Chapter 294: The Opportunity of Nanxiang County

After leaving the Northern Suppressing and Pacifying Division, Jing Le and Yan Zhenzhen were in a hurry to return to their respective sects to report the results of the discussion, leaving one after another. Hua Changxi, however, followed Tong Yao to the Palace of the Weapon Saint.

Going to the Palace of the Weapon Saint was, firstly, because she wanted to see Hua Liulang; and secondly, she wanted to purchase a batch of spiritual weapons.

Seeing that Tong Yao was about to take her out of the city, Hua Changxi was surprised: "Why do we still need to leave the city?"

Upon hearing this, a trace of annoyance and irritation flashed across Tong Yao's face: "The surroundings of the weapon-refining workshop are tightly watched by the imperial family and powerful aristocratic clans; the slightest anomaly will attract their attention."

"To avoid extra complications, nowadays, when disciples of the Palace of the Weapon Saint enter or leave, they can only use the teleportation passage outside the city gates."

Hua Changxi inwardly admired the Palace of the Weapon Saint for having so many contingency plans, but still said: "This is not a long-term solution. When cultivators from other regions enter the capital, as long as you still want to recruit disciples, you will eventually be discovered."

Tong Yao was also aware of this, his face showing helplessness: "Before launching the display spiritual weapons, the elders of the Holy Land never stopped arguing about this. To prevent the Holy Land from being infiltrated by forces like the imperial family, they once even wanted to continue the old method of recruiting disciples in secret."

As he spoke, he smiled at Hua Changxi: "Do you know what the main reason was that prompted the elders to decide on public recruitment?"

Hua Changxi looked at him: "Could it be related to the Palace of the Pill Saint?"

Tong Yao nodded: "Correct. When the pill fires were ignited on the first and second streets of the Palace of the Pill Saint, although the elders were surprised, they remained relatively calm."

"Afterwards, the appearance of the Xia family, a guardian family, led to the opening of the Eighteen Divine Wood Secret Realm by the Palace of the Pill Saint, and the elders were still able to hold their ground."

"However, when the Pill Cauldron Altar appeared, not only the Palace of the Weapon Saint, but even the elders of the Pavilion of the Rune Saint and the Sect of the Array Saint could no longer sit still."

"Not to mention that later, the successive appearances of Pill Origin Peak, Divine Grain Peak, Qingyao Peak, and Profound Yellow Peak, as well as the emergence of the Holy Guardian Guards, completely panicked the elders."

"The revival of the five great Holy Lands must have a sequence, but the gap cannot be too large."

"Seeing that the progress of the Palace of the Pill Saint's revival was so fast, while the other Holy Lands had no movement at all, how could the elders not be anxious?"

"It is because of this reason that the elders made up their minds to recruit apprentices widely. While developing and strengthening the Holy Land, they also hope that the addition of fresh blood can promote and push forward the revival of the Holy Land."

"As for the various forces wanting to take the opportunity to plant their own people into the Palace of the Weapon Saint, that is also something that cannot be helped."

"But fortunately, the management structure of the Palace of the Weapon Saint has long been established, and there are people in key positions in all departments. Even if the imperial family and powerful officials want to infiltrate, the general direction of the Palace of the Weapon Saint's development will not deviate too much."

Hua Changxi was not very interested in the layout of other Holy Lands; she just nodded to show she was listening. After Tong Yao finished speaking, she offered her own blessings.

"The five great Holy Lands will all recreate their ancient glory."

Tong Yao smiled and expressed his agreement: "They certainly will. As long as the five great Holy Lands are fully revived, they will be able to command the Central Continent. Then, the chaos in various places can be effectively suppressed, returning the people to a life of peace and contentment."

Although Hua Changxi felt that achieving this was a bit difficult and would not take a short time, she did not dampen the mood: "Hmm, they certainly will."

Tong Yao smiled at her: "Let us work hard together."

Hua Changxi: "...... Okay."

The two talked as they walked, and soon they were out of the South City Gate. Afterwards, they walked south for a quarter of an hour before stopping in front of a desolate dry well.

Tong Yao was just about to tell Hua Changxi to jump into the well when he saw her frowning and looking in the direction of Nanxiang County: "You felt it too?"

Hua Changxi looked at the fire clouds over Nanxiang County and nodded: "Such dense fire Qi."

In fact, it was not just fire Qi; in her perception, it seemed as if flames were burning and steaming in that area.

Tong Yao paused: "Since last year, the concentration of fire Qi around Nanxiang County has been rising. After the beginning of this year, the rate of increase has been accelerating."

Hua Changxi: "What do you think will happen in Nanxiang County?"

Tong Yao knew that Hua Changxi lacked a source of information, so he said: "In the ancient times, Nanxiang County was called Nanxiang City, which was the station established by Emperor Zhu Que on the Central Continent."

Upon hearing this, Hua Changxi's expression was shocked: "So, does that mean the Palace of Lingguang and Nanxiang City are one and the same?"

Tong Yao: "You could say that."

Hua Changxi looked deeply at Nanxiang County: "With such an anomaly appearing in Nanxiang County, is there a ruin or secret realm about to emerge?"

Tong Yao shook his head: "It is not an ordinary ruin or secret realm; it is that Nanxiang City is about to appear in the world." As he spoke, he looked at Hua Changxi: "Fellow Daoist Hua, this is a once-in-a-thousand-years great opportunity; you must not miss it."

Hua Changxi looked over: "Why do you say that?"

Tong Yao: "Emperor Zhu Que's station—you can imagine how high its level is. It might not compare to the five great Holy Lands, but it definitely far exceeds ordinary ruins and secret realms."

"According to ancient records, the four elephant cities of the Central Continent are all guarded by blessed lands of caves. In other words, the emergence of Nanxiang City will be accompanied by the appearance of blessed lands of caves."

"Nanxiang City belongs to fire; for cultivators with fire spiritual roots, it is naturally a huge opportunity."

"The fire tiger we encountered outside the Northern Suppressing and Pacifying Division came specifically for the opportunity in Nanxiang County."

"Just wait and see, Nanxiang County will soon become lively. Not only the human race, but even the demon race will come to fight for the blessed lands of caves."

At this moment, a cultivator happened to fly over on a sword in the sky. Seeing this, Tong Yao smiled and shook his head.

"The imperial family has blocked all the roads entering and leaving Nanxiang County, attempting to monopolize the opportunity of Nanxiang County. It is truly wishful thinking. Not to mention anything else, the Palace of Lingguang would be the first to disagree."

As he spoke, Tong Yao showed a curious expression: "The Palace of Lingguang has never had any movement. I wonder who exactly that Palace Master of Lingguang is?"

Hua Changxi's eyes flickered, and she quickly changed the subject: "Let's not talk about Nanxiang County. Let's go down quickly."

Tong Yao nodded. He and Hua Changxi jumped into the dry well one after the other, and then teleported to the underground palace of the Palace of the Weapon Saint.

After arriving underground, Hua Changxi first went to see Hua Liulang. Learning that he was doing well in the Palace of the Weapon Saint, with both his cultivation and weapon refining progressing, she felt relieved. Afterwards, she followed Tong Yao to pick out spiritual weapons.

Tong Yao took Hua Changxi directly to the fourth-tier spiritual weapon treasury.

Looking at the wide variety and large quantity of fourth-tier spiritual weapons in the treasury, Hua Changxi sighed: "As expected, there is strength in numbers."

At Pill Origin Peak, she was the only one refining pills. Because of the Divine Nong Cauldron, the quantity was quite high, but her time and energy were limited, so the types of pills she refined were somewhat scarce, which could not be compared to the Palace of the Weapon Saint at all.

Tong Yao understood Hua Changxi's current psychology very well: "The Palace of the Pill Saint is currently somewhat fragmented, leading to a dispersion of manpower. It is not that there is no way to change this situation."

Hua Changxi looked over: "What way?"

Tong Yao looked at her: "You use absolute strength to crush all parties, making them dare not disobey your orders."

Hua Changxi widened her eyes: "Don't say I don't have that strength; even if I did, I wouldn't do that."

Now it was Tong Yao's turn to be surprised: "Why?"

Hua Changxi: "Because I don't want to be the boss of the Palace of the Pill Saint. I might have had such thoughts before, but after taking charge of Pill Origin Peak, I found that managing people and affairs is so troublesome; it wastes too much time and energy."

"Not to mention, there are all kinds of monsters and demons in the Medical Department. If I get mixed up with them in that foul atmosphere, should I still cultivate?"

"As for me, I just want to be a lecturer spreading medical skills and the Dao of pills."

Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi in confusion: "I originally thought you were a person with high aspirations, but I didn't expect......"

He paused.

"If reviving the Palace of the Pill Saint is your responsibility, will you not fight for it?"

Hua Changxi quickly distanced herself: "Don't put such great pressure on me. Reviving the Holy Land is the responsibility of all Holy Land disciples, not mine alone. Of course, I will also do what I can for the Holy Land."

Not wanting to continue discussing this issue with Tong Yao, Hua Changxi began to pick out spiritual weapons.

"I am a healer. Are there any magic tools that use spiritual needles as weapons? It would be best if they could be used to both save people and fight enemies."

Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi, suppressed the urge to continue persuading her, and took a five-colored jade ring from the shelf for her.

"This is the Five-Spirit Divine Ring. As long as you input spiritual Qi into the ring, it will condense five-spirit divine needles of corresponding attributes. The spiritual needles can penetrate the bodies of Nascent Soul realm cultivators."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi looked happy: "This spiritual weapon is good. I'll take it."

Afterwards, Hua Changxi also picked out a fire spiritual sword. Although she still couldn't pull out the Floating Light Sword, her sword techniques had been improving, and using a sword to fight enemies was no problem at all.

In addition to taking two fourth-tier spiritual weapons, Hua Changxi also chose fifty second-tier spiritual gourds. Each spiritual gourd had an internal space of one cubic meter, which was convenient for her to store pills.

"Here."

Hua Changxi handed Tong Yao a batch of top-grade third-rank pills according to the market price.

Tong Yao took the pills, looked at Hua Changxi, and smiled: "Fellow Daoist Hua, I am afraid that in the path of pill refining, no one can compete with you."

Hua Changxi was very humble: "There is always someone better, and there is always a sky beyond the sky. Fellow Daoist Tong, you are too flattering."

Tong Yao smiled, said nothing more, and turned to send Hua Changxi out.

When passing through some parts of the underground palace, Hua Changxi felt spatial fluctuations: "Fellow Daoist Tong, the spatial boundary of the Palace of the Weapon Saint is a bit unstable."

After hearing this, Tong Yao showed a rare look of annoyance on his face: "It's all caused by the imperial family and powerful aristocratic clans. I don't know what kind of spiritual weapons they triggered; several times it made the underground palace shake."

Hua Changxi reminded: "Spatial instability is not a small matter. You must be careful about the appearance of spatial cracks."

Tong Yao nodded heavily: "We will pay attention." ===== CHAPTER 295 =====