Mi Shuhua had come in a rush, and he left just as quickly. If he could’ve taken off in a streak of light, he would have. In fact, he left so hastily that he didn’t even bother to say a proper goodbye—and he took the entire bottle of Jade Essence pills with him.
Luo Chen could already guess what the old man was up to. With the pills in hand, Mi Shuhua was undoubtedly planning to use them as a means to forge or strengthen connections. Foundation Establishment cultivators, after all, were masters of long-term planning. With their extended lifespans and deep experience, they were rarely impulsive. Ten steps ahead wasn’t unusual—three to five was just daily business.
Rather than wait for Luo Chen’s alchemy skills to improve or production to scale up, Mi Shuhua was taking the initiative. He intended to establish sales channels early so that when supply increased, the profits would roll in effortlessly.
Compared to that level of foresight, Qi-Refining cultivators, whose lifespans barely exceeded those of ordinary mortals, were far more short-sighted.
Luo Chen? He was the perfect example of such a "short-sighted" man.
And at this very moment, his narrow field of vision spotted something suspicious—someone trying to sneak away from the Alchemy Hall.
Fortunately, his short-sightedness paid off, and he caught sight of it!
In a flash, Luo Chen appeared at the exit, blocking the way like a bolt of lightning. His arm stretched out with all the authority of a debt collector.
"Hand it over!"
Sikong Shoujia blinked, his expression perfectly innocent. "Hand what over? What are you talking about?"
Luo Chen’s eyes narrowed as he ground his teeth. "That game earlier—you were about to lose. Don’t you dare back out. Hand over the wager!"
"A wager?" Sikong Shoujia asked, voice filled with theatrical confusion. "What wager? Why would I make such a childish bet? And who says I was losing? I was simply playing along, humoring you, passing time with a little game of checkers."
Luo Chen stared at him for a long, silent moment. Then he took a deep breath and leaned in slightly.
"Fine, since you put it that way..."
Hehe, young one, what could you possibly do to me?
Sikong Shoujia sneered, exuding a weathered air of someone who had seen it all.
Then, in the next moment, his face turned increasingly red as Luo Chen cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted across Crescent Moon Valley.
"Elder Sikong is cheating!
"The grand elder of the Alchemy Hall, Elder Sikong Shoujia, owes Hall Leader Luo Chen three spirit stones from gambling, drinking, and wenching! Now he’s trying to skip out on his debt!
"The Alchemy Hall’s venerable elder, Sikong Shou—"
"Stop shouting!" Sikong Shoujia’s face flushed a deep red, then darkened like ink—his expression shifting like a Sichuan opera mask [1], black with fury and humiliation. With an angry grunt, he flung a small booklet directly at Luo Chen’s chest.
After throwing it, he bolted immediately, robes fluttering wildly behind him. He didn't stop or look back as he exited Crescent Moon Valley—though he couldn’t help but notice the many cultivators nearby had turned to stare, eyes wide with curiosity and amusement.
He grumbled indignantly, "What kind of people are these! It’s just a mundane secret manual on hidden weapons. Is it worth all that fuss?"
Luo Chen couldn’t hear his complaints.
If he had, he would have replied, "Of course it is!"
This was a wager from the chess match! That earlier game of chess—after teaching the two elders the rules—Luo Chen had proposed a wager.
Each of the three brought out a mundane martial arts manual as their stake.
Such items were quite common in Dahe Market and weren’t worth many spirit stones. After all, no matter how well-practiced your martial arts were, they couldn’t stop even an ordinary righteous Fireball.
But Luo Chen was different. He had the proficiency system—an edge that set him apart from ordinary cultivators. Even mundane martial arts could be refined to their utmost potential through it. Sure, martial arts at Perfected Mastery might only offer a minor boost in combat, but to Luo Chen, any edge was worth cultivating.
Up until now, he’d been too caught up with alchemy, survival, and basic cultivation to truly explore martial techniques. The only one he’d taken time to practice was Carefree Wander, a light-footwork technique. Now that he had a bit of free time, Luo Chen naturally began to take an interest.
So, naturally, he proposed a five-game match. Winner of the most rounds would take all the stakes. Sikong Shoujia and Gu Caiyi readily agreed. After all, they were only betting trivial odds and ends—items so ordinary they wouldn’t even fetch a decent price at market.
A few rounds passed. Luo Chen won two games, Gu Caiyi took two as well and Sikong Shoujia hadn’t won a single match.
In the final game, Luo Chen had a huge advantage, which was why he was so eager to collect his winnings.
Luo Chen thought to himself, Nobody can get away with stuffing me!
He still remembered Gao Tingyuan owing him five spirit stones and the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect owing him a spirit stone trophy.
Heavenly Maiden’s Scatter Flowers
At the sight of the book’s title, Luo Chen froze.
"You old rascal! Why did you give me a martial arts manual so completely out of character?"
As he stood there, stunned, Gu Caiyi strolled over, her footsteps light and elegant. She glanced at the title and immediately covered her mouth, stifling a giggle.
"Oh, so it’s this manual!" she said with amusement.
"You know it?" Luo Chen asked, raising a brow.
"Back then, a martial arts master who had just stepped into the Dao came to Dahe Market with nothing to his name and sold this manual," Gu Caiyi explained.
"That guy was clever; he mass-produced many copies and sold each for just one spirit stone or equivalent cultivation resources. So this thing has already flooded the market in Dahe."
A common item, yet Sikong Shoujia still wanted to cheat over it?
Another shameless old coot!
Wait a minute! Luo Chen suddenly thought of something. "Flooded the market? Does it have any redeeming features that made it so popular among the cultivators in Dahe?
"Anything that becomes a commonplace item must have some value. Just like storage pouches and qi-nourishing pills."
Gu Caiyi smiled slightly. "Of course it does. It’s a hidden weapon technique, but once cultivators learn it, they find that Heavenly Maiden’s Scatter Flowers doesn’t just apply to ordinary hidden weapons—it also significantly improves enchanted artifact manipulation."
"Isn’t artifact manipulation all about Traction, spirit power control, or spirit consciousness strength?" Luo Chen asked curiously.
"That’s not entirely true. In combat, timing, angles, pacing, and rhythm all need to be considered," she replied.