Fire Monster

Chapter 257 Ten Years
The night view of Linjiang Prefecture has never been beautiful.

But tonight might be different, because the first affiliated factory of the North Camp of the Demon Suppression Division is testing the fifth-level imperial seal chariot.

This incident even alarmed Chen Chujian, the newly appointed first-round headmaster of the Taoist Palace.

At this moment, she was wearing a black robe, a black jade Taoist crown on her head, and a long sword on her back. She looked serious and indifferent. When she stood there, it was as if dark clouds were pressing down on the sky and a rainstorm was about to come, making it hard to breathe.

Behind him were twenty high-level Qi Refiners from the Dao Palace, the weakest of whom was at level seven, and at least half of them were at level eight.

Of course, Chen Chujian himself is also an eighth-level Qi Refiner.

There must be some reasons why Dao Palace had to make such a big fuss this time.

More than three months ago, the inexplicable death of Qin Wuyuan, the first-round headmaster, had already made the Taoist Palace's high-level officials tremble with fear. However, a few days ago, several master craftsmen from the Demon Suppression Division seemed to have come to their senses. As if with divine help, they cleverly proposed a series of process improvement plans, which promoted the rapid formation of the fifth-level Imperial Seal chariot under development.

In just a few days, a prototype car that was originally planned to take at least twenty years to produce was born.

The Demon Suppression Division was naturally delighted and publicized the news extensively with great enthusiasm, but when the news reached the Taoist Palace, it made the palace's top brass even more uneasy.

"We pay our respects to the First Master!"

Officials of all ranks from the Demon Suppression Division came forward to pay their respects, their hearts filled with joy. They must have performed a great deed this time, and the Taoist master would surely not be stingy with their rewards.

"No need to be polite. Where is the master craftsman who can solve the bottleneck in the development of the Level 5 Imperial Seal Chariot?"

Chen Chu spoke lightly, but his eyes were as deep as the sea.

"Sun Yu, the chief craftsman of the first factory directly under the North Camp of the Demon Suppression Division, Liu Huan, the second chief craftsman, and Zhao Dejiang, the third chief craftsman, come forward to pay their respects to the master."

The three middle-aged men were so excited that they couldn't even move their legs properly as they stepped forward and kowtowed.

"You did a good job, but how did you come up with this solution? I mean, how did you think of using this arrangement to solve the storage structure of the energy storage spirit stone?"

Chen Chu's gaze softened slightly and a smile appeared on his face. He looked very kind. Otherwise, he would probably scare these three ordinary people to death.

But no one could see the coldness deep in her eyes.

"Reporting to the master, I just drank a little too much and had a dream. In the dream, there was an old man with a white beard. He smiled and asked me to study for a while. He also said that what I made was rubbish. I humbly asked for advice, and before I knew it, I woke up from the dream."

"And it's not just me. The other two also had similar dreams. The three of us just happened to solve two problems each. Together, all the technical difficulties of the Level 5 Imperial Seal Chariot have been solved."

"Very good, go down! Don't forget the reward, Demon Suppression Division."

Chen Chujian gave the order with a smile, as if she was really happy, but the moment she turned around, her face was already murderous!
"Damn it, we were indeed tricked!"

When they all returned to the Taoist Palace, Chen Chujian could no longer hold back his anger and became furious!

The technical level mastered by the Demon Suppression Division has always been revealed bit by bit by bit by the Dao Palace, just like squeezing out toothpaste. Apart from anything else, if the magical powers mastered by any fifth-level Qi Refiner could be transformed into technology that mortals can master, it would be enough to change the world.

But the Dao Palace has always been very cautious. Even if the extremely conservative Zhao family is destroyed, the remaining moderates and radicals will not do so.

There is a consensus that they have the technology, but they cannot release all of it.

They have been trying to maintain a balance, loosening the chains of destiny little by little, but at the same time paying attention to the scale.

As a result, he was tricked by someone.

The fourth-level Imperial Seal Chariot can already form a team to kill the ninth-level evil demons, and the fifth-level Imperial Seal Chariot can actually fly and kill and encircle the tenth-level evil demons.

The ability to fly is very important, as it means that the advantage of a Qi Refiner flying a sword in the sky is greatly reduced compared to a mortal.

If this continues, the microclimate of destiny will inevitably accelerate its condensation and formation.

"This is a conspiracy, but we are powerless. Master, it's time for us to make a decision. We can either gradually give up power and ignore worldly affairs, or sail out to sea to avoid destiny, or we need to participate deeply in it and guide destiny—"

"Shut up! You are so bold to guide destiny. Don't you know the consequences of guiding destiny?"

Chen Chu saw this and shouted angrily.

But the Taoist Palace high-ranking official who spoke smiled indifferently, "What else can I do? Now I have successfully passed the physical and mental tribulations, and my cultivation has also broken through to the eighth-level Qi Refiner. I originally had the confidence to fight for the life tribulation, but now with this mess, my future is already bleak. If I dare to pass the life tribulation, I will definitely die."

"If that's the case, why can't I just come out of the mountains, guide the destiny, support the true dragon spirit, and fight for the position of founding national master? As long as the guidance is successful, I can guide the destiny to confer a title on me, then wouldn't it be a good deal to gain another 500 years of life?"

"As for the future flood, what does it have to do with me?"

"Qin Wang! I advise you to calm down!" someone else shouted.

"Calm down! It's obvious that our Linjiang Dao Palace has been plotted against and used by other Dao Palaces. They want us to enter the destiny microclimate early and fight against the evil spirits in the front, so that they can reap the benefits." "Qin Wang, this is an open conspiracy, and I guess that our Dao Palace is not the only one being plotted against, because the mastermind behind the scenes should have a big plan. So I guess that maybe it won't be long before our Linjiang Dao Palace will encounter another destiny Dao Palace on the magic fire. When all the Dao Palaces that follow the destiny route unite together, they will form a very terrifying force, which will naturally attract the attention of the evil spirits. This is the purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was in an uproar.

"Is the mastermind going to face a life-threatening disaster?" someone asked in surprise.

"No, such a big move must have been planned for hundreds or thousands of years. How could it be a mere life disaster? Perhaps, a more powerful Qi Refiner is about to take a bigger step. This step is crucial, but it has nothing to do with us. No matter how we struggle, it will be meaningless unless we give up on ourselves."

Chen Chujian said in a cold voice, but he felt helpless in his heart. Is this the feeling of being eliminated?
So powerless!

-

In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed.

With each passing day, the rapidly developing Linjiang Prefecture is becoming more and more beautiful.

It is almost hard to believe that just a dozen years ago, people were still living in fear of their future.

Wouldn't there be hundreds or thousands of people dying every day at that time?
But now the total population of Linjiang Prefecture has successfully exceeded the seven million mark.

At this moment, on the wide two-way ten-lane road outside the city, Yang Mao was driving the second-level imperial chariot he had just purchased not long ago, driving happily. Sitting in the co-pilot seat was his old friend Han Erzi.

In the huge space in the back row, there were a lot of their wives and children, some watching the scenery, some chatting, some playing cards, some sleeping, some eating snacks, some listening to music, and so on.

Yang Mao's eldest child is ten years old, and Han Erzi's eldest child is nine years old. Now is the beginning of the school year at Tianming Taoist Temple, so both families go out to send their children to school.

"Beep beep!"

Outside the chariot, a faster third-level sealed chariot roared over and the moment the two vehicles passed each other, Yang Mao saw a finger on the driving position of the chariot.

"Damn, a level 3 tank is amazing. I'll buy one and drive it someday!"

Yang Mao cursed but he was not very angry because the guy who overtook him was Sun Zei.

Han Erzi, with a smile on his face, calculated with Yang Mao the energy consumption of this second-level chariot and the monthly maintenance costs. Now that the Tianming Taoist Palace allowed the common people to purchase third-level and below imperially-sealed chariots, he also planned to buy a second-hand second-level imperially-sealed chariot.

"Old Han, listen to me. Why don't you wait a little longer and save up money to reach level three? You and I are both three-seal martial artists now, so we can afford it. For now, you can just ride in my car."

"That's so embarrassing."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. At worst, you can just buy me a level three tank in the future and drive it around for a few laps. Hahaha." Yang Mao laughed. Han Erzi was helpless. Yang Mao was famous for being stingy, but there was nothing he could do about it since he had two wives.

"I heard that the Demon Suppression Division will be deploying level 6 imperial seal chariots on the front lines recently? I don't know if we will have a chance to get a level 5 chariot. I don't have any other ideas, I just want to drive it to the sky for a few laps. I used to be envious of those Qi Refiners flying swords, and now I can satisfy my craving."

Yang Mao and others started talking about things on the front line again.

"I don't know. I guess it's impossible. We are a second-tier mercenary battalion raised by our stepmother. Neither our father nor our mother loves us."

Han Erzi shook his head.

Yang Mao's mood also became depressed. After a long while, he sighed, "I knew since childhood that the boy was a short-lived ghost. I thought he would be prosperous after building a new city, but who would have thought that he would be attacked by the evil spirit?"

Han Erzi didn't say anything. It had been ten years, and he still missed his classmate Zhao Guanshan. However, things had changed and people had changed, and time really would dilute everything.

The once glorious new city has long since become a residential area, and all its ambitions have been blown away by the wind.

After Zhao Guanshan died, the fairy-looking military supervisor Xiao left and has not been seen since ten years.

Liu Yuwei could be seen occasionally, but it was said that she was also hit hard and became addicted to making elixirs and drawing talismans, and no longer doing her proper job.

However, these brothers who came out of the new city did not disperse. Led by Deng Jiu, Wang Chen, Yu Che, Sun Zei, and Mo Laoer, they formed a mercenary camp and went to the front line every month to show their presence.

There are two hundred people in their total number, including five four-seal martial artists, all three-seal martial artists, and they have also hired ten second-level Qi Refiners who will not ask for exorbitant prices. They have twenty fourth-level heavily-armored imperial seal chariots, plus a second-hand fifth-level imperial seal chariot that can fly. Their combat power is still quite considerable.

Adding in the annual dividend from the third-level spirit-offering pagoda, the income is better than most but not most.

However, nowadays, people no longer talk about Master Xiao Zhao. Instead, they all talk about the future of their children. They have suffered and been tired, and have walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, which has been quite exciting. However, they always hope that their children can have a better start and a better destiny.

Nowadays, if you go to Tianming Taoist Academy to study, the best choice is liberal arts. Only those who are really dull and slow will be selected into the military department.

As for the Department of Taoism, I heard that it has not been able to recruit students for several years.

Before we knew it, the Qigong masters from ten years ago seemed to be no longer popular.

(End of this chapter)