A flying boat flew from the distant sky and landed smoothly in the open space in front of Hexin Building.
As soon as the flying boat stopped, two monks, one on the left and one on the right, gently landed on the ground carrying a skinny old man who looked to be at least seventy or eighty years old.
After landing, the two released their hands holding the old man's armpits.
The old man standing alone immediately relaxed his back, looking frail due to old age.
He squinted his eyes slightly and looked up at the three words "Hexin Tower" that were brightly written on the plaque.
He murmured: "It's really Hexin Tower...ahem."
As he spoke, he coughed several times uncontrollably, and his back bent even lower.
The man next to him glanced sideways at him, and did not criticize the old guy's over-deliberate show-off. He just said: "Let's go."
Soon, a group of three people entered Hexin Building.
The old man walked in the middle, escorted by two monks on the left and right.
Walking in the corridor of Hexin Building, the old man looked around, looking confused and anxious.
After walking a few steps, he looked at a monk on the left, his sincere tone almost pleading:
"Senior, we are also here at Hexin Building. Now you should tell me why you went to such great lengths to bring me, an old man, here, right?"
He, an old man in his seventies or eighty, calls a man in his early thirties his senior. It seems very strange, but this is the common practice in the spiritual world.
Everything starts with practice.
Even if the man is too young to be called a grandson to the old man, as a foundation-building monk, he can fully bear being called a senior by an old man who only has the ninth level of Qi training.
The man glanced at him and reassured him:
"You will know the specific reason soon, so don't worry too much.
You might as well think about it this way, if we really want to go against you, do we still need to go to such trouble?"
That's true.
Although he did not get a real "antidote", the old man's mood calmed down a little.
At this moment, the monk who had just spoken to comfort him stopped in front of a door.
"arrive."
Pushing open the door, you will find a room that is neither big nor small and looks quite ordinary.
The old man's eyes quickly scanned the room, and soon fell on the heads of more than a dozen old men.
And just when his eyes fell on these old men, their eyes fell on him almost at the same time.
After seeing him, an old man with a missing tooth immediately grinned and shouted:
"Lao Li, you're here too, hurry up, hurry up, why are you still hanging around, come in quickly!"
As he spoke, he raised his right arm, which was thinner than a bamboo pole, and greeted him vigorously, with an excitement of "Come here quickly, we have good things waiting for you here."
The old man who was called Lao Li paused for a moment, then strode towards the room.
As soon as he entered the room, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He quickly turned around and saw that the door had been closed quietly behind him.
His expression changed, and he stepped forward to open the door, but no matter how hard he tried, the door did not change at all.
"Lao Li, stop fussing. You can't open it. If you have time, you might as well come over and chat with us."
The old man turned around and looked at these old guys fiercely: "Are you cheating on me?"
"How can this be called a trap? Or, if I don't call you, you don't have to come in?
I’m trying to save you a lot of trouble, you know?”
The gap-toothed old man who waved to him said casually.
The old man known as Lao Li opened his mouth and found that he had no way to argue, so he stopped fussing around at the door.
Moreover, the panic and uneasiness in his heart inexplicably diminished a lot after seeing his old friends in this room.
As long as I am not the only one who suffers, it seems that this "sin" will not be so difficult to accept.
He strode over, found a deserted seat, and sat down casually.
There is still a slight hunchback and frail look to him, which means that he can still eat and kill without arousing suspicion.
"What's going on in Hexin Building? How come we, the old guys, who are waiting to die, are all here together?"
"Are you asking me? I still want to find someone to ask!"
"Why are you so anxious? It's clear that things will be revealed soon, so why are you so anxious?
I'm not in a hurry, I just watch to see what tricks they are doing!"
"...Okay, what were you talking about just now?"
"Let's talk about spiritual practice."
"You guys... haven't given up yet?
Aren’t the lessons from the old song enough?
I'm a lot older, but I still don't believe in evil. What's the result?!
So fully prepared, I even prepared three high-quality foundation-building pills, but what was the result?
It hadn't officially started yet, and before the first Foundation-Building Pill was swallowed in the mouth, the old and withered meridians were already unbearable and were broken every inch.
If you die without peace of mind, why bother!"
These words were like a basin of ice water pouring down from everyone's heads. For a moment, everyone looked dazed and unmotivated.
After a long time, an old man sighed sadly: "Hey, I wish I could be a few years younger."
Everyone was silent.
…
In the center of another room separated by a wall, there is a formation that projects everything in the next room exactly as it is.
A group of monks sat around the room, concentrating on watching this group of old men who were all stuck at the ninth level of Qi training chatting about everyday things, feeling sad to themselves.
Some people used photo stones to record everything from all angles.
At this moment, the door opened and a group of people walked in.
Six people including Xuan Min, the master of the Alchemy Hall, Xuan Xu, the master of the Talisman Palace, Xuan Qing, the master of the Spirit Control Hall, Xuan Zhi, the master of the Miscellaneous Hall, Xuan Ye, the master of the Law Enforcement Hall, and Xuan Lin, the master of the Deacon Hall, entered the house one after another.
Although he had expected it, after seeing the person clearly, the current owner of Hexin Building, a middle-aged man, couldn't help but trembled and quickly stood up to greet him.
Xuan Lin asked: "What useful information can be captured from their conversations?"
The middle-aged man shook his head:
"No...someone just said some unpleasant words, and now they have no interest in chatting anymore.
Even if I keep waiting, I think I won't gain anything.
How about I arrange for someone to go over and ask directly?"
Xuan Lin shook his head and said: "There's no rush, just wait."
As he spoke, he paused and explained:
"There are still some key people who have not arrived, because these people are on the front line of the outer ring. It will take more time to pick them up. They are all on their way back now."
The middle-aged man nodded and said nothing more.
Therefore, a group of such a group of big shots who could make the entire Qingxuan Territory tremble quietly if they randomly picked up a group of old guys at the ninth level of Qi training who were "living and waiting to die" continued to output all kinds of things.
Such negative energy.
During this period, new elderly people entered the house one after another.
I don't know how long it took, but as messages flew into the room one after another, everyone's spirits suddenly cheered up.
Soon, several spaceships sailing into Qinglinfang from different directions arrived in front of Hexin Tower almost at the same time.
Figures swept out of the spaceship one by one and landed in front of the gate of Hexin Building.
People coming out of different spaceships were a little surprised when they saw each other.
"Are you here too?"
"You're here too!"
The biggest difference between these people and the old people in the house is that they are younger, and many of them have foundation-building skills.
At this moment, a man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties escaped from the spaceship on his arm with a woman who looked to be in her early forties and landed at the back of the crowd.
In the crowd, a young man immediately shouted excitedly: "Teacher, teacher!"
He shouted and hurriedly came up to meet him.
The man saw the person coming and said happily:
"Yu Peng, why are you here?"
This man is none other than Chu Zheng, Yu Peng’s teacher.
At this moment, in the crowd, a burly man came to Yu Peng with a petite and exquisite woman on his arm, cupped his hands to Chu Zheng and said, "Mr. Chu!"
Chu Zheng glanced at the burly man several times before sighing:
"Probably no one would have thought that among our group, the one who has gone the farthest is Yan Xiong!"
At this moment, Chu Zheng suddenly felt his shoulder being pressed hard by a big hand. He turned his head and looked, and a big face with bloody scars and evil spirits appeared in his field of vision.
The big face opened and closed its mouth, and the ferocious breath sprayed directly on Chu Zheng's face:
"Old Chu, I'm not convinced by what you said."
Chu Zheng quickly broke away from this man's embrace, his face turned dark:
"Du He, just keep talking and don't spray your bad breath on my face... How long has it been since you cleaned up?"
As he spoke, Chu Zheng looked Du He up and down, and then said with a look of disgust: "A cleansing charm can solve the problem, how did you get yourself to be so virtuous?"
Du He laughed and said:
"You don't understand, don't you think I'm too strong? Monsters will always take a detour when they see me.
...Wash? You can’t just wash it casually! This scent is something I worked hard to come up with, and it has the best effect.
Do you want to know how I figured it out? I'll tell you, but this is my exclusive secret skill, so please don't tell anyone else..."
Seeing that they were not nervous at all, they even made some arrangements at the gate of Hexin Building. The monks who "escorted" them couldn't stand it and hurriedly stepped forward to urge them to enter.
Du He glanced at the other person, and struck the other person with a fierce and evil look on his head and face.
Then, he turned around boldly before the other party got angry, and walked towards Hexin Tower with swift strides.
He made the most conscientious choice in the most resolute way. Seeing Du He changing his posture so skillfully and gracefully, Yu Peng remembered a similar scene that happened to Du He more than ten years ago.
One moment he was determined and unyielding, but in the blink of an eye he turned over and fell to his knees.
"Why are you dazed? Let's go."
At this moment, Chu Zheng gave Yu Peng a gentle push on his shoulder, bringing his thoughts back to reality.
"How's it going? Did you encounter any danger?"
While walking inside, Chu Zheng asked about Yu Peng's current situation.
"Fortunately, Qingxuanzong has extra preferential treatment for teams from our association, and those dangerous tasks will not fall on us at all."
Chu Zheng nodded: "You kid, I can't control you now anyway. Just take it easy and don't risk your life just for that little military merit."
"Don't worry, teacher, I know what's going on."
After casually responding, Yu Peng's eyes fell on Chu Zheng:
"Teacher, I'm curious, you and Aunt Han..."
His eyes fell between the two of them.
From the moment the two of them stepped out of the spacecraft until now, the hands held together have never let go.
The two old men, whose combined real age is close to 200 years old, are like two young men and women who are just beginning to fall in love. They are inseparable and want to stick to each other.
Chu Zheng immediately corrected him: "What are you calling Aunt Han? Master's wife!"
Yu Peng quickly changed his words, "Why did you and your master's wife break through the foundation building?"
Chu Zheng glanced sideways at him and said, "Why, are you unhappy?"
Yu Peng looked aggrieved.
Han Qingmei, who had been silent all this time, immediately chuckled and said: "Don't pay attention to him, he is crazy with joy."
Yu Peng: "..."
Chu Zheng: "..."
After the group entered the house, Chu Zheng and Han Qingmei were "besieged" by a group of old guys.
The elderly people who claimed to be "living and waiting to die" and were in extremely bad condition almost had their eyes popping out when they saw two people who were twenty or thirty years younger.
Soon, their eyes were red and they rushed towards me with enthusiasm.
If he wasn't worried about using too much force and really destroying these old guys here, Chu Zheng really wanted to use a group rejection technique to drive these people away.
Finally, under this wave of enthusiasm, Chu Zheng finally revealed the "secret truth".
"Instead of rushing to join me, you should first find a suitable Taoist companion."
"What do you mean? What does this have to do with breaking through the foundation?" Everyone asked in confusion.
Chu Zheng cleared his throat, looked at the old guys, and said:
"Let me share our experience with you. As for whether it will be useful, to be honest, we don't know.
If it's useless, don't..."
"Where do you come from with so much bullshit? Speak up! Speak up!"
"Ahem, I wonder if you have tried those elixir wines?"
"Is there any elixir that can help us succeed in building the foundation?" Someone's eyes immediately flashed.
"Listen to me, and don't interrupt me!" Chu Zheng said.
"Okay, okay, I shut up."
So, everyone looked at Chu Zheng eagerly again.
Chu Zheng opened his mouth and thought about it several times, but every time he was interrupted by his own cough.
Just when everyone was getting angry and about to explode, Han Qingmei next to her couldn't stand it and said softly:
"Old Chu, I'm embarrassed to say it. Let me do the talking."
Chu Zheng was startled and looked at Han Qingmei with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Ah... Mei."
Han Qingmei said:
"You should know that Lao Chu has always been interested in me.
As a man who was about to be buried, I didn't have those thoughts, so I never responded to him.
But a few days ago, I suddenly figured it out and decided to take advantage of the last few moments to walk around with Lao Chu.
Lao Chu was very happy, but soon he had new troubles."
As she spoke, she glanced at a group of old guys with thin arms and legs, and chuckled:
"I think that when you are your age, you should have personal experience of what kind of troubles you have."
Under her gaze, a group of old guys who were counting down the days to live suddenly felt helpless and embarrassed.
"For all his age, he sometimes has a youthful spirit.
Just for such a small thing, he used his brain a lot, and in the end, he really discovered something interesting.
He discovered that the elixir wines that were making a lot of noise during this period generally have aphrodisiac effects, and some of them are extremely effective..."
…
next door.
After seeing all the people arriving, Xuan Xuan, who couldn't wait to know the truth, looked at the current owner of Hexin Building and said, "Go ahead."
He Xin, the host, nodded and was about to set off.
But at this moment——
"etc."
But it was Xuan Min, Xuan Xu, and Xuan Zhi who spoke at the same time.
Seeing other people looking over, the three of them felt their faces heat up.
In the end, Xuanxu, the oldest, took the initiative to bear everything. He coughed lightly and said:
"I've been waiting for so long, and it won't take more than a moment and a half.
...Besides, they are chatting now, maybe there is some useful content?"
The two junior sisters Xuan Xuan and Xuan Qing looked at him quietly.
Finally, Xuan Qing, who was still considerate, said: "Okay, then just wait a little longer."
Inexplicably, as she said these words, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became much more relaxed.
The eyes around him all became kinder.
…
"...
After Lao Chu's consideration, by mixing these elixir wines in a certain proportion, the most effective aphrodisiac wine can be obtained.
After taking it, it can comprehensively improve body functions, muscles, bones, qi and blood, meridians and membranes within a certain period of time, and regain the state of youth without any side effects.
In addition, Lao Chu found a secret method from the Hehuan Sect so that we could leverage each other's strength. He helped me first, and then I helped him, and in the end we both successfully established the foundation."
Han Qingmei, who spoke openly about the matter, finally said with emotion: "This is really unintentional. At the beginning, we didn't even think that this could be related to foundation building."
After hearing the whole story, everyone looked at each other in shock.
It feels a bit unreal.
The old man risked his life to build the foundation. The key to success is actually here?!
Who would have thought!
But after thinking about it carefully, I found that this is really the most reasonable direction.
There is a saying that goes, "X is the driving force of social progress."
"Recipe, recipe, I want the recipe!"
Just when everyone was sighing, someone suddenly shouted.
After this reminder, other people also responded and shouted: "Recipe, recipe!"
They were all a group of old guys, and Chu Zheng didn't even think about using this formula to make a profit on them, so he quickly shared the formula he had painstakingly worked out.
And almost at the moment when Chu Zheng shared the recipe completely, a middle-aged man pushed open the door and entered.
In an instant, the originally bustling room fell into deathly silence.
Everyone's eyes fell on the person coming at this moment.
The middle-aged man bowed his hands to everyone and said: "I am the master of Hexin Building. I have worked hard to invite you here this time because I want to ask you for some advice."
As he said that, without waiting for anyone to answer, he directly stretched out his hand and an image appeared in the void in front of him.
In the image, an old man with white hair and a childlike face is sitting cross-legged on the side, and a tall and tall man is standing beside him.
The middle-aged man asked: "Do you know these two people?"
Everyone in the room looked confused and shook their heads.
The middle-aged man nodded and said, "You may not know them, but you must have heard of their names."
Everyone turned to look at him.
"The person standing here is Ge Ping, the pharmacist who is known as the number one casual cultivator.
The person sitting here is Ge Ping’s master and the current president of the Professionals Association, Qi Huangzi.”
Just when the middle-aged man said "Qihuangzi", his eyes scanned the crowd.
Everyone looked as usual.
But his eyes fell on Yu Peng, "You seem to have some special reaction to this name?"
His gaze was not sharp, just a curious inquiry, but it made Yu Peng's heart tremble.
Yu Peng looked embarrassed and a little flustered, and hesitated: "No, I haven't heard of it...I, I just thought of something else."
The middle-aged man nodded and did not continue to ask further questions.
…
next door.
In the image projected by the formation, there is a special mark above Yu Peng's head.
There seemed to be a little bit of flame burning in Xuan Xuan's eyes, he chuckled and said: "It seems that Yu Peng knows something."
Xuan Zhi next to him nodded in agreement, but said: "But since Yu Peng knows it, as his teacher, Chu Zheng should also know something."
In the video, Chu Zheng's expression was blank, without any reaction.
Xuan Xuan chuckled and said, "You are a cunning old man."
As a result, Chu Zheng also had a special mark on his head.
Next to him, Xuan Xu, who had benefited from Chu Zheng, couldn't help coughing lightly and said something fair:
"He probably doesn't have any ill intentions and is just protecting himself. Junior Sister, there is no need to think too badly of others."
The other male cultivators in the room nodded slightly subconsciously.
A man who can spend time and energy on researching aphrodisiacs will not be too bad.
…
Image changes.
"Ge Yaoshi" suddenly had a token magical weapon in his hand.
This time, the reactions of everyone in the room immediately became rich.
The middle-aged man smiled and said: "It seems that everyone is familiar with this object."
How can you not be familiar with it?
Now everyone knows that this thing represents the identity of a member of the Professional Association.
In the beginning, the shape of this thing was decided by them, and they were also the first users of this thing.
The image continued to change, and Li Wenchang appeared in the image, introducing the special features of this token and the meaning behind it.
The middle-aged man's eyes swept over Chu Zheng and the other old men.
These people all have a common characteristic, that is, they were all members of the first core leadership of the Professional Association.
"According to Li Wenchang, this ninth token of magic weapon was awarded by your collective agreement. We want to know now, who did you award it to?"
No one answered, but there was no need to answer.
Because of the change in people's eyes, the answer has been given.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the eyes of those who knew about it fell on Chu Zheng.
Chu Zheng sighed in his heart, but still nodded and said under the gaze of Master Hexin:
"This matter is through my hands."
Qingxuanzong put up such a battle, and he couldn't help but keep silent.
Now, people ask and communicate in a nice and friendly manner.
It's enough to actively cooperate. If you don't cooperate, do you really think that Qingxuanzong doesn't have any means of asking the heart and searching the soul?
…
"It was in Qinglinfang at that time, in the small townhouse near the stall area..."
Chu Zheng recounted the process of handing over the keepsake artifact to "Physician Zhou".
Naturally, the topic brought up the situation of "Pharmacist Zhou".
…
The leader of the Law Enforcement Hall, Xuan Yan, looked at the master of the Talisman Formation Hall, Xuan Xu.
"Senior brother."
Xuanxu lightly beat his back and sighed: "If you use me like this, I will be useless soon."
Xuan Xuan joked: "How could it be possible? Didn't Senior Brother just get a good recipe?"
"What formula? What did you say?..."
Xuanxu walked swiftly and quickly disappeared into the house.
When he stopped again, he was already standing at the position introduced by Chu Zheng to hand over the token of magic to "Physician Zhou".
Almost as soon as he arrived, a large group of monks dressed in law enforcement uniforms appeared in this neighborhood.
Soon, no one passed by in the originally busy neighborhood.
Beside Xuanxu, many monks from the Talisman Palace gathered one after another.
"let's start."
Xuanxu gave an order, and after demarcating an area, he directly gave instructions to the monks of Fu Zhen Hall.
Soon, array flags flew out from the hands of the monks from the Talisman Array Hall and were beaten into various places in the void.
Xuanxu himself did not take action, he just watched from a distance.
This is probably the biggest reward of being used as a cow and horse.
Xuanxu thought so in his heart.
At first, in order to set up a retroactive circular light array, he wanted to deploy all the people in the Talisman Array Hall.
He, the palace master, must be present and must be at the most critical position, coordinating and commanding, and making corrections at any time.
Even with so much care, the entire process of setting up the formation was full of stumbling blocks and revisions.
But now, as it is used in actual combat again and again, on the one hand, the formation is constantly being improved and simplified. On the other hand, all those who set up the formation are becoming more and more skilled and their understanding is getting deeper and deeper.
It becomes easier and easier to arrange the retroactive circular light array.
Looking at the rapidly forming retrospective circular light array, Xuan Xu was thinking, "It would be great if we could further improve and simplify it and condense it into one array disk."
That way, he only needs to be responsible for making the formation disks at the inner gate, and he no longer has to go out for urgent tasks from time to time.
"Palace Master, the formation is ready."
Just when Xuanxu was thinking about how to turn the retrospective round light array into a magic circle, a monk came to him and reported back.
Xuan Xu said to Xuan Xuan beside him: "Junior sister, let's go over."
…
As the formation started, the time image in this area quickly regressed.
When Chu Zheng, Yu Peng and others arrived here with confused expressions, the time image happened to go back to the correct time node.
Xuan Xuan pointed to the time image suspended at a certain moment and asked Chu Zheng:
"Is this right here?"
Chu Zheng, Yu Peng and others opened their eyes wide and looked in the direction of Xuan Xuan's finger, with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
In the direction of Xuan Xuan's finger, in a room, another Chu Zheng was handing a token of magic weapon into the hands of "Physician Zhou".
And as they looked at each other, the paused time image began to "play" normally.
As a result, the picture that originally only existed in Chu Zheng's memory, and became increasingly blurry as time passed, was presented clearly and unmistakably in front of everyone in such a unique way.
Chu Zheng also passively relived this long-standing memory.
Just when Chu Zheng, Yu Peng and others were so shocked by what they saw that they were speechless, the eyes of Xuan Xuan, Xuan Xu and other Qingxuan Sect monks looking at Chu Zheng quietly became much softer.
To them, as long as Chu Zheng didn't lie and create extra difficulties for them, he was a "good comrade."
If they didn't find any trace of "Physician Zhou" in this place, then they would have to consider another way to entertain him.
By tracing back the circular light array and finding traces of "Zhou Pharmacist", the next thing will be easy to handle.
Stroke forward and downward along the line of "Zhou Yaoshi".
With the ability to go back in time, the hardest thing is to find the first thread.
As long as the first thread is found, the following information can be sorted out continuously along the thread, which is very convenient.
With this idea in mind, Xuan Xuxing hurriedly started "getting to the bottom of things".
But the result was like a basin of cold water poured on the heads of Xuan Xu, Xuan Xuan and others.
Moving forward in the timeline, "Zhou Pharmacist" seemed to appear out of thin air in front of the courtyard.
The traces of its past were cut off at the moment it appeared in a hidden alleyway around the corner.
"Invisible?"
"Earth Escape?"
"Shadow Escape?"
"..."
Various speculations ran through everyone's minds, but there was no definite answer.
Finally, Xuan Xuan looked at Xuan Xu and asked, "Senior brother, can you show the methods he used?"
Xuanxu shook his head and said: "It can't be done."
Although he had already expected it, Xuan Xuan couldn't help but sigh after receiving a clear reply.
Then, Xuanxu adjusted his direction and moved down the timeline.
As a result, soon after "Zhou Pharmacist" left the courtyard, all clues and traces about him were completely lost.
Regretful Xuan Xuan murmured:
"Tell me, is this 'Physician Zhou' acting like this out of caution, or is he consciously avoiding it?"
Xuanxu was stunned for a moment, then he was horrified and said:
"Avoid what?
Did he expect at that time that someone would use the method of going back in time to observe him?
So, he took action in advance?
Is this...is this a little too outrageous?"
Seeing Xuan Xu's gaffe, Xuan Qing next to him shook his head and said:
"Senior brother, you are scaring yourself. Even if the other party consciously avoids such methods, it is far less scary than you think.
This is probably just a mandatory, fixed code of conduct for this organization."
After his explanation, Xuanxu's expression softened slightly, he nodded slightly and said thoughtfully:
"If this is really the code of conduct of this organization, does it mean that this organization has dealt with forces with the ability to go back in time, and may have even suffered heavy losses, so this code of conduct was born?"
Xuan Qing, Xuan Yan, Xuan Min and others nodded slightly, agreeing with Xuan Xu's guess.
"That makes sense."
As they spoke, they looked at each other.
Almost at the same time, an answer emerged in their minds.
"The Palace of Constellations."
After coming up with this guess, inexplicably, everyone felt a little better about this force that still existed in the fog.
Well, as long as you don't deal with the constellations, you can try to be friends with Virgo.
——Except these lunatics from the Lihen Cult.
…
"But in this case, wouldn't the clues about 'Physician Zhou' be broken?" Xuanxu said regretfully.
Xuanqing burst out laughing, and Xuanxu turned his head to look over curiously.
"Senior brother, are you stupid? The clues can't be broken so easily!" Xuan Qing said, looking at Master and Disciple Yu Peng.
Xuanxu followed her gaze and looked over.
Xuan Xuan has already walked towards Yu Peng and Chu Zheng.
Xuan Qing did not join in the fun. Instead, he walked up to a burly man and asked:
"Yan Xiong, if I read it correctly, the jade bottle that Pharmacist Zhou gave you before leaving contains a Foundation Building Pill, right?"