Chapter 248: Era's Catalyst (17)

Regarding the "Green Marsh" that flew out of the alchemy cauldron, Hua Changxi was evasive and ambiguous; although the crowd wanted to get to the bottom of it, Hua Changxi didn't cooperate, and in the end, they could only leave the Thirteenth Qihuang Hall in disappointment.

Compared to the displeasure of the others, Gu Xing was in a fairly good mood at the moment. Looking at the Pharmacy Department, which had expanded several times, and feeling the dense spiritual energy in the air, his mind was filled with visions of the Holy Land restoring its ancient glory.

The Pharmacy Department now surged with spiritual clouds and auspicious vapors, already showing some semblance of a Holy Land in its infancy.

Joy swirled in Gu Xing's eyes, but when he noticed the undisguised scheming and greed in the eyes of the various factions, his smile gradually faded.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the current Pharmacy Department was likely even denser than the secret realm occupied by the imperial family. Just sending people in to cultivate would yield tremendous benefits.

Previously, the various secret realm masters, in order to enhance their own strength and recruit other factions to serve them, had made the already faction-ridden Pharmacy Department even more intricate and chaotic.

Now that the Pharmacy Department had become the place with the densest spiritual energy in the capital, more and more people would set their sights on it. The Pharmacy Department would probably become even more chaotic in the future.

The mere thought of Hua Changxi still maintaining an attitude of fighting alone and standing aloof gave Gu Xing a terrible headache.

Amidst the chaos, someone needed to step forward, leading a group of followers who shared the common goal of reviving the Dan Holy Temple, to advance the restoration of the Holy Land.

He thought highly of Hua Changxi, but unfortunately, that girl had no such intention.

Gu Xing then glanced at Meng Qingyao, who was following closely behind Xia Zhen. He absolutely acknowledged Meng Qingyao's talent in alchemy.

But...

Having been raised by both the Meng and Xia families, Meng Qingyao inevitably bore the expectations of both houses. Her connection to the Dan Holy Temple would not be entirely pure.

Gu Xing's greatest worry was that if some major incident occurred in the future, Meng Qingyao might sacrifice the Holy Land's interests to favor the Meng and Xia families.

"Let's wait and see..."

This was still only the initial stage of the spiritual energy revival. As time went on, more and more prodigies would emerge. Perhaps a prodigy even more suitable for the Holy Land's development than Hua Changxi or Meng Qingyao would appear in the future.

Gu Xing consoled himself in his heart like this, suppressing his worries for the time being.

Not far away, Wei Zhenjie noticed Gu Xing's hesitant gaze toward Meng Qingyao and raised an eyebrow knowingly.

If it weren't for Hua Changxi as a point of comparison, he guessed that Gu Xing would have chosen to support Meng Qingyao.

But Hua Changxi had appeared out of nowhere.

For the most part, a good family background can be an advantage for a person, but that is not absolute.

Take Meng Qingyao and Hua Changxi, for example.

Meng Qingyao was born into the Meng family, a cultivation clan, and was also educated by the Xia family, a protector clan. Her path of cultivation was quite smooth, and her future was clearly bright.

However, these came at a cost. After Meng Qingyao grew up, she would have to repay the Meng and Xia families, striving for their interests in many matters.

On this point alone, it was not conducive to her gaining the support of Gu Xing, who put the Dan Holy Temple above all else.

As for Hua Changxi, without the constraints of family background, with fewer entanglements and a simpler position, she could act more purely and single-mindedly, without having to consider too many factors.

If he were Senior Gu, his heart would also lean a little more toward Hua Changxi.

Wei Zhenjie looked at his apprentice Huo Yunxiao: "Didn't Hua Changxi say her secret realm was going to recruit apprentices? Pay close attention to this matter. The Demon-Suppressing Army should send a batch of people in as apprentices too."

Huo Yunxiao thought for a moment and said, "Master, from my understanding of Hua Changxi, she's not the type to labor for the benefit of others. I reckon her conditions for recruiting apprentices will be extremely strict."

Wei Zhenjie smiled: "No matter how strict the conditions, there will always be people who fit."

He paused.

"Senior Gu and Meng Qingyao have already sent several batches of people into the high-grade secret realms they control. Based on the commotion they've stirred up recently, those high-grade secret realms are extremely vast."

"It can be inferred that the secret realm in Hua Changxi's hands won't be too small either."

"If the secret realm is large, it requires more people."

"Since Hua Changxi needs manpower, we can send people in."

After hearing this, Huo Yunxiao found it reasonable, then sighed and said, "Hua Changxi is not stupid, but her vision is too narrow."

"Why can't she see it clearly? Right now, she's just a piece of fat meat that everyone wants to bite. She thinks that by not cooperating with us, she can prevent others from getting their hands on the secret realm. How naive."

Hearing this, Wei Zhenjie said nothing. Prodigies are all proud and unwilling to be constrained by others. Let Hua Changxi be taught a harsh lesson by reality a few times; then she would learn to compromise and make concessions.

"Keep a close watch on all the factions here in the Pharmacy Department. Send me a message immediately if anything happens."

After giving Huo Yunxiao a few instructions, Wei Zhenjie returned to the Heavenly Division. As soon as he entered the Heavenly Division, he went straight into the underground palace, activated several seals, and then flashed into the Heavenly Division's forbidden ground—a separate space completely different from the underground.

Within the forbidden ground, countless thick golden rune chains floated.

The rune chains intertwined with each other, weaving into a golden net that sealed all the black demonic qi constantly surging from underground within the net.

As the spiritual energy of the Four Spirit Realms recovered, the seal of the Demon Prison was also loosening.

With the seal loosening, demonic qi leaked out. The Central Sacred Land, serving as the formation core, and the four sacred lands of Alchemy, Arrays, Talismans, and Artifacts, acting as formation eyes, bore the brunt, all suffering varying degrees of erosion from the demonic qi.

At that moment, within the golden net woven from rune chains, the accumulated demonic qi had already become quite dense.

Even Wei Zhenjie, a late Nascent Infant stage cultivator, dared only stand at the edge where the demonic qi was slightly thinner; even so, his mind was still affected to some extent.

Normally, he would remain expressionless even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, but now, affected by the demonic qi, he could not help feeling increasingly irritable.

Wei Zhenjie steadied his mind, forcefully suppressing his restless emotions, and quickly looked toward the center of the forbidden ground.

At the center of the forbidden ground stood an altar inscribed with complex arrays and runic patterns.

Above the altar floated a golden demon-subduing staff.

The demon-subduing staff radiated golden light in all directions.

Within the golden light, eight runes lingered.

At that moment, a new rune was taking shape.

Wei Zhenjie watched the formation of the new rune nervously.

Time passed bit by bit. After an unknown duration, the new rune was fully formed, and immediately flew to join the other eight runes.

The nine runes connected end to end, rapidly constructing a new golden rune chain.

As soon as the rune chain was completed, it flew toward the golden net, merged into it, and became part of the net.

Seeing this, Wei Zhenjie’s tense expression slowly relaxed.

Indeed, the stronger the four sacred lands acting as formation eyes, the stronger the Central Sacred Land's ability to resist demonic qi.

The last time he entered the forbidden ground, the demon-subduing staff had only condensed four runes. He had thought it would take a long time for a new rune chain to form, but unexpectedly, this time the appearance of the Alchemy Cauldron Altar in the Alchemy Sacred Land caused the staff to rapidly condense five runes.

Wei Zhenjie looked at the defensive net of the formation core. With the addition of a new rune chain, its defensive capability had increased somewhat. He breathed a sigh of relief, but also grew more thoughtful.

"If only there were a way to hasten the recovery of the other three sacred lands..."

Wei Zhenjie also knew this was just a wishful fantasy; reviving a sacred land was extremely difficult. If it were easy, the Guardian Families and the Imperial Clan would have already seized control of the five sacred lands.

The fact that the Alchemy Sacred Land had brought the Alchemy Cauldron Altar into the world so quickly had also greatly exceeded his expectations.

As for the other sacred lands, aside from knowing the locations of their ruins, there was still no sign of revival at all.

Of course, the Central Sacred Land’s revival progress was also very slow.

"Was the Alchemy Sacred Land revived too quickly, or were the other sacred lands revived too slowly?"