Chapter 196

Hua Changxi did not like to interfere too much in other people's affairs, but thinking of her years of friendship with Pharmacist Xu, she still asked about Xu Ling's situation: "Uncle Xu, is Lingling still helping you watch the pharmacy?"

Pharmacist Xu's gaze flickered slightly, and he just smiled and nodded without saying anything else.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi probed: "I haven't seen Lingling for a long time. I'll find a time to go to your shop and talk to her."

Pharmacist Xu let out an "ah," then laughed sheepishly: "Lingling usually has to go out for training; I'm afraid she won't be there when you go."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi looked surprised: "Go out for training?! Where does Lingling go for training? I can never find a place when I want to go out for training myself."

Nowadays, the matter of spiritual energy recovery had only entered the public eye for less than two years. Before this, the ruins, secret realms, and mountains rich in spiritual energy that had been exposed were all held in the hands of the imperial family, the powerful, and the great clans; ordinary people could not get near them.

After stepping onto the path of cultivation, her training was severely lacking. Aside from not liking to go out and working behind closed doors, there was also the reason of not knowing where to go for training.

Pharmacist Xu dawdled for a while before saying: "Most of the time she goes to Mount Wuzhi in Qingzhou. Do you know Mount Wuzhi? That place is open to cultivators, and even ordinary people can go in to seek opportunities. Lingling just loves going there."

Hua Changxi: "Mount Wuzhi, I know it. It is indeed a good place for training. In the future, if Lingling goes to Mount Wuzhi again, I can accompany her."

Pharmacist Xu chuckled and did not take up the topic, instead changing the subject: "By the way, Jiuniang, besides bringing you tea, I also wanted to talk to you about the Qihuang Hall."

Seeing Pharmacist Xu divert the topic of Xu Ling again, Hua Changxi couldn't be bothered to ask more: "What happened to the Qihuang Hall?"

Pharmacist Xu: "Doesn't every hall have to submit thirty bottles of first-grade spirit pills every month? You weren't here in November, and the hall couldn't produce the spirit pills, so I took the spirit herbs and spirit plants allocated to our hall and went to find a Master Zhou, a pill refiner I knew before, and exchanged them for thirty bottles of first-grade spirit pills to submit first."

Hua Changxi nodded: "You did very well."

Pharmacist Xu: "Jiuniang, the spirit herbs and spirit plants allocated to each hall from above are only enough to refine sixty furnaces of first-grade pills." That is to say, the higher-ups require each Qihuang Hall to have a pill refining success rate of over fifty percent. If the failure rate exceeds half, one has to provide their own spirit herbs.

"According to the rules of the Medicine Department, finding a pill refiner to refine pills requires paying additional fees. Usually, one gives three portions of spirit herbs to refine one furnace of pills. Therefore, our hall currently owes Master Zhou thirty portions of spirit herbs."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi asked curiously: "Did the other Qihuang Halls all submit the spirit pills in full?"

Pharmacist Xu nodded: "They all submitted them."

Hua Changxi fell silent. After taking over the No. 13 Qihuang Hall, she had only seen the medicine boys assigned there and knew nothing else, so she couldn't help but ask: "Of the eighteen Qihuang Halls, do you know the master of each hall, as well as how many pill refiners each hall has?"

Pharmacist Xu smiled: "Since you trust me so much as to hand over the No. 13 Qihuang Hall for me to manage, I certainly had to find out these things clearly."

"The master of the No. 1 Qihuang Hall is Mu Qingying, the disciple of Director Gu. All eight medicine boys under her are pharmacists of the Medicine Department, two of whom are said to be able to start refining pills, though they haven't successfully refined any spirit pills yet."

"The master of the No. 2 Qihuang Hall is Xie An, the eldest disciple of Director Gu; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 3 Qihuang Hall is Huo Yunxiao, sent by the Minister of the Heaven Department; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 4 Qihuang Hall is Wen Lanzhou, the disciple of Zhang Tianshi of the Tianshi Mansion; all eight medicine boys can also refine pills."

"The master of the No. 5 Qihuang Hall is Yan Qianying, the third young master of the Dong'an Prince's Mansion; among the eight medicine boys, four can refine pills and four are pharmacists."

"The master of the No. 6 Qihuang Hall is Yuan Tianchou, the disciple of Director Gu; all eight medicine boys are pharmacists, and it is said that four of them have already started refining pills."

"The master of the No. 7 Qihuang Hall is Master Zhishen of the Xiangguo Temple; three of the eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 8 Qihuang Hall is Lin Ruohong, the head disciple of the Sanqing Palace; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 9 Qihuang Hall is Tang Yufeng, the eldest grandson of the Tang family, the number one noble family in the capital; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 10 Qihuang Hall is Gu Jinfan, the seventh young lady of the Duke of Xin's Mansion; among the eight medicine boys, four can refine pills and four are pharmacists."

"The master of the No. 11 Qihuang Hall is Shen Qianfan of the Disciple Hall; six of the eight medicine boys are from the Disciple Hall, and two are pharmacists."

"The master of the No. 12 Qihuang Hall is Zhu Qinghuan of the Apprentice Hall; all eight medicine boys are from the Disciple Hall."

"The master of the No. 14 Qihuang Hall is the Seventh Imperial Prince, Chu Junhao; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 15 Qihuang Hall is Duan Yuyan; three of the eight medicine boys can refine pills, and five are pharmacists."

"The master of the No. 16 Qihuang Hall is the Fifth Young Master of the Xiping Prince's Mansion; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 17 Qihuang Hall is the Second Young Master of the Beizhen Prince's Mansion; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

"The master of the No. 18 Qihuang Hall is the Ninth Young Master of the Nanding Prince's Mansion; all eight medicine boys can refine pills."

After listening to Pharmacist Xu's introduction, Hua Changxi took a deep breath. Of the eighteen Qihuang Halls, excluding the nine people who obtained wooden plaques, the other nine Qihuang Halls were all carved up by the powerful and noble families.

The masters were undoubtedly the most powerful, and the medicine boys also had their own backgrounds; this was a redistribution of power and resources.

She, a servant from the Servant Hall, along with Shen Qianfan from the Disciple Hall and Zhu Qinghuan from the Apprentice Hall, were truly conspicuous in front of this sea of children from powerful and noble families.

Seeing the big picture from the small, one could glimpse how serious the monopoly of resources by the powerful and noble families was from the personnel arrangements of the eighteen Qihuang Halls of the Medicine Department.

Hua Changxi thought of the Qisheng Palace. They would rather hide in the shadows and develop slowly than appear to recruit and absorb excellent talent. Previously, she didn't quite agree with this approach, but now she understood it a little.

The Medicine Department had been infiltrated too severely by various forces!

Although the Medicine Department was not the Pill Saint Hall, if the Pill Saint Hall wanted to develop and spread the art of pill refining, it would ultimately have to rely on pill refiners, and currently, the most powerful batch of pill refiners was gathered in the Medicine Department.

When the Pill Saint Hall appeared in the future, could they really drive all these pill refiners away?

To avoid being controlled by the Medicine Department, one would have to quickly cultivate a large number of highly skilled pill refiners, but how difficult that was.

Thinking of the various forces in the future Pill Saint Hall checking and balancing each other, and then thinking that the Pill Saint Hall also bore the responsibility of guarding the suppression eye, the little thought Hua Changxi had about becoming the master of the Pill Saint Hall vanished completely.

For a moment, she didn't even want to get involved in the affairs of the Qihuang Hall.

However, she currently needed the social status of a Qihuang Hall master in the Medicine Department.

In the future, she would inevitably have to deal with other cultivators. Having this status would make it easier to demonstrate her value and facilitate her making connections with others.

Previously, Gu Xing asked her if she had found her place in the Medicine Department.

She had the answer now; in the Medicine Department, she was the master of the No. 13 Hall.