PCJ – Chapter 728 Nine Dragons Roaring in Unison

Zhang Jiaohua suddenly realized that the spiritual power within his body was surging wildly into the sword embryo. The sword embryo was like a bottomless pit, and even though Zhang Jiaohua was already a cultivator at the Qi Refining–Spirit Transformation stage, he felt as if he were about to be drained dry. Luckily, he was at that stage—otherwise, he truly might have been sucked empty.

“Rooaaar!”

…

Nine consecutive dragon roars echoed through the Refining Hall beneath the Giant Sword Tower. The sound nearly shook the hall’s building to pieces.

The disciples of the Meishan Sect rushed toward the Refining Hall in a frenzy. From a distance, they could already see the blazing spiritual light shooting up from the Refining Hall. That dazzling brilliance nearly pierced through the mountain-protecting formation and illuminated the heavens directly.

“What on earth happened?” Kong Fangzhou was the first to arrive.

Zhang Jiaohua was holding the sword embryo in his hand, admiring it with great satisfaction. From its appearance, he could tell that this sword embryo, even compared to that ancient sword, was not inferior in the least. Perhaps that so-called ancient sword from the age of cultivation had actually been nothing more than a rather ordinary spiritual sword, which was why it eventually ended up in the mortal world.

“I’ve forged a fine piece of work,” Zhang Jiaohua said with a proud smile as he looked at Kong Fangzhou.

Kong Fangzhou was an expert in this field. With just one glance, he knew that the sword embryo in Zhang Jiaohua’s hand was extraordinary. With surprise and delight, he asked, “That commotion just now—it was this sword?”

Zhang Jiaohua nodded. “Exactly.”

“Could I take a look at it?” Kong Fangzhou asked cautiously.

“Sure.” Zhang Jiaohua directly handed the sword embryo over to him. Although the sword embryo had already been forged, it wasn’t yet fully finished—the outer decorations and detailing still had to be completed. That was an area where Kong Fangzhou’s expertise far surpassed his own, and Zhang Jiaohua intended to leave the follow-up work in his hands.

Kong Fangzhou accepted the sword embryo with barely restrained excitement. “What do you call this sword?”

“Let’s name it the Nine-Dragon Sword,” Zhang Jiaohua replied.

The old hall master of the Refining Hall, Kong Jiyuan, also hurried over after hearing the news. “Sect Master, what just happened in the Refining Hall? I thought I heard dragon roars!”

“Father, look at this! The Sect Master has forged a spiritual sword even stronger than that ancient sword!” Kong Fangzhou proudly showed the sword embryo to Kong Jiyuan.

“That dragon’s roar earlier—was it the sword itself ringing out?” Kong Jiyuan asked in astonishment.

“Yes, it was. This very Nine-Dragon Sword!” Kong Fangzhou said with a smile.

“Good! Good! Good!” Kong Jiyuan exclaimed joyfully, repeating the word several times. His eyes shone as he added, “I never thought I’d live to see such a powerful spiritual weapon!”

Without hesitation, Kong Jiyuan snatched the Nine-Dragon Sword right out of Kong Fangzhou’s hands. “I’ll take care of the finishing work on this sword. Sect Master, what do you think?”

“Then I’ll trouble the old hall master,” Zhang Jiaohua said with a smile.

Kong Jiyuan, ignoring his son’s unwilling look, carried the Nine-Dragon Sword off with him.

“Don’t look so pitiful,” Zhang Jiaohua told Kong Fangzhou. “Once I’ve recovered, I’ll forge another Nine-Dragon Sword. Our Meishan Sect’s foundation is shallow. We can’t instantly raise everyone’s cultivation level, so if we want to strengthen our sect’s power, we’ll have to rely on these spiritual weapons.”

“That would be wonderful,” Kong Fangzhou said, finally breaking into a smile.

The next day, after fully recovering, Zhang Jiaohua went straight back to the Refining Hall to forge a second Nine-Dragon Sword. With his growing familiarity with the process, this attempt went much more smoothly. After consuming more than half of his spiritual power, a new Nine-Dragon Sword was successfully formed. This one seemed even better than the first, thanks to Zhang Jiaohua’s greater proficiency in using his divine sense to control the refining process.

When he handed this sword to Kong Fangzhou, Kong Fangzhou joyfully took it away to finish its final touches.

After creating two Nine-Dragon Swords, Zhang Jiaohua no longer intended to keep making the same weapon. He began thinking about the problem of combining arrays. At present, he was already familiar with both the Five-Thunder Sword and the Nine-Dragon Sword, and with the talismanic arrays behind them. So, he started attempting to merge the two arrays.

When Zhang Jiaohua input the modeling data for both arrays into the intelligent brain, it immediately began calculating. Vast amounts of data ran through its systems, constantly churning. After a long wait, the intelligent brain produced an optimal solution. Zhang Jiaohua didn’t use it right away. Instead, he visualized the process within the Daoist Diagram, and there too, he derived an optimal solution—though it differed somewhat from the intelligent brain’s version.

Zhang Jiaohua thought it over and decided to forge one sword with each solution and compare the results.

Of course, he didn’t move to act immediately. Just one Nine-Dragon Sword had consumed nearly all his spiritual power. Now, a sword forged from the combined talismanic arrays of the Five-Thunder Incantation and the Nine-Dragon Talisman… who could predict what kind of changes it would produce? Or how much spiritual power it would consume?

Zhang Jiaohua decided to rest for a while before attempting it.

In a few days, the Provincial Party Committee’s Organization Department was sending people down to announce personnel changes in Bijiang City. Naturally, Zhang Jiaohua would be involved, as he was one of the candidates slated for promotion.

Because of his unique identity, Zhang Jiaohua enjoyed great freedom within both the Municipal Party Committee and the city government. For non-essential events, his secretary could stand in for him. Routine governance required only proper arrangements in advance. Day-to-day tasks were handled by the deputy mayors. Fu Jianping, as the executive deputy mayor, carried the heaviest workload, but he always managed his responsibilities excellently. That was why Zhang Jiaohua strongly recommended him to succeed as mayor of Bijiang City.

Within the municipal Party Committee and government, people jokingly referred to Zhang Jiaohua, Fu Jianping, and others as the “Daihua Clique,” since they all came up from Daihua County. Of course, it was only a joke—no one doubted their competence. Today, Daihua County could stand shoulder-to-shoulder not only with Bijiang but even with some of the wealthy coastal counties. From a long-term perspective, Daihua still held immense potential for growth.

Coincidentally, Deng Chaokun, who was already a deputy mayor, had also risen from Daihua County. He was very likely to take over Fu Jianping’s position. This was only natural—Daihua County’s outstanding track record, combined with its systematic cadre training in recent years, had produced a steady stream of talented officials. Trained in Daihua, they left to govern other places as capable leaders. Calling Daihua the “Whampoa Military Academy of Bijiang officials” was no exaggeration.

To Zhang Jiaohua’s surprise, Su Xinpeng himself came to Bijiang City to personally announce the personnel changes.

Not a word of his visit leaked beforehand. Only when the provincial delegation arrived at the municipal Party Committee building, and Liu Ziwei, the provincial secretary’s chief aide, opened the car door to welcome Su Xinpeng out, did the city’s leaders realize what was happening. Even Wang Zongxian, now promoted to provincial vice secretary, was part of the delegation.

Li Yannan, the provincial Organization Department’s minister, announced the leadership reshuffle for the municipal Party Committee and government, formally declaring Zhang Jiaohua and others to be entering the public announcement stage.

Only then did Su Xinpeng begin his speech: “This time I came without notifying anyone in advance—because I, too, am here to learn. What am I here to learn? I heard that in Bijiang City, your cadres say Daihua County has its own ‘Whampoa Military Academy,’ having produced many outstanding officials. I wanted to come see for myself and study Bijiang’s advanced experience. In recent years, Bijiang’s development has been remarkable. And why? I believe the root cause lies in personnel selection—daring to break convention, daring to appoint capable, ambitious young people. Back then, Daihua County dared to promote a college-graduate village official to town mayor, then elevate him directly to deputy county head, and later to deputy mayor. Such unconventional promotions of young cadres take great courage. Comrades Deng Chaokun, Fu Jianping, and Wang Zongxian have all done well. And facts have proven you were right. Bijiang’s rapid development in these years is the best evidence.”

“I also heard that in Bijiang, cadres from Daihua are jokingly called the ‘Daihua Clique.’ That label is not a good one. Daihua has never been about factionalism—it has been about training outstanding talent for Bijiang. Personally, I much prefer calling Daihua the ‘Whampoa Military Academy of Bijiang officials.’ My main purpose in coming here this time is to learn from Daihua—to see how they cultivate excellent Party cadres. In the future, Daihua’s model of cadre training should be promoted across the entire province.”

With these words, Su Xinpeng made it clear he was standing firmly behind the Daihua-trained officials.

Indeed, many of the city’s department heads and county leaders now came from Daihua. It was natural for some to suspect favoritism, and this had cast a shadow over Zhang Jiaohua and his colleagues. But fortunately, the achievements of Bijiang in recent years were undeniable, and the contributions of the Daihua cadres could not be erased.

Secretary Fu Jianping laughed and added, “To be honest, when we promoted Comrade Zhang Jiaohua back then, it was mostly because his achievements shone too brightly to ignore. At the time, our main intention was to replicate the success of Yingpan Village across the whole county. Daihua’s transformation owes much to Comrade Zhang Jiaohua. The personnel system we now follow was first established under his tenure and has been strictly enforced since. What was it you used to say back then, Jiaohua? That cadres should be trained and promoted through a scientific system?”

Deng Chaokun nodded. “Yes. At the time, many of Daihua’s cadres were stuck in a mindset of waiting and relying on the state. They didn’t see being a poverty-stricken county as shameful—in fact, they thought it was an honor, since it meant yearly subsidies. But when Comrade Zhang Jiaohua arrived, he completely shattered that way of thinking. He reactivated competition among cadres, ensuring that officials could both rise and fall.”

Wang Zongxian added, “To tell the truth, before Comrade Jiaohua came to the city, I never imagined Bijiang could one day look the way it does now. I’m a native son of Daihua, and no one wanted to see Bijiang prosper more than I did. But all our previous attempts had come to nothing. Only after Comrade Jiaohua came did the city spring to life. Isn’t this exactly what people mean when they say knowledge is power?”