Chapter Sixty: Journey to the Northeast

"How is the Azure Dragon doing right now?"

Sitting at his desk, Meng Fan twirled a pen, glanced at a file on the table, and casually asked Gao Dazhuang.

The corner of Gao Dazhuang's mouth twitched. "Doing quite well. It's been kept by Feng Baobao and is even competing with the Wolf Guards for food."

".........?"

"Competing with the Wolf Guards for food?"

Isn't that practically the same as competing with dogs for food?

A head of dark lines appeared on Meng Fan's forehead. Please, you are a dragon! How could you do something so lacking in dignity? This is probably the most humiliating dragon to ever exist.

"The Azure Dragon..."

Meng Fan stopped midway, his expression painful as he rubbed his face. "Forget it, let it be. Tell Feng Baobao not to actually treat it like a dog."

"The development of mythological creatures has now reached its first bottleneck stage. The successful modification of the Azure Dragon means we now possess the capability to modify other varieties of mythological creatures."

"Therefore, moving forward, we can temporarily hold back on quantity and focus on elevating the 'quality' of the Azure Dragon first."

"Elevate the quality? How?" Gao Dazhuang asked with a puzzled expression.

"I'm not saying it needs to be able to overturn oceans and summon wind and rain like the dragons in myths and legends, but at the very least, it should be able to ride the mists and clouds. Coupled with the Azure Dragon's current innate ability to shrink and grow at will, and its barely passable command over thunder and lightning, it will essentially have the embryonic form of a true dragon."

"You mean to gradually bestow upon it the divine powers it rightfully deserves?"

Meng Fan nodded and said, "Next, I need to make a trip to the Northeast to visit the immortal families there. Old Gao, your Gao family has strong connections in the Northeast, and I need you to bridge the gap for me."

"Understood. But are you planning to meet those old immortals in person?"

"Of course. Is there a problem?" Meng Fan raised his head and looked at him.

Gao Dazhuang tried to dissuade him, saying, "Tian-Gong, your status does not allow you to put yourself in personal danger. Those immortal families have lived for hundreds or thousands of years, and their tempers and dispositions are unpredictable. If anything were to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to take the responsibility!"

Meng Fan waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. I'll just bring Silver Dollar, Fortune, and Treasure along. With their combat prowess, protecting me will be more than enough."

After thoroughly researching the growth-suppression genes, Meng Fan had made adjustments to all six of his pets, enabling them all to use the ability of size manipulation at will.

Coupled with Meng Fan's years of tempering their bodies through the art of beast-taming, the six pets, while perhaps not matching the perfection of ultimate biological entities like Chaos, were nonetheless quite extraordinary.

Meng Fan had once returned to Yue Huyuan's side, where Treasure stepped up and fought a match against Yue Huyuan. The result was that Yue Huyuan's full-body tiger-form *Qi* fought to a dead standstill with the giant cat transformed by Treasure, which was as fierce as a tiger.

Although Treasure did not have the upper hand in terms of techniques, Yue Huyuan was aging after all, and facing such an undying little powerhouse, he eventually ran out of stamina.

Moreover, Treasure's claws were exceptionally sharp. Yue Huyuan could strike Treasure thirty times without doing a single thing, completely failing to break its defense, but a single scratch from Treasure was something Yue Huyuan could not endure.

It directly shattered Yue Huyuan's entire tiger-form *Qi*.

Even Yue Huyuan could not help but sigh, "The country produces talented generations, each leading the fashion for hundreds of years. I am old; I am truly old."

Despite Gao Dazhuang's repeated attempts to dissuade him, Meng Fan insisted on going.

"Old Gao, I must make this trip to the Northeast in person. It concerns my subsequent plans. I need to figure out the secretive connections between those immortal families and the offerings of incense and worship, as well as the cultivation techniques of the immortal families themselves. These will provide a tremendous boost to my upcoming research."

Hearing this, Gao Dazhuang stuttered in astonishment, "This... this, you're trying to uproot the foundations of those immortal families! The immortals up in the Northeast surely won't hand that over."

Meng Fan sneered softly, "I know they certainly won't want to give it up, but I didn't intend to beg them with a low profile this time anyway."

Immediately after, a dangerous glint reflected in Meng Fan's eyes as he said quietly, "If they don't give it, can't I just take it? If they refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, don't forget times have changed."

"At worst, I'll just let Chaos take a walk."

***

In the end, Gao Dazhuang accompanied Meng Fan to the Northeast.

On the way, while driving, Gao Dazhuang said, "Tian-Gong, if you wish to see the Five Great Immortal Families, we inevitably have to come into contact with the Guan family."

"Our Gao family worships the Wolf Immortal, which isn't considered part of the orthodox lineages. Furthermore, the Wolf Immortal has always acted alone, and its relationship with the Five Great Immortal Families isn't very good."

"The person we are visiting this time is my fourth aunt—my fourth uncle's wife. She belongs to the Guan family and currently manages a major spirit hall for them. As for my fourth uncle, he has lacked the talent for practicing *Qi* since childhood, so he has always done business here in the Northeast."

Meng Fan looked at the snow scenery outside the car window and nodded.

It had to be said that winter in the Northeast was indeed cold. Even though Meng Fan wore a thick cotton-padded jacket and the car's heater was on, he still instinctively tucked the flower fox ferret, Silver Dollar, around his neck like a scarf to keep the cold wind from blowing in.

He also self-taught the habit of folding both hands inside his sleeves.

The spirit hall belonging to Gao Dazhuang's fourth aunt was located in an unassuming village right beside the mountains. However, when the car parked at the entrance, a very eye-catching three-story Western-style cottage could be seen nearby—perhaps villa was a more appropriate description for it.

Stepping into the courtyard, the interior was exquisitely decorated. Meng Fan inadvertently noticed several specific items placed with extreme ingenuity.

From the perspective of *Feng Shui*, this courtyard had been guided by an expert. He just didn't know whether the person behind it was one of those immortal families or some other *Feng Shui* master they had hired.

"Big Brother Dazhuang?"

"Why are you here? You didn't even give a heads-up before coming?"

A young-looking woman slapped her thigh and hurriedly ushered Gao Dazhuang and Meng Fan into the house.

Stepping inside, the two saw numerous immortal figures enshrined within. Aside from the orthodox Fox, Yellow Weasel, White, Willow, and Grey, there were also the Python and Boa Immortals, as well as the Qingfeng and Yanhun spirits.

The four beams and eight pillars were completely齐全 (comprehensive).

At the top, the presiding Hall Master was the "Direct-Heaven Beam," namely the Hall Master and the chief boss who suppressed the venue. Since this was the Guan family's spirit hall, naturally, the Fox Immortal was enshrined.

Below were ten departmental branch hall masters: Sweeping Hall, Pressing Hall, Transmitting Hall, Supervising Hall, Guarding Hall, Sitting Hall, Receiving Hall, Encirclement Hall, Feng Shui Hall, and Medical Hall.

In addition to these, there were two kings managing the military camp: the Leading Troops King and the Receiving Troops King; the chief reporting horse and the chief protector: the Grand Reporting Horse and the Grand Protector.

Ten department-managing envoys: Penetrating Heaven, Detecting Earth, Breaking Passes, Detecting Troops, Joining Troops, Array Deployment, Encircling Wealth, Delivering Virtue, Executing Orders, and Bestowing Laws.

Camp personnel of the commander: Four commander camp boys accompanied the Grand Hall Master closely—Order-Holding Boy, Seal-Holding Boy, Flag-Holding Boy, and Sword-Holding Boy!

Furthermore, there were eight great protective vajra figures, two body-guarding reporting horses, and two hall-running boys.

The Hu, Huang, Mang, Chang, and various ghost-medical halls each required one enshrined master, two vice-masters, five marshals, a number of generals, and at the end of the roster, the ghost hall also needed to enshrine one to five Yin-penetrating boys!

Gao Dazhuang introduced them to Meng Fan like reciting family treasures, making Meng Fan's head spin a little.

All he could say was that it truly deserved to be a major spirit hall enshrined by the Guan family—it was simply too complete!