The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 743 - 414: Reproach
All full-time Pill Masters in the Immortal Plant Garden were present in the garden. As soon as the disaster relief ended, Elder He immediately ordered three Pill Masters to stay behind to treat the Blood Parasol. All others hastened to the Forest Palace to wait for instructions, and en route, no one was allowed to stop anywhere else; otherwise, they would face death without mercy!
In the six overturned greenhouses, four delicate plants had already died, while the Blood Parasol, being further away, was only affected by the shockwave of the explosion and had been overturned by the earth. But it was inherently so fragile, like a patient with terminal liver cancer suddenly finding themselves in a smoke-filled fire, that even though they were promptly rescued and treated, whether they could cling to life ultimately depended on the will of Heaven. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
On her last look before leaving, she saw that the Blood Parasol was indeed still alive, but barely clinging on to its pathetic life, and it was uncertain how long it could last.
Only upon returning to the Forest Palace did she learn that as soon as the explosion sounded, Jiu Mo immediately issued an order to seal off the entire Ba Snake Mountain Range. From that moment on, no one could step out of the Hidden Stream’s territory, and it was absolutely impossible for outsiders to come in. Such an explosion was no accident, and once the instigator was found, they would face the thunderous fury of the massive entity that was Hidden Stream!
After the Pill Masters of the Immortal Plant Garden evacuated, it was entirely cleared out of all personnel, then taken over by Thorny Hall, which started to examine the accident scene. Now, the high-ranking officials of Hidden Stream had all gathered in the Forest Palace, waiting for Thorny Hall’s report.
Taking advantage of this time, she began to observe the interior of the Forest Palace. She was in the second-floor hall, a very spacious area, almost the size of a football field. Aside from some seats at the front, only glaze vats were placed in the corners of the walls, emitting a strange fragrance that was somehow familiar to her. She sniffed carefully and recognized it as the Merfolk Oil that she had smelled inside the belly of a Dragon Turtle, which could burn continuously when lit.
It was embarrassing to say, but she had lived in the Ba Snake Mountain Range for a month and had never entered here. Thinking of this, she felt a surge of anger in her heart, resenting her own cautiousness. Changtian sensed the change in her mood and asked, "What’s wrong?"
She told the truth, and Changtian laughed, "Having such thoughts is good. Now that you’re also a cultivator at the Returning to Void Stage, and you have the protection of a Giant Strength of a million, there are not many in this Bashe Forest who can threaten you. With the strength of a powerful cultivator, you must adopt the mindset of one to match. We cultivators should move freely and follow our own hearts. You were accustomed to being cautious, but you will need to gradually open up in the future."
Ning Xiaoxian and the other Pill Masters had been waiting here for about three two-hours with no sign of any outsiders coming and going. They were only constantly watched by the stern-faced guards of Thorny Hall. The Pill Masters of the Immortal Plant Garden were always held in high regard, and at this time, someone indignantly objected, "What is with that look, treating us like traitors, like spies?"
Everyone quietly looked at this thoughtless person, thinking: Isn’t it that they first kept us under watch; with the explosion in the Plant Garden, the most suspicious are naturally us Pill Masters who frequently enter and exit the garden, could it be anyone else? At this critical juncture, everyone’s heart was heavy, and they all knew that Hidden Stream, as the Boss, could be quite ruthless. No Pill Master who had taken a stupid Elixir would be foolish enough to talk back to the guards of Thorny Hall.
However, Ning Xiaoxian used this time to repeatedly deduce the causes and consequences of the incident with Changtian and Qiongqi. Tu Jin and Qi Zai were now living too far away from her, and they could not enter the garden after the incident, so they weren’t with her.
After a while, instructions came from above, and the guards from Thorny Hall "escorted" all of the Pill Masters to the fourth floor. The Forest Palace had a total of five floors, and this one was much smaller in space and much more intricately designed. The roots of the giant tree that gave rise to the palace wove beautiful patterns on the walls with golden and smooth air roots, and even the colored lanterns embedded on the columns were made with Luminous Pearls at their core, releasing a soft and continuous light halo.
However, the expressions on the faces of everyone there now could hardly be described as soft, and the air was filled with a tense and sinister atmosphere. When they arrived, they just heard Elder He receive the preliminary statistics of the disaster. Since the incident had only occurred a mere four two-hours ago, the report was very rough, mentioning only the collapse of six greenhouses, over six thousand precious herbs toppled, of which over three thousand were saved, more than two thousand although expired could still be collected for medical use, and over one thousand were completely lost, either burned to ash or too young to be medicinally useful - including many rare plants that normally when ripe were so demanding that only golden artifacts or jade could be used to harvest them, but now after this calamity, they were simply crushed, their life force severed.
