From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 36 Revealed
“Your Excellency, this land of spirit oranges has been cared for by my student Qin Chuan from beginning to end. No one else has interfered in the slightest.”

Huo Yuanjue's voice was calm and steady, yet it resounded like thunder in the ears of every high-ranking Taoist priest at Nongling Temple.

click-

It was as if lightning had truly struck, shaking many people to their core and sending chills down their spines.

A Taoist priest of the Longevity Realm looked at Huo Yuanjue in disbelief, his eyes as if he were looking at a complete madman. Not long ago, this man had been respectfully and earnestly confessing his mistakes in front of everyone. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, he would dare to stab the entire Nongling Temple leadership in the back without any mercy in front of Sun Qinghan!

Guo Shanshan's eyelids twitched violently, making it almost impossible for him to maintain his expression.

Liu Shichang's expression changed rapidly.

He was stunned for only a moment before he angrily rebuked, "Elder Huo, what nonsense are you spouting? This spirit orange is the result of the hard work and dedication of many cultivators. How can you claim all the credit for it from your disciple alone?"

At this moment, he had no choice but to stubbornly deny it.

Moreover, he absolutely refused to believe that without Huo Yuanjue's secret intervention, a mere young pyre worker could have single-handedly taken such good care of Lingcheng.

As Liu Shichang sternly refuted him, several others in the Longevity Palace quickly reacted and echoed his sentiments, feigning calmness as they spoke:
"Old Huo, have you lost your mind? How long has your student been working here? Just over two months! What ability does he have to take care of these two acres of oranges all by himself? To spout such nonsense in front of the county magistrate, have you lost your mind because you're greedy for credit?"

Amidst a chorus of rebuttals, Guo Shanshan remained silent.

This is exactly the situation he wants—since someone has spoken out in denial, he doesn't need to get involved himself, lest he add unnecessary complications.

As for the truth?

Unless Sun Qinghan is willing to defy the Heavenly Laws and use the power of the Xiezhi Temple to verify the authenticity with supernatural magic, even though she is the God of a county, she cannot forcibly search their souls to extract confessions—that would be a violation of the Heavenly Laws and a breach of procedure.

Sun Qinghan, with his background in the Heavenly Laws and as a role model for the Nine Rivers Daoists, would not knowingly violate them.

Sun Qinghan's gaze swept over the group of high-ranking members of Nongling Temple, his expression cold and indifferent, showing no emotion, and he spoke calmly:
"quiet."

As the two words fell, the entire hall fell silent.

"Huo Yuanjue, you speak."

Her gaze settled on him, her tone steady yet undeniable:
"What exactly is going on with this orange orchard?"

Although she had received prior warning, she did not completely trust anyone.

Huo Yuanjue took a deep breath.

From the moment he uttered those words, he had resolved to be an enemy of all the high-ranking officials of Nongling Temple. If he did not respond properly after making these remarks, he would have no place to stand in Nongling Temple.

He spoke slowly, his voice deep and resonant:

“Everything I just said is true. If the county magistrate wants to know the truth, he will know as soon as he sees my student.”

"Where is your student now?" Sun Qinghan asked.

Huo Yuanjue turned around and immediately saw Qin Chuan, who had been subtly approaching the crowd at his suggestion.

He raised his hand and beckoned, and Qin Chuan immediately understood. He quickly stepped forward, stood before the assembled high-ranking officials and the county magistrate, and greeted them with a bow:
"Qin Chuan, the Taoist priest of Nongling Temple, pays his respects to the County God."

Sun Qinghan stared intently and suddenly realized that the young man looked somewhat familiar.

With a slight shift of her thoughts, she remembered, and her gaze suddenly sharpened:
"Are you the boy I saw in this spirit field when I first arrived here?"

"Indeed," Qin Chuan replied respectfully. At this moment, his heart was pounding, not only because of the Golden Core cultivation level that the person in front of him had just displayed, but also because of the majesty of facing the county magistrate directly—even in his previous life, he would have felt uneasy when meeting the county magistrate.

"You're just a temporary pyrotechnician?"

Sun Qinghan raised her voice slightly, her first reaction was disbelief, but then she recalled the situation that day - she had noticed that the young man's spiritual sense was different from ordinary people, but he had no cultivation, and she had even praised his talent.

Therefore, he was not only a temporary stoker, but had only started working two months ago.

In just two months, he had already reached the fourth level of Qi Refining?

While her talent for cultivation may not match hers, nor be comparable to the geniuses of the Forbidden City, it is still considered exceptionally outstanding in Jiuchuan County.

However, Sun Qinghan had no time to ponder Qin Chuan's progress in cultivation at this moment.

Her face was as cold as frost as she turned to Guo Shanshan and Liu Shichang:
"You actually entrusted the responsibility of cultivating Liuxiang oranges to a temporary pyrologist who only joined the company two months ago?"

Although she was parachuted in, she was not incompetent in administrative affairs. By delegating important tasks to temporary workers, if things went wrong, no one would take responsibility; if mistakes were made, someone could be pushed to take the blame.

In other words, these high-ranking members of Nongling Temple never took her Lingcheng Project, which she was vigorously promoting, to heart from the very beginning!
Sun Qinghan's question was so powerful that it silenced the high-ranking members of Nongling Temple.

Guo Shanshan took a deep breath and, still forcing himself to speak, said:
“Your Majesty, I truly do not know why you are so convinced that we entrusted the Lingcheng fields to the young fireman.”

"This is no task for a mere pyreman! To act in such a way would be to alienate ourselves from Heaven and the people! We would never resort to such a drastic measure!"

Now that things have come to this, the only option is to deny it to the death.

To accept it means the end of one's path to immortality.

He only has four or five years left before he retires, and he absolutely cannot afford to have anything go wrong at this final juncture; he must land safely!

Liu Shichang was also shocked, sensing the approaching crisis. He could only follow Guo Shanshan closely and try to argue, "Old Huo, you've really gone mad today! Do you think the poor county magistrate is easy to bully? How could a mere fire worker single-handedly take care of two acres of sacred fields like this? You've simply lost your mind!"

Having said that, he turned to Sun Qinghan and bowed deeply.
"The county magistrate reports: Huo Yuanjue has always been very self-important and believes he should have been promoted to the rank of a Taoist priest at the level of a righteous temple long ago."

Now he must be secretly plotting to claim all the credit. I admit that Huo Yuanjue did put in a lot of hard work on these two acres of spiritual land, but for him to try to take all the credit with such an absurd excuse is a grave mistake!

At this point, he was also extremely puzzled—why was Huo Yuanjue so insistent that everything was the work of this young pyrotechnician alone? Who would believe that?

Unless this pyrotechnician is his own grandson!
Otherwise, there is only one possibility left: Huo Yuanjue wants to take this opportunity to force the emperor to abdicate and seek promotion!

Sun Qinghan glanced at both sides, unable to determine the truth for a moment—she also found it hard to believe that Qin Chuan could accomplish such a great feat on his own.

She looked at Huo Yuanjue again:

"You claim that you, as a student, have single-handedly cared for this orange tree until now. What proof do you have?"

“Your Honor, this matter is very easy to verify.”

Huo Yuanjue took a deep breath, his voice revealing an undisguised pride:
"It's all because my student has mastered the 'Yi Wood Azure Sky Technique,' which I created with my life's work, in less than half a month! The county magistrate only needs to examine the Yi Wood True Qi within his body to know whether it's genuine or not!"

Boom!

These words were like a thunderclap from the heavens, exploding with a deafening roar.

Guo Shanshan staggered suddenly, his Daoist heart churning, almost unable to control himself.

He finally understood why Huo Yuanjue was so certain that everything was done by this young pyreman alone!
The "Yi Mu Qing Tian Jue"... was actually mastered by a second person?
And... it only took less than half a month?!
What a genius!
(End of this chapter)