Chapter 1693: Mending the Neidan
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed. During that time, the Mo clan and the Lu family were relatively peaceful. Although the Lu family had confirmed that the person who attacked the mine was from the Mo clan, they did not act recklessly. As a matter of fact, they acted as if nothing had happened at all.
However, the Dark Cloud Mountains had become a heavily fortified place for the Lu family. Not only did they repair the formations as quickly as possible, but they even sped up the excavation of the divine crystals. The miners before were basically Sainthood cultivators that the Lu family had captured from various places, but now, all the miners were people from the Lu family. Basically, all of them had reached the Origin realm, with only a minimal number of Sainthood cultivators. With the increase in strength of the miners, the rate at which divine crystals were being excavated became several times faster as well.
These people were obviously under the strict surveillance of the Lu family to prevent them from leaking the news.
At the same time, a ruddy old man was hiding within the Dark Cloud Mountains. He paid close attention to all the activity in the mines.
This old man was the ancestor of the Ando clan, a God in both name and strength.
The ancestor of the Lu family was on his journey to the royal city, so he had the ancestor of the Ando clan, Ando Fu, watch over the place. He took this measure to prevent the mine from being attack by Jian Chen again.
"In the recent days, more and more high grade divine crystals have been excavated while the number of low grade divine crystals have only decreased. Looks like it's extremely likely that this mine is high grade. Even with the entire Dong'an province in perspective, not a single high grade divine crystal mine has ever appeared. It's just a huge pity that it's impossible for my Ando clan and the Lu family to keep this mine with our strength. The only thing we can do is excavate as many high grade divine crystals as we can before the mine gets discovered by the more powerful clans in the province," Ando Fu sighed inside. He felt helpless. A high grade divine crystal mine, even if it was only a small one, was an extremely juicy piece of property in the Dong'an province. It was enough for the greater clans to wage wars with one another.
Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes as he roused from his cultivation in a room within the seventh hall of the Mo clan. He smiled.
After three months of cultivation and several hundred thousand low grade divine crystals, he had finally mended the crack in his chaotic neidan, allowing his strength to finally return to its peak.
The ninth layer of the Chaotic Body was equivalent to Deity. Even though it was only Deity, Jian Chen could use the power of the Chaotic Body and Chaotic Force, as well as his comprehension of the Laws of the Sword that had far exceeded Deity. As a result, he could fight early Gods.
Back when he fought against the ancestor of the Lu family, he could only utilise eighty percent of his strength as his chaotic neidan was damaged. He was only able to hold his ground temporarily and with great difficulty against the ancestor. Even after drawing the twin swords, he was not the ancestor's opponent in the end. However, now that his chaotic neidan had been repaired, Jian Chen was confident that if he faced off against the ancestor of the Lu family again, he would not be dominated like last time even if he could not achieve victory.
"It's up to Shen Jian now. Although Shen Jian doesn't cultivate the Chaotic Body, I feel like the cultivation method he practises is of a great origin as well. His comprehension of the Way of the Sword is no worse than mine, or maybe it's even greater than mine. Once he reaches mid Deity, he should possess battle prowess comparable to the ancestor of the Lu family as well. At that time, we should be able to kill the ancestor if we work together. He won't be able to escape," Jian Chen thought. In reality, ever since Shen Jian had reached Godhood, even if it was only early Deity, their combined strength had already exceeded the ancestor of the Lu family's. They had not moved against him yet because they would not be able to anything if the ancestor fled, even though they were confident about defeating him.
Only after Shen Jian reached mid Deity would they be able to stop the ancestor of the Lu family from fleeing.
Jian Chen walked out of the seventh hall. He stood at the great doorway and overlooked most of the Mo clan from above. Unknowingly, it had already been a few months since he came to the Mo clan, yet today was the first time he had properly taken a look at the large estate he had stayed in for so long in.
Even in the surroundings of the residence, there was a group of several dozen Origin realm guards, with two peak Reciprocity guards at the doorway. They discovered Jian Chen the moment he stepped out of the hall. They glanced past him coldly from time to time, revealing a sliver of envy in their gaze as they stared at his back.
Due to Jian Chen's cultivation method, even the early God from the Lu family was unable to tell his strength accurately as long as he did not begin fighting. Naturally, no one in the Mo clan knew Jian Chen's true strength. Everyone in the Mo clan only assumed him to be at Reciprocity from how he was referred to as brother by Shen Jian before he had reached Godhood, as well as the fact that he did not possess the pressure of a Godhood expert.
Strength at Reciprocity was not enough to reside in an elder's hall, so in the eyes of the guards, Jian Chen was completely relying on his relationship with Shen Jian to be able to move through the seventh hall so freely. It would naturally raise the envy of many guards, and some of them even became jealous.
This was because every single hall possessed formations. These formations could rapidly gather the surrounding origin energy, so cultivating within an elder's hall would be several times faster than cultivating outside.
Of course, cultivating by absorbing the surrounding origin energy would not be able to match up to cultivating through absorbing divine crystals.
"Brother, may I ask if anything has happened in the recent months?" At this moment, Jian Chen clasped his hands towards the two peak Reciprocity guards at the doorway and asked rather politely.
"There hasn't been anything. Everything has been the same," one of the guards replied indifferently. If Shen Jian was asking him instead, he definitely would have responded politely, but as Jian Chen was only a Reciprocity cultivator in his eyes, he did not speak too enthusiastically even though he did not want to offend him.
"Everything is the same? Hasn't the news of the Dark Cloud Mountains been leaked?" Jian Chen thought. He found this to be rather unexpected.
"It's fine if it hasn't been leaked. The longer the fact that the Dark Cloud Mountains are a high grade divine crystal mine is kept a secret, the more beneficial it is to me," thought Jian Chen. He also desired the divine crystal mine in the Dark Cloud Mountains very much, just that he still did not have the opportunity to take over it. If the news of the mines had been leaked, it would definitely lead to a fight between the more powerful clans in the Dong'an province. Once they took part, he would not be able to hold his ground against them even if he worked together with the ancestor of the Mo clan.
This was because the more powerful clans possessed mid and late Gods or even peak Gods.
"The Lu family must be rushing their mining operations. It's best if I don't go aggravate them right now. After all, if I make them panic, it'll be no benefit to me if they just decide to take the initiative and offer up the mines to a more powerful clan in the Dong'an province."