Chapter 676
In front of the main gate of Qixia Academy, leaves fell silently on the bluestone steps. Fu Shaoping stood under the memorial archway, looking at a group of people approaching on the winding mountain road in the distance. The flags of Yaowang Valley fluttered in the morning breeze, and the pattern of the medicine tripod embroidered with gold thread was particularly dazzling in the sun.
"You're on time." Nangong Yue beside her said softly. She changed into a formal aqua blue dress today, and the jade pendant on her waist swayed gently with her movements, making her look dignified and smart.
Fu Shaoping nodded slightly, but his eyes fell on the old man riding a white jade rhinoceros at the front of the team. The man was wearing a dark green robe, and on his chest hung a necklace made of seven pills of different colors, each of which emitted a faint spiritual light.
"The Seven-Colored Alchemist Necklace is from an elder of Medicine King Valley." Fu Shaoping lowered his voice, "He is not a good person."
Nangong Yue's eyes flashed with surprise: "Medicine King Valley has never had any dealings with us, why did they suddenly send an elder to visit us?"
"On the surface, it's to exchange ideas on alchemy." Fu Shaoping sneered, "But I received news that Medicine King Valley has had contact with the remnants of the Golden Toad recently."
Nangong Yue heard this and her fingers unconsciously touched the jade pendant on her waist. Ever since the puppet beast with the Nangong family mark was discovered last time, the two have been secretly investigating clues about the remnants of the Golden Toad. Now that Medicine King Valley suddenly visited, it was probably no coincidence.
The Medicine King Valley team had arrived at the gate. The elder jumped off the rhino, and his movements were so agile that he didn't look like an old man. From a close distance, his face was as rosy as a baby, but his eyes were as turbid as a pool, with no bottom in sight.
"I am Du Zhong, the third elder of Yaowang Valley. I have come to visit Qixia Academy on the orders of the valley master." The old man's voice was hoarse like sandpaper, forming a strange contrast with his facial expression.
Fu Shaoping stepped forward and saluted: "I am Fu Shaoping, an inner disciple of Qixia Academy, and I am here to welcome Elder Du on the orders of the dean. This is Nangong Yue, the chief alchemist of our academy."
Du Zhong's eyes wandered over Nangong Yue's face for a moment, and suddenly he smiled and said, "A girl from the Nangong family? No wonder Qixia Academy has made great progress in the art of alchemy in recent years. It turns out that she got the true teachings from the Nangong family."
This statement was a veiled praise but a hidden criticism, implying that the academy relied on external forces to achieve its current success. Nangong Yue's expression remained unchanged, and she only said lightly: "Elder Du, you are too kind. Qixia Academy has been passed down the art of alchemy for thousands of years, and I am just doing my best to help."
Du Zhong's eyes flashed with a hint of sinisterness, but he immediately laughed to cover it up: "What a sharp-tongued girl! Lead the way, let me see the alchemy foundation of Qixia Academy."
The group passed through the many courtyards of the academy and finally came to the alchemy area. Along the way, Du Zhong seemed to look around casually, but in fact his eyes were like hooks, not missing any details. Fu Shaoping and Nangong Yue exchanged glances, and both saw the vigilance in each other's eyes.
In the alchemy room, more than 20 academy disciples were already waiting. Du Zhong looked around and suddenly said, "I've heard that the alchemy assessment of Qixia Academy is very strict. I'm so shameless today that I want to ask your disciples to demonstrate it. Is that possible?"
This request was reasonable, and the dean agreed with a smile. Du Zhong said, "But ordinary alchemy is boring. How about this -" He took out a jade box from his arms, and opened it to reveal three white seeds. "These are the 'Cold Marrow Jade Ginseng' seeds that are unique to my Medicine King Valley. They are the most challenging for the alchemist to control the temperature. How about asking three disciples to refine them at the same time, which can also be regarded as a small competition?"
Fu Shaoping's eyes narrowed. He had heard of the Cold Marrow Jade Ginseng, which was an extremely rare spiritual medicine that had strict requirements for the growing environment. If it was not carefully refined, it would lose all its medicinal properties or even explode. Du Zhong's move was clearly intended to embarrass the students of the academy.
The dean frowned slightly and was about to decline, but Nangong Yue stepped forward and said, "Elder Du has come from afar, I am willing to give it a try."
As soon as she opened her mouth, two alchemy disciples immediately stood up to fight. Du Zhong's eyes flashed with a smile of success, and he distributed the seeds to the three people.
The alchemy began. Nangong Yue was at the center of the alchemy furnace, her hands raised lightly, and the furnace fire turned bluish white as she wished, and the temperature was controlled just right. Although the other two disciples were a little nervous, their movements were also orderly.
Fu Shaoping stood aside, staring at Du Zhong intently. Sure enough, when the three disciples were concentrating on controlling the temperature, Du Zhong's fingers moved slightly in his sleeves, and a wisp of almost invisible green powder floated into the air.
"Be careful!" Fu Shaoping warned, but it was too late.
Nangong Yue seemed to sense something and looked up suddenly, but the other two disciples' alchemy furnaces were already making abnormal humming sounds. The lid of the alchemy furnace of the disciple on the left was shaking violently, and a strange green light was seeping out of the gap; the alchemy furnace of the disciple on the right began to freeze, and cold air was overflowing.
"Back off!" Nangong Yue shouted softly, and at the same time, she formed seals with her hands, and a transparent barrier instantly covered the two abnormal alchemy furnaces.
"boom!"
The shock wave from the explosion of the alchemy furnace on the left was mostly blocked by the barrier, but the aftermath still shattered several medicine cabinets; the alchemy furnace on the right was completely frozen, ice crystals spread from the furnace body to the ground, and the temperature of the entire alchemy room dropped sharply.
In the chaos, Du Zhong pretended to be concerned: "Oh, how could this happen? Could it be that your disciples are not good enough in their skills?"
Nangong Yue glanced at him coldly, then suddenly raised her hand and made a gesture: "Mirror flowers and water moons, trace back to the origin and restore!"
The water vapor in the air condensed and turned into a huge water mirror, reproducing the scene just now. In the mirror, one could clearly see the details of how Du Zhong's fingers flicked and the green powder popped out, and how the powder quietly merged into the alchemy furnaces of the two disciples.
There was an uproar.
Du Zhong's face turned from red to blue, and finally to ashen. "The Nangong family's Mirror Flower and Water Moon technique is good, very good!" He flicked his sleeves fiercely, "Since Qixia Academy treats guests like this, Yaowang Valley will no longer supply any elixirs from now on!"
This threat shocked everyone present. Yaowang Valley monopolized more than 70% of the spiritual medicine trade in the cultivation world. If the supply was really cut off, the academy's alchemy would be severely damaged.
The dean was about to speak with a serious expression, but Fu Shaoping had already stepped forward and said in a terrifyingly calm voice: "It's okay."
He turned to Nangong Yue, their eyes met, and they knew each other's intentions without words: "We will grow them ourselves."
Du Zhong seemed to have heard a huge joke: "Hahaha, you ignorant child! How can spiritual medicine cultivation be a joke? Without the secret spiritual soil formula and cultivation techniques of my Medicine King Valley, what can you grow? Weeds?"
Fu Shaoping ignored him and just bowed to the dean: "Please give us three days."
The dean's eyes lingered on the faces of the two proud disciples for a moment, and he nodded slowly: "Approved."
When Du Zhong left angrily, he left behind a sentence: "In three days, I want to see what tricks Qixia Academy can come up with!"
That night, the moon and stars were dim. In the herb garden behind the academy, Fu Shaoping and Nangong Yue stood opposite each other, with a newly-turned spiritual field in the middle. Various materials were piled up beside the field: spiritual stones, talisman paper, special fertilizers, and several ancient books.
"The reason why the spiritual medicines in Yaowang Valley are so high quality is because of their 'Herb Spiritual Soil'." Fu Shaoping said as he flipped through an ancient book, "But I discovered from this 'Ancient Spiritual Plant Records' that there is actually an even more ancient cultivation method that does not require special spiritual soil."
Nangong Yue leaned in to take a closer look, her hair brushing against Fu Shaoping's cheek, bringing with it a faint fragrance. She pointed to a passage in the book: "'Gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as dew, water it day and night, and it will be done in three days' But the concentration of spiritual energy required must be at least at the level of a blessed land."
Fu Shaoping raised his lips slightly: "So we have to improve the spirit gathering array." He took out a roll of blueprints from his arms, "This is the 'Spirit Gathering and Birth Acceleration Array' I designed based on the ancient books of the Fu family. It can gather the spiritual energy within a radius of ten miles to this small medicinal garden. But there is still a key missing -"
"A medium that can transform spiritual energy into a form that plants can absorb." Nangong Yue said, with wisdom in her eyes. She took a jade bottle from her waist: "Moonlight Spirit Water, a secret of the Nangong family. It can only be collected on the night of the new moon every month. This bottle is what I have accumulated over the past three years."
Fu Shaoping was stunned: "This is too precious."
Nangong Yue had already uncorked the bottle, and the clear moonlight fragrance immediately filled the air: "Compared to the dignity of the academy, this is nothing?"
The two smiled at each other and immediately took action. Fu Shaoping buried the spiritual stones around the herb garden according to the blueprint, and each place was accurate to the millimeter; Nangong Yue used spiritual water as ink to draw complex runes on the soil. When the last stroke fell, the east was already white.
"Start the formation!" Fu Shaoping shouted softly, and the two of them injected spiritual power into the center of the formation at the same time.
In an instant, a small spiritual energy vortex formed above the herb garden, and visible green spiritual light poured down like a waterfall. Even more amazing was that Nangong Yue's moonlight spiritual water turned into countless light points in the formation, floating like stars above each newly planted spiritual medicine seed.
"Successful," Nangong Yue exclaimed, but was suddenly pulled into Fu Shaoping's arms. The next second, a violent aura swept across the place where she had just stood.
"The formation is still unstable." Fu Shaoping whispered, his arm still protecting her waist, "Someone needs to continue to control the flow of spiritual energy."
So for the next three days, the two of them hardly left the herb garden. Fu Shaoping was responsible for regulating the spiritual power output of the formation, while Nangong Yue carefully took care of each spiritual herb seedling. When they were tired, they took turns to take a short rest, and when they were hungry, they ate some dry food they had with them.
At dusk on the third day, when Du Zhong and the people from Yaowang Valley arrived at the academy in a proud manner, he was greeted by the exotic fragrance that filled the entire garden.
In the herb garden, dozens of spiritual herbs swayed in the wind, not only were they all mature, but they were also extremely plump. The most eye-catching were the three jade-like spiritual ginsengs in the center - they were the cold marrow jade ginsengs that Du Zhong brought that day, but at this moment they were emitting a purer spiritual light than the products of Medicine King Valley.
"This is impossible!" Du Zhong's face changed drastically. He rushed forward to check, and then he was even more shocked. "Not only is it mature, but its efficacy is at least three times that of similar elixirs in Yaowang Valley! What did you do?"
Fu Shaoping's face was calm, with a faint dark blue under his eyes. It was obvious that not sleeping for three days had consumed him greatly. "It's just returning to the origin. Spiritual medicine should absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to grow. The so-called secret technique of Medicine King Valley is just a side door to accelerate growth, at the cost of sacrificing the most essential part of the spiritual medicine."
Nangong Yue added: "We use the purest spiritual energy and moon essence to cultivate it, so the spiritual medicine will naturally grow to its best condition."
Du Zhong's face was uncertain, and he suddenly grinned: "Even if you can grow it, what's the use? Without the sales channels of Yaowang Valley, these spiritual medicines will eventually rot in the warehouse!"
"Who said we want to sell it?" Fu Shaoping said calmly, "Qixia Academy is enough for its own use. However," he paused deliberately, "if other sects want it, we don't mind sharing it. After all, the bitter Medicine King Valley has been monopolizing the cultivation world for a long time."
These words were like a heavy hammer, and Du Zhong's face turned pale instantly. He knew that once the news of today spread, the monopoly of Yaowang Valley would be shaken.
"That's great!" Du Zhong gritted his teeth, "Is Qixia Academy going to go to war with my Yaowang Valley?"
The dean finally spoke at this time, his voice was gentle but unquestionable: "Elder Du, you are too serious. Qixia Academy just wants to be self-sufficient, how can we talk about going to war? However," the old man's eyes flashed, "if someone wants to threaten the spiritual medicine, Qixia Academy is not a soft persimmon that can be squeezed by others."
After the people from Yaowang Valley left in disappointment, the entire academy was filled with jubilation. No one noticed that Fu Shaoping and Nangong Yue quietly left the celebrating crowd and came to a secluded pavilion.
"Your Moonlight Spiritual Water." Fu Shaoping hesitated, "Is it okay to just use it up like this?"
Nangong Yue looked at the celebrating crowd in the distance, smiling: "It's worth it." She turned to Fu Shaoping, "But you, did you get the idea of the improved spirit gathering array from the "Ancient Spirit Plant Record"? "
Fu Shaoping shook his head: "Not all." His expression suddenly became serious, "The book was found among my father's belongings. It contains many records about the old man Jinchan."
Nangong Yue's pupils shrank slightly: "You mean"
"It's not groundless that Medicine King Valley is connected to the remnants of the Golden Toad." Fu Shaoping whispered, "It's recorded in the book that in order to refine living puppets, the old man Golden Toad needed a large amount of special spiritual medicine, and the supplier was..."
"Medicine King Valley." Nangong Yue took a breath, "So Du Zhong came this time."
"It's probably to find out if we have discovered anything." Fu Shaoping's eyes were as sharp as a sword. "It seems that our investigation has touched the nerves of some people."
As the night deepened, the medicinal herbs in the herb garden glowed in the moonlight. Fu Shaoping and Nangong Yue stood side by side, both knowing that this storm had just begun.
In front of the mountain gate of Qixia Academy, flowers are falling like rain.
Fu Shaoping stood at the top of the hundred-step stone steps, looking at the red sandalwood sedan chair being carried by eight young men in white. The veils around the sedan chair fluttered without wind, and a figure sitting inside could be vaguely seen. Behind the sedan chair, thirty-six disciples of the Tianji Pavilion wearing star-patterned robes lined up in two rows, each holding a gilded wooden box in their hands, and marching in unison.
"Tianji Pavilion has such a grand ceremony." Nangong Yue beside him whispered. She had specially changed into a formal moon-white robe today, with a jade token representing the chief disciple of the academy tied around her waist, and her long hair tied up with a copper coin-shaped jade hairpin, looking cool and dignified.
Fu Shaoping nodded slightly, but his eyes were fixed on the sedan chair: "Mo Tianji came in person, it seems he is here for the Xuanji formation diagram."
Nangong Yue's fingers unconsciously stroked the copper coin and jade hairpin in her hair. The Xuanji Formation Diagram is one of the three treasures of Qixia Academy. It is said to be a legacy left by a formation master in ancient times. It has been kept by the Nangong family for many years. Since she became the head of the academy, the formation diagram has been in her charge. (End of this chapter)