Chapter 379: Once the Zhu Que Appears, All Evil Spirits Are Burned to Ash

Hua Changxi led the weapon smiths of the Zhu Que Army directly into the barrier space of Li Huo Cliff.

"This is Li Huo Cliff."

The weapon smiths stood on the cliff, feeling the incredibly rich and abundant fire spiritual energy in the air; though pleasantly surprised, everyone's attention remained fixed on Hua Changxi.

Since joining the Zhu Que Army, no one had ever seen the Hall Master's true face, but now, they had seen it.

"Greetings, Hall Master!"

Seeing the weapon smiths about to perform the grand kneeling ceremony, Hua Changxi used her spiritual power to stop them: "The Zhu Que Army kneels only to Heaven, Earth, and parents; no one else is worth your bending your knees."

Hearing this, although the weapon smiths were somewhat at a loss regarding their actions, their expressions were invigorated.

Hua Changxi looked at them and said, "For a short time, you cannot contact the outside world; I need you to hand over your communication devices."

Upon hearing this, led by seven fourth-grade weapon smiths, everyone promptly handed over their communication devices.

The eldest fourth-grade weapon smith, Shen Tieheng, even stepped forward and said, "Hall Master, rest assured, we will certainly follow your orders."

Hua Changxi nodded in satisfaction and continued, "You should all know about outsiders impersonating members of the Zhu Que Army; this is a barefaced provocation against the Zhu Que Army."

"Nowadays, I am assigning you a major task: to forge the Zhu Que Tokens."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions became very excited.

"Follow me."

Hua Changxi led the group into the stone cave, saying to the several fourth-grade weapon smiths as they walked, "From now on, you seven will be responsible for managing this side of Li Huo Cliff."

"I have captured some people and brought them in; they have either impersonated the Zhu Que Army or engaged in chaotic fighting within Nanxiang County. Among these people are also weapon smiths whom you may assign tasks to as you see fit."

Speaking thus, Hua Changxi took out the Li Huo Token, then collected a drop of essential blood from each of the seven people and dripped it onto the token.

"I have granted you certain permissions; if anyone refuses to obey discipline, you may seal their spiritual power and send them to the bottom of the cliff to mine."

"Of course, you must not arbitrarily abuse the power in your hands; in a while, I will set up a suggestion box here, and if anyone complains that you are abusing your private authority, once I know of it, I will absolutely not show mercy."

The seven fourth-grade weapon smiths hurriedly expressed that they would not dare.

At this moment, He Zhixuan and others, hearing the commotion, ran out from the stone cave.

Hua Changxi had already detected with her divine consciousness that several stone chambers behind the cave were filled with Nanming Stones, knowing that these people had been working diligently.

"These few are all Nascent Soul cultivators and are quite sensible; in the future, if you find them useful, you may let them serve as stewards."

He Zhixuan and the others did not dare to approach rashly; leaning against the stone wall, they watched as Hua Changxi led the Zhu Que Army's weapon smiths into Forge Room Number One.

After reviewing the forging process for the Zhu Que Tokens, the seven fourth-grade weapon smiths quickly gave Hua Changxi the answer she desired.

"Hall Master, we can forge the form of the Zhu Que Tokens, but infusing the Zhu Que Tokens with their 'spirit' may require your personal intervention."

The so-called 'spirit' of the Zhu Que Tokens referred to injecting the Zhu Que Soul into them.

After hearing their explanation, Hua Changxi understood that this step was meant to bind the Zhu Que Tokens to the Zhu Que Army roster while simultaneously imprinting the Zhu Que pattern onto them.

"Good, I will handle the final step."

"When can you begin forging?"

Shen Tieheng replied, "The primary material for forging the Zhu Que Tokens is Nanming Stone; we can begin right now."

Hua Changxi said, "Very well, begin forging immediately; when the Zhu Que Army can wear the Zhu Que Tokens is entirely in your hands."

The weapon smiths responded, "Hall Master, rest assured, we will certainly work day and night to accelerate the forging."

Hua Changxi granted the several fourth-grade weapon smiths certain permissions, allowing them to summon the flames from the bottom of the cliff to ignite the forging furnaces.

Watching as flames gradually ignited in each furnace room, Hua Changxi called He Zhixuan and the others aside: "If you can fully assist the weapon smiths I have brought, in the future, I will not only restore your freedom but also distribute cultivation resources to you based on your daily performance."

She paused for a moment.

"I do not like killing indiscriminately, but if anyone dares to cause trouble, I will not hesitate to make them fuel for the sea of fire at the bottom of the cliff; you would do well to behave yourselves."

Gu Xiu hurriedly said, "We will certainly provide our full assistance."

Afterwards, Hua Changxi left Li Huo Cliff and returned to Lingguang Hall.

For the following half-month, Hua Changxi arranged the 'Lingguang Hall–Yehuo Platform' teleportation array on one hand, while patrolling Nanxiang County on the other, searching for clues regarding the missing Zhu Que Army soldiers.

During this period, the cultivators in Nanxiang County were very well-behaved, and chaotic battles rarely occurred.

As a result, there was no way to investigate the cause of the Zhu Que Army's disappearances.

Once the 'Lingguang Hall–Yehuo Platform' teleportation array was set up, Hua Changxi taught the incantation to activate the array to the steward of the Discipline Hall, instructing him to arrange for Zhu Que Army members in need to burn off their karmic sins at the Yehuo Platform as appropriate, and then she went to Li Huo Cliff.

After half a month of rushed production, the weapon smiths had forged two thousand Zhu Que Tokens.

Hua Changxi took possession of this batch of Zhu Que Tokens, leaped directly off the cliff, and walked to the Li Huo Ancient Flame deep within the sea of fire.

Immediately, Hua Changxi sat cross-legged, and soon, two thousand Zhu Que Tokens floated in mid-air around her.

Next, she tossed out the "Zhu Que Army Roster."

The "Zhu Que Army Roster" hung high in the sky, showering down colorful, flowing light that enveloped all the Zhu Que Tokens within its radiance.

Immediately following this, Hua Changxi summoned the Hall Master's token of Lingguang Hall—the Zhu Que Jade Pendant.

As soon as the Zhu Que Jade Pendant appeared, it caused the Li Huo Ancient Flame to sway violently.

Then, with a 'whoosh,' the Zhu Que Jade Pendant flew into the Li Huo Ancient Flame.

In an instant, the original jade pendant transformed into a lifelike, fist-sized Zhu Que.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi, following the forging process inscribed on the stone walls of the forge rooms, released her spiritual power to control the Zhu Que Tokens floating in mid-air, guiding them one by one to pass through the 'Zhu Que.'

For every Zhu Que Token that successfully passed through, a vivid, three-dimensional Zhu Que pattern would be imprinted upon it.

By the time Hua Changxi left Li Huo Cliff, three days had already passed.

As soon as she exited Li Huo Cliff, she received a message from Xie Hanzhang of the Mission Hall: "Hall Master, another squad of the Zhu Que Army has gone missing."

Looking at this message, Hua Changxi's expression turned very ugly, and her mood became extremely grave.

Nowadays, a single squad of the Zhu Que Army consists of a full fifty people; for so many people to vanish together absolutely implies that a major power is manipulating events behind the scenes.

Who is it? Who is targeting the Zhu Que Army?

Hua Changxi first delivered the two thousand Zhu Que Tokens to Lingguang Hall, instructing the Logistics Department to equip the Zhu Que Army soldiers scheduled for external patrols, and afterwards, she went to patrol Nanxiang County to search for the missing Zhu Que Army soldiers.

After three consecutive days of investigation, they still had found nothing.

"Who exactly is making the moves?"

For the next month, Lingguang Hall arranged for only one squad of Zhu Que soldiers to patrol outside, and Hua Changxi quietly followed behind them.

Unfortunately, no one ever made a move.

Hua Changxi's expression grew increasingly grim; the person hiding in the shadows to attack the Zhu Que soldiers clearly intended to wage a protracted war of attrition.

But where would she find so much time to play hide-and-seek with them?

On the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, Tong Yao sent Hua Changxi a message stating that the suggestion boxes were finished and asking her to come collect them.

Thinking she could go and return quickly, Hua Changxi stopped following the Zhu Que soldiers.

Upon reaching the outer market of Qisheng Palace, Tong Yao directly handed over ten sets of suggestion boxes, exposure disks, and suggestion tokens to Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi asked curiously, "Why were these refined so quickly this time?"

Tong Yao laughed and said, "With more than ten elders refining them together, how could they not be fast?"

Just as Hua Changxi was about to speak, a bird cry that pierced the clouds rang out from above Nanxiang County.

'Screech!'

Hua Changxi's complexion changed; she mounted her Somersault Cloud and vanished from Tong Yao's sight.

"Changxi, wait for me!"

Tong Yao unleashed his flying sword and swiftly chased after her.

At the same time, in a desolate, abandoned mass grave in the southeastern region of Nanxiang County, churning black mist seeped up from underground, condensing in the air into a giant hand that rushed swiftly toward the patrolling Zhu Que soldiers.

Just as the Zhu Que soldiers were about to be seized by the black hand, the Zhu Que token at the waist of the soldier bearing the brunt of the attack suddenly burst forth with dazzling light.

Immediately after, flames ignited upon the Zhu Que token.

Then, a Zhu Que bathed in fire burst forth from the token and charged at the black hand.

The black hand formed from black mist collided with the Zhu Que like an egg striking a rock, instantly shattering apart before being burned away completely by the flames.

The bird cry heard by Hua Changxi and the others was the sound emitted by the Zhu Que during its battle with the black hand.

The Zhu Que token blocked the black mist's attack, and once the Zhu Que soldiers came to their senses, they hastily fled the mass grave.

However, hiding in the shadows intending to attack the Zhu Que soldiers was not only the black mist but also a tiger demon of the Spirit Platform realm that had awakened its Taotie bloodline.

The tiger demon lay in ambush ahead of the fleeing Zhu Que soldiers; when they were only a few dozen meters away, the demon leaped into the air, hovered halfway up, and its body suddenly expanded, becoming as massive as a mountain peak.

Immediately after, the tiger demon opened its blood-dripping maw and began to suck fiercely at the Zhu Que soldiers.

A whirlwind-like suction force struck; the Zhu Que soldiers possessed no power to resist and were swept up by the force, flying rapidly toward the tiger demon's gaping mouth.

Just as the bloody maw drew nearer, at that critical moment, the Zhu Que tokens at the waists of several Zhu Que soldiers simultaneously erupted with dazzling firelight, and once again, a bird cry rang out in the sky.

Several Zhu Que, their bodies bathed in fire, shot out and plunged into the tiger demon's mouth; within moments, the tiger demon let out a heart-rending, miserable shriek.

By the time cultivators who heard the commotion and rushed over to watch arrived, the tiger demon was already engulfed in flames.

Watching the tiger demon roll frantically on the ground, unable to extinguish the flames on its body no matter what methods it used, even resorting to self-mutilation, the onlookers all swallowed in fear and terror.