Chapter 156 - 120: "That Year, I Was 17.
Nameless Mountain.
Tonight, Nameless Mountain was exceptionally bustling.
Everyone was settled on the ground outside the caves. Several temporary Wooden Houses had been built, and everyone was sleeping on the floor. They would make do for one night, with proper arrangements and job assignments to be sorted out tomorrow after a headcount.
...
This time, they had purchased quite a few things.
For example, bolts of cloth.
Chen Fan walked into Cave No. 1 and looked at the Level 5 Life Workshop. He spent 2,000 Ghost Stones to upgrade it to a Level 6 Life Workshop, then another 5,000 Ghost Stones to raise it to a Level 7 Life Workshop.
With every upgrade, the Life Workshop no longer offered any choices for an Upgrade Direction.
However, each upgrade unlocked new items to craft.
This time, he upgraded it two levels in one go, unlocking a total of four new special lifestyle items to craft.
And at Level 7, the Life Workshop...
...could now use the Green Level Exotic Treasure he had acquired, the "Cloud Cloth," to make robes. The robes it produced would have the defensive effect of a Level 1 City Wall.
Very strong.
Xiaoyu was very busy tonight.
She needed to measure everyone’s height and build, then craft a fitted, standard-issue Mortal Realm robe for each person. The people brought back tonight were mainly from the Hill and Valley Royal Family, along with some members of the Jiangbei Chen Family.
The Wild Wolf Gang was still in Jiangbei City and would arrive tomorrow.
...
"Tell me."
After upgrading the workshop, Chen Fan immediately invited Shao Qiu to Cave No. 1. In all this time, he was the only outsider to set foot inside it.
The moment he stepped into the cave,
Shao Qiu’s gaze almost instantly fell upon a structure deep inside: the Yunling Pavilion. Through its open doors, he could clearly see the Moyu Stone floor within.
The ceiling was inlaid with countless stalactites emitting a faint blue glow. This cold, blue light cascaded down, forming a mysterious Array on the ground.
At a glance, it looked just like the Immortal Realm!
"This... This is a Yunling Pavilion!"
Shao Qiu, having walked into the cave, froze on the spot. His eyes were fixed solely on the Yunling Pavilion as he stammered in disbelief.
"This..."
"How is this possible?!"
"What’s wrong?"
Chen Fan, who had set up a table for himself by the Farmland, sat in his chair and lifted a cup of tea. Following Shao Qiu’s gaze, he asked casually, "Doesn’t the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land have one?"
"They do."
Shao Qiu’s mouth hung unconsciously open, unable to form a complete sentence for a long moment. After a while, he murmured, "I was a prisoner in the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land for seven years."
"Five years ago,"
"The Slaughter Immortal Holy Land carried out a secret operation. It’s said they exhausted a great deal of their resources and many people died. Not long after, a Yunling Pavilion appeared in the Holy Land."
"It provides a full tenfold increase in Cultivation Speed and a tenfold increase in Martial Arts comprehension speed."
"You have to understand, a normal Training Room only provides a threefold increase."
"But—"
"The Slaughter Immortal Holy Land’s Yunling Pavilion has never been upgraded. The building is just too Rare. They have no idea what materials are needed for the next level. They’ve scoured the Ancient Texts, but found no record of it. Over the years, they’ve tried all sorts of materials, all ending in failure."
To be honest, even though he had witnessed the rise of the Mortal Realm with his own eyes these past few days, he had never felt it had much potential. After all, Jiangbei was too small. Factions that rise from such places often lack staying power and quickly fade away.
He just wanted to stay alive for the time being.
But after seeing this Yunling Pavilion, his worldview shattered.
Although he held a grudge against the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land,
he had to admit that it was truly a major power. A power that had paid such a heavy price to obtain a Yunling Pavilion... and yet the Mortal Realm had one too?
"..."
Chen Fan picked up his teacup and chuckled without speaking.
’You can’t see the panel, so of course you don’t know what the upgrade materials are. It’s written clearly on it.’
-
"Upgrade to Level 5: Requires 5,000 Ghost Stones and 1 Sea Embryo."
-
The required material was a "Sea Embryo."
It was probably something similar to a Mountain Embryo.
He just didn’t know how to obtain one.
"I know how to upgrade it."
He didn’t hide it. Setting down his teacup, he leaned back in his chair, looked at Shao Qiu, and said softly, "With this building here, can you quickly help me train a group of people skilled in assassination, infiltration, and intelligence gathering?"
"One day,"
"you might even be able to lead a team to storm the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land yourself."
"Just thinking about it is wonderful, isn’t it?"
This man in white before him.
He didn’t look very old, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. He was thin, as if malnourished, and his complexion was deathly pale. At first, Chen Fan thought he was just frightened, but he later realized the man’s face was always this colorless.
He looked weak, as if from a kidney deficiency.
After a long moment,
"HUUU..."
Shao Qiu finally took a deep breath and composed himself. He knelt before Chen Fan and said in a hoarse voice, "Before I became a prisoner of the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land, I founded a faction. It was called the Godslaying Hall."
"It was an Assassin Organization."
"One day, I accepted a high-bounty mission to go to the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land and assassinate the Third Elder of the Holy Land. If I had completed that mission, the Godslaying Hall would have become famous throughout the world!"
"I was an orphan from a young age and, by a stroke of luck, became a special type of Cultivator: a ’Living Dead.’"
"My only dream was to create an Assassin Organization that would be known throughout the world."
"I was seventeen that year."
"Overly ambitious and arrogant, I failed the assassination and became a prisoner of the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land."
"But—"
"The reason I was willing to work for the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land was partly because my life was being threatened, and partly because I genuinely have a natural love for assassination and stealth."
"For all these years, I’ve imagined countless times escaping the Slaughter Immortal Holy Land and creating another Assassin Organization. But the biggest drawback of an Assassin Organization is that my subordinates’ Cultivation progresses too slowly, and their comprehension of Martial Arts is too slow. With this Yunling Pavilion, that drawback is greatly mitigated."