Chapter 366: Taking charge (asking for leave on the 25th)
Lu Changan knew the elegant meaning of the stringed music.
Zixia Zhenjun mentioned that the enemy's suspected pill-forming overhaul was the key to the previous battle at Tengling Mine, and was also the reason for talking to him.
Across the world of immortality, Nascent Soul Lord serves as the highest deterrent, and ordinary conflicts of interest will not end easily.
The order of Daewoo is relatively stable, and there are also such hidden rules.
Therefore, in the later stage of Dan formation in the Yuan Ying sect, they are all important figures who are responsible for their own performance.
"In a few decades, our sect may be able to survive the lean years."
"But nowadays, major repairs to the alchemy of our sect are still scarce. Xuefeng Sect mainly handles sect affairs and coordinates internal and external affairs; the 'Huadu Master' who was promoted a few years ago will also be in charge of the high-level immortal city..."
True Monarch Zixia looked worried and stated the current situation.
"Senior Sister Zixia, do you want me or Mr. Diyan to take charge of the Tengling Mine to deal with the troubles in the Ye family?"
Lu Changan thought.
Now that the sect is undergoing a major repair of alchemy, he is the only one who is relatively free.
Moreover, as a third-level top-grade puppet master, Elder Xiang has stronger book strength than the other two alchemy masters.
True Monarch Zixia nodded and said: "Junior Brother Xiang is the best candidate at the moment. Our conversation with you today is mainly for discussion and is by no means forced."
"If Junior Brother Xiang is willing to take charge of the mine, our sect will have additional subsidies for spiritual stones and elixirs, including the sect's contribution. In addition, the third-level fine ore from the Tengling Mine can be used as an excellent puppet refining material, and the leader can receive it every year.
Enjoy a certain share…”
Third-level fine ore?
When Lu Changan heard this, he was also moved. The puppet army he had built was short of team members and good materials.
This kind of task of being in charge of the fairy city and the industrial base was originally the task agreed upon when he became a guest minister.
Compared with the dangerous and uncontrollable war of cultivating immortals, the task of defending the mine is not risky for him.
First of all, it is unlikely that Lord Nascent Soul will end up personally.
With his ability to protect himself, there is no need to worry even if the enemy Nascent Soul has no martial ethics.
Secondly, the Tengling Mine is within the Yunxia Sect's sphere of influence and is protected by formations and under the care of the sect.
"There's no need to go there, Mr. Diyan. You can't kill a chicken with a bull's knife."
True Lord Zixia added.
"Lord Diyan is a transformed holy beast. If he goes there, he may escalate the matter, break the unspoken rules, and attract the Ye family's Nascent Soul True Lord."
Hearing this, Lu Changan nodded slightly. Zhenjun Zixia had thought carefully and he was indeed the best candidate.
"Sister Zixia, don't worry, Xiang will take good care of Tengling Mine and safeguard the interests of our sect."
Lu Changan agreed to this matter.
"With Junior Brother Xiang's words, I can practice with peace of mind, cultivate my magical powers, and strengthen my magic weapons."
Fairy Zixia showed her face and smiled, making the flowers dim and beautiful.
Lu Changan noticed that the cultivation level of Zhenjun Zixia was approaching the peak of the early stage of Nascent Soul.
After the death of True Lord Yunlan, True Lord Zixia can mobilize more resources in the sect.
At the moment, her goal is to become a veteran Nascent Soul monk.
If you want to reach this standard, you must either improve your cultivation level and reach the peak of the early stage of Nascent Soul, so that your magic power will become stronger.
Either improve your magical powers, magic weapons, and have corresponding strength.
Even if they are both in the early stage of Nascent Soul, the gap in strength between them is not small.
For example, between a 300- and 400-year-old Nascent Soul True Monarch and a 700- and 800-year-old Nascent Soul Monster, the latter often has a deeper foundation and stronger supernatural powers.
"I wish senior sister to achieve great success in her magic power as soon as possible."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lu Changan asked to leave.
With a smile on her face, Fairy Zixia was elegant and polite, and she personally sent Lu Changan outside the cave as if she were a distinguished guest.
…
Without further ado, Lu Changan set off the next day.
Before leaving, he went to the underground palace of the fourth-level spiritual veins and explained some matters to Lord Diyan.
After yesterday's conversation, Lu Changan understood the subtlety of Zhenjun Zixia's arrangement this time.
Elder Xiang sits in charge of Tengling Mine and makes the best use of everything.
Lord Diyan guards the mountain gate like a needle that fixes the sea.
In this way, Fairy Zixia can safely improve her strength and occasionally go out to purchase and trade in Dayu Kingdom.
There is also an obscure point.
Since Lu Changan is not in the sect, Zhenjun Zixia can spend time with Earth Rock Rat and cultivate their relationship alone.
Lu Changan secretly sighed, as a Jurchen Jun who was hundreds of years old and in charge of a large sect, he could not be pure and innocent, and he could also have strategies and scheming.
In this world, a truly magnificent woman is by no means stupid and sweet, because wisdom is also part of her charm.
Half a day later.
Lu Changan took the sect's flying boat and arrived at the edge of Yunxia Sect's power.
In addition to Lu Changan, there was one true elixir monk, three fake elixir monks, and a dozen foundation-building monks on the flying boat.
"Elder Xiang, below is the Tengling Mine."
The person who accompanied him in the early stage of Zhendan was a dignified and beautiful female cultivator in Qingshang, whose Taoist name was "Xiuyu Zhenren".
Zhenren Xiuyu is the female disciple of Zhenjun Zixia, and she comes to assist Lu Changan.
Following her guidance, a low hilly area came into view.
From a distance, it looks gloomy and there is no majestic and magnificent landscape.
It is this mountain mine that has created huge profits for the Yunxia Sect.
The sect's headquarters in Tengling Mine is surrounded by a castle and a market. In addition to the sect's disciples, there are also members of the Tie clan within it.
The hinterland of the mountains is the forbidden area of the sect.
There is a green bamboo forest there, mostly second-order spiritual bamboos.
Among them, there are eight third-order spiritual bamboos as the base of the formation. Together with numerous second-order spiritual bamboos, they form a large wood spirit formation that gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
This formation not only gathers spirits, but also has phantom formation and defensive effects.
"With the help of the wood spirit formation, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here can reach the level of third-order mid-grade spiritual veins. Fortunately, the wood spiritual energy is acceptable, and with the subsidized elixirs and spiritual stones, it does not affect the practice."
Lu Changan's eyes fell on the center of the bamboo forest formation.
There is a separate bamboo and wooden pavilion, made of second-order high-grade spiritual bamboo, with a small courtyard in the front and a garden in the back.
It covers a total area of several acres and is equipped with alchemy rooms, refining rooms, etc.
"Yinzhu Pavilion."
This bamboo and wooden pavilion is where the guardian of Tengling Mine is located. There are three words engraved on the plaque.
On the periphery of the bamboo forest, there are also some scattered bamboo buildings, which are where other alchemy monks, including fake alchemy masters, live.
…
"Elder Xiang and Master Xiuyu arrived in time. Yuan can finally breathe a sigh of relief."
In the Yinzhu Pavilion, an old man wearing brown robes came out. He was in the middle stage of alchemy cultivation. He was seriously injured and his vitality was severely damaged.
"Elder Yuan."
Lu Changan and Master Xiuyu met with Elder Yuan who was guarding this place.
Without much exchange of pleasantries, Lu Changan and the others asked Elder Yuan about the situation of the Tengling Mine.
According to Elder Yuan's statement: On that day, the third-level formation outside the mine was breached. On the surface, it was another branch of the Tie clan that split off. In fact, there was a group of monks who were more powerful and secretly helped.
That group of monks were mostly members of the Ye family, one of the four great families, who were behind the scenes.
One of the mysterious pill-forming monks just shot a flying sword from a distance and cut a gap in the formation at the critical moment.
Later, the Tieling Mine was looted and the losses were considerable.
The enemy was outnumbered and Elder Yuan was afraid of the mysterious pill-forming monk, so he could only use the geographical advantage to passively retreat and defend, without the ability to fight back.
"That mysterious pill-forming monk is a sword cultivator?"
Lu Changan couldn't help but ask.
If you are doing sword cultivation in the later stages of the Dan Formation, it will be more difficult than the general major Dan Formation cultivation.
"It's possible, but he only took action once, so we can't be sure. He seemed to have disdained to take action after that, otherwise Yuan might not be alive."
Elder Yuan recalled this moment with lingering fear.
Lu Changan thought thoughtfully, this action of the Ye family was more like a test, and they did not let go.
If the Ye family's pill-forming overhaul involves wanton killing, it will not comply with the rules and morals of the Dayu Kingdom, and may escalate into an all-out open fire by the two Nascent Soul forces.
After all, the Ye family's purpose is for mineral interests, not the outbreak of sect war.
If the Yunxia Sect sends out strong Danjie opponents but is still defeated and unable to defend the Tengling Mine, some benefits will inevitably have to be shared.
As usual, the interests of the Tengling Mine will be redistributed through negotiation.
The possibility of Nascent Soul Lords from both sides ending up personally is still very slim.
Based on Lu Changan's understanding before time travel, the Nascent Soul Lord is equivalent to nuclear deterrence, mutual checks and balances, and conventional interest disputes cannot allow for a fight at this level.
With lifespans of thousands of years, most of those old monsters cherish their lives.
Unless the survival of the Taoism is involved, or if opportunities like the ancient Youdian Palace are involved, or if it is related to the hope of a further path, then there will be a battle of wits.
…
Above the clouds two hundred miles away.
"Elder Ye is planning on leaving no stone unturned. The pill-forming major cultivator from Yunxia Sect who came to take charge is indeed Elder Xiang."
The short, stocky, dark-skinned old man complimented with a smile.
The dark-skinned old man's early cultivation of pill formation was exactly the branch of the Tie family that split off, and was supported by the Ye family, the clan leader, Tie Danxin.
Elder Ye, who looks like a middle-aged Confucian scholar, wears a turban on his head, holds a feather fan in his hand, and smiles:
"Having said that, this Elder Xiang is not easy to deal with. Just his status as a third-level top-grade puppet master is a headache."
"Haha! Since Elder Ye has made it this far, he must have a way to deal with him. Besides, the swordsman genius from the "Tianjian Pavilion" in the southern region is definitely not something that ordinary alchemy majors can deal with."
Tie Danxin laughed heartily and looked very convinced.
"Ye Fanchen? Hey, this guy has disappeared again."
Elder Ye looked around and saw no one, frowning slightly.
Although Ye Fanchen's surname is Ye, he is not a direct monk of the family, but a small branch of the Ye family.
Who would have expected that Ye Fanchen, who had mediocre qualifications, would actually have amazing talent in swordsmanship. When he was traveling, he was accepted as a disciple by the elders of Tianjian Pavilion.
Tianjian Pavilion is the dominant force in the Southern Region, and the first cultivator in its sect is one of the three great monks of Dayuan.
Ye Fanchen, who returned home in a low-key manner, was attracted by the Ye family members, who were willing to help him further his training and promised to use his beloved wife as a sword.
"Ye Shangxiu, maybe he is comprehending the art of swordsmanship..."
Tie Danxin said with a smile.
"Why did the elder call me?"
A lazy voice came from Jiugangtian above the two of them.
"Fan Chen, Xiang Dalong, the guest minister of Yunxia Sect, just arrived at Tengling Mine today. Are you confident about dealing with this person?"
Elder Ye didn't care about this man's rudeness and asked seriously.
In the Jiugang sky where the wind was howling, a handsome-browed man with two swords on his back vaguely appeared.
"That third-level high-grade puppet master? Not sure."
Ye Fanchen shook his head and told the truth.
A third-level high-grade puppet master, and also a major cultivator of alchemy. Who knows how many third-level puppets there are.
If there is a third-level high-grade puppet, it is equivalent to two against one.
"If you don't need to deal with its puppet methods..."
Elder Ye said with a smile.
"Then leave it to me."
Ye Fanchen said without thinking.
He came from the top sword cultivator force in Dayuan. He went out to practice. During the mission, he found that the Dan-formed Daxiu cultivator of the same realm was vulnerable to a single blow.
Even if it is a pill-forming overhaul of the Ye family in Daewoo, it cannot last even half a moment in his hands.
…
A few days later, Yinzhu Pavilion.
Lu Changan completed the handover with Elder Yuan, and the latter returned to the clan to recuperate.
Lu Changan became the top person in charge of Tengling Mine.
Master Xiuyu serves as his deputy.
In addition, there is an old man guarding the mountain in the early stage of true elixir in the mine.
Master Xiuyu is the female disciple of Master Zixia. She has a special status. In addition to assisting Lu Changan, she also has a certain supervisory role.
Master Xiuyu originally thought that Elder Xiang, an ascetic monk, would be more conservative, at best conservative.
Unexpectedly, after Lu Changan took power, he launched a "clearance and rectification" operation against the Tengling Mine for half a month.
On the first day of the operation, the puppet controlled by Lu Changan uncovered the inner ghost of a handyman disciple.
The handyman disciple turned out to be a fake alchemist disguised as a real person. After being discovered, he could not defend himself and was captured alive on the spot.
This is just the first step in Elder Xiang's resolute action.
During the subsequent investigation, two more insiders were discovered by the Yunxia Sect, and they actually came from different surrounding forces.
In addition to checking the internal agents, Lu Changan also issued an order that no living insects or birds were allowed to be seen in the entire hinterland of the Tenngling Mountain mining area, let alone larger living animals.
Once seen, they will be killed without mercy.
The reason is that Lu Changan's spiritual consciousness discovered strange insects and birds, which sneaked into Tieling Mountain and were controlled by immortal cultivators who were good at controlling beasts.
For this reason, Lu Changan punished the law enforcement monks at the mine as a warning to others.
“We must first stabilize the internal situation outside the country!”
Lu Changan implemented his ideas from top to bottom.
First, beat the Tengling Mine into an iron barrel to stabilize the internal situation.
Under this slogan, after eradicating the insiders, Lu Changan began to audit the accounts and investigate corruption in the mine.
This time, the middle and high-level monks in the mine were frightened.
In the Tengling Mine, with such huge interests, how many of the incumbents have never been greedy?
Fortunately, Lu Changan stopped.
Only two key points were captured and handed over to the Sect Law Enforcement Hall as a deterrent, without a more in-depth and comprehensive investigation.
Otherwise, certain factions within Yunxia Sect will be implicated.
"Elder Xiang has some tricks. In just half a month, he has established great dignity in Tengling Mine."
Master Xiuyu saw this in his eyes and nodded secretly.
People in the world fear power rather than virtue, and so do monks.
Although the name of the Alchemy Master is respected, if it is a good old man and an ascetic monk, the monks below will also be sneaky and lack the ability to execute.
…
On this day, Lu Changan met with the Tie clan leader at Yinzhu Pavilion.
The Tie family affiliated with the Yunxia Sect has been suppressed to a certain extent, and the clan leader with the highest cultivation level only has fake alchemy cultivation.
The Tengling Mine was first discovered by the Tie clan. Unfortunately, the high-grade third-level spiritual mines and huge profits cannot be controlled by an ordinary family.
If it is an evil force, it might kill everyone in the family.
Although the Yunxia Sect did not do this, it made the Tie family a puppet-like subsidiary family.
"Thank you Elder Xiang for your noble hand."
"This is your sincere filial piety on behalf of the monks in the mine."
The leader of the Tie clan is named Tie Jing. He is a dark-skinned, bald man who is good at rough processing and smelting ore.
After saying that, Tie Jing placed a storage bag respectfully on the table.
“Be self-disciplined and self-reflective in the future, and you won’t be like this again!”
Lu Changan glanced at him and waved him away.
Tie Jing bowed his head and exited Yinzhu Pavilion as if he had been granted amnesty.
Whoosh!
Lu Changan took the storage bag in and after counting it, a smile appeared on his face.
The storage bag is of sufficient quantity, contains many third-level fine ores, and is of a type suitable for making puppets.
Tie Jing is a fake Dan real person, even if his family has a share of the mine, he doesn't have such skill.
This filial piety is not due to Tie Jing alone, but to the collective interests represented by several forces in such a large mine.
"Tsk, tsk, being in charge of the mine is a bad job."
"Senior Sister Zixia's arrangement is a different kind of reward, allowing me to work hard."
Commander Lu felt at ease and accepted this generous tribute, and the material progress of the puppet army formation was greatly improved.
As for completely eradicating corruption? That is unrealistic.
Even if Lu Changan has a transcendent status and dominates everything in the mine, he doesn't want to do a thankless job.
Who knows whether there are sect masters, supreme elders, or even descendants of the previous Nascent Soul Lord behind these interest groups.
Lu Changan probably couldn't hide the bribe from Master Xiuyu, but he wasn't worried at all.
First of all, Master Xiuyu also has a filial piety.
Furthermore, he was not afraid that True Lord Yunxia would know that it would be a bad thing to leave some loopholes to the superiors and not see them.
…
After purging and rectifying, Lu Changan established his authority in the Tengling Mine.
Lu Changan did not touch the stolen money collected from the typical corrupt person he found.
This stolen money was used to strengthen the mine's formation and improve everyone's safety, which won widespread praise.
What surprised Lu Changan was that the Ye family and the Tie family, another lineage they supported, were left to their own devices without taking any action.
It seems that the Ye family was afraid of Xiang Dalong's name and began to stand still.
"As expected of a puppet master, with powerful spiritual consciousness and keen senses. Ninety percent of the handwriting we left inside the Tieling Mine was removed in just half a month..."
Hundreds of miles away among the clouds, Elder Ye had a smile on his lips, still looking like he was sure of victory.