Chapter 107: Body Tempering

Hua Changxi stared at the red lotus pattern on her brow. At first glance it was a red lotus, but on closer inspection, she could clearly see surging flames within the lotus petals.

This was the manifestation of her bloodline totem after atavism!

Looking at the lotus totem on her brow, Hua Changxi was somewhat surprised; the Vermilion Bird power within her bloodline had failed to overcome the lotus power, so the final manifestation was the lotus totem.

However, she quickly came to terms with it.

Although the Vermilion Bird was one of the Four Spirits, the Vermilion Bird bloodline within her body was very thin. Even after soaking in the atavism medicinal decoction, she had not awakened much of it.

Also, she had previously consumed the Flowing Light Red Lotus, a top-tier fire-type atavistic fruit. Presumably because of that, the lotus bloodline within her body had been strengthened.

More and more servants came to No. 4 Qihuang Hall. Hua Changxi stopped delving into the lotus pattern, turned around, and went to the main room to begin explaining the meridian structure of flora and fauna.

Afterwards, she went to No. 5 Qihuang Hall to explain the principles and methods of decomposition, purification, and fusion (of plants, animals, and minerals).

While lecturing on alchemy at No. 6 Qihuang Hall, Hua Changxi saw Eunuch Jia, Eunuch Yu, Eunuch Zhao, and Eunuch Zhou, each of whom had brought people along.

In the following lessons, the people brought by the four eunuchs took turns asking Hua Changxi questions. From the content of their questions, Hua Changxi knew that these people were all alchemists.

Half an hour later, the lesson ended.

Everyone else left, but the four eunuchs stayed behind.

As soon as the others had gone, Eunuch Jia quickly stepped forward and explained, "Master, those people were sent down by our superiors. They only notified us yesterday, and we couldn't get out of it and didn't have time to report to you, so we had no choice but to bring them to Qihuang Hall."

Hua Changxi looked at the four trembling men. "You seem very afraid of me?"

Hearing this, the four eunuchs exchanged glances. Finally, Eunuch Zhou couldn't help asking, "Master, we brought the people arranged by our superiors without consulting you first. Aren't you angry?"

Hearing him ask that, Hua Changxi understood the reason for their fear. "Let me ask you: have you leaked anything about me to your superiors?"

The four eunuchs quickly shook their heads. The master's lectures at the Servants' Hall were widely known; there was no need for them to leak it.

Hua Changxi asked again, "Have you betrayed me or harmed my interests?"

The four eunuchs shook their heads again.

Hua Changxi said, "That's settled, then. I want you to work for me, not to control everything about you. As long as you don't betray me or leak my affairs, I don't care about the rest, and I can't control it either."

"For unexpected incidents like this, your handling was not a problem. You just need to explain the cause and effect to me afterward."

"In the future, if the people behind you arrange for others to attend my lectures, just agree. Anyone can come to my lectures."

The four eunuchs were all stunned by Hua Changxi's reaction.

This kind of relationship was something they had never experienced before, leaving them somewhat unsure how to respond.

Seeing the four standing still, Hua Changxi asked, "Do you have anything else?"

The four snapped back to their senses and shook their heads. "No."

Eunuch Zhou tentatively flattered her, "Master, the lotus flower huadian on your forehead today is really beautiful. Wearing this huadian makes you even more radiant than before."

As soon as these words were spoken, Eunuch Zhou and the others saw Hua Changxi give a gentle smile.

"Is that so? I quite like this huadian too. I'll wear it every day from now on."

Seeing that Hua Changxi actually responded and seemed very pleased, Eunuch Zhou's eyes lit up. After leaving the Qihuang Hall with Eunuch Jia and the others, he remarked,

"This master... is different from the masters in the palace."

Eunuch Yu looked at the other three and sighed, "Not just the masters in the palace—she's different from all masters."

In fact, when he had cooperated with Hua Changxi in refining medicine before, he had already noticed that she seemed to build an equal relationship when interacting with people.

After taking them in, she did not treat them like servants.

The four were about to leave when Hua Changxi's voice came from behind.

"Wait a moment."

"Master, do you have any instructions?"

Hua Changxi looked at the four eunuchs. To make the horse run fast, you must first let it eat enough grass. If she wanted to fully control the Servants' Hall, she needed their help. "Come with me to No. 7 Qihuang Hall."

The four exchanged glances and quickly followed Hua Changxi.

After entering No. 7 Qihuang Hall, Hua Changxi took out a Spiritual Testing Stone and a Totem Golden Bowl. "This sphere is called a Spiritual Testing Stone; it can test whether a person has spiritual meridians."

"This golden bowl can illuminate your bloodline power to see if you can achieve ancestral awakening."

Eunuch Jia and the other three stared intently at the spirit-testing stone and the totem golden bowl.

Eunuch Yu had already tested his spiritual vein at the Eastern Depot and didn't have one. Now looking at the totem golden bowl, he asked nervously, "Master, without a spiritual vein and no possibility of bloodline awakening, does that mean there is no way to cultivate?"

Hua Changxi said, "Of course there are other ways, but that would be a true defiance of heaven to change fate. Everything has a price. Can you bear the cost of defying heaven to change your fate?"

Eunuch Yu lowered his head and said nothing.

Hua Changxi had the four begin testing. In the end, none of them had spiritual veins, but the golden bowl did reveal faint ancestral totems.

Eunuch Jia's totem image was a rabbit, Eunuch Yu's was an ox, Eunuch Zhou's was a tiger, and Eunuch Zhao's was a rat.

Eunuch Jia and the others were completely confused by the totem images and all looked at Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi said, "Although the totem images are somewhat illusory, you can still undergo ancestral awakening. Since you are my people, I will prepare the ancestral awakening medicinal bath for you. Tonight at the hour of Hai, wait for me in this courtyard."

"Oh, by the way, Eunuch Yu, call Yu Hui and have him come too."

Eunuch Yu quickly nodded.

After the four left, Hua Changxi returned to her own courtyard. She wanted to see whether ancestral awakening would affect cultivation.

As soon as she immersed herself in cultivation, Hua Changxi's consciousness attached to the inner core in her dantian's qi sea, and then she saw the lifelike Vermilion Bird pattern covering the inner core.

Then, as cultivation progressed, spiritual energy continuously surged into the inner core, and the Vermilion Bird pattern came alive, becoming dazzling and radiant.

At the same time, the image of the Vermilion Bird's breathing and circulation in her mind regained its luster, even more brilliant than before.

The Vermilion Bird totem couldn't compete with the lotus totem and ended up on this inner core!

As long as the totem existed, Hua Changxi didn't care where it manifested. She began to focus on cultivation.

In the past two months, she had unlocked eight Qihuang Halls. Each time she unlocked one, she gained a hundred thousand points of cultivation. After her bloodline awakening, her cultivation speed increased again.

Now, cultivating for one hour could increase her spiritual energy points by one million one hundred thousand.

As night fell, Hua Changxi stopped cultivating.

[Realm: Core Formation 88.88 million / 10 million]

Hua Changxi looked at her cultivation data and felt delighted. At the current cultivation speed, she would soon advance to the next realm.

Seeing that it was getting late, she got up and went to Qihuang Hall No. 7.

In Qihuang Hall No. 7, Yu Hui and Eunuch Jia and the other three had been anxiously waiting for a while.

"Sister, you're here."

Seeing Yu Hui approach with a bright smile to speak with Hua Changxi, and Hua Changxi being equally warm to him, Eunuch Jia, Eunuch Zhao, and Eunuch Zhou exchanged silent glances.

The three hadn't expected—although they knew Hua Changxi might be different from the superiors they had dealt with before—they hadn't imagined she would be this different.

Yu Hui actually called Hua Changxi "sister," and Hua Changxi responded. The two of them had such a relaxed relationship in private.

Hua Changxi used the golden bowl to check Yu Hui for a bloodline totem. Unexpectedly, Yu Hui's totem image turned out to be the strongest—a colorful rooster.

"I'm actually a chicken!"

Hua Changxi was a little speechless hearing Yu Hui's exclamation.

At that moment, four more people entered the courtyard. They were exactly the two men and two women whose totem images had shown rabbits yesterday.

"Manager Hua."

Seeing that Eunuch Jia and the others were also there, the four became somewhat reserved.

Among the four, three were siblings: Xia Song, Xia Bai, and Xia Ge. The other person was Su Ying.

After introducing the four, Hua Changxi went to the western wing's alchemy room and began brewing the ancestral awakening medicinal decoction.

After it was ready, she had the nine people soak in the medicinal bath.

After the nine soaked in the medicinal soup, they all felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Ah~"

"Sister, it hurts so much."

Steward Jia and the others dared not act rashly. Clenching their teeth against the pain, they quickly told Huā Chángxī about their condition, familiar as they were with Yú Guì and her.

Huā Chángxī knew the agony of medicinal baths: "Bear it. Reviving the dormant bloodline power within is inevitably painful."

Afterwards, Huā Chángxī meticulously recorded the reactions of the nine people in the medicinal baths on the side. The seventh wooden token placed in the main hall kept glowing with a white light.

Huā Chángxī noticed that another pattern had appeared on the stone wall of the main hall. Seeing that Yú Guì and the others were enduring pain to absorb the medicinal properties, she entered the main hall to look at the pattern.

This was a bloody pattern—someone had exploded after activating their blood totem!!

Clearly, this was an explosion caused by the physical body being unable to withstand the totem's power.

After examining the pattern, Huā Chángxī hurried out of the room. Seeing that Yú Guì and the others had already fallen asleep, she quickly went over to check on each of them.

She soon discovered that blood streaks of varying degrees had appeared on the skin of Yú Guì, Sū Yíng, and the Xià family's three siblings.

Seeing this, Huā Chángxī's expression changed. She swiftly lifted each person out of the bath tubs and administered pills to repair their bodies.

She then went to check on Steward Jia and the other three. Soon, she found blood streaks on Steward Jia's body, and then Steward Yú also developed streaks.

Before long, she also lifted Steward Zhào and Steward Zhōu out of the bath tubs.

Huā Chángxī carefully examined the condition of Yú Guì and the other four. She found that Yú Guì had the fewest blood streaks, Sū Yíng the most. Among the Xià siblings, Xià Sōng and Xià Bǎi had fewer than Xià Gē.

Next, she checked Steward Jia's group and found that Steward Zhōu had the fewest streaks and Steward Jia the most.

"Yú Guì is a fifth-grade martial artist, so his body is stronger than the other four. Sū Yíng is petite and weak, with the poorest physique. Among the Xià three siblings, Xià Gē is clearly not as strong as her two brothers."

"Steward Jia's group... Steward Zhōu is a Grandmaster, Steward Zhào is an eighth-grade martial artist, Steward Yú is a seventh-grade martial artist who can break through to eighth-grade, and Steward Jia has the weakest skills, also a seventh-grade martial artist. Their physical strength decreases in that order."

Comparing the conditions of the two groups, Huā Chángxī concluded that the strength of the physical body affects the revival of the totem power within the bloodline.

As for her, the reason she could revive her blood totem power in one step was because she was a cultivator. Not only had her body been tempered by spiritual qi, but it had also been constantly nourished by spiritual qi during the cultivation process, making it no longer an ordinary mortal body.

"If they can't withstand the bloodline recombination, what can be done?"

While pondering this question, Huā Chángxī's gaze turned toward the No. 8 Qíhuáng Hall next door.

If the body's strength is enhanced, then it can withstand the totem's power, right?

Huā Chángxī smiled. She guessed what was taught in No. 8 Qíhuáng Hall—most likely a body-tempering technique for strengthening the physique.

A night passed. Steward Jia and his three companions woke up first in the eastern side room, followed by Yú Guì, and finally the Xià siblings and Sū Yíng.

When they woke up, their whole bodies ached. Upon learning that Huā Chángxī had gone to give a lecture, they lay back down on the beds. It wasn't until noon, when Huā Chángxī returned, that they finally got up.

"Sister, why does our body hurt so much?"

"Your bodies are too weak to withstand the bloodline recombination. Come on, let's go to No. 8 Qíhuáng Hall."

Arriving at No. 8 Qíhuáng Hall, Huā Chángxī took out the first chapter, "Tempering Skin," from the "Nine Revolutions Mystic Art" she had obtained at Wǔzhǐ Mountain. She gave it to Yú Guì and told them to copy it down in the side room.

Steward Jia and the others, all being martial artists, looked at it and quickly said, "We've already tempered our skin during martial arts training."

Huā Chángxī: "Tempering skin in martial arts training only makes the skin firmer. It can't resist either fire or water, nor can it make you impervious to blades and spears."

"This 'Tempering Skin' technique I gave you—once you cultivate it to perfection, even against Qi Refining cultivators, their spiritual power attacks won't be able to break through your skin's defense."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they eagerly went to copy the "Tempering Skin" technique.

Once they left, Huā Chángxī did not leave No. 8 Qíhuáng Hall but instead began brewing a skin-tempering medicinal decoction. The most important step in skin tempering is the decoction bath.

By the time Yú Guì and the others finished copying, Huā Chángxī's skin-tempering decoction was also ready.

"I'll provide the first batch of recombination decoction and skin-tempering decoction for free. If you want to continue later, you'll have to obtain them through your own efforts."

Each chapter of the "Nine Revolutions Mystic Art" requires a corresponding body-tempering medicinal decoction. The skin-tempering decoction in the Tempering Skin chapter uses many spiritual herbs. If she didn't have Wǔzhǐ Mountain, she wouldn't be able to afford it.

Yú Guì and the others understood this. They were already very grateful that Huā Chángxī could help them embark on the path of cultivation.

"Be mentally prepared—skin tempering will be very painful."

Having experienced last night's medicinal bath, Yú Guì and the others thought they had already adapted to the pain, but when they soaked in the skin-tempering decoction, they truly learned what agony meant.

Huā Chángxī was also shocked. Watching the skin of Yú Guì and the others split, heal, split again, and heal again made even her scalp tingle.

However, this skin tempering was different from last night's explosion. Skin tempering really only tempered the skin—it did not damage the flesh inside.

Thus, Yú Guì and the others remained painfully conscious throughout.

To divert everyone's attention, Hua Changxi began reciting the Skin Tempering Art for them, so they could absorb the medicinal bath while tempering their skin.

As she recited, the eighth wooden token glowed with white light.

Seeing the white light, Hua Changxi’s brows arched in a smile—she had guessed correctly: the eighth Qihuang Hall taught body tempering.

After reciting the Skin Tempering Art three times, and seeing that Yu Gui and the others had grown accustomed to the pain, gritting their teeth as they tempered their skin, she entered the main hall.

On the stone wall of the main hall, two patterns had already appeared.

The first pattern was simple and straightforward, depicting the process of a frail mortal transforming into a giant who "supports the heavens and stands firm on the earth" through body tempering.

Truly sky-reaching and earth-steady—the giant pierced through the clouds, and even mountains looked tiny beneath its feet, rather like the spectral giant monkey that appeared at Five Fingers Mountain.

To cultivate "Heaven and Earth Transformation," one must first temper the body.

Hua Changxi then looked at the second pattern, which depicted a scene of skin tempering. Above it was recorded a formula for a skin-tempering decoction.

Most of the ingredients in this formula were ordinary mortal plants, with only a few kinds of spirit medicines—and those were very common, ordinary ones.

"This skin-tempering formula has excellent cost-effectiveness," she remarked.

Hua Changxi felt that even ordinary people could, with some effort, collect all the ingredients listed in the formula, unlike the skin-tempering formula in "Nine Revolutions Mystic Art," which required only rare and precious spirit medicines.

Moreover, the Skin Tempering Art itself was much simpler and felt very easy to get started with.

After copying down the skin-tempering decoction formula and the Skin Tempering Art from the pattern, she went to the courtyard to check on Yu Gui and the others.

By the time Yu Gui and the rest finished tempering their skin, the sky had darkened. Seeing them limp like noodles in the bath barrels, Hua Changxi let them leave on their own, while she herself carried another portion of the skin-tempering decoction into the east room of the main house.

She felt that dual cultivation of magic and body might be better.

She still remembered clearly the sight of Elder Jiang's physical body being incinerated earlier, leaving only his primordial spirit to flee—a magus's physical form was not particularly strong.

Pain!

As she soaked in the medicinal bath, Hua Changxi felt a newfound admiration for Yu Gui and the others. She also saw how great their determination to cultivate was—this tearing and healing of skin was an indescribably excruciating pain.

Just as Hua Changxi was gritting her teeth through skin tempering, the struggle for First Street came to an end.

Gu Qiming flipped through the list of medical shops. The imperial family had taken twenty shops, the Heavenly Department had taken twenty, and the remaining forty had been divided among the various factions.

The Medical Department had only obtained five shops, which made him quite dissatisfied.

This was his own turf, yet he had to bow to other nobles just to place his apothecaries—it was utterly stifling.

Yuan Tianchou, seeing Gu Qiming’s exhausted expression, said, “Master, all the medical shops on First Street now have owners. You can take a good rest for a while.”

Gu Qiming shook his head. “No time to rest. I still haven’t completed the task the Minister assigned.”

Tomorrow he had to go to the Old Courtyard at the Square to see Gu Xing. The other three who took the wooden tokens also needed to be found.