In the courtyard, Ward Lord Zhou Xuan saw that everyone had left the Primordial Qi Pavilion, so he activated the Ward Lord's Seal and halted the flow of the Yuan Qi Earth Veins. At once, the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi surging through the stone pavilion receded like a tide.
"Hehe, congratulations, young friends," Zhou Xuan said with a smile.
"Thank you, Ward Lord."
Lu Ming, Wang Chen and the others hurriedly cupped their fists in salute, thanking Zhou Xuan for the benefits of the infusion he had granted them.
Zhou Xuan smiled warmly, his gaze sweeping over the group before settling on Lu Ming. "Young friend Lu Ming, you represented the Thunderfire Hall and lasted until the end. In accordance with our earlier agreement, the reward that originally belonged to your hall will naturally be returned to you intact."
It was clear that after discovering Lu Ming possessed a high-grade Divine Ability Bone, Ward Lord Zhou Xuan regarded him with much greater importance instead of treating him as casually as before.
Behind Zhou Xuan, Zhou Fuling also studied Lu Ming carefully with her lovely eyes.
At that moment, Lu Jin stepped forward and said somewhat sheepishly, "Might I ask the Ward Lord to exchange the three Mark Condensation Pills for High-Grade Bone Refining Pills?"
Mark Condensation Pills were needed by Great Divine Ability practitioners who had forged Divine Ability Dharma Marks. They were of no use whatsoever to Lu Ming at present, and if he received them, he would have to exchange them at a pill shop, inevitably taking a loss in the process.
Zhou Xuan knew that Lu Jin wanted to concentrate all the Thunderfire Hall's resources on Lu Ming, a promising seedling. He nodded in understanding and took a jade bottle from his sleeve.
"There are twelve High-Grade Bone Refining Pills in here," Zhou Xuan said.
Startled, Lu Jin hurriedly waved his hands. "That's too many, Ward Lord. At market prices, three Mark Condensation Pills can only be exchanged for ten High-Grade Bone Refining Pills."
Zhou Xuan said gently, "Consider it a small welcoming gift. After all, he's the first person with a high-grade Divine Ability Bone I've met since coming to Qingyuan Market. It's a good omen."
"Besides, I made these pills for practice while refining pills normally. Their cost was lower than the market price, so there's no need to worry about it."
At those words, everyone looked at Zhou Xuan in surprise. The Ward Lord was a pill master too?
Hearing this, Lu Jin could hardly refuse again and could only nod to Lu Ming. Lu Ming hurried forward and respectfully accepted the jade bottle from Zhou Xuan. "Thank you for bestowing these pills, Ward Lord," he said gratefully.
The other man might have given him this small benefit on a whim, but to Lu Ming as he was now, it was undoubtedly charcoal delivered in the snow.
"Work hard at your cultivation. I hope to see you show your strength at next month's hall gathering, amaze everyone with a single feat, and become one of Qingyuan Market's outstanding young talents," Zhou Xuan encouraged him.
Although Lu Ming's performance today had surprised everyone, his true strength was still far below that of the top young disciples of the four halls.
Lu Ming nodded in agreement.
Zhou Xuan then looked at the four hall masters and said with a smile, "At next month's hall gathering, I will use the Yuan Qi Earth Veins to raise the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi in the area occupied by the Divine Ability Hall that takes first place to the high level, as a reward."
The four hall masters all looked pleasantly surprised.
Qingyuan Market's Divine Ability Halls were all built at nodes along the Primordial Qi Earth Veins. The veins were controlled by the Ward Lord through the Ward Lord's Seal, allowing him to regulate the density of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Primordial Qi levels were divided into three tiers: low, medium, and high.
In previous years, the ward office would raise the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi in the area occupied by the Divine Ability Hall that took first place in the annual hall gathering to the medium level. As a result, the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi there would be denser than at the other Divine Ability Halls, and cultivating in that environment would naturally be more effective than at the other halls.
But the ward office had never offered the high level before. They had not expected this new Ward Lord to show such boldness as soon as he took office.
For Qingyuan Market's Divine Ability Halls, this was undoubtedly a good thing.
"Besides that, I will personally reward the first-place hall with a Pattern-Transforming Lesser Yuan Pill. It is a kind of Barrier-Breaking Pill that can help a Divine Ability practitioner break through the Divine Ability Barrier on the path to becoming a Great Divine Ability practitioner." Before everyone's delight had subsided, Zhou Xuan spoke again with a smile.
Hiss!
This time, Wang Chen, Lü Xiao, Gao Yu and the other young disciples from the four halls all drew a sharp breath, their gazes growing intensely fervent.
It was actually a Barrier-Breaking Pill!
For Divine Ability practitioners advancing in cultivation, every realm had a Divine Ability Barrier, a bottleneck that shackled many of them.
Many Divine Ability practitioners in the world might have completed their third bone tempering long ago, yet still failed to condense a complete Divine Ability Dharma Mark and break through that iron wall of a Divine Ability Barrier.
A Barrier-Breaking Pill could lend them a hand at that critical moment and help them break through the Divine Ability Barrier.
Thus, among the many pills in the world, Barrier-Breaking Pills were the most valuable.
The Pattern-Transforming Lesser Yuan Pill Zhou Xuan had offered was probably worth more than five thousand grains of Heavenly Gold Sand. The young disciples of the Divine Ability Halls present had likely never even seen anything so expensive.
Even Lu Ming's heart could not help pounding with excitement. Although he had a Sub-Heaven-Grade Divine Ability Bone and could already pass through the Divine Ability Barrier faster than others, who would turn down a smoother, faster path of cultivation?
This new Ward Lord was truly generous.
"Thank you, Ward Lord, for your favor and care for Qingyuan Market's Divine Ability Halls." All four hall masters cupped their fists in gratitude.
Zhou Xuan smiled and waved a hand. He chatted with the four hall masters for a while longer before sending someone to see the excited group out of the ward office.
After everyone had left, Zhou Xuan let out a weary sigh of relief and complained, "Being Ward Lord is hard work. This assignment isn't easy."
Behind him, Zhou Fuling smiled sweetly. "Fourth Uncle, with your first move, you've won over every Divine Ability Hall in Qingyuan Market. Your niece is impressed."
At her flattery, Zhou Xuan rolled his eyes. "I only brought a few third-tier Divine Ability Halls in a little place like Qingyuan Market to heel. What's so impressive about that?"
"What about you? What do you think of the disciples of Qingyuan Market's Divine Ability Halls? Did any of them catch your eye?"
Zhou Fuling folded her arms, her curves breathtaking beneath the pressure of her green robes. She shook her head slightly. "They're all ordinary talents. Only Lu Ming, the one with the high-grade Divine Ability Bone, was somewhat worth a look. But unfortunately, his background is too poor. What top-tier cultivation resources could he possibly find in little Qingyuan Market? A High-Grade Bone Refining Pill is probably the best he knows of."
"In such a barren place, even if his talent is decent, he can never catch up with the truly top-tier heaven's chosen who have powerful backgrounds."
"Your standards are a little too high. If you're this picky, when will you find a 'promising seedling' to your liking? If we fail our assignment, we'll have a hard time explaining ourselves when Her Highness comes." Zhou Xuan shook his head helplessly.
Zhou Fuling curled her lip. "Before we left, Her Highness told us she would rather go without than settle for less. With her immortal beauty and jade bones, how could ordinary seedlings possibly catch her eye?"
"That person who used to be with the Thunderfire Hall, Zhang Yue, should have some potential. I read his records, and I don't think his Divine Ability Bone is an ordinary High-Grade Divine Ability Bone. It might be a 'mutated high-grade' Divine Ability Bone. Unfortunately, someone from the Great Golden Crow Hall beat us to him and took him away."
Zhou Xuan agreed with her on that. He pondered for a moment, then said, "There's no hurry. We'll take our time. I've promised them generous rewards, so let's see if any outstanding seedlings appear at next month's hall gathering."
"You can also meet the young disciples of Qingyuan Market's two Divine Ability clans, the Yan and the Li, and see what level they're at."
Zhou Fuling nodded. For now, that was all they could do.
The Thunderfire Hall.
After Lu Jin returned to the hall, he summoned the brothers Lu Qingyan and Lu Jinglei and told them everything that had happened at the ward office.
As expected, when the hot-tempered Lu Jinglei heard how the Red Sand Hall had targeted them again and again, he flew into a rage and cursed, his face filled with savage killing intent.
His anger did not last long, however. Lu Ming's outstanding performance in the Primordial Qi Pavilion soon had him in high spirits again. He patted Lu Ming's shoulder with his large hand and praised him repeatedly.
Lu Qingyan, however, frowned slightly.
"Father, something seems a little off about Lin Changkong."