Chapter 217: Public Sentiment

Two sticks of Third-Grade Incense remained, which was something no one had expected.

Chu Junhao, as an Imperial Prince, saw that people from the Dong'an, Xiping, Nanding, and Beizhen Prince's Mansions had all obtained secret realms, while he couldn't even light the Third-Grade Incense, which made him unable to accept it.

Wasn't this telling the world that the Imperial Family was not as good as the four prince's mansions with different surnames?

Prince Shou saw that the Imperial Family had gained nothing, and his expression was also terribly gloomy. His face hadn't been bright since the people from the Guardian Families arrived.

Hua Changxi was also somewhat surprised that Chu Junhao didn't light the Third-Grade Incense. After seeing the four great prince's mansions of the southeast, northwest, and north light the pill incense, she deduced that maintaining social order also counted as merit, and the Divine Tree would bless them because of it.

But the Chu Imperial Family was ultimately the most orthodox ruler of the Great Jin, and their merit should not be smaller than the four prince's mansions.

Chu Junhao didn't light the pill incense—was it because the Imperial Family's luck was failing, or was Chu Junhao himself not up to the task?

Not only did Hua Changxi think so, but Gu Xing and Xia Zhen also had such thoughts rising in their hearts, and Wei Zhenjie and Zhang Tianshi also had thoughtful expressions.

On the side of the Guardian Families, it was also beyond Hua Changxi's expectations. She originally thought that the ten wood spirit bodies brought by Xia Zhen would all be able to receive the Divine Tree's blessing if there was enough pill incense, but she didn't expect that four of them would gain nothing at all.

Only one of the Long siblings obtained a secret realm, which should mean only one person per family, which was understandable. What surprised her was that Dongfang Hao, whose constitution she couldn't see through, and his brother Dongfang Xu, neither obtained the favor of the Divine Tree.

Hua Changxi's attention was on the Long siblings and the Dongfang brothers, while Gu Jinfan was focused on Jiang Nianyi.

Seeing that Jiang Nianyi did not light the Third-Grade Incense and obtain the Divine Tree secret realm, Gu Jinfan's heart finally settled back into her chest.

In her previous life, the Pill Saint Hall was controlled by outside cultivators led by the Jiang family. In this life, the people from the Guardian Families appeared early, and the juniors of the five great Guardian Families all came to the Pill Saint Hall. With these people, outside cultivators like the Jiang family would definitely not be able to stir up trouble like in her previous life.

"Qingyao, it's your turn to pay respects to the Divine Tree."

The person Xia Zhen valued most was Mu Qingyao. As the guardian responsible for the Pill Saint Hall, he certainly hoped that the future master of the Sacred Ground would be someone he had selected. Because Long Jin, the Dongfang brothers, and the Jiang family girl had not received the Divine Tree's blessing, his heart was now a bit tense.

Meng Qingyao took a deep breath and walked toward the offering table. Only two sticks of First-Grade Incense and two sticks of Third-Grade Incense remained on the table. She did not hesitate, directly picked up a stick of First-Grade Incense, and after three kneelings and nine kowtows, she inserted the pill incense into the Divine Tree tripod, looking slightly nervous.

"It lit, the pill incense lit!"

As wisps of green smoke emerged, Meng Yuchuan shouted excitedly, and the others also felt their spirits lift.

Hua Changxi stared at the rising pill incense without blinking, counting the number of green flashes in her heart: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!"

After the green light flashed for the seventh time, the pill incense in the Divine Tree tripod quickly burned out.

Meng Qingyao had obtained a Seventh-Grade Secret Realm!

The corners of Hua Changxi's mouth curled up involuntarily. Even the peerless genius selected by the Guardians was not as good as her, and she couldn't help but feel a bit smug.

However, when she noticed Gu Xing looking at her, she quickly suppressed the corners of her mouth.

"What does Old Man Gu mean?"

Hua Changxi saw Gu Xing look at her, then look at Meng Qingyao, his gaze moving back and forth between them several times, his eyes full of scrutiny and weighing. This behavior made her frown directly.

Xia Zhen was very gratified that Meng Qingyao had successfully lit the First-Grade Incense. Seeing Gu Xing, the Heaven Department Minister, and Zhang Tianshi all sizing up Meng Qingyao, he immediately detailed the outstanding talent Meng Qingyao had shown in alchemy to them.

The Imperial Family had gained nothing, and Prince Shou had long been impatient. Looking at the one stick of First-Grade Incense and two sticks of Third-Grade Incense remaining on the offering table, he didn't care that Xia Zhen was chatting enthusiastically with Gu Xing and the other two, and interrupted directly: "Senior Xia, how will the remaining three sticks of pill incense be handled?"

A fierce look flashed in Xia Zhen's eyes, and he said unpleasantly: "Since no one lit these three sticks of pill incense, I will naturally take them back."

Prince Shou: "Since Senior Xia has already brought the pill incense to the Medicine Department, taking it back is too much trouble. Why don't I select some more excellent alchemy talents to come and pay respects to the Divine Tree?"

Xia Zhen knew that Prince Shou was coveting the Divine Tree secret realm. He looked at the cultivators who had followed him, and aside from the ten wood spirit bodies, there were many single wood spirit root cultivators. These people were definitely more talented in alchemy than the people Prince Shou would choose.

"That's fine, I also have many cultivators here who haven't paid respects to the Divine Tree."

Prince Shou didn't want to compete with the cultivators selected by the Guardians; he wanted to obtain those three sticks of pill incense directly: "Senior Xia, this is the capital of the Great Jin. You brought so many people to the Medicine Department this time, and you are competing with the people sent by the imperial court for the position of hall master. Out of respect for the Guardian Families, I agreed."

"However, of the nine hall masters appointed by the imperial court, the people you brought directly took six, without notifying the imperial court beforehand. What you are doing is a bit too overbearing."

"If this matter spreads, I fear it will implicate the reputation of the Guardians, as people will think you are using your status as a Guardian to wantonly place your own people in the imperial court. By then, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among many people..."

Prince Shou did not finish his words, but everyone present understood.

He was threatening Xia Zhen. If he wanted the imperial court to recognize the hall master positions of Meng Qingyao and the other five, the remaining three sticks of pill incense must be lit by people selected by Prince Shou.

Xia Zhen was extremely annoyed and once wanted to take action to teach Prince Shou a lesson, but he held back.

There was no other reason: the Imperial Family feared the foundation of the Guardians, and the Guardian Families also feared the status of the Imperial Family as the orthodox ruler. The Imperial Family could legitimately issue decrees to influence public opinion, directly affecting the direction of public sentiment.

For cultivators themselves, public sentiment is not important, but if one wants to establish a sect in a world of cultivator hegemony, and if one wants to become the master of the Pill Saint Hall, public sentiment is very important.

Because of the merit of guarding the Dao, the Guardian Families could indeed occupy a certain advantage in the early stages of spiritual energy recovery, but as time went on, more and more prodigies stirring up the era emerged, and the role of the Guardian Families would gradually weaken. No one could say for sure how far the Guardian Families could go in the future.

Xia Zhen did not want the Guardian Families to tear their faces with the Imperial Family as soon as they appeared, but he was also unwilling to hand over the three sticks of pill incense to Prince Shou to distribute: "Prince Shou, for the remaining three sticks of pill incense, you choose a few people, and I will also bring out a few people, and then we will take turns paying respects to the Divine Tree. This is the biggest concession I can make."

But for Prince Shou, this was not a concession at all, so he was naturally unwilling. However, he also didn't dare to really do anything to Xia Zhen. For a time, the atmosphere at the scene became stagnant.

"Cough, cough~"

A heavy cough broke the stagnant atmosphere. Everyone looked for the source and found it was Hua Changxi coughing.

When Gu Xing looked over, Hua Changxi said to him: "Senior Gu, the Guardian Families guard the inheritance of the Sacred Ground, which is naturally a merit of immeasurable value, but the Gu family, who has guarded the Sacred Ground for generations, has also worked hard. Regarding the handling of the remaining three sticks of pill incense, do you have no opinion?" ===== CHAPTER 218 =====