[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl":3,"chapter-the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-chapter-269":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Great Jin's Most Iron Rice Bowl",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1897043,2531,"Chapter 269: The Holy Guards Appear","the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-chapter-269",269,"\u003Cp>Ever since Hua Changxi assigned Yu Fu and the other three the task of packaging pills, for the following two months or so, the four of them supervised apprentices in constructing Danyuan Peak during the day, and eagerly entered the secret realm at night to package pills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All four knew clearly in their hearts that well-paid jobs like this would not be plentiful, so they naturally exerted their utmost ability to earn more resources for themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Hua Changxi, she refined pills during the day and teleported to Lingguang Hall to cultivate at night, occasionally finding time to check on apprentice recruitment and the construction progress of Danyuan Peak; seeing everything developing as she had expected, she did not interfere further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this period, pavilions and courtyard compounds were completed one after another across Danyuan Peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them, the Personnel Department at the foot of the mountain was the first to be finished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Personnel Department was completed, Eunuch Yu, following Hua Changxi's instructions, brought eight medicine apprentices from Qihuang Hall Number Thirteen to the summit of Danyuan Peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eight took heart-demon oaths, gained the approval of the Oath Stele, and each received an identity token granting access to the Danyuan Secret Realm and Danyuan Peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the eight medicine apprentices, except for Physician Xu who had a private friendship with Hua Changxi, the other seven only finally relaxed and set their minds at ease after receiving their identity tokens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only heaven knew how terrified they had been that Hua Changxi might reject them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Closely following that, the Logistics Department was completed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Logistics Department managed the apprentices' clothing, food, housing, and transportation; involving so many affairs, its courtyards and pavilions were several times larger than those of the Personnel Department, among which three large buildings were constructed just for the cafeteria supplying meals to the apprentices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since the cafeteria was built, the apprentices all took their meals there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, once the Logistics Department became operational, apprentices could begin selecting locations to open their cave dwellings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of this matter, Yu Fu had been so busy during this period that his feet hardly touched the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By late April, the Lecture Hall, Mission Hall, and Law Enforcement Hall were also completed in succession, and the mountain path had been repaired all the way to the summit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before each department went into operation, Hua Changxi exchanged six fourth-tier great formations with Yan Zhenzhen using one hundred bottles of top-grade third-tier pills and installed them in each department.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although these formations could only guard against cultivators at the Infant Transformation stage and below, they still raised the security level of each department by a significant margin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the last day of April, one hundred thousand bottles of top-grade first-tier Yuanling Pills, one hundred thousand bottles of other functional first-tier and second-tier pills, and a small number of third-tier pills were stored in the Logistics Department warehouse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the fully stocked warehouse, Eunuch Yu's eyes narrowed into a smile: \"With these pills entered into storage, the Logistics Department is finally no longer empty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Jia Lu, Zhou Shou, Zhao Xi, and Physician Xu all felt deeply envious that Yu Fu controlled so many resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the five stewards, only Physician Xu was a new addition; in order to integrate into the steward circle as quickly as possible, his words inevitably carried hints of elevating the other four while belittling himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your duties have all gradually gotten on track; only I am holding everyone back. In two months' time, I haven't recruited many apprentices, and I don't even know how to explain this to Ninth Lady... I mean, to the Hall Master.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the matter of recruiting apprentices, Yu Fu and the other three were also very concerned, and hearing Physician Xu refer to Hua Changxi as \"Ninth Lady,\" they all smiled and offered some comfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Fu said, \"These past two months, other secret realm masters have been frantically recruiting; they have countless entanglements with the imperial family and the nobility, while the Medical Bureau is controlled by those nobles, so failing to recruit people is not your fault.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Lu added, \"Indeed, one wonders what those secret realm masters are thinking; they have struggled for so long without summoning a single peak, yet they still refuse to give up.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Shou remarked, \"In my view, those secret realm masters are, first, unwilling to accept defeat, and second, probably harbor some intention of opposing our master.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the eyes of other secret realm masters, their master possessed Danyuan Peak but could not recruit people, or could not recruit excellent apprentices, whereas they themselves held large numbers of excellent apprentices; thus, they considered this a round won back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Physician Xu sighed, \"The Hall Master has clearly demonstrated abilities surpassing other secret realm masters, yet she is being suppressed like this; it is truly...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Xi said, \"I believe this is only temporary; the recruitment conditions and treatment offered by the Danyuan Secret Realm clearly cater to ordinary cultivators without power or influence, aiming to provide an opportunity for learning to everyone devoted to medicine and the Dao of pills.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After all, ordinary cultivators make up the majority under heaven.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The imperial family and the nobility may block us for a time, but they cannot block us forever.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Fu nodded: \"Steward Zhao is right; Steward Xu, do not worry too much. I believe our Danyuan Peak will surely become extraordinarily brilliant in the future.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the Danyuan Secret Realm, with the first batch of spiritual pills stored in the Logistics Department, Hua Changxi's task of refining pills for the apprentices was considered concluded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to her plan, the pills distributed to apprentices in the future would be refined by alchemists among the apprentices themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, she needed to seize the time to improve her own pill-refining grade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The third layer of the secret realm offered a rich variety of third-tier spiritual herbs, and nearly all the pills mentioned in the third-tier pill formulas provided by the Shennong Cauldron could be refined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi would not open the third layer of the secret realm for the time being; during the coming period, she remained in the third layer harvesting, cleaning, and processing third-tier spiritual herbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time quickly passed to mid-May, and the recruited apprentices began entering the first layer of the secret realm to undertake tasks of harvesting and cleaning spiritual herbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi would occasionally visit the first layer of the secret realm to observe and offer guidance on the apprentices' harvesting skills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that the number of apprentices joining the Danyuan Secret Realm remained small, she was not overly concerned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was waiting for Tong Yao; once the display spiritual artifacts were finished, she believed that cultivators from other parts of the Central Continent who wished to study medicine and pill refining would hear the news and come flocking to join.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Danyuan Peak was gradually getting on track; with Yu Fu, Jia Lu, Zhou Shou, Zhao Xi, and Physician Xu managing affairs on the peak, Hua Changxi did not need to worry too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, with the emergence of Danyuan Peak, Shenhe Peak, Qingyao Peak, and Xuanhuang Peak, three major events occurred within the Medical Bureau.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first event: With the Xia family's support, Meng Qingyao descended into the Nine Netherworlds and recruited one hundred Holy Guards at Genmen Pass, which suppresses the Demon Prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The appearance of the Holy Guards shook all factions, directly breaking the imperial family's absolute control over the Medical Bureau and marking the moment the imperial family stepped down from the position of primary decision-maker within the bureau.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since guessing that Hua Changxi could cause such repeated uproars because her actions were promoting the development and revival of the Sacred Land, Xia Zhen had instructed Meng Qingyao to dispatch these one hundred Holy Guards to maintain order throughout the entire Medical Bureau, thereby increasing their control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By rights, the one hundred Holy Guards under Meng Qingyao's command were tasked with guarding Qingyao Peak, but now that the Sacred Land was half-sealed and its rules imperfect, these Holy Guards, having long resided in the Nine Netherworlds, naturally hoped to expand their scope of activity now that they had the opportunity to come to the human world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With both sides having their own desires, the one hundred Holy Guards readily accepted the duty of patrolling the entire Medical Bureau.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second event was the establishment of the Qihuang Pavilion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main members of the Qihuang Pavilion were the eighteen Qihuang Hall Masters, followed by imperial family members represented by Prince Shou, and then the former Qihuang Hall Masters who had yielded their positions to Meng Qingyao and others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pavilion Master was Shen Qianfan!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the eighteen Qihuang Hall Masters, Hua Changxi had the poorest family background, while Shen Qianfan's background was only slightly better than hers; he became Pavilion Master entirely due to the imperial family's support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this reason, the imperial family betrothed Princess Chu Lingluan, born of the Empress, to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The appearance of the Holy Guards made the imperial family completely unable to sit still; unwilling to lose control over the Medical Bureau, they established the Qihuang Pavilion, hoping to compete with the Lingjing Pavilion supported by the Xia family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The third event: With the imperial family's support, Yan Qianying also recruited one hundred Holy Guards at Zhenmen Pass in the Nine Netherworlds' Demon Prison, though nearly a month later than Meng Qingyao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first contest between the imperial family and the Xia family was the struggle over the patrol territories of the Holy Guards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, Meng Qingyao's one hundred Holy Guards were responsible for maintaining order at the Qihuang Pavilion and the plaza, while Yan Qianying's one hundred Holy Guards were tasked with maintaining order along Nine Streets.\u003C\u002Fp>",1645,"2026-06-12T02:51:23.636Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","ff31dc5ed84f9d0e82e1fa8e704c387ff752a5437aefc0212b355de1c4a90503","the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-chapter-270","the-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-chapter-268",558,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-great-jin-s-most-iron-rice-bowl-cover.jpg"]