Supreme Emperor of Mist

While the three are still pondering if they could keep Qin Lan by their side forever, a much more serious discussion is going on at another place.

Sun Wu Jian, Shan Xiong Xin, Qin Lan, and Huang Ping were seated in a circle with close to ten bottles of Blood Genesis Pill placed in the middle. Each of them carries a stern facial expression on their face before they even went on with their main subject.

"Brother Qin, will it be too exhausting if you keep pushing yourself like this? I understand that the Blood Genesis Pill is essential, but you'll have to keep track of your own health too. Everyone is relying on you now, so we can't have you collapse here." Sun Wu Jian said.

"I'll be able to manage it. What was the response so far from the others about this Blood Genesis Pill?" Qin Lan asked after replying to Sun Wu Jian's concern. His look was much better than before, but that was after he was freshening up by Hu Jia's embrace.

It was still far to say that Qin Lan is doing very well right now.

That's because Qin Lan was leading a double life right now. Out of the 24 hours he had daily, three of them were worth three days when he's inside the Mountain and Sea Sublime Painting. Of course, it was not a topic he can simply discuss with others.

Not even those closest to him were allowed to know about the existence of this painting, including his wives.

"The Silver Sycee holders have been getting impatient lately. All I can say is that the attraction of the Blood Genesis Pill is simply too great for them to be asking it daily."

"Some of them even tried to bribe their way up into becoming a Golden Sycee holder as they promised to serve his highness for twenty years and above. A few even tried to offer their daughter and wives to see if they can forge their way up to obtain the Blood Genesis Pill." Huang Ping said.

There was a hint of disdain lingered on his face when he mentioned all of these. It had never run across his mind that a cultivator can be this shameless when it comes to their own benefit. Once, he almost throws a fit when a half-step expert arrived at his doorstep to offer both his wife and daughter to Huang Ping in exchange for ten of the Blood Genesis Pills.

"What you've been is just an appetizer. It is yet to reach the extremity point yet." Qin Lan smiled and brought out four jars of Rock Lotus Fragrance Wine.

"Extremity? Why is this not counted as extreme? To what extent can one become shameless for their own benefit?" Huang Ping asked. His hand reached out to catch the wine jar sent by Qin Lan across the table.

Everyone was doing the same as the wine came into their reach.

"To what extent? Hahaha... Are you sure you want to know?" Qin Lan laughed. His question made the other three curious as they're trying to guess what kind of answer Qin Lan would give them.

"The milder action would be resort to bribing other alchemists to help them steal or obtain this medicinal pill with all means. Those crueler and more capable might think about selling this piece of information to others. I'm sure the two other princes or the Evil Infant Sect will be very interested, to the point they'll get something else in replacement."

"After all, how much could it hurt if they can get a hundred or two drops of Precelestial Essence if all they need is just to sell this secret to the others?" Qin Lan said.

"This..." Sun Wu Jian, Shan Xiong Xin, and Huang Ping looked at one another as such a thought never crossed their mind before. It somehow turned into an embarrassment because they noticed that they're still too inexperienced in this regard.

"There's still an extremity option." Qin Lan added.

"What? That wasn't the extreme option they might do? To what extent can happen if that wasn't the worst-case scenario?" Shan Xiong Xin asked. Since he was the most straightforward among the four of them, his reaction was expected.

"If mild desperation can make one simply betray their lord for a slight benefit, what do you think when it was multiplied by many times? Put a few of them together, along with some greed, jealousy, and envy..."

"By that time, killing a fellow cultivator that just advanced for the pills in their hand is nothing. They won't even feel guilty for doing that." Qin Lan shared. With his two lifetimes of experience, what kind of sight hasn't he witnessed before?

Family betraying one another...

Disciple turning against their fellow senior, junior, and elders...

"Brother Qin's meaning is..." Sun Wu Jian tries to comprehend the meaning behind Qin Lan's words. Soon, he started to understand why Qin Lan purposely stated that they divide the people into three categories.

"We have to immediately protect those who recently advanced then! They might be in danger right now if there's a few people from the remaining group who is desperate enough to do what brother Qin has said!" Sun Wu Jian reacted.

"Calm down, brother Sun. I won't be giving you guys some wine to drink if it's really this urgent." Qin Lan chuckled as he poured some alcohol to moisten his throat for talking so much.

"Brother Qin had expected this to happen? What kind of precaution have you taken?" Sun Wu Jian asked. Suddenly, he remembered something. It's been quite a while he didn't hear about the news regarding Lu Yi and Huo Zunjie.

Added with the sudden arrival of Hu Jia to the Demon Mountain Forest, what could that possibly mean?

On this particular night, ten Silver Sycee holders were captured while trying to return to the Demon Mountain Fort with some half-step Bone Expert friends.

Another ten Silver Sycee holders have miraculously vanished from the Demon Mountain Fort without reason. Everyone was nervous when this news spreads all over the fort.

As for Qin Lan and the others, they have been drinking throughout the night. Close to forty experts were kneeling beside the table, with an unknown fate.