Chapter 84: Fire Lotus Fairy

Having learned from Manager Leng what the black flame was all about, Hua Changxi felt much more at ease and no longer felt as if a sword was hanging over her head.

Since the black flame was related to the seven emotions and six desires, she just had to control her own desires.

She considered herself not a person of high desires, so she should be able to control the black flame.

Of course, she still had to find the white jade lotus petals.

Having become the third steward, Hua Changxi had more free time than when she was a handyman. Apart from cultivation and reading the books in Old Taoist Jiang's storage ring, she would often walk around the square.

The old courtyard facing the stone cauldron had its gate closed as usual, giving her a feeling of being sealed by dust, and making her again think of the magnificent palace she had glimpsed in passing.

Was that magnificent palace real?

Or was it the original appearance of the old small courtyard?

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the day of the Little New Year, Gu Jinfan went to the old courtyard again and came out after less than a quarter of an hour.

Hua Changxi watched Gu Jinfan, whose expression was somewhat dejected and frustrated, and her eyes flickered.

Was Gu Jinfan trying to obtain something from the small courtyard?

Hua Changxi thought of what Old Woman Sun had told her—that the hunchbacked old man living in the courtyard was the original owner of the Medical Office, and the Medical Office was originally named the Alchemy Saint Hall.

The Alchemy Saint Hall and the stone cauldron both pointed to alchemy.

Could it be that Gu Jinfan wanted to obtain the alchemy inheritance of the Alchemy Saint Hall from the hunchbacked old man?

Hua Changxi thought this probability was quite high. Although she very much wanted to know what secret the small courtyard held, she did not rashly knock on its gate. With Gu Jinfan watching that place, she didn't want to get involved for now.

After watching the small courtyard for a while, Hua Changxi returned to the Sixth Bureau. As soon as she returned, she saw Manager Leng, who rarely appeared in public, was actually there.

The more Manager Leng thought about it, the more she felt that the voice of that cultivator from that night was somewhat familiar—she must have heard it before. She couldn't help wanting to investigate, so she came to the Sixth Bureau today.

"Where did you go?"

Manager Leng looked at Hua Changxi with scrutiny in her eyes. She had a deep impression of this girl—both her boldness and her alchemy skills comparable to a pharmacist made her want to investigate.

A person like this willingly stayed in the Servant Hall as a handyman. She was sure that this person definitely had ulterior motives, just like herself.

Hua Changxi's expression was very natural: "I went to deliver medicinal herbs. Manager Leng, is there something?"

Manager Leng smiled: "Nothing much, just wanted to ask you, are you getting used to being a steward?"

Hua Changxi nodded: "I'm used to it."

Manager Leng looked at her: "That's good. If you encounter any problems you can't solve, feel free to come to me. Eunuch Lu just told me to take good care of you."

Hua Changxi thought of Eunuch Lu getting beaten and asked with concern: "Eunuch Lu, is he alright?"

Manager Leng sighed: "His external injuries are nothing serious, but he's feeling down. I see that Eunuch Jia thinks highly of you. In the future, in front of Eunuch Jia, you should put in a good word for Eunuch Lu."

Hua Changxi looked surprised: "Manager Leng, are you mistaken? I've only met Eunuch Jia twice. When he appointed me as third steward, I thought it was Eunuch Lu who recommended me."

Manager Leng's eyes flickered: "Is that so? Then perhaps I was mistaken. I have nothing else here. Go about your work."

"Manager Leng, then I'll take my leave."

Watching Hua Changxi walk away, Manager Leng looked at the spirit-detection talisman in her waist pouch—no reaction at all.

It wasn't her!

She had basically come into contact with all the female handymen in the Sixth Bureau, and the spirit-detection talisman had no reaction.

"Could it be that cultivator wasn't from the Servant Hall?"

Her usual social circle was not limited to the Servant Hall; she occasionally went to the Apprentice Hall as well.

"Could it be someone from the Apprentice Hall?"

Many of the people in the Apprentice Hall had nobles backing them, so they were indeed more likely to have access to cultivation paths.

However, wouldn't placing a cultivator above the Qi Sea realm in the Apprentice Hall be somewhat overqualified?

After returning to her residence, Hua Changxi's expression turned serious. Manager Leng was secretly searching for the cultivator from that night.

She was not surprised by this. Judging from Manager Leng's reaction just now, she hadn't detected that she was a cultivator.

Hua Changxi thought of the words of the Green Bull Demon, saying that she had no spiritual energy fluctuations and was no different from a mortal. This matter was confirmed again with Manager Leng.

Although she didn't know the exact reason for it, this was a good thing for her.

Knowing that Manager Leng was secretly watching the Chores Hall, Hua Changxi had to act even more cautiously and took out a disk two hand-spans wide.

This was an isolation formation disk, which she had found in Old Daoist Jiang's storage ring.

In the future, when she cultivated, as long as she set up the formation disk, she could isolate all spiritual energy fluctuations.

After finishing her own tasks and inspecting her subordinates one more time, seeing that they were all working actively and earnestly, Hua Changxi returned to her room, lay down on the bed, and began to cultivate.

"Eh?"

An hour later, Hua Changxi suddenly opened her eyes, a look of astonishment on her face.

Her cultivation speed had increased!

Previously, in one hour her cultivation base could increase by ten thousand points, but now it could increase by eleven thousand points.

"What's going on?"

Under conditions of abundant spiritual energy, the methods Hua Changxi knew to increase cultivation speed were: first, raising one's realm—each time a realm was elevated, cultivation speed increased; second, keeping one's awareness constantly attached to the inner core.

But these two factors hadn't changed—so why had her cultivation speed increased?

Hua Changxi still remembered that back when she was in the Qi Refining stage, when she went to help out in the First Bureau, her cultivation speed had also increased once.

She didn't believe that cultivation speed would increase for no reason, yet both times she had done nothing at all. What was really going on?

Just as Hua Changxi was racking her brains and couldn't figure it out, outside the First Peak of Five Finger Mountain, two open stone huts had been completely repaired.

Inside one stone hut was placed a stone vat, and inside the vat stood a fire lotus carved from red stone; inside the other stone hut stood a stone about one meter high, shaped like a five-fingered hand.

At this moment, long queues had formed outside both stone huts, and everyone was holding incense sticks.

As soon as they entered a stone hut, people would light their incense sticks and insert them into the bar-shaped censers in front of the fire lotus or the stone.

"Five Finger Mountain is the cultivation site of the Fire Lotus Fairy. The Fairy is benevolent and allows all to enter the mountain to seek opportunities."

"Anyone who wishes to enter Five Finger Mountain must first enter the Fire Lotus Hall, burn incense to make a prayer, report to the Fire Lotus Fairy, and obtain a pine needle. Only then may they enter Five Finger Mountain. Those without a pine needle will be incinerated upon entry."

"The First Peak and Second Peak of Five Finger Mountain may be entered. The Third Peak, Fourth Peak, and Fifth Peak must not be entered."

"There are many demon beasts and demon plants in the mountain. Please explore according to your own abilities, and do not be greedy and lose your life."

"Each person may stay in Five Finger Mountain for at most one month. Anyone who exceeds one month will be burned by the fire lotus. For every additional five days beyond that, the fire lotus's power will double."

"Before entering the mountain, if you are worried about getting lost, you may enter the Mountain Spirit Temple, burn incense, and make a wish. The Mountain Spirit will naturally protect everyone."

Outside the queues, An Ze, An Ran, and several young adults from Thumb Village were patiently telling everyone the rules of Five Finger Mountain.

Because of the big commotion in Five Finger Mountain some time ago, many people had come to investigate. After the Fire Lotus Hall and the Mountain Spirit Temple opened for business today, they immediately attracted countless onlookers.

At first, only villagers from around Five Finger Mountain came. They didn't go into the mountain, but they wanted to obtain the blessings of the Fire Lotus Fairy and the Mountain Spirit, so they entered the stone huts to pay their respects.

Not long after, some bold cultivators entered the Fire Lotus Hall. After bowing and praying, they saw that they really did obtain a pine needle. Immediately excited, they tucked the pine needle away and cautiously entered Five Finger Mountain.

After entering the mountain, they found that no fire lotus actually appeared, so only then did they believe that as long as they had petitioned the Fire Lotus Fairy and obtained a pine needle, they really could enter Five Finger Mountain.

With the first few testing the way, the people behind, seeing that they were safe, also eagerly joined in making wishes. In no time, long queues formed outside the stone huts.

On a giant tree behind the stone huts, the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine sat side by side on a branch, smilingly watching the queues below.

Especially the Mountain Spirit—after absorbing the incense offerings from the believers, it felt so comfortable it seemed ready to float away.

"I wonder if the Fairy has received the incense offerings?"

"She must have; I've already benefited, so my master goes without saying."

The Mountain Spirit looked at An Ze, An Ran, and their group busily working below: "When the Fairy returns, we must have her take these people in."

The Fire Lotus Hall and the Mountain Spirit Temple were built by An Ze, An Ran, and the villagers of Thumb Village. They worked fast and their craftsmanship was excellent, which made the Mountain Spirit very satisfied.

Little Pine: "It's a pity they can't eat the spirit fruits in the mountain, or else we could give them some spirit fruits."

Mountain Spirit: "They are humans, and the cultivation techniques they practice are different from ours. Otherwise, we could teach them techniques. As soon as they start cultivating, they would be able to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit fruits."

Little Pine: "That's true."

Mountain Spirit: "We'll have to wait until the Fairy returns and let her teach them how to cultivate."

Xiao Song: "Will the master accept them?"

Mountain Spirit: "Why wouldn't they? They're such hard workers."

As the sky gradually darkened, the number of people outside the stone house dwindled. When it was fully dark and no one came to burn incense or make wishes, Anze and Anran began cleaning inside.

Their main tasks were wiping the Fire Lotus and the Five-Finger Stone, and clearing the ash from the incense burner.

After finishing the cleaning, the siblings returned to Thumb Village.

On the way, Anran and Anze chatted: "Brother, do you think we'll ever get to see the Fire Lotus Immortal?"

Anze: "There will be a chance."

Anran: "Back when those despicable people fought over the Five-Finger Mountain, they didn't care about the common folk's lives. If the Fire Lotus Immortal hadn't intervened in time, Thumb Village would have been destroyed."

Anze: "Come to think of it, the Fire Lotus Immortal has saved us twice."

Anran recalled how the Mountain Spirit and Xiao Song had fed them spirit fruits, almost making them explode from the energy, and felt a mix of laughter and exasperation: "What a shame we were unconscious then and couldn't see the Fire Lotus Immortal's true face."

Anze, however, had glimpsed a silhouette in his daze: "If we take good care of the Fire Lotus Hall and the Mountain Spirit Temple, one day the Fire Lotus Immortal will come out to see us. Then we can thank her for saving our lives."

Anran: "Mm."

The news that the Five-Finger Mountain could be entered and exited spread quickly, immediately drawing more people to investigate. From then on, the incense offerings at the Fire Lotus Hall and the Mountain Spirit Temple never ceased.

At the same time, the name of the Fire Lotus Immortal gradually spread. Whether cultivator or mortal, whenever Qingzhou was mentioned, people immediately thought of the Fire Lotus Immortal of Five-Finger Mountain.

The opening of Five-Finger Mountain could be said to have lifted the veil on the mystical side of this world. For cultivators lacking resources and those seeking to embark on the path of cultivation, it was undoubtedly a good thing.

It also let ordinary people, who had been cut off from news of the reawakening of spiritual energy, know that extraordinary beings truly existed in this world.

But for some, it was an absolute bolt from the blue.

Jiang Guanyun of the Jiang family in Jizhou, upon learning of this, was so furious that his injuries worsened again.

How could this be?!

Wasn't that wild girl an untrained amateur? How did she think to open up Five-Finger Mountain and use it to win people over?

Which cultivator, upon gaining a blessed land, didn't carefully hoard it away and provide its resources to their own people? Who would be like that wild girl, opening it up directly to everyone?

Damn it—had the struggle for qi fortune already begun this quickly?

"Why is my cultivation speed still increasing?"

Hua Changxi was truly bewildered. In the past few days, her cultivation speed had been shooting up. Now, she could gain fifteen thousand points of cultivation in a single hour.

"Could the Medical Office be a paradise suitable for cultivation?"

Just as Hua Changxi was racking her brains, Zhou Qiuyu came to the dormitory and said that Manager Leng was looking for her.

Hua Changxi went to the front courtyard and met Manager Leng.

Manager Leng asked curiously, "Why do you always stay in your room? Are you practicing martial arts?"

Hua Changxi glanced at her and smiled, "I'm reading medical books."

Manager Leng didn't believe it, but didn't press further. "There's a batch of medicinal herbs here that need to be cleaned by you and your people. After cleaning, send them directly to Fourth Street."

Hua Changxi was puzzled: "Isn't the cleaners' job only to wash herbs? Delivering herbs isn't our duty, is it?"

Manager Leng smiled. "This was arranged by Steward Jia. I don't know the specific reason either." As she spoke, she had the people behind her unload several carts of herbs.

Hua Changxi looked at the herbs, a flicker in her eyes. They were all potent medicinal materials; if an ordinary person cleaned them improperly, they could be 'poisoned.'

What exactly did Steward Jia mean?

These herbs were all needed by high-rank martial artists. Was Steward Jia entrusting her to handle them to test her, or to make things difficult for her?

Seeing Zhou Qiuyu about to start moving the herbs with her bare hands, Hua Changxi quickly stopped her: "These herbs have strong medicinal properties. Don't touch them directly. I'll teach you how to clean them in a moment."

Manager Leng heard this and laughed: "As expected of someone favored by Steward Jia. Your knowledge of medicinal herbs is truly profound."

Hua Changxi: "The more medical books you read, the more you know."

Manager Leng: "But from what I know, many of these herbs are newly discovered. Even the pharmacists in the Medical Office don't know their properties."

Hua Changxi looked surprised: "How could herbs I know about be new medicines? If the pharmacists don't know them, could it be that they have simply accumulated less knowledge in materia medica?"

Upon hearing this, Steward Leng chuckled and looked at Hua Changxi: "I really like your temperament, to be honest. I hope you can keep it up."

Hua Changxi smiled faintly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Only after Steward Leng turned and left did she begin teaching Zhou Qiuyu and the others how to wash.

At the entrance of the Sixth Bureau, Steward Leng suddenly stopped and turned to watch Hua Changxi, who was teaching her subordinates how to clean medicinal herbs. She now seemed to understand somewhat why Eunuch Jia had promoted this girl to steward.

Eunuch Sun of the First Office died in the infighting, and Eunuch Jia himself had no shortage of troubles. This girl was the shield Eunuch Jia used to deal with the apothecaries' harassment.

However, she still couldn't quite figure it out. This girl did have some real skill, but in the Imperial Medical Office, mere skill was far from enough. Why was Eunuch Jia so confident that she could get away safely?

Just because she was bold?