She wants me to become her follower?

Long Chen almost laughed at this joke. Long Tianrui was truly overestimating herself. Ignoring her, Long Chen continued walking past, but one of the men behind her blocked his path.

“Scram!” Long Chen extended a hand to push him away, and that man snorted, launching a palm strike in response.

BOOM!

The ground beneath Long Chen’s feet shook. However, that man staggered back five steps, staring at Long Chen in disbelief.

This had been a pure clash of instinctual power—the raw strength automatically unleashed by a person in a moment of friction. It was the most fundamental power of a person, unrelated to magical arts or divine abilities. Yet, in this clash, this man had been knocked back a considerable distance.

Even Long Tianrui seemed surprised. Based on her estimation, Long Chen should have been only a bit stronger than his follower, but the difference was far greater than she had anticipated. Her sharp instincts had never been so wrong before.

Feeling his embarrassment transforming into anger, the defeated man was about to attack, but Long Tianrui interjected, “Since you’ve lost, you should accept it. Continuing will not just lose face; it could cost you your life.”

Flames of anger seethed in this man’s heart, but he didn’t dare to retort. He simply glared at Long Chen.

Turning to Long Chen, Long Tianrui said, “Become my follower. If you can keep up with me, one day you’ll have a chance to become my companion.”

“Tch, not interested.” Although this woman was very beautiful and unfathomably powerful, her natural arrogance and indifference were extremely irritating. Without a second thought, Long Chen walked away.

Curiously, Long Tianrui’s apathetic face remained flat, frozen in a state of apathy. She did not react to Long Chen’s derisive words, merely watching as he left.

“Just now, it was just a slip on my part. If you give me another chance…” pleaded the defeated man.

“A loss isn’t frightening. What is frightening is not being able to accept a loss, to not know shame. Someone like that will never have any prospects. You are no longer one of my followers,” declared Long Tianrui coldly.

“Tianrui!” The defeated man cried out in shock.

However, Long Tianrui ignored him and walked away. The other man hastily followed, not even looking back at the defeated man.

“Tianrui, give me another chance—”

The defeated man stepped forward, but blood suddenly sprayed from his mouth.

Long Tianrui hadn’t moved, but that man suddenly stiffened and collapsed on the ground.

“Don’t force me to kill you.” Long Tianrui left behind some cold words as she slowly vanished from sight, leaving behind that man lying on the ground, groaning in pain.

…

“Why did you only tell us this news now?!”

The clan leader, the three Heavenly Saints, and the Heaven Overseer were gathered in a private room, along with another elder. The clan leader was holding a letter and shouting at this elder.

The aggrieved elder said, “You were in seclusion, and the Heaven Overseer wasn’t present! Moreover, the letter is marked top secret, so none of us have the authority to open it!”

This letter had arrived a while ago but had only reached their hands now. If it weren’t for the descent of the three divine clans, they would still be in seclusion, and this letter would still be unread.

“That brute Long Chen, how can he be such a calamity?! He didn’t tell us that he killed the Flame Divine Hall’s vice hall master!” the clan leader exclaimed in exasperation. “We can’t let Long Chen stay here. Otherwise, once the Brahma Pill Valley comes to us, what can we do? We can’t fight the Brahma Pill Valley. But if we hand him over, when Long Zhantian comes, we won’t have any way to explain ourselves,” said Long Yaoting helplessly.

Long Qihua’s expression was grave as he added, “Moreover, the Earth Cauldron has reached a critical point. If we kick Long Chen out, he will demand the Earth Cauldron to be given back to him. If he doesn’t get it, he’ll immediately spread the word, and we will face a great disaster.”

“We have spent so much effort and put in so many resources. If the Earth Cauldron doesn’t awaken, everything will be for naught. How will we explain ourselves to the patriarch then?” asked Long Qianxue.

“Now isn’t the time to complain! We have to unite and think of a way out. How will we face this problem?!” raged Long Qihua.

Long Qianxue had always been cautious. From the start, she had not been fully on board with this plan. She had wanted to ask the patriarch for his opinion, but the clan leader, Long Qihua, and Long Yaoting were all set on this, so she could only cooperate.

The problem was that Long Chen had killed the Flame Divine Hall’s vice hall master. If the Brahma Pill Valley learned that Long Chen was in the Long clan, they would definitely come to kill him. Hence, Long Chen was a hot potato that they had to get rid of.

“I feel like the best option is to cut our losses. In truth, whether it is Long Chen or the Earth Cauldron, they are both dangerous existences. As long as we expel both of them, the Long clan will be at peace,” said the Heaven Overseer after a moment of silence.

“Unacceptable!”

The clan leader, Long Qihua, and Long Yaoting directly rejected this proposal.

“We’ve put in too much to give up now! All those resources we put in, all the heaven vein energy we exhausted…all of them will be lost if we stop now!” remarked Long Qihua.

“Furthermore, this is the Heaven Earth Cauldron we’re talking about! One of the ten great primal chaos divine items!” exclaimed Long Yaoting. “Once it awakens, it will become our Long clan’s legacy divine weapon. Who can possibly stop our rise?”

Long Qianxue couldn’t endure it any longer and furiously interjected, “First of all, we might not be able to awaken the Heaven Earth Cauldron. Second, even if it does awaken, will it be willing to become our clan’s legacy divine weapon? Do you think it will care about the pittance of our resources? Third, even if the Earth Cauldron does become our legacy divine weapon, so what? It is the Earth Cauldron, not the Heaven Cauldron. At most, it can help us refine pills, strengthen our foundations, and help us cultivate. I admit that if given a few centuries, the Long clan would likely rise. But as soon as news of this leaks, we won’t be able to protect it, nor will it protect us. Do you understand now?! For some wishful thinking, are you going to gamble away the entire Long clan? Can you handle the consequences if we lose the gamble?!”

The Heaven Overseer said, “I feel like Qianxue’s logic is very reasonable. We should hear the patriarch’s opinion about this matter!”

Just then, the clan leader’s tablet started to flash.

“We’ll discuss this later. Let’s deal with the other three clans first. Everything really is coming all at once,” grumbled the clan leader helplessly.

Beneath their private room lay a massive barrier, within which the Earth Cauldron bathed in an endless stream of divine light. Its appearance suggested it was... thoroughly reveling in the experience.