15 Thirty Years

"This is the Prison Refining Palm of the Northern Demon Cult. It is your honor to die under this demonic technique," Jiang Chen said mockingly as he looked at the green-robed steward, Wang Feng, who couldn't be more dead.

Those who were hit by this technique would feel intense pain, and their bodies would be abnormally charred as if they had been burned by the flames of a refining prison.

Of course, with Jiang Chen's cultivation at the fourth layer of the Divine Sea realm, he was several stages higher than Wang Feng. With the Prison Refining Palm mastered, it would have been easy enough for him to burn Wang Feng painlessly to ashes.

The reason he didn't do this was merely for the sake of leaving behind Wang Feng's corpse so that he could mislead the law-enforcement disciples.

Otherwise, Jiang Chen would have burnt Wang Feng to a crisp.

He then carefully examined the scene. After finding no mistakes, he left quickly with a ball of flames.

He had just used the Prison Refining Palm, and the aura of his demonic technique had already leaked out. It would have caused a reaction from the sect's protection array.

He believed that it wouldn't be long before disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall came to investigate.

Shortly after, just as Jiang Chen had expected, a group of Skyfire Sect's law-enforcement disciples dressed in black robes aggressively rushed to where he had cultivated in seclusion.

Leading them was Feng Changqing, the grandson of the Alchemy Hall's Hall Master Elder, Feng Wannian.

At such a young age, he was already at the second layer of the Divine Sea realm and ranked fifth among the core disciples of the sect, truly a young man overflowing with talent.

He was a handsome man with a chiseled face, full of masculinity. One look and one would have a good impression of him.

"The Prison Refining Palm? It seems like there was indeed a fish that escaped the net last time. No wonder that fellow wouldn't say anything even if he died."

Feng Changqing could tell with a single glance that the person who was killed was killed by the Northern Demon Cult's true skill, Prison Refining Palm.

Furthermore, looking at the corpse, the culprit had already mastered the technique and should definitely be an inner sect disciple of the Northern Demon Cult. He might even be an elite of the God Slaying Hall.

Perhaps the person they caught previously was to cover for this person.

Feng Changqing thought for a moment and then quickly gave out orders.

"Leave two people here to investigate this person's identity. At the same time, send a message to the sect and activate the array formations of all four directions. Guard the various parts of the sect strictly against the evil plots of these demonic scoundrels.

"The others, follow me and continue chasing. That demonic dao scoundrel definitely hasn't gone far."

He himself brought the rest of the law-enforcement disciples and followed the traces left behind by Jiang Chen toward the location of the sect's West District.

Of course, they wouldn't be able to find anything…

At this time, the instigator of all this, Jiang Chen, had already returned to the Firesmith Hall.

He had already cleared any clue leading to him. It should be impossible for anyone to trace him.

Sure enough, in the end, Feng Changqing and the others didn't find anything. The traces they pursued disappeared when they arrived near the Flame Crystal Mine.

The result was that the sect was very tense for a while, and the number of inspections by law-enforcement disciples increased significantly.

This also made Jiang Chen do one less thing every day. Before things faded away, he stopped going to the Magma Domain to cultivate. Who knew if there were law-enforcement disciples lurking there, waiting for him to take the bait?

Wang Feng was dead. This time, the sect quickly sent a new steward disciple and laborer.

His surname was Zheng; his given name was Yun. He was a middle-aged man with a messy beard, someone who didn't look like a cultivator at all.

He also seemed depressed. Clearly, he wasn't a cheerful person.

After this person came to the Firesmith Hall, he seemed to have completely given up on life.

Every day, he would drown his sorrows in alcohol. If he wasn't drinking, he was on his way to drinking.

Zheng Yun was obviously someone with a story.

After drinking all day, Steward Zheng didn't have the mood to manage the affairs of the Firesmith Hall. Jiang Chen was definitely more relaxed than when Wang Feng was around.

Jiang Chen was happy as well. This was even better for him.

With Wang Feng, Jiang Chen obviously had had to be much more cautious.

One day, Jiang Chen "inadvertently" revealed to Zheng Yun that he had eaten a spirit herb.

In the end, Zheng Yun confirmed that Jiang Chen had eaten a stalk of Sun Grass.

The Sun Grass was a rare spirit grass. It had an extremely great effect on body tempering. It was enough to help people to develop a great resistance against fire poison. However, it was practically useless for cultivation.

Everyone sighed after hearing this. They had thought that Jiang Chen was lucky at first, but their attention towards him gradually vanished after that.

Time could not be wasted on anyone. A lucky servant was not worth their attention.

Days went by.

Winter went, and spring came.

Snow and rain fell.

Time passed, and quicker than expected, it was Jiang Chen's 30th year in the Skyfire Sect.

He had also become the longest-serving laborer in the entire Firesmith Hall.

His cultivation had even reached the eighth layer of the Divine Sea realm, already surpassing most of the sect's deacons.

This was because Jiang Chen had been working hard all this time. Moreover, his ability was also very strong. He had completed all the tasks in an orderly manner and had never made a single mistake.

After the other firesmith disciples died, Steward Zheng did not continue to apply for new laborers from the sect. Therefore, Jiang Chen took over all the maintenance work of the entire sect's Fire Gathering Spiritual Array.

Right now, only he, a laborer, and Zheng Yun were left in the Firesmith Hall.

On a new day, Jiang Chen put a fire spirit rock into a storage bag, then looked at Steward Zheng who was drinking by himself in the courtyard, and said casually, "Elder Zheng, I'm going out. Don't drink too much. When you're old, you have to be able to admit your limits. If you continue drinking, your body will collapse."

Zheng Yun was at the fifth layer of the Divine Sea and had a lifespan of 300 years.

He was not even seventy years old yet, which meant that he had just entered his prime.

They didn't interact much in the nearly thirty years together — the past twenty-some years with just the two of them in the entire Firesmith Hall — but they still became friends.

The storage bag on Jiang Chen's body was given to him by Steward Zheng.

After all, he was responsible for the maintenance of the entire sect's Fire Gathering Spiritual Array by himself. It was impossible for him to bring all the spirit stones in one go with just his two hands.

Even without a storage bag, Jiang Chen could have easily brought all the spirit stones with him. However, that would require him to use his magic power. This was not in line with his "character" as a fire laborer.

Jiang Chen walked out of the Firesmith Hall and looked up at the sun in the sky.

Then, he took out a die [singular form of dice] and threw it into the air. He caught it easily and then looked at the number on it to determine which area to start from today.

If an expert from the sect were to examine the die carefully, they would probably be so shocked that their jaw would drop.

This ordinary-looking die was actually a spirit tool with 21 restrictions.

In this world, cultivators would often use suitable magic tools and spirit weapons.

Weapons in the mortal world, even divine weapons, could not hold the spirit qi and magic power of cultivators. Only magic tools and spirit weapons could do so.

The strength of magic tools was measured by the number of layers of restrictions. The more restrictions there were, the more powerful they would be.

Every 12 levels of the restriction was a division. From the lowest grade magic tools to the highest grade spirit treasures.

The die in Jiang Chen's hand had been refined in his spare time. It was a spirit tool with 21 restrictions!

With the signing in of the system, he naturally also obtained the tool-refining technique.

Magic tools were rare and expensive.

In the Skyfire Sect, other than the rich disciples, even most of the inner sect disciples did not have many magic tools, much less spirit tools with 21 restrictions.

Ordinary disciples who obtained a magic tool would be sure to take great care of it.

As for Jiang Chen, he treated this magical tool like a toy.

After all, he was a grandmaster tool refiner!