Chapter 268: Reborn Anew

Inside the Danyuan Secret Realm, Hua Changxi was concentrating intently on manipulating the Shennong Cauldron to refine pills.

The internal space of the Shennong Cauldron was vast; as long as one's pill refining technique was adequate and supplemented by divine sense, a single furnace could produce ten thousand Grade One pills.

Nowadays, Hua Changxi could already refine top-grade Grade Three pills; using the Shennong Cauldron to refine Grade One pills, even in such large quantities, guaranteed the quality of the spirit pills.

Before refining, she had hesitated: should the pills distributed to the apprentices be of lower grade, or should she give them top-grade pills directly?

After weighing the matter repeatedly, she felt there was no need to be so secretive; she cultivated hard precisely to do whatever she wished at will.

Medical arts and pill refining were originally her most proud skills; if she could not be herself in these areas, it would be utterly meaningless.

Moreover, the stronger the power she displayed, the more beneficial it would be for the cohesion of the apprentices.

Thus, after a day had passed, Hua Changxi had refined a total of six furnaces of top-grade Grade One Yuanling Pills.

With the pills refined, all that remained was bottling them.

Sixty thousand Yuanling Pills, at ten pills per bottle, required six thousand bottles in total.

Facing the task of packaging so many pills gave Hua Changxi a headache; since it was already evening, she did not wish to waste time on this and delay her cultivation, so after some thought, she exited the secret realm.

As soon as she left the secret realm, Hua Changxi sent messages to Eunuch Yu and the other three, summoning them to the mountain peak to have them package the pills.

In the interim, she hesitated briefly on whether to call Hua Sanlang, but after deep contemplation, she dismissed the notion.

Although she was producing so many pills at once, and they were only Grade One, the fact that they were all top-grade meant that if this news spread, it would surely bring her trouble.

Eunuch Yu and the other three were eunuchs sold into the palace long ago; they had no blood relatives left, and those surrounding them were merely 'friends' bound by interests.

To win her trust, they would not disclose her affairs to those friends.

However, regarding her third brother, Hua Sanlang, she was uncertain.

She was unsure whether Hua Sanlang would inform the Hua family of her situation; once the Hua family learned she could produce so many pills, they would surely use the name of kinship to demand her help.

Mutual assistance among family members was originally natural human sentiment, but the premise had to be her willingness and initiative, not coercion by family members in the name of righteousness.

While Hua Changxi waited for Eunuch Yu and the other three, she noticed that only three mountain peaks had appeared beside Danyuan Peak.

"Only three secret realm masters summoned peaks today?" She had assumed all secret realm masters would summon them together.

Soon, Eunuch Yu and the other three arrived at the mountain peak.

Hua Changxi immediately asked, "Did only three secret realm masters summon peaks today?"

Eunuch Yu replied, "No, all secret realm masters attempted to summon them."

Then, Eunuch Yu and the other three explained in detail the situation regarding the various secret realm masters summoning peaks.

Upon hearing this, Hua Changxi realized that only Gu Xing, Mu Qingyao, and Yan Qianying had successfully summoned peaks; everyone else had failed.

"How could they fail?"

Not only was Hua Changxi puzzled, but others were also utterly baffled.

Eunuch Jia said, "Most secret realm masters cannot accept the failure of the summoning and are preparing to continue tomorrow."

Hua Changxi asked, "Continue doing what?"

Eunuch Jia replied, "Continue having people swear Heart Demon Oaths; some secret realm masters believe that because they recruited too few apprentices, they were unable to summon peaks."

Hua Changxi shook her head; she felt this was unlikely the reason, recalling that when Danyuan Peak appeared, only one person had sworn a Heart Demon Oath.

The appearance of the peaks should have little correlation with the number of people recruited.

Looking at Hua Changxi, Eunuch Yu wore a worried expression: "Master, with other secret realm masters recruiting aggressively, even fewer people will come to register with us."

Originally, nobles like Prince Shou were resisting the Master's recruitment of apprentices; even after Danyuan Peak appeared and many were tempted, most remained watching and waiting due to the intimidation of the royal family and the nobility.

Apart from members of the Hua clan, only a dozen or so 'loners' came to register today; these people had no families and feared no retaliation from the royal family or nobility, whereas those with households were not so bold and decisive.

Now, with other secret realm masters scrambling to snatch people everywhere to summon peaks, leveraging their authority and influence, it would likely become even harder for Danyuan Peak to recruit anyone.

Eunuch Zhou added, "Although the resources offered by other secret realm masters are not as generous as what the Master provides, they will supply cultivation techniques to the apprentices."

Although everyone craved resources, without even stepping onto the path of cultivation, abundant resources were useless; cultivation techniques were the key to opening that path, so this condition was extremely appealing.

Hearing this, Hua Changxi smiled: "That is quite good; previously, those noble families guarded their cultivation techniques tightly, allowing only their own kin to cultivate them; now they are finally willing to release them."

"It would be even better if there were more such occurrences; in this way, more cultivators will emerge, further promoting the development of medical arts and the Dao of Pills."

Hearing her words and seeing her lack of concern, Eunuch Yu and the other three exchanged bewildered glances.

Master, isn't this a bit too noble...?

Hua Changxi continued, "I suspect that not every secret realm can summon a peak; the other secret realm masters are probably performing futile efforts. We need not pay them too much attention; focusing on constructing Danyuan Peak is the proper course."

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Yu and the other three all agreed.

Hua Changxi said, "Very well, the four of you follow me into the secret realm; I have a task for you."

Moments later, the five of them appeared on the first level of the Danyuan Secret Realm.

Seeing the tens of thousands of top-grade Grade One Yuanling Pills stored in bamboo tubes before them, Eunuch Yu and the other three were stunned.

How long had it been since obtaining even a single spirit pill was incredibly difficult for them, yet now, tens of thousands of spirit pills were displayed blatantly before their eyes.

Furthermore, the bamboo tubes used to store the spirit pills seemed to be made of fourth-grade Green Jade Spirit Bamboo, a material for refining many fourth-grade magical artifacts, yet now it was being used merely as wooden buckets.

Eunuch Yu swallowed hard, looking at Hua Changxi: "Master, where did these pills come from?"

Hua Changxi did not respond; flipping her wrist, she took out six thousand pill bottles from her Sumeru Mustard Seed: "The task I assign you is to package these pills into the bottles. For every hundred pills you package, you may keep one pill as remuneration."

Hearing this, the eyes of Eunuch Yu and the other three instantly lit up with brilliance.

"Rest assured, Master, we will finish bottling all the pills tonight."

Hua Changxi hummed in acknowledgment: "Very well, get to work."

Seeing Hua Changxi about to leave, Eunuch Jia and the other two quickly signaled Eunuch Yu with their eyes.

Seeing this, Eunuch Yu steeled his resolve and called out to Hua Changxi: "Master."

Hua Changxi paused: "Is there something else?"

Eunuch Yu bent low, performing a deep bow: "The four of us wish to request that the Master grant us names."

Eunuch Jia and the other two also bowed: "We beg the Master to bestow names upon us."

Although Hua Changxi did not say where these Yuan Spirit Pills came from, all four guessed they were most likely refined by her.

Being able to follow such an extraordinary person, all four wished to draw even closer to Hua Changxi.

They knew nothing else, so following what they had learned in the palace, they begged Hua Changxi to bestow names upon them; in the palace, only servants named by their master were considered one of their own.

Hua Changxi looked surprised: "You want to change your names?"

All four nodded simultaneously.

Hua Changxi: "Then change them yourselves?"

Eunuch Yu's expression turned urgent: "Master, it is because of you that we have our present lives; you are our second parents, so our names ought to be given by you."

Eunuch Jia and the other two quickly added: "We beg Master to bestow names."

Hua Changxi, both surprised and speechless: "Stop speaking of second parents; between us, it is simply a relationship of mutual benefit and cooperation. If you wish to change your names, choose them yourselves."

Eunuch Yu hurriedly said: "Master, we misspoke; we merely wish to bid farewell to the past. Since you gave us the chance to start anew, we hoped you would help us choose names as a memento of this."

Eunuch Jia and the other three: "Indeed, that is exactly what we think."

Hua Changxi looked at the four of them; seeing their faces filled with longing, the corner of her mouth twitched: "I am terrible at naming people. If you insist I name you, then just pick one character from 'Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi'."

Eunuch Yu: "Thank you, Master, for bestowing a name; I shall be called Yu Fu."

Eunuch Jia: "I shall be called Jia Lu."

Eunuch Zhou: "I shall be called Zhou Shou."

Eunuch Zhao: "I shall be called Zhao Xi."

Looking at the four faces beaming with joy, Hua Changxi said: "...As long as you are happy." With that, she walked away, not quite understanding.

Watching her depart, Eunuch Yu and the other three, now newly named, all wore expressions of joy like those reborn.

"From this day forward, we four shall no longer be lowly eunuchs of the palace; we are the stewards of the Yuan Spirit Secret Realm."