Chapter 266: Main Peak, Secondary Peak

After washing the tens of thousands of first-grade Primordial Spirit Herbs she had picked last night, Hua Changxi did not leave the secret realm immediately; instead, she harvested all the Primordial Spirit Herbs in the entire southeastern area, cleaned them, and only then left the secret realm.

By then, it was nearing evening, and all the retired Demon-Subduing Army soldiers she had brought up today had already sworn the Heart Demon Oath.

Of the thousand retired Demon-Subduing Army soldiers dispatched by Wei Zhenjie, only seven hundred and twenty passed the examination of the Oath Stele and became apprentices of the Danyuan Secret Realm.

As soon as Hua Changxi left the secret realm, Zhao Gonggong handed her the remaining identity tokens.

"Master, those who didn't pass, Eunuch Yu led them away from Danyuan Peak earlier. The apprentices who passed have now joined the road-cutting work crew."

Hua Changxi put away the tokens and flew toward the foot of Danyuan Peak on a cloud, bringing Zhao Gonggong with her.

Several hundred people, all of them cultivators—though their cultivation realms were generally at the Qi Refining stage and some were disabled—were still quite fast at cutting a mountain road.

Seeing that it was almost dark, Hua Changxi said to Zhao Gonggong, "Have them call it a day."

After Zhao Gonggong left, Hua Changxi began to patrol the foot of the mountain.

She only had a rough understanding of Danyuan Peak's overall appearance; she needed to investigate the specific details of Danyuan Peak herself to gain a more intuitive understanding.

Hua Changxi stood at the foot of the mountain, her eyes flickering as she gazed at the plaza a thousand meters above.

The terrain of Danyuan Peak was actually so much lower than the plaza!

Hua Changxi walked around the base of the mountain and discovered that, whether heading north or south, she was blocked by an invisible force.

Ever since she mastered the spatial law force of the 'Cleave' character, she had become more sensitive to spatial fluctuations; she could sense spatial barriers to the north, south, and east of Danyuan Peak.

In places where she encountered spatial barriers, she also found traces of formations.

If she wasn't mistaken, there should be other peaks around Danyuan Peak, and these peaks were concealed and isolated by formations.

This discovery stirred Hua Changxi's emotions.

She had been able to make Danyuan Peak appear by setting up the Oath Stele and recruiting apprentices for the Elixir Sage Hall. Could other secret realm masters also make other peaks appear by imitating her?

Hua Changxi had set up the Oath Stele and recruited apprentices under enormous external threats and pressure. Now, thinking that other secret realm masters could get a peak just by imitating her, without having to do or bear anything, she felt somewhat frustrated.

But she also knew this was the general trend of the Holy Land's revival, something unchangeable by human effort.

After being indignant for a while, Hua Changxi let the matter go. She always followed one principle in her actions: control what you can control, and let fate decide what you cannot control.

Hua Changxi explored toward the south of Danyuan Peak and found that the terrain was trending downward.

The plaza was already that much higher than the mountain foot, and the terrain was still descending—she couldn't quite figure out what the overall terrain of the Elixir Sage Hall was like.

At the west side of the mountain foot, Hua Changxi also discovered a huge pit.

Judging by its shape and the condition of the surrounding mountain rocks, this must have been formed by water falling from a height and eroding the ground.

This huge pit had originally been a pool of water.

After finishing her survey of the mountain foot, Hua Changxi ascended Danyuan Peak and investigated the entire mountain from bottom to top.

Apart from a few slowly forming spirit spring eyes on the mountainside and at the summit, most of Danyuan Peak was quite barren.

Perhaps because too much time had passed, aside from some obvious traces of battles, Hua Changxi found no valuable information.

During her survey, Hua Changxi marked several flat areas, preparing to build palace halls there for the Personnel Department, Logistics Department, Lecturer Hall, Task Hall, Merit Hall, and Enforcement Hall.

After surveying the entire mountain, it was completely dark. Hua Changxi did not return to the Thirteenth Qihuang Hall but instead flashed into the fourth layer of the secret realm and then took a teleportation array to Lingguang Hall.

Although she very much wanted to quickly handle matters concerning Danyuan Peak and the Danyuan Secret Realm, she knew it couldn't be done overnight; she couldn't delay her cultivation for this.

A night passed.

The sun hung high. Hua Changxi finished her cultivation and teleported back to the Danyuan Secret Realm.

At the summit of Danyuan Peak, Zhao Gonggong and several dozen members of the Hua clan had long been waiting in front of the Oath Stele.

Hua Changxi had originally thought that after Danyuan Peak appeared, many people would come to sign up and join the Danyuan Secret Realm. To her surprise, apart from the Hua clan members, there was no one else.

"Jiuniang."

Seeing his younger sister arrive, Hua Sanlang's face lit up with joy. He quickly walked up to her and said, "We came to sign up yesterday, but you weren't here."

Hua Changxi first looked at the Hua clan members in front of the Oath Stele, then shifted her gaze to Hua Sanlang: "Third Brother, do you all clearly understand the conditions and requirements for joining the Danyuan Secret Realm?"

Hua Sanlang nodded: "Yes, Pharmacist Xu explained everything to us in great detail."

Seeing Hua Changxi's businesslike manner, even though Hua Sanlang was her elder brother, he still felt uneasy in his heart.

Jiu Niang holds grudges. When she was recruiting apprentices earlier, Prince Shou and others opposed it, and the Hua clan didn't stand up to support her immediately, so she must be unhappy about it.

Hua Changxi took out several dozen identity tokens, handed them to Eunuch Zhao, and said, "Do it the same way as yesterday, and continue the same in the future."

Eunuch Zhao, who had been unsure about what attitude to adopt towards the Hua clan, immediately felt reassured upon hearing this.

By saying this, the master indicated that there was no need to give the Hua clan any special treatment.

Moreover, no matter who comes in the future, as long as we act according to the rules, that's enough.

Hua Changxi didn't stay long on the peak. With Eunuch Zhao supervising the Hua clan members as they took the heart demon oath, she went down the mountain to find Eunuch Yu.

Seeing Hua Changxi leave like that without leaving a single word, Hua Sanlang felt both disappointed and resentful.

He had thought that as a blood relative, he should be the most trusted by his sister. Little did he expect that she would rather have a eunuch supervise them than let him do it.

Hua Changxi was unaware of Hua Sanlang's grievances, and even if she knew, she wouldn't care.

Although she personally didn't like being constrained, she knew that an organization must have rules and regulations; otherwise, not to mention development, even basic stability couldn't be guaranteed.

She didn't want to entrust important tasks to her family because she was afraid they would use familial bonds to put themselves above the rules and hinder management.

At the foot of the mountain, after finding Eunuch Yu, Hua Changxi picked up a twig and drew a rough map of Dan Yuan Peak on the ground, then pointed to some spots and started talking with Eunuch Yu.

"I've marked all these places."

"Now, besides cutting the mountain path, you need to arrange a group of people to build palaces and pavilions."

Branch Thirteen of the Qihuang Hall was too close to the other Qihuang Halls; as soon as anything happened, news would spread everywhere. Hua Changxi didn't want to be watched, so she decided to set up the recruitment location directly at the foot of Dan Yuan Peak.

"First, build a courtyard at the foot of the mountain specifically for recruiting apprentices."

"After that's done, build the Logistics Department."

"The Logistics Department will need not only a storage area for supplies but also a dining hall."

"Afterwards, build the Lecture Hall, Mission Hall, Merit Hall, and Enforcement Hall in that order."

The Personnel Department, Logistics Department, Lecture Hall, Mission Hall, Merit Hall, and Enforcement Hall were positioned ascending along Dan Yuan Peak: the Personnel Department at the foot, and the Enforcement Hall already above the waist of the peak.

"Also, apprentices can only establish their cave dwellings below the mountain waist. Those who want to build cave dwellings above the waist, where the spiritual energy is richer, must first become alchemists and physicians."

After noting this down, Eunuch Yu quickly said, "Rest assured, master. The Logistics Department manages food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. I will lead the people to build these palaces and pavilions as soon as possible."

Hua Changxi was about to say more when suddenly, to the southeast of Dan Yuan Peak, a peak one-fifth shorter than Dan Yuan Peak appeared out of thin air.

"This is..."

Hua Changxi's expression brightened, and she immediately flew up to the summit of Dan Yuan Peak. Before she could figure out which secret realm master had conjured the newly appeared peak, another peak emerged.

"How is this possible?!"

On the Danding Altar square, Meng Qingyao's face was full of disbelief, while Gu Xing seemed lost in thought.

That's right, the two suddenly appearing peaks were activated by Meng Qingyao and Gu Xing.

Meng Qingyao looked urgently at Gu Xing: "Senior Gu, why are our peaks so much shorter than Dan Yuan Peak?"

Gu Xing looked at her: "Because ours are secondary peaks, while Dan Yuan Peak is the main peak."

Meng Qingyao was somewhat unwilling to accept this: "Why is that?"

Gu Xing glanced at her but did not respond.

Why else? It must be that the secret realm Hua Changxi obtained is of a higher grade than theirs!

Gu Xing could now be certain that the Dan Yuan Secret Realm in Hua Changxi's possession was an eighth-grade secret realm.