Chapter 133: Grade-Two Alchemist

Having unexpectedly obtained a personal village, Hua Changxi was delighted; however, at this moment, she was more concerned with the matter of the black fish pattern.

The black fish pattern on the back of her hand had already vanished, and she wanted to verify whether its appearance truly represented the degree of black flame burning within her body.

Hua Changxi sat cross-legged, sinking her consciousness into her dantian sea of qi, 'watching' the wisp of black flame burning at the chest of her nascent soul while repeatedly recalling the scene when she harbored murderous intent toward Gu Jinfan.

Indeed, as the murderous intent was awakened, the black flame began to flicker and sway, and simultaneously, pain returned to the back of her hand.

Hua Changxi withdrew her consciousness and opened her eyes, just in time to see the black fish pattern on the back of her hand slowly dissipating.

"Awareness Pattern..."

Hua Changxi roughly understood the function of the Awareness Pattern; it should be an auxiliary tool to help her better perceive the changes in her seven emotions and six desires.

When overwhelmed by emotions, she often could not control herself; with this Awareness Pattern, she could indeed better control her seven emotions and six desires.

"This Awareness Pattern is truly quite useful."

In the past, when she harbored murderous intent toward others, she could sense it, but that was mostly an instinctive reaction; with the reminder of the Awareness Pattern, she could understand her own thoughts more clearly.

With clearer thoughts, she could also make better decisions.

Confirming that the Awareness Pattern was beneficial and harmless to her, Hua Changxi felt reassured; she took out her alchemy furnace and spiritual herbs and began to refine pills with full concentration.

[Grade-One Alchemist (Supreme Quality Pills): 9816/9816 furnaces refined]

She needed to upgrade her alchemy rank as soon as possible.

Nanxiang County.

Wei Zhenjie led Chu Junyi and a contingent of the Demon-Suppressing Army; as soon as they exited the Jiuyou Genmen Pass, they went directly to the archway beneath the Lingguang Hall.

Gazing at the towering and majestic Lingguang Hall before him, Wei Zhenjie's eyes flashed: "Dispatch more personnel to Mount Wuzhi; we must ascertain the identity of the Fire Lotus Immortal."

Chu Junyi nodded in agreement: "Yes." After a pause, he added, "Master, the Prince of Fu has ordered all roads leading to Lingguang Hall to be blocked."

Hearing this, Wei Zhenjie snorted with a half-smile: "What is your view on this matter?"

Chu Junyi replied: "Cultivators possess many methods; the imperial court cannot stop them."

Wei Zhenjie laughed: "The imperial family certainly knows this as well; Prince of Fu is merely demonstrating the imperial family's stance." As he spoke, his smile vanished, replaced by a grave expression.

"Now that the revival of spiritual qi has only just begun, the imperial family still controls Great Jin, and various factions do not yet dare to openly oppose the throne, but this situation恐怕 cannot last long."

"Once the imperial family weakens and can no longer fully control the situation, an era of chaos will arrive."

Wei Zhenjie looked at Chu Junyi and the Demon-Suppressing Army behind him: "You must hasten to improve your strength; otherwise, in the future, you will not even be able to protect yourselves, let alone safeguard peace in a region."

Seeing Wei Zhenjie speak so seriously today, Chu Junyi frowned: "Master, you seem very wary of Lingguang Hall?"

Wei Zhenjie looked at him: "Do you know what the emergence of Lingguang Hall signifies?"

Chu Junyi shook his head.

Wei Zhenjie gazed at the distant palace: "Lingguang Hall is the teaching ground of the Zhu Que Emperor on the Central Continent; anyone who comes here to receive teachings and cultivates the techniques left by the Zhu Que Emperor shares a unified name; the world calls them the Zhu Que Army."

Upon hearing this, Chu Junyi and the Demon-Suppressing Army present all showed expressions of shock.

The Zhu Que Army...

It is actually a military title; with such power, they indeed possess the ability to shake the foundations of the imperial court.

Chu Junyi asked: "Does the imperial family know this news?"

Wei Zhenjie glanced at him sideways: "What do you think?"

Chu Junyi fell silent for a moment: "Prince of Fu and the others probably want to find the person who opened Lingguang Hall even more than we do." Once found, they would likely want to eliminate the threat completely.

Wei Zhenjie said nothing, clearly implying agreement.

"Let us go; return to the Heaven Division."

On the road back to the capital, the Demon-Suppressing Army were all shocked by the changes in Nanxiang County.

"This is too absurd; the area of Nanxiang County is now simply dozens of times its original size."

Chu Junyi turned to look at the Lingguang Hall towering into the clouds: "As those long-buried ruins emerge one after another, our world will undergo earth-shaking changes."

Mencius Yu whispered with a comrade beside him, laughing: "Many places are growing larger now; if this continues, we might not even be able to reach the borders of Great Jin in the future."

Hearing this, Chu Junyi's eyes flashed; Great Jin had been established for nearly a thousand years, unprecedented in history, but now with the revival of spiritual qi, for Great Jin to continue unifying the world would be difficult!

In the future, there might not even be a Great Jin Dynasty anymore.

Mencius Yu added: "Nanxiang County is now almost as large as an ordinary prefecture; the imperial court will probably need to dispatch more officials to govern this area."

At these words, Ye Jingzhou spoke up: "The original officials of Nanxiang County have already been entirely replaced."

Mencius Yu was startled: "How do you know?"

Ye Jingzhou replied: "As soon as we exited Jiuyou, I received a message from colleagues in the Heaven Division. With Lingguang Hall emerging in Nanxiang County, and this place being so close to the capital, the imperial family would not leave it unattended; the current officials in Nanxiang County are all trusted aides personally appointed by Prince of Fu."

Mencius Yu asked: "What about those original officials of Nanxiang County?"

Ye Jingzhou shrugged and said nothing.

Those with some background or connections might have been transferred to other government offices; those without background or connections are either waiting for vacancies or have been directly dismissed from their posts.

Mencius Yu clearly understood these inside stories as well; he sighed and said nothing more.

Chu Junyi listened silently to his subordinates chatting, then suddenly saw Wei Zhenjie in the carriage ahead waving at him; he immediately rode forward: "Master, what is the matter?"

Wei Zhenjie said: "I heard that among this batch of confiscated magical artifacts, there is one storage artifact that even Jiang Yanyi could not open?"

Chu Junyi nodded: "It is a string of Buddhist prayer beads."

Wei Zhenjie said: "Show it to me."

Chu Junyi took the string of prayer beads from his robe and handed it to Wei Zhenjie.

Wei Zhenjie took it and examined it, then laughed: "This is an item worn by a young lady." Saying this, he condensed spiritual qi, attempting to forcibly erase the imprint on the beads.

"Master, be careful!"

As soon as Wei Zhenjie's spiritual qi acted upon the prayer beads, a fire lotus flew out.

The fire lotus not only resisted Wei Zhenjie's spiritual qi but also scorched Wei Zhenjie's palm.

"Master, are you alright?" Chu Junyi looked at Wei Zhenjie with concern.

Wei Zhenjie expended a vast amount of spiritual power to extinguish the Fire Lotus; wounded before his disciple, he felt somewhat ashamed, yet fear dominated his heart.

If a mere imprint of essence blood could injure someone, one could imagine how powerful the owner of the Buddhist beads must be.

Although Wei Zhenjie still possessed methods to erase the imprint on the Buddhist beads, he did not do so; instead, he tossed the bead bracelet to Chu Junyi: "Keep this Buddhist bead bracelet safe; it very likely belongs to that Fire Lotus Immortal."

Upon seeing the Fire Lotus emerge from the beads, Chu Junyi had already guessed as much, and he carefully secured the Buddhist bead bracelet.

[Grade-2 Alchemist (Lower-Grade Pills): Alchemy Furnace 1/10]

After three days and three nights of focused alchemy, Hua Changxi finally elevated her alchemist rank to Grade 2.

Gazing at the Grade-2 Yuan Spirit Pill in her hand, Hua Changxi did not continue; instead, she left the Medical Bureau and headed to the Shennong Medicine Shop in Feng'an Market.

The fields within the gray bead lay fallow like this, and she felt it was far too wasteful.

After arriving at the medicine shop and learning the situation from Pu Cao and A Niu, Hua Changxi went to find the Green Bull Demon: "Green Bull, I am taking you somewhere."

Knowing Hua Changxi would not harm him, the Green Bull Demon agreed without hesitation; immediately, he felt the world spin wildly, and when he once again felt solid ground beneath his hooves, he discovered he was no longer in the courtyard behind the medicine shop.

"Where is this?"

Hua Changxi said: "This is a portable village I recently acquired; as you can see, so many fields here lie fallow, which is too wasteful. You are an ox, specialized in plowing; how about you farm this land for me?"

Having lived with A Niu and Pu Cao at the medicine shop for so long, the Green Bull Demon had grown accustomed to human ways of life, so he immediately began negotiating terms: "Then how much wages will you pay me?"

Looking at the Green Bull earnestly demanding wages, Hua Changxi inexplicably found it amusing: "One thousand lower-grade spirit stones per month."

The Green Bull shook his head: "Ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones."

"Ten thousand is too much; I will add a little for you—two thousand lower-grade spirit stones, and no more."

"Five thousand lower-grade spirit stones, and no less."

"Very well, five thousand lower-grade spirit stones; deal."

Seeing Hua Changxi agree so readily, the Green Bull felt his wages might have been set too low and quickly tried to recover: "I do not want lower-grade spirit stones; I want supreme-grade spirit stones."

The spiritual energy within supreme-grade spirit stones is purer and smoother to absorb.

Hua Changxi did not stint on this matter either: "Very well, from now on your monthly wages shall be five supreme-grade spirit stones. However, Green Bull, since I am spending so many spirit stones to hire you, you must cultivate this land well for me."

The Green Bull flicked his ox tail: "Rest assured, farming is my specialty."

With the wages settled, the Green Bull began wandering around the portable village.

"Changxi, if you intend to plant spiritual grains and herbs, the spiritual energy here恐怕 is insufficient."

"You start reclaiming the wasteland; I will go immediately to transport spiritual ore in."

Hua Changxi informed A Niu that she was taking the Green Bull away to work, then rode the clouds to Mount Wuzhi, transporting one spiritual ore deposit of each metal, wood, water, fire, and earth attribute into the portable village.

The Mountain Spirit said nothing upon witnessing her actions, merely reminding her to remember to replenish what was taken.

"Replenish what?"

"You have moved spiritual ore to another space; thus, the overall spiritual energy of Mount Wuzhi and the Four Spirit Realms has diminished, so naturally, it must be replenished."

"But how am I supposed to replenish it?"

"Go to the outside world and bring some back."

"The outside world? I can go to the outside world?"

"Cultivators from the outside world can enter, so naturally, you can exit."

"But how do I get to the outside world?"

"How would I know? You must find the way yourself."

"If you do not know, why do you still demand I replenish it?"

"Since you removed the spiritual ore, naturally you must replenish it."

"Cultivators entering and exiting Mount Wuzhi daily absorb considerable spiritual energy; why do you not demand they replenish it?"

"Because they are cultivators of the Four Spirit Realms; when they eventually die, their spiritual energy will return to the Four Spirit Realms."

Listening to the Mountain Spirit's words, Hua Changxi pondered deeply: "Your meaning is that this portable village of mine does not count as part of the Four Spirit Realms?"

The Mountain Spirit replied: "Naturally not; this is a Sumeru Mustard Seed Space, an independent realm. Even if the Four Spirit Realms are destroyed, it will merely drift to another location rather than perish along with them."

Hua Changxi said: "Is that so... But is not Mount Wuzhi my cultivation ground? Why must I repay it just for moving a few spiritual ore deposits?"

The Mountain Spirit looked at her seriously: "Immortal, all things operate in a recurring cycle; you may freely use the resources of Mount Wuzhi, but you cannot transport them to other spaces."

"The spiritual ore you moved into the Sumeru Mustard Seed cannot cycle with the resources of the Four Spirit Realms; if you do not replenish it, you are a thief of the Four Spirit Realms."

"Do you wish to be a thief?"

Hua Changxi fell silent: "Enough, I understand; I will replenish it."

The Mountain Spirit nodded with an air of 'the student is teachable': "That is the right attitude."