Chapter 14: Task Allocation

“Fire Lord, well said! These scum deserve more scolding.”
Just as the Fire Lord was reprimanding the five hundred disciples, Zhen Nantian suddenly appeared beside him, shouting with a fierce expression.
“Peak Master!”
The five hundred disciples were already frustrated; now that they saw Zhen Nantian arrive, they cried out in panic.
Zhen Nantian was too lazy to respond. He went over to Lin Po, waved his hand, and sent a surge of Fire-type Immortal Energy into Lin Po’s body, instantly restoring his health.
For humans and immortals, their bodies are already composed of primordial energy. Thus, as long as there’s enough primordial energy, they can recover quickly.
As a high-ranking Human Soul Immortal, Zhen Nantian possessed an enormous amount of Fire-type primordial energy, or Immortal Energy. Just a small amount sent to Lin Po was enough to restore him fully.
Lin Po stood up and said respectfully, “Peak Master, thank you for helping me recover.”
Zhen Nantian chuckled and said, “Enough, Lin Po. You’re among the top three in strength among our Juehuo Peak’s Human Soul Immortal disciples. Why are you so impatient? From now on, stop distracting yourself with others and focus more on cultivating your own strength. In the immortal realm, only your own strength matters.”
Lin Po nodded and, with a red face, retreated among the five hundred disciples.
At that moment, the Fire Lord shouted at Zhen Nantian, “Fatty, do whatever you want. I’m going back to my Tingfeng Residence.”
Fatty?
The five hundred disciples heard the Fire Lord call Zhen Nantian “fatty” firsthand. Their already restless emotions trembled again as they stared at the Fire Lord in shock, then glanced at Zhen Nantian with strange expressions.
“As expected from the rumors. The Fire Lord really doesn’t show any respect for the Peak Master, calling him ‘fatty’ outright,” they thought.
Zhen Nantian felt embarrassed and quickly waved his hand, signaling the Fire Lord to leave and stop further humiliating him.
The Fire Lord chuckled and flew away.
…
Juehuo Peak, Peak Master’s Pavilion. Fifty disciples were present.
These fifty disciples had just been selected by Zhen Nantian. They were all utterly loyal to him and had been chosen by him to secretly work on “formation preparation.”
At that moment, Zhen Nantian looked at the fifty of them with a joyful expression.
“You fifty of you, I fully trust you. I’ve chosen you today to assign you a task. This task is crucial for whether our Juehuo Peak can rise among the eighteen peaks of Tongzhou Hall, even surpassing other weapon-forging peaks to become the number one peak in Tongzhou Hall,” Zhen Nantian said with a smile.

The fifty disciples were initially confused, not knowing why Zhen Nantian had called them to the Peak Master Pavilion. Upon hearing Zhen Nantian’s words, they became even more shocked and panicked, though curiosity dominated as well. They all stared at Zhen Nantian intently, eager to learn about the task at hand.

Zhen Nantian, with a smile on his face as if intent on teasing them, revealed a little: “In the past, our Juehuo Peak ranked only thirteenth among the eighteen peaks of the Tongzhou Hall in terms of the number of crafting tasks completed. I’ve always held this to heart. Now, I’ve finally found a good method to greatly improve our Juehuo Peak’s crafting efficiency, and I intend to teach it to you all.”

Hearing this, the fifty disciples immediately showed expressions of surprise, quickly turning into joyful smiles as they looked at Zhen Nantian with great anticipation.

However, Zhen Nantian didn’t say much more and stood up instead.

The fifty disciples looked at him, somewhat at a loss.

“Come with me to the Ziye Tianhu Cave. I’ll demonstrate it for you first to give you a clear idea, and then I’ll explain this new method in detail,” Zhen Nantian said with a smile.

With that, Zhen Nantian flew out of the Peak Master Pavilion right away.

The fifty disciples, full of hope, also flew after him to the Ziye Tianhu Cave.

Inside the cave, Zhen Nantian repeated the crafting process he had seen from the Fire Lord, then, amid the astonished expressions of the fifty disciples, he explained in detail the “Array Pre-setting Method,” giving a thorough demonstration.

Undoubtedly, these fifty disciples were intelligent people; they quickly understood that the “Array Pre-setting Method” could greatly enhance Juehuo Peak’s crafting efficiency.

Under Zhen Nantian’s leadership, Juehuo Peak’s plan was progressing steadily in secret.

……

Among the eighteen crafting peaks of the Tongzhou Hall, each peak had access to information from the others. Thus, the unusual activities at Juehuo Peak were noticed by the other seventeen peaks. Yet, the ten peak masters, no matter how hard they thought, couldn’t figure out what kind of activity Zhen Nantian was carrying out.

The mystery only drew more attention from the peak masters, who came one after another, taking the opportunity to investigate the situation.

Zhen Nantian, of course, was aware of their intentions but didn’t reveal anything. He continued to host them, allowing them to visit any place they wanted.

Naturally, since only Zhen Nantian, the Fire Lord, and the fifty disciples knew about the entire plan, no one spoke out. As a result, the visiting peak masters didn’t notice any major changes inside Juehuo Peak.

Finally, the leaders of the other seventeen peaks thought that Zhen Nantian was just being mysterious, so they gave up paying attention to the Juehuo Peak.
One year later,
The Tongzhou Hall’s once-a-decade gathering for assigning crafting tasks was held at its main peak.
As the head of Tongzhou Hall, Yun Zhouzi would not get involved in such trivial matters, unless the hall faced a powerful enemy—only then would he, the only strong figure in Tongzhou Hall, emerge from his cultivation room.
The eighteen peak leaders gathered together. Each also brought a disciple, aiming to let them witness the task-assignment process and become familiar with Tongzhou Hall’s procedures in advance.
Thus, these eighteen disciples would essentially become the future leaders of various crafting peaks.
The disciple brought by Zhen Nantian from the Juehuo Peak was none other than Huo Zun.
The eighteen peak leaders sat around a round table, ready to discuss the crafting task assignments for the next decade.
Apart from Huo Zun, the seventeen disciples stood behind their respective leaders, quietly waiting. Huo Zun, however, uniquely pulled out a chair and sat behind Zhen Nantian.
Everyone was surprised and puzzled by Zhen Nantian and Huo Zun’s behavior. But Zhen Nantian showed no reaction, allowing Huo Zun to do as he pleased.
The other seventeen disciples, besides being surprised, also looked at Huo Zun with envy.
Leng Gu, the leader of Tongzhou Hall’s first peak, glanced at Huo Zun briefly before calming down. Then, with a snort, he drew everyone’s attention.
“Over the past year, the number of crafting tasks requested by various factions from the Zhu Yan Star to our Tongzhou Hall was 10% higher than in the previous decade. I’ve already compiled statistics on the completion of tasks over the past ten years, and everyone knows the ranking of each peak,” Leng Gu said with a faint smile.
The peak leaders listened attentively, their expressions varying.
Zhen Nantian could no longer hold his head up, as the Juehuo Peak’s ranking in terms of task completion had dropped again, placing it 14th among the eighteen peaks.
The other peak leaders glanced at Zhen Nantian with smiles, keeping him bowed with a flushed face.
Huo Zun understood why the leaders were looking at Zhen Nantian and said little, letting them continue to smile.
“The next decade, you’ll be shocked,” Huo Zun thought to himself with a smile.

After Ling Gu made the leaders of each peak laugh on purpose for a while, he continued, “Well, as per usual, the refining tasks assigned to our eighteen peaks next will be distributed in descending order based on their performance over the past ten years.”
Upon hearing this, the leaders of each peak remained silent, accepting the arrangement.
Ling Gu scanned the room and seeing that all the leaders were quiet, a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips. The Fire-Seizing Peak, as before, continued to lead the eighteen peaks of Tongzhou Hall, firmly holding the first place in terms of the number of refining tasks completed.
Therefore, the Fire-Seizing Peak would naturally receive the largest share of tasks next.
After waiting for a while and seeing no one speak up, Ling Gu was about to announce the task distribution.
“Wait, I have something to say,” said Zhen Nantian, raising his head with a smile.
Huo Zun, however, sat calmly in the back.