Chapter 211: One Leaf, One Secret Realm

The sacred wood secret realm has no such thing as extinction!

Hearing this, Hua Changxi's pupils shook violently. The sacred wood secret realm had never experienced extinction, which meant what? It meant

The others present were also shaken; not only the cultivators from the Medicine Department, but even those from the Guardian families wore expressions of shock. Clearly, the Guardian families had not told them about this situation regarding the Divine Wood Secret Realm in advance.

Seeing the fiery eyes of the cultivators present, Xia Zhen felt somewhat annoyed. He looked at Gu Xing with dissatisfaction, not understanding why Gu Xing had to reveal that the Divine Wood Secret Realm had never been extinguished.

Was it to test people?

Previously, he had deliberately concealed the fact that the Divine Wood Secret Realm had never been extinguished, saying only that different grades of incense corresponded to different grades of secret realms, all to prevent Meng Qingyao and the others from giving rise to greed and being controlled by it, leading them to make unrealistic decisions.

But now, Xia Zhen looked at his grandson, Xia Ziyang, and seeing that his eyes were no longer calm, surging with a "must-have" emotion, his brow furrowed directly into a knot.

"Ahem~"

Xia Zhen coughed heavily twice, interrupting everyone's reverie. He glanced at Gu Xing and said in a deep voice, "Act according to your ability; do not be overly ambitious. For cultivators, resources are only an aid; you must never forget the fundamentals."

Gu Xing took up the thread: "Fellow Daoist Xia is right. Although the Divine Wood Secret Realm is good, all good things in this world require a price to be paid to possess them. The more you take, the greater the responsibility you must bear." As he spoke, he looked around at the cultivators present.

"Before lighting the incense, you must think this through clearly. If you cannot bear the responsibility, or are unwilling to bear it, there is no need to step forward to worship the Divine Wood, nor is there any need to occupy the position of a Pavilion Master."

Once these words were spoken, all the Pavilion Masters turned their heads in unison to look at Hua Changxi, all feeling that Gu Xing's words were directed at her.

Seeing the Pavilion Masters act this way, the others also looked at Hua Changxi.

Surrounded by everyone's gaze, Hua Changxi was speechless: "Why are you all looking at me? Senior Gu is admonishing everyone, not just speaking to me alone."

Huo Yunxiao gave her a "don't try to deny it" look: "Since the Qihuang Pavilion Masters were confirmed, you are the only one who hasn't cared about the Qihuang Pavilion at all."

Hua Changxi laughed in anger: "Yes, I haven't stayed in the Qihuang Pavilion, but you all stay in the pavilion all day—yet what have you done? You haven't even done a single day of the most basic preaching and teaching in the Qihuang Pavilion, and you have the nerve to talk about me!"

Huo Yunxiao could not refute Hua Changxi and could only say dryly: "We are going to give lectures; it's just that we haven't had time yet. We'll lecture after the new year."

Hua Changxi let out a "Tch": "Lecturing without knowing anything? I'm afraid you'll just be spouting nonsense and misleading students."

These words made Huo Yunxiao somewhat angry. He rolled up his sleeves, put one hand on his hip, and pointed at Hua Changxi with the other: "Hua Changxi, let me tell you, arguing is one thing, but don't make personal attacks! How could I possibly spout nonsense? You are questioning my character!"

"Slap~"

Hua Changxi swiped a hand over, leaving a red handprint directly on the back of the hand Huo Yunxiao was using to point at her.

Seeing that the slap hadn't actually knocked Huo Yunxiao's hand down, Hua Changxi wanted to go for another, but at this moment, two heavy thuds against the ground sounded. Hua Changxi looked toward the sound and saw Gu Xing leaning on his cane, his face long and serious as he looked at her.

"Huo Yunxiao pointed his finger at me; I was just defending myself."

Huo Yunxiao looked at his stinging hand, not yet having recovered from the fact that Hua Changxi actually dared to hit him in public.

It wasn't just Huo Yunxiao who hadn't reacted; the others present also hadn't expected Hua Changxi to take action in public.

Seeing Hua Changxi take action, Chu Junhao couldn't help but twitch his eyelids. Seeing the strange look on his face, Duan Yuyan smiled: "Hua Changxi is quite unique. This person is likely even harder to subdue."

Chu Junhao did not speak.

On the other side, Dongfang Xu also clicked his tongue twice: "This female cultivator has a fiery temper. She shouldn't have come to learn alchemy; she should have gone to learn artifact refining. If she learned artifact refining, her achievements would definitely be higher than in alchemy."

Hearing his words, Meng Qingyao once again carefully sized up Hua Changxi. After Senior Gu appeared, he had been indifferent to everyone, showing a hint of dissatisfaction only toward this female cultivator. Others might think Senior Gu disliked her, but she knew that people only show dissatisfaction when they have expectations.

Senior Gu thinks highly of Hua Changxi!

Gu Xing tapped the ground with his cane again: "Alright, the nine Pavilion Masters who obtained wooden plaques will lead the way. We will now begin to worship the Divine Wood."

Hearing this, the Pavilion Master of the Fourth Pavilion, Wen Lanzhou, hurriedly spoke up: "Senior Gu, the wooden plaque was obtained by my master, Zhang Tianshi. This junior does not dare to worship the Divine Wood on behalf of my master. I have already sent a message to my master, and he is on his way. I ask that you wait a moment, Senior."

Huo Yunxiao also couldn't be bothered to use his eyes to accuse Hua Changxi of hitting him, and followed up: "Senior Gu, it is the same for this junior."

Different grades of incense correspond to different grades of secret realms, and there are only eighteen sticks of incense. Now that everyone knows that the earlier one worships the Divine Wood, the greater the chance of obtaining a high-grade secret realm, naturally, no one is willing to wait any longer.

Seeing that Gu Xing didn't speak, Xia Zhen smiled: "It's not good for so many people to just stand around waiting. Why not worship while we wait? When Minister Wei and Zhang Tianshi arrive, no matter whose turn it is, we will let them worship first."

Gu Xing nodded: "Very well, let it be as Fellow Daoist Xia says."

Huo Yunxiao and Wen Lanzhou looked at each other helplessly. Unable to change anything, they could only hope their respective masters would arrive soon.

Subsequently, the people from the Medicine Department and those brought by the Guardian families stood on either side of the offering table.

At the same time, the square was surrounded by onlookers. Not daring to approach, everyone stretched their necks to look toward the stone tripod, making it very noisy and chaotic.

Watching this scene, Xia Zhen looked dissatisfied and said to Gu Xing: "With no one maintaining order, it is truly unseemly." As he spoke, his gaze softened as he looked at Meng Qingyao, "I hope the Holy Land will soon elect a Holy Lord. Once the Holy Lord is elected, they can command the Holy Guardian Guards to come out and maintain order."

Gu Xing followed his gaze and also looked at Meng Qingyao. After looking, his gaze involuntarily drifted to Hua Changxi. Seeing that she was still bickering with Huo Yunxiao at a time like this, he helplessly withdrew his gaze.

In the crowd, Huo Yunxiao looked at Hua Changxi with a face full of anger: "Why do you take action without a word?"

Hua Changxi's tone was cold: "Dare to point your claws at me again, and don't talk about hitting—I'll chop your claws off directly."

Huo Yunxiao wanted to point at Hua Changxi and scold her again, but after extending his hand, he met Hua Changxi's dangerous gaze and silently retracted it: "No man will ever like a woman like you."

Hua Changxi scanned Huo Yunxiao up and down with contempt: "I wouldn't want a man like you even if you were given to me for free."

Huo Yunxiao was so angry he didn't want to speak, but if he didn't say something, he felt he had lost. Just as he was racking his brains on how to counterattack, Gu Xing spoke again, saying to the nine Pavilion Masters who had obtained wooden plaques: "You may step forward to worship in the order of your respective Qihuang Pavilion numbers."

The Pavilion Master of the First Qihuang Pavilion was Mu Qingying. Mu Qingying was the first to worship. Feeling somewhat nervous and at a loss, she couldn't help but look at Department Head Gu and her two senior brothers.

Department Head Gu looked at Gu Xing: "Senior Gu, I wonder what one needs to pay attention to when worshipping the Divine Wood?"

Gu Xing: "Follow your heart."

This was equivalent to saying nothing at all.

Department Head Gu was somewhat helpless. Looking at the three types of incense on the offering table, he guessed that the conditions for lighting the incense might be related to contributions to the Alchemy Saint Hall. But being unsure, he could only say to Mu Qingying: "Choose however you wish; follow your own thoughts."

Mu Qingying walked to the offering table and looked at the three types of incense. Her fingers brushed hurriedly over the first-grade incense, lingered for a while between the second-grade and third-grade incense, and finally, she picked up a stick of third-grade incense. She walked to the Divine Wood tripod, performed three kowtows and nine bows with a respectful expression, and then didn't know what to do.

"Senior Gu, how should I light the incense?"

Gu Xing: "Insert it directly into the Divine Wood tripod. If you can obtain the Divine Wood's blessing, the incense will ignite on its own."

Hearing this, Mu Qingying bowed three more times to the Divine Wood tripod with the incense in hand, and only then did she nervously insert the incense into the Divine Wood tripod.

Once the incense entered the tripod, it quickly ignited without fire.

Green smoke continuously surged out and quickly gathered in front of Mu Qingying, condensing into a green leaf the size of half a palm in the blink of an eye.

The incense burned out at a speed visible to the naked eye. The green smoke broke, the green leaf took shape, and it drifted down into Mu Qingying's hand.

As the leaf entered her hand, Mu Qingying's heart stirred, and the green leaf merged into her body and disappeared.

Looking at the glowing-eyed Mu Qingying, Xia Zhen was happy to explain to everyone: "That green leaf is the key to the Divine Wood Secret Realm. According to the key's guidance, one can find the entrance to the secret realm and enter it."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi's eyes flickered. A single green leaf could open a secret realm—was this the legendary "a world in a leaf"?