School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 208 --Mission and Duty

As Hass moved to save Osk, the despicable Gus shouted, "Traitor, playing the hero, die!"

Along with his cry, a dark beam of light shot towards Hass.

Knowing he couldn’t dodge in time, Hass hurriedly yelled, "Kid, turn around!"

Osk instinctively turned his head just as a loud explosion occurred.

The wooden bowl was blasted upwards, then fell to the ground.

The small amount of lightwine within it splattered around and disappeared.

Both the seven centurions and Keso, having exerted all their strength, sustained various degrees of injuries.

"Ahhhh!" Moments later, Osk’s agonizing screams filled the area.

The lightwine had corroded the back of the child’s head, exposing and even dissolving parts of his skull.

Osk ran frantically towards the mountain’s edge, and no one present had the strength to stop him.

Keso, with blood-red eyes, was confronting the seven centurions, who also dared not be careless.

Melin was petrified with fear.

Hass, who was closest to Osk, remained silent.

He had activated a protective barrier in an instant, doing his best to shield Osk, but his own eyes were burned by the lightwine, immediately losing his sight.

Now, he sat on the ground, sword in hand, temporarily incapacitated.

"Die!" Keso lunged at the seven centurions, his palms condensing into two pillars of energy aimed directly at these despicable foes.

"Gus, you idiot!" the boss cursed while gathering the strength of the seven to withstand Keso’s attack.

"All I wanted was the lightwine, look what you’ve done!"

"Boss, I couldn’t hold back, that traitor..."

"Pah, you’re addicted to underhanded tactics, aren’t you the most shameless one? Think of something quick!"

"Alright, my brothers will have to suffer a bit then."

Gus’s eyes shifted cunningly, and he immediately retracted the arcanergy he had released.

With a loud bang, the other six centurions, including the boss, were sent flying.

Keso was also forced to step back several paces from the impact, feeling a sharp pain in his legs - he had been struck by poison needles fired by Gus.

Keso barely managed to stay upright without kneeling, despite the pain.

Gus, sneering, launched two more poison palm strikes, but even in his weakened state, Keso managed to send him flying with a palm strike.

Gus hit a tree and landed right beside the boss.

"Boss, I’m out of strength too. That guy’s legs are already under my control, let’s run," Gus gasped.

"The lightwine is gone," the boss said angrily, and swung a punch at Gus.

"You brainless thing."

Standing up, the boss ordered, "Brothers, retreat."

After the seven centurions fled, Keso finally collapsed to the ground, the poison having spread throughout his body.

Melin knelt beside him.

Hass, feeling his way to Keso’s side, said, "I still managed to taste a drop; it had the flavor of wheat from my homeland."

Hass checked Keso’s chaotic meridians and said, "I can’t save you. My cultivation has been greatly diminished by the lightwine burns."

"What a pity," Keso said.

"Your heart is still pure. If you had another twenty years, you might have withstood the test of the lightwine."

"I’ll take care of the child."

"No need," Melin said coldly.

"You can go," Keso sighed.

Leaving behind a bag of money, Hass groped his way out of the mountain.

Keso sat up and said to Melin, "Don’t go looking for Osk. As long as he’s alive, he’ll return here one day. It’s our family’s destiny."

"But..."

"No buts. Even if you find him now, you two children can’t live together."

Keso sighed again and said, "Although you haven’t been with us for long, we all consider you family. You’re a good child with a pure nature. Now, I have an important responsibility to entrust to you."

"Please tell me... father," Melin finally uttered these words.

"My daughter," Keso felt a moment of relief and pulled a medicine bottle from his bosom.

He took out a brown pill and swallowed it, then continued, "Keep this medicine. After taking it, it will unleash all of a person’s potential, and can even save a life under severe injuries. But once its effect wears off, it will take back what was borrowed. Therefore, unless you’re in a dire situation, do not use it lightly."

"Yes, father." Keso’s complexion improved slightly.

Looking at Melin’s resolute face, he felt both reassured and sorrowful.

But he had no time left for sorrow and quickly proceeded to pass on his final instructions to Melin.

"Our Divine Farmer Sanctuary has been a covert ally of the empire. From now on, you must take up the responsibility of the Divine Farmer Sanctuary. There should be four elders in the Sanctuary, but now..." Keso sighed and continued, "From now on, you are Elder Plum Blossom."

Melin nodded.

Keso went on.

"Every ten years, the Divine Farmer Sanctuary must complete eight missions for the empire. Each mission corresponds to a Herb Badge. I have completed this decade’s missions, and five years from now, on the first day of spring, you must place the eight Herb Badges on the spirit tree. A divine eagle will come to collect them."

"Divine eagle?"

"Yes, the eagle responsible for collecting and delivering the orders. Since the Divine Farmer Sanctuary no longer has anyone else, five years from now, you must stay here and wait for the empire’s missions. Can you do that?"

"I can."

"You’ve been wronged. In these five years, find a place to hide and cultivate. This place has been discovered, and the Divine Farmer Sanctuary may no longer be safe."

"Yes, father. I will practice diligently and avenge our family."

"Very well, those beasts indeed deserve to die. But remember, you must be cautious and do not act unless you are absolutely sure."

"Don’t worry, I will master the art of assassination. I’ll make them pay back a hundredfold for everything they’ve done to us."

"The last thing is that you must protect the lightwine that will appear in twenty years."

"Yes, father."

Keso suddenly grasped Melin’s shoulders, channeling his remaining cultivation into her while saying, "I am now transferring my remaining cultivation to you using the secret method of the Divine Farmer Sanctuary. This external force will circulate within you, opening all the meridians in your body. You will be in great pain for the next few days, but your cultivation will see significant improvement."

Melin, with no foundation, endured the pain and accepted Keso’s transmission.

The moment Keso finished the transfer, he closed his eyes and never opened them again.

Melin, alone, dragged her father’s body and began her solitary twenty-year vigil over the Divine Farmer Sanctuary.

From it, Blight witnessed the battle around the lightwine that took place twenty years ago.

Although it was only fragments, perhaps intentionally omitting some content, and the narrative only went up to Hass leaving the mountain, Blight was still convinced that the former seven centurions indeed deserved death.

After pondering for a while, Blight stood up and wandered around the hall, admiring the beauty of the plants and flowers, which he found endlessly fascinating.

He was also intrigued by the sunlight streaming into the hall; looking up from below, he noticed a circular hole at the very center of the ceiling.

"What happens when it rains or the wind blows?" Blight wondered, thinking about the vines that enveloped the Divine Farmer Sanctuary.

The person who built the Divine Farmer Sanctuary was truly ingenious.

While Blight was marveling, Woody came out from the inner sanctum, bringing Blight a cup of fragrant tea.

Since regaining his memory, Woody’s personality had gradually reverted to how it was twenty years ago, during his childhood.

Perhaps because Woody had to survive in the wilderness with his father, facing the harsh realities of the world together, Blight found the original Woody to be quite precocious.

Blight was right.

Starting from when Woody was seven or eight years old, because his father often had to stay at the Divine Farmer Sanctuary awaiting orders from the empire, Woody had to go down the mountain alone to trade with merchants for necessities.

After being deceived, robbed, and nearly kidnapped multiple times, it was inevitable for Woody to mature and stabilize early on.

However, the current Woody was still quite different from his childhood self.

The experiences and memories of the past twenty years had significantly changed him.

At least, apart from his father and Melin, he had fully trusted someone for the first time.

This person took a sip of the tea Woody had handed over and commented, "Good tea. How is Plum Blossom doing?"

"There’s no problem. She’ll be fine after a few days of rest."

"I’ve seen those memory fragments. Plum Blossom didn’t kill the wrong people. The former seven centurions all deserved to die."

"Mhm."

"So, since you like her so much, why don’t you marry her?"

"Huh?"

"I said, you should marry her."

"Marry who?" Woody seemed to feign ignorance.

"Plum Blossom."

"She’s my sister, how could I possibly like her?"

Woody’s face turned red to the base of his neck, resembling the awkward Woody that Blight knew all too well.

"Stop pretending with me. After all these years as brothers, can’t I see? Whether it’s the past events you’ve told me about or the memories you’ve shown me, you’ve intentionally or unintentionally made it clear that the assassin Crimson Plum Blossom is a good person, wronged by others. You don’t want the world to misunderstand her, and you’re even more afraid that your big brother will misunderstand her. All because you like her."

"After so many years as brothers, I can still understand what’s on your mind."

"But she’s my sister, how could I like her?" Woody repeated the same line.

"Do you have a blood relation?"

"No."

"You’re not biological siblings, so what are you hesitating for? This doesn’t violate the natural order, and heaven won’t punish you for it."