Chapter 107

Hua Changxi stared at the red lotus pattern between her brows. At first glance, it was a red lotus, but looking closely, one could clearly see raging flames surging within the lotus petals.

This was the manifestation of her bloodline totem after atavism!

Looking at the lotus totem between her brows, Hua Changxi was somewhat surprised; the Zhu Que power within her bloodline had actually not competed against the lotus power, resulting in the lotus totem being the one that manifested in the end.

However, she soon felt relieved.

Although the Zhu Que is one of the Four Spirits, the Zhu Que bloodline within her was very thin; even after soaking in the atavistic medicinal soup, not much of it had reverted.

Furthermore, she had previously consumed the Flowing Light Red Lotus, which was a top-tier fire-type atavistic fruit. It was likely because of this that the lotus bloodline within her was strengthened.

More and more handymen arrived at the No. 4 Qihuang Pavilion. Hua Changxi stopped dwelling on the lotus pattern, turned, and went to the main room to begin explaining the meridian composition of animals and plants.

Afterward, she went to the No. 5 Qihuang Pavilion to lecture on the principles and methods of decomposition, purification, and fusion (of plants, animals, and minerals).

While explaining alchemy at the No. 6 Qihuang Pavilion, Hua Changxi saw Eunuch Jia, Eunuch Yu, Eunuch Zhao, and Eunuch Zhou. All four of them had brought people with them.

During the subsequent class, the people brought by the four eunuchs took turns asking Hua Changxi questions. Through the questions they asked, Hua Changxi knew that these people were all alchemists.

Half an hour later, the class ended.

Everyone else left, but the four eunuchs stayed behind.

Once the others had left, Eunuch Jia hurriedly stepped forward to explain: "Master, those people were arranged by our superiors. We were only notified yesterday, and we couldn't refuse. We didn't have time to report to you, which is why we brought them to the Qihuang Pavilion."

Hua Changxi looked at the four trembling men: "You seem very afraid of me?"

Upon hearing this, the four eunuchs exchanged glances. Finally, Eunuch Zhou couldn't help but ask: "We didn't ask for your permission beforehand and brought people arranged by our superiors; aren't you angry?"

Hearing him ask this, Hua Changxi finally understood the reason for their trepidation: "Let me ask you, have you leaked my affairs to those above?"

The four eunuchs shook their heads hurriedly. Many people knew that their Master was lecturing at the Handyman Hall; there was no need for them to leak anything.

Hua Changxi asked again: "Have you betrayed me or harmed my interests?"

The four eunuchs shook their heads again.

Hua Changxi: "That's it then. I want you to work for me, not to dominate your entire lives. As long as you don't betray me or leak my affairs, I don't care about the rest, nor can I manage it."

"For unexpected events like this, your handling of it was not a problem; you just need to explain the cause and effect to me afterward."

"In the future, if the people behind you want to arrange for others to listen to my lectures, just agree to it. Anyone can come to listen to my lectures here."

Seeing Hua Changxi's reaction, the four eunuchs were all extremely astonished.

This mode of interaction was something they had never experienced before, leaving them somewhat unsure of how to respond.

Seeing the four standing still, Hua Changxi asked: "Do you have anything else?"

The four regained their composure and shook their heads: "No, nothing else."

Eunuch Zhou tentatively offered a compliment: "Master, the lotus flower decoration on your forehead today is truly beautiful. With this decoration, you look even more radiant than before."

As soon as these words were spoken, the four eunuchs saw Hua Changxi smile.

"Is that so? I quite like this decoration too; I'll draw it every day from now on."

Seeing that Hua Changxi had truly responded to him and appeared very happy, Eunuch Zhou's eyes brightened. Only after following Eunuch Jia and the others out of the Qihuang Pavilion did he say a word.

"This Master is... different from the masters in the palace."

Eunuch Yu looked at the other three and sighed: "Not just the masters in the palace; she is different from all masters."

In fact, when he was cooperating with Hua Changxi to refine medicine, he had already discovered that when Hua Changxi interacted with people, she seemed to build a relationship of equality.

After taking the four of them in, she did not treat them as servants to be ordered around.

The four were preparing to leave when Hua Changxi's voice came from behind.

"Wait a moment."

"Master, is there anything you need us to do?"

Hua Changxi looked at the four eunuchs. If you want a horse to run fast, you must first let the horse eat enough grass. If she wanted to fully control the Handyman Hall, she needed their help: "Follow me to the No. 7 Qihuang Pavilion."

The four exchanged glances and quickly followed Hua Changxi.

After entering the No. 7 Qihuang Pavilion, Hua Changxi took out the Spirit-Testing Stone and the Totem Jin Bo: "This round ball is called a Spirit-Testing Stone; it can test whether a person has spirit meridians."

"And this golden bowl can reveal your bloodline power to see if you can undergo atavism."

The four eunuchs all looked at the Spirit-Testing Stone and the Totem Jin Bo with burning eyes.

Eunuch Yu had already tested his spirit meridians at the Eastern Depot and did not have any. At this moment, looking at the Totem Jin Bo, he asked nervously: "Master, if one has no spirit meridians and the bloodline cannot undergo atavism, does that mean there is no way to cultivate?"

Hua Changxi: "Of course there are other ways, but that would be truly defying the heavens to change one's fate. Everything has a price. Can you afford the price of defying the heavens to change your fate?"

Eunuch Yu lowered his head and said nothing.

Hua Changxi let the four begin the test. In the end, none of them had spirit meridians, but the golden bowl did reveal shallow atavistic totems.

Eunuch Jia's totem image was a rabbit, Eunuch Yu's was an ox, Eunuch Zhou's was a tiger, and Eunuch Zhao's was a mouse.

The four eunuchs were completely confused by the totem images and looked at Hua Changxi one after another.

Hua Changxi: "Although the totem images are a bit illusory, you can still undergo atavism. You are my people, so we will prepare atavistic medicinal soup for you. Wait for me in this courtyard at the Hour of the Bo tonight."

"By the way, Eunuch Yu, call Yu Gui and let him come too."

Eunuch Yu nodded hurriedly.

After the four left, Hua Changxi returned to her own courtyard. She wanted to see if atavism would affect her cultivation.

Once she immersed herself in cultivation, Hua Changxi's consciousness attached itself to the inner core within her dantian's Qi sea, and then she saw the lifelike Zhu Que pattern covering the inner core.

Then, as cultivation progressed, spiritual energy continuously poured into the inner core, and the Zhu Que pattern seemed to come alive, becoming radiant and colorful.

At the same time, the Zhu Que breathing and exhaling image in her mind regained its luster, becoming even more brilliant than before.

The Zhu Que totem hadn't competed against the lotus totem, but had actually run here to the inner core!

As long as the totem existed, Hua Changxi didn't care where it manifested, so she began to focus on her cultivation.

Over the past two months, she had unlocked eight Qihuang Pavilions. Each unlocked Qihuang Pavilion could increase her cultivation by 100,000 points. After bloodline atavism, her cultivation speed had increased once again.

Now, cultivating for one hour could increase her spiritual energy points by 1,100,000.

As darkness fell, Hua Changxi stopped her cultivation.

【Realm: Golden Core Realm 88.88 million/100 million】

Hua Changxi looked at her cultivation data and felt great. At the current cultivation speed, she would soon be able to advance to the next realm.

Seeing that it was getting late, she got up and went to the No. 7 Qihuang Pavilion.

In the No. 7 Qihuang Pavilion, Yu Gui and the four eunuchs had already been waiting anxiously for a while.

"Little sister, you're here."

Seeing Yu Gui step forward with a bright smile to talk to Hua Changxi, and seeing Hua Changxi respond to him warmly, Eunuch Jia, Eunuch Zhao, and Eunuch Zhou exchanged silent glances.

The three of them hadn't expected that, although they knew Hua Changxi might be different from the superiors they had dealt with before, they hadn't expected her to be this different.

Yu Gui actually called Hua Changxi "little sister," and Hua Changxi even responded. The two of them actually had such a relaxed way of interacting in private.

Hua Changxi used the golden bowl to check if Yu Gui had a bloodline totem. Unexpectedly, Yu Gui's totem image was the strongest, being a colorful rooster.

"I'm actually a chicken!"

Hua Changxi was somewhat speechless hearing Yu Gui's exclamation.

At this moment, four more people entered the courtyard; they were the two men and two women whose rabbit totem images had been revealed yesterday.

"Manager Hua."

Seeing that the eunuchs were also there, the four were somewhat reserved.

Among the four, three were siblings: Xia Song, Xia Bai, and Xia Ge; the other person was named Su Ying.

After Hua Changxi introduced the four, she went to the medicine refining room in the west wing to begin brewing the atavistic medicinal soup.

After it was brewed, she had the nine people soak in the medicinal bath.

After the nine people soaked in the medicinal soup, they all felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Ah~"

"Little sister, it hurts so much."

Eunuch Jia and the others didn't dare to act out and gritted their teeth to endure the pain. Yu Gui was familiar with Hua Changxi, so he quickly informed her of his condition.

Hua Changxi knew the pain of soaking in the medicinal bath: "Endure it. To awaken the dormant bloodline power within the body, pain is inevitable."

Afterward, Hua Changxi recorded in detail the reactions of the nine people in the medicinal bath on the side. The No. 7 wooden plaque placed in the main room continued to shine with a white glow.

Hua Changxi noticed that another pattern had appeared on the stone wall of the main room. Seeing that Yu Gui and the others were all enduring the pain to absorb the medicinal properties of the soup, she went into the main room to look at the pattern.

This was a bloody pattern; someone had exploded after triggering their bloodline totem!!!

Clearly, this was the body exploding because it could not withstand the totem power.

After Hua Changxi saw the pattern, she quickly left the room. Seeing that Yu Gui and the others had all passed out from the pain, she walked over quickly to check on them.

She soon discovered that Yu Gui, Su Ying, and the three Xia siblings all had bloodstains of varying degrees on their skin.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi's expression changed. She quickly pulled them out of the bathing barrels and gave them pills to repair their bodies.

She went to check on the four eunuchs and soon discovered that Eunuch Jia also had bloodstains on his body, followed by Eunuch Yu.

Not long after, Eunuch Zhao and Eunuch Zhou were also pulled out of the bathing barrels by her.

Hua Changxi carefully checked the condition of Yu Gui and the other four and found that Yu Gui had the fewest bloodstains, Su Ying had the most, and among the Xia siblings, Xia Song and Xia Bai had fewer than Xia Ge.

Next, she went to check on the four eunuchs and found that Eunuch Zhou had the fewest bloodstains, while Eunuch Jia had the most.

"Yu Gui is a fifth-grade martial artist, so his body is stronger than the other four. Su Ying is petite and thin, so her body is the weakest. Among the three Xia siblings, Xia Ge's body is clearly not as strong as her two brothers'."

"As for the four eunuchs... Eunuch Zhou is a Grandmaster, Eunuch Zhao is an eighth-grade martial artist, Eunuch Yu is a seventh-grade martial artist who can break through to the eighth grade, and Eunuch Jia has the weakest martial arts, being a seventh-grade martial artist. The physical strength of the four decreases in that order."

Comparing the situations of the two groups, Hua Changxi concluded that the strength of the physical body affects the awakening of the totem power in the bloodline.

And the reason she was able to awaken the bloodline totem power in one step was because she was a cultivator; not only had her body been tempered by spiritual energy, but it was also constantly nourished by spiritual energy during the cultivation process, so her body was long past being a mortal shell.

"If they can't withstand bloodline atavism, what should be done?"

While thinking about this question, Hua Changxi's gaze turned to the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion next door.

If she strengthened their physical bodies, wouldn't they be able to withstand the totem power?

Hua Changxi smiled. She had guessed what the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion taught; it was nine times out of ten a body-refining technique for strengthening the body.

A night passed. The four eunuchs were the first to wake up in the east wing room, followed by Yu Gui, and finally the three Xia siblings and Su Ying.

When they woke up, their whole bodies were in pain. Learning that Hua Changxi had gone to lecture, they lay back on their beds until Hua Changxi returned at noon, at which point they crawled up.

"Little sister, why is our body in so much pain?"

"Your bodies are too poor to withstand bloodline atavism. Let's go, we're going to the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion."

Upon arriving at the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion, Hua Changxi took out the first chapter, "Skin Refining," of the "Nine Turns Profound Art" she had obtained at Mount Wuzhi and gave it to Yu Gui, telling them to go to the side room to copy it down.

Eunuch Jia and the others were all martial artists. After reading it, they hurriedly said: "We have already practiced skin refining when we practiced martial arts."

Hua Changxi: "The skin refining in martial arts only makes the skin tighter; it can neither be impervious to water and fire, nor can it be invulnerable to blades and spears."

"After you practice this 'Skin Refining' I gave you to perfection, even if you face a Qi-refining cultivator, their spiritual power attacks won't be able to break through your skin's defense."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they couldn't wait to go copy down the "Skin Refining."

Once they left, Hua Changxi did not leave the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion but began to brew the skin-quenching medicinal soup. The most important step in skin refining was quenching.

By the time Yu Gui and the others finished copying, Hua Changxi's skin-quenching medicinal soup was also brewed.

"I am providing the first atavistic medicinal soup and skin-quenching medicinal soup for free. For the ones after this, if you still want to continue, you will have to rely on your own abilities to obtain them."

Each chapter of the "Nine Turns Profound Art" required corresponding body-quenching medicinal soup. The skin-quenching medicinal soup in the Skin Refining chapter required quite a few spirit herbs. If she didn't have Mount Wuzhi, she wouldn't be able to supply this at all.

Yu Gui and the others understood this. They were already very grateful that Hua Changxi could help them embark on the path of cultivation.

"Be mentally prepared; skin refining will be very painful."

After experiencing last night's medicinal bath, Yu Gui and the others felt they had adapted to the pain, but only after soaking in the medicinal bath did they know what it meant to be in agony.

Hua Changxi was also shocked. Watching the skin of Yu Gui and the others crack, heal, crack again, and heal again, her own scalp felt a bit numb.

Yet, this skin refining was different from last night's body explosion; skin refining was truly just refining the skin and did not harm the flesh and blood inside.

Therefore, Yu Gui and the others were all painfully awake.

To distract them, Hua Changxi began to recite the skin-refining technique to them, letting them refine their skin while absorbing the medicinal bath.

Following her recitation, the No. 8 wooden plaque lit up with a white glow.

Seeing the white glow, Hua Changxi's eyes curved. She had guessed correctly; the No. 8 Qihuang Pavilion was for teaching people how to refine their bodies.

After reciting the skin-refining technique three times and seeing that Yu Gui and the others had adapted to the pain and were gritting their teeth to refine their skin, she went into the main room.

On the stone wall of the main room, two patterns had already appeared.

The first pattern was very simple and straightforward, depicting the process of a thin mortal becoming a "towering" giant through body refining.

It was truly towering; the giant could pierce through the clouds, and the mountains appeared very small beneath his feet, somewhat resembling the giant monkey spirit shadow that appeared at Mount Wuzhi.

To practice "Fa Tian Xiang Di," one must first refine the body.

Hua Changxi looked at the second pattern, which depicted the scene of a person refining their skin and recorded a formula for skin-quenching medicinal soup.

Many of the ingredients in this formula were common medicinal herbs, with only a few spirit herbs, and those spirit herbs were very ordinary and common ones.

"This skin-quenching formula has a very high cost-performance ratio."

Hua Changxi felt that ordinary people could collect all the medicinal herbs in the formula if they worked hard, unlike the spirit herbs in the skin-quenching formula in the "Nine Turns Profound Art," which were all precious spirit herbs.

Moreover, the skin-refining technique was much simpler, and it felt very easy to get started.

Hua Changxi copied down the skin-quenching medicinal soup formula and the skin-refining technique from the pattern, then went to the courtyard to check on Yu Gui and the others.

By the time Yu Gui and the others finished skin refining, it was already dark. Watching them lie limp in the bathing barrels like noodles, Hua Changxi told them to leave on their own, while she herself carried another portion of skin-quenching medicinal soup into the east room of the main house.

She felt that dual cultivation of law and body might be better.

She remembered very clearly the scene where the old Daoist Jiang's physical body was burned by her and only his Nascent Soul escaped; the physical body of a law cultivator could not be considered strong.

Pain!

Soaking in the medicinal bath, Hua Changxi somewhat admired Yu Gui and the others and also saw their great determination to cultivate. The pain of skin cracking and healing was truly indescribably difficult.

Just as Hua Changxi was gritting her teeth to refine her skin, the struggle for the First Street ended.

Gu Qiming flipped through the list of pharmacies. The imperial family occupied twenty pharmacies, the Heaven Department occupied twenty, and the remaining forty were divided up by various forces.

The Medical Department only occupied five, which made him quite dissatisfied.

This was his territory, yet he had to look at the faces of other powerful figures to arrange for pharmacists to move in; it was truly stifling.

Yuan Tianchou looked at Gu Qiming's exhausted expression and said: "Master, the pharmacies on the First Street already have owners; you can take a good rest for a while."

Gu Qiming shook his head: "How can I have time to rest? The things the Minister entrusted to me haven't been done yet."

Tomorrow he had to go to the old courtyard in the plaza to see Gu Xing; the other three people who took the wooden plaques should also be found.