Chapter 96: Cultivation Speed Soars

Under the pitch-black night sky, the green flames gave people a sense of palpitation at first glance, but smelling the rich scent of pills in the air, one could feel the vibrant life blooming in the tranquility.

Gu Qiming stood on the railing of the ninth floor of the Medical Department building, looking down, watching the First Street completely shrouded in green light, his expression a bit serious.

Behind him stood Yuan Tianchou and Mu Qingying.

Yuan Tianchou: "Master, what are the green flames in the lanterns?"

Gu Qiming shook his head, indicating he didn't know either.

Mu Qingying interjected: "The green flames emit a rich scent of pills. Could it be the Pill Fire mentioned in the 'Medicine Ancestor's Notes'?"

Hearing this, Gu Qiming and Yuan Tianchou looked at Mu Qingying at the same time.

Gu Qiming: "Pill Fire..." As he spoke, his eyes lit up, and he quickly said to Yuan Tianchou and Mu Qingying, "Tianchou, Qingying, you two go to my office to refine pills now. Just refine the spirit pills you have always been unable to refine well."

Yuan Tianchou and Mu Qingying both understood Gu Qiming's meaning, nodded in agreement, and quickly went downstairs.

Watching the two disciples leave, Gu Qiming looked at the First Street shrouded in green light again, his eyes flashing with amazing light.

Pill Fire, condensed from Pill Ze.

Sword masters, when practiced to the extreme, can cultivate sword intent; alchemy technology practiced to the extreme, the pills refined can emit Pill Ze.

Pill Ze contains the rhyme of alchemy, and the Pill Fire condensed from Pill Ze is the best spiritual fire to assist alchemists in mastering and breaking through bottlenecks.

Pill Ze only emits from perfect pills that are nearly complete. The person who broke into the Medical Department is an alchemist, and the first-grade spirit pills refined have reached the peak of perfection, so the Pill Ze on their body could condense into Pill Fire and light the lanterns.

"Who is that person?"

"Is it someone from the Medical Department?"

Gu Qiming recalled all the pharmacists in the Medical Department who could refine spirit pills and shook his head.

No, not someone from the Medical Department.

If the Medical Department really had such a powerful alchemist, he couldn't possibly not know.

"Where did that person pop out from?"

"Could it be that some mysterious family has emerged and set their sights on the Medical Department?"

Thinking that the Medical Department had attracted the attention of all parties, Gu Qiming had a headache. If he weren't a confidant of the Heavenly Department Head, he might not be able to sit firmly in the position of the Head of the Medical Department.

At this time, the spiritual energy fluctuation coming from a room on the ninth floor made Gu Qiming's expression shake, and he walked over quickly.

"Shumo, are you okay?"

"Creak," the door opened.

Gu Qiming walked into the room, looked at the young man sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, and felt the powerful spiritual energy fluctuation on him, surprised: "Shumo, are you a Golden Core cultivator?"

Pei Shumo had obvious joy on his face, nodded to Gu Qiming, and then his expression darkened: "Department Head, the spiritual energy concentration of the Medical Department has soared twice today."

"Once during the day, and once just now."

"Now the spiritual energy concentration of the Medical Department is at least ten times what it was before. If the spiritual energy concentration hadn't soared suddenly, I wouldn't have been able to successfully condense the inner core."

Gu Qiming's expression shook. When he returned during the day, he felt that the spiritual energy concentration in the air seemed to be richer. Because he was in a hurry to see Gu Xing, he didn't have time to think deeply.

Just now, his mind was all on the Pill Fire, and he didn't pay attention to other things.

Gu Qiming immediately sensed the spiritual energy concentration in the air, which was indeed much richer than before, as Pei Shumo said.

Immediately, he fell into deep thought.

The spiritual energy concentration soared twice. What was the reason?

The one at night was most likely related to the Pill Fire. What about the one during the day?

"What happened during the day?"

Gu Qiming let Pei Shumo consolidate his cultivation and walked out of the room quickly to find someone to ask about what happened during the day.

When he learned that nothing special happened in the Medical Department during the day, Gu Qiming thought of Gu Xing being driven away: "Could it be related to the old courtyard?"

Gu Qiming carefully recalled the scene of meeting Gu Xing today, which was no different from the previous few times. Gu Xing was as silent as ever, and the old courtyard was as usual, without any

Suddenly, Gu Qiming's eyes lit up: "Three wooden plaques are missing!"

Today, before him, someone had entered the Old Courtyard—at least three people.

Don't let the appearance of the wooden plaques hanging on the wall for anyone to take fool you; they were not easy to obtain. He had entered and exited the Old Courtyard ten times, and it took a great deal of effort to take down just one wooden plaque.

He didn't know what the wooden plaques were for, but he could feel that they were extraordinary. Therefore, every time he went to the Old Courtyard to see Gu Xing, he would pay special attention to the number of plaques.

Thinking of how the wooden plaques on the wall had lit up with white light earlier in the Old Courtyard, Gu Qiming's eyes flickered.

When the wooden plaques lit up with white light, it should have been exactly when the alchemy fire was ignited. Was there any connection between the two?

Thinking that he still had a wooden plaque, Gu Qiming returned to his office. As soon as he entered, he smelled a rich fragrance of pills.

"Master, Junior Sister has refined the Origin Spirit Pill!"

Yuan Tianchou happily handed the ten Origin Spirit Pills refined by Mu Qingying to Gu Qiming to see.

Mu Qingying also said excitedly from the side: "Master, that green flame is truly an alchemy fire that assists in refining pills. In the past, no matter what I did, I couldn't condense the medicinal paste into pills. I didn't expect to succeed all at once this time."

Gu Qiming looked at the pills and was also very happy: "Although they are only low-grade pills, they were refined after all. Qingying, from this moment on, you are a true First-Grade Alchemist."

Cultivators have a great need for pills, yet the number of alchemists who can refine spiritual pills is pitifully small.

The alchemists he knew were either cultivated by the imperial family or by a few old-established aristocratic families. To obtain spiritual pills, one had to pay a great price to trade for them from their hands.

Mu Qingying looked at Gu Qiming: "Master, since that green flame is an alchemy fire, then the person who broke into the Medicine Division tonight shouldn't be a bad person, right?"

Gu Qiming looked at his disciple: "Qingying, you must remember that people cannot be simply defined as good or bad. Many times, the judgment of good or bad is merely a matter of different stances."

"The person who broke into the Medicine Division tonight ignited the alchemy fire of the First Street. From your perspective, he is a good person; but from your master's perspective, he is an intruder."

The smile on Mu Qingying's face faded: "Master, disciple understands what you mean."

Gu Qiming said "Hmm" and didn't say anything more. Some things must be experienced for oneself, otherwise, no matter how much others say, it's useless: "By the way, did your wooden plaques have any anomalies today?"

Yuan Tianchou: "It suddenly lit up tonight."

Mu Qingying chimed in: "It was a beam of white light. When the white light lit up, a pattern flashed on the wooden plaque, but the white light disappeared very quickly, and disciple didn't see clearly what the pattern was."

After hearing this, Gu Qiming quickly took his own from the wooden box on the bookshelf, examined it carefully, and found that there was no change.

This time, he didn't put the wooden plaque away but wore it on his person.

At this moment, spiritual energy fluctuations came from outside.

Gu Qiming knew it was the few cultivators who had gone to chase the person returning. He told his two disciples to continue refining pills, while he walked out quickly.

"Director."

Seeing that they had returned alone and had not caught the intruder, Gu Qiming was not surprised at all.

An alchemist capable of igniting alchemy fire must have a cultivation level that is definitely not low.

The Medicine Division has nine cultivators stationed there. The one with the highest cultivation is Pei Shumo, who advanced to the Golden Core Realm tonight. The others, four are in the Qi Sea Realm, and four are still in the Qi Refining Realm.

Unless Pei Shumo took action personally, perhaps there would be a possibility of catching the person.

"You didn't catch the person, but did you see his figure and appearance clearly?"

The few cultivators all shook their heads.

"That person's speed was too fast; we only saw a residual shadow that flashed by."

Gu Qiming frowned: "Even if his speed is fast, you have spiritual detection tools. Couldn't you track him?"

"Director, we hadn't even chased him out of the inner city when the spiritual energy fluctuations disappeared. That person either practiced a breath-concealing technique or had a magical treasure on him that shields spiritual energy."

Gu Qiming took a deep breath. It is understandable for an alchemist who can ignite alchemy fire to have many tricks up his sleeve.

It's just that, thinking about the cultivators he would face in the future having more and more tricks, his expression became somewhat solemn.

"You've worked hard all night, go back and rest."

After the few cultivators left, Gu Qiming closed his eyes and felt the rich spiritual energy in the air, whispering to himself: "Could the rumors be true? Is this really a holy land?"

He had sensed the mystery of the Medicine Division on the very first day he entered it, but he had never found concrete evidence.

But tonight, alchemy fire ignited in the two lanterns in the center of the First Street. He had a strong feeling that a crack had been opened in the mystery of the Alchemy Saint Hall.

Gu Qiming was currently somewhat excited and thrilled, yet also somewhat anxious and flustered.

What he was excited and thrilled about was that if the Medicine Division really was a holy land, then as the Director of the Medicine Division, the benefits he would gain would surely be unimaginable.

What he was anxious and flustered about was that, in the face of unknown and uncertain things, he felt a sense of loss of control.

Before today, he considered himself to have complete control over the Medicine Division, but at this moment, looking at those two lanterns burning with alchemy fire, there were some things he could not control.

Perhaps, in the near future, he would no longer be able to control the Medicine Division.

After shaking off the few cultivators who were chasing her, Hua Changxi carefully snuck back to the Servant Hall.

Returning to her courtyard, Hua Changxi's heart was still beating violently.

Green flame, pill fragrance...

Hua Changxi thought of something, quickly took out the "Alchemy Saint Notes" from the storage ring of the Old Daoist Jiang and flipped through it. Soon, her expression was shocked: "Alchemy fire, the green flame is actually alchemy fire!"

Knowing what the green flame was, Hua Changxi wore an expression of having suffered a huge loss.

Alchemy fire can help alchemists clear their thoughts and improve their alchemy techniques. She helped the Medicine Division ignite the alchemy fire of the First Street, yet she didn't gain any benefits at all.

"Alchemy fire is condensed from pill luster, and pill luster is what overflows from top-grade pills."

"Pill luster..."

Hua Changxi took out the First-Grade Top-Grade Pill she had refined and looked at the luster lingering on the pill.

"Eh, that's not right."

According to the rank and status of the Jiujie, the highest status is the First Street, and the lowest is the Jiujie.

She refined a First-Grade pill; it should have been the lantern of the Jiujie that was ignited.

But now it was the alchemy fire of the First Street that was ignited. What does this mean?

It means the Medicine Division got it backward. The Jiujie is actually the street with the highest status, corresponding to Ninth-Grade pills; the First Street is the lowest, corresponding to First-Grade pills.

Based on this inference, the status distribution pattern of the Medicine Division needs to be completely flipped.

Hua Changxi thought of the Old Courtyard and the Stone Cauldron again: "So, the Old Courtyard is the core and most important place of the Medicine Division."

If the Old Courtyard is the core, according to the law of decreasing importance, the importance of the Imperial Physician Pavilion is even more important than the Nine Streets.

"What exactly is the Imperial Physician Pavilion for?"

Hua Changxi took out the wooden plaque and saw that there was an extra silver-white sword pattern in the center of the wooden plaque. Her eyes widened immediately: "Caused by igniting the alchemy fire?"

"And what does this sword represent?"

Hua Changxi felt a bit dramatic, feeling like coming to the Medicine Division was like entering a maze.

In order to investigate the reason for the flickering of the wooden plaque, she inadvertently ignited the alchemy fire of the First Street. If she continued to investigate the use of the sword, would she cause an even bigger commotion?

The more Hua Changxi thought about it, the more her head hurt. In the end, she couldn't be bothered to use her brain, put away the wooden plaque, and lay on the bed to start cultivating.

An hour later, Hua Changxi sat up excitedly.

The cultivation speed had skyrocketed!

After cultivating for one hour, her cultivation had increased by 200,000 points!

【Realm: Golden Core Realm 35.05 million/10 million】

During this period, relying on teaching pharmacy to the people in the Servant Hall and absorbing the incense energy from Mount Wuzhi, her daily cultivation growth rate was only 1,000 points.

Two months of accumulation only allowed the cultivation speed to increase to 100,000 points of spiritual energy per hour.

Yesterday, in just one day, it skyrocketed by 100,000 points.

What did she do? She just ignited the alchemy fire.

It seems that by igniting the alchemy fire, she did indeed gain benefits.

Hua Changxi immediately felt that it wasn't such a loss, and at the same time, she found a good way to increase her cultivation.

The Medicine Division has nine streets, and there are still eight streets' alchemy fires that haven't been ignited. These are all territories she needs to conquer.

"The spiritual energy of the Medicine Division seems to have become much richer as well."

No wonder the cultivation speed has increased so much. She definitely counts as having followed the general trend of the spiritual energy recovery.

After all the tossing and turning, the cultivation speed skyrocketed by a large margin, and Hua Changxi was happy: "The old saying is indeed well said: life lies in tossing and turning."

If she hadn't tossed and turned, could her cultivation speed have increased so quickly?

The fantasy side of this world still requires her to explore bravely.

Another thief broke into the Medicine Division and ignited the two lanterns on the First Street. This matter spread to the ears of interested parties everywhere at the speed of a tsunami.

Early the next morning, a big figure who handled things with ease came to the Medicine Division—the Heaven Department Minister, Wei Zhenjie.

After Wei Zhenjie learned from Gu Qiming what happened last night, he went to the square's Old Courtyard to see Gu Xing.

The next day, Hua Changxi, as usual, explained pharmacy for an hour to the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Bureaus. After class, listening to the servants discussing the events of last night, she prepared to go study the Imperial Physician Pavilion with a calm face.

On the way, seeing many people heading toward the square, worried that Gu Xing might have encountered trouble again, she followed.

Unfortunately, before she could get close to the square, she was stopped by someone.

Only then did Hua Changxi know that the Heaven Department Minister had arrived.

"It seems the thief who broke into the Medicine Division last night has quite a background, to have actually attracted the Heaven Department Minister."

Hua Changxi looked in the direction the voice came from and found that it was people from the Disciple Hall discussing it. Judging by their words and actions, they should be from wealthy and powerful families.

When she withdrew her gaze, Hua Changxi noticed a young lady among them smiling and nodding at her, as if greeting her.

Hua Changxi examined her seriously; she didn't recognize her, so she decisively looked away.