Chapter 666: The Huaqing Palace Hot Spring
The Saintess pouted at the Heavenly Lord, saying she wanted to soak in a hot spring?
Chen Yuanbo, upon hearing this, immediately retreated far away! The thought of the Saintess bathing in a hot spring was something he wouldn't dare to conjure in his mind, not even for a fleeting moment, for it would be an utter blasphemy against her.
Blaspheming the Saintess would not only disqualify one from any chance of Labor Reform but would undoubtedly lead to immediate execution.
Li Daoxuan, however, chuckled as he turned to Gao Yiye: "Wenxian County is in utter chaos right now. Zhang Xianzhong's Eight Great Kings just ravaged the county seat, and the bandit forces are still besieging Huaiqing Prefecture, which is very close to Wenxian. Even the imperial court officials were reluctant to take up posts there, so we only managed to secure it by sheer luck and assign Chen Yuanbo. If you run off to a place like that for a hot spring bath, and bandits come raiding halfway through, you won't even have time to get dressed."
Gao Yiye gasped, "Huh?"
She wasn't worried about her safety, not with the Heavenly Lord protecting them. But not having enough time to get dressed—that was a serious concern.
Gao Yiye pouted, "What should I do then?"
Li Daoxuan chuckled inwardly. *The young girl is growing cuter by the day,* he thought, *now she even knows how to playfully tease.*
He didn't actually like people being overly reverent towards him; he preferred a more back-and-forth exchange. Gao Yiye's current attitude was quite refreshing.
Li Daoxuan racked his brain, pondering and pondering, until an idea clicked.
In his future life, when he had visited Xi'an to see the Terracotta Army, he had stayed in a hot spring hotel in Xi'an's Lintong County. There was also something called the Huaqing Palace Hot Spring there.
*Perfect, I'll go check it out!*
"Yiye, wait a moment," he said. "I'm going to take a divine journey."
With that, Li Daoxuan ended his "Co-sensing" connection, his consciousness returning to his physical body outside the box.
Tapping the "Lintong County" button on the outer rim of the box, his perspective immediately shifted back to Shaanxi's Lintong County.
Previously, his farthest view had only reached Yanliang District, about a hundred *li* northeast of Xi'an. But after his extensive rescue efforts in Henan, saving people in various ingenious ways and assisting the common folk of Mengjin County—though the reputation of "savior to thousands" belonged to Bai Yuan, the Salvation Index points were all Li Daoxuan's.
As a result, his Field of View had expanded, now encompassing Lintong County.
Lintong County was quite large. Li Daoxuan pressed the "North, South, East, West" buttons, searching everywhere for the Huaqing Palace Hot Spring.
Yet...
He couldn't find it!
Huaqing Palace had flourished in the Tang Dynasty, but it was later destroyed by war. It was rebuilt once during the Song Dynasty, only to be ravaged by conflict again. By the late Ming Dynasty, Huaqing Palace had essentially been erased from the map.
Li Daoxuan had no choice but to take out a modern map, then a Ming Dynasty map, cross-referencing them to finally pinpoint the approximate location of Huaqing Palace.
Focusing his view on that area, he gazed intently. Only then did he discern a stretch of broken walls and crumbling ruins, swallowed by tangled trees and overgrown weeds. If one merely glanced over it from high above, without scrutinizing, there would be no trace of a former palace.
"Where's the hot spring?"
Li Daoxuan began searching for the hot spring amidst the jumbled mess of ruins, but regrettably, he found nothing.
He suddenly understood: the hot spring was underground.
In this era, without artificial development, how could there be a hot spring?
But Gao Yiye wanted a hot spring! So, he'd have to "manually" develop one himself.
Li Daoxuan ducked into the kitchen and retrieved a slender stainless steel chopstick. Finding a random spot among the Huaqing Palace ruins, he plunged the chopstick into the ground, poking, thrusting deeply...
The stainless steel chopstick was 20 centimeters long.
Li Daoxuan plunged it into the ground with force, and it sank over thirty meters deep.
He pulled out the chopstick, revealing a large hole in the ground, but no water emerged.
He tried poking in another spot, but found nothing.
He tried again...
After trying five or six more locations, when the chopstick pierced down, he distinctly felt as though he had punctured something. Li Daoxuan quickly withdrew the chopstick, and a jet of spring water erupted from underground.
Reaching into the box, he felt the stream of water. It was warm, roughly fifty degrees Celsius.
The hot spring was found!
Li Daoxuan was overjoyed. He immediately re-established his Co-sensing connection, and *whoosh*, his consciousness returned to his Test-002 Heavenly Lord avatar. "Yiye," he announced, "the hot spring has been arranged, in Xi'an's Lintong County."
Gao Yiye was thrilled. "Oh? Near Xi'an? I've wanted to see Xi'an for a long time, this is a perfect chance to go!"
"Yes, but don't rush," Li Daoxuan chuckled. "Take your time sailing back. I'll go ahead and arrange for some people to tidy up the hot spring; it's a bit too wild right now."
And so, Gao Yiye began preparing for her journey back to Xi'an.
Meanwhile, Chen Yuanbo disembarked from the pleasure boat and boarded a troop transport, continuing his journey to Wenxian County to take up his new post—
In the back room of the Xi'an Prefectural Fertilizer Shop, the Test-001 Heavenly Lord, who had been sitting motionless for a long time, suddenly sprang to his feet, startling the mynah bird perched on the nearby table.
The mynah bird couldn't understand why its "master," who had been carrying it around daily for strolls just a while ago, had now sat silent and still for days, not even eating. A layer of dust had accumulated on him, making him terrifying.
Fortunately, Padi Tu came every day to feed the mynah bird a little something, otherwise, the poor creature would likely have already departed for the underworld.
Seeing the Test-001 Heavenly Lord suddenly come alive, the mynah bird squawked in fright: "Caw! He's alive, he's alive!"
Li Daoxuan shushed the mynah bird, then picked up the cage. "Come on," he said, "let's go find some people and arrange for them to set up the hot spring."
The mynah bird squawked, "What's the point? It's not getting stiff anymore!"
Li Daoxuan clenched his fist, a fist as large as a begging bowl, and the mynah bird immediately fell silent.
Li Daoxuan emerged from the back room of the fertilizer shop. The first person he encountered was Wang Tang, who immediately bowed in greeting. "Ah! Greetings, Heavenly Lord!"
Li Daoxuan smiled. "How have things been in Xi'an recently?"
Wang Tang quickly reported, "All our industries here in Xi'an are progressing smoothly. Our Middle School graduates have entered various sectors. Initially, the lack of real-world experience led to some losses. However, everyone quickly combined their theoretical knowledge with practical application, significantly boosting efficiency. Now, all our operations are well-established."
Li Daoxuan said, "Excellent! Arrange for some workers to go to the Huaqing Palace ruins in Lintong County. Have them clear the broken walls and debris, dig out a clean hot spring pool, and simply enclose it for privacy."
Wang Tang blinked. "Oh?"
Li Daoxuan chuckled, "Yiye wants to soak in a hot spring."
Only then did Wang Tang realize. "Ah, the Saintess's request! I'll arrange it right away."
He sprinted out, off to find laborers and other necessities.
As he ran out, he nearly collided with Padi Tu, who was just returning. They brushed past each other.
Padi Tu grinned. "Why the hurry? Wang Tang, don't run off, I need to talk to you. Prince of Qin's heir, Zhu Cunji, seems to have more money than he can spend. Do you have any ideas on how we can get some of it out and distribute it to the poor...?"
"I don't have time to think about that!" Wang Tang yelled, "The Heavenly Lord is here, and he's sent me on an errand! I have to go!"
He continued shouting as he vanished from sight.
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