Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 607: Chapter 511: Ice Heart Fruit Obtained

After successfully concocting the Bone Strengthening Pill, Yang Zhenshan selected a few commonly seen elixirs in the Postnatal Realm to further practice his skills.

With the experience of making the Bone Strengthening Pill, concocting other elixirs became much simpler for Yang Zhenshan. Usually, it only took one or two attempts to succeed.

In reality, making elixirs isn’t difficult, as long as one strictly follows the elixir recipe and operates with great care and precision, success is achievable.

The truly challenging part is gathering the ingredients required for making the elixirs.

Elixirs used in the Postnatal Realm are mostly Treasure Medicines, and for mid to low-level Martial Artists in the Postnatal Realm, even a single Treasure Medicine is extremely rare.

The reason Yang Zhenshan can afford such extravagance is because he has the Spiritual Spring Space. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t even think of using Treasure Medicines just for practice.

Yang Zhenshan is truly not lacking in Treasure Medicines.

As time entered September, the handling and outcomes related to the Star Origin Fruit Tree had spread throughout worldly society. Although these matters didn’t concern the vast majority of Martial Artists, that didn’t prevent them from relishing in the discussion.

The eventual outcome of the Cui Xia Valley and the Star Origin Fruit Tree may seem no different from that of Sanshan Valley, but in fact, it had a significant impact on the Da Rong’s worldly society.

The main impact was due to the emergence of the Star Origin Fruit Tree, Innate Martial Artists no longer remained as mysterious and low-profile in the worldly society as before.

Previously, Innate Martial Artists rarely made public appearances, and while many in the worldly society acknowledged their existence, the number of people who had actually seen an Innate Martial Artist was scarce.

However, the incident at Cui Xia Valley seemed to have torn off the veil of mystery surrounding Innate Martial Artists, presenting them openly before the public eye.

Also due to the incident at Cui Xia Valley, those Innate Martial Artists stopped hiding away, no longer secluding themselves in the deep mountains and forests all day.

Starting from the beginning of September, Yang Zhenshan had been receiving numerous visits from elders at his mansion.

They came to exchange alcohol, offering Treasure Medicines in exchange for Hundred Herbs Brew.

Of course, they were also curious about the Capital City, wanting to see if there had been any change in the Da Rong Court’s attitude towards them.

In just half a month, Yang Zhenshan had traded away one hundred jars of Hundred Herbs Brew and gained twenty Treasure Medicines.

Yet, this was only the beginning. In the days that followed, not only did people on behalf of Innate Martial Artists come to exchange for Hundred Herbs Brew, but many of the Capital’s influential figures also approached Yang Zhenshan for the alcohol.

The reputation of Hundred Herbs Brew was thoroughly established, to the point where even Emperor Yanping joined in on the excitement, specifically instructing Chen Zhongshu to exchange with Yang Zhenshan for some Hundred Herbs Brew.

Inside the Marquis Mansion, Yang Zhenshan looked at Chen Zhongshu and said with a laugh that contained some helplessness, ”If His Majesty wishes to drink it, I could just present some to Your Majesty!”

Chen Zhongshu replied, ”His Majesty said, if Marquis Jing’an refuses to accept the Treasure Medicine, then he should present all his stock of alcohol!”

Well then! There’s no getting out of accepting this Treasure Medicine!

Emperor Yanping had quite the pleasant thought, actually wanting him to present all of his stock of alcohol.

Yang Zhenshan gave an annoyed glance to Wu Hai by his side, signaling him to step forward and take the three Jade Boxes from the little eunuch behind Chen Zhongshu.

”Does Your Majesty have any other instructions?” Yang Zhenshan inquired.

”Hehe, His Majesty has no other instructions, but His Majesty suggested that if Marquis Yang isn’t too busy, he might walk around the Imperial City more, and not be holed up at home all day!” said Chen Zhongshu with a smile.

”...”

Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Indeed, he had been staying at home a lot recently, partly because he was engrossed with alchemy to the point of no return, and partly because he couldn’t be bothered with the courtroom intrigues.

The establishment of the Imperial Commerce Bureau greatly alleviated the financial issues of the court, the setting up of the Martial Arts Temple strengthened the court’s control over the worldly society, and with the matter of Cui Xia Valley, it seemed as though the Da Rong Court was thriving. However, in reality, Da Rong remained just like that old, broken basket, with Emperor Yanping playing the role of a paperhanger just like Emperor Chengping had.

A paperhanger, fixing whatever breaks where it breaks.

Despite his conspicuous engagement in the court, Yang Zhenshan actually did not partake in the struggles within.

The agencies related to Yang Zhenshan were the Imperial Commerce Bureau, Martial Arts Temple, and Martial Arts Pavilion, but these were new government offices that had only been recently established.

Although they were entangled with the political squabbles of the court, they were not at the center of the court’s power struggles.

Or rather, the current core of the struggles at the Da Rong Court lay within the Cabinet – the competition between Song Yuange and Zhou Yunsong.

Song Yuange, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, stepped into the role after Li Siyuan resigned and returned to his hometown. Song Yuange has been in power for over a year now.

Zhou Yunsong, the Chief of Staff in the Cabinet and also the Minister of Rites, was appointed at the same time Song Yuange became the Grand Secretary.

Among the five Chief Officials in the Cabinet, it’s these two who are the most forceful, and it’s between them that the struggle intensifies.

The situation has come to this partly because Emperor Yanping played a balancing act, resulting in the current circumstances.

And as for these, Yang Zhenshan had no interest whatsoever, and was too lazy to hear those civil servants arguing back and forth every day. Thus, he simply stopped attending court.

After all, he is now just a Chief Martial Instructor of the Martial Arts Pavilion, and most matters on the court are not of great relevance to him.

”Yes, yes, I shall attend court tomorrow!”

What more could Yang Zhenshan say? Emperor Yanping had specifically mentioned it, and he couldn’t just stay home all the time.

Subsequently, he made small talk with Chen Zhongshu for a while before sending him off.

Before Chen Zhongshu left, Yang Zhenshan especially packed an extra ten jars of Hundred Herbs Brew for him.

This old eunuch was formidable indeed; it would not do to offend him.

After seeing off Chen Zhongshu, Yang Zhenshan opened the three Jade Boxes that Emperor Yanping had brought to exchange for alcohol.

Hm, Emperor Yanping was quite fair after all, not trying to fool him with ordinary ginseng.