Chapter 39 Long time no see, did you sleep well?

When Li Chen woke up, she still felt a little dizzy. After hundreds of years of experience, Shen Zhengyuan had indeed become even more cunning. He must have been afraid that she would find a chance to escape halfway, so he directly used magic to knock her unconscious.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a completely unfamiliar bedroom.

The place was exceptionally luxurious, with crimson embroidered carpets on the ground and walls and floors made of snow-white jade.

The wicks of the lanterns hanging on the roof were made of spirit stones, making it look almost like a fairyland. It was rich and elegant without being vulgar, showing that the person who designed this place must have put a lot of thought into it.

Besides being extremely beautiful and magnificent, this place is also rich in spiritual energy.

Such pure spiritual energy must only exist in the realm of Dharma cultivation.

After all, people in the world of magic cultivators, besides enjoying setting up various magic arrays to gather spiritual energy, have a great hobby of collecting all kinds of valuable items.

Those precious items ranged from various magical treasures to earthly riches.

They don't care about whether it's vulgar or not; as long as they can get their hands on it, they won't think they have too much.

This has led to the fact that not only is the spiritual energy in the cultivation world becoming purer, but the wealth is also increasing, making people extremely envious. In the past, some people even had the urge to steal some treasures from the cultivation world.

However, those in the Dharma cultivation community are not to be trifled with, so even though some people tried to take it, none of them succeeded in forcibly taking it.

After all, if someone tries to steal their things, they'll lose their lives before they can even get their hands on them.

Moreover, when it comes to plundering, probably no one in this world can compare to the cultivators.

Those disciples in the cultivation world almost all possess the ability to take things out of a bag or from a distance, their skills are comparable to those of a master thief, making even the world's pickpockets bow down in admiration.

Fortunately, those disciples in the cultivation world still possessed the backbone that cultivators should have, and most of them disdained stealing and robbing.

Furthermore, because Shen Zhengyuan had experienced being robbed and stolen from in the past, he was extremely disgusted by stealing and robbing others.

Once discovered, the punishment ranges from several or even more than a decade of confinement to the abolition of cultivation and expulsion from the Dharma cultivation community.

Therefore, no one in the Buddhist community dares to cross this red line.

Furthermore, after the various factions in the cultivation world stabilized, they signed a peace treaty that lasted for hundreds of years. Therefore, for the previous few hundred years, the various factions had always kept to themselves.

It wasn't until she couldn't stand Shen Zhengyuan and didn't want the sword cultivator world to be suppressed by the magic cultivator world that the peace treaty gradually began to show signs of being invalidated.

However, as long as people from other realms can turn a blind eye to this peace treaty, it will only be a matter between the Dharma Cultivation Realm and the Sword Cultivation Realm.

Those from other realms were all shrewd and insightful. After seeing through the matter, they remained bystanders, neither taking sides nor interfering, letting the sword cultivators and magic cultivators fight it out themselves to determine who was superior.

In the end, the sword cultivators naturally came out on top.

After all, although the cultivators in the Dharma world are quite powerful, they are not much stronger than ordinary people in close combat.

After being ambushed several times by Li Chen and his men, and having captured a large number of disciples from the magic cultivation world, the leaders of the various sects in the magic cultivation world took the initiative to go to the door of the sword cultivation world, begging her to stop and release the people.

The sword cultivator world lacked silver and spirit stones, while the magic cultivator world had no shortage of these two things. When they came to the sword cultivator world, the magic cultivator world sent dozens of boxes of gold, silver and spirit stones. It was at that time that the sword cultivator world became rich and became the number one world in the cultivation world.

Since then, whenever other worlds have important matters to attend to, they will first consult the Sword Cultivation World. Even when other worlds want to discuss important matters, they will take the initiative to visit the Sword Cultivation World instead of letting her go outside.

However, although the sword cultivation world was once incredibly prestigious, it doesn't seem as high-profile now.

On the contrary, the momentum of the magic cultivation world is gradually rising, and it has already surpassed that of the sword cultivation world. It can be said that the wheel of fortune has turned.

As Li Chenjin pondered, he observed his surroundings.

After figuring out the layout of the room, she turned her attention back to herself.

She was wearing the same clothes she had worn before, nothing different, except...

There were some extra things on her hands and feet.

She looked down at the silver shackles on her hands and feet, then followed the chains on the shackles to the inside of the bed, where she saw that the other end of the chains was deeply embedded in the jade disc on the inside of the bed.

She tried to break the chain, which she couldn't tell what it was made of, but to her surprise, the chain was incredibly strong. No matter how hard she tried, the chain wouldn't budge.

Of course, it could also be because she is not in good health and has less strength.

If only I had that sword god's sword by my side right now, these chains, though they can't be torn apart, can't they be cut?

Unfortunately, the sword was not within her reach, and no matter how much she wanted it, it would not appear, which was truly frustrating.

Moreover, it seemed that Shen Zhengyuan was afraid she would run away, so he not only locked her right hand and right foot, but when she tried to mobilize her spiritual power, she found that her spiritual power was locked in her golden core and she could not mobilize it at all.

She didn't know what method it was to lock her spiritual power within her golden core, yet it didn't cause her any discomfort. If she hadn't felt no discomfort, she wouldn't have only discovered it now.

Fortunately, while the chain cannot be torn, it is not necessarily impossible to pry it open.

She had learned many skills when she was making a living in the martial arts world, and lock picking was one of them, which could now come in handy.

Since there was no one else in the house besides her, she might as well take the opportunity to pick the lock first. As for how to get out after picking the lock, she could think of another way later.

She pulled the hairpin off her head and sighed with relief that she had seen a pretty hairpin on her way to buy groceries in the demon realm and bought it on the way.

If she were wearing her usual wooden hairpin, this lock wouldn't be able to be pried open.

She lowered her head and bent over, trying to pry open the chain on her ankle, when she suddenly heard footsteps in the distance.

She paused, then immediately quickened her pace, trying to pry open the chains on her hands and feet before the footsteps approached.

But things in the cultivation world seem to recognize their owners. Even though she was very skilled at picking locks outside, she was like a novice when it came to these two chains. She tried for a long time, but the locks didn't budge.

Even as the footsteps slowly approached and drew near, the lock remained unopened.

Li Chen looked at the things on his hands and feet, sighed slowly, and gave up struggling before turning his gaze to the source of the sound.

The voice had stopped there for a long time, as if waiting for her to pick the lock, or perhaps waiting for her to give up.

After she stopped, a hand with long, slender fingers and distinct knuckles emerged from behind the layers of beaded curtain and slowly parted it.

From the darkness, a face with a gloomy gaze and a slightly pale expression slowly emerged.

Only then did Li Chen realize that the lamp made of spirit stones outside had gone dark at some point, plunging the area outside the beaded curtain into darkness.

Shen Zhengyuan walked slowly out of the darkness, eventually lifting the beaded curtain and entering the inner room, seemingly very familiar with the place.

He seems so familiar with this place; could this be where Shen Zhengyuan usually rests?

Before she could think any further, Shen Zhengyuan had already walked to the bedside, his gaze slowly falling on the hairpin in her hand.

He clearly knew what she had just been doing, but at this moment, there was no anger on his face. Instead, he looked at her with a smile in his eyes and said gently, "Long time no see, did you sleep well?"

Li Chen threw away the hairpin in his hand and exclaimed, "Old Ancestor Shen is very hospitable. Not only did he arrange such a magnificent place for me, but he also specially used some magic to help me fall asleep because he was worried that I would not be able to sleep well. So I slept well."

Shen Zhengyuan naturally heard the sarcasm in her words, but he didn't care. Instead, he said, "You use the method of knocking someone unconscious and then trapping them so skillfully. I thought you liked it."

They really came for revenge...

Li Chen coughed lightly, "Where did you get this idea? When did I ever do such a thing? I, the one who was truly trapped, haven't even said anything yet, and Elder Shen is already slandering me?"

"I thought that since you carry the storage bag I gave you with you, you wouldn't pretend that we don't know each other."

As Shen Zhengyuan spoke, he sat down on the edge of the bed, picked up the storage bag that was still hanging from her waist with his fingers, paused, and suddenly said, "I never thought she would be you. I just thought you two looked alike."

"What?" Li Chen asked, seemingly not understanding.

Shen Zhengyuan was already used to Li Chenjin's feigned ignorance and was not affected by her at all. Instead, he continued, "Before, every time I saw her face, I would think of you, and even think that she was you. But every move she made was completely different from yours, and she was not like you at all, so... I have always intentionally avoided her."

"But no matter how I try to avoid her, she always appears in front of me. So... I hate her, I really hate her."

Li Chen gave a bitter smile, a hint of sadness appearing in his eyes. "It seems that everyone who gets close to her, except for me, dislikes her."

Shen Zhengyuan was taken aback, but quickly realized what he meant and lowered his eyes, saying, "I now understand that the family you mentioned before were actually those hypocrites raised by the Wanshan Sect."

"Don't worry, I will avenge you."

Upon hearing this, Li Chenjin quickly replied, "That won't be necessary. Speaking of which, we do have a little grudge between us, so perhaps..."

"You're going to kill me?" Shen Zhengyuan suddenly asked.

"That won't happen," Li Chen chuckled. "I just hope that Elder Shen can lend a hand, unlock these chains on my hands and feet, and let me leave the cultivation world. That would settle all our past grievances. What do you say?"

Shen Zhengyuan looked at her for a long time, then suddenly smiled, but did not respond to her words. Instead, he said, "I thought you were dead."

"After I jumped off the cliff, I saw the Snow Demon King's corpse. I cut open its belly, hoping to find your body inside, even if it was just some limbs. But when I opened its belly, I found nothing inside."

Li Chen frowned, about to say something, when Shen Zhengyuan continued, "I was actually quite relieved at the time, relieved that you hadn't died."

"But then, an avalanche occurred on Xuemang Mountain, and the snow covered almost the entire canyon. If you had been nearby and I hadn't found you in time, you would have died."

Author's note: Hmm, will there be nutrient solution? [eating melon emoji] I feel like I can add an extra chapter if it reaches 500 words, but is it possible to reach 500 words? (confused emoji)