Chapter 269: Guardians of the Saint Appear

Ever since Hua Changxi assigned the task of packaging pills to Yu Fu and the other three, for the next two months or so, the four of them supervised the apprentices in building Danyuan Peak during the day, and at night they eagerly entered the secret realm to package pills.

The four of them were well aware that jobs with such generous pay would not come often, so they naturally did their utmost to earn more resources for themselves.

As for Hua Changxi, she refined pills during the day and teleported to Lingguang Hall to cultivate at night, occasionally taking time to check on the recruitment of apprentices and the construction progress of Danyuan Peak. Seeing that everything was developing as she expected, she didn't intervene much.

During this period, various pavilions and courtyards were gradually completed on Danyuan Peak.

Among them, the first to be built was the Personnel Department at the foot of the mountain.

After the Personnel Department was built, Yu Fu, following Hua Changxi's instructions, brought the eight medicine boys from No. 13 Qihuang Hall to the summit of Danyuan Peak.

The eight of them took the Heart Demon Oath, received the recognition of the Oath Stele, and all obtained identity tokens for entering and leaving the Danyuan Secret Realm and Danyuan Peak.

Among the eight medicine boys, except for Xu Yaoshi, who had a personal friendship with Hua Changxi, the other seven only breathed a sigh of relief and felt at ease after receiving the identity tokens.

Heaven knows how afraid they were that Hua Changxi might reject them.

The next to be completed was the Logistics Department.

The Logistics Department was in charge of the apprentices' clothing, food, housing, and transportation, involving so many affairs that its courtyards and pavilions were several times larger than the Personnel Department. Among them, three large buildings were built as canteens to provide meals for the apprentices.

Ever since the canteens were built, the apprentices have been eating there.

Moreover, after the Logistics Department began operation, the apprentices could choose locations to open up their cave dwellings.

Because of this, Yu Fu had been extremely busy during this period, to the point of not having a moment's rest.

By late April, the Lecture Hall, Task Hall, and Enforcement Hall were also completed one after another, and the mountain path had been extended to the summit.

Before they were put into use, Hua Changxi exchanged a hundred bottles of third-grade supreme pills with Yan Zhenzhen for six fourth-order grand formations and arranged them in each department.

Although these formations could only defend against cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm and below, they still improved the security of each department to a certain extent.

On the last day of April, 100,000 bottles of first-grade supreme Yuanling Pills, 100,000 bottles of other first-grade and second-grade pills with various effects, and a small number of third-grade pills were stored in the Logistics Department's warehouse.

Looking at the full warehouse, Yu Fu squinted with a smile: "With these pills stored, the Logistics Department is finally no longer empty."

Jia Lu, Zhou Shou, Zhao Xi, and Xu Yaoshi saw this and were all very envious that Yu Fu was in charge of such abundant resources.

Among the five stewards, only Xu Yaoshi was a newcomer. In order to quickly integrate into the circle of stewards, his words unconsciously carried a tone of elevating the other four while demeaning himself.

"Your tasks have gradually gotten on track, but I'm the one lagging behind. In two months, I haven't recruited many apprentices. I don't even know how to explain to Ninth Lady... to the Master."

Yu Fu and the other three were also very concerned about the recruitment of apprentices. Hearing Xu Yaoshi call Hua Changxi "Jiuniang," they all smiled and comforted him.

Yu Fu said: "In these two months, the other secret realm masters have been frantically recruiting. They have countless ties to the imperial family and the powerful. Meanwhile, the Medical Department is controlled by the powerful. Not being able to recruit people is not your fault."

Jia Lu said: "Indeed, I wonder what those secret realm masters are thinking. They've been at it for so long without summoning a peak, yet they still haven't given up."

Zhou Shou said: "I think those secret realm masters, first, are unwilling to accept defeat, and second, probably harbor some intention to oppose the Master."

In the eyes of the other secret realm masters, the Master had Danyuan Peak but couldn't recruit people, or couldn't recruit excellent apprentices, while they had a large number of excellent apprentices. In this way, they had managed to turn the tables.

Xu Yaoshi sighed: "The Master has clearly demonstrated abilities surpassing those of the other secret realm masters, yet she is being suppressed like this. It's really..."

Zhao Xi said: "I believe this is only temporary. The conditions and benefits for recruiting apprentices in Danyuan Secret Realm are clearly taking care of ordinary cultivators without power or influence, giving everyone who aspires to medicine and alchemy a chance to learn."

"After all, the majority of cultivators in this world are ordinary."

"The imperial family and the powerful can block us for a while, but not forever."

Yu Fu nodded: "Steward Zhao is right. Steward Xu, don't be too anxious. I believe that our Danyuan Peak will surely be extremely glorious in the future."

In the Danyuan Secret Realm, with the first batch of spirit pills stored in the Logistics Department, Hua Changxi's task of refining pills for the apprentices was considered complete.

According to her plan, the pills distributed to apprentices in the future would be refined by alchemists among the apprentices themselves.

Now, she needed to hurry and improve her own alchemy rank.

The third layer of the secret realm had a rich variety of third-grade spirit herbs, and the third-grade pill formulas provided by the Shennong Cauldron could be used to refine almost all the spirit pills mentioned.

Hua Changxi would not open the third layer of the secret realm for the time being. In the following period, she would be picking, washing, and processing third-grade spirit herbs on the third layer.

Time quickly reached mid-May. The recruited apprentices began to enter the first layer of the secret realm and start taking on tasks of picking and washing spirit herbs.

From time to time, Hua Changxi would go to the first layer of the secret realm to check on things and give pointers on the apprentices' harvesting skills.

Seeing that there were still very few apprentices joining Danyuan Secret Realm, she didn't care too much.

She was waiting for Tong Yao, and after the display spirit tools were completed, she believed that cultivators from other parts of the Central Continent who wanted to learn medicine and alchemy would come flocking to join once they heard the news.

Danyuan Peak was gradually getting on track. With Yu Fu, Jia Lu, Zhou Shou, Zhao Xi, and Xu Yaoshi managing the affairs on the peak, Hua Changxi didn't have to worry too much.

At the same time, with the emergence of Danyuan Peak, Shenhe Peak, Qingyao Peak, and Xuanhuang Peak, three major events occurred within the Medical Department.

The first event: Meng Qingyao, with the support of the Xia family, descended into the Nine Abysses and recruited one hundred Guardian Saints at the Gen Gate Pass that suppressed the Demon Prison.

The appearance of the Guardian Saints shook all parties, directly breaking the royal family's absolute control over the Medical Department, marking the royal family's retreat from the position of the first decision-maker in the Medical Department.

Ever since she guessed that Hua Changxi's repeated major disturbances were all because what she did was promoting the development and revival of the Sacred Land, Xia Zhen had Meng Qingyao send these hundred Guardian Saints to maintain order throughout the entire Medical Department, thereby increasing their control.

Logically speaking, the hundred Guardian Saints under Meng Qingyao's command were tasked with guarding Qingyao Peak. However, now that the Sacred Land was half-sealed and the rules were incomplete, these Guardian Saints had long dwelled in the Nine Abysses. Now that they had the opportunity to come to the mortal world, they naturally hoped that their range of activities could be larger.

Both sides had their own desires, so the hundred Guardian Saints readily took on the duty of patrolling the entire Medical Department.

The second event: the establishment of the Qihuang Pavilion.

The main members of the Qihuang Pavilion were the eighteen Qihuang Hall Masters, followed by royal family members represented by King Shou, and then the former Qihuang Hall Masters who had previously ceded their positions to Meng Qingyao and others.

The pavilion master was Shen Qianfan!

Among the eighteen Qihuang Hall Masters, Hua Changxi had the worst family background, while Shen Qianfan's family background was only slightly better than Hua Changxi's. His ability to become pavilion master was entirely due to the support of the royal family.

For this reason, the royal family betrothed the second princess, Chu Lingluan, born of the empress, to him.

The appearance of the Guardian Saints made the royal family completely unable to sit still. Unwilling to lose control over the Medical Department, they established the Qihuang Pavilion to compete with the Lingjing Pavilion supported by the Xia family.

The third event: Yan Qianying, with the support of the royal family, also recruited one hundred Guardian Saints at the Zhen Gate Pass of the Nine Abysses Demon Prison, but her recruitment was nearly a month later than Meng Qingyao's.

The first contest between the royal family and the Xia family was over the patrol territories of the Guardian Saints.

In the end, Meng Qingyao's hundred Guardian Saints were responsible for the order of the Qihuang Hall and the square, while Yan Qianying's hundred Guardian Saints were responsible for the order of the Nine Streets.