Day and night tour

Chapter 452 The Divine Infant of the Capital
Twisted fingers, like snakes, with very short black hairs growing on the fingertips.

The horrifying feeling of something "inhuman yet human" inexplicably made Zhou Xuan feel disgusted and nauseous.

A crack appeared in the center of that finger, like a human mouth, and it swallowed the extremely tiny speck of dust.

The petals around the fingers immediately withered and fell.
Immediately afterwards, an extremely gentle aura was released from the body of the "finger," like the radiance of Buddha or the gentle breeze of early spring.

The painter and Li Changxun did not see the true form of the "fingers"; they only sensed their presence.

Therefore, in their imagination, the person who came to collect the elixir was naturally dignified and majestic, radiating a sacred aura, and sprinkling something called "warmth" upon the world.

But upon witnessing the true form of the fingers, Zhou Xuan felt only a deeper sense of disgust.

"Hypocritical and deceitful behavior—no wonder it's so prevalent in the Kingdom of Well; the root of the problem lies here."

Zhou Xuan couldn't figure out the true identity of the "elixir taker," but he was certain of one thing: this person was from the "Heaven and Earth" of the Jing Kingdom.

What do heaven and earth represent?
Is it the "Supreme Will," or something even higher than the "Supreme Will"? He didn't know.

But the backing of this "elixir-collecting person" was undoubtedly the strongest force in the Kingdom of Jing.

Even such figures are so deceitful, so it is only natural that the gods are overthrown and the heavens are unpredictable.

However, this finger, demonic or ugly as it may be, constantly trying to beautify its image, does actually get things done.

Then, the vertical slit in the center of its finger opened again, and some saliva-like substance came out.

Saliva-laden things, once they touched those withered petals.

The petals began to flutter and drift out of Zhou Xuan's shop. A gentle breeze from the street carried them up into the sky like dark yellow butterflies, heading towards the "Cloud City" that shrouded Mingjiang Prefecture.

This "Cloud Palace" is the "reconstruction blueprint" that the "Book of Will" made for Mingjiang Prefecture.

All the people and buildings depicted in the picture can be rebuilt through human willpower.

Mu Hua, however, never appeared in this blueprint.

Even after those petals drifted into the Cloud Palace, Mu Hua still did not appear in this blueprint.
However, amidst the dense crowd, a shadow appeared on the ground.

Judging from the figure and outline, Zhou Xuan could tell that the shadow was Mu Hua's shadow.

This shadow was the hope for Mu Hua's rebirth that the "elixir extractor" and Zhou Xuan had previously declared.

"I really do have hope."

"Life-extending elixirs...life-extending elixirs..."

After swallowing the pill, that finger's mental state was clearly somewhat unstable. The voice it transmitted back to Zhou Xuan's secret realm sounded somewhat like... a drug addict going through withdrawal.
Every few sentences he utters inevitably involve "elixirs".

"That's all for now. In a few days, I will build a larger alchemy furnace. You can come and collect the pills then."

Zhou Xuan said decisively.

That finger said nothing more, but simply kept playing gentle classic songs on the record player in the store.

"Springtime~ Beautiful springtime~ Time flies like water~"

As the song flowed, petals sprouted from that finger once more, wrapped itself up, and burrowed into the soil, disappearing from sight...

Meanwhile, some small green grasses inexplicably sprouted from the soil and cracks between the bricks on Dongshi Street.

The grass is so inconspicuous that few people pay attention to it, but it truly provides new life to this land...

……

"Girl, it really is Mu Hua."

King Xishan looked up at the sky and said to Sister Cui.

The city of "Yunzhongfu" in Mingjiang Prefecture is invisible to most people; only disciples of temples whose incense offerings have reached the level of eight incense sticks or higher can see it.

Although Zhou Xuan's level of incense offerings was not high enough, he was able to see it because he was the creator of "Yunzhong Mansion".

Sister Cui only had four sticks of incense, so naturally she couldn't see them. She could only ask King Xishan to help her take a look.

After Xishan Wang gave an affirmative answer, Cui Jie was still a little uneasy and asked again, "Third Brother, did you look carefully?"

"Look carefully."

King Xishan said with a smile, "Although I haven't seen Mu Hua many times, his figure is exactly the same as the Great Master's. If I can't recognize him, how could I not recognize the Great Master?"

With this confirmation, Sister Cui beamed with joy and repeatedly exclaimed, "That's wonderful, that's wonderful..."

"Hua Zi is coming back to life, Hua Zi is coming back to life..." Xiao Fu Zi kept muttering, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Everyone, today is a happy day for me, Xiao Cui. I am grateful for your help, especially Brother Xuan. I have no way to repay you. Today, I have stewed two pots of mutton soup for you all to drink and warm yourselves up."

Upon hearing this, Li Changxun said, "We can drink Sister Cui's mutton soup again. What a wonderful thing!"

"You won't be beautiful for long."

Zhou Xuan said to Li Changxun.

"Why do you say that, Master?" Li Changxun asked.

Zhou Xuan pointed to the end of the street and said, "Look who's back?"

Li Changxun glanced around and saw Yun Ziliang and Zhao Wuya riding a big black donkey toward Jingyipu.

"Wow, that big black donkey's legs are pretty nimble."

Li Changxun, unaware of the impending danger, continued his idle chatter.

The big black donkey hadn't gone far when it arrived at the shop entrance, where Yun Ziliang and Zhao Wuya, looking angry, dismounted.

"Ya Zi, close the door. Xuan Zi, hand me the weapon. Today, I'm going to teach this traitor who betrayed his master a lesson."

Yun Ziliang was absolutely furious—truly furious. His top hat was pushed up so high that anyone who didn't know better would think he had a huge tumor growing under it.

Zhou Xuan didn't move, but Yun Ziliang had already grabbed a pair of fire tongs and was chasing after Li Changxun, hammering him.

"Oh, Grandmaster, that's enough. Besides, you were the ones who started making fun of me, so I got angry and rode the wind back alone."

"But you guys didn't get tired. It was the big black donkey that got tired. What's the difference between you riding me back and riding the big black donkey back?"

"What a difference! Because you delayed my journey, I missed watching Xuanzi refine pills. I missed such a great show, so who else should I beat up if not you?"

Yun Ziliang saw a burst of golden light shooting into the sky from a distance on East Market Street, but he rushed as fast as he could and still missed it.

"boom!"

"Ouch."

As Li Changxun was speaking, he was hit on the forehead again with a pair of fire tongs. In such a short time, this god-level being of the heavens had been beaten up all over his head.

However, although Li Changxun looked quite terrifying, in reality, with his god-level physique, taking a few hits was nothing to him.

Zhou Xuan couldn't help but chuckle—given the violent lineage of the Dragon Seeking Hall, anyone with a round head was definitely not a Dragon Seeking disciple.

Orthodox dragon-seeking disciples, subjected to this kind of "education of love" every day, would all end up with oddly shaped heads, like rhombuses or quadrilaterals...

"The world is vast, but excitement is the greatest. To miss out on excitement is to betray your teacher and ancestors."

Yun Ziliang was still furious.
Zhao Wuyai chimed in, sounding distressed, "Grandmaster Li, you've gone too far! I've used up half a steel mill to refine pills, and all I've produced is scrap!"

I was really looking forward to seeing how Xuan-ge'er refined the True Pill, but I didn't see it at all. Not to mention my grandmaster, I'm furious!"

Zhao Wuyai, too, longed to take advantage of Yun Ziliang's instruction of Li Changxun and deliver a few sneaky blows or a few hidden punches.
Although the Xunlong Hall was known for its brutal education, it maintained a strict hierarchy of teachers and students. Given Zhao Wuyai's seniority, he dared not act recklessly.

These three lively characters, master and apprentice, bickered and joked around, making the painters laugh uncontrollably.

After finishing the beating and scolding, Yun Ziliang pulled Li Changxun inside to write a guarantee.
The others also started chatting enthusiastically.

They mainly discussed two topics: one was the various unusual phenomena that occurred when Zhou Xuan was refining pills.
Another topic of conversation was the appearance of the "elixir extractor."

The painter, who loved painting and was quite romantic, guessed that the person who took the cinnabar was like a delicate "Buddha doll," possessing a touch of cuteness and a "precious appearance." "No, no, old painter, I think you're wrong."

The coffin maiden immediately denied the painter's guess, saying, "I guess the elixir-collecting person is a fish, a colorful fish."

She came from Huangyuan Prefecture, a prefecture city dotted with great rivers and lakes, and had countless connections with "fish".
Even Lu Xingzhou, the leader of the Bitter Ghosts, has a huge fish head on his head. The Coffin Maiden guesses that the unfathomable Pill Extractor is a big fish. How so?

Although I didn't guess it correctly, it makes a lot of sense.

The musician guessed that the elixir-collecting person was a blood-red doll.

In short, everyone is guessing their own interpretation, resulting in a variety of guesses.

Zhou Xuan smiled knowingly, thinking that this was the Jing Kingdom version of the blind men and the elephant.

Finally, everyone started arguing, and for a moment they were even arguing angrily. The coffin maiden asked Zhou Xuan to mediate and said, "Master, only you have seen the true face of the pill extractor. Tell me, what does he look like?"

"Drink tea, drink tea."

Zhou Xuan sat on a small stool by the door, holding an enamel teacup. When the coffin maiden asked, he raised the cup and gave a polite reply, but did not describe the specific appearance of the "elixir extractor".

He wasn't deliberately keeping us in suspense; he was a "elixir collector," and although he looked disgusting and ugly, he had quite a powerful background.

In the land of Jing, there are some things that are better left unsaid than known; it's better to be blissfully ignorant.

Therefore, Zhou Xuan was unwilling to say more. It was better not to drag too many people into a muddy pit where the depth was unclear.

Seeing Zhou Xuan smile without saying a word, the crowd's interest actually waned, and they began to excitedly discuss among themselves.

There was no one surrounding Zhou Xuan anymore; it was quite deserted.

The White Deer Alchemist walked over and asked, "Master, it was right of you not to tell anyone about the person you saw."

"Old White Deer, have you ever offered a elixir to Heaven and Earth?"

Zhou Xuan looked up and asked.

"I'm not lucky enough. In my long career of alchemy, I've only offered pills five times."

The White Deer Alchemist felt that offering elixirs to heaven and earth was an incredibly honorable thing, and when he recalled the past, he even grinned.

Zhou Xuan shook his head and said, "Old White Deer, when you talk to me about Qi Pills and Human Pills, I subconsciously think that Qi Pills are the right path and Human Pills are an evil path."

"Isn't it?"

"No, I think neither of these two paths is the right one."

Zhou Xuan said to the White Deer Alchemist, "That alchemist is also a fake bodhisattva, a hypocritical charlatan."

"Although they may be somewhat fond of embellishing their own image, in the end, they are still figures under the jurisdiction of 'Heaven and Earth.'"

“I feel ashamed to offer them pills,” Zhou Xuan said.

"Not shabby at all."

The White Deer Alchemist said, "Many people want to offer their elixirs, but none have the connections. If your elixir is favored by Heaven and Earth, you will be able to walk with impunity in the world of Jing."
For example, the "land spirit" behind Mr. Na Ye is himself a god-level being, and he also oversees the capital city government, allying with several major factions. The capital city government of the Jing Kingdom is at his beck and call, making him extremely powerful.
Even with his immense power, he dared not offend the most powerful alchemists of Heaven and Earth.

At this point, the White Deer Taoist looked up at the sky again, pointed to a few white clouds, and said, "Furthermore, those deities in the heavens, if they were guided by the heavens and descended to earth as imperial envoys..."

Even celestial-level deities and worshippers would show them some respect, but in the eyes of the high-ranking alchemists, they were nothing more than a few vicious dogs chained up by the heavens.

"That's true."

Zhou Xuan used to think that the alchemist was nothing more than a dog kept by the Heavenly Vault, but today, after seeing that "finger" and how it continued to ask him for more pills as if it were addicted after swallowing them, he was truly impressed.

This convinced him that if the production and quality of elixirs could be increased, it would be possible to control the major powers in the Jing Kingdom.

If even the "Heaven and Earth" are like this, then the Heavenly Fire Clan, whose minds have been ruined by the "Human Pill," will only fawn over the pill even more.

"In my eyes, alchemy is a heretical path, but... this heretical path... is very effective."

Zhou Xuan was very optimistic about the future of "Alchemy Incense".

……

Each of the nine prefectures of the Jing Kingdom has a Bureau of Wandering Gods.

The Bureau of Wandering Gods is the most powerful institution in every prefecture city.

But the capital city prefecture is an exception.

In the capital city, there was a Bureau of Astronomical Observations, but the most prestigious institution was the Imperial Observatory.

The Imperial Observatory was once the office controlled by the various astrologers in the capital, but now, the political landscape has changed drastically.
This government office is now dominated by a single entity called "Dizi".

In the southwestern part of the capital city, there was a huge palace with nineteen floors.

Disciples from various schools specializing in divination and prediction, such as Dunjia, Master Ye, Shaman, Witch, and Tianyan Guan, work day and night in the eighteenth floor of the palace, performing calculations.

The task of the Imperial Observatory was to predict the ominous signs for the Kingdom of Jing.

If an ominous person is born, the "Earth God" will send Master Ye to kill him in his swaddling clothes.
In order to eliminate any future troubles, the "family members" of these ominous people were all slaughtered.

Of course, the final decision on "who is the ominous one" rests with the highest authority of the Imperial Observatory—the god-like Otherworlder, "Earth God".

Di Zi resided on the nineteenth floor of the Imperial Observatory.

This floor has its own name—the Star Gazing Pavilion.

The pavilion occupies a vast area, within which lies a boundless garden, containing twenty-one ponds of varying sizes.

The bottom of each pool is connected, and "Di Zi" lives in these pools.

These pools are not clear, green pools; the liquid flowing in them is extremely white milk.

All this milk comes from people.

With so much milk and such a large garden, the capital city's veneration of the "land" meant that the milk and the building alone cost a fortune.

Zhao Youting, the Grand Master of the Dunjia Sect, walked step by step into the "Star Gazing Tower."

This floor was like a terrifying and gloomy hell to him.

He had witnessed Di Zi's unpredictable temper firsthand; he had personally seen an eight-stick incense stick master of the Escape Technique being torn to shreds by that monstrous Di Zi infant.
The observatory on this floor was silent, but Zhao Youting could hear his own heart pounding.

He walked with extreme caution, crossing many stone bridges and passing through dozens of corridors, until he reached the "Divine Infant Bridge" in the center of the Star Gazing Tower.

He stood at the bridgehead, facing the snow-white pool, and softly said, "Zhao Youting of the Dunjia Sect pays respects to 'Earth Master'."

The snow-white pool was completely still, a fact that Zhao Youting was well aware of.

They were disciples working for the Imperial Observatory. If they had something to report to the "Earth God," they could simply stand on the Divine Infant Bridge to report. Unless it was a very important matter, or the Earth God needed to give instructions,
That place will not appear.

It's better that they don't show up. It's better not to see them than to see them in that strange place.

"Please don't come out, please don't come out."

Zhao Youting was apprehensive. He had only dared to report to "Di Zi" because of personal relationships and the persistent pleading and cajoling of the third and fourth leaders of the gang.

Seeing that the pool was completely still, Zhao Youting continued, "Today, our sect leader, Zhao Jinjia, was killed by that great master from Mingjiang Prefecture, and his body was never found."
The entire Dunjia sect is united in its resolve, hoping to request the intervention of the "Earth God" to seal the "Book of Life and Death" so that we, the entire Dunjia sect, can seek justice from Zhou Xuan.

After Zhao Youting finished speaking, his heart jumped into his throat as he stared at the white milk in the puddle.

"If the local authorities don't care about upholding justice, that would be even better," Zhao Youting thought to himself.

He did his best to help the branch, even if he couldn't get it done. The branch owes him a favor. As for Di Zi, it would be even better if he didn't come out to see him. Not having to face this strange baby is the happiest thing right now.

"Gudong, gudong."

Two tiny bubbles rose from the white pool of water...

(End of this chapter)