Chapter 374: The Unqualified Hall Master

On one side were the ten-man Vermilion Bird Army; on the other, eighteen men from other forces.

The Vermilion Bird Army side had one Nascent Soul cultivator, three Core Formation cultivators, and six Qi Sea cultivators; the other side had two Nascent Soul cultivators, six Core Formation cultivators, and ten Qi Sea cultivators.

What Hua Changxi saw was that the real Vermilion Bird Army was being crushed by the fake Vermilion Bird Army, barely holding out with their formation.

However, for some reason, though the fake side held an absolute advantage, they did not deliver a killing blow.

The group battle of nearly thirty cultivators stirred up quite a commotion, naturally attracting many onlookers; a kilometer away, several groups were watching.

Watching this scene, Hua Changxi’s mood grew heavy.

It was easy to imagine that the force before her was definitely not the only one impersonating the Vermilion Bird Army.

This phenomenon had to be curbed!

"Swoosh~"

Hua Changxi flung the "Vermilion Bird Army Roster" above the group battle, and in an instant, fiery red spiritual light scattered down, enveloping all the fighting cultivators.

The next moment, the real Vermilion Bird Army members had Vermilion Bird spirit shadows manifest on their bodies.

Immediately after, Hua Changxi, bathed in flames so bright that she was hard to look at, suddenly appeared above the battlefield and deployed the "Buddha's Palm Kingdom" divine ability.

A giant hand, like Mount Tai pressing down from the sky, descended and directly grabbed the eighteen cultivators pretending to be Vermilion Bird Army in its grasp.

Hua Changxi glanced at the several groups of watching cultivators who were quickly fleeing, then fixed her gaze on the ten Vermilion Bird Army members below. With a wave of her hand, ten bottles of healing and recovery pills fell into their hands. Then she left, taking the eighteen fake Vermilion Bird Army members with her.

"That was..."

The squad leader of this Vermilion Bird Army unit looked excitedly at the distant red figure.

"It’s the Hall Master! The Hall Master saved us!"

"The Hall Master has finally taken action. Let’s see who still dares to impersonate our Vermilion Bird Army!"

"Bam bam bam~"

Hua Changxi heavily dumped the eighteen cultivators onto the cliff of Lihuo Cliff, then without further ado, used her spiritual power to confiscate all the items on their bodies.

Next, eighteen Soul-Tracking Seals flew out and embedded themselves into their sea of consciousness.

Only then did Hua Changxi coldly look at the cultivators before her, who were clearly still reeling. "How dare you impersonate the Vermilion Bird Army. From now on, you will mine ore here." With that, she left Lihuo Cliff.

No sooner had she left than He Zhixuan and his four companions, hearing the commotion, ran out from the stone cave. Seeing the eighteen cultivators lying on the ground, they were first a bit surprised, then somewhat happy.

"Excellent, we have eighteen more helpers."

"I really hope Hua Changxi finds us more helpers."

After leaving Lihuo Cliff, Hua Changxi did not go directly to the Artifact Saint Palace. Instead, she toured all parts of Nanxiang County. Only after finding no other cases of impersonation of the Vermilion Bird Army did she head to the Artifact Saint Palace.

"Changxi!"

In the market outside the Artifact Saint Palace, Hua Changxi met Tong Yao.

Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi and asked with a smile, "I sent you a message, and you didn’t reply for over half a month. What have you been busy with?"

Hua Changxi said, "I was in seclusion and didn’t notice."

Hearing this, Tong Yao didn’t ask further. He took Hua Changxi to the backyard of the artifact-forging shop run by the Artifact Saint Palace, then brought out the items she had requested.

"This was personally refined by the Grand Elder. Based on your needs, he crafted a complete set of opinion-gathering artifacts."

Apart from four Karma Opinion Boxes, there was also a display plate shaped like a chessboard and a set of opinion stones shaped like chess pieces.

There were ten thousand opinion stones in total. After distributing them to subordinates, they could use their spiritual power to input their opinions into the stones and then drop them into the opinion boxes.

Once the opinion box read the information in the opinion stone, it would directly transmit it to the display plate, which would then display the opinions in the form of written text.

After understanding the functions of this set of artifacts, Hua Changxi revealed a delighted smile. "Grand Elder Yiming is truly remarkable—he has thought of things even more thoroughly and comprehensively than I did."

Tong Yao added, "The opinion stones can be recycled. All you need to do is erase the residual spiritual power inside."

Upon hearing this, Hua Changxi became even happier. "I’d like a few more sets of this opinion-gathering artifact set, and the opinion stones are far from enough. The more, the better."

Tong Yao didn't understand. "What are you doing that requires collecting so many opinions?"

Hua Changxi didn't answer directly and changed the subject. "When we first entered the Xuanfu Mansion, did you investigate the Xuanfu Tokens, Xuanfu Armor, and the swords used by the Xuanfu Army?"

Hearing this, Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi appraisingly, then finally nodded. "Of course."

Hua Changxi immediately asked, "Then can you refine these?"

Tong Yao shook his head. "The equipment used by the Xuan Army comes in complete sets. For instance, the opinion-collection tools the Grand Elder refined for you—the Opinion Stone, Opinion Box, and Opinion Plate—all work together as a matching set."

"The most important thing for the Xuan Army is the Xuan Army Roster. Once the Xuan Order, which represents one's identity, is bound to its owner, the cultivator's information (name, spiritual root, cultivation level, appearance, etc.) immediately appears on the roster."

"The armor and weapons are also infused with the Xuan Army's army soul."

"Neither the Xuan Army Roster nor the army soul are things I have access to."

"As far as I know, the Xuan Army, as well as the Vermilion Bird Army, Azure Dragon Army, Black Tortoise Army, and White Tiger Army, all have their own specific refining processes. Unless one is informed of these processes, even the Grand Elder cannot refine them."

Hua Changxi murmured, "So demanding?"

Tong Yao looked at her. "The Four Spirit Armies represent the prestige of the Four Spirit Realms, while the Xuan Army guards the human race. Naturally, the military equipment they use cannot be compared to ordinary Dharma artifacts."

He paused, then couldn't help adding,

"Why did you suddenly think to ask me about this?"

Hua Changxi said, "On my way to the Artifact Saint Palace, I encountered dozens of cultivators engaged in a group battle. Both sides claimed to be the Vermilion Bird Army, but neither could provide proof. That reminded me of the Xuan Army."

"If the Vermilion Bird Army had things like the Vermilion Bird Order and Vermilion Bird Armor, I doubt anyone would dare to impersonate them."

Hearing this, Tong Yao shook his head and sighed. "I've heard about such impersonations of the Vermilion Bird Army too. It's utterly outrageous that such chaos exists. Clearly, the Palace Master of Lingguang Hall is very unqualified."

Hua Changxi: "..."

After a moment, Hua Changxi spoke again. "Could you ask Grand Elder Yiming for me? See if he'd be willing to refine a few more sets of opinion-collection tools for me?"

Tong Yao glanced at Hua Changxi, then took out a Yinian Creed and sent a message to Grand Elder Yiming.

He thought he'd have to wait a while for a reply, but Grand Elder Yiming responded instantly.

Tong Yao read the message. "...Grand Elder says he can refine them for you, but he wants to keep thirty percent of the materials as his fee."

Hua Changxi didn't haggle. "Fine. I only have one request: please refine them as soon as possible. As for the materials, I'll bring them to you tomorrow."

She paused.

"Oh, right. I also have some ideas regarding the Yinian Creed."

Hua Changxi explained to Tong Yao the concepts of sending and receiving emails on a computer, as well as creating forums and group chats.

The more Tong Yao listened, the brighter his eyes grew. "I'll study these ideas of yours thoroughly. Maybe they really can further improve the functions of the Yinian Creed."