Qi Refiners

In the office, Liu Yan stood before the floor-to-ceiling window with her hands behind her back. As she watched the once-deserted factory grounds bustle with people, her smile grew wider and wider.

Chen Hao lounged in the executive chair with a carefree air, leisurely playing on his phone.

He had been so busy with the new product launch these past few days that he had neglected the Heavenly Court Chat Group.

Watching some members quarrel while others flirted, Chen Hao had to hand it to these immortals.

Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen still hadn't finished their fight, leaving the immortals in the group grumbling endlessly.

Heavenly King of Growth: "Great Sage Sun, Erlang Shen, I'm begging you two menaces. Could you fight somewhere else? You're about to tear my Southern Heavenly Gate apart."

Even while fighting, Sun Wukong found time to reply. "I wouldn't dare go to the other heavenly gates. I can't beat their guards, so yours is my only choice. Don't worry. It's not the first time. You'll get used to it."

Heavenly King of Growth was utterly speechless.

Remembering that he was partly responsible for their fight, Chen Hao felt a little guilty.

He picked up his phone and messaged Sun Wukong. "Great Sage, how about calling it quits? Your fights cause such a commotion. Look how much you're disturbing everyone."

Sun Wukong replied almost instantly. "No way. Erlang Shen has gone too far! He actually dared call me Protector of the Horses. Today, I'm settling which of us is stronger."

Chen Hao was a little puzzled. "You're truly worthy of being the Great Sage. You can even find time to reply while fighting. Impressive, impressive."

"Not quite, not quite. Erlang Shen and I are playing statues right now. Whoever moves loses."

Chen Hao raised an eyebrow. "How are you two doing that?"

Sun Wukong replied, "I turned into a softshell turtle, and Erlang Shen turned into a tortoise."

You two are going places!

Chen Hao couldn't help giving them both a thumbs-up.

Just as Chen Hao was chuckling to himself, Tang Sanzang made a rare appearance. "Wukong, why are you ignoring your master's words again? Several immortals have filed a joint complaint with me, saying you've been running amok in the Heavenly Court with Erlang Shen. Not only have you damaged public property, you've bullied people, harassed women, and committed every imaginable evil. As the teacher who instructed you, I truly feel... (Five hundred words omitted below.)"

The moment Tang Sanzang spoke, his words really could shake heaven and earth and move ghosts and gods to tears. Chen Hao had to scroll down two or three times to finish reading them. He was genuinely impressed.

Sun Wukong couldn't stand it anymore. "Stinking monk, stop yammering. A joint complaint, huh? Go on, tell me who signed it. I'd really like to know."

Tang Sanzang replied, "Heavenly King of Growth, Heavenly King of Vast Vision, Giant Spirit God... (Fifty words omitted below.)"

The moment that message appeared, a whole crowd of immortals denied it.

Heavenly King of Growth said, "Tang Sanzang, you can eat whatever you like, but you can't say whatever you please. I never complained about the Great Sage."

Heavenly King of Vast Vision chimed in. "Exactly! I'll sue you for slander."

Giant Spirit God was so frightened that his backside clenched. "Absolutely not, absolutely not! How would I dare complain about Great Sage Sun?"

After the immortals denied everything, Tang Sanzang promptly fired off screenshots of all his conversations with them into the group.

Heavenly King of Growth immediately flew into a rage. "What the fuck, Tang Sanzang! Have some decency!"

Heavenly King of Vast Vision was furious too. "Tang Sanzang, I'm suing you for invasion of privacy!"

Giant Spirit God: "Fellow immortals, I'm heading off on a long trip. Goodbye."

After reading the screenshots, Sun Wukong immediately replied, "Very good, very good. Once I'm done with Erlang Shen, I'll pay each of you a personal visit."

Tang Sanzang continued, "You unruly monkey, the immortals only did this for the harmony of the Heavenly Court. The Jade Emperor recently promoted the slogan 'A harmonious Heavenly Court begins with me.' As its ambassador, I naturally have to do my job properly. Besides, fighting is wrong to begin with. Even if you don't damage public property, frightening children is still wrong... (Five hundred words omitted below.)"

"Aaargh! I can't take it anymore! Stinking monk, just you wait! I'm coming over right now to help you be a proper ambassador!"

Seeing that Sun Wukong was leaving, Erlang Shen immediately called out, "Stinking monkey, you moved first! You lost!"

Sun Wukong refused to accept it. "Bullshit! Once I've dealt with Tang Sanzang, I'll come back and settle the score with you."

Tang Sanzang replied, "Oh dear, Buddha just called me. I'm out of here."

Watching the immortals banter, Chen Hao laughed so hard that Liu Yan, beside him, was completely bewildered.

Just then, Chen Hao suddenly received a message from Chu Mengling. "Chen Hao, come meet me here at nine tonight. It's urgent. Be there." A location pin followed.

Chen Hao frowned in confusion. Why was she suddenly looking for him, and being so mysterious about it?

While he was still wondering, Pagoda-Bearing Li Heavenly King sent him a message. "Fellow immortal Little Charlatan, are you there?"

At the sight of it, Chen Hao's eyes lit up. Another immortal had come to him of his own accord. It seemed his reputation in the immortal world was spreading!

"Heavenly King Li, this humble immortal is here. What can I do for you?"

Heavenly King Li said politely, "Princess Iron Fan told me she got something called a game console from you. It completely brought Red Boy to heel. Now he stays home and won't step outside. Could you get one for me?"

"Uh, what do you need a game console for, Heavenly King Li?" Chen Hao asked curiously.

After a brief silence, Heavenly King Li replied, "Ah, you have no idea. Princess Iron Fan's boy fears nothing, and whenever he goes out, he causes trouble for that old bull's family. But my boy is every bit as fierce as Red Boy!"

With that hint from Heavenly King Li, Chen Hao immediately understood. That's right. His little troublemaker is the sort who slaughters dragons when he gets angry.

Pagoda-Bearing Li Heavenly King's son was, of course, the renowned Nezha.

He could soar through the heavens and delve into the earth, seemingly capable of anything. His dragon-slaying skills in particular struck terror throughout the Four Seas.

"This humble immortal has certainly heard of the great immortal Nezha," Chen Hao replied with a chuckle.

Heavenly King Li replied, "My son is truly unruly. Lately, he's thrown the Four Seas into complete chaos. The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas have already taken their complaints to the Jade Emperor. I'm truly out of options, so I hope you can lend me a hand."

Chen Hao began putting on airs again. "It's not that I'm unwilling to help. This game console is a sacred treasure, and I only have one left. You're putting me in a rather difficult position."

Heavenly King Li knew how things worked and replied directly, "Since the game console is so precious, I won't make things difficult for you. I'm willing to exchange one item for another."

Seeing that Heavenly King Li had taken the bait, Chen Hao's eyes shone. He immediately replied, "Then what treasure could you offer in exchange?"

Ding! You have received a Heavenly Book from Pagoda-Bearing Li Heavenly King!

"A H-Heavenly Book!"

Without another word, Chen Hao opened the Qiankun Bag. "Heavenly Book, Fifth-Grade Immortal Art. A cultivation method from the Heavenly Realm. Ordinary people cannot understand it."

"What?! Ordinary people can't understand it?!" Chen Hao instantly grew nervous and tapped to withdraw it.

Fortunately, Chen Hao was no ordinary person.

After he tapped to learn it, a vast torrent of information erupted from the Heavenly Book and poured into his mind.

Countless ancient scripts, talismans, cultivation formulas, and obscure mysteries flashed endlessly through Chen Hao's mind.

After absorbing the Heavenly Book's contents at an astonishing speed, Chen Hao nearly went wild.

Earlier, he had successfully sensed the qi from the moon with the Crescent Pendant. However, because of his limited strength, he had never been able to control or absorb it.

Now, the Heavenly Book had arrived at exactly the right time to solve his problem.

It contained a complete method for cultivating qi, from sensing and controlling it to refining it and drawing it into the body.

With the Heavenly Book's cultivation method, Chen Hao could turn that qi to his own use. His meteoric rise was practically within reach.

Seeing him lying in the executive chair with a sly grin, Liu Yan couldn't help smiling charmingly. She walked over and patted him. "Chen Hao, what are you doing? Why are you so happy?"

Chen Hao hurriedly snapped out of his daydream. "Nothing, nothing. I'm going out for a bit. I'll be right back."

After buying a game console at a nearby supermarket, Chen Hao sent it straight to Heavenly King Li.

The instant Heavenly King Li received it, he was moved to tears and thanked him over and over, leaving Chen Hao rather embarrassed.

Back in his room, Chen Hao put the Heavenly Book's cultivation method into practice and began sensing qi.

Previously, he couldn't sense qi during the day. He could only do it at night with the help of the Crescent Pendant's special properties.

Now things were different. With the Heavenly Book's cultivation method, he could clearly sense the surrounding qi even in broad daylight.

But when Chen Hao tried to control it, he found that it was still quite difficult.

According to the Heavenly Book, sensing qi was the first step. To reach the second step and guide the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into his body, he had to become one with it.

So even after several full hours of trying, Chen Hao had made no breakthrough in controlling qi.

Still, he wasn't impatient. He understood that this couldn't happen overnight. Given enough time, he firmly believed he would succeed.

"Are you cultivating?" Just as Chen Hao was meditating with his eyes closed, a woman's sweet voice suddenly reached his ears, interrupting his cultivation.

"Who's there?!" Chen Hao looked around the room, searching.

A moment later, the woman's voice sounded again. "I'm inside your pendant."

Chen Hao looked down and finally remembered what had happened yesterday. "Oh, you know about this too?"

The female ghost said softly, "Before I died, I saw people who could cultivate qi, just like you."

Chen Hao's eyes widened sharply. "What? You've seen people who cultivate qi?"

"That's right. One night a few years ago, I saw some people with extraordinary skills. Their abilities were definitely beyond anything ordinary people could manage."

Chen Hao took a deep breath, his expression unconsciously growing grave.

Could the strange incidents in this world have something to do with those people?

"I investigated people like that before. Within their own circles, they seem to be called 'Qi Refiners.'"

"Qi Refiners!" Chen Hao exclaimed.

The female ghost continued, "That's right. They normally live just like ordinary people, and they certainly don't casually display their superpowers in front of them. They only appear for special incidents or missions. More importantly, they have an organization made up of these Qi Refiners. As for who founded it, I don't know."

After the female ghost told him everything she knew about Qi Refiners, Chen Hao was even more puzzled.

He could only cultivate because he had stumbled into the Heavenly Court Chat Group by accident. A thought suddenly arose in his mind. Could I be the only one who can contact these immortals in the Heavenly Court?

But as soon as the thought appeared, Chen Hao dismissed it.

If someone had joined the group before him, the furnace ash from the Eight Trigrams Furnace, the Old Immortal of the South Pole's Peach Blossom Wine, and even all sorts of divine artifacts from the immortals would have appeared in this world long ago. They would never have waited for him.

Reasoning it out that way, Chen Hao felt much less worried.

Still, when he had time, he would have to learn more about the Qi Refiners the female ghost had mentioned.