The Ancestral Master Hall

"Think it through. Right now, you're the only one who knows how to cure Blackening Disease. And let me tell you, Palm Heaven Space has upgraded once. Time passes twenty times faster inside than in the outside world. In other words, if you stay in there for twenty days, only one day will pass outside. As long as you go in and stay for twenty days, you'll definitely be able to store enough urine. If you're really afraid I'll seize your body, just keep your distance from me."

"Palm Heaven Space?" Shi Yue's brows knitted together. His expression shifted between gloomy and bright before he greeted Murong Xiaoxiao and flew away on his artifact.

When he returned to Uncle-Master Zhou's cave abode, Shi Yue buried the green bead in the Spirit Field, then flew to Deacon Hall on his artifact.

He spent more than fifty Contribution Points to exchange for two Lightning Spear Talismans and two low-grade gourd artifacts. Lightning Spells were widely acknowledged as the most destructive magic, especially effective against Ghostly creatures, souls, and the like. With these two Lightning Spear Talismans, Shi Yue felt somewhat more confident.

As for the two gourd artifacts, they were meant to hold clean water and store urine.

There was no other way. If he didn't enter Palm Heaven Space and the Water Moon Flowers withered en masse, he definitely wouldn't be able to explain himself to Uncle-Master Zhou. And now that the Spirit Herbs and Spirit Grains belonging to several disciples of the sect had contracted Blackening Disease, he could certainly make a fortune by being the one who knew how to treat it.

If he didn't enter Palm Heaven Space, Shi Yue couldn't bear the consequences. If he did, he could make a fortune. After weighing the matter again and again, Shi Yue chose to enter Palm Heaven Space.

After Shi Yue entered Mysterious Space, he froze for a moment.

Following his gaze, the Spirit Grains in the Spirit Field had grown waist-high. Each stalk bore seven or eight grains of rice the size of chicken eggs. They looked as if they would ripen before long.

All ten fruit trees were laden with fruit. Some were only as big as fingernails, while others were the size of chicken eggs.

Shi Yue remembered clearly that he hadn't entered Palm Heaven Space for more than ten days. With the original tenfold difference in the passage of time, this shouldn't have been possible. It seemed that Xiaoyaozi hadn't been lying: after Palm Heaven Space upgraded, time passed twenty times faster inside than in the outside world.

"How about that, kid? I didn't lie to you, did I? Now, Spirit Grain that takes a year to ripen will mature in less than twenty days after being planted. That's all Spirit Stones!" Xiaoyaozi said in a coaxing tone.

Shi Yue's expression softened, but he didn't answer Xiaoyaozi. Instead, he headed toward the Spirit Field.

Shi Yue circled the Spirit Field and found that some of the Spirit Herbs and Spirit Grains had withered.

Time passed twenty times faster in Palm Heaven Space than outside. In other words, more than two hundred days had passed inside during the past ten-odd days.

After going so long without watering, the soil in the Spirit Field had become bone-dry.

Blazing Sun Grass didn't need much water, and only a dozen or so plants had withered. Condensing Smoke Grass needed a great deal of water, and a third of it had withered. Dozens of the Spirit Grains had withered too. The fruit trees, however, were fine. After all, their roots ran deep and could reach underground to absorb water.

Shi Yue dug up the withered Spirit Grains and Spirit Herbs one by one, then watered the remaining Spirit Grains and Spirit Herbs. Of course, he didn't forget the spiritual fruits either.

By the time he finished, half an hour had passed. He couldn't spare a moment to rest. Taking out the gourd artifact filled with clean water, he pulled out the stopper, put the mouth of the gourd to his lips, and gulped down the water inside.

When he couldn't drink another drop, he began walking slowly around the Spirit Field.

Blackening Disease spread extremely fast. He had to store enough urine in as little time as possible.

The Shocking Dragon Bell rang out in a long, unbroken peal, each toll louder than the last. It rang five times in all, its sonorous chimes echoing across Taixu Sect.

Before long, streaks of light shot out from several distant mountain peaks one after another, speeding toward the peak where Taixu Sect's Ancestral Master Hall stood.

A quarter of an hour later, a blue streak of light tore through the air from afar and landed on the Green Stone Platform atop the peak where the Ancestral Master Hall stood.

The light faded, revealing a middle-aged man with a fair, clean-shaven face, dressed in a blue Daoist robe.

As soon as the middle-aged man landed, a man's voice came from behind him:

"Senior Brother Lan, wait for me!"

The middle-aged man looked back and saw a middle-aged Daoist in a blue robe walking toward him from a hundred meters away.

The middle-aged Daoist was fat, his eyes squeezed into two narrow slits. The flesh beneath his chin hung in fold upon fold. Though the stout man seemed to walk slowly as he approached, each step carried him several yards. In just a few breaths, he had reached the middle-aged man.

"It's been decades, Junior Brother Zhou. Your Spirit Fox Steps are even more impressive than before." The middle-aged man smiled faintly at the Daoist and praised him.

"Heh heh, I wouldn't dare show off in front of you, Senior Brother Lan. By the way, do you know why Senior Brother Sect Master summoned us to the Ancestral Master Hall? He even rang the Shocking Dragon Bell five times." The middle-aged Daoist modestly brushed off the praise, then changed the subject.

"I don't know. I came as soon as I heard the Shocking Dragon Bell ring five times. But if Senior Brother Sect Master rang it five times, this matter must be no ordinary one." The middle-aged man shook his head, his expression grave.

"True. I suppose Senior Brother Sect Master will explain in a moment." The middle-aged Daoist nodded.

As they spoke, the two crossed a long flight of stone steps and entered a black palace more than ten yards tall. A silver plaque hung above the entrance, engraved with the three golden characters "Ancestral Master Hall." Sunlight glinted off them, making them especially eye-catching.

Inside the Ancestral Master Hall stood an old man in a yellow robe and jade belt. His face was full of worry.

The old man in yellow was none other than Zhou Tongtian, the twenty-seventh Sect Master of Taixu Sect.

Seated on chairs to Zhou Tongtian's left and right were a Middle-aged Scholar and a white-haired old woman. They, too, looked deeply worried.

The middle-aged man and the middle-aged Daoist exchanged a glance, chose two adjacent seats, and sat down to meditate with their eyes closed.

Before long, a ruddy-faced old man in a red robe and a gaunt old man in gray robes walked in and took seats on either side.

"Senior Brother Sect Master, everyone's here. Say what you have to say!" the old man in gray urged, looking impatient.

"Do you few Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters grow Spirit Herbs?" Zhou Tongtian nodded and asked.

"Our Taixu Sect is famous throughout Great Tang for its alchemy. Which of the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters here doesn't know alchemy? Which of us doesn't grow Spirit Herbs? I have three medicinal gardens! But for some reason, the Spirit Herbs in one of them have come down with a strange disease I've never seen before. It spreads extremely fast. The Spirit Herbs slowly turn black and then wither. In just a few days, seven or eight out of every ten herbs in the garden have died." The old man in gray spoke with a puzzled look.