Having more people actually came with a drawback.
Chen Xia was now struggling to keep up with alchemy. He had never been this busy in his life, stirring two pots with his left and right hands while shouting instructions for a third pot to be stirred.
However, it must be said that Chen Xia's output was truly high. He could refine two or three Top-tier Elixirs in one go, to be consumed by the saints in the small room.
The Top-tier Elixirs were distributed in turns, with everyone getting a share according to the order determined by drawing lots.
Emperor Capital was lucky enough to draw the first position, naturally consuming the first Top-tier Elixir, which allowed him to elevate his understanding of the Great Dao by a tiny fraction.
This tiny fraction was equivalent to thousands, or even tens of thousands of years of cultivation.
The queue continued with Qiu Li, Chi Yu, Li Yang...
When it came to Jia Bai's turn, things were different.
Jia Bai held the Top-tier Elixir while Emperor Capital watched him. Jia Bai swallowed hard and smiled weakly.
"Brother Emperor, why are you looking at me?"
"I'm not looking at you," Emperor Capital denied, his eyes fixed on Jia Bai's hand.
He was looking at the Top-tier Elixir.
"Heh..." Jia Bai laughed dryly, hesitating whether to eat it or not.
Emperor Capital stepped forward, put his arm around Jia Bai's shoulders, and said earnestly,
"Little Bai, honestly, how have I treated you?"
"Generally..." Jia Bai was about to speak.
"Hm?!" Emperor Capital's eyes widened, starlight flashing within them, killing intent suddenly appearing.
"Generally speaking, extremely well, of course!" Jia Bai hastily corrected himself.
"Good!" Emperor Capital nodded with satisfaction and continued, "Earlier, you called me Brother Emperor. Obviously, everyone here is your brother, and I believe I can be the eldest brother without any problem, right?"
"Then... what about Brother Chen?" Jia Bai asked weakly.
"Don't worry about him, he's your father," Emperor Capital waved dismissively, having clearly sorted out the hierarchy.
"Mm-hmm, then of course you can be the eldest brother in my heart!" Jia Bai nodded in agreement.
Emperor Capital then smiled, patted Jia Bai's shoulder, and began to reason.
"It's often said that the eldest brother is like a father. I'm the eldest brother, so naturally, I'm your father. You're the son, so it's very reasonable for you to give me half of this Top-tier Elixir as a sign of filial piety, right?"
"Then... what about Chen Xia?" Jia Bai hesitated to ask again.
"He's been promoted to your grandfather," Emperor Capital replied impatiently, increasing the pressure of his hand on Jia Bai's shoulder, and asked again.
"Do you agree?"
Jia Bai's expression was hesitant, very conflicted. He certainly didn't want to give it, but he was afraid of being beaten.
"Alright, stop bullying him. We're all on the same side now, don't engage in this kind of oppression," Qiu Li walked over from the side, frowning as he advised.
"Am I?" Emperor Capital frowned, "We're as close as father and son!"
Jia Bai didn't dare to speak.
Qiu Li rolled his eyes, "Don't mind him, just eat the elixir yourself. He won't dare do anything, Chen Xia will intervene."
"You're always meddling," Emperor Capital rolled his eyes, released Jia Bai, and sat down to the side, looking sulky as if he had been wronged.
Chen Xia's name still carried weight with him.
After all, Chen Xia could indeed hang him up in the Blue Sky Sword Sea and beat him.
It was only because Chen Xia had been busy these days and had no time to manage him that he had become arrogant again.
Emperor Capital had just sat down when Li Yue rushed out aggressively, pointing at Chen Xia and demanding,
"Chen Xia, where's my elixir? Why don't I have one?!"
Chen Xia had just caught his breath and frowned, saying,
"You're not even part of the queue, what elixir are you asking for?"
"?" Li Yue crossed her arms, frowning deeply, "I've helped you so many times, how am I not counted? You're good, using me and then trying to shirk responsibility. Is this how a leader behaves?"
Chen Xia's expression was helpless. He could only look towards Li Yang, hoping he could help him out of this situation.
Li Yang was enjoying the show. Seeing Chen Xia look over, he hurriedly turned his head to look at the sky, saying to Chi Yu beside him,
"The weather is nice today."
Chi Yu glanced up briefly.
"It's nighttime."
"The weather is nice tonight," Li Yang corrected himself.
"Why won't you give me an elixir? If you don't give me an elixir today, I'll go back to the Li Family and never participate with you again!" Li Yue threatened.
"Damn, is there really such a good thing?!" Chen Xia's eyebrows raised, showing rare happiness.
He had just been thinking the small room was too crowded and noisy.
Li Yue was just joking, she wouldn't really leave. She was just insisting that Chen Xia refine an elixir for her.
Chen Xia did refine one, costing ten thousand spirit stones each, to be bought with money.
This angered Li Yue so much that she didn't speak for two days, but in the end, she still bought it.
Because buying a Top-tier Elixir for ten thousand spirit stones was a profitable deal, it was considered Chen Xia's friendship price.
After all the saints had taken their elixirs, Chen Xia held a meeting in the small room.
First, he borrowed a five-meter-long table, then borrowed a few benches from the neighbors. A total of nine saints gathered around the table for the meeting.
Li Yue had no bench, so she shamelessly stood and listened.
Chen Xia sat at the head, his expression slightly serious, and addressed everyone,
"You've all been part of the team for so long, you're familiar with each other, and you've all received elixirs. Now it's time for us to work together. I have something I want to do, and I hope you all will support me."
"Brother Chen, just say it. We'll definitely support you."
"Mm."
"What is it?"
"No matter what it is, I, Emperor Capital, am willing to go through fire and water for Brother Chen!"
"..."
Chen Xia shook his head, "It's not that serious. I just want to borrow some spirit stones from you all."
"Borrow some spirit stones, that's indeed a small matter. How much do you want to borrow?" Li Yang inquired.
"Not much," Chen Xia smiled lightly, "Just a million spirit stones from each person will be enough."
With these words, the scene fell completely silent, everyone pondering and considering.
Bang!
"Borrow?!" Emperor Capital suddenly slammed the table, shattering the five-meter-long table to pieces, stood up, his expression serious.
"If you have an objection, you can say it directly. What did the table do wrong?" Chen Xia frowned and asked.
"You're the one who's wrong first!" Emperor Capital shouted, then continued with heartfelt indignation.
"Given the relationship between us, how can you have the nerve to say the word 'borrow'?"
The other saints looked surprised and doubtful, not expecting Emperor Capital to say such things. Even if he didn't want to lend, there was no need for such a harsh tone, right?
"Give!" Emperor Capital shouted again, "I'll give you all my spirit stones directly. In the future, don't mention the word 'borrow' again, it hurts the friendship between us brothers!"
Everyone fell silent again, realizing they had underestimated Emperor Capital.
Being Chen Xia's number one lapdog, this title wasn't earned for nothing.
"Good!" Chen Xia also shouted, "Since you have this intention, I'll reluctantly accept it."
"It's not just me who has this intention," Emperor Capital turned around, pointing at the gathered saints, and shouted again.
"Everyone has this intention!"
The saints' expressions froze.
Li Yang hurriedly said, "Don't represent me. Lending a million spirit stones is fine, but it needs to be paid back later. I have the entire Li Family behind me, I can't be as carefree as you."
Chi Yu remained calm. He and Chen Xia had already sworn brotherhood, so he nodded and said, "Any amount of spirit stones is no problem."
The other great saints also expressed that lending a million spirit stones was no problem, but it must be a loan.
With this, Chen Xia had enough spirit stones to upgrade the grand formation, but now he had other ideas.
Was a formation composed of ten million spirit stones really enough?
What if he upgraded it further, to a formation of a hundred million spirit stones?
Would it be able to slay even a Great Emperor?
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
