Chapter 665 Price of greed (15)
"After he passed, to honor his life, we lived it as he did, which was travel from place to place taking in the sights and studying the local flora whether it was valuable or not.
Gradually Long Zemin and I developed our own interests during the travels.
Long Zemin had the same fondness as Master did for spiritual plants and he added spirit beast zoology into the mix too, specifically insect spirit beasts.
As for me, I don't know if it was guilt...Our master died from succumbing to injuries he sustained from a blackscale centipede.
He had gone to search for a particular herb that would help us breakthrough from the iron body to the bronze body and got injured in the process.
The injuries were severe and no matter where we went, or how much we begged, no one was willing to help us, and we could only watch him as his life flowed out of him.
I could never forget that day no matter how much I tried. I think that's why Zemin decided to study insect-based spirit beasts as for me, my interest went into alchemy and healing.
We traveled from place to place, honing our craft with whatever resources we could find or afford, and it was in that journey that we met the other founders of the Ocean Refining Cauldron Pavilion, who had been wandering for reasons of their own.
We teamed up and managed to form a deep bond. Those years were not easy, especially for rootless weeds like us with no background, but they were worthwhile nonetheless and eventually, we stumbled onto a mysterious realm that completely altered our fates.
Our master's sacrifice wasn't in vain.." Li Yao said with a smile that was a mixture of regret and relief.
"With what we obtained we were able to improve in leaps and bounds to where we are today. I decided to create the Ocean Refining Crucible Pavilion in the hopes that just like Master, I would be able to transform the lives of those around me, while Long Zemin decided to roam the continent, just like Master did, and write books and journals on his discoveries while he was at it.
He ended up joining the Odyssey Horizon Guild. As for me, even though I had the Pavilion, I still traveled whenever I could, and instituted that requirement to the Pavilion as a way to keep the flames of my master alive.
And said travels brought me here under my traveling identity of Long Zemin.
I was walking about when I detected a particular aura that reminded me of Zemin. That aura came from that young man's sect, the Moon Essence Cauldron Sect.." Li Yao said as he pointed toward Ling Qi.
"Using five flame poison, and baneblood leech to contain the poison of the tricolored white-eyed tortoise is something Zemin would have done.
He had refined the art of fighting poison with poison. Due to how much time he spends in the Green Fog Region, with how poisonous its inhabitants are, he quickly and painfully found out how difficult it is to detoxify the venom of most of its inhabitants through normal means and that's how he accidentally discovered using one poison to counteract the other when he got bit by two different creatures in that swamp.
Over time, he refined the process, and what I saw at the Moon Essence Cauldron Sect had the earmarkings of his work.
Other than our unique means of checking up on each other, I hadn't seen him in fifteen years, so on detecting one of his techniques, on a wistful whim, I decided to see his technique in action so I could give him an earful of its shortcomings in person.
In character, I met with the elders of the sect, and as a thank you for them letting me see my junior apprentice's technique, I decided to heal them.
It was when I was healing them that I discovered something else lurking within their bodies that I had seen with a few occupants of this range.
They were tainted with the curse of the graveyard torch.." said Li Yao.
"There is one here?!" Yang Qing asked in surprise.
"There is. It is not a big one, but there is one, and the four of them must have interacted with an inheritance enlightenment blood crystal from there.
Unlike the others who had passive effects from the curse, they had a high concentration of it, they likely knew what they were handling.
If it weren't for seeing them use my junior brother's technique, I would have left them to their own devices.." Li Yao coldly said, with his earlier genial look vanishing, as was replaced by an austere face.
The sudden change in Li Yao made the four cultivators suddenly flinch as they felt a fearsome undercurrent that would destroy them both body and soul, in but an instant.
"A graveyard torch huh...no wonder the two spirit beasts who would normally not be caught together, appeared simultaneously outside of their territory and attacked them, with one of them even going to the extent of sacrificing its blood essence.
They're lucky it's just those two.." muttered Yang Qing in mild surprise as his gaze fell on the four.
"Are you that desperate to join the Deer Mountain Kingdom?" he gently asked, directing his question to the four cultivators, who had lowered their heads in shame.
"We don't have an option. We can't move away from this place, and staying here has been getting harder by the year. The spirit beasts seem to be getting stronger, and soon we may be overrun.
Our only option is to join the Deer Mountain Kingdom, but we can't do it without one of us reaching the palace realm.
Using the crystals is the only way we can achieve it in the shortest time possible.." answered Hua Ying in a guilt-ridden tone.
Yang Qing sighed as he said,
"You don't understand the gravity of what you're dealing with here. If the Kingdom knew it, I don't know if they'd accept you, even if one of you becomes a palace realm expert.
What you have done is no different than declaring yourselves the enemy of every single spirit beast that inhabits this place.
Not even the Deer Mountain Kingdom can protect you from them if they decide to punish you for what you did.."
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