"Ah? Get closer? Dad, you..."
Hearing Long Yixian's words, Long Yuling was also stunned.
Her father was truly a fiercely protective parent!
Even when talented aristocratic young men had tried to approach her in the capital, her father had always been arrogant and dismissive.
How could he now have such thoughts about Lin Chen, a young man from the countryside?
He was actively suggesting she get closer, clearly trying to play matchmaker for her and Lin Chen!
"I have a strong feeling this kid is hiding secrets, though I don't have any leads yet. But I can be sure of one thing: he's had some incredible encounter."
"Otherwise, ordinary people wouldn't be able to obtain the Qian Yuan Burning Blood Divine Art."
Long Yixian narrowed his eyes, his expression full of confidence.
In the entire cultivation world of Long Country, there weren't many people he couldn't see through anymore.
Let alone a young man like Lin Chen!
The next morning, Lin Chen arrived at the Long family's main gate as promised. Long Yuling was already waiting for him.
After they exchanged greetings, Lin Chen followed Long Yuling, winding through various paths to the Long family's backyard.
As he approached the backyard, Lin Chen narrowed his eyes. He could sense that the arrangements in the backyard were a facade; there must be a highly skilled formation here!
As Long Yuling recited the incantation, the formation opened, revealing a luminous passage before Lin Chen and Long Yuling.
"Is this an inner space that only Nascent Soul cultivators can open?"
Seeing the dark passage, Lin Chen's eyes widened in surprise. As expected of the Long family! Even their mere Zhejiang branch possessed such profound resources.
With this inner space alone, even if the Long family provoked a powerful enemy in the future, as long as no Nascent Soul cultivator attacked, no one could harm the Long family's disciples.
This was the true foundation for their survival!
"Let's go, Mr. Lin. My father is already waiting inside."
Once the passage appeared, Long Yuling smiled slightly and led the way.
As Long Yuling entered the passage, a flash of light ensued, and the passage returned to its former calm.
Seeing this, Lin Chen didn't think much of it and followed her in.
A bright flash greeted him, and Lin Chen instinctively covered his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself in a room filled with rare treasures.
Numerous spiritual pills and elixirs filled the entire space, astonishing Lin Chen.
Among them were even several Nascent Soul Pills, emitting a golden glow that was incredibly enticing.
"Hahaha, young friend Lin, you're here?"
Seeing Lin Chen enter, Long Yixian stood up and walked towards him.
"Uncle, this is..."
Lin Chen was utterly bewildered by his surroundings.
Good heavens, the treasures in this room were dazzling. Any single item, if placed outside, could incite a bloody conflict. Yet here, they were so commonplace!
"These are all gifts for you, a reward for representing the Long family in the competition. You can take them all."
Long Yixian waved his hand, and all the treasures flew towards Lin Chen.
"Hehehe, Uncle Long, if you wanted to test me, couldn't you have chosen a different test? These treasures are a bit too fake, don't you think?"
However, to Long Yixian's utter surprise, as soon as the treasures flew near Lin Chen, Lin Chen waved his hand, and a surge of spiritual energy emanated from his palm.
Where the spiritual energy touched, the treasures instantly turned to dust.
What appeared before Lin Chen was a simple bamboo house.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Lin Chen, I'm starting to appreciate you more and more. How did you know these were all fake?"
Long Yixian was genuinely astonished that Lin Chen had seen through the illusion so easily.
He had never encountered a Core Formation cultivator who could emerge from his illusions so calmly.
Yet Lin Chen, from entering the illusion to regaining consciousness, had taken less than three minutes!
"Uncle, I just know that there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world."
Lin Chen forced a smile and didn't explain further.
In fact, while he was in the illusion, the Nine Dragon Ring had been flashing red lights in his sea of consciousness.
It was because of this that he had immediately detected the deception.
If the Long family truly possessed so many rare treasures, they would likely have become the foremost cultivation family in Long Country long ago. How could they be overshadowed by the Liu family?
"Let's go, I'll take you to see them."
Hearing Lin Chen's explanation, Long Yixian narrowed his eyes but said nothing more.
He certainly didn't believe Lin Chen's words, but he also knew that cultivators each had their own secrets, and some things were best kept to oneself.
Led by Long Yixian, Lin Chen arrived at a bamboo house.
Outside the bamboo house, several forging furnaces were burning, and beside them were placed several magical artifacts, and even a few spiritual artifacts, all casually discarded nearby.
"Uncle, are you perhaps a legendary artifact refiner?"
Lin Chen was slightly startled by the scene.
Any one of these spiritual artifacts, if placed outside, would cause cultivators to fight tooth and nail. But here, they were treated like garbage, piled up carelessly.
"Yes, unfortunately, I'm an unremarkable artifact refiner. With my current strength, I'm unable to forge a spiritual artifact-grade alchemy furnace for you."
Hearing Lin Chen's words, Long Yixian shook his head, his expression full of regret.
For so many years, his wife Lu Yuyan's injury had been his greatest pain. Because of this, even after nearly twenty years, he couldn't let go.
Both his cultivation and his artifact refining techniques had stagnated, showing no progress whatsoever.
"Uncle is too humble. To be able to casually forge magical artifacts is already the work of a divine being!"
Lin Chen said this with a sigh of emotion.
He had been smug about snatching Xiao Kui's Spirit Snake Sword before, but he never expected to see so many here!
"Has Lin Chen arrived?"
Perhaps hearing Lin Chen and Long Yixian's conversation, a slightly weak female voice came from within the bamboo house.
As the voice sounded, the bamboo house door opened, and a woman, who appeared to be in her forties, slowly walked out, supported by Long Yuling.
"This is my wife, Lu Yuyan. Yuyan, this is Lin Chen."
"Don't be fooled by his young age; he's already a Core Formation expert. Moreover, he broke through my illusion in less than three minutes. Truly, the younger generation is formidable!"
Seeing Lu Yuyan emerge, Long Yixian couldn't help but praise her.