Chapter 656: Agreement with Yuanxu

After Venerable Yuan Xu made his move, Chen Mobai felt at ease. This meant that the Spirit Revival Dew could definitely be refined; it was just a matter of how much time it would take to test the substitute ingredients.

"Since these items were left by our seniors from the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy during their exploration of Pluto, some of the information might require the Book of Dimensions to decipher. I will take them all." Although Venerable Yuan Xu appeared ordinary, his actions were extremely domineering. Upon arriving, he immediately intended to take over the expert group and all the items opened from the blind boxes.

Everyone looked at Venerable Yu Yi, as she was nominally the leader sent by the Immortal Sect.

"I disagree!" Venerable Yu Yi's simple four words created a tense, confrontational atmosphere among everyone present. They were all Nascent Souls; if he suddenly arrived and claimed all the credit, no one would yield. At this point, many people already regretted joining the expert group. No one wanted to get involved in the rivalry between the two Nascent Soul Venerables.

"I recall these items belong to Councilor Chen." Chen Mobai, who was observing from the side, was stunned when he suddenly heard Venerable Yuan Xu say this. What did he mean? Was he trying to make him offend people?

"Yes, but according to the law, these items are crucial to the Immortal Sect's ability to transcend. Therefore, the Immortal Sect has the right of disposal. If you want to take them, at the very least, a vote must be held at the Kaiyuan Hall meeting." Just as Chen Mobai's back was sweating and he was wondering how to speak, Venerable Yu Yi had already taken over the conversation, directly confronting Venerable Yuan Xu. This Venerable was indeed a good person. Chen Mobai recalled what Che Yucheng had said and nodded inwardly. But soon, he realized something else. From the Venerable's words, it seemed that although these items were still his, the right to dispose of them was no longer in his hands. This wasn't right!

"Then let's discuss it at Kaiyuan Hall." After hearing this, Venerable Yuan Xu did not argue further. He simply nodded and agreed to Venerable Yu Yi's suggestion. Among the entire Immortal Sect, the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy held the most power. As its headmaster, if he put in his full effort, he would certainly succeed. Venerable Yu Yi clearly thought of this too, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly. But since she had suggested it, intending to delay and hoping Yuan Xu would avoid trouble, she was now in a difficult position.

"Let's discuss Yu Jirong's items at Kaiyuan Hall, but the rest should remain here." Yuan Xu was also taken aback by these words, not expecting Yu Yi to show him so little respect. "I suspect this bone jade and black liquid are from a high-grade Nether race body, and they are also needed for experimenting with the Asura Dharma form." But since he had decided to intervene, Yuan Xu naturally wanted to secure everything. Apart from the bag of spirit stones, the damaged third-tier flying sword, and the robe, he wanted all the other items.

"Then wait until the results of the Kaiyuan Hall meeting are out, and you can come to retrieve them." Yu Yi said calmly, then gestured for Yi Shao to bring over the two items opened from the black jade box, so that Zhuang Wei and Qiu Chuanhua of the expert group could begin their appraisal. Yi Shao glanced at Venerable Yuan Xu, but according to the Immortal Sect's laws, he still had to obey Yu Yi. At this moment, he deeply regretted why he had publicized the box-opening results; now he was caught in a power struggle between two Nascent Soul Venerables. With a wry smile, Yi Shao placed the Soul-Reaping Flower and Nine-Dragon Locust Horn, preserved in special containers, on the table. He didn't even dare to look at Venerable Yuan Xu again.

"Little Chen, this is your domain, isn't it? Won't you even offer me a cup of tea now that I'm here?" Venerable Yuan Xu, however, ceased arguing. He walked directly up to Chen Mobai and spoke. "Headmaster, please come this way." Chen Mobai had studied at the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy and had even helped Yuan Xu repair puppets under his guidance. He needed to treat him as a student. Under the strange gazes of the expert group, the two walked to the foot of the Jade Phoenix Tree.

Chen Mobai hesitated, then took out his most precious item: the third-tier Enlightenment Tea given to him by Wenren Xuewei. With a pang of reluctance, he brewed a pot. "Oh, this tea..." After drinking it, Yuan Xu exclaimed in surprise, closed his eyes in contemplation for about ten seconds, and then nodded slightly. "It was given by Senior Sister Wenren..." Chen Mobai subtly indicated that this was the best tea he had.

"Although its effect on me doesn't last long, it did help me resolve a minor issue." Venerable Yuan Xu's words surprised Chen Mobai, who immediately recalled the ten seconds earlier, his eyes filled with shock. Could the tea's effect on a Nascent Soul Venerable really be so brief?

"Do you have any requests?" Venerable Yuan Xu suddenly asked a question that confused Chen Mobai, but he quickly realized that Yuan Xu likely wanted the items he had opened from the blind boxes. After all, he had legitimately purchased these items from the Realm Gate Administration. Even if the Immortal Sect wanted to appropriate them, they would have to pay a price that satisfied him; this was stipulated in the law.

"Well... I don't want to toil for over a hundred years to acquire the Nascent Soul spiritual medicine. So, if this Asura Dharma form truly offers another path to forming a Nascent Soul, I hope the Immortal Sect can provide me with a copy after they've thoroughly researched it." Chen Mobai carefully weighed his words, trying to avoid revealing any weakness to Venerable Yuan Xu.

"No problem. If this advanced method of the Nether race can be deciphered, according to the Immortal Sect's laws, it will naturally be made public, and all eligible citizens can download and read it." Venerable Yuan Xu immediately gave his assurance on this point.

"The cultivation of this Asura Dharma form requires Spirit Revival Dew. I am willing to offer the Soul-Reaping Flower and Nine-Dragon Locust Horn, provided that Venerable can give me a complete portion after it is refined." Chen Mobai made another reasonable request. After all, having only the cultivation method would definitely not be enough, and this was his primary goal.

"I've reviewed the elixir formula. With the Immortal Sect's technology, if the trials are successful, ten portions of Spirit Revival Dew can be prepared. One portion for you is not excessive, and I can agree to that." Venerable Yuan Xu was straightforward in his words and actions. Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai finally felt a weight lifted from his heart. Although he still possessed another fifth-tier Soul-Nourishing Wood, he could find other ways to obtain Spirit Revival Dew later. The most critical task now was to help Zhou Shengqing transform into a Dharma-body Nascent Soul. However, hearing Venerable Yuan Xu agree without hesitation, he felt a slight regret, wondering if it would have been fine to ask for two portions directly.

"I also want the bone jade and black liquid." Seeing Chen Mobai fall silent, Venerable Yuan Xu spoke again. Since he intended to research the Asura Dharma form, he naturally wanted to acquire all related items. In addition to these items, all the void blind boxes recovered from Pluto and stored at the Realm Gate Administration had also been transported to the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, awaiting his individual opening.

"Headmaster, as you know, I've made some achievements in puppetry and dream of developing a fourth-tier bionic puppet. So, I hope to acquire a fourth-tier Heaven's Reckoning Pearl to serve as its core for calculations." After some thought, Chen Mobai realized that he was still missing this crucial item for extracting from the Grand Dao Tree.

"A fourth-tier Heaven's Reckoning Pearl, you say... That item is a bit troublesome to craft and would require my personal involvement. I might only have time after thoroughly researching the Asura Dharma form. If you don't mind, I could lend you mine for now." Chen Mobai was tempted by this offer, but upon closer thought, Venerable Yuan Xu's Heaven's Reckoning Pearl would merely be lent to him. If it were recalled later and Yuan Xu discovered traces of the Longevity Sect's great arts stored within it, wouldn't he be completely exposed? For prudence, Chen Mobai still shook his head and refused. He stated that he wasn't accustomed to using other people's items and preferred to wait for the headmaster to have time to craft a new one.

"Then it's settled. When the Kaiyuan Hall assembly takes place, you will stand beside me and enter with me." After Venerable Yuan Xu finished speaking, Chen Mobai nodded in agreement. He had originally only intended to use these items to obtain one portion of Spirit Revival Dew, not expecting the unexpected gain of a fourth-tier Heaven's Reckoning Pearl. The word "content" could perfectly describe his current mood. However, after the two reached an agreement, Chen Mobai felt Venerable Yu Yi's gaze seem to dart towards him. He could only lower his head and pretend not to notice. The Spirit Revival Dew was simply too important to him. And in the entire Immortal Sect, no one's intervention offered greater certainty than Venerable Yuan Xu's, so he had merely made the safest and most sensible choice.

After their agreement, the very next day, Chen Mobai received a message from the Kaiyuan Hall Rotation Committee, summoning him to Wangwu Grotto-heaven for an impromptu assembly. Not just him, but everyone in the expert group also received this news. Venerable Yu Yi remained calm. After instructing everyone to carefully preserve their items, she led the expert group back to Wangwu Grotto-heaven.

Seven days later, despite some minor commotions, Venerable Yuan Xu, relying on the deep influence of the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, suppressed all dissenting voices and took all the items into his own laboratory. One reason for this was that Wang Shuye had consulted Chen Mobai and, after confirming his voluntary agreement with Venerable Yuan Xu, did not allow anyone from the Martial Artifact Dao Academy to obstruct the process. The Four Great Dao Academies were deeply entrenched in the Immortal Sect. After Heaven-Mending and Martial Artifact Dao Academy reached an understanding, the matter was essentially settled.

After the meeting, Chen Mobai had planned to catch up with Qing Nu or Meng Huang'er, but Venerable Yuan Xu unexpectedly took him directly back to Xixuan Grotto-heaven.

"You've mastered the 'Phoenix Ascending to the Sun Diagram,' so your openings have auspicious blessings. You handle these." In the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy's laboratory, Venerable Yuan Xu pointed to the seventeen void blind boxes sent by the Realm Gate Administration and spoke to Chen Mobai. Chen Mobai's incredible luck, having opened the Asura Dharma form from a void blind box, naturally aroused suspicion throughout the Immortal Sect. After learning that he had "perched on the phoenix tree" and mastered the first layer of the 'Phoenix Ascending to the Sun Diagram,' everyone accepted this explanation. Wang Shuye even boasted that he had assigned Danxia City to Chen Mobai specifically with this in mind. He firmly believed that with Chen Mobai's potential for Spirit Transformation, he would certainly be able to achieve things with the Jade Phoenix Tree that even Patriarch Yuanyang had not. The auspicious blessings were real, so Chen Mobai wasn't afraid of his reputation collapsing. With a calm expression, he helped open the seventeen void blind boxes.

Of these, twelve yielded virtually nothing. However, in the other five, they found bone-jade-like substances, some dark gold metal weapons, and dark blue feathers, among other things. The greatest gains, however, came from two other "set" blind boxes, which contained dozens of different spiritual plants, minerals, and so on. Two Golden Core cultivators sent by the Immortal Sect to Pluto had excellently completed their mission, collecting plant and mineral specimens from that planet. These items would allow the Immortal Sect to roughly simulate Pluto's climate, environment, and other conditions.

"I wonder if any of these specimens contain the materials mentioned in the Spirit Revival Dew elixir formula that are not available to the Immortal Sect..." Venerable Yuan Xu, wearing gloves, carefully took a golden leaf into his palm. Hearing his words, Chen Mobai felt a little guilty. But he was quickly drawn by the golden lines that emerged from Venerable Yuan Xu's left eye.

The research began. On the giant screen on the laboratory wall, a three-dimensional model of the golden leaf appeared, with every vein exquisitely clear. To Chen Mobai's astonishment, the leaf was decomposed into millions of light particles, and then strings of data code began to appear on the screen. Under the control of Venerable Yuan Xu's Book of Dimensions, they transformed into the linguistic conventions of the Immortal Sect, translating and analyzing all the leaf's characteristics. Besides Venerable Yuan Xu, there were many Golden Core cultivators in the laboratory researching each primary and auxiliary ingredient for the Spirit Revival Dew, comparing them against all available Immortal Sect materials to see if any substitutes with similar properties existed. Additionally, a fourth-tier alchemist used a very fine needle to take a small sample from the Soul-Reaping Flower and Nine-Dragon Locust Horn, beginning to analyze the composition of these two main ingredients to see if they could be artificially synthesized or cloned using the Five Elements essence. After the characteristics of the two main ingredients were analyzed, Chen Mobai also saw various medicinal properties from the Immortal Sect's side transform into data streams, beginning virtual elixir refining within the screen. This was a feature of Venerable Yuan Xu's Book of Dimensions: it could virtually refine elixirs, forge artifacts, synthesize materials, and so on, specifically for research, greatly saving resources. Even so, as Chen Mobai watched the repeated failures, the constant substitution of ingredients, and the tedious experimental process on the screen, a deep respect for the researchers welled up within him. He, for one, couldn't endure such work.

After watching for two days and realizing he couldn't offer any help, Chen Mobai left Xixuan Grotto-heaven and returned to his Danxia City. However, thanks to this matter, Venerable Yuan Xu had arranged for him a research assistant's pass under his own name, allowing him to travel between Xixuan Grotto-heaven and Danxia City. However, he still needed to report to Kaiyuan Hall in advance each time he visited.

After Chen Mobai returned to Danxia City, Che Yucheng called him. Chen Mobai truthfully recounted what he had witnessed at the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy and then asked how the Spirit Revival Dew would be distributed if it were successfully refined, apart from his own portion. He was thinking about whether he could find a way to get another portion in the future.

"Each of the Four Great Dao Academies will receive one portion, and the rest will belong to the Immortal Sect." Che Yucheng described a straightforward distribution method, and Chen Mobai nodded in understanding.

Facts proved that Venerable Yuan Xu lived up to his grand reputation. After waiting for a year in Danxia City, Chen Mobai finally received his call. The first portion of Spirit Revival Dew had been successfully prepared. Yuan Xu asked Chen Mobai if he wanted to take it immediately or store it. Without hesitation, Chen Mobai personally set off for Xixuan Grotto-heaven that very night and took possession of this Immortal Sect-adapted version of the Spirit Revival Dew.