Chapter 307: Divine Wood Sword

After returning to Danyuan Peak, Hua Changxi could not calm down. Thinking of the Southern Elephant City manifested by the Zhou Tian Star Plate and the twelve cave heavens guarding it, she flashed into the secret realm and teleported directly to Lingguang Hall.

Due to cultivators from various regions entering the capital, Lingguang Hall also experienced a wave of enrollment.

Looking at the hundreds of struggling figures on the square, Hua Changxi's heart stirred, and the "Vermilion Bird Army Register" appeared in her hand.

"Over fifteen thousand Vermilion Bird soldiers already..."

Hua Changxi had not expected that deploying display artifacts across various regions would not only solve the recruitment problem of the five sacred lands but also bring Lingguang Hall into the view of cultivators everywhere, accelerating the recruitment progress of the Vermilion Bird Army.

This was truly an unexpected delight!

In fact, the influence of the display artifacts extended far beyond this.

If the earth-shattering battle at Five Finger Mountain marked the full entry of spiritual energy revival into public view, then the deployment of display artifacts signified that cultivators once confined to their homelands had begun to move, gaining the motivation to explore outward.

It could be said that only with the movement and exchange of cultivators did the era of immortal cultivation in the Four Spirits Realm truly arrive.

Although the Vermilion Bird Army had increased, Hua Changxi was not particularly happy.

The simple reason was that more Vermilion Bird soldiers meant greater consumption.

Aside from the techniques in the Transmission Platform, Lingguang Hall only had the advantage of dense fire spiritual energy suitable for cultivation, not like the Danyuan Secret Realm, which provided abundant resources to support her in training apprentices.

In other words, she would have to support all the Vermilion Bird soldiers herself!

One hundred thousand Vermilion Bird soldiers—how many resources would that consume?

The more Hua Changxi thought about it, the more her head ached. She stopped looking at the cultivators on the square who wanted to join and went directly back to the main hall, took out paper and pen, and drew the Southern Elephant City and the twelve cave heavens.

"The twelve cave heavens guard the Southern Elephant City, so the existence of the twelve cave heavens all serve the Southern Elephant City?"

"Lingguang Hall is the garrison of the Vermilion Bird Army, so one of the duties of the Vermilion Bird Army is to maintain the stability of the Southern Elephant City."

"Then the other cave heavens... could they be places that provide resources for the Vermilion Bird Army?"

Hua Changxi wrote and drew on the paper, and the more she thought, the more she felt her guess was correct.

But if that were the case, in order to ensure the resource supply of the Vermilion Bird Army, wouldn't she have to seize all the other eleven cave heavens?

Hua Changxi's head throbbed with pain. Not to mention the royal family's various schemes regarding the Southern Elephant City, even the demon race was involved. She was confident she could snatch one or two cave heavens, but she really didn't have the confidence to seize all eleven.

"No, no!"

"Wrong thinking!"

"Gathering the twelve cave heavens should be the responsibility of the Southern Elephant City lord. Lingguang Hall is responsible for maintaining the stability of the Southern Elephant City, so it should ask the city lord for wages."

With this thought, Hua Changxi immediately felt relieved.

As for who would become the lord of the Southern Elephant City, it wasn't up to her to decide, so there was no need to overthink it—thinking would be useless.

"There are over fifteen thousand Vermilion Bird soldiers now. We can't keep them as disorganized as before. They need to be divided into units."

"We don't need to rush for the commanders of ten thousand, but we should start scouting for candidates for commanders of a thousand."

Hua Changxi planned to use the investigation of the Southern Elephant City anomaly as an excuse to blend into the Vermilion Bird Army and evaluate the candidates for thousand-man commanders.

"Ah..."

There was still a mountain of work on Danyuan Peak, and in November she had to go to Hall No. 6 to teach apprentices alchemy. Now she had to busy herself with Lingguang Hall affairs. She knew that some things shouldn't be taken on lightly.

"Whether it's Danyuan Peak or Lingguang Hall, I need to train more capable helpers!"

Hua Changxi posted an announcement on the Task Hall: "Lingguang Hall will soon select thousand-man commanders. Interested parties should make preparations." Then she teleported back to Danyuan Peak.

Under the moonlight, Danyuan Peak was quiet and peaceful. Hua Changxi was about to go to the bamboo hut to extract snake demon blood essence when she suddenly detected spatial fluctuations in the northern area of Danyuan Peak and immediately flew over.

In the north of Danyuan Peak, there was a patch of gray haze—that was the barrier, blocking further advancement.

When she had explored the area around Danyuan Peak earlier, Hua Changxi had tried to break through the barrier to investigate further, but unfortunately, she had failed.

But now, she actually saw Dugu Lie emerge from within the barrier.

In Dugu Lie's hand was a green wooden sword. With a light slash of that wooden sword, it carved an opening in the barrier.

"That wooden sword is..."

Hua Changxi's eyes trembled as she recalled what Tong Yao had once told her about the unique token of a sacred land's successor—the Divine Wood Sword!

"Senior Brother Dugu!"

A voice tinged with suppressed anger rang out. Hua Changxi followed the sound and saw Wan Feng storming angrily toward Dugu Lie.

Wan Feng said furiously, "Senior Brother Dugu, didn't I tell you? You can't just enter the forbidden area whenever you feel like it. If the Peak Master finds out, our identities will be exposed."

Dugu Lie: "...I didn't mean to. But I've reached a critical breakthrough point. If I hadn't entered the forbidden area, my cultivation level would have given me away."

Upon hearing this, Wan Feng didn't press further. "Let's leave this place quickly, before anyone sees us."

"Senior Brother Dugu, even though you had your reasons this time, next time you need to enter the forbidden area, you'd better let me know first, so I can scout out the Peak Master's whereabouts beforehand."

"Don't let her usual habit of staying holed up in the secret realm fool you. That doesn't mean she never patrols Danyuan Peak."

Dugu Lie: "Alright. Next time I need to enter the forbidden area, I'll be sure to tell you in advance."

Only after Wan Feng and Dugu Lie had gone far away did Hua Changxi descend from the sky, watching their retreating backs. "So they are heirs of the Alchemy Saint Hall!"

But she couldn't understand why they were being so secretive.

Even if their identities were exposed, what harm could it do?

Compared to other sacred grounds, the Alchemy Saint Hall was undoubtedly ahead in its recovery. If its heirs were to show themselves and set a good example, they might be able to end the tangled chaos in the Medical Department sooner!

Hua Changxi then realized that the heirs of the Alchemy Saint Hall could have planted people not only on Danyuan Peak but also elsewhere.

So, were they following the "mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind" strategy?

After people like her and Meng Qingyao had fought to the death at the front, were they planning to emerge afterward and pick up the spoils?

Thinking this, Hua Changxi instinctively felt displeased. "Compared to heirs from other sacred grounds, the heirs of the Alchemy Saint Hall are far too irresponsible!"

"If they want to hide like turtles, let them keep hiding."

Hua Changxi withdrew her gaze, turned to look at the barrier, and after another failed attempt to break it, flew back to the bamboo hut at the peak. She took out the snake demon's corpse and began refining its essence blood.

By the time she had sealed the extracted essence blood, the sky was already fully bright.

Just then, Xu Yaoshi sent a message: "Peak Master, Hall Master Huo has arrived. He says he's brought you demon beast carcasses."

After receiving the message, Hua Changxi went directly to the Personnel Department.

Huo Yunxiao had placed the corpses of three Infant Transformation demon beasts at the foot of Danyuan Peak, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

When Hua Changxi arrived, she waved her hand and stored the demon beast corpses into her Sumeru Ring. Then she looked at Huo Yunxiao. "What kind of demon beast blood do you want?"

Huo Yunxiao stepped closer to Hua Changxi. "I don't want any demon beast blood. Can you answer one question for me?"

Hua Changxi: "Go ahead."

Huo Yunxiao dropped his smile. "Did the Body Tempering technique the Hua clan cultivators are practicing come from the Qihuang Hall?"

Hua Changxi glanced at him without a word.

Huo Yunxiao took her silence as confirmation. "To be honest, the Heavenly Department also has other body tempering techniques, but they have major flaws—they require either drinking demon beast blood or using it in medicinal baths. Do you know what happens when you use demon beast blood?"

Hua Changxi's eyes flickered.

Huo Yunxiao: "They become bloodthirsty, even start developing demonic traits. Several people in the Demon Suppression Army have already shown such symptoms."

"We studied the body tempering technique you gave the Hua clan, and it's the most suitable for human cultivation among all the ones we have."

"You should know that cultivators with spiritual roots are a minority. Most people have no spiritual roots, and if they want to cultivate, they can only rely on body tempering."

"So, the Heavenly Department wants to exchange with you for the complete body tempering technique from the Qihuang Hall."

Hua Changxi shook her head. "It can't be exchanged. I haven't fully comprehended the Qihuang Hall's body tempering technique myself." Seeing Huo Yunxiao's unconvinced expression, she paused.

"Tell you what—in a little while, I'll have Yu Fu post the first three sections of the Qihuang Body Tempering Method at the main entrance of the Medical Department. If you want it, go copy it down. As for the later sections, I really can't do anything about them right now."