Master of Ten Thousand Foxes

Whew...

The cold wind blows, yellow sand fills the sky.

Bai Mo and his fox apprentices stand together, watching as ahead of them in this pit, the Big Mouth Flower excavators take a gulp of soil, revealing the shapes of large pieces of machinery buried in the earth.

The foxes don’t know what these things are.

After all, they’ve never seen them before.

But the master’s expression is very serious!

That means it must be something good!

"Ying ying ying!"

"Aow aow aow!"

They throw away the shovels, grab brushes and brooms from the side, and rush into the pit one by one, "aow aow" shouting joyfully, further cleaning the newly unearthed production line machinery!

Bai Mo stands by the pit, seeing a double-layered bronze slot, a hundred meters long and a hundred meters wide, almost like a swimming pool, gradually shedding its shell of dirt under the excavator’s tracks and the Big Mouth.

Seeing a spiraled hollow bronze tube, it looks like a condenser tube from a laboratory, but as thick as a chimney.

Seeing a broken tower, at least a dozen layers high, each layer structured like a steaming basket.

And these barrels and slots, each bronze tube, each strange shaped tower... are just the tip of the iceberg. The pit remains under excavation, the excavators continuously bowing to sip the soil, the pit broadening, with more and more facilities and machinery emerging!

These facilities are very practical, their surfaces bear no complex patterns, only etched with various functional markings like written instructions, stick figures, arrows, circulation diagrams, and scale lines seen everywhere.

"This appearance... looks like it’s not cheap stuff!

"Even if it’s an old model, obsolete items, how cheap could it be?"

Whirr...

A small cart stops behind Bai Mo.

The black bracelet on the cart raises a stack of copper plates, jubilantly rushing down!

"Ying ying ying!

"Aow aow aow!"

The bronze mask floats on the side, also beaming with joy!

It carries the foxes along, to unseal a secret document from the Marquis!

Bai Mo’s attention is all on these pieces of machinery, actually not keen on looking at the document.

But since they’re still excavating below, with dust flying, it’s inconvenient to go down there, might as well look at the document first.

He sits down cross-legged, pats the black bracelet’s head, and picks up a copper plate.

Seeing that the document is in excellent condition, perfectly preserved, the writing clear.

[Really spent a lot of money!]

[The Pill Palace’s fifty years of savings, all went into this!]

[These years, saving and scrimping, all that was saved, with one quiver, all gone!]

Ah?

Really?

Such coincidence?

Bai Mo looks at the black bracelet, "Where was this excavated from?"

The black bracelet points off to a distance from the pit, gesturing.

"Ying ying ying, aow aow aow ying ying..."

Bai Mo watches for a while, suddenly understanding.

"Is this the office the Marquis established at the Elixir Skin Workshop?

"Then excavating this, indeed isn’t surprising."

He nods, continuing to look at the document.

[Not only the savings of the Pill Palace were used]

[All the resources I’ve accumulated as a Celestial Immortal over a thousand years, were basically used up]

[Those years slaying the Fallen Immortal, earning a lot from their hoards, didn’t hand it in, saved quite many treasures, thought I somewhat counted as a rich woman]

[Starting the Elixir Skin Workshop, in one tremor, I became a poor woman]

Bai Mo grins, flipping the copper plate over.

[With this, the Pill Palace is nearly in an impoverished state]

[The most beautiful Palace Master of the Pill Palace, also returns to an impoverished state]

[It’s foreseeable that in the coming decades, the days of the Pill Palace might not be easy]

[Actually, within the Elixir Industry System, Cyan Moon Pill Palace has no industrial advantage, our resources are not enough, manpower is not enough, alchemists’ standards are mediocre, the risk of failing the elixir skin is high, the chances of success are slim, a little carelessness might end in a messy way, leaving a lot of chaos]

[For the coming decades, we have to live in struggle and anxiety, not sure if I can even get a good night’s sleep]

[If I don’t sleep well, will my skin get rough? Will my beauty be compromised?]

Bai Mo twitches his mouth, confirming, this copper plate is genuine, no one else could write such words!

[But no matter how difficult the start, no matter how slim the hope, we must conduct high-end industries]

[Having high-end industries, doing well in high-end industries, earning more resources, is where the hope for resurgence lies!]

[Cyan Moon Pill Palace cannot always be the lowest tier Pill Palace, one day, we will rise, and become a mid-level Pill Palace, an upper-tier Pill Palace, even a Holy Land]

[Perhaps through all my life’s struggles and toil, that day will never come]

[But after my death, my flame will not extinguish, my Pill Palace will still be on this earth, all my disciples will continue working hard]

[Generation after generation, passing the flame, perhaps hundreds, perhaps thousands of years later, the name of Cyan Moon Pill Palace will finally resound on this earth, the descendants then will worship my plaque, recite my name, and tell the world that this glory, all began with me]

Whew...

The mountain wind roars, sweeping in waves of yellow sand.

Bai Mo brushes off the sand from his shoulders, glances again at the copper plate.

Suddenly feeling, perhaps the Marquis wasn’t simply stingy...

"She also has ideals.

"She’s thrifty here, cuts costs there, just wanting to manage the Pill Palace better?

"If I were to manage the Pill Palace, perhaps, I too would calculate carefully, also be thrifty?"

Bai Mo chuckles to himself, tucking the copper plate away.

Seeing in the pit, the excavators have already moved farther away.

The first batch of facilities and machinery, already cleaned by the apprentices.

He calls over the black bracelet.