An hour later, w.a.n.g Hou slowly opened his eyes to find a face that was so handsome one could not help feeling jealous of.

“You're awake, Minister w.a.n.g?”

Jiang He grinned. “Your talent is really enviable—you've gained instant enlightenment just from a look at the tea leaves of the Elder Tree of Enlightenment. Your aura has changed a lot as well, and it seems that you've gained a lot of good out of this.”

“Quite.”

w.a.n.g Hou replied humbly, having almost been embarra.s.sed from the flattery. Still, the shock on his face was hardly concealable, and he turned to look at the tea leaf again and asked, “Jiang He, is that the Tea of Enlightenment? It is truly extraordinary that a single tea leaf contains the essence of martial arts.”

He rose to his feet, offering Jiang He a fist-palm salute and bowing so deeply he almost touched ground.

Jiang He quickly stopped him. “What are you doing, Minister w.a.n.g? This is really unnecessary…”

Even so, w.a.n.g Hou directed his qi to knock Jiang He away, and only got up a dozen seconds later. “Thank you, Jiang He,” he said. “I may have cultivated in the Star Map for a hundred years to reach Paragon in martial arts, but the path beyond is a mystery. This enlightenment, however, has revealed to me how I should proceed on the path of martial arts.”

“Oh?”

Jiang He's eyes lit up, and he could not help ask, “Does that mean you could become immortal through the martial path?”

“No.”

w.a.n.g Hou shook his head and replied, “The martial path is the martial path. Why become immortal? Moreover, the martial path is not weaker than immortal arts, and I believe that one could move heaven and earth when they cultivate martial arts to its limits.”

“Bold!”

Jiang He laughed and said, “Have a cup of tea, Minister w.a.n.g.”

The tea had cooled, but the water had not been changed.

It was tea brewed from the Tea Leaf of Enlightenment, after all—would it not be a waste to change it?

w.a.n.g Hou hence downed the entire cup of tea, glugging as he finished it in a single breath. Dao aura began swirling around him after he was done drinking and he appeared to be gaining another instant enlightenment soon, but he quickly repressed that profound sensation to smile apologetically at Jiang He, saying, “Sorry. Ever since I returned from the Star Map, gaining instant enlightenment has become much easier.'

Is he showing off in front of me now?

Jiang He appeared perplexed and asked, “Why don't you reach enlightenment first? We could talk later.”

“Doesn't matter.”

“Let's talk business, and I'll seek my enlightenment later.”

w.a.n.g Hou waved him off.

That tone…

It was as if to him, 'instant enlightenment' was just like having a meal, when other average Joes could hardly gain twice of those in a lifetime.

In truth, w.a.n.g Hou was thinking…

Since he could gain instant enlightenment easily in the first place, wouldn't he be able to do so at a whim with Jiang He's tea leaves?

As such, he carefully retrieved the tea leave in the bottom of the teacup, a scene reminiscent of Cheng Dongfeng collecting empty bottles. Unable to help laughing, Jiang He said, “Hu Mei, go get some more leave leaves for Minister w.a.n.g.”

“No, Jiang He.”

Minister w.a.n.g quickly refused, saying, “I should only be afforded just one, since it's such valuable item…”

Still, even before he finished, he heard Jiang He said, “By the way, Hu Mei, get more leaves to brew one big kettle of tea for Dumbo and the others.”

With that, he turned towards w.a.n.g Hou and smiled, “What were you saying, Minister w.a.n.g?”

w.a.n.g Hou was dumbstruck.

s.h.i.+fting the topic, he said, “We have come to a decision regarding the Immortal Arts Academy. Also, it seems that the Jiuhua Sect intends to spread their teachings as well. So, I discussed things with the Jiuhua Sect, the Taixu Sect and the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, and all of them agreed that we should build the academy in Lingzhou City.”

“Eh?”

Jiang He exclaimed in surprise. “Is there a place in Lingzhou City to build an Immortal Arts Academy?”

“We intend to build it at Mount Dadong. It's not far from Lingzhou City, and the roads linked to it are quite smooth without serious damage. We just have to repair a road connecting Mount Dadong to Yuzhen, and with help from the military and the three immortal sects, we could finish construction of the Immortal Arts Academy in half a month.”

“Also, I intend to rebuild Yuzhen—for one, it would allow the disciples and families of the Immortal Arts Academy to have a place to rest. Secondly, the soil near Yuzhen is quite fertile. Even if hills surround it and we can't direct the rivers to water the soil, we don't have to worry about it since the Immortal Arts Academy is built on Mount Dadong… in times of famine, we just need the elites of the three sects to summon rain.”

w.a.n.g Hou slowly revealed all his plans to Jiang He.

Clearly, he was planning for the long term.

Jiang He nodded in agreement. “I could contribute to building the Immortal Arts Academy as well. I'll be donating 500,000 spirit stones to the academy, and one immortal item with a primary function of training disciples. It could be kept at the Immortal Arts Academy during normal days and help the disciples ascend and cultivate.”

Jiang He was referring to the White Jade Tower.

Delighted, w.a.n.g Hou offered his thanks and said, “By the way, there's another thing—you are definitely going to take the post of the Immortal Arts Academy's director.”

Before Jiang He could refuse, w.a.n.g Hou added, “The Hua Nation has only recently promoted immortal arts, and we don't even have a Golden Pellet disciple. Moreover, you're just taking the post nominally, since there would be people who handle the trifle stuff.”

“Alright.”

Jiang He agreed with a pained smile. “I just think that having a newbie cultivator like me is quite embarra.s.sing.”

“What the heck?”

w.a.n.g Hou shot him a glare, while Jiang He groaned, “I'm just speaking facts. It's been less than four months since I studied immortal arts, so wouldn't I be a newbie from the perspective of time?”

Hah!

w.a.n.g Hou laughed weirdly but said nothing.

Inwardly, however, he was cursing…

Newbie cultivator?

Are you really that shameless?

After that, Jiang He and w.a.n.g Hou discussed the Star Map.

w.a.n.g Hou held nothing back, and revealed truthfully, “Right now, I can only activate a part of the Star Map's function… moreover, I have the feeling that the Star Map has a owner, and it was not controlled solely because the owner is too far from the Star Map. I'm afraid that the owner might be an ancient superior being with a frightening cultivation, which is why completely controlling the Star Map is a little impossible.”

“Still, it's not exactly impossible….”

Jiang He mused to himself and asked, “Minister w.a.n.g, could you shrink the Star Map?”

w.a.n.g Hou shook his head and said, “Not right now… unless I improve to the next level and controlled more of the Star Map's authority.”

“That's a pity.”

If the Star Map could be shrunk, Jiang He could try planting it in his farm. That might free the Star Map from the former owner's control, although that Star Map would become his instead of w.a.n.g Hou's.

“Minister w.a.n.g, I know that Mars was an ancient s.p.a.ce relay station with many warp portals built on it. Now that I've accidentally blown up Mars, the immortals could show up where that planet once was, so I hope you could keep an eye out and give me a heads up if you notice that the immortals have returned.”

“Of course.”

w.a.n.g Hou smiled. “The immortals should be welcomed when they return.”

Welcomed?

Jiang He blinked.

I think you misunderstood me—I want to ambush them, striking preemptively to kill the immortals who have a grudge against me…