man's honest face, Long Chen shook his head. His brother's strength should be as strong as possible. Why worry about this?

He took out a piece of paper and wrote down several dozen names, all of which were names of medicinal herbs, totaling forty-eight.

"The Star Melting Pill is a second-grade pill. I can't yet refine a high-quality second-grade pill, so I need to seek Master Yun Qi's help. But before that, I need to collect all the herbs."

According to Long Chen's memory, the Star Melting Pill could resolve the foreign spiritual energy in Chu Yao's body, but it had to be of high quality.

Currently, Long Chen's alchemy skills were too poor. He had the ability to refine high-quality pills, but he couldn't use it.

The next morning, Long Chen went to the Alchemist Guild's warehouse and handed the list to the medicine boy.

To his surprise, all the other materials were available, except for the main ingredient, the Star Melting Grass.

The Star Melting Grass was a very rare and precious herb, essential for refining many second-grade pills, making it very scarce.

Long Chen nodded. Only one ingredient was missing, which was far better than he had expected. He collected all the materials and now only needed the Star Melting Grass.

Leaving the Alchemist Guild, Long Chen suddenly saw a figure, and a cruel smile appeared on his lips.