Chapter 264: Not Enough Time

After giving all the instructions, Hua Changxi returned to the alchemy room, then activated the Divine Wood Leaf in her dantian and teleported into the Danyuan Secret Realm.

This time, leading people to swear allegiance to the Danyuan Secret Realm had truly surprised and delighted her.

What surprised her was the flash appearance of the Immortal Divine Wood.

What delighted her was that she not only became the peak master of Danyuan Peak but also obtained a sacred pill and a new branch of the Immortal Divine Wood.

Hua Changxi felt the new branch in her dantian and the sacred pill in her sea of consciousness, and her mood was quite joyful.

Apart from these unexpected gains, the commotion today was enough to break the joint boycott against her initiated by Prince Shou and others.

Now, many people within the Medical Department should want to join the Danyuan Secret Realm.

The time inside the secret realm was the same as outside. Seeing that it was already dark and thinking about having to recruit several hundred retired Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers tomorrow, Hua Changxi decided not to return to Lingguang Hall to cultivate tonight.

Hua Changxi quickly took out the remaining nine thousand-plus identity tokens and began to brand the character "Yuan" onto each one.

Two hours (shi chen) passed, and all the identity tokens were fully branded.

With more than three hours (shi chen) until dawn, Hua Changxi pondered for a moment and prepared to refine pills.

[Third-Grade Alchemist (Supreme Pill): Pill refining: 1508 furnaces 1508/]

Looking at her alchemy grade that had not improved, Hua Changxi felt somewhat helpless. Since the start of the year, she had been busy and had no time to refine pills.

"Once the apprentice recruitment is stabilized, I must quickly improve my alchemy grade."

Now, she had to hurry to refine a batch of first-grade spirit pills that she had promised to distribute to the apprentices.

There were many mature first-grade spirit herbs on the first floor of the secret realm, so Hua Changxi began picking the Yuanling Grass needed to refine first-grade Yuanling Pills.

She did not pick them by hand directly but used spiritual power to harvest. At the Nascent Soul stage, she harvested very quickly. By dawn, she had picked tens of thousands of first-grade Yuanling Grass plants.

Each level of the Danyuan Secret Realm had two spirit rivers—one running north-south and one running east-west.

Hua Changxi looked at the mountain-like pile of spirit herbs before her and felt a headache—there wasn't enough time.

Although she had recruited dozens of apprentices yesterday, they would be opening roads on Danyuan Peak today, so these spirit herbs could only be cleaned and processed by her alone.

"I need to quickly train a batch of apprentices."

Otherwise, if everything depended on her alone, she would be exhausted to death.

Hua Changxi saw that the sky was fully bright, so she teleported out of the secret realm. As soon as she left the alchemy room, she saw Xu Yaoshi and others already waiting inside the Qihuang Hall.

"Are all the resumes of the retired Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers filled out?"

Xu Yaoshi stepped forward and replied, "All filled out."

Hua Changxi nodded: "Alright, then everyone will go up Danyuan Peak together later." She paused, "Where are Yu Gonggong and the others?"

Xu Yaoshi: "Steward Yu has already taken the apprentices recruited yesterday up to Danyuan Peak to work."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi was very satisfied with Yu Gonggong's proactiveness. She looked at Xu Yaoshi and said, "Uncle Xu, from now on you will be the steward in charge of recruiting secret realm apprentices."

Hearing this, Xu Yaoshi's face lit up with joy: "Jiuniang, you... Hall Master, rest assured, I will definitely do my best."

Hua Changxi saw Hua Shuran and the others looking at her eagerly, and continued: "From now on, you seven will work under Steward Xu and follow his orders."

Upon hearing this, Hua Shuran and the other six immediately looked dejected.

Hua Changxi ignored them and left the No.13 Qihuang Hall with the several hundred retired Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers.

Watching their receding figures, Hua Shuran, Hua Wanyue, He Siqi, and He Sirong exchanged helpless glances, regret flickering in all their eyes.

They never expected that Hua Changxi would turn the tables so quickly.

Yesterday everyone had been avoiding her, and now they wanted to curry favor, but they were already beneath Hua Changxi's notice.

Zhu Yu looked at Xu Yaoshi, whose joy was written all over his face, and suddenly said, "Steward Xu, the Hall Master didn't let us eight go to Danyuan Peak to swear an oath. So, are we considered people of the Danyuan Secret Realm?"

Xu Yaoshi's expression froze, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

Zhou Bin: "The Qihuang Hall is the Qihuang Hall, the secret realm is the secret realm. Maybe in the Hall Master's heart, we are just medicine boys of the No.13 Qihuang Hall."

Zhu Yu looked at Xu Yaoshi: "Steward Xu, the Hall Master thinks highly of you. Can you ask the Hall Master about this?"

Xu Yaoshi knew that Hua Changxi was wary of them, the medicine boys. He also knew that Zhu Yu and the others were planted by other forces. He knew even more that Hua Changxi had appointed him as steward out of their past bond.

He didn't want to use up the goodwill between him and Hua Changxi for the sake of Zhuyu and the others, so he smiled vaguely and said, "If there's an opportunity, I'll ask the Hall Master."

Xu Yaoshi saw that everyone was downcast, so he added, "If we do well the tasks the Hall Master has assigned, I believe she will acknowledge everyone. If we can't even complete the tasks given to us, then we really won't have a chance to stay by the Hall Master's side."

Just then, the communication talisman at Hua Shuran's waist moved. Soon, she walked over to Xu Yaoshi: "Manager Xu, the Hua clan members are coming to register, and among them is the Hall Master's elder brother."

Xu Yaoshi immediately smiled and said, "The Hall Master instructed that everyone can come to register. Go and welcome them."

Hua Shuran thanked him, then took Hua Wanyue and left No. 13 Qihuang Hall.

Watching their retreating figures, Xu Yaoshi shook his head. The Hua clan members hadn't stepped forward to support Hua Changxi at the first opportunity, so they probably wouldn't gain any favor.

On the other side, Hua Changxi didn't directly ride a cloud to fly up Danyuan Peak with the several hundred retired demon-suppression soldiers. Instead, she led them on foot across the square, and only then rode a cloud up to the summit of Danyuan Peak.

When the others noticed this, they all paid close attention.

On the second floor of the Spirit Realm Pavilion, Meng Yuchuan watched Hua Changxi and her group swaggering across the square and immediately snorted, "This Hua Changxi really doesn't miss any chance to show off."

In the room, besides Meng Qingyao, there were also the brothers Dongfang Hao and Dongfang Xu.

Dongfang Hao: "Perhaps she isn't trying to show off."

Hearing this, Meng Yuchuan immediately became unhappy: "Brother Hao, why do you always speak up for Hua Changxi?"

Dongfang Hao showed no change in expression at Meng Yuchuan's words: "I'm just stating the facts."

Meng Qingyao spoke up: "Brother Hao, did you notice something?"

Dongfang Hao: "I once read in an ancient text that squares with altars are forbidden for flying."

Meng Yuchuan's expression stiffened, then he said coldly, "This Hua Changxi is too insidious. Since she knew flying was forbidden in the square, why didn't she tell everyone?"

Seeing Meng Yuchuan like this, Dongfang Hao couldn't help raising his hand and rubbing his brow.

Dongfang Xu couldn't hold back and let out a sneer: "If Hua Changxi had said it, would you have listened? I bet you'd have made up other things to slander her."

Meng Yuchuan's face turned ugly: "You..."

Meng Qingyao saw that they were about to quarrel and quickly stopped them, looking at Dongfang Hao: "I'm going to follow Hua Changxi's example and set up an oath tablet to recruit apprentices."

After hearing this, Dongfang Hao expressed his approval. Seeing that Meng Qingyao looked somewhat dejected, he comforted her, "In cultivation, what matters is perseverance and long-term progress. Occasional gains and losses don't amount to much."