Chapter 552: Appeasing the Repair Hall

The burns inside Su Ming were already more than half healed after the relentless flushing of the Like Water Art. The dried-up lake of spiritual energy had filled again. Although the cracks on his Dao foundation remained, the stabbing pain that felt like the foundation could collapse at any moment was gone.

He changed into a brand-new True Disciple purple robe, left the still-sleeping Shadow inside his cave’s tightly sealed defensive formation, and walked out of Gazing Star Cliff alone.

On the mountain path, he occasionally passed a few Formation Peak disciples hurrying along. When they saw the purple robe on his body, they immediately stopped and respectfully saluted from the roadside. Su Ming only nodded slightly, not lingering.

He keenly sensed that the atmosphere in the air was somewhat different from half a month ago. In those disciples’ eyes, besides reverence for a True Disciple, there seemed to be a hidden thread of curiosity and scrutiny.

Clearly, the grand alchemy display at Pill Cauldron Peak and the Pill Fiend phenomenon it attracted could not have been completely hidden from observant people. The sect’s high-ups may know the details, but rumors would inevitably spread among the lower-ranked disciples.

Su Ming’s expression did not change. He walked through the edge of Formation Peak and arrived at the Repair Hall, which belonged to the External Affairs Hall.

Before he even stepped into the courtyard, a noisy, lively atmosphere hit him.

In the wide courtyard, more than a dozen improved assembly lines were running efficiently. Sparks of spiritual light flickered across the surfaces of different workstations, and the sounds of tools striking and polishing combined into an energetic symphony.

“What on earth did you inscribe here?! How can there be rough edges at the turning point of the Lead formation lines? Do you think this is a mundane blacksmith shop?!”

Wang Defa’s booming, almost panicked shout cut through the assembly-line noise and detonated across the courtyard.

Su Ming stopped at the gate and scanned the scene.

Wang Defa stood in front of a T-shaped assembly line, clutching an abandoned defensive formation plate and spitting curses as he berated a young apprentice with his head bowed. The manager robe across his chest was stretched tight, and sweat glistened on his forehead.

The apprentice was red-faced and could not even breathe freely.

“Old Li! Come here! Teach this kid what water grinding effort really is! If this batch of shield formations can’t be delivered with a defective rate below five percent, everyone in your group will have their performance contribution points deducted entirely!”

Wang Defa turned and shouted toward Old Li, the repair core a short distance away.

As he pivoted, his peripheral vision caught that flash of glaring purple standing at the gate.

Within half a breath, the anger evaporated from Wang Defa’s face, and the rolls of flesh on his chubby cheeks squeezed into an impossibly bright smile.

“Hall Master!”

Wang Defa tossed the ruined formation plate onto the table, broke into a brisk trot with those short, stubby legs, and hurried over so fast he stirred a breeze.

“Hall Master, your wound… is it much better?” Wang Defa bent very low at Su Ming’s side, his gaze furtively scanning Su Ming’s complexion. As the External Affairs Hall’s “know-it-all,” he had clearly heard some of the whispers about Pill Cauldron Peak.

“More than half healed,” Su Ming said evenly, motioning for Wang Defa to follow as he walked.

They moved away from the busy workers and entered a quiet accounting office in the Repair Hall’s backyard.

No sooner had the door closed than Su Ming took a heavy gray cloth pouch from his storage pouch and placed it on the zitan wood table.

Wang Defa froze for a moment, eyes fixed on the bulging pouch.

“When I went to Pill Cauldron Peak to assist with the alchemy, the matter happened abruptly, so I temporarily requisitioned a large amount of precious auxiliary ingredients from our hall’s warehouse.”

“Those items are, after all, the Repair Hall’s accumulated public assets over the years. This pouch contains three thousand mid-grade spirit stones — consider it my personal reimbursement to cover the hall’s deficit. Take these and distribute them to the core team brothers according to the roster, as a special bonus for the past half month.”

If large quantities of hall supplies were taken without accounting, then later, if a hostile force such as the Vessel Hall used it as leverage, it would look like misappropriation of public property. Using spirit stones that were not ruinous for him to part with would shut down idle gossip, clear the trail of those materials, and greatly win hearts.

Wang Defa swallowed when he looked at the plump pouch, but did not reach out.

“Hall Master, you speak too formally!” Wang Defa resolutely pushed the pouch back, “If Repair Hall has what it is today, it’s all due to the rules and techniques you set back then. Those things collecting dust in the warehouse? If they can be of use to the Hall Master, that’s their fate! These spirit stones — the hall absolutely cannot accept them!”

Su Ming watched Wang Defa’s eager display of loyalty with a trace of approval in his eyes. He kept his hand out and, instead of retracting it, slowly tapped the table twice.

“One thing at a time,” Su Ming said, his speech measured, “The rules I set, I must lead by example. The Repair Hall is not my private property. Everyone built it with their sweat. This money must be recorded, and it must be distributed.”

Seeing the calm but resolute look in Su Ming’s eyes, Wang Defa knew he could not refuse.

He folded both hands and solemnly received the pouch. Whether from emotion or some other reason, the seasoned old fox who had scraped by at the bottom ranks for decades had his eyes slightly misty.

“Hall Master, on behalf of the brothers below, Old Wang thanks you deeply!” Wang Defa bowed deeply.

Su Ming waved his hand, indicating no more words were necessary.

“Come walk with me.”

They left the accounting office again.

Su Ming saw Old Li instructing several newly promoted core apprentices. Although their hands were still a bit clumsy, they could already independently complete the sorting and soldering of damaged circuits on mid-grade formation plates. Their near-obsessive adherence to “standardization” in operation made Su Ming feel comfortable.

Time here had revealed its most terrifying weight.

This system, through countless days and nights of adjustment, error correction, and optimization, had transformed from the crude troupe he once had to personally teach into a self-driven, enormous machine.

A complex emotion rose in Su Ming’s chest.

The Repair Hall, once his stepping stone to survive at the bottom of Cloud Hidden Sect and find a foothold, had now grown into a deep-rooted, flourishing tree. It not only continuously supplied him with wealth and basic materials, but had, without his noticing, become a huge intelligence network covering the entire lower ranks of the sect.

It no longer needed him to fuss over the minute details.

“Take the pill tomorrow,” Lin Yu asked Su Ming, “Are you ready?”