Inside the Xuantian Sect’s Alchemy Hall.
The Hall Master of the Alchemy Hall held a Nuclear Explosion Pill in his hand and chuckled lightly:
“How interesting! A tiny little pill, yet it actually integrates techniques from the four paths of alchemy, artifact refinement, formations, and talismans. And the level of skill involved is quite remarkable!”
Given his level of attainment, how could he possibly fail to see the true techniques behind this Nuclear Explosion Pill that Ye Qingxuan had refined?
Upon hearing this, the Alchemy Hall Elder below was also astonished:
“The four paths of alchemy, artifacts, formations, and talismans? It seems this Ye Qingxuan has truly extraordinary comprehension! What a pity, though. This young man has chosen the path of a Fortune Cultivator, so his future ceiling will inevitably be limited.”
Although the public face of the Tianfu Shop was currently Zhu Dafu, given the status of the Alchemy Hall Master and the various Elders, how could they possibly fail to uncover Ye Qingxuan behind the Tianfu Shop from within the Xuantian Sect?
After pondering for a moment, the Elder spoke up again with a proposal:
“Should we apply to the Sect to provide resource support for this Ye Qingxuan, to accelerate his growth?”
Given the Xuantian Sect’s power and deep foundation, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to truly cultivate one or two sixth or seventh-rank Fortune Cultivators.
Hearing the Elder’s proposal, the Alchemy Hall Master shook his head and refused, saying with a smile:
“Heh heh, do you really think that a young man who makes money as fast as he does is going to be short on resources for upgrading his blessed land or for his own cultivation practice?”
If Ye Qingxuan were here, he would definitely cry out that he was being wronged. He was indeed short on resources, because he didn’t just have one blessed land, he also had a grotto-heaven that was eagerly waiting to be fed!
Of course, Ye Qingxuan knew nothing about this.
The Alchemy Hall Master looked again at the Nuclear Explosion Pill in his hand and spoke with certainty:
“I will personally report this to the Sect’s higher-ups. We need to increase the confidentiality level surrounding Ye Qingxuan. Don’t let anyone else disturb him.”
“The Fortune Cultivation system has developed for many years, but it has now long since hit a bottleneck and can’t make any further breakthroughs. Hopefully, this Ye Qingxuan can forge a new path forward from within the Fortune Cultivation system himself.”
This was also the main reason he rejected the Elder’s proposal and didn’t want to rashly interfere with Ye Qingxuan’s growth progress.
The Xuantian Sect didn’t lack one or two high-rank Fortune Cultivators. What it lacked was hope for the Fortune Cultivation system to advance further.
After all, the predecessors who originally created the Fortune Cultivation system had quite high hopes for it.
Now, having discovered Ye Qingxuan’s astonishingly defying heaven comprehension, while cherishing his talent, the Alchemy Hall Master couldn’t help but harbor a sliver of hope for Ye Qingxuan, even if that hope wasn’t very strong.
As for his decision to report this to the Sect and increase Ye Qingxuan’s confidentiality level, that was to prevent those lower down from harassing Ye Qingxuan.
Although the Xuantian Sect’s rules would keep those people from overstepping and forcing Ye Qingxuan to do anything, they would certainly still bother him frequently.
Since the Alchemy Hall Master had investigated Ye Qingxuan, he naturally understood Ye Qingxuan’s temperament. So he took the opportunity to give Ye Qingxuan a helping hand.
Since Ye Qingxuan liked to stay behind the scenes and disliked others disturbing his quiet cultivation, the Hall Master would help him out by completely diminishing Ye Qingxuan’s visible presence.
Having made up his mind, the Alchemy Hall Master took out his identity token and reported Ye Qingxuan’s information along with his decision to the Internal Affairs Hall and the Enforcement Hall.
After receiving approval from the Internal Affairs Hall Master and the Enforcement Hall Master, Ye Qingxuan’s information was quickly encrypted.
From then on, within the Xuantian Sect, only Enforcement Elders at the Tribulation Transcendence stage and above would be able to access Ye Qingxuan’s information.
Henceforth, within the Xuantian Sect, any traces or information related to Ye Qingxuan, whether from the past or left in the future, would be cleared away by dedicated personnel.
This was originally a treatment reserved only for the Xuantian Sect’s unparalleled geniuses, but without Ye Qingxuan even knowing it, the Alchemy Hall Master had arranged it for him.
As the master of a hall, he had that privilege.
Moreover, the comprehension Ye Qingxuan had displayed was indeed extraordinary.
That was why the Internal Affairs Hall Master and the Enforcement Hall Master had approved the Alchemy Hall Master’s proposal.
A few days later.
Deep within the Xuantian Mountain Range, inside a luxuriously decorated sixth-rank cave dwelling.
A figure dressed in a purple robe sat upright in the main seat, slowly breathing in and out the extremely dense spiritual energy within the cave dwelling. This person was Zhao Yuanji, one of the Xuantian Sect’s true disciples, with a cultivation base at the Spirit Transformation realm.
Just then, someone walked in from outside the cave dwelling, stopped not far in front of Zhao Yuanji, and respectfully called out:
“Senior Brother Zhao!”
After that, he dared not make another sound, afraid of disturbing Zhao Yuanji.
A long while later, Zhao Yuanji finally stopped his breathing exercises, slowly opened his eyes which held a very indifferent look, and said coldly:
“Li Xue, how goes the investigation?”
Hearing Zhao Yuanji’s question, the man below named Li Xue spoke nervously:
“Reporting to Senior Brother Zhao, some of the clues we found earlier have suddenly broken off for some unknown reason.”
“Based on the current leads, we can only trace back to Zhu Dafu, the shopkeeper of the Tianfu Shop. We can’t determine if there is anyone behind the scenes controlling the Tianfu Shop.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuanji frowned and directly refuted:
“The Tianfu Shop can’t possibly have only a Zhu Dafu. There must definitely be someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.”
He had reviewed the intelligence on Zhu Dafu. Zhu Dafu alone couldn’t possibly have developed the Tianfu Shop or invented something like the Nuclear Explosion Pill.
But now, being unable to find out who was behind the Tianfu Shop made Zhao Yuanji cautious.
If it were just an ordinary disciple who had accidentally invented the Nuclear Explosion Pill, he could simply use a combination of threats and bribes to make the disciple hand over the pill’s formula.
Although the Xuantian Sect’s rules were strict with strong punishments, they only protected disciples while they were within the sect.
As for things happening outside the sect, as long as no solid evidence was left behind, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, the Xuantian Sect wasn’t a babysitter. If an ordinary disciple died while training outside, they wouldn’t make a huge fuss over it.
Furthermore, the sect’s standard investigative methods weren’t completely impossible to circumvent.
But now, being unable to find the person behind the Tianfu Shop meant that this person wasn’t simple and absolutely couldn’t be just an ordinary disciple.
Thinking this, a look of hesitation appeared in Zhao Yuanji’s eyes.
Just giving up on the Nuclear Explosion Pill’s formula like this, he felt somewhat unwilling.
Given how explosively popular the Nuclear Explosion Pill was now, if he could get the formula and expand the pill’s market outside the Xuantian Sect,
the immense profits from this would be enough for him to never have to worry about resources for his future cultivation again.
Therefore, Zhao Yuanji quickly made a decision and spoke again:
“Let’s go. We’re going to pay this Zhu Dafu a visit.”
Hearing Zhao Yuanji give the order, Li Xue immediately responded:
“Yes, Senior Brother Zhao!”
Then, he led the way for Zhao Yuanji, heading towards the Tianfu Shop.
Inside the Tianfu Shop.
Zhu Dafu was drinking tea on the third floor. This tea was a recent gift from Ye Qingxuan, and it tasted quite good. The more he drank it, the more he grew to like the flavor.
These past few days, Zhu Dafu hadn’t gone out. Instead, he had been personally holding down the fort at the Tianfu Shop.
After all, the Tianfu Shop had just been upgraded to a large-scale shop, so there were bound to be some imperfect arrangements. By being at the shop, he could promptly step in to solve any sudden problems that arose.
During these days, a continuous stream of people had come to visit him, most of them beating around the bush, wanting to know if there was someone behind the scenes controlling the Tianfu Shop.
Following Ye Qingxuan’s instructions, Zhu Dafu naturally couldn’t tell these people anything.
Fortunately, since the Tianfu Shop was located within the Xuantian Sect, most people understood the rules and weren’t overly forceful. Zhu Dafu could easily handle these people.
As for those whose veiled words contained threats, Zhu Dafu blacklisted them all. He hadn’t been raised to be easily intimidated.
His only concern now was the future development of the Tianfu Shop.
Having reached this point, the Tianfu Shop’s expansion within the Xuantian Sect had hit a bottleneck. It was impossible to achieve any more extremely dramatic, leapfrog development in a short period.
And while there was still a huge market outside the Xuantian Sect, given the Tianfu Shop’s current strength and foundation, it might not be able to withstand the risks out there.
Just as Zhu Dafu was sipping his tea and thinking about the future of the Tianfu Shop, a voice suddenly came from outside the room:
“Shopkeeper, a true disciple of the Xuantian Sect is here to see you. Do you want to meet him?”
