Chapter 65 Setback The ground of this oasis trembled...
The ground of the oasis trembled, and countless branches and vines rose from the ground, attacking the cultivators who had intruded into the oasis.
The surging spiritual energy left Yu Jitang speechless, as he was seeing such a spectacle for the first time.
The assembled forces of independent cultivators and minor sects numbered as many as a thousand, which is why they dared to storm the Western Abyss right in front of the three major powers: the Divine Palace, the Flame-Slaying Platform, and the Golden Pavilion. However, even with their utmost vigilance, this sudden turn of events still caught many off guard.
When their weapons struck the vines, they severed the branches, but those branches would simply grow back and become new sources of attack.
Many people were entangled by the vines, their spiritual energy instantly drained, turning them into withered corpses.
In the short time it takes Zou Buming to drink a cup of tea, thirty percent of the cultivators who had stormed into the Western Abyss had already perished. The remaining ones were no match for the enemy and had no choice but to retreat.
Unaware of the human cultivator's movements, the vines softly descended, creeping across the ground and trees like serpents. But they did not follow.
The people who came out were in a sorry state, and some of them cursed angrily, "Burn these things!"
Immediately someone nearby said, "Burned? I think you've lost your mind! What are you doing here? Did you come to eat roasted fruit? If you accidentally set the spirit wood on fire, even killing your whole family wouldn't be enough to pay for it."
Many people who were in a daze instantly came to their senses.
Yes, what are they here for? They're after the Spirit Fruit, aren't they? Fighting these demonic vines isn't the goal; breaking in and finding the Spirit Fruit is. As for those who died, they were competitors anyway, so there's nothing to regret.
The group looked at each other, and, unwilling to give up, charged again.
Many cultivators capable of wielding swords and artifacts attempted to traverse the heights. However, they underestimated the Western Abyss. Bolts of lightning, appearing out of nowhere, struck the leading swordsman. Several screams rang out as they plummeted from the sky. A few vines lazily lifted them up, catching them and draining them of their life force, turning them into charred corpses.
The crowd was so frightened that they scrambled out.
What to do? The shaken group huddled together for warmth, discussed the situation for a while, and then, shamelessly, returned to find the three of them. They shouted in a chaotic manner.
"Divine Attendant Zou, this thing is too evil. With your advanced cultivation, why don't you give it a try?"
"That's right, eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path is the duty of the disciples of the Divine Palace."
“Attendant Zou, Attendant Luo, we still have disciples trapped inside, their fate unknown. Please lend a helping hand and rescue them. We will repay your life-saving grace.”
Upon hearing this, Zou Buming raised his gaze and glanced into the oasis.
The mob immediately understood, and some cried out, calling out to their master, senior brother, father, and son, begging Zou Buming and Luo Heqing to lend a helping hand.
Luo Heqing scoffed. "A hanged ghost applying rouge? That's just being obsessed with saving face." But when did Zou Buming start doing all this superficial stuff?
Zou Buming then asked the two of them, "Junior Brother Luo, Young Master Jin, what are your thoughts?"
Luo Heqing smiled and said, "I'll listen to Senior Brother Zou."
Jin Hua waved his fan, his face serious. "Although they have only themselves to blame, how can we, as chivalrous people, stand by and watch them die?"
Each one of them spoke more eloquently than the last.
Zou Buming stood up. "Alright. We'll take action if you want. But you must follow my orders. To avoid casualties, it's better if you stay outside the oasis."
Huh? That won't do. We're not really counting on you to rescue people; we're counting on you to clear the way!
Before the mob could say anything...
Zou Buming added, “Of course, if you are worried, you can come along. But you must know that this Western Abyss Oasis is fraught with danger. Even the edge is so perilous. Even if I wanted to protect you, I am powerless to do so. If you go in, you will be responsible for your own lives. It has nothing to do with us.”
The mob readily agreed, saying, "Don't worry, Divine Attendant Zou, we are not unreasonable people. We are already deeply grateful for your help. If we still harbor resentment, wouldn't we be ungrateful villains?"
Zou Buming smiled and said, "That's absolutely right."
With a single glance, his divine palace experts sprang into action. In no time, the entire camp was ready, and they were prepared to march in formation.
Wu Chen and Yu Jitang looked down from above, and could see the movements in the camp better than anyone else in the field.
Wu Chen said, "He was prepared in advance. He deliberately let these people in, so that when they realized they couldn't get in, they would have to come back and ask him for help. In this way, his position changed from a competitor to someone high above, and he gained the moral high ground."
Yu Jitang frowned. "But something still doesn't feel right. We all know that this bird, those two families, and that rich man—they're all after the Spirit Fruit. Letting one in means adding another opponent. If I were Zou Buming, if I had the strength to break in, I absolutely wouldn't bring anyone. Anyone could become a threat in the end. But look at him, all that commotion this morning—quite a few people have already died. But he doesn't care about the dead, and he doesn't care about the living either. What exactly is he trying to do?"
Wu Chen couldn't answer either. Even with Lu Qing standing beside him, the information he and Yu Jitang combined probably didn't know about the Spirit Fruit as much as Zou Buming alone.
“They don’t dare to go up high. We just need to keep an eye on them. The truth will come out eventually.” Wu Chen reached out to pull Lu Qing, but grabbed nothing.
He turned around and saw Lu Qing and Luo Sen slumped against the stone wall. Their faces were slightly flushed, their eyes were closed and their brows were furrowed, and they couldn't utter a single word.
Wu Chen caught Lu Qing in his arms, "What's wrong?"
Over there, Yu Jitang caught Luo Sen. He reached out and touched him, "Strange, why does he seem to have gone mad?"
Wu Chen felt Lu Qing's pulse and, sure enough, the spiritual energy in Lu Qing's meridians was surging, several times stronger than before. "How could this be?"
Yu Jitang couldn't care less about the commotion outside. "We have to think of a way, otherwise their meridians will be damaged, and they'll have a lot of trouble if they want to cultivate in the future. Maybe we can help them sort it out."
Wu Chen quickly carried Lu Qing back to the depths of the cave. Qi Ying was still sleeping there. Wu Yan, clinging to Qi Ying's lap, was also fast asleep.
As Wu Chen settled Lu Qing down, he asked Yu Jitang, "How is Luo Sen?"
Yu Jitang carried Luo Sen in, set him down to the side, and then reached out to feel his pulse. "Oh no, it's even worse than before. What's going on? We only exchanged a few words, where did all this spiritual energy come from?"
Wu Chen pressed one hand on Lu Qing's pulse and the other on her dantian. To his horror, he discovered that her dantian seemed to be a bottomless pit. All the spiritual energy that had been frantically surging into her body from her limbs and bones had gathered in her dantian and then disappeared without a trace.
This is completely different from the path of spiritual energy circulation they usually cultivate.
Wu Chen then checked Luo Sen's pulse and found that it was similar to hers, but the amount of spiritual energy in Luo Sen's pulse was less than half that in Lu Qing's body. Wu Chen's mind raced, but she couldn't think of any similar medical cases.
What's even stranger is that despite the massive influx of spiritual energy, they couldn't sense it at all, even though they were standing right next to it. Why is that?
However, Wu Chen and Yu Jitang could not sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the Western Abyss, but other "people" could.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 17:16:51 on July 24, 2020 and 10:21:54 on July 26, 2020!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Sister Xixi (40 bottles); You Suozhu (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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