Chapter 222: The Hua Family Enters the Fray
Hua Changxi’s obtained secret realm had eight layers. Although she had only briefly explored the first five layers, it still made her incredibly excited.
There was no other reason than the abundance of spiritual medicines, spiritual plants, and spiritual fruits within the secret realm!
And this was just one secret realm!
Hua Changxi thought of the towering ancient tree she had seen. With so many branches and leaves, how many secret realms could there be?
“This is the foundation of a Sacred Land!”
No wonder the Royal Family and noble families fought tooth and nail to seize control of Qihuang Hall.
Qihuang Hall’s position within Dan Sheng Hall was undoubtedly not low. Occupying the Hall Master’s position granted a certain amount of power, and one of the manifestations of this power was control over the Sacred Land’s resources.
Just like this worship of the Divine Wood, only eighteen Hall Masters were qualified to participate.
“How can all these spiritual medicines be used up!”
Hua Changxi’s excited emotions had not yet subsided when she began to worry.
Having too many spiritual medicines was also a problem.
Especially in the first and second layers, a batch needed to be harvested quickly, otherwise, many spiritual medicines would rot and spoil, which would truly be a waste of resources.
Although she hadn’t interacted much with other cultivators, she could guess that the currently appearing ruin secret realms were occupied by noble families. Cultivators at the lower levels certainly had few cultivation resources. Letting the medicinal herbs in the first and second layers spoil would make her feel uneasy.
The first and second layers of the secret realm alone had one hundred and fifty million mu of medicine fields. It was impossible for her to manage them alone; she had to find others to help.
But the thought of managing people made her head ache again.
With more people, a martial world would form, and where there was a martial world, there was ‘fighting and killing.’ For Hua Changxi, this was trouble.
“Never mind, I’ll first see how other secret realm masters are doing.”
Hua Changxi, too lazy to rack her brain, began to carefully patrol the fourth layer of the secret realm.
Five Finger Mountain emerged after the full revival of spiritual energy, with all sorts of spiritual plants sprouting like mushrooms after a rain. This resulted in the spiritual plants and spiritual medicines not having a very high age.
The Third Rank Supreme Elixirs she was mainly refining required a large number of Third Rank spiritual medicines, spiritual plants, and spiritual fruits. Most Third Rank spiritual medicines needed ten to a hundred years to mature. Even if there were instances of spiritual plants maturing rapidly due to the revival of spiritual energy in the early stages, Five Finger Mountain was already struggling to keep up with her demand for spiritual medicines.
When refining Third Rank elixirs, she might not experience a shortage of spiritual medicines, but for Fourth Rank elixirs, it would definitely not be enough, and collecting all the necessary spiritual medicines for Fifth Rank and above would be even more difficult.
For Hua Changxi, the Divine Wood Secret Realm truly came at the perfect time.
After a tour of the fourth layer, she discovered a problem: the wood spiritual energy in the secret realm was very dense, but it was not suitable for her cultivation.
However, wood spiritual energy had nourishing and repairing functions, making it suitable for body refining. In the future, alchemy could also be conducted within the secret realm.
Hua Changxi carefully inspected all four layers of the secret realm. As she had to return to the Hua Family for the New Year, she picked some Second Rank Spiritual Essence Fruits, Jade Muscle Fruits, and Primordial Yang Fruits that nourished the body.
She also prepared ten portions of medicinal herbs for making body refining medicinal soup for her parents, three elder brothers, grandfather, and grandmother.
Although she now managed an Eighth Rank secret realm with countless spiritual medicines, she did not intend to give more resources to the Hua Family.
The resources within the secret realm belonged to Dan Sheng Hall. She was merely a manager. Although she hadn’t figured out how to manage the secret realm yet, the items within were definitely meant to develop and strengthen the Sacred Land.
Hua Changxi exited the secret realm and saw that it was already getting dark, so she prepared to return to the Hua Family.
“Hall Master, Happy Lunar New Year’s Eve!”
Hua Changxi emerged from the alchemy room and found that Pharmacist Xu and the other eight were still there.
Although these eight were not her people, they had been responsible for guarding Number Thirteen Qihuang Hall during this period. After some thought, she took out thirty Second Rank spiritual fruits, three for each person. Pharmacist Xu, being the steward of the hall, received nine spiritual fruits.
The women received Jade Muscle Fruits, and the men received Primordial Yang Fruits.
“Happy Lunar New Year’s Eve, hurry home.”
After Hua Changxi left, Hua Shuran and the others looked enviously at Pharmacist Xu. They all had patrons behind them and didn’t lack a few spiritual fruits, but Pharmacist Xu was clearly favored more by Hua Changxi, which was what they cared about.
Pharmacist Xu carefully put away the spiritual fruits and left with a smile.
“Let’s go too.”
The New Year of Yongxing 24 was destined to be an unsettled one.
The appearance of the Guardian Family, the Xia Family, at Dan Sheng Hall, and the Divine Wood Secret Realm of Dan Sheng Hall spread with lightning speed, causing turmoil in the Capital City.
Hua Shuran and Hua Wanyue also informed their family of Hua Changxi obtaining a high-grade Divine Wood Secret Realm at the first opportunity. Hua Bin’s family once again became the focus of the Hua clan.
For cultivators, regardless of their talent, the most indispensable thing is cultivation resources. Whoever controls cultivation resources can command others.
Not only the Hua clan but also other forces in the Capital City began to pay attention to the inconspicuous Hua Family.
Hua Family Courtyard.
Hua Da Lang and Hua Si Lang, who was cultivating at the Earl’s Mansion, and others all received the news of Hua Changxi obtaining the Divine Wood Secret Realm one after another.
They knew, and the other members of the Hua Family also knew.
At this point, the Hua Family members finally truly understood Hua Changxi’s talent in medical skills and the Pill Dao.
Hua Da Lang took a deep breath: “Only two people have obtained high-grade Divine Wood Secret Realms. One is a female cultivator brought by a Guardian Family, and the other is our Jiu Niang.”
Upon hearing this, Old Master Hua was both happy and wistful. Happy that his lineage had produced an extraordinary talent, but wistful that this person was the one who least obeyed family discipline, and was also a daughter.
If it were any of his grandsons instead, Old Master Hua would have definitely laughed heartily to the sky.
Old Madam Hua, however, was very happy. Even though Jiu Niang, her granddaughter, was not close to her, for the sake of the eldest son, she would definitely not mistreat her and the old man.
The medicinal herbs for the body refining medicinal bath were the best proof.
She knew that ever since Jiu Niang cut off the medicinal herbs for the rest of the family, the second and fourth branches had been having a difficult time. Even though she and the old man were old, their current cultivation was not much inferior to their sons and grandsons.
Old Madam Hua whispered to Old Master Hua several times: “Jiu Niang has a stubborn temper and dislikes being lectured. When she returns, you must watch your words and don’t make everyone uncomfortable again.”
Old Master Hua’s heart sank, and he huffed, “I, as the grandfather, have to watch my granddaughter’s expression now.”
Old Madam Hua rolled her eyes: “If you want to show off in front of your grandchildren, you need to have the ability. If everyone in the family relies on you for a living, then you can do whatever you want. But the current situation is that we all have to rely on Jiu Niang, so it’s best to keep a low profile.”
“Think about the others in the clan. They probably wouldn’t even have the chance to bow to their own descendants.”
Old Master Hua sighed deeply and said nothing more.
Second Uncle Hua was very excited. He looked at Hua Minghe and Madam Yao: “Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Jiu Niang has obtained a secret realm. She definitely can’t manage it alone. She has gained such great benefits, she must help the family out no matter what.”
Before Hua Minghe and Madam Yao could respond, Old Madam Hua reprimanded Second Uncle Hua and said to the others in the family: “When Jiu Niang returns later, unless she brings it up herself, no one is allowed to mention the secret realm.”
Regarding her granddaughter Jiu Niang, the Old Madam felt she understood her well.
This granddaughter had been disobedient since childhood. Unlike the eldest couple who doted on her excessively, she had engaged in many battles of wits and strategy with her.
This girl’s temperament was unyielding, neither soft nor hard, and very difficult to handle. However, after years of sparring, the Old Madam knew one thing: she absolutely could not force that girl. If you pushed her, she would only push back harder.
The several intense conflicts between the old man and Jiu Niang were all because the old man wanted to use his elder’s status to pressure her into submission. The girl refused, and then it all fell apart.
Upon hearing Old Madam Hua’s words, Second Uncle Hua became anxious and wanted to argue further, but was stopped by Second Aunt Hua.
“Listen to Mother.”
Second Aunt Hua was Old Madam Hua’s niece from her maternal family. She was the one among the three daughters-in-law who understood the Old Madam best. She knew the Old Madam would not abandon the second and fourth branches, so her words must have had a reason.
Fourth Uncle Hua and Fourth Aunt Hua remained as quiet as ever. However, due to the relationship between Hua Wuniang and her maternal grandson, Marquis Wuyi’s mansion often sent them gifts, so the fourth branch’s life was still better than the second branch’s.
As it was getting dark, Hua Changxi finally returned to the Hua Family Courtyard.
“Jiu Niang is back!”
