Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 326 - 202: United Against the Enemy (2)

Fang Yuan felt a lingering fear as well; he’d acted impulsively due to desperation and just couldn’t help himself when he heard the news.

Lu Chang’sheng was speechless after hearing this.

There were black markets everywhere. Anything shady that couldn’t see the light of day usually ended up being sold there.

Platinum Immortal City had a black market too, but it was pretty low-level—even finding some Late-Stage Qi Cultivation items there was already a big surprise.

Of course, sometimes you could stumble across something decent, but it was all luck. The ones running Platinum Immortal City’s black market didn’t dare to mess with Foundation Establishment cultivators, so some less-than-honest cultivators went to other Immortal Cities to sell their stuff.

That was exactly why Lu Chang’sheng had never considered going to the black market.

Judging by the way Fang Yuan looked, he’d clearly been ambushed.

Lu Chang’sheng didn’t overthink it—when you’re a cultivator out in the world, if you’re not careful, it’s way too easy to get targeted.

But Fang Yuan shook his head and said, "The one lying in wait for me this time felt... different."

Hearing that, Lu Chang’sheng sobered up too.

Apparently, Fang Yuan had already run into ambushes a few times when leaving the city, and figured he’d left a trail somewhere. So after that, he’d always disguise himself before leaving.

"I’ve roamed around outside before, and I dare say my disguises are pretty good, but something went wrong every single time."

"You mean someone’s got their eye on you?"

Fang Yuan nodded. "But I have no leads. Sure, I’ve got plenty of enemies, but I know how they operate—they wouldn’t go this far and I would’ve noticed."

The more violent the fight, the harder it is to hide your true power.

Many cultivators hate anyone knowing what magic they’re practicing precisely because of that.

Some magic truly counters others—like Fire Technique is naturally weak against Water Element magic.

So, if you want to ambush a cultivator who’s famous for Fire Magic, you’d better load up on water talismans or magical artifacts infused with Water Element power.

That way, you can get twice the result with half the effort.

Fang Yuan was an old hand at this; there’s no way he didn’t know all that. It was safe to say he was being even more careful this time than before.

Yet, no matter how much the two of them tried, they couldn’t figure it out.

But then, Lu Chang’sheng spoke up out of the blue.

"Since we can’t guess who it is, why not just wipe out all the rival factions?"

Fang Yuan’s brow twitched. Damn, that’s some killing intent.

"If we’re talking about who hates me most, it’s definitely the Feng Family."

Fang Yuan’s voice was lacking in confidence.

The Feng Family’s elder was still alive. His strength was much weaker than Fang Yuan’s, but he could barely keep himself alive. The real problem was, the old man had good connections with other families. Unless the Feng Family elder was killed in one go, the fallout was more than the Fang Family could take.

"If you think it could work, I can call the other family elders over and have a proper discussion."

Lu Chang’sheng grinned.

"The other families?" Fang Yuan wasn’t too enthusiastic; he guessed Lu Chang’sheng wanted to join forces with the other elders for a group attack.

But that didn’t seem likely—the other families had their own rivals, and varying degrees of strength. Take the Qu Family, for example—their main adversary was the Zhu Family.

And the Zhu Family had a few Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators. No way did Fang Yuan want to get into it with the Zhu Family just because of this.

His old rival, the Feng Family elder, was weak. As long as Fang Yuan kept his wits about him, there was no way he was going to end up dead.

The Zhu Family, though—a careless move and you’re gone.

He knew which battles were worth picking.

There were two families he’d actually like to include, but the Chen and Huang Families were thinking the same as him. No way this was going to happen.

"Let’s just try, for now."

Lu Chang’sheng shook his head and smiled.

Fang Yuan shook his head too, sighing, "I know it’d be nice to settle things once and for all—nobody wants to be looking over their shoulder every day. But if all of us join up, for some people, the losses would outweigh any gains."

If they joined forces to face an enemy, that enemy could rally allies too—that much was obvious.

Then, some families, like the Huang Family, would have to take on a Zhu Family-level threat with Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators.

It really wasn’t fair.

"I get it. What you’re all worried about is dying, right? But what if we could get even more families involved?" Lu Chang’sheng said.

"Not gonna happen! The more families we bring in, the more enemies we’ll have. Besides, people don’t want to manufacture enemies out of thin air."

Not every family had opponents. Those without wouldn’t want to drag themselves into bloody feuds for no reason.

Lu Chang’sheng suddenly said, "Oh right—did Fellow Daoist Fang Shan not tell you about the Barrier-Breaking Pill?"

"Barrier-Breaking Pill?" Fang Yuan was startled. Then, he figured it out—his eyes flashed, disbelief in his tone as he said, "You mean... you actually did it?"

Lu Chang’sheng nodded.

Fang Yuan’s face instantly lit up with joy.

"There’s always a handful of Sixth-Level Qi Cultivation cultivators across the five families. If we save up for a while, we might get a few more Late-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators—basically, it’d be like having a couple more factions at Huang Family’s level."

Fang Yuan frowned. "If that’s the case, then there’s no need to team up anymore."

If the Fang Family could get another Late-Stage Qi Cultivator, they could handle things themselves.

Lu Chang’sheng shook his head. "How do you know the people lying in wait for you are those enemies you already know? Don’t forget—you’ve been hanging out a lot with the other families lately."

"Think your rivals from other families wouldn’t get nervous seeing that?"

Fang Yuan’s face darkened. He glanced at Lu Chang’sheng and said, "Let’s see what they have to say."

"Now that I’ve raised the top-tier Barrier-Breaking Pill to Minor Achievement, the success rate is still kind of low. If I only rely on your family to collect ingredients, it’s just getting too slow," Lu Chang’sheng gently reminded him.

Fang Yuan nodded in understanding.

······

That night, the families received invitations from Lu Chang’sheng.

But Huang Feng and the Chen Family’s old ancestor, Chen Hua, didn’t come. Recently, there’d been some skirmishes between the families. As top combat power, they were busy holding things down back home.

So the clan leaders from those two families showed up instead.

Once everyone was seated, Lu Chang’sheng got right to the point and brought up the idea of the families uniting against their enemies.

The Huang and Chen family patriarchs were both Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation cultivators. Sitting among these family elders, they felt a lot of pressure, so they kept quiet and mostly listened.

The other family elders, though, all wore different expressions.

The Qu Family was happy with the idea—their rivals were the biggest headache among the families. When Qu Sheng was still around, two Late-Stage Qi Cultivators was just enough to hang on. Now that only he remained... well, too little manpower.

Getting more families involved would ease a lot of that pressure on the Qu Family.

The Zhao, Huang, Chen, and Fang Families, though, weren’t super enthusiastic.

Lu Chang’sheng smiled and said, "Every family’s power involves a lot of people’s interests, so obviously you’ve got to consider every angle. But teaming up isn’t without advantages."

At that, Lu Chang’sheng produced the Barrier-Breaking Pill he’d prepared.

"No need for me to say more: try it if you think it’ll work. If not, no big deal. This is a pill I recently made; it’s top grade."

Fang Yuan kept a faint smile on his face.

Looking at the Barrier-Breaking Pill in Lu Chang’sheng’s hand, he still felt like he’d been smacked in the face with good fortune.

Finally, his investment was paying off.

There’s a world of difference between an alchemist who can refine top-tier Barrier-Breaking Pills and one who can’t.

You could say that the Fang Family now had complete security when it came to alchemy. With Lu Chang’sheng around, the Fang Family would never be short on pills.

The common pills you could buy on the market, sure. But for rare ones, if you didn’t have an alchemist, you were screwed.

Lu Chang’sheng filled that gap; they’d never have to suck up to new alchemists again.

The other families soon caught on, and all looked at Fang Yuan enviously.

As the saying goes, timing is everything—a helping hand in a snowstorm means a lot more than adding flowers to a brocade.

Once they realized how important top-tier Barrier-Breaking Pills were, the Chen and Huang patriarchs couldn’t sit still. They immediately whipped out Sound Transmission Shells and rushed outside to notify their elders.

Half an hour later, two beams of Spiritual Light streaked in. It was none other than Huang Feng and Chen Hua back from guarding their family businesses.

"Alchemist Lu, could we have a look at the pill?"

The two of them barely waited to greet anyone before eagerly staring at Lu Chang’sheng, desire clearly showing in their eyes.