chapter 56 - 60

Chapter 56: Deterrence by Force

A person walked in through the hole in the wine shop.

He was wearing an azure robe, and had his hands clasped behind his back. He waltzed in as if he was just visiting a neighbor, and he was smiling. However, his eyes were slightly tinted red.

His behavior was very cordial, but the moment he walked in, the entire wine shop quieted down once more.

"Sir Chang."

"Senior Chang."

"Chang Ye."

A clueless person called out his name, and his mouth was directly covered up by the person next to him.

Scarlet Demon Needle, Chang Ye.

As if he were a scholar dressed in an azure robe, Chang Ye stood in front of Su Chen with a faint smile.

Upon seeing Chang Ye walk in, Su Chen was also slightly startled.

There was an entire large realm between Blood Boiling Origin Qi Scholars and Qi Drawing Origin Qi Scholars. In the Halcyon Gorge, those like the Scarlet Demon Needle were considered peak existences.

Could it be that he also fancied Su Chen's wine shop?

Or could it be... that he was only interested in the blade?

Or could it be... that he was just carelessly mentioning it?

Su Chen did not know which of these possibilities was true, but he was not shaken at all by Chang Ye's gaze.

He replied, "It's not for sale."

Everyone in the wine shop sucked in a breath of air.

Demon Face had refused him just like that.

Refused him easily and directly. He hadn't even been willing to consider it.

Chang Ye's expression was also slightly surprised. "You aren't even going to ask about the price?"

Su Chen expressionlessly pulled out a Cracked Soul Magic Pearl. "Your price will not satisfy me."

Although grade nine Origin Tools were hard to come by, they were not invaluable.

If Chang Ye were to propose a good sale price, even Wolf Blade himself would have been willing to sell it, let alone Su Chen.

Thus, the root of the matter was not related to price.

That was especially true given the price that a Blood Boiling Origin Qi Scholar could pay. It was better just to clearly say that it was not for sale.

Chang Ye laughed. "What if I am dead set on buying it?"

"Then we will have to do battle," Su Chen replied frigidly.

Everyone was completely stunned.

Holy shit, you're directly declaring your intentions to fight with a Blood Boiling cultivator? Are you trying to kill yourself?

Chang Ye was not enraged. He only looked at the black pearl in Su Chen's hand. He did not know what it was, but he could sense a trace of danger from it. "It seems that you have a lot of confidence in being able to deal with me?"

Su Chen shook his head. "I don't have any such confidence, but I do have a good chance of harming you, and a very small chance of successfully escaping. However, I have a hundred percent determination to not bow my head."

With the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl, his Soul Eye technique, and the speed granted by his Cloud-Stepping Boots and the Snaking Mist Steps Su Chen had quite an extensive arsenal. He truly had some confidence in his ability to land an attack on his opponent.

If he added on the Flaming Hunter Blunderbuss, his chance of success would be even greater.

However, though he was confident that he could land an attack, he had no idea what effect the attack would have, if any.

Most likely, his attack would hit the opponent, and the opponent would block it using an Origin Skill or Origin Tool that had an ability like the Amethyst Battle Armor's barrier.

Another possibility was that his attack would hit the opponent. They would block it, but the strength of the blood aura would inflict light injuries.

Less likely was that his attack would hit the opponent, and that they would block it, but the blood aura would have inflicted severe injuries.

It was basically impossible for his attack to kill the opponent.

But as long as there was a chance to damage, that was enough.

He believed that the opponent would not be willing to go all out against him.

After all, strong people had their own honor.

If Su Chen were to make a move and end up being injured, Chang Ye's victory would not be awe-inspiring. Instead, others would know how things stood, and they would even feel that this was the only possible outcome.

Strong people also had their own opponents.

If Chang Ye were to make a move and end up getting injured, that would be equivalent to giving his true opponents an opportunity.

Strong people also had their own appetite.

While the wine store's profits were not small, they were not enough to cause a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator to forcefully seize something from a far weaker character.

This was also why Yang Opening experts would not stoop so low as to excavate starsilver.

Different people with different statuses would have different ways of thinking and needs.

Emperors did not need to be carried by simple gold.

Su Chen did not need to make Chang Ye fear him. He only needed to make Chang Ye feel that making a move would not gain him anything and would only lose him prestige and face. There might even be opportunities for his opponents to make a move, and that was enough.

Indeed, upon hearing these words, Chang Ye laughed, "Truly you are someone with guts. Demon Face, would you be interested in working with me?"

The topic of conversation had shifted towards winning Su Chen over.

Su Chen still shook his head. "I prefer independence. I don't want to join anyone else."

"You're not even curious about the conditions?" Chang Ye asked. "For instance, an absorption technique of mid-tier or higher quality."

Everyone began to look on with envy.

The higher quality an absorption technique was, the harder they were to obtain. Based on Chang Ye's tone, it was possible that even high-tier absorption techniques were possibilities.

Su Chen, however, uncompromisingly shook his head. What Chang Ye could give him, the Su Clan already possessed. If he didn't treasure the Su Clan anymore, how could he treasure a mere Chang Ye?

Chang Ye did not get angry. He nodded and said, "So that's how it will be. Alright, just make sure you remember your words, Demon Face."

Su Chen replied respectfully, "Many thanks for Senior Chang's instruction. Demon Face understands."

Su Chen also understood what Chang Ye had meant.

Chang Ye had no interest in the Heavenly Wolf Blade.

Rather, he was interested in Su Chen himself.

Earlier, he had been testing Su Chen's resolve. Upon seeing that Su Chen truly did have some courage, he had wanted to recruit him and win him over. For Su Chen to reject him without any hesitation was an indication that Su Chen had someone else backing him.

This made Chang Ye completely give up on any ideas of taking him in.

However, before he left, Chang Ye had warned Su Chen to remember the words that he had spoken about remaining independent until the end. If Su Chen were to follow someone else, Chang Ye might be forced to strike first to gain the upper hand.

This "someone else" naturally referred to the other Blood Boiling Realm cultivators.

Upon seeing Chang Ye leave, Su Chen's heart which had been tightened slowly relaxed. He continued to hold the Cracked Soul Magic Pearl in his hand, which was soaked in sweat.

The pressure from facing a Blood Boiling cultivator was truly too great.

But no matter what, Su Chen had successfully passed through this trial.

The moment that Chang Ye left, everyone turned to watch Su Chen with strange gazes.

This was a stubborn person who dared to stand up to someone in the Blood Boiling Realm, a fierce person who had killed five Origin Qi Scholars in a short amount of time – one-sixth of the "strong" people in the Halcyon Gorge. He was a vicious man who dared to use poison and sneak attacks, and did not shy away from any tactic..

When facing this kind of stubborn, fierce, and vicious person, it was best to avoid provoking them.

——————————————

Giving oneself a bloodthirsty reputation was the best way to scare away others. The battle at the Starplucking Wine Pavilion had shown all of the guests who were coveting his shop to give up on that thought.

Su Chen's business began to stabilize because of it. Even on the days that he was not present at the wine shop, no one made any trouble.

This gave Su Chen even more free time, allowing him to go out and supplement his stock.

After a month of hunting and training, Su Chen became even more proficient in using his Origin Skills. His cultivation realm had officially reached the second layer of the Qi Drawing Realm, going from seventeen to twenty-three Yellow Stars. This rate of improvement was even faster than the month before. This was because his strength had increased, so he could kill more of the Vicious Beasts that he encountered around the Halcyon Gorge.

However, even after adding all of these benefits together, they were still not as great as Su Chen's inconceivable increase in wealth.

In just a month's time, Su Chen had stored up twelve thousand Origin Stones, and this did not even include what he had taken from Wolf Blade and the other four.

Wolf Blade and his brothers gave Su Chen twelve kilograms of starsilver, four hundred Origin Stones, a grade nine Origin Tool, and two refined blades. Although these blades were not Origin tools, they were top-tier for normal blades. There was also an Immortal Grass, which was a rare cultivation herb. It was stored in a jade box.

The Bai couple were also pretty rich. They had eight kilograms of starsilver and eight hundred Origin Stones. They even had an Origin Skill pearl that recorded a blade skill known as Thunder Blade. Apart from Origin Skill pearls used by clans to transmit their unique skills, most Origin Skill pearls were one-time use only. This pearl of theirs was the same. It was unclear where they had obtained this pearl from, since they were both sword users. Thus, they had no use for it, but Su Chen did; he learned it right away.

The Thunder Blade's strength was not too great, and the damage it could do was limited. However, it was extremely versatile and could be used for both close- and long-range combat. It could be applied on a blade or could be used on daggers or even flying daggers, which could be close-range or thrown. Its energy consumption was not too great and could be sustained for some time, increasing the power of each strike. Individually, this effect would not be great, but when accumulated its strength could be imagined. It was very representative of a current Origin Skill.

Excluding the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf Blade, the profit Su Chen had made from these five people was roughly equivalent to a month of hard work at his store, and this was when he had a monopoly on the market. No wonder others commonly said that killing people was the best way to get rich quick. However, the prerequisite condition was that one had to kill others, not be killed.

However, this was not Su Chen's final way to earn profit.. Most of his Origin Stones had been exchanged for starsilver. Because he bought at half the regular price, he had actually doubled his profits. Calculating it this way, Su Chen had earned roughly a total of thirty thousand Origin Stones in just a month.

Excluding the profit of just killing others, merely twenty thousand Origin Stones every month was enough to move the hearts of countless people.

Even if they couldn't forcefully take it, that didn't mean that there were no other methods.

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Page 2

Chapter 57: Competition

Today, Su Chen returned from his training as per usual. On his back, he carried a Giant Bucktoothed Bear. His body exuded a hazy killing aura, and he held a blood-stained Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf Blade. Because it didn't have the issue of draining one's physical energy, the Heavenly Wolf Blade had already replaced the Black Streak Battle Blade had become Su Chen's most commonly used weapon.

"Boss, you've returned," Li Shu warmly came forwards to greet him.

"Yes." Su Chen slung the giant bear off his back, tossing it onto the ground. The ground trembled for a moment.

"Everything has been going well, apart from..." Li Shu hesitated for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Someone didn't pay for their wine and meat again," Li Shu replied.

Su Chen raised his eyebrows, "Another Wolf Blade?"

"No, that's not it," Li Shu hurriedly replied. "He truly doesn't have money.

As he spoke, he pointed towards the corner.

Su Chen followed Li Shu's pointing to find a person hugging his head nestled up in the corner, curled into a ball.

Li Shu ran over, kicking that person's butt. "Why haven't you gotten up yet!"

That person slowly stood up.

When that person stood up, Su Chen received quite the shock.

This person was extremely tall.

Wolf Blade had already been tall, but compared to this burly man in front of him Wolf Blade would only reach his shoulders. As for Su Chen, he only came up to the person's chest.

He was just like a small mountain standing in front of Su Chen, filling Su Chen's entire vision. Su Chen felt a sense of pressure from him.

But such a large person stood respectfully in place in front of him, his neck shrunk in. His body was a tough as granite, and Li Shu's fists and feet only felt ticklish. He did not dare to fight back at all; fear, hurt, and pleading were written all over his face.

Upon looking at the man's rough skin, his sturdy chest and his guileless face, Su Chen finally understood.

"So he is of the Mountain Race."

——————————

The Mountain Race.

An Intelligent Race similar to humankind.

The Mountain Race had a very tragic history. From the beginning of their existence, they had always been stepped on. Although they had very powerful physiques, their ability to sense Origin Energy was extremely poor. It was difficult for them to absorb and release Origin Energy effectively. Of course, this wasn't to say that had absolutely no way of using it. However, cultivating Origin Energy more difficult for them than for any other intelligent race. On average, Humankind only needed five years of Body Tempering to enter Qi Drawing, but the Mountain Race needed fifteen. Humankind only needed ten years of Qi Drawing to enter Blood Boiling, but the Mountain Race needed thirty. Human Origin Qi Scholars had seven cultivation realms, implying that the highest cultivation base could only reach seven realms. However, the Mountain Race had never even seen cultivators of the fourth realm, the Light-Shaking Realm, before. Yang Opening was their limit.

Their intelligence was not high, and they could not learn things very quickly.

Because they were not intelligent and were not sensitive to Origin Energy, no strong expert had ever appeared in their race, leaving them with no protective figure, despite their physically strong bodies.

This was the tragedy of the Mountain Race.

Because of this, the Mountain Race had never risen to glory since their existence.

The Five Great Races of the Primordial Continent – Human Race, Feathered Race, Ocean Race, Spirit Race, and Ferocious Race – all had their own moments of glory in history. Even now, they all had a territory that belonged to them. Even the races that had declined in power such as the Green Race or the Mysterious Race had once been great and powerful, and had left their mark of glory in history.

However, the Mountain Race did not.

They did not have any moments of glory in history, nor did they have a territory to call their own.

Their only history was that of slaves.

They had been enslaved by the beasts, enslaved by the Arcanas, and enslaved by humankind.

The Mountain Race served as slaves of humankind.

Although they did not have any great protectors, they were great cannon fodder because of their powerful physiques. Ignoring powerful Origin Qi Scholars, one individual from the Mountain Race could sweep the floor with even a large group of the human masses.

There were many other races like the Mountain Race whose intelligence was low. Most of them attached themselves to one of the Five Great Races to survive. However, because survival conditions were quite harsh, many of these "attached races" began to decline, and it had become harder and harder to find them.

According to rumors, there were already people in Long Sang Country that were calling out for the monitoring and protection of the Mountain Race and the Moon Race. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the army to reform its infantry, so they needed to add more Mountain Race people into their ranks. In addition, the suicide squad's required large amounts of Moon Race supplements.Things had been positive and easy in recent years: there was favorable weather for crops, the Beast Waves had decreased, and everyone's lives were good. Not many dared to go face to face with death anymore...

Su Chen had not expected that he would run into someone from the Mountain Race.

The man even looked like a hard mountain rock. He stood there like a protrusion, gazing directly at Su Chen.

He said timidly with some fear, "Sorry... I do not have money..."

"If you don't have money, why eat?"

He weakly replied, "I was hungry."

Su Chen sized up the big man in front of him.

His appearance was very similar to that of humans. However, his forehead was particularly wide, and he did not have any eyebrows or facial hair, and his skin was a greyish-white. He was very representative of what a Mountain Race individual looked like, and that was what distinguished them from mankind.

"Since that's the case, why didn't you find a place to work?"

The Mountain man's face revealed a trace of sorrow and anger. "They... don't let me work."

"Don't let you work?" Su Chen was quite surprised.

The Mountain Race were particular good at enduring hardships, and their strength was also great. They made extremely good slaves. Although they were slightly stupid, as long as one was patient they could still be taught. They ate more than most people, but that wasn't a problem. No matter how much they ate, it was better than three Origin Qi Scholars who ate similar amounts, wasn't it?

Because of this, the Mountain Race was still admired for their ability to do physical labor. Occasionally, one wouldn't be able to find one even if one wanted to.

Off to the side, Li Shu told him, "His name is Iron Cliff. Earlier, he was Black Hand's slave. Three days ago, he lost a shipment of goods, which infuriated Black Hand. Black Hand chased him away and even said that no one was allowed to use him for work, and that he was not allowed to leave the Halcyon Gorge."

Su Chen was surprised. "So he basically said that he wanted to starve Iron Cliff to death?"

"Pretty much."

"What did he lose that made this guy so angry?"

A strange expression appeared on Li Shu's face. "A few foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables."

"Foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables?" Su Chen squinted his eyes.

Li Shu nodded his head. "That's right. They should be planning on opening another wine shop."

So, in the end, they still came.

Su Chen was not surprised

If business was good, there would definitely be those who tried to copy it.

There was no rule that only Demon Face could set up a store here. Others can do it too.

But this way, business would be difficult to do in the future.

Even though more people had arrived in the past month, there was still no more than six or seven hundred people. Of these people, a third either didn't have money or were unwilling to spend it, and a fourth of them were not dependent on Su Chen's shop as they had brought adequate supplies. Only a little less than half spent money here. And of these people who spent money, the majority of them were frugal with their spending – not everyone was like Wolf Blade, who ate and drank like a glutton..

Such a low number of people meant that there was already not much business. The only thing keeping Su Chen afloat was his monopoly and sudden profits.

However, having been open for close to a month, Su Chen's business was already beginning to decline. Many of the items he sold only needed to be bought once. Because he was lacking new customers, his decline in business was something that was inevitable. Now that he had a new competitor, he could no longer take advantage of his monopoly, and his profits would once again take a hit.

One could imagine that the following days would not be as good as they used to be.

"Boss." Li Shu saw that Su Chen was anxious through his fidgeting.

In reality, Su Chen was not too worried about this. He was not someone who pursued riches in the first place. His main reason for opening a store and doing business here was because this was one way to avoid interfering with his cultivation too much. Sending shipments every day was a good opportunity for his cultivation.

If the opportunity to nmake more money disappeared, then so be it.

In any case, windfalls were not things that lasted for a long time anyways.

However, when he looked at Li Shu's expectant expression, Su Chen hesitated for a moment.

No matter what, he still had to spend another month in the Scarlet Mountain Range. Wasn't it too early just to give up like that? Su Chen thought.

He thought for a moment, then said, "I need to go discuss something with Black Hand."

In the end, business was always done through conversation. As someone who was from a clan that did lots of business, Su Chen was very familiar with these things.

"What will you discuss?" Li Shu asked. "Black Hand is not someone who is easy to deal with. If you go there, perhaps they will think that we are there to plead with him, and they will definitely become greedy to the point of daylight robbery."

"Then let them come to us." Su Chen glanced at Iron Cliff, who was still standing there mutely. "Doesn't this Iron Cliff lack the money to pay me back? Then let him work here to pay back his debt."

"Yes," Li Shu respectfully replied.

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Page 3

Chapter 58: Negotiations

As nightfall arrived, the lanterns began to light up.

Large, red lanterns were hung up outside the Starplucking Wine Pavilion. They were lit brightly, as if in anticipation that the best time of day was about to arrive.

As the customers entered one by one, the Starplucking Wine Pavilion became very busy very quickly.

As per usual, Su Chen would find a quiet corner to sit in at this time as long as he was not practicing in the forest. He would drink his tea and quietly watch the alcohol-influenced scenes that would play out in his wine shop. People thought that Su Chen was someone who was aloof and mysterious, not like an ordinary mortal, and that he was monitoring the situation with indifference. In reality, Su Chen was just constantly using his Soul Eye to temper his eyes.

After three months of cultivation, Su Chen had slowly become more proficient with the Soul Eye. At the same time, he discovered that although his eyes could not amplify the effect of the Soul Eye, practicing Soul Eye helped increase the speed of evolution of his eyes.

Su Chen was unintentionally able to verify one of his guesses – the Soul Eye could stimulate and increase the speed that his eyes evolved at.

The first time that he saw light was when he regained his sight while fighting Lin Xie. His discovery of the Origin Energy motes occurred after fighting the Jade-Eyed Ape – almost every time his eyes had changed, it had come after a strong stimulus.

Su Chen could only guess that there was a link between his soul, which was located in his brain, and his eyes which were like the windows of his brain. Stimulation of his soul had also resulted in Su Chen's eyes continuing to develop even faster.

Using his Soul Eye had indirectly confirmed this point. Su Chen's constant usage of this soul-type Origin Skill caused his eyes to improve quite rapidly. Although no new abilities had emerged, as had been the case when the stimuli had been great, there was a steady improvement that allowed Su Chen to more clearly perceive the motion of Origin Energy in a person's body.

It was the same as when Su Chen had first seen Gu Qingluo. He could see a very special Qi flow in the person's body, and it was clearer and more stable than that time. Because this flow only appeared on Origin Qi Scholars, Su Chen didn't need to think to know that that must be Origin Energy.

However, Su Chen did not know what benefits this ability would bring him. In addition, his eyes had no way of penetrating clothing, so his vision would not be complete.

Despite this, Su Chen did not fret. As long as there was progress, there would be new abilities that would manifest themselves sooner or later.

Su Chen had already used the Soul Eye to stare at a little mouse hiding in the corner eleven times. The poor guy that had been struck over and over with this magic staggered around, dazed. When the twelfth Soul Eye activation landed on it, the mouse could no longer take the heavy burden and let out a loud yell, falling to the ground and dying.

The repeated soul attacks had resulted in severe damage to its brain, causing a non-attack type skill to also result in fatal injury.

'Indeed, things do not always behave according to how the world categorizes them, and many things are not absolute,' Su Chen said to himself as he gazed at the mouse's corpse.

After using his Soul Eye twelve times in a row, Su Chen felt some fatigue. He closed his eyes, intending to rest for a bit.

"Demon Face."

It was at this moment that Black Hand's coarse voice sounded out from behind Su Chen.

Black Hand was a person who seemed somewhat shriveled, and he was dark-skinned and very thin. Although he did not seem strong, no one would look down on him because of it.

He was a very vicious, bloodthirsty individual. In his short time in the Halcyon Gorge, he had already slain six people, including two Origin Qi Scholars.

Black Hand was known to have a low tolerance threshold and would kill easily. This was also where his name came from.

Su Chen did not turn around. He waved his hand, indicating that Black Hand could sit next to him.

Black Hand gazed at the back of Su Chen's head for a while, probably estimating his odds at killing Su Chen if he were to suddenly make a move, or what kinds of consequences would result from killing him.

He thought for a moment, then seemed to give up. He sat next to Su Chen and said, "Demon Face, you are being unjust."

"How so?" Su Chen turned his head over to look at him. Cold light shined out from the black eyes beneath the mask.

Black Hand said, "Iron Cliff was a dog that I let go. I originally intended to punish him for a few days before taking him back. However, I didn't expect that you would take him in after a moment's inattention from me. Don't you think you should give me an explanation for this matter?"

"Take him back after a few days?" Su Chen laughed. "Take what back? A corpse?"

"Even if it's just a corpse, it's still mine!" Black Hand gritted his teeth as he said.

Su Chen tilted his body slightly, leaning towards Black Hand. "You want Iron Cliff? Fine, as long as you can clear his account from eating here, you can take him with you."

"How much?"

"One thousand two hundred low-grade Origin Stones."

"You motherfucker, what are you saying?" Black Hand raised his voice before noticing that many people were staring at him from the side. He quietly sat back down in his chair, glaring at Su Chen all the while.

"He ate here yesterday," Su Chen replied. "Do you still remember Wolf Blade? I said before that if you owe me something, every night the debt is multiplied by a hundred times."

Black Hand's eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me?"

Su Chen shook his head. "I never threaten people; I'm just telling you the truth. Once we clear his account, you can take him away immediately. Or, you can let him work here for me until his debt is completely paid."

"Is there not a third option?"

Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "There is. As long as you close the store that you are opening, I will return him to you."

Black Hand was startled for a moment, then raised his head and began to laugh loudly. "So you were waiting for me here. I was wondering why you weren't showing your face anymore. You even detained my person. You must have just been waiting to say that, no?"

Su Chen didn't directly answer him. He only said, "There's not enough people in the Halcyon Gorge. There's enough business for one store, but not enough for two. If it were to escalate into more conflict, then there's no reason to stay here any longer."

"I don't care about that. If you can open shop, I can open shop. If you have the ability, try and stop me," Black Hand coldly laughed. "Don't think that I'm scared of you just because you killed Wolf Blade and Bai Fan."

Su Chen sighed. "I do not intend to stay in the Halcyon Gorge forever. I just want to strike it rich. Of course, one could say that everyone here in the Halcyon Gorge has the exact same train of thought. However, some have succeeded, while others failed. Black Hand, if you want to compete with me for business, I cannot stop you, and I am not as stupid as Wolf Blade. However, I can lower the prices of all my products to the lowest possible price as soon as you open your store."

Black Hand's expression changed. "You wouldn't do that, there's no benefit to you!"

"Why not?" Su Chen countered. "I'll be straight with you. In the past month, my store made roughly ten thousand Origin Stones. However, you also know that some products only need to be bought once. Thus, my business after this had decreased by about thirty percent. That is also to say that even without competition, I can only earn sixty to seventy percent of the initial ten thousand Origin Stones. If another competitor appeared, and I lost half of my business, my profits would only be around three thousand Origin Stones. Of course, this is assuming that there are no price cuts. However, do you really think that price cuts won't happen?"

Black Hand was speechless.

Of course it would happen. Black Hand had even decided a long time ago to lower his prices by ten percent compared to Su Chen upon opening his store to attract customers.

However, Su Chen evidently would not sit still either.

He had never expected that Su Chen's response would be so vicious. He had yet to even open his store, and Su Chen was already planning on lowering his prices to the lowest possible amount.

Su Chen said, "That means that in the next month, I would be lucky to even earn two thousand Origin Stones. Do you think that I care about such a paltry amount? If you encountered this situation, what would you do?"

Black Hand thought for a moment, then replied, "Even if I couldn't earn that much, I would do it just to teach my opponent a lesson."

Those who cultivated on the martial path were not businessmen by nature.

They were all made of flesh and blood, and they all had tempers.

If the matter was something large, perhaps they would simply endure it.

However, if it was something small, they would most likely act according to emotion.

Since there was someone who was affecting one's money making ability, then nobody needed to make money. Su Chen was willing to do this, and so was Black Hand.

Su Chen laughed. "That's right, I was thinking the same thing."

Black Hand harrumphed, "Don't think that you can convince me to give up with just a few sentences. If anything, we will both force each other to give up, and nobody will be able to play."

"You can also delay things, and everyone can make money," Su Chen replied. "What do you think about this? You open your store a month from now, and I will give you my store. I will completely let go of it."

"Absolutely not!" Black Hand refused. "You also know that starsilver has been harder and harder to come by. The amount that is remaining is not great. I estimate that people can only continue to excavate for another fifty days or so."

"Then twenty five days."

"Aren't I losing too much then? With less and less starsilver, people will also have less and less money, and the things that they can buy will also decrease. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. What if someone else tries to compete with me afterwards?"

"Hm, that's true." Su Chen thought for a moment. "Then we'll compromise. Twenty two days?"

"Fifteen days at most. My goods have already arrived. I originally intended to open shop tomorrow. I can only give you at most fifteen days. Some things cannot be delayed."

"I can buy your goods from you. Twenty days, this is my bottom line. You already have ten more days than I do at this point."

"Eighteen days! This is my bottom line."

"Then Iron Cliff is mine."

"Deal!"

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Page 4

Chapter 59: Excavating Ore (Part 51)

After completing negotiations with Black Hand, the two of them ended up in an alliance of sorts, making it so that there were no new issues that popped up in the following days.

After eighteen days, Su Chen had arranged to transfer ownership of his store. From that moment on, all the business in the store had nothing to do with him. However, before he left, Su Chen slightly raised his price on buying starsilver, and traded most of the Origin Stones that he possessed for starsilver. This made Black Hand somewhat unsatisfied; after all, this would affect his future business a little.

Su Chen didn't want to offend or go too far, so he gave Zhang Yuanliao's storage ring to Black Hand. Black Hand just so happened to be lacking a ring to store goods in, and Su Chen's gift was extremely handy. Thus, he received it in understanding.

On the day that Su Chen was giving up his business, Li Shu asked Su Chen, "Boss, where are you planning on going after this?"

Su Chen replied, "I am still planning on staying in the Scarlet Mountain Range for another fifteen days or so. Since I have basically completed my original goal, I would only be idling around otherwise, so I am going to go take a look at the mining tunnels and test my luck."

Li Shu said, "Boss, Li Shu wants to come with you."

"Oh?" Su Chen looked at him. "You want to officially follow me?"

Li Shu nodded his head definitely.

"Do you have any others in your family?"

Li Shu's face revealed a trace of sadness. "This little one no longer has any remaining family. If I did, I wouldn't come to such a dangerous place like the Halcyon Gorge, in a bid to risk it all."

"So that's how it is..." Su Chen thought for a moment.

After getting to know him for two months, Su Chen began to understand Li Shu more. He knew that this person not only knew how to read and write, he also had great discernment and his brain was very sharp. Li Shu had a lot of his own thoughts, however, and relying on him too much would probably be impossible. But Su Chen also knew that those with any ability would always have their own thoughts and ambitions. As long as they were well-controlled, this wasn't a problem.

At the moment, Su Chen only had Ming Shu and Zhou Hong as his underlings. While the two of them were extremely loyal, their abilities were only so-so.

Sometimes, using people depended on more than just loyalty. To ambitious people, the strength of their underlings was more important than their loyalty to a certain extent. That was because masters with ability trusted that no matter how many thoughts or methods their underlings had, they would never be able to escape their master's oversight. Thus, those with sufficient strength did not worry that their underlings had talent; rather, they feared the exact opposite.

Su Chen was such a person.

Su Chen had been able to utilize Li Shu quite effectively. Since Li Shu wanted to follow him, he was willing to keep him.

However, this would mean that he would need to bring Li Shu along with him back to the Su Palace. The danger was that Li Shu would also know that he was Su Chen and that Su Chen was no longer blind.

Whatever. In any case, there was no way for him to continuously pretend as if he were still blind. It made sense to let Li Shu become the second person to know the truth.

Upon thinking to here, Su Chen said, "Tomorrow Black Hand's men will come to retrieve the goods. I will give Black Hand a heads-up to send people to escort you out of the Scarlet Mountain Range. Once you exit this place, go to the True Jade Pavilion in Northface City and ask for someone called Tang Zhen. Let him know what has happened here, and he will take care of everything for you."

"This little one understands," Li Shu replied.

Su Chen did not explain things in any more detail. Based on Tang Zhen's wealth of experience and Li Shu's wits, he trusted that some things didn't need to be said.

Having taken care of Li Shu, Su Chen brought Iron Cliff with him and headed in the direction of the cave. He was now Iron Cliff's master.

The once beautiful Halcyon Gorge had become filled with potholes and ditches.

Discarded rock fragments and ore slag were everywhere, turning the beautiful, enchanting scenery into a dirty and chaotic quarry.

In this quarry, the best excavation locations had been claimed by the strongest Origin Qi Scholars. Even medium quality locations had been claimed by various martial artists. Although their individual strength was not great, they formed small alliances and attempted to protect each other. Only places with the lowest quantity of ore were empty, and they were given to excavators with the least strength.

The location that Su Chen had chosen was one such location.

This location was in the southern area of the gorge and was an abandoned mineshaft. It was called the Southern Gorge Number 14. When Southern Gorge Number 14 was at its peak, thousands of kilograms of starsilver had been mined here. At that time, at least four different groups of people had surrounded it, fighting for it. However, following extensive mining, the ore in this location gradually decreased to virtually none. Others had given up on this place, and it became an abandoned mineshaft.

Today, apart from a few miners who would come around to take a quick look, and who might find some starsilver if their luck was good, not many people stuck around here anymore.

Su Chen had come here this time because he was truly testing out his luck.

All of the other mining locations were occupied. The other mines had been very clearly divided, and it was necessary to provoke others no matter which one one chose to go to. If one caused a dispute, one would need to also be prepared to be killed. there was no recoil when Su Chen had killed Wolf Blade, not just because of Su Chen's strength, but also because Su Chen had simply counterattacked to protect himself. In this world, while fists often did the talking, rules and principles were also important.

If one didn't want to bring trouble, one could only go to the poorer-quality mines. Thus, Su Chen chose this place that had once flourished to see what kind of luck he had.

Upon entering the mine shaft, he was greeted by pitch-black gloom, as if he had returned to those days where he couldn't see.

As someone who had been blind for three years, Su Chen was not unaccustomed to this kind of darkness at all. Rather, he felt almost like a fish in water. He easily walked along the dark mine shaft, not even bothering to use a crystal lantern. However, Iron Cliff, who was following him, had to step on uneven terrain. Occasionally he would fall over.

After walking down roughly two mine shafts, Su Chen stopped in front of a piece of wall and said, "Let's do it here."

"Yes." Iron Cliff raised a pickaxe made of steel and began to mine.

He was still of the Mountain Race. Thus, in terms of raw strength, Iron Cliff was probably stronger than Su Chen. Every time he mined, large chunks of mountain rock would crumble. His efficiency was many times greater than that of regular workers.

As the pieces of rock fell to the ground, Su Chen would inspect them. Discovering starsilver was very easy. In the dark, starsilver emitted a distinctive silvery light. How much starsilver he would obtain when purifying the ore depended on his luck. Su Chen broke apart rock after rock, but unfortunately he didn't see a single bit of light.

After mining for roughly an hour or so, Su Chen finally uncovered his first piece of starsilver.

The ore was roughly the size of a fist, and its surface was covered with scattered dots of silver light. Evidently, the amount it contained inside was not high either. Most likely, not much starsilver could be purified from this piece of ore.

"Indeed, this place is so barren that it cannot possibly be more barren," Su Chen bitterly laughed. "It seems as if this place no longer has any value. Let's go, we'll switch locations and try our luck there."

Su Chen brought Iron Cliff along with him as they wandered aimlessly in the mineshafts.

A day later, Su Chen took out all of the starsilver ore he had obtained to refine it. In the end, he was actually able to refine a tael, and this was after Iron Cliff had essentially done the work of three people all on his own.

Although this was very little, Su Chen did not mind.

He came here to try out his luck in the first place. He was essentially wasting time, so whatever he found was what he found, regardless of what the outcome was.

Thus, in the following days, he continued to bring Iron Cliff around to all the other mineshafts, mining here and there. Although he didn't get much, he felt very unrestrained and free.

Of course, this "unrestrained and free" only came about under Iron Cliff's hard work. Young Master Su only needed to look at rocks, and in the remainder of his time he would practice his Origin Skills. This unrestrained lifestyle would not be possible if he had to personally mine.

Today, Su Chen took Iron Cliff to go mining with him as per usual.

Iron Cliff tightly hugged the wall of the mineshaft. His strength was so great that he could excavate large amounts of stone and earth every single time.

As he was mining, suddenly a loud rumble sounded, and a large dust cloud flew into the air.

When the dust settled, Su Chen and Iron Cliff were greeted by a vast, open vacant space in front of them.

This excavation from Iron Cliff had actually uncovered another paradise.

1. The author starts to split up arcs into parts here. This can kind of be confusing, because the chapters are still sometimes split up, but I felt that this helps keep track of which arcs are present.

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Page 5

Chapter 60: Beetle (Part 6)

The crystal lantern let out a warm glow of light, shining on the path ahead, causing the scenes in front to grow clearer.

This was a giant open space, extremely spacious. It seemed as if it were a mountain that had been completely dug out. In the middle of the open space was a large pit, and a few skeletons were inside of it. However, it was hard to tell if the corpses were of beast or human.

Su Chen walked in and said, "Does this count as finding uncharted territory? Iron Cliff."

"I think so, Master. However, it doesn't seem like this uncharted territory has any value," Iron Cliff replied simply and honestly.

"That might not be true." Su Chen said, looking at his surroundings. The crystal lantern illuminated the walls, and then he pointed and said, "Let's try mining here."

Iron Cliff hefted the iron pickaxe and walked towards it.

The piercing sound of a pickaxes on rock once again echoed in the open space.

Not long afterwards, Iron Cliff actually did find a piece of starsilver. One could easily tell from the brilliant silver light that this was an extremely high-quality ore.

Iron Cliff's energy was stirred up, and he began to swing the pickaxe with even more speed.

Piece after piece of ore was mined out the wall by Iron Cliff. After breaking through the outer rock layer, starsilver of all shapes and sizes appeared. In just an hour's time, they had obtained more starsilver than they had from the past few days combined.

Not only was there lots of starsilver here, the starsilver was also pure. Su Chen picked up a piece of ore and estimated that there was at least thirty percent starsilver in the ore.

This was already quite a high purity content for starsilver ore.

However, it seemed as if the good times were only just beginning.

With a clatter, another starsilver ore the size of his fist fell onto the ground/

This piece's purity was even higher. Based on the brilliance of its silver light, it was probably at least fifty percent pure.

A top-grade starsilver ore.

Even Su Chen had to sigh in amazement.

It was at this time, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

It was not a strong tremor. However, Su Chen and Iron Cliff felt it at the same time.

Could it be that an earthquake was about to hit? If that was the case, then things were about to go south very quickly.

But Su Chen realized that this was not the case in the next instant because those tremors were increasing in strength, heading in his direction.

Su Chen jumped backwards purely out of instinct.

As he flew into the air, he saw that two giant scythes had cut into where he had been standing just a moment ago. If Su Chen had moved any slower, he would have already been cut into two.

As those two scythes landed on thin air, a howl sounded out, and an enormous maw emerged from the ground. That maw was extremely terrifying; its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, and it oozed with a sticky mucus that actually melted the rock as it dripped to the ground. Those two giant scythes earlier were actually the two mandibles below the large maw. When they opened and closed, they made an unsettling sound.

This monstrosity had just crawled out of the ground. Apart from its frightening maw and keen mandibles, it also had a thick, hard outer shell on its rear section. The shell on this rear section also had two thin wings that flapped constantly.

This was clearly a beetle!

However, until now, Su Chen had never seen such a large beetle. Its mouth could swallow him whole, and it could probably even force Iron Cliff down.

"What the hell, what is this monster?" Su Chen said as he saw an existence that he had never heard of appear before him.

Iron Cliff's jaw had also dropped.

Su Chen slowly pulled out the Moon-Swallowing Heavenly Wolf Blade, pointing it at this giant beetle.

But in the next instant, what he saw rendered him speechless – that beetle completely ignored him. Instead, it leapt at the pile of starsilver ore, opened its mouth wide, and began to eat.

The starsilver ore that Iron Cliff had painfully excavated had actually been eaten by this beetle.

"So its' original target was the ore, not me." Su Chen udnerstood.

Although starsilver was valuable, it was not as precious as his own life. Upon seeing that this strange beast didn't pay any attention to him, Su Chen also let out a sigh. He could see a dense Origin Energy on the beetle's body, and its density was not lower than those three Blood Boiling Realm cultivators. This was a new usage for his eyes; he could use the opponent's density of Origin Energy to infer the opponent's cultivation base.

Although cultivation base was not battle prowess, it was still a pretty good estimator.

This beetle had an Origin Energy level of the peak of Blood Boiling. Su Chen definitely did not want to engage in a battle with it.

However, at this moment, an angry voice sounded out, "You useless garbage, you forgot your target once you started eating. You never know what is more important. Does your pitiful brain only know about metals?"

In the darkness, a human figure slowly emerged, appearing in the open under the crystal lantern light.

This person was shrouded in a long black cloak. His face was covered by the shadow, and it was hard to tell what he looked like. However, it was apparent that he was quite old.

He held a wooden staff in his hand, and a fire-red precious stone was on top of the staff.

His entire aura was sinister and gloomy. He looked like a departed soul that had walked out from the deep abyss, appearing in front of Su Chen.

Upon seeing this person appear, Su Chen's heart sank slightly.

After arriving in front of the beetle, the old man stopped walking. He watched Su Chen and let out a cold harrumph, "I sealed the entrance to this place with quite some difficulty, but you greedy lot still mined your way here. Riches blinded your eyes, causing you to enter this place of no return."

Su Chen retreated a few steps, silently activating the Cloud-Stepping Battle Boots. He said, "This Senior, I only stumbled upon this place by accident. Since it is your territory, then I can back out."

"Back out?" The old man let out a shadowy laugh, "Once you leave this place, will you tell the people outside about this place?"

"I can..."

"Don't swear a vow!" The old man began to yell, "The vows of mankind have no purpose. Your kind have broken many vows in the past, and history has proved that. You are a race that cannot be trusted!"

Upon hearing these words, Su Chen was slightly taken aback.

From what this old man had said, it seemed as if he was not of the human race?

It was at this moment that Su Chen noticed the other party was significantly shorter than he was.

He only reached Su Chen's shoulder. Although that height was not uncommon, when paired with what the old man had said earlier, Su Chen knew that his opponent might not actually be small, but rather... of a different race?

What kind of race was as tall as this old man?

Su Chen couldn't think of anything.

In his memory, most races were all taller and fiercer than humans. The moon race were long, the Mountain Race were tall, the Cliff Race were sturdy, the Ferocious Race were fierce, the Feathered Race had feathers, and the Spirit Race were seemingly nothingness. As for the Ocean Race, they weren't worth mentioning. Of the forty-six Intelligent Races on the Primordial Continent, the number of races with human-like figures yet smaller body sizes could be counted on one hand.

Could it be the Craftsman Race? Or could it be...

Su Chen had not finished his reasoning when that old man raised his staff and yelled out, "Humankind deserving of death, receive this furious fireball!"

As he spoke, a massive fireball appeared in midair, shooting towards Su Chen.

Su Chen was badly startled, but thankfully he had made preparations beforehand. He activated the Snaking Mist Steps, and he flew into the air. At that very same moment, the large fireball slammed on the ground where he was standing before, causing embers to fly all over the place.

The old man evidently had not expected that Su Chen's reaction speed would be so quick, actually dodging the fireball. However, in the next moment, the staff in his hand shook, and another fireball appeared from the staff, flying towards Su Chen.

Su Chen's figure flashed again, the Snaking Mist Steps activated to their maximum extent, dodging the fireball once again. He shouted with surprise, "So you are a remnant of the Arcana Race!"

What greeted him was another fireball flying towards him.

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