Fan Family Great Elder: The More Chaotic It Gets, the More Cautious One Must Be

"Have you all heard? Yesterday, at the iron mine on Xishan outside the city, the Fan Family Great Elder made his move. Of the four Divine Strength Realm Martial Artists stationed there by the Guo Family and Yu Family, three died. The key is that the Fan Family seemingly didn't send anyone to guard the iron mine."

"Didn't the authorities step in to mediate? Why would the Fan Family still do this? Why does it feel like they've been driven into a corner? Even the Great Elder has made a move."

"Maybe there are things we don't know. What I care about is that the Fan Family Great Elder actually took action. The last time he did was ten years ago, wasn't it?"

"That's right. Ten years ago, the sight of the Fan Family Great Elder killing the Divine Valor Realm Rebel Leader with his palms in thirty moves is still vivid in my mind. He never made another move after that. This time, he really couldn't hold himself back."

"With the Fan Family Great Elder's talent, ten years should have been enough for his strength to break through, right?"

"..."

Having broken through to the Divine Valor Realm, with his combat strength greatly increased, Chen Mo had grown much bolder. He casually drew some completely useless decorations onto his face and headed to the largest teahouse in the Inner City, drinking tea as he listened to all kinds of news.

Naturally, he heard the discussions about the Fan Family Great Elder.

"If he could kill a Divine Valor Realm martial artist with his palms ten years ago, and his strength has broken through again now, then this Fan Family Great Elder should already be a Qi and Blood Realm martial artist, shouldn't he?"

With that thought, Chen Mo drained the tea in his cup, left the tea money on the table, rose to his feet, and strode away.

The waiter thought he was trying to skip out on the bill and hurried after him. Once he saw the silver on the table, a smile immediately spread across his face. Chen Mo had paid half again as much as the tea cost—he could make a tidy profit.

Looking in the direction Chen Mo had left, the waiter thought:

What a generous, good man!

Unaware that he had been handed a good-guy card, Chen Mo felt that the outside world was still far too dangerous. The Divine Valor Realm was probably still not quite enough. He felt he needed to lie low a little longer and raise his strength further.

But a very practical problem now lay before him... he was out of Exotic Beast Jerky. Ordinary meals alone, even beef, could not meet the demands of cultivation.

As for Great Tonic Soup, for this breakthrough alone, without several dozen bowls, it probably would not be enough to satisfy his body's energy needs during the breakthrough.

Setting money aside, using several dozen bowls of Great Tonic Soup to recharge was simply too inefficient.

The key was that it might not even be enough.

This was difficult.

As for Exotic Beast Meat, only the top powers within Hequ County had stable channels for obtaining it. There were no other means of acquiring it.

Thinking of this, Chen Mo hesitated somewhat. In truth, aside from the Yu Family and Guo Family, he could temporarily join any of the other Four Great Top Powers in the county, so long as they could provide him with sufficient cultivation resources.

In Hequ County, no force would refuse a Divine Valor Realm martial artist.

The higher one's realm, the more cultivation resources one required, and the higher the demands on the quality of those resources became.

In this regard, martial artists from great lineages held an enormous advantage.

They only needed to display sufficient talent and potential to obtain the resources needed for cultivation, with some even left over.

Commoner martial artists were truly at too great a disadvantage when it came to resources. They could only fight and contend for everything themselves. Compared to martial artists from great lineages, the dangers they faced were as different as heaven and earth.

At this moment, Chen Mo deeply felt this.

"I'll observe a little longer. There's no rush."

He only had one life. Chen Mo had no desire to easily place himself in danger, especially when the situation in Hequ County was still far from clear. Rashly joining a force would be far too dangerous.

Since his Disguise Art was not good enough, Chen Mo did not immediately return to his home in the Inner City, just in case. Instead, he went straight to the Outer City. Only after night fell did he climb over the wall into the Inner City and return home.

The more chaotic the situation, the more cautiously one needed to act.

Over the following days, Chen Mo began buying Great Tonic Soup in bulk from pharmacies in both the Inner City and Outer City. He purchased a full hundred bowls, storing them in a specially made large barrel with ice placed around it for refrigeration.

After thinking for a long while, he decided not to join any of the county's forces after all. Without a way to obtain Exotic Beast Meat and with no other substitutes, he could only resort to this clumsy method. The pharmacy workers said that if refrigerated, it would be fine to drink within three days.

Chen Mo believed them.

If there was a problem, he would smash those pharmacies.

In recent days, as Chen Mo appeared in the city more and more often, his Disguise Art still had not appeared on the panel. Clearly, his technique remained inadequate and had no real concealing effect. As such, he had recently begun sensing that he was being watched and followed.

After breaking through to the Divine Valor Realm, Chen Mo's body had not merely become stronger. Perhaps because of his cultivation technique, his senses had also become exceptionally sharp. He could easily detect the gazes upon him and those following him.

With their abilities, these people clearly posed no great threat to Chen Mo. He could shake them off with ease, and he had deliberately created the illusion that he was hiding in the Slum District of the Outer City.

For the time being, his tracks should not be discovered.

During this period, the situation in Hequ County underwent new changes. The Two Great Martial Arts Schools ultimately did not join the conflict, once again making clear their detached, neutral position.

They were unlike some country from Chen Mo's previous life, which proclaimed neutrality while doing everything a neutral country should not do—hypocritical to the extreme!

The Two Great Martial Arts Schools' clear stance kept the situation at two against two. However, the authorities did not directly step in to help. They could only ensure that within Hequ County, the Guo Family and Yu Family would not engage in direct clashes or target the others too aggressively.

The authorities could not, and would not, interfere in the struggles outside the county.

The moment they did, it would mean the authorities themselves had entered the fray, and the nature of the matter would be entirely different.

Thus, the Fan Family Great Elder, who was rumored to have made another breakthrough in the Qi and Blood Realm, caused disturbances from time to time.

The Guo Family and Yu Family's strongest combatants, the foundation of their strength, also seemed to have gone outside the city.

If the two sides encountered one another, it would be a battle between the county's absolute top experts—and two against one, with the Fan Family at a disadvantage.

Yet no news had arrived of the two sides encountering each other.

Chen Mo, who had been secretly following these developments, was rather satisfied with the city's current situation. Stability was good; it allowed him to live more peacefully. As for whether those top combatants outside the city would fight, it had nothing to do with him. Whether they fought or not was none of his concern.

"Counting today, this is the seventh time. The Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique is finally about to reach Perfect Accomplishment." Anticipation showed on Chen Mo's face.

He knew he definitely could not break through into the Qi and Blood Realm, but advancing from Great Accomplishment to the Perfection Realm would still bring a considerable improvement. It would let him take a great step forward within the Divine Valor Realm, and his need for energy would certainly be immense. That was why he had prepared in advance.

Better safe than sorry.

At most, it was only three hundred taels of silver. In a few days, the Black Market would open again, and Chen Mo could make another fortune.

With his current strength, making money could not be easier.

At night, the Late Autumn air had already grown noticeably cold. Yet three meters underground, Chen Mo did not feel the slightest chill. With a thought, he used today's chance at Epiphany on the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique.

Tonight, his technique would reach Perfect Accomplishment!