Chapter 96: Your Behavior Is All Wrong (I)

Mi Shuhua had come in a rush, and he left just as quickly. If he could’ve taken off in a streak of light, he would have. In fact, he left so hastily that he didn’t even bother to say a proper goodbye—and he took the entire bottle of Jade Essence pills with him.

Luo Chen could already guess what the old man was up to. With the pills in hand, Mi Shuhua was undoubtedly planning to use them as a means to forge or strengthen connections. Foundation Establishment cultivators, after all, were masters of long-term planning. With their extended lifespans and deep experience, they were rarely impulsive. Ten steps ahead wasn’t unusual—three to five was just daily business.

Rather than wait for Luo Chen’s alchemy skills to improve or production to scale up, Mi Shuhua was taking the initiative. He intended to establish sales channels early so that when supply increased, the profits would roll in effortlessly.

Compared to that level of foresight, Qi-Refining cultivators, whose lifespans barely exceeded those of ordinary mortals, were far more short-sighted.

Luo Chen? He was the perfect example of such a "short-sighted" man.

And at this very moment, his narrow field of vision spotted something suspicious—someone trying to sneak away from the Alchemy Hall.

Fortunately, his short-sightedness paid off, and he caught sight of it!

In a flash, Luo Chen appeared at the exit, blocking the way like a bolt of lightning. His arm stretched out with all the authority of a debt collector.

"Hand it over!"

Sikong Shoujia blinked, his expression perfectly innocent. "Hand what over? What are you talking about?"

Luo Chen’s eyes narrowed as he ground his teeth. "That game earlier—you were about to lose. Don’t you dare back out. Hand over the wager!"

"A wager?" Sikong Shoujia asked, voice filled with theatrical confusion. "What wager? Why would I make such a childish bet? And who says I was losing? I was simply playing along, humoring you, passing time with a little game of checkers."

Luo Chen stared at him for a long, silent moment. Then he took a deep breath and leaned in slightly.

"Fine, since you put it that way..."

Hehe, young one, what could you possibly do to me?

Sikong Shoujia sneered, exuding a weathered air of someone who had seen it all.

Then, in the next moment, his face turned increasingly red as Luo Chen cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted across Crescent Moon Valley.

"Elder Sikong is cheating!

"The grand elder of the Alchemy Hall, Elder Sikong Shoujia, owes Hall Leader Luo Chen three spirit stones from gambling, drinking, and wenching! Now he’s trying to skip out on his debt!

"The Alchemy Hall’s venerable elder, Sikong Shou—"

"Stop shouting!" Sikong Shoujia’s face flushed a deep red, then darkened like ink—his expression shifting like a Sichuan opera mask [1], black with fury and humiliation. With an angry grunt, he flung a small booklet directly at Luo Chen’s chest.

After throwing it, he bolted immediately, robes fluttering wildly behind him. He didn't stop or look back as he exited Crescent Moon Valley—though he couldn’t help but notice the many cultivators nearby had turned to stare, eyes wide with curiosity and amusement.

He grumbled indignantly, "What kind of people are these! It’s just a mundane secret manual on hidden weapons. Is it worth all that fuss?"

Luo Chen couldn’t hear his complaints.

If he had, he would have replied, "Of course it is!"

This was a wager from the chess match! That earlier game of chess—after teaching the two elders the rules—Luo Chen had proposed a wager.

Each of the three brought out a mundane martial arts manual as their stake.

Such items were quite common in Dahe Market and weren’t worth many spirit stones. After all, no matter how well-practiced your martial arts were, they couldn’t stop even an ordinary righteous Fireball.

But Luo Chen was different. He had the proficiency system—an edge that set him apart from ordinary cultivators. Even mundane martial arts could be refined to their utmost potential through it. Sure, martial arts at Perfected Mastery might only offer a minor boost in combat, but to Luo Chen, any edge was worth cultivating.

Up until now, he’d been too caught up with alchemy, survival, and basic cultivation to truly explore martial techniques. The only one he’d taken time to practice was

Carefree Wander

, a light-footwork technique. Now that he had a bit of free time, Luo Chen naturally began to take an interest.

So, naturally, he proposed a five-game match. Winner of the most rounds would take all the stakes. Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi readily agreed. After all, they were only betting trivial odds and ends—items so ordinary they wouldn’t even fetch a decent price at market.

A few rounds passed. Luo Chen won two games, Gu Caiyi took two as well and Sikong Shoujia hadn’t won a single match.

In the final game, Luo Chen had a huge advantage, which was why he was so eager to collect his winnings.

Luo Chen thought to himself,

Nobody can get away with stuffing me!

He still remembered Gao Tingyuan owing him five spirit stones and the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect owing him a spirit stone trophy.

Heavenly Maiden’s Scatter Flowers

At the sight of the book’s title, Luo Chen froze.

"You old rascal! Why did you give me a martial arts manual so completely out of character?"

As he stood there, stunned, Gu Caiyi strolled over, her footsteps light and elegant. She glanced at the title and immediately covered her mouth, stifling a giggle.

"Oh, so it’s this manual!" she said with amusement.

"You know it?" Luo Chen asked, raising a brow.

"Back then, a martial arts master who had just stepped into the Dao came to Dahe Market with nothing to his name and sold this manual," Gu Caiyi explained.

"That guy was clever; he mass-produced many copies and sold each for just one spirit stone or equivalent cultivation resources. So this thing has already flooded the market in Dahe."

A common item, yet Sikong Shoujia still wanted to cheat over it?

Another shameless old coot!

Wait a minute!

Luo Chen suddenly thought of something. "Flooded the market? Does it have any redeeming features that made it so popular among the cultivators in Dahe?

"Anything that becomes a commonplace item must have some value. Just like storage pouches and qi-nourishing pills."

Gu Caiyi smiled slightly. "Of course it does. It’s a hidden weapon technique, but once cultivators learn it, they find that

Heavenly Maiden’s Scatter Flowers

doesn’t just apply to ordinary hidden weapons—it also significantly improves enchanted artifact manipulation."

"Isn’t artifact manipulation all about Traction, spirit power control, or spirit consciousness strength?" Luo Chen asked curiously.

"That’s not entirely true. In combat, timing, angles, pacing, and rhythm all need to be considered," she replied.

Pointing at the book, Gu Caiyi added casually, "Coincidentally, this hidden weapon technique places special emphasis on those aspects. It’s said the master who created it came from a mortal dynasty’s Tang Sect."

"I know, I know! That place also has a hidden weapon called the Buddha’s Fury Tang Lotus!"

Buddha’s Fury Tang Lotus? What on earth is that?

Gu Caiyi looked completely baffled.

Forget it, she decided not to dwell on it.

Then, to his surprise, Gu Caiyi pulled out another booklet and handed it to him casually.

"Since you’re so interested in martial arts, I’ll give you this one too."

Luo Chen took it and read the title aloud: "

Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm

?"

After reading the title, he looked at Gu Caiyi suspiciously.

"Don’t tell me you’ve practiced this thing?"

He tried to picture the graceful, ethereal beauty who had once stolen the show on the Debate Platform—hair fluttering, eyes serene—suddenly unleashing a Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm to shatter a stone monument in one blow.

Absurd. Absolutely absurd.

An old coot gave him Heavenly Maiden’s Scatter Flowers, and a beauty handed him Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm.

The tone was utterly mismatched!

Gu Caiyi laughed. "I haven’t practiced it. But someone you know definitely has."

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

"Wang Yuan!" Gu Caiyi laughed. "He was a martial arts master before entering the cultivation world. He even went through a phase of selling manuals in the market. That manual? Just one of the copies he sold back then."

Luo Chen froze. Deep in his inherited memories—those of the original Luo Chen—he recalled such a scene. So even his Brother Wang had once fallen on hard times, pawning off martial arts manuals to make ends meet.

But what made it worse? His manuals had been copied and resold by others. In terms of business savvy, Wang Yuan had clearly been outclassed by that hidden weapon master from the Tang Sect.

With a sigh, Luo Chen tucked the

Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm

manual into his storage pouch. He’d give it a proper read when he had time. And if it suited him... well, he wouldn’t mind breaking some mountains and shattering a few monuments.

Still, his curiosity hadn’t been sated. There was more he wanted to know.

"Fellow Daoist Gu," he said, eyes gleaming, "what’s your core cultivation technique? Want to spar sometime—train together?"

This time, Gu Caiyi didn’t respond with her usual "Get lost." She was already used to Luo Chen’s occasional flirtatious teasing. Instead, she just rolled her eyes at him and replied, "Afraid you won’t handle it. It’s a secret technique from the Hehuan Sect."

Luo Chen’s eyes lit up instantly. "Isn’t that perfect? Demoness, I want you to use your Hehuan Sect secret technique to assist me in cultivation!"

"Get lost!"

Alright—maybe Gu Caiyi had overestimated her own composure after all. She’d need more time to build resistance to Luo Chen’s shamelessness.

Satisfied with his antics but knowing when to retreat, Luo Chen wisely slinked away before she lashed out. Provoking a ninth stage Qi-Refining cultivator was dangerous—even Old Man Mi might not be able to shield him from the consequences.

Back in his stone house, Luo Chen casually popped a pill into his mouth. He crunched down, felt the subtle wave of medicinal energy wash through him, and nodded in satisfaction.

"The potency’s only about a tenth of a qi-nourishing pill," he murmured, "but it’s perfect for my current condition."

If Mi Shuhua had been present to witness that moment, he would have likely summoned his supreme-grade enchanted artifact and smashed Luo Chen on the spot. Why?

Because what Luo Chen had eaten was a Jade Essence pill!

That’s right—the same pill he had claimed could only be refined in batches of eleven. The same one he had solemnly handed over in full to Mi Shuhua.

And yet, here he was, casually chewing on one like it was a snack.

In fact, in his storage pouch, there were still eight more lying quietly.

Which meant that, including the one he just ate, his actual production per batch was twenty!

"Indeed, a system-assisted beginner formula ensures unparalleled stability in success rate and output."

Yes, Luo Chen’s success rate and pill yield had always been remarkably consistent!

Unlike other alchemists, whose yields varied wildly—five pills on a bad day, ten on a good one—Luo Chen’s production was terrifyingly stable. Whether it was the fasting concoction or the Myriad Wonders pill, Luo Chen’s yield was stable every time.

For the Jade Essence pill, Luo Chen had figured out a stable yield of around twenty pills per batch! Moreover, there were no defective pills—either the batch failed entirely or succeeded perfectly!

This terrifying stability, if revealed, would undoubtedly shock the cultivation world!

For this reason, Luo Chen repeatedly concealed his true ability, even going so far as to use enchanting power to destroy a small portion of the ingredients during the alchemy process, creating the illusion of varying yields.

"For now, I can still hide it and quietly pocket a few extra Jade Essence pills.

"But in the future, once production scales up, I won’t be able to do this so blatantly."

Luo Chen smiled faintly—no cook ever starved, not even in a famine.

Naturally, he wouldn’t let himself go hungry either.

Currently, his body could only tolerate two qi-nourishing pills a day. But that didn’t mean other pills were off-limits. The Jade Essence Pill, for instance, had much weaker potency. It was so gentle he could treat it like candy.

He didn’t even need to deliberately activate the Long Spring Art to refine them. As the pill dissolved naturally within his body, its faint medicinal energy would settle into the twelve standard meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians he had painstakingly unblocked.

Whether during daily spellcasting or casual movement, this faint medicinal energy would gradually be converted, either consumed or absorbed.

At this stage, he didn’t even need to worry about tolerance or side effects.

As the alchemist, Luo Chen knew better than anyone the efficacy and limitations of the Jade Essence pill and would manage its use carefully.

In summary!

"For now, I’ll take as much as I can get away with!"

With a light chuckle, Luo Chen opened

Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers

. Who hasn’t dreamed of being a beautiful maiden?

1. Sichuan Opera Mask refers to the distinctive and colorful facial masks used in Sichuan opera, a traditional Chinese performing art known for its dramatic expression, acrobatics, and the famous art of "face-changing" (变脸, biàn liǎn). These masks symbolize different characters and emotions, often shifting rapidly onstage to reflect changes in mood, identity, or intent. The technique of changing masks in an instant is a hallmark of Sichuan opera and is considered a closely guarded cultural secret. ☜