Luo Chen gave a faint smile as he lifted his own cup of wine. "A momentary setback means nothing. With your strength, if you were to join a major sect, you would still have a good chance for Core Formation."0

Chu Kui responded with a cold sneer. "Forget it. I have always walked alone, fighting for every scrap of resource with my own hands. I am not suited to live under the chains of sect rules."0

Luo Chen frowned slightly. The Great Dao lies just ahead, yet you’d give it up simply to avoid constraint? If that was truly the case, then why would you carry such heavy melancholy?2

Seeing Luo Chen’s confusion, Chu Kui sighed. "Honestly, even if I joined a Golden Core sect, so what? Those so-called righteous sects would never hand Core Formation resources to someone like me. At the end of the day, I’m an outsider." 0

Chu Kui gestured toward the doorway with a twitch of his lips.0

At that moment, Xuan Yu of Peach Mountain, who had won the Core Formation spirit medicine, strode into the hall. A retinue of Foundation Establishment Initiates followed behind him. His steps were steady and unhurried, his expression calm and composed. There was a youthful pride about him, a cultivated elegance that drew attention wherever he went.0

"What about him?" Luo Chen asked, puzzled.0

Chu Kui sent a voice transmission directly to his mind. "Xuan Yu was once a rogue cultivator as well. He is immensely talented, born with the Dragon Yang Physique, but all that earned him was the title of companion to Grand Elder Peach Blossom. Do not be fooled by his glamorous role as overseer of Peach Mountain or whatever. When it came to his Golden Core, the Grand Elder did not give him even a single pill. He had to come to this auction and struggle for it with his own strength."4

As he spoke, Chu Kui’s gaze grew steely. "Do you think I would fare any better in a major sect simply because I can fight? You...1