The immortal is beside me

Chapter 47 The Heavenly Master is about to die
The door of the quiet room closed behind him. Luo Mingxian walked along the corridor, the long stone path, and finally stepped out of the quiet room that belonged to Yuan Tiangang.

Passing through the fence of the courtyard, you can see dozens of armed guards guarding the quiet room on all sides of the wall, as tight as a military stronghold.

Not far from them is the courtyard where the official monks live. The most elite monks of Tianji Academy are stationed here. Once there is any unusual movement in the quiet room, they will immediately take action to stop it.

This is the treatment enjoyed by top-level Yishu practitioners.

Although Yuan Tiangang himself does not have much actual combat power, he is always accompanied by the most elite armed forces wherever he goes. Anyone who wants to get close to him must undergo a head-to-toe inspection, which is so strict that they can even strip off the underwear they wore in kindergarten.

In fact, even just "approaching" him is an extremely difficult task.

Tianji Academy receives countless requests to meet with Yuan Tiangang every day, from official units to local sects, from surveying Feng Shui to deducing celestial phenomena, all kinds of people have various purposes, but only a handful of them can actually be realized.

Even if one successfully obtains permission to meet, one often has to wait for months or even years before getting a glimpse of the Heavenly Master. It can be said that time is truly precious.

And now, this golden time is becoming less and less and is about to disappear completely.

Luo Mingxian walked around the tree-lined avenue with his head down, and walked towards his office with heavy steps, his face full of shadows.

As the chief director of Tianji Academy and also Yuan Tiangang's close disciple, he has the most thorough understanding of Tianshi's situation.

The Celestial Master had already fallen into the Five Decays of Celestial Beings, and he practically watched the decline progress day by day. If the final deadline truly arrived, it would be a catastrophe no less devastating for the Tianji Academy, and indeed for the entire Chinese supernatural system.

Not to mention that there are no more than twenty cultivators who have reached the level of God Transformation in China at present, and there is only one cultivator of Yi Shu who has reached the level of God Transformation, and this one has only appeared in the entire Central Plains after hundreds of years.

Considering the uniqueness and scarcity of Yishu practice, it is questionable whether another person of the same level will appear in the next few hundred years.

Not to mention that Yuan Tiangang's status in the Yishu world is comparable to that of a stabilizing force. In the decades since the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has trained countless Yishu practitioners and almost single-handedly supported half of China's Yishu. Whenever there is a major event, even the central government has to send people to ask him to predict the good and bad luck. Losing such a person is tantamount to losing a national treasure.

Putting aside his personal feelings as the Heavenly Master's close disciple, putting aside his irreplaceable supporting role to the Tianji Academy, and putting aside the historical value of this long-lived living fossil. Putting all these aside, he also knew how huge the impact of Yuan Tiangang's death would be.

For a top-level powerful being like this, his mere existence would bring about countless conflicts of interest, not to mention that he is a powerful Yi Shu master that all forces are eager to obtain. His strategic position is far higher than that of ordinary spiritual cultivators, and he can definitely be called a walking gold and silver mountain.

If the day ever comes when he passes away, the various forces involved with him will probably not be able to calm down, and may even usher in a major reshuffle, which will inevitably lead to another wave of turmoil.

And Tianji Academy will undoubtedly be the center of all this turbulence.

Luo Mingxian frowned and looked towards the horizon. The invisible celestial phenomena were reflected in his eyes. Countless possibilities flooded into his mind, and countless plans and frameworks emerged in his mind. The direction of good or bad was only a matter of thought.

The information about the Heavenly Master's passing must be strictly sealed. After that, we must follow the Qi and Qi behind the Heavenly Master's instructions and use them as a basis to outline the divination array, aiming to replicate his level.
Of course, the best way is to further extend the life span of the Heavenly Master and pull him back from the brink of the five decays of the celestial beings. But who can do it?
Veins popped up on Luo Mingxian's forehead as he was immersed in endless thoughts. In a daze, he had walked back to his office.

It's called an office, but in reality, it looks more like a small house, constructed entirely of bamboo and wood, with only one floor and less than 20 square meters. The house's construction is extremely sophisticated, not at all primitive, but rather exuding a unique elegance and naturalness.

Throughout Tianji Academy, the buildings are almost all of this style: the layout is as modern as possible, restoring the natural Feng Shui to provide the best environment for comprehending the Yi Shu of heaven and earth.

"Mr. Luo, you're back!"

The secretary seemed to have been waiting in front of the office door for a long time. As soon as she saw him, she immediately came forward.

"The Environmental Sanitation Bureau and the Super Research Institute have both sent us some new information. I need your signature on some documents."

Luo Mingxian looked at the documents in their hands, forced himself to suppress the depressed emotions, and picked up the pen beside him.

Originally, because of Yuan Tiangang's matter, he had no mood to deal with other matters, but as the person in charge, controlling his emotions was a basic requirement.

"What's the news? Give me a brief report."

"The Chao Research Institute has recently discovered new archaeological findings within the Eighteen Tombs of Liangzhou Guanzhong. Currently, no evidence of spiritual remains has been found, but some artifacts related to the Tang Dynasty Immortal Sect have been found, including..."

"The Environmental Sanitation Bureau has submitted a supplementary explanation regarding the accident involving the 'Peach Blossom Spring' crew."

"According to them, a powerful individual named 'Zhou Qing' recently appeared in Liangzhou and assisted the local Environmental Sanitation Bureau in assessing the Peach Blossom Spring case. His performance surpassed the assessment standards of a Transformed God. The capital is already investigating and reviewing the matter, and we need to send several Yishu practitioners to assist."

"Zhou Qing?" This name caught Luo Mingxian's attention.

This name sounds somewhat similar to the "Zhou Wuqing" mentioned by the Taoist priest. Is there any connection between the two?
This thought flashed through his mind. He pinched his brows and tried to calm himself down.

When did I become so reckless as to make inferences based solely on the similarity of names?

But then again, a cultivator who has reached the state of Divine Transformation must be quite old. In addition, Liangzhou is the location of the Jiuli Sect, the successor of the Jiuli Immortal Alliance. Even if the powerful person who appeared in this special place has no direct connection with Zhou Wuqing, there may be some clues.

"Is there any detailed background information on 'Zhou Qing'? I'd like to see it."

"Yes. But according to the regulations of the Beijing headquarters, his background involves confidential information, and it is currently under review. A special approval application is required to review it."

"Draft one now. The reason for the application should be that he is suspected of being related to the Heavenly Master guarding the Tianji Academy, and that you hope to conduct an investigation."

Luo Mingxian thought for a moment, then suddenly continued, "By the way, did the Environmental Sanitation Bureau mention whether that powerful being named Zhou Qing has any medical or body-nurturing techniques or methods?"

"Their report didn't explain anything related to this. It only mentioned that the person had the ability to construct a large-scale spirit gathering technique and possessed extremely high combat capabilities."

That's right. Luo Mingxian sighed in his heart.

Indeed, he was disturbed by the fact that the Heavenly Master was about to die. Whenever he heard a name, he thought that it was the person the Heavenly Master was looking for. Whenever he saw a powerful person, he wondered if he could save the person. It was all a bit unfounded.

Even if we take a step back and put aside all logic, and consider the most extreme and outrageous scenario - assuming that the "Zhou Qing" is really the successor of Zhou Wuqing, or even Zhou Wuqing himself, I am afraid it will not have any specific impact on the current situation of Tianji Academy.

According to Yuan Tiangang's description, Zhou Wuqing was a complete violent man who only cared about killing and not burying. He had almost no experience in medical skills, let alone facing the incurable disease of Tianji Backlash that no one had ever dealt with.

But no matter what, if that Zhou Qing was truly related to Zhou Wuqing, then at least he could fulfill one of Tianshi's century-old wishes, and he could be considered fulfilling his duty as a disciple. He signed the last document and handed it back to the secretary: "Speaking of which, has there been any new response to the call for submissions?"

As early as two years ago, when Yuan Tiangang first showed signs of the five signs of decline, the Tianji Academy had already issued a call for submissions to all units and departments, requesting them to find ways to prolong his life in various fields involved.

In the past two years, he has inquired about the recruitment situation almost every day, and indeed received many replies, including countless people who claimed to be experts in medical skills hired by the Environmental Sanitation Bureau and new medicines developed by the Super Research Institute.

But the final result proved that before the backlash of heaven, these existences seemed extremely pale.

"There is no new response from the department."

The secretary gave the expected answer. Luo Mingxian frowned slightly and said in a more serious tone, "Try again next time. This time, apply to the higher authorities to raise the level of the conscription order to level three."

The secretary nodded in response, but did not turn around and leave. Instead, he continued to stand in front of the desk, his eyes wandering, as if he was unsure about something.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to report?"

"Boss Luo, regarding extending the life of the Heavenly Master"

The secretary hesitated for a moment before continuing, "There's been no response to the internal call for submissions, but the intelligence network recently found information that the Yulu Sect of Qingcheng Mountain has developed a secret recipe for a pill called the Nine-Transformation Pill, which can extend a cultivator's lifespan by approximately ten years."

"The Nine Revolutions Pill of the Yu Lu Sect?" Luo Mingxian was slightly stunned, then lowered his head, his eyes filled with thought.

As early as half a year ago, he had heard similar news.

There are countless elixirs and miraculous medicines in the world of cultivation, and there are many medicines that can whiten the flesh, but there are very few that can bring the dead back to life.

Pills that have the effect of prolonging life are undoubtedly rare treasures among treasures. If converted into RMB, they must be calculated in billions.

When Luo Mingxian first received the news, he was both happy and worried.

The joy was naturally a glimmer of hope. Ten years of life extension wasn't particularly long for a cultivator, but in the mortal realm, it was enough time for China to build an atomic bomb from scratch.

Even ten months, let alone ten years, would be of great significance to the Tianji Academy and the Chinese government. As for the funding issue, if it was just to extend Yuan Tiangang's life, gritting their teeth and spending tens of thousands or even trillions of dollars would not be unacceptable.

But the worrying thing is that the recipe for this pill is in the hands of the Yu Lu Sect!

The Yu Lu Sect originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and has been stationed around Yizhou for more than 800 years. It is also one of the largest sects in the Shu region today, and its scale is comparable to that of the Jiuli Sect in Liangzhou.

But unlike Jiuli, Yulu Sect rarely cooperates with official units in Yizhou. On the contrary, there are occasional minor frictions.

There are no less than a thousand sects of all sizes in China. Only a minority of them openly support the common people like the Jiuli Sect. Most forces maintain a neutral attitude towards the government.

The Yu Lu Sect is this "majority".

It is also because of this that although Tianji Academy has been in the same place with them for decades, Luo Mingxian knows almost nothing about their internal affairs.

The only thing that revealed their attitude was a small thing.

The Yu Lu Sect's cave is located in Qingcheng Mountain in Yizhou. With the unique spiritual vein environment of the mountain, it is home to the growth area of ​​many rare spiritual medicines.

In the more than 800 years since the founding of the sect, they have used this as a basis to discover many secret recipes for elixirs, some of which are specially used by monks, while others can be used by mortals.

In the early days of the Yu Lu Sect, relying on the developed trade system of the Song Dynasty, the sect always secretly set up shops in the mortal world, selling healing pills under the guise of a medical clinic.

That medicine was dozens or even hundreds of times more expensive than ordinary medicine in terms of both efficacy and price, which attracted countless people to sell their property to provide it with incense. As a result, the Yu Lu Sect prospered and expanded its business, which lasted for eight hundred years.

However, after entering the modern era, with the establishment of the official monk system and scientific research institutions represented by the Super Research Institute, it has become possible to grow spiritual plants in greenhouses. At the same time, new medicines produced by modern technology can achieve more than 90% of the efficacy of elixirs, but the price is less than 1% of it. People in need naturally know how to choose.

Since then, the Yu Lu Sect's incense supply has been reduced by nearly 30% for no apparent reason, and there are countless other losses, both large and small.

As the leader of the Yizhou Supernatural System, although Luo Mingxian did not know their specific attitudes and positions, he was clear that they had always been resentful about this.

It was also because of this that when he got the information about the Nine Revolutions Pill, he did not contact the other sect immediately, but put it on hold for half a year.

He originally wanted to pin his hopes on internal units, or at least allies like the Jiuli Sect, but half a year passed and no other hope emerged.

"..You should go and deal with the recruitment order first. I will think about the Yulu Sect issue later."

"Yes."

The assistant accepted the task and walked out the door. Luo Mingxian let out a long breath, flipped his hand, and took out three ancient copper coins from his pocket.

He grasped the copper coin in his hand, mobilized his mind and soul, concentrated his concentrated divine thoughts on it, muttered a few words, and then raised his hand and threw it. The copper coin flew up and fell to the ground, and he picked it up again.

This was repeated six times, and then the three coins fell to the ground together, spinning and revealing the final pattern.

This is the Liu Yao algorithm, one of the most common spells in divination. It is mainly used to predict natural phenomena or natural objects, and the results given are also very brief.

The question he had just asked in divination was "Does the Yu Lu Sect's Nine Revolutions Pill formula really have the effect of prolonging life?", and the divination gave him a revelation that he could not refuse.

He stared at the three copper coins on the table, watching them fall to the ground one by one, and all three sides turned out to be right.

The divination result is auspicious.

(End of this chapter)