The Great Stage of Douluo, My Name is Qian Xunji

After leaving the Alchemy Hall, the several titled Douluo stopped pretending. They compared the medicinal ingredients they each possessed, eager to get their hands on the medicinal pills; they were desperate for a breakthrough.

As families that had been passed down for so many years, they still possessed a foundation, and each household maintained a specialized storehouse for rare medicinal ingredients.

Whale Rubber, in particular, was considered a holy medicine for men, and almost every titled Douluo had some in their collection.

However, they couldn't quite recall the status of the other ingredients, so they had to return to their own storehouses to check their inventories.

Anything they lacked would be purchased at a high price.

For a time, quite a few Soul Masters who held these rare ingredients were tempted. Coupled with the consistently good reputation of Martial Soul Hall, there were indeed people coming forward to sell.

Before long, the major powers of the Doulu Continent received the news, and upon connecting it to the newly established Alchemy Hall in Martial Soul Hall, they vaguely formed their own guesses.

Are they planning to research medicine?

Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City, Moonlight Pavilion.

Inside a luxurious and elegant room sat a graceful and noble woman. At first glance, she appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, but her eyes seemed to have seen through everything in the world, something no woman of that age could possess.

The silver palace-style long dress she wore fit her perfectly, and in terms of temperament alone, she could be compared to Bibi Dong when she was still the Saintess of Martial Soul Hall.

The difference was that she lacked the confidence and resilience that belonged to a powerhouse like Bibi Dong.

Moonlight Pavilion was a court etiquette school in the Heaven Dou Empire, dedicated to teaching various aristocratic manners.

And this beautiful woman was none other than the mistress of Moonlight Pavilion, Lady Yue.

The beautiful woman's real name was Tang Yuehua, and she was the younger sister of the sect master of the Clear Sky Sect, once the number one sect in the world.

However, ever since that incident seven years ago, the reputation of the Clear Sky Sect had been ruined, the sect had sealed its mountains, and her father's health had deteriorated daily until he passed away not long after.

Her eldest brother inherited the position of sect master, but in order to maintain the flow of information with the outside world, he specifically sent Tang Yuehua—whose reputation was obscure and whose martial soul was not the Clear Sky Hammer—to stay outside, gather intelligence, and transport supplies. After all, the disciples of the Clear Sky Sect on the mountain still needed to eat, drink, and stay informed about the situation.

However, as a weakling with a unique martial soul who could never break through level nine, Tang Yuehua had to sacrifice certain things—such as her dignity and her body—to gather intelligence and acquire wealth in this world dominated by power and nobility.

Relying on her own beauty and the formidable strength of the Clear Sky Sect, she established a special, intimate relationship with Emperor Xue Ye. Using him as her backer, she founded the Moonlight Pavilion etiquette school and built a massive network of connections.

Her philosophy was that sometimes, strength did not represent everything. One must learn to protect oneself without relying on strength, and even more importantly, understand how to utilize the art of language, how to navigate between various factions, and how to master power.

Chapter 54: Passing the Torch

Tang Yuehua was able to navigate and befriend numerous high-ranking and powerful nobles not only because of the support from Emperor Xue Ye, but also due to her own intelligence and emotional quotient.

She looked at the recent movements of Martial Soul Hall and similarly concluded that they wanted to research medicine, but she thought deeper and further.

She was clear that Martial Soul Hall took helping civilian Soul Masters as its core, which had been reflected in many ways before.

For example, they provided free martial soul awakening; Martial Soul Hall's Soul Masters would even travel to remote mountain villages where a Soul Master might not appear for decades to help the villagers awaken their martial souls. They established Soul Beast Forests, distributed subsidies to Soul Masters, and implemented policies to support Work-Study Students so that children from impoverished families could attend school, and so on.

Martial Soul Hall even helped the Heaven Dou Empire suppress the invasion from the Star Luo Empire. This was entirely thankless work; if a war had broken out between the two empires, with the strength of Martial Soul Hall, they could have easily let the two fight and then reaped the benefits. Yet, they chose to proactively display their strength to help the Heaven Dou Empire avoid the war.

As a self-interested, clever person, Tang Yuehua mocked the stupidity of Martial Soul Hall in her heart while simultaneously being unable to help but marvel at its greatness.

In her view, the establishment of the Alchemy Hall in Martial Soul Hall was likely related to their future policy direction.

According to the nature of Martial Soul Hall, these medicinal pills would eventually flow into the market to benefit those civilians and civilian Soul Masters.

Although the relationship between the two sides had broken down because Martial Soul Hall refused to help the Clear Sky Sect after the incident involving the human-beast affair, this did not hinder Tang Yuehua's plan to fleece Martial Soul Hall.

In this era, there were no computers or mobile phones, communication was not well-developed, and the flow of information was very slow. To receive subsidies, a Soul Master only needed to take their proof to Martial Soul Hall and display their martial soul and Soul Ring.

The Clear Sky Hammer was a signature martial soul in the eyes of some major powers, but in some remote towns, few people knew of it, so obtaining benefits was not difficult.

Moreover, Martial Soul Hall had many people, and it was inevitable that some corrupt individuals would appear among them. With Tang Yuehua's connections, it would not be difficult to help the Clear Sky Sect obtain these pills.

This was actually the behavior of many factions; they feared and resisted Martial Soul Hall, but that did not stop them from taking advantage of it.

Those Soul Beast Forests were used by various nobles and major powers quite often, and they never hesitated to collect the distributed allowances.

Having enjoyed so many benefits, they were now, for the first time, paying attention to what interests they could gain from the Alchemy Hall.

However, to their disappointment, the Alchemy Hall, as a department established by Qian Xunji himself, was currently only open to internal personnel of Martial Soul Hall. Furthermore, because of the shortage of alchemists, there was only one Alchemy Hall responsible for refining pills in Martial Soul City, and demand far exceeded supply.

The applications for exchanging pills had piled up in stack after stack, looking like a small mountain from afar. The highest demand was for healing pills and pills that replenished soul power and physical strength. These were mainly needed by the frontline members of Martial Soul Hall who were on missions; they were mostly responsible for suppressing Evil Soul Masters, hunting powerful soul beasts that escaped from the forests, and capturing wanted criminals who committed murder and evil deeds.

Bibi Dong used to do this kind of work; it had the highest degree of danger and the highest casualty rate. Martial Soul Hall did not force anyone; doing these dangerous tasks was voluntary, relying on one's own belief and persistence.

Take Bibi Dong for example; because her hometown was slaughtered by Evil Soul Masters, she detested them deeply and only wanted to kill them upon sight.

The others were in similar situations; because of their own experiences, they wanted to save more people.

They held almost one hundred percent loyalty to the Martial Soul Hall that saved them, and this kind of thinking would be continuously passed on to the next saved victim.

The torch is passed, and the fire never dies!

As long as the gods do not descend to the mortal realm, it is very difficult for Martial Soul Hall to be defeated, and even if it were truly defeated, it would be impossible to sever its legacy.

It might just change its name and continue to pass on its spirit.

The Alchemy Hall's novice apprentices also learn these aforementioned medicinal pills during their first stage of study.

At the same time, due to the supply demands of the Alchemy Hall, subordinate departments and families have cultivated numerous herb fields and organized specialized teams of herb gatherers responsible for collecting those rare medicinal herbs in the dangerous Soul Beast Forest.

After absorbing the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum Douluo successfully broke through, his Martial Soul was strengthened, and his talent ceiling was also raised.

In accordance with the original agreement, Chrysanthemum Douluo readily joined the Alchemy Hall.

He is not stupid; being someone who loves power, he saw at a glance the value of the Alchemy Hall and the gold content of these pills. If these pills were truly popularized, they could completely replace the role of those low-level, ordinary support-type soul masters.

As for those high-grade, precious pills, they are even more important resources; even those titled elders in the Worship Hall might come knocking to beg for medicine.

Moreover, he himself is a pharmacist proficient in pharmacology. By transferring to the Alchemy Hall, he can not only acquire precious alchemy techniques but also, by virtue of his status as a Super Douluo elder, gain a position that is practically his word alone.

He even wanted to pull his old partner, Ghost Douluo, into the fold, though Ghost Douluo is still considering it.

Of course, Bian Que does not care about these things.

He only wants to hand over the production methods for the most high-demand pills to Chrysanthemum Douluo, then dump these idiot apprentices on him, and go get himself a nice, peaceful sleep.

·······················································

Chapter 55: Poaching

With Chrysanthemum Douluo joining, thanks to the physical constitution of a Title Douluo, he wouldn't die even if he didn't sleep for a month, so he worked overtime to refine pills and teach these apprentices.

He did indeed gain the right to speak in the Alchemy Hall, but he also lost the right to rest.

When Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo met again, Ghost Douluo almost thought his old partner had also awakened a ghost-type Martial Soul.

And Yue Guan, seeing his old partner Ghost Douluo, had eyes shining with excitement, and even his originally pale complexion had become slightly more ruddy.

"Brother, you've finally come. I've already negotiated the terms for you. As long as you come to the Alchemy Hall, you can choose three immortal pills at will."

Yue Guan used himself as an example, "You watched me break through, so you should know the benefits of these immortal herbs and pills. Three immortal pills, if paired properly, will absolutely be able to help you break through."

Ghost Douluo, who had been somewhat put off by seeing the state Chrysanthemum Douluo was in, couldn't help but feel tempted again.

Breaking through level 95 is too difficult!

"Are you telling the truth? Three immortal pills?"

"Of course. Right now, all matters, big and small, in the Alchemy Hall are decided by me." Chrysanthemum Douluo put his arm around his good brother and patted his chest in assurance.

Moreover, Bian Que, the Hall Master of the Alchemy Hall, did not hesitate to agree when he learned that two of the immortal pills were to be used to recruit Ghost Douluo.

"Look!"

As Chrysanthemum Douluo spoke, he took out two pills that emitted a faint medicinal fragrance.

One was crystal clear and snow-white, refined from the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid. Its medicinal properties were gentle and mellow, capable of strengthening the foundation and expelling impurities from the body.

The most wonderful thing was the second immortal pill; its rich aroma gave one a sense of magnificence. It was refined from the Aromatic Silk Beauty, which is a pair of "mandarin duck" immortal herbs with the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid, having a complementary effect.

The last immortal pill looked unremarkable, but on its green surface, there seemed to be three drops of dew. This pill was refined from the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and could train the "fiery eyes and golden pupils" to see through all kinds of strange objects.

Chrysanthemum Douluo introduced the effects of the immortal pills one by one.

He also used the grandsons of Golden Crocodile Douluo and Qing Luan Douluo, who had recently undergone Martial Soul Evolution, as well as his own Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum as examples.

Could Ghost Douluo refuse this temptation?

Of course not. The Alchemy Hall added another Title Douluo powerhouse.

······················································

Watching Bian Que leave with Ghost Douluo, Qian Xunji felt a little sad inside. He had lost another great general, hmm...

He wanted to poach an elder from his old man's Worship Hall!

If you want to do it, just do it. Be confident, don't lose face. You are the Pope; no one dares to hit you...

Except for your dad.

Thinking this, the handsome, golden-haired man stood up, straightened his papal robes, and walked out of the main hall, intending to head to the Worship Hall.

Qian Xunji had a moment of wisdom; his footsteps turned, and he went to the side hall instead. Hmm, he hadn't seen Xiao Xue in a long time, he missed her.

He just missed her, that's all, no other thoughts. Everyone, don't overthink it!

Then, no one?

Qian Xunji frowned and looked at the maid to the side, "Where did the Young Lady go?"

"Replying to His Holiness the Pope, Miss Qian Renxue and Miss Jing have both gone to the Martial Soul Hall Academy," the gentle-mannered maid replied respectfully.

"That's right! They have school!" Qian Xunji realized with a flash of wisdom. He is the Pope; he arranges his own work hours and never remembers school days.

Calculating the time, school should be letting out soon.

Qian Xunji decided that as a dedicated, good father, he would go pick the children up from school.

He left in a flurry once again.

Hmm, tomorrow is a day off. I'll take Xiao Xue and the others to the Worship Hall. If I poach people like that, the old man shouldn't hit me.