When people are bored, they can do strange things.
Take Chen Xia, for example.
Ever since he researched fully automated cultivation fields, he had the idea of developing fully automated alchemy.
The main concept was to set up the alchemical furnace and fire, place the medicinal ingredients inside, and cultivate their self-awareness, allowing them to refine themselves.
Zhang DaoMing, upon hearing this idea, was initially stunned, then sighed, feeling that he was increasingly unable to fathom the thoughts of young people.
Of course, it could also be that he just couldn't understand Chen Xia's thoughts.
In the end, Chen Xia's idea didn't succeed and was eliminated after two years of experimentation.
He didn't take it seriously; he was just playing around while continuing to study some basic divine arts and profound dao chapters.
There's nothing much to say about the basic divine arts. With Chen Xia's current cultivation at the Ocean Tide realm, he could easily comprehend them with a glance.
After the basic divine arts, he delved into advanced techniques such as lightning arts, time arts, and spatial arts.
These techniques weren't too difficult for Chen Xia to grasp. He could understand them thoroughly, although there might be some confusion initially, but he would gradually comprehend them over time.
Within a few years, Chen Xia would be able to master the basics of lightning arts, using them skillfully. As a result, he developed...
Light bulbs.
Large light bulbs hung at the door, driven by lightning arts, shining much brighter than lanterns.
Perhaps feeling that light bulbs were not trendy enough, Chen Xia made some improvements and naturally upgraded them to colorful decorative lights.
Colorful decorative lights hung at the door, radiating strange and dazzling lights.
The first time Zhang DaoMing saw them, his mouth dropped open, his expression dazed.
"Aren't they beautiful?" Chen Xia asked with a light laugh.
Zhang DaoMing was momentarily stunned, then gave Chen Xia a meaningful look and sighed in response.
"I might be dying, but there's no need for you to rush me into experiencing the underworld, right?"
"It's fine, just get used to it. You'll be one step ahead when you die in the future," Chen Xia smiled, fully demonstrating his gentle nature.
Zhang DaoMing sighed and said nothing more.
As a result, every night in the lower realm, strange lights could be seen.
There were even rumors that Chen Xia was the living Yama, otherwise, how could he have the support of a quasi-emperor?
As for that old man, he should be one of the figures from the Ox-Head and Horse-Face, or perhaps a combination of the two, let's call him Ox-Horse.
There were many speculations, but no consensus was reached. It was just idle gossip during leisure time.
Over the years, several major sects from the middle realm specifically came to seek Chen Xia's help.
As for the reason, it was naturally for alchemy.
However, the pills they wanted to refine were not simple.
Because they were asking Chen Xia to refine major medicinal pills!
He could refine them if he wanted to, but Chen Xia didn't want to. Even if these sects offered a hefty price, Chen Xia still refused to refine them. He simply didn't want to.
These sects had no choice. After all, Chen Xia was the only grandmaster of alchemy in the lower realm. He had a monopoly in this area.
So they couldn't afford to be disrespectful. Even if Chen Xia didn't want to refine pills, they still had to present gifts properly.
Chen Xia was also dissatisfied. Why should they give him gifts? In the past, it might have been fine in the Sky Sword Sea because he was indeed broke, so he accepted them.
But now he didn't know how to spend his money anymore. He had accumulated a large number of magical treasures and elixirs, so Chen Xia would also reciprocate with elixirs as gifts.
Moreover, the value of these elixirs was not lower than the gifts given by cultivators, and sometimes even higher.
Over time, Chen Xia's reputation began to change.
Titles like "generous and magnanimous," "lavish immortal," and "exemplary master" were bestowed upon him without expecting anything in return.
There was no other way. Chen Xia was indeed too generous, freely giving away high-grade spiritual medicines and Taoist pills.
It was impossible not to support Chen Xia anymore.
As a result, some sects became doubtful, wondering if Chen Xia was truly so generous or if he had bought rumors from other sects.
More and more sects approached him, using words of seeking his help while also presenting gifts, secretly hoping to receive elixirs from Chen Xia.
As the ancients said, "Experience brings true knowledge."
And after experiencing it themselves, they discovered that Chen Xia really did give away elixirs.
It was much more profitable than buying elixirs.
The elixirs Chen Xia gave out were either rare high-grade spiritual medicines or valuable low-grade Taoist pills. Selling them would earn more money than the gifts they received.
In the span of thirty years, numerous sects benefited from Chen Xia.
His reputation inexplicably soared, and the majority of the middle-ranking cultivators in the entire realm praised Chen Xia.
Titles like "Chen, the great philanthropist," "Chen, the living bodhisattva," and "Mr. Chen" were endless.
Even the previous negative incidents were turned around.
The incident where Chen Xia beat Wang He, the king of Armor Wood Mountain, could it really be Chen Xia's fault?
Definitely not.
Wang He deserved to be beaten.
With a face asking to be punched, he dared to flaunt himself in front of Mr. Chen. Getting beaten up was a relief for him.
Speaking from another perspective, even if Mr. Chen had 1% responsibility, didn't Wang He have the remaining 99%?
And that Qin Guan who claimed victory on Triumphant Mountain, he deserved it even more. He dared to show off in front of Mr. Chen. Getting punched once was considered lenient.
Of course, they certainly wouldn't dare say such things in front of Qin Guan; they had to keep it hidden.
But no matter how they concealed it, these words eventually reached Qin Guan's ears.
"Absurd! Is this really what people are saying outside?!" Qin Guan forcefully smashed the stone table in front of him, creating a crater, his expression furious.
A woman in cicada attire glanced at him lightly and shook her head. "Regardless, the table is definitely not the problem. Why don't you look for the problem within yourself?"
"Me?!" Qin Guan pointed at himself, disbelievingly asking, "I am the sole successor of Triumphant Mountain, on par with the great Emperor's descendants, and among the top talents of the younger generation in the middle realm. What problem could I have?!"
"But he is currently a grandmaster of alchemy," the woman in cicada attire said with an icy tone, speaking only one sentence, but it was already a fatal blow.
Qin Guan looked despondent, his throat choked, unable to speak for a long time. Then he suddenly hammered the stone table in front of him, gritting his teeth and resentfully saying,
"I am the sole successor of Triumphant Mountain, on par with the great Emperor's descendants. Furthermore, there is a possibility for me to advance to the upper realm, achieve the Heaven Patching Realm, or even become a Half-Saint. There is even a chance for me to become a Saint..."
"But he is currently a grandmaster of alchemy," the woman in cicada attire replied coldly.
"Ah!" Qin Guan directly punched the stone table in front of him, breaking it, and stood up, teeth clenched.
The woman in cicada attire cast another disdainful glance at him, her eyes filled with contempt. She couldn't believe that the sect she was sent to assist, Triumphant Mountain, turned out to be like this.
It was truly disappointing.
As for the target in the middle layer of the Unified Realm, it seemed even more ridiculous to the woman in cicada attire. What qualifications did a top-tier force, merely at the Fifth Heaven of the Replenishing Heaven Realm, have to speak of the middle layer of the Unified Realm?
Even some powerful upper-level sects wouldn't dare utter such words.
Triumphant Mountain's Patriarch must have gone a little insane.
As for the cultivator mentioned by the others, Chen Xia, the woman in cicada attire had heard of him as well. His identity as a Grandmaster of Alchemy wasn't that important.
The most crucial factor was the backing of a quasi-emperor behind him.
Even Li Guang and a Half-Saint Patriarch had their souls extinguished because of injuries inflicted by Chen Xia, let alone these sects in the middle layer of the realm.
Although there are rumors that the quasi-emperor has left the realm, there's no guarantee when he might return.
If Triumphant Mountain still harbors any intention to provoke Chen Xia, the woman in cicada attire will definitely distance herself from the situation immediately.
They are merely acquaintances.
"Yes, that's how it is," the woman in cicada attire nodded heavily.
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