PCJ – Chapter 685 A Chance

Administering the optimization serum was a serious matter, and naturally, it couldn’t be done in Meizitang. Although Mei Qing had already conducted many tests and refinements on the serum — achieving near-optimal results — and thoroughly studied the entire administration process, there were still certain risks involved. Therefore, the use of the optimization serum required very strict conditions.

Everything had already been prepared in the Meishan secret realm.

When Zhang Youping and Liu Qiaoye, Zhang Jiaohua’s parents, were brought into the secret realm, they were surprised, but not overly shocked. They had long known that their son was hiding countless secrets. They never pressed him for answers, trusting that he would tell them when the time was right.

Zhang Manyin, on the other hand, was a bit dissatisfied. “Jiaohua, you’d rather trust Chen Dianzi than trust us? Don’t tell me it’s because he has a pretty daughter you’ve taken a liking to. But that won’t do — his daughter’s way older than you!”

Of course, Zhang Manyin was joking.

“Uncle Manyin, you’re being old-fashioned,” Chen Dianzi said, jumping in. “In this day and age, seventy-year-old men marrying seventeen-year-old girls isn’t even news anymore. And seventy-year-old women marrying young hunks happens too! My daughter’s only slightly older than Jiaohua — so what? If she wanted to marry someone younger than him, it wouldn’t be difficult at all. If she wanted to marry Jiaohua, wouldn’t he be the one gaining?”

Chen Cheng quickly interjected, “Dad! Stop with the nonsense! I’ve always treated Jiaohua like a little brother. Since when does an older sister marry her little brother?”

Chen Dianzi muttered under his breath, “It’s not like you’re blood-related.”

Zhang Manyin chuckled as well, “Yeah, not even the same family name.”

Zhang Jiaohua walked off to distance himself from the conversation — he had no romantic feelings for Chen Cheng, just as she had none for him. But all this teasing made things slightly awkward between the two.

Chen Cheng, on the other hand, was fascinated by the secret realm. As she entered, she was overwhelmed with awe.

“Jiaohua, what is this place?” she finally managed to ask after catching up with him.

“It’s a secret realm. Our world isn’t always what it appears to be — there are many hidden places like this. We call them secret realms,” Zhang Jiaohua explained.

“How are secret realms formed?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Then how did you discover this one?” she asked again.

“By accident. These places give off spiritual energy fluctuations. Cultivators are generally more sensitive to that kind of thing,” he said.

As Chen Dianzi’s daughter, Chen Cheng had long heard about cultivators.

“You brought us here… does that mean we have a chance to become cultivators too?” she asked — clearly sharp and insightful, striking right at the core of the matter.

“Whether or not you become cultivators depends on your own effort. But this is your chance,” Zhang Jiaohua said, glancing back at his family. He felt a bit nervous — if they failed to become cultivators after receiving the serum, then in a few decades, he might have to say farewell to them forever. That was something he truly didn’t want to face.

“Thank you, Jiaohua,” Chen Cheng said softly as she entered the quarantine zone, turning back to look at him.

The optimization serum was of enormous importance to the Meishan Sect. Before its development, the sect had to search all over for people with natural talent in cultivation — rare individuals, one in ten thousand. That method created a lot of noise and attention, not ideal for keeping things secret. But now, with the serum, as long as suitable candidates were selected, they could become cultivators through enhancement. Zhang Jiaohua could now recruit internally from within the sect for a steady stream of capable newcomers.

In recent times, the Meishan Sect had begun selecting a large number of promising young individuals from within, quickly cultivating a new wave of beginner-level cultivators. The sect’s development was finally beginning to take shape.

Meanwhile, in the Xiyun Secret Realm, Kong Fangzhou was working with a group of young cultivators on advanced magical tools.

In front of them stood a massive machine shaped like an excavator — it had just been assembled. Though it resembled a normal excavator, its internal workings were vastly different. Instead of a standard engine, it was powered by a spirit formation. A spirit stone was placed at the center of the formation to act as the power source.

Spirit stones were extremely rare in the Meishan Sect. The ones used for this experiment came from the spiritual spring within Zhang Jiaohua’s cultivation diagram. Even so, that spring didn’t produce stones daily — it often took several days to condense one stone. Zhang Jiaohua didn’t have many saved up, but he gave them all to Kong Fangzhou.

Although the excavator looked bulky, it was in fact a magical implement. Before it could be tested, it had to be refined and bonded by its user.

After completing the refinement process, Kong Fangzhou activated the formation. The excavator began to creak and whir. At first, it moved slowly and awkwardly — even clumsier than an ordinary excavator.

It took Kong Fangzhou a long time to get used to it. But once he did, the excavator’s actions became shockingly nimble. To everyone’s amazement, the clunky machine began dancing — right before their eyes.

Despite its size and weight, the machine’s every movement appeared natural and fluid, just like a real human dancer.

Through this self-choreographed “mechanical dance,” Kong Fangzhou fully familiarized himself with the tool. Then, ending the performance, he switched to real-use operation.

In front of him was a massive pile of boulders. Normally, even a standard excavator wouldn’t have been able to remove such a heap. Though this machine looked no different from the outside, could Kong Fangzhou actually clear the pile?

As the excavator advanced, the sound it made was minimal — almost like it was in silent mode, compared to the thunderous roar of an ordinary excavator.

It approached the stone pile. The mechanical arm raised high, then came down heavily. The scoop struck the rock.

“Damn! I missed!” Kong Fangzhou muttered in frustration.

But to his surprise, the scoop easily sank into the rock — as if slicing through tofu — cleanly splitting the boulder in two.