Chapter 73: Overall Situation
A short distance from the Four-Turn medicine field, four people stood in a group.
There were three men and one woman.
All of them had their eyes closed and were conversing in hushed tones.
"Did you really meet him?" The woman asked.
Her ’gaze’ was trained on one of the men, and her voice was filled with anticipation.
"I did." Li Futian answered.
A small smile curled his lips, and his expression was nostalgic.
"What did you think about him?" One of the men asked.
This person was the one that Jiang Yue and Li Futian encountered along the way.
The other two were also disciples of the Celestial Sky sect, and all four were under the same master.
"Master is right." Li Futian said.
Silence fell amongst the four, and each seemed to be in their own mind.
"How is that possible?" One of the others asked.
His voice revealed his disbelief, but unconcealable awe could also be heard.
"I don’t know." Li Futian answered.
After spending some time with Jiang Yue, he had a certain understanding of the other.
He knew Jiang Yue did not have a deep background.
His family was killed in a border skirmish, but even then, the family was just ordinary.
It had some money, but it didn’t have a deep cultivation background.
Now, Jiang Yue was under a master who was a cultivator in the nascent soul realm.
However, Li Futian could tell that Jiang Yue was not in awe of his master.
He seemed to like and respect his friend’s master more than his own master.
"What do we do?" The girl asked.
She had an eager look on her face, which was echoed by one of the young men.
"We will do nothing." One of them said.
A frown marred his face, and he ’looked’ at the girl in displeasure.
Li Futian chuckled and then placed his hand on the young man to stop him from ’glaring’ at the girl.
"Senior brother is right. Master only let us watch, but not interfere."
After hearing that, the girl came to her senses.
Her face flushed a beautiful pink, and she was a little ashamed.
For a moment there, she forgot what her master always said.
’The heavens favour us because we do not interfere.’
.....
In a different area of the secret realm, another group was walking toward a herb field.
The group was comprised of twenty young cultivators.
All of them wore blue robes and were walking in a wedge formation.
At the front was one man.
His blue robe was decorated with five-clawed dragons, and his aura inspired awe in everyone who followed behind.
Directly behind him, three young cultivators walked.
They also wore blue robes, but their robes were decorated with four clawed dragons.
"Young emperor Zhu would have already broken through to the qi transformation realm if not for the thousand herbs garden." A young cultivator walking in the middle of the wedge said.
His voice was full of awe, and his face was animated to match it.
"Who is he? He is the proud genius of our Great Zhu empire." Another said.
His voice was filled with pride, and everyone around him nodded their heads in approval.
If the young emperor did not want to enter the thousand herbs garden, he would have broken through to the qi transformation realm three years ago.
Everyone in the Great Zhu empire knew this.
Some understood the young emperor’s decision, but more didn’t.
For someone as talented as the young emperor, suppressing his cultivation for three years was a waste of time.
After all, cultivation was against time.
Breaking through as early as possible was the king’s way.
If one suppressed their cultivation, it could affect their potential and may cause them to encounter bottlenecks when breaking through.
"The thousand herbs garden is not as good as the Nine Treasures secret realm. Is it worth it to suppress his cultivation to enter this secret realm?" A female cultivator asked.
Her voice was low; as if she was afraid that others would hear her question, but also wanting to have an answer to the question.
"The Nine Treasures secret realm is the topmost secret realm in our Cangxing world. How can the Thousand Herbs Garden compare?" Someone sneered.
However, this was not the point.
"I heard that the thousand herbs garden holds an ancient secret." Someone whispered.
"What secret?"
"This..., how can I know? Just know that there is a secret here."
"It makes sense if there is a secret. Otherwise, what herb can’t our young emperor have in the Great Zhu empire?!"
The group was silent for a moment.
All were lost in thought as wild ideas crossed their mind.
"A secret that can attract our young emperor must be very powerful."
"If I can get the opportunity..."
"Stop dreaming, it will never be your turn."
.....
In yet another area of the secret realm, a young girl stood under a small hill.
The girl looked less than twenty, but her cultivation was already at the peak of the ninth level of the origin forging realm.
She wore a pure white robe, and silver ornaments adorned her long black hair.
Although the lower half of her face was hidden by a white veil, the exposed half was exquisite.
She had a pair of pure eyes that seem to have never witnessed any evil.
’Will I find him?’ She wondered and then sighed.
The thousand herbs garden was so large, and she had already been looking for more than two weeks.
In that time, she had come across many cultivators from other regions.
She had even come across a cultivator from the Sea Cloud region.
However, that cultivator didn’t know Yu Nianzhen.
When she heard that, the girl was a little surprised and a little worried.
Although hero Yang had fallen in realm, his cultivation knowledge had not disappeared.
The girl expected that a disciple taught by that man would be famous across the Sea Cloud region.
Still, it didn’t matter whether Yu Nianzhen was powerful or not.
All she needed to do was to find him and deliver her master’s message.
.....
In yet another region, a group of close to one hundred were gathered in a valley.
All of them wore black robes that were decorated with pink flowers.
Their faces were hidden behind masks, and everyone kept a distance of at least one metre from the other.
"Not everyone has arrived." Someone said.
The speaker was sitting on a rock that was at the front of the gathered crowd.
Three people stood behind him, and each held a list in their hands.
"There is still some time." One of the three said.
The plan was to meet within one month of entering the secret realm.
This was decided because the secret realm was large, and people would be positioned in different places after entering.
However, the elders had planned well.
The meeting place was set in a more central valley in the outer region of the secret realm.
If everyone did their best, all would make it there within one month.
"There are still a few days before the meeting time arrives. Everyone who arrives late will be killed." The leader’s voice was resolute and merciless.
.....
In yet another region, a young male cultivator sat at the bank of a lake.
The cultivator was dressed in a black robe, black shoes, and his black hair was tied up with a silver guan.
He sat on a round rock, and in front of him, a chess board was placed on another rock.
"Another one has come." He sneered and turned to his left.
"Leave right away, and I will let you keep your life." A voice said.
The voice was aggressive which was in contrast with the intruder’s appearance.
"I will give you two choices." The black-clothed young man said.
"What?"
"You can leave right now, and I won’t pursue."
The intruder sneered, but didn’t speak.
Initially, he didn’t mean to fight.
However, a dragon-scaled fruit was growing at the bank of the lake, next to the young man in black.
Although the fruit was not mature, it was close to maturity. Otherwise, it wouldn’t show itself.
In his mind, the dragon-scaled fruit was worth risking his life for.
Although he wasn’t that good at fighting, he was confident he could defeat one person.
If he used all his strength, he was sure that very few people could defeat him in the thousand herbs garden.
"The second option is to play one game against me. If you win, I will immediately leave the dragon-scaled fruit to you, but if you lose, you will join them."
The black-clothed man said this in a light tone, but his voice was filled with indifference.
At first, the intruder didn’t understand what the other meant.
His face coloured in confusion, but that confusion turned to horror in the next moment.
Until now, the intruder was so focused on the dragon-scaled fruit that he failed to look at his surroundings.
Now that he did, he saw a mountain of corpses a few metres from the dragon-scaled fruit.
’There are about thirty corpses in that mountain.’ He thought with horror.
Without a second thought, the intruder turned around and walked away from the lake and the dragon scaled fruit.
