Chapter 80

Chen Hai and Zhou Jun returned to Yulong Mountain under the pretext of gaining experience in the mountains, but they did not intend to stay directly by Chen Lie's side to serve.

Chen Hai spent two days in Yulong Prefecture with his uncle Chen Lie, then returned to Huanglong Abyss and reported to Li Xianghai's camp with Zhou Jun; Li Xianghai, in the Yulong Grand Camp, was officially incorporated into the sequence of Chen Lie's Left Marshal Deputy.

At this time, Li Xianghai was promoted to the rank of Commander of the Garrison, overseeing three battalions of six thousand elite troops guarding the southern defense line of Huanglong Abyss.

If the Grand Marshal's General's Office truly intended to launch a military offensive against the He Xiang Army in the near future, Li Xianghai's troops might be one of the first forces to break out of Yulong Mountain and enter Yanchuan Prefecture.

Chen Hai and Zhou Jun would serve as patrol officers under Li Xianghai, mainly assisting him in inspecting the defenses of various strongholds and conducting reconnaissance under the command of the chief patrol officer, Li Hu. They could be considered another elite force that Li Xianghai could call upon at any time, aside from the guard battalion.

The guard battalion, in addition to protecting Li Xianghai's safety in peacetime, also served as the backbone of the offensive and defensive forces during wartime. The newly established patrol battalion in the Yulong Grand Camp could be said to be the eyes and ears of the generals in controlling their troops and conducting reconnaissance, as well as the vanguard force for launching small-scale surprise attacks.

Chen Hai needed to re-familiarize himself with the defenses of the various strongholds near the Daoist Academy of Huanglong Abyss after being away for half a year. It was not until half a month later that he could return to the Medicine Master Garden with Zhou Jun and Wu Meng. He also invited Shen Kun, who had been transferred to the patrol battalion, to return and stay temporarily.

Although Shen Kun had not directly joined the Chen clan, he was naturally regarded as one of Chen Lie's men in the army. His son, Shen Xiu, also advanced and retreated with the disciples of the Medicine Master Garden, and would have the opportunity to directly become a disciple of Chen Lie once the Spirit Sea Secret Palace was opened.

Ge Tong, Zhao Shan, and Zhou Jingyuan had long known that Chen Hai would return that day, and they had been waiting at the mountain pass leading out of Huanglong Abyss. After meeting up, they rode together back to the Medicine Master Garden.

The Medicine Master Garden's stronghold was not yet fully constructed. As Chen Hai and the others galloped over the eastern hills of the Medicine Master Garden, they could see the stronghold and the surrounding villages below, with over a thousand houses already built. They could also see from a distance that the city walls were still being constructed by master builders leading dozens of laborers, who were melting iron sand in large pots and slowly pouring the molten, fiery red iron into the gaps in the walls.

The black sandstone used to build the city walls, although quarried from nearby hills, had a very special property that allowed it to blend perfectly with the cooled iron, making the walls even more solid.

Such sturdy city walls, in the eyes of Su Yuan and others, were still far from sufficient.

The traditional structure of city walls involved building two stone walls and filling the space between them with sand and soil. The base was about seven to eight meters wide, narrowing to about three to four meters at the top, wide enough for two horses to ride side by side.

This traditional method of building a stronghold might withstand attacks from Spirit Realm disciples, but it could not withstand the powerful magical techniques of the Mingqiao Realm cultivators.

The construction of the city was overseen by Chen Su.

Although Chen Su was a direct descendant of Chen Zhang and had already expressed his firm "stance" to Chen Hai, after hearing Zhou Jingyuan's introduction to the construction of the Medicine Master Garden, Chen Hai had to admit that this person indeed had a talent for city construction and engineering, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with such an important task by his uncle Chen Lie.

In addition to using molten iron to reinforce the city, the sand and soil filled between the two stone walls were all transported from two mines by Chen Su, rich in iron content.

Chen Su personally led two Spirit Realm cultivators to use the technique of fiery lava to melt and cool these iron-rich soils layer by layer...

This process seemed very tedious and cumbersome, but when the soil was melted into lava and cooled, it would blend with the stone walls on both sides, continuously increasing the structural strength of the entire stronghold.

The entire process might take several years to complete, but by then, even if a Mingqiao Realm cultivator could easily cut a gap in the city wall, they would not be able to collapse a large section of it.

Regardless of the estrangement and conflicts between Chen Hai and Chen Zhang, and the disdain of people like Chen Qing for Chen Hai, as a rising force, the Zhao Yang Pavilion had many direct descendants and close confidants who were dedicated to making the Medicine Master Garden a fortress.

If Chen Hai had not handed over the Medicine Master Garden, he would not have had the resources and ability to develop it to such a level.

Looking around, Chen Hai could see that the Medicine Master Garden's stronghold, after the planning adjustments, was built with the Snake Den Spirit Pool at its core. The Snake Den Spirit Pool, covering about eighteen acres, mainly collected the spiritual spring water flowing from the Snake Den. In the low-lying valley at the southern end of the stronghold, Chen Su and Zhou Jingyuan had reshaped the terrain to gather rainwater from the surrounding hills, forming a mountain lake of about three to four hundred acres, making the area around the Medicine Master Garden rich in spiritual energy and mist, which was very beneficial for the growth of plants.

In addition to preserving the dense original forests on both sides of the mountain lake, a large number of spiritual herbs and trees had been transplanted to the private gardens of the Medicine Master Garden and the hills on both sides of the mountain lake.

The scale of this medicinal field was a hundred times larger than the one Chen Hai and his companions had opened in the Iron Stream Ridge Daoist Academy. This was clearly only possible with the full efforts of the Zhao Yang Pavilion, which had managed to develop the medicinal field to such a scale in just half a year.

Su Yuan had also brought in two Spirit Realm alchemists to be responsible for the maintenance of the medicinal field and to set up a pill room in the Medicine Master Garden to mass-produce basic pills such as Essence Pill, Spirit Nourishing Pill, and Bone Healing Pill, which were in great demand.

On the defensive side, the Medicine Master Garden was nominally led by Ge Tong, who had just entered the Spirit Realm, but if Chen Qing, Su Ziling, Chen Su, and others were included, there would be at least eight Spirit Realm cultivators available to defend against enemy attacks. This made the Medicine Master Garden a formidable defensive force in the eastern wing of Huanglong Abyss.

Although Chen Su was resentful of Chen Hai and had no intention of ingratiating himself with Chen Hai behind Chen Zhang's back, as the head of the Zhao Yang Pavilion and the general manager of the Medicine Master Garden's stronghold, he had no choice but to climb the eastern hill and welcome this "young lord" who was not so simple.

"I and Zhou Jun are here to gain experience in the army, serving as patrol officers under the command of the Commander of the Garrison at Huanglong Abyss. This time, we need to return to the Medicine Master Garden to select thirty elite troops to assist us. Manager Chen, please go about your business and don't be too formal with me," Chen Hai said coldly, maintaining a distance from Chen Su, though he was wary of Chen Zhang, he did not want to escalate the conflict and did not intend to punish Chen Su again.

"Alright!" Chen Su replied, glanced at Ge Tong, Zhou Jun, Wu Meng, and others behind Chen Hai, and then took his leave.

The newly established patrol battalions in the army, like the guard battalions, were elite forces that could select fierce soldiers from the army or directly employ private troops.

This time, Chen Hai returned to the Medicine Master Garden to select thirty elite troops. In addition to their loyalty to him in battle, he also intended to further cultivate these thirty people as his core elite forces.

However, the defensive forces of the Medicine Master Garden were expanded from Chen Hai's previous core forces and had always been commanded by Ge Tong. Chen Hai's selection of troops to join the army did not require Chen Su's interference.

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The private gardens of the Medicine Master Garden were re-planned and ultimately supervised by Chen Su.

Chen Lie and Chen Qing's residences were not separate and were built to the west of the Snake Den; Chen Hai and Chen Zhang's private gardens were independent and located on either side, close to the Snake Den Spirit Pool, symbolizing their equal status as "young lords"; followed by the private gardens of direct descendants and close confidants such as Xie Quan, Chen Yu, Sun Gan, and Su Yuan, all adjacent to the Snake Den Spirit Pool.

Chen Hai's residence in the eastern garden, which was just a few thatched cottages before he left, had now been transformed into a unique private garden.

A two-story wooden building stood by the cliff, with a courtyard of about one acre in front, surrounded by dense trees and artificial hills.

In addition to incorporating a small part of the Snake Den's water area into the eastern garden, a winding stone stream had been carved to bring the water from the Spirit Pool into the garden. The stone stream was filled with floating lotus and leaping koi, and the banks were covered with fragrant herbs.

The entire eastern garden was like a miniature paradise, thanks to Chen Su's supervision.

Whether practicing in the building, by the stone stream, or by the Spirit Pool, Chen Hai could absorb ample spiritual energy and cultivate his true essence.

Since the water area of the Snake Den was included in the eastern garden, the Snake Den, hidden beneath the Spirit Pool, was essentially Chen Hai's private underground palace. The spiritual energy gathered in the Snake Den was even more concentrated and pure, making it a true treasure for cultivation.

Chen Lie's cultivation place was at the Splash Cloud Cliff, and he only used the residence in the Medicine Master Garden as a secondary residence. Chen Hai not only discovered the Snake Valley but also laid the foundation for the Medicine Master Garden. Based on this alone, Chen Zhang did not have the right to contest the ownership of the Snake Den underground palace.

From the lakeside, stone steps led down into the water, extending step by step to the entrance of the Snake Den.

Chen Hai, unable to open the Spirit Sea Secret Palace and unable to perform even the basic Water Parting Technique, stripped down to his shorts, bared his scarred chest, and slowly submerged into the Spirit Pool, navigating through the cave entrance and reaching the depths of the Snake Den underground palace before surfacing.

The spiritual spring had not completely flooded the Snake Den. When Chen Hai surfaced, he found that there was still a space of about ten meters above the water. He climbed into a stone hollow, took out a flint, and lit a pine resin torch wrapped in oil paper.

Apart from the crackling of the torch and the gentle flow of water, the isolated cave was silent.

The Snake Den was located in the back mountain of the Medicine Master Garden. Although the entire back mountain was only about a hundred meters high, the iron ore layers were rich in cold-patterned iron, making the rock layers abnormally hard, as if the entire cave was cast from iron.

When Wu Meng had used his Spirit Pattern Sword to unleash a sword beam, it could only leave a shallow mark on the rock wall.

Chen Hai, during his cultivation on the Upper Seven Peaks, not only studied the cultivation insights left by his predecessors but also practiced the second level of the Alchemy Cauldron Technique, learning several basic techniques derived from it.

Techniques such as Water Parting, Fire Control, and Object Manipulation required continuous consumption of true essence and magical power to perform, while the Inner Vision technique was a minor skill derived from the enhancement of the six senses.

When Chen Hai entered the Snake Den underground palace, he naturally felt a sense of isolation and silence. He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, using his six senses to perceive his internal organs, and felt that there were four spiritual streams swirling and intertwining in a dim and hazy space within his abdomen.

This was the perception of the four spiritual meridians through the Inner Vision technique, and he needed to open his own Spirit Sea Secret Palace in the dim and hazy space where the four spiritual meridians intertwined and intertwined...