"I have to quickly notify the family and send people to Huayu City to establish a chamber of commerce. If it's too late, others will grab the initiative." Gao Weihu said in a buzzing voice.
"Brother Gao, your injury has healed and the scar doesn't hurt anymore?" Mu Hanyan didn't expect Gao Weihu to still be obsessed with the family's interests at this time, and couldn't help but remind him.
Gao Weihu was slightly startled and stopped.
"No matter what, I am a descendant of the Gao family after all. Even if he is unkind to me, I can only be unjust to him, but not to the Gao family." Gao Weihu then said firmly.
Mu Hanyan gave Gao Weihu a deep look. It might sound a bit pedantic, but it coincided with her own beliefs. After all, it was only certain Gao clan members with whom she had conflicting interests who wanted him dead, not the entire clan. Gao Weihu had just escaped death, yet he hadn't turned his anger against his clan and remained loyal to them. This made Mu Hanyan think even more highly of him.
"Brother Gao, don't worry. Just focus on improving your cultivation first. I promise you that your Gao family will have a place in the city's Chamber of Commerce." Mu Hanyan promised.
She knew very well that with the rare herbs and medicinal plants all over the mountains, Huayu City had an inexhaustible supply of alchemy materials. Coupled with the alchemy skills of Wu Yizi and Zhou Jilin, and the full cooperation of the Gu Tang and Feng families, Huayu City's supply of elixirs was naturally endless.
Perhaps it wouldn't be long before Huayu City became known as the Alchemy City, renowned for its elixirs, much like Lingyu City, renowned for its array formations, earned the nickname "Array City." Of course, with Wen Gaoren's arrival and Duan Cheng'an's death, Lingyu City was no longer the "Array City" it once was, and that title might very well fall to Huayu City as well.
In short, the prosperity of Huayu City at that time would definitely not be inferior to any of the main cities of the Twelve Temples. If we seize the business opportunity now, we will surely make huge profits in the future.
Giving Gao Weihu a promise is to make him feel at ease.
"Then thank you very much, High Priest." Gao Weihu said to Mu Hanyan gratefully.
This gratitude was due, firstly, to Mu Hanyan's promise, and secondly, to her understanding of him. This kind of loyalty to family, even the persistence to remain true to one's original aspirations despite being betrayed and hurt, was not something that everyone could understand.
"Xia Xin, immediately designate these mountains as forbidden areas and assign people to strictly guard them. No one is allowed to set foot in." Mu Hanyan made a prompt decision and said to An Xia Xin.
In the past, even with these exotic flowers and plants covering the mountains, Mu Hanyan would have been helpless, staring blankly at them without enough staff to oversee them. However, now with over a hundred priests, nearly a thousand guards ready to become priests, and the powerful and skilled Mu family, Mu Hanyan no longer had to worry about manpower. Even the other civilians, after the last fierce battle with the bandits, were now full of blood and ready to fight.
"Yes, sir." An Xiaxin immediately began to make arrangements.
In the next few days, Mu Hanyan put all her energy into these herbs. She sent people to collect them and summoned Wu Zhou and Gu Tang and Feng's families to work together to refine the elixir.
The entire Huayu City was filled with the rich fragrance of flowers and plants, mixed with a faint scent of elixir.
With these pills, the temple recruited priests faster. From time to time, one could hear the ecstatic cheers of the entire clan, young and old, after a commoner's son became a priest.
The Huayu Chamber of Commerce, which was managed by Zhu Yulan, was also officially opened. The first product it sold was of course elixirs. It was not a good idea to always rely on Mu Hanyan to pay for it. The temple still had to have its own income.
After finishing all this, Mu Hanyan began to prepare to subdue the spiritual fire of heaven and earth for Wu Yizi and others.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of miles away, a carriage drove into the Temple of Life. Zhao Xinghu, wearing a bright robe of the punishment priest but covered with wounds, jumped out of the carriage, his mouth twitching in pain.
"Mu Hanyan, I will make you pay the price. I will make you die without a burial place!" Zhao Xinghu roared in his heart, dragging his tired body and stepped into the towering gate of the temple.
Passing through the deep and solemn corridor, Zhao Xinghu came to the side hall where the right priest handled temple affairs with ease.
Behind the low table, Zhao Xinghong, the right priest of the Temple of Life, was flipping through the files in his hands. He didn't even raise his head when he heard footsteps. From the familiar rhythm of the steps, it was not difficult for him to tell who the person was.
"I'm back. How's it going?" Zhao Xinghong asked. Compared to Zhao Xinghu, he was much taller, but the sinister look on his face was as if they were cut from the same mold. Yet, he exuded a more awe-inspiring majesty than Zhao Xinghu.
"Brother..." Zhao Xinghu's legs went weak and he fell to his knees, his voice filled with tears.
"Xinghu, what's wrong with you?" Zhao Xinghong was startled, and then he moved his eyes away from the file and asked Zhao Xinghu with concern.
Because Zhao Xinghu had no ambition since childhood and became addicted to alcohol and lust after he grew up, he lost the opportunity to inherit the position of head of the family early on and posed no threat to Zhao Xinghong. Therefore, the relationship between the two brothers was very good, unlike other descendants of the family who fought for power and even became enemies.
"Brother, you have to make the decision for me." Zhao Xinghu's nose felt sore and he shed a line of tears.
"What's going on? Get up and tell me slowly." Zhao Xinghong pulled him up from the ground.
Zhao Xinghu unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a dense row of whip marks on his back. Although he had taken elixirs on the way back and recuperated for several days, the wounds had not yet fully healed and were still shocking to look at.
"Divine Punishment Whip, who is so bold as to treat my Zhao family members with such cruel torture?" Zhao Xinghong's eyes twitched heavily and he shouted angrily.
The Divine Punishment Whip was specifically used to punish temple priests who had committed crimes. Ordinary people simply couldn't withstand the force of the law of death within it. However, even for a highly skilled priest, a single blow from it would leave skin and flesh lacerated and wounded, leaving the bones visible, causing excruciating pain.
In fact, because the flogging punishment was too cruel, the punishment priests would consider it over and over again when sentencing. As long as the person did not commit a serious crime, it would usually be just a few lashes or ten lashes. However, looking at the injuries on Zhao Xinghu's body, he was actually whipped a hundred times!
Zhao Xinghu went to the Huayu Temple to investigate Xiang Qiuzhan's identity. Of course, he knew about this, but he found it hard to believe that the Huayu Temple had the courage to impose such a severe punishment on the Priest of Punishment of the Temple of Life, and this Priest of Punishment was actually his, Zhao Xinghong's, younger brother.
He even suspected that Zhao Xinghong had offended the high priests of the other four higher temples and received a severe lesson from them. While his position as Right Priest was useful in the Temple of Life, if Zhao Xinghong accidentally offended the high priests of the higher temples such as Death, Light, Frozen, and Earth, they might not give him face.
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