Chapter 108: Where Did the Wooden Tablets Go?

After her first skin tempering, Hua Changxi felt the benefits: her skin had become smoother and more lustrous, and far more resilient.

It felt much like rough straw paper transforming into fine rice paper.

If she continued tempering her skin, that straw paper would likely eventually turn into gold foil, with its defensive capabilities soaring ever higher.

Cultivators who practice body-refining techniques are called Body Cultivators; those who cultivate by absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth are called Dharma Cultivators.

Hua Changxi compared these two methods of cultivation.

Dharma Cultivation requires enduring loneliness and boredom, spending all day seated in meditation; not everyone can sit still for so long, nor can everyone calm their mind.

Body Cultivation requires enduring pain and hardship; refining the body is not merely tempering it, but essentially reshaping it, replacing the old with the new. The hardship involved is such that only those with tremendous perseverance can succeed.

Regardless of which cultivation method one chooses, neither is easy.

Looking at the sword patterns on the Number Eight wooden tablet, which were not yet very clear, Hua Changxi took out the skin-tempering formula and technique she had previously copied from the stone wall.

She already had the medicinal ingredients listed in the formula on hand; she directly prepared twenty portions of skin-tempering soup, then summoned the twenty individuals whose spiritual meridians and bloodline totems she had previously tested.

These twenty people possessed neither spiritual meridians nor had any totem images manifested upon them.

Hua Changxi explained to them what body-refining techniques and Body Cultivators were, as well as the hardships and pain involved in body refinement, then let them choose for themselves whether or not to undergo skin tempering.

Not a single one of the twenty refused; all chose to temper their skin.

Consequently, roars and shrieks rose and fell in succession within the Number Eight Qihuang Hall.

Hua Changxi had previously set up an isolation array, so the sounds did not escape; she carefully observed the condition of the twenty people and discovered that their degree of skin tempering had not even reached half of what Jia Eunuch and the other nine had achieved.

Hmm...

The body-refining technique on the stone wall offered high cost-performance and was quite accessible to the common people, but its effects on body refinement were certainly greatly diminished.

As the twenty people proceeded with their skin tempering, the sword patterns on the Number Eight wooden tablet gradually became three-dimensional, and sword patterns also appeared marked upon the stone pillars outside the Number Eight Qihuang Hall courtyard.

Once the twenty finished their skin tempering, Hua Changxi went directly to the Old Courtyard of the Square and took down the last wooden tablet.

There were eighteen Qihuang Halls, corresponding to eighteen wooden tablets; Hua Changxi had obtained only ten tablets, meaning the remaining eight were in the hands of others.

"Senior Gu, in whose hands are the other eight wooden tablets?"

Gu Xing looked blankly at Hua Changxi: "What, do you intend to get your hands on the other eight tablets as well?"

Hua Changxi looked at him: "Is that not permissible?"

Seeing she truly harbored such thoughts, Gu Xing took a deep breath: "As far as this old man knows, one person can obtain only one wooden tablet." He paused.

"You... The wooden tablets are the keys to the Qihuang Halls; can you open all nine Qihuang Halls in the Laborer Hall?"

Hua Changxi said: "Didn't you say earlier that you knew nothing?"

Gu Xing remained expressionless: "This old man is merely a gatekeeper; indeed, I know nothing."

Hua Changxi pursed her lips, her face full of disbelief.

Seeing this, Gu Xing did not mind; he simply looked at her earnestly: "The Qihuang Halls are places for transmitting medical knowledge. Since you are able to open them, this old man hopes you will not let them remain covered in dust."

Hua Changxi looked back at him: "I am the one opening the halls, I am the one giving the lectures, and I am the one who will bear the consequences that follow. Therefore, Senior, your hope is merely your own hope; how I proceed should be my own decision."

Gu Xing was momentarily speechless: "This old man does not wish to teach you how to act; it is simply that since you have taken ten wooden tablets, you must bear the responsibility of transmitting medicine and teaching lessons."

Hua Changxi said: "I never said I wouldn't bear it; I simply have my own rhythm."

Looking at her, Gu Xing suddenly realized that this girl before him, though the youngest among those who had obtained the wooden tablets, was also the most independent-minded and the least easily swayed by others.

Even Wei Zhenjie, the Minister of the Heaven Department, would ponder his words repeatedly; unlike this girl, who paid them no heed whatsoever.

Was this... good or bad?

Holding the wooden tablet, Hua Changxi departed; upon stepping out of the Old Courtyard of the Square, she paused and glanced in the direction of the Apprentice Hall.

Although she had marked all nine Qihuang Halls in the Laborer Hall, her previous goal had merely been to seize territory quickly; she had not yet fully unlocked everything within the Qihuang Halls.

As for the Qihuang Halls over at the Apprentice Hall, there was no rush; she would explore them only after she had thoroughly mastered everything within the Number One through Number Nine Qihuang Halls.

Less than a quarter of an hour after Hua Changxi left, someone else arrived at the Old Courtyard of the Square.

When Gu Qiming entered the courtyard, he saw Gu Xing wearing an expression of distress; this sight surprised him, for in previous visits, Gu Xing had either been sleeping or staring blankly: "Senior Gu, do you have something on your mind?"

Gu Xing glanced at Gu Qiming; seeming to know why he had come, he stated directly: "You are too late."

Gu Qiming was utterly confused; just as he was about to ask what this meant, he saw that all the wooden tablets on the wall were gone, and his eyes widened instantly: "Senior Gu, where are the wooden tablets? How have they disappeared?"

Looking at his reaction, Gu Xing closed his eyes with some listlessness: "Continue your struggles among yourselves; when you are finished fighting, you will discover that the heavens have long since changed."

Ignoring Gu Xing's unwillingness to engage with him, Gu Qiming stepped forward: "Senior Gu, who has taken all the wooden tablets?"

With his eyes still closed, Gu Xing replied: "Do you not claim to be the helmsman of the Medicine Bureau? Such matters are not something you should be asking this old man about."

Gu Qiming knew Gu Xing's nature; understanding that since he had spoken thus, he would truly reveal nothing, he could only depart helplessly.

Upon returning to the Medicine Bureau building, Gu Qiming immediately issued an order to his subordinates: identify everyone who had visited the Old Courtyard of the Square over the past two months; do not miss a single one.

He had never expected that while he had been occupied maneuvering among various factions these past two months, neglecting the Old Courtyard of the Square, all nine wooden tablets within the old courtyard would be taken by someone.

The wooden tablets are not something just anyone can take!

The last time a Minister took the first wooden tablet was several decades ago; over these decades, only nine tablets had been taken, one after another.

How could he have anticipated that the remaining nine would vanish within a mere two months?

Thinking of the many events that had occurred over the past two years, Gu Qiming's expression grew grave as he murmured to himself: "Are the heavens truly about to change?"

At the same time, equally shocked as Gu Qiming was Gu Jinfan, who had just returned from Mount Kunlun.

Before even entering the Medicine Bureau, Gu Jinfan noticed the pale green light enveloping First Street; in an instant, she flew into the Medicine Bureau, then stood at the intersection of First Street and Chaosheng Road, staring in dumbfounded astonishment at the two lanterns burning with green alchemical fire on either side of the crossroads, her face filled with disbelief.

"How could this be?"

In her previous life, the first alchemical fire lantern of the Alchemy Saint Hall was clearly not lit until two years after the Meng family entered the capital; why in this life had it been lit so much earlier?

Could it be that the Meng family had entered the capital ahead of schedule?

Gu Jinfan's mood was far from calm; she walked quickly toward the Number One Hall on Second Street, intending to immediately find someone and ask clearly what had happened.

This was the second time since her rebirth that she had strongly felt the recovery of spiritual qi in the Four Spirit Realm deviating from the trajectory of her previous life.

The first time was during the battle at Mount Wuzhi.

In her previous life, Mount Wuzhi was acquired by the Jiang family of Jizhou; in this life, however, the Fire Lotus Immortal emerged, bringing the matter of spiritual qi recovery into the open ahead of schedule, allowing ordinary people, who were previously cut off from information, to learn of it early.

The early awareness of ordinary people would absolutely increase the number of cultivators by a large margin.

Furthermore, the change in ownership of Mount Wuzhi would, to a certain extent, alter the shifting landscape of power among the various factions.

In her previous life, relying on Mount Wuzhi, the Jiang family rose to become a top-tier cultivation clan, absorbing a vast number of cultivator followers; the Jiang family patriarch, an outsider cultivator, participated in the subsequent struggle for mastery over the Four Continents precisely because the Jiang family's power had grown so immense.

Now that the foundation for the Jiang family's rise was gone, a whole series of future events would be changed accordingly.

The second time was now.

The Alchemy Saint Hall was one of the four array nodes suppressing the Demon Prison; the premature ignition of the alchemical fire on First Street was no small matter, and this change would affect the overall future trajectory of the Four Spirit Realms.

On the first day of her rebirth, she knew that her return would cause some events to change. Yet she had not expected that within just a few short months, two major incidents capable of altering the course of her previous life would already have occurred.

Feeling the dense spiritual qi within the Medical Bureau, Gu Jinfan experienced a strong sense of losing control and felt extremely anxious; if the trajectory of the Four Spirit Realms became completely different from her previous life, what meaning did her rebirth hold?

"Senior Brother Zeng."

"Junior Sister Gu, you have returned."

As soon as Gu Jinfan returned to the Number One Apothecary on Second Street, she immediately sought out Zeng Hong, who worked for her, took him to her alchemy room, and then eagerly began her questioning.

"Senior Brother Zeng, who lit those two lanterns on First Street, and when were they lit?"

Zeng Hong replied, "On the night of the twenty-ninth of the third month, someone broke into the Medical Bureau; the lanterns were lit at that time. Several cultivators stationed there were dispatched, but unfortunately, they failed to capture the intruder."

Gu Jinfan furrowed her brows. "The person who lit the alchemical fire was an outsider intruder? Is this information certain?"

Zeng Hong shook his head. "That is the explanation given by the Bureau Chief. Junior Sister Gu, many things actually happened while you were away."

"In the second month, ten Rebirth Pills were stolen from Second Street. Superiors dispatched the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate, and it was ultimately discovered that disciples of the Asura Gate, hiding within the Labor Hall, were the thieves."

"Furthermore, after the lanterns on First Street were lit, various factions have been desperately fighting to seize the apothecaries on First Street..."

Gu Jinfan paid no attention to these matters and interrupted him. "I asked you to keep watch over the Old Courtyard in the Square. Has anything happened there?"

Zeng Hong said, "The Minister of the Heaven Department visited the Old Courtyard once but left very quickly. By the way, the gate of the Old Courtyard has been wide open for the past two months."

Hearing this, Gu Jinfan's expression changed. "What did you say? The gate of the Old Courtyard in the Square is completely open?"

Seeing her react so strongly, Zeng Hong hurriedly explained the details. "On the very day the lanterns on First Street were lit, Eunuch Zhou of the First Office of the Labor Hall tried to drive Gu Xing out of the Old Courtyard. Gu Xing refused, causing quite a disturbance."

"Later, a female laborer from the Labor Hall stepped forward to stop Eunuch Zhou. When this female laborer helped Gu Xing into the courtyard, she pushed the courtyard gate wide open."

"Since then, whether day or night, the gate has never been closed again."

"I heard that female laborer is a cultivator; when the Embroidered Uniform Guard went to the Labor Hall to search for the stolen pills, she confronted them directly."

Gu Jinfan's eyes shook violently. The incident where Zhou Bing forced Gu Xing had actually happened ahead of schedule!

"How is Senior Gu doing now?"

Zeng Hong paused. "He should be fine, I suppose."

Gu Jinfan was deeply dissatisfied with this answer. "What do you mean 'should be'? Did you not go check?" Speaking thus, she left the room and walked briskly toward the Old Courtyard in the Square.

In her previous life, Gu Xing had died just three days after Zhou Bing forced him to leave the Old Courtyard.

As the gatekeepers of the Alchemy Saint Hall, the Gu family had never seen their lineage severed; spiritual qi in the Four Spirit Realms had begun to recover long ago, and the Gu family members certainly knew of this.

Logically, as the sole successor of the Gu family, Gu Xing should have been a cultivator, and his body should not have been so broken and ruined. It was only later that she learned Gu Xing had bound all his fortune and longevity to the Alchemy Saint Hall.

Spiritual qi was recovering, and the seal on the Demon Prison was also loosening.

As one of the four array nodes suppressing the Demon Prison, the Alchemy Saint Hall was bound to suffer impact.

It could be said that Gu Xing had single-handedly withstood all these impacts, which was why his body had deteriorated so severely; beaten by a few mortals under Zhou Bing's command, he simply died.

When she learned of this in her previous life, she had sighed with regret for a long time.

Gu Xing absolutely could not die so early; she still needed him to tell her how to use the wooden tablets and how to become the master of the Alchemy Saint Hall.

Soon, she arrived at the Old Courtyard in the Square.

As soon as Gu Jinfan entered the courtyard, she noticed the stone wall was completely bare; the last time she visited, twelve wooden tablets had hung upon the wall, yet after she had been gone only a few months, all the tablets were gone!

"Senior Gu, where are the wooden tablets? Where have they gone?"

Gu Xing opened his eyes, glanced at Gu Jinfan, and said indifferently, "The wooden tablets go to those destined to receive them. Since you were able to take them before, naturally others can as well."

Gu Jinfan still found it hard to believe. "How can this be?"

In her previous life, even when the Jiang family had completely seized control of the Alchemy Saint Hall, not all the wooden tablets on the wall had been removed; in this life, how could they have all vanished?

Looking at Gu Xing, Gu Jinfan asked urgently, "Senior Gu, who took the wooden tablets?"

Gu Xing glanced at Gu Jinfan and closed his eyes.

Gu Jinfan saw that he did not wish to deal with her, yet she continued, "Senior Gu, please believe me, I bear no malice. Everything I do now is for the good of the Alchemy Saint Hall. Surely you do not wish to see the Alchemy Saint Hall seized for themselves by outsider cultivators?"

Hearing this, Gu Xing suddenly opened his eyes, his expression cold and fierce. "The Alchemy Saint Hall belongs to the Four Spirit Realms; how can outsider cultivators dare to lay hands on it!"

Speaking thus, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"How do you know about the outsider cultivators? Who told you?"

Regarding Gu Jinfan, Gu Xing found her somewhat unfathomable; from the first moment she appeared before him, he had felt something strange about her, yet he could not quite say what.

Gu Jinfan certainly could not reveal her rebirth, so she organized her words. "When I was young, I read about the founding of the Great Jin in the Imperial Library. The Taizu Emperor received a divine lantern that descended from the heavens, and thus established the nation and set the capital."

"Five hundred years later, someone saw a great hole tear open in the sky, from which immortals flew down like falling stars."

"At first, I thought this was fabrication, until I became a cultivator and obtained a travelogue from a cultivator of the Asura Gate. Only then did I learn that the divine lantern was an object from the outside world, and that the Sect Master of the Asura Gate is an outsider cultivator."

"One thousand and five hundred years ago, the barrier of the Four Spirit Realms began to loosen, and outsider cultivators forcibly broke in. Now that spiritual qi is recovering, it goes without saying that even more outsider cultivators will invade."