Chapter 250: Two Places of Healing (Part 1)
Downstream from the creek was a hilly area, winding away, with the distant plains faintly visible. Everything seemed unchanged from when they first arrived, but Chen Changsheng knew something was wrong with this world.
As he stared at the world in silence, Zhuang Huanyu prepared to leave.
"It's best not to leave alone."
Chen Changsheng turned around, looking at him seriously. "The gray thread guide has failed, which means something has happened. It's better to investigate first. Otherwise, I'm worried there might be trouble."
Zhuang Huanyu stopped, raising an eyebrow slightly. "The Zhou Garden only opens for a hundred days. Every moment inside is precious. Are you asking me to waste time on such a trivial matter?"
Chen Changsheng replied, "You already spent time watching the battle earlier. What's a little more?"
"Fine," Zhuang Huanyu said, looking at him. "If something is truly wrong, we should check the garden gate. But we're at least dozens of li from the gate. Who's going?"
As he had said earlier, every moment in the Zhou Garden was incredibly valuable to the cultivators who entered. Going from the riverside to the gate and back, even using true essence to rush, would take at least half an hour. Who would be willing to waste so much time on such a thing?
Qijian seemed tempted and was about to say something, but Liang Xiaoxiao shook his head beside him. Thinking of the important task his sect had entrusted to him, he remained silent.
The riverside was quiet, with no one responding. Zhuang Huanyu looked at Chen Changsheng with a hint of mockery. "See? No one is willing to go. Since it was your idea, why don't you go?"
Chen Changsheng didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked at the severely injured head of the Qingxu Temple.
Qijian understood his meaning and said, "I'll take care of him."
Then he looked at Liang Xiaoxiao, whispering a few words with a firm tone.
"Alright. I think you can search the forest, but it's best not to go too far."
Chen Changsheng knew that these sect disciples had entered the Zhou Garden, like that senior sister from Holy Maiden Peak, mostly carrying tasks from their sects.
After saying this, he walked downstream. Zheshe didn't say a word, following behind him.
At a bend downstream, once he was sure the people by the river couldn't see him, Chen Changsheng said to Zheshe, "I need to go into the forest for a bit. Wait for me here."
Zheshe didn't ask what he was going to do, nor did he want to pry into his secrets. He nodded indifferently.
Entering the quiet, dense forest, climbing up the mountain for a while, Chen Changsheng stopped, looking at the distant prairie burning under the sun and the mountain ridge stretching into its depths. His right hand gripped the hilt of the short sword at his waist. "Help me check the garden gate?"
The black dragon had landed on his shoulder at some point, staring at the distant mountain ridge. A strange light flickered in its dragon eyes, a sense of confusion, as if something there was drawing it in.
"I have a feeling the garden gate might be closed, cutting off contact with the outside world. So whether you go or I go is the same. Just be careful on the way and don't let anyone see you."
Chen Changsheng turned his head, looking at the black dragon on his shoulder, entrusting it earnestly.
The black dragon withdrew its gaze from the mountain ridge, looking at him and chirping twice.
Chen Changsheng said with some frustration, "Nothing I have is good enough for you. This sword was a gift from my senior brother, so I can't give it to you."
The black dragon stared at him coldly, its meaning clear: you're not paying anything, yet you dare ask me for a favor.
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll promise you one request... You know, I'm now the dean of the National Academy. I might get my hands on many rare treasures in the future."
The black dragon's vertical pupils narrowed slightly, seemingly satisfied with this answer.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the forest, accompanied by a harsh tearing sound of air. The black dragon turned into a blur, instantly breaking through the air and disappearing.
Not long after, Chen Changsheng emerged from the forest, looking at Zheshe with a grave expression. "The garden gate is closed."
Zheshe raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing, nor did he ask how Chen Changsheng had found out about the gate's condition in such a short time.
Back at the riverside, the others had many questions about how Chen Changsheng had confirmed the news so quickly. Zhuang Huanyu's indifferent brows showed a hint of mockery, and Liang Xiaoxiao asked directly, "You say it's closed, so it's closed?"
Chen Changsheng didn't explain. "Believe it if you want."
Before Liang Xiaoxiao and Zhuang Huanyu could press further, he crouched down to continue treating the head of the Qingxu Temple.
Qijian said, "I believe him."
Liang Xiaoxiao frowned at him, seemingly puzzled as to why his junior brother trusted Chen Changsheng, an opponent from the Li Mountain Sword Sect, so much.
"Second senior brother said that if anything happens in the Zhou Garden, Chen Changsheng is the most trustworthy person," Qijian said.
Chen Changsheng was taking the pulse of the Qingxu Temple head, and his fingers stiffened slightly.
When leaving the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, Gou Hanshi had asked him to look after the disciples of Li Mountain. At the time, he thought it was just polite talk, never expecting Gou Hanshi truly meant it. For some reason, he suddenly felt his shoulders grow heavier, but his heart became much lighter. That feeling was very comfortable.
Confirming that the Qingxu Temple head's injuries wouldn't worsen too quickly, he stood up, asked Zheshe to prepare the treatment tools, and said to Liang Xiaoxiao and the others, "I've confirmed that the Zhou Garden's own rules haven't been damaged. It's just been interfered with by some external force. The gate should reopen within a hundred days, but I don't know when."
Liang Xiaoxiao frowned slightly. "What force could interfere with a small world?"
Qijian thought for a moment and said, "Either the force is powerful enough, or the one using it knows the Zhou Garden very well."
Chen Changsheng nodded. "I think it's the latter."
Ye Xiaolian opened her eyes wide, curious. "Who could it be?"
Chen Changsheng and the others exchanged glances but said nothing.
Hundreds of human cultivators had entered the Zhou Garden. The ones who would want to tamper with it were, of course, humanity's enemies.
Humanity's enemies were the demon race.
"We need to be careful."
Qijian looked at the plains downstream, worried. "We must find a way to notify the others quickly."
They weren't sure, or rather hadn't even considered, that demons might have infiltrated the Zhou Garden. But since the garden had changed and the gray thread guides had failed, to prevent human cultivators from going too far in their fights for treasures and causing irreparable losses, they had to spread the news of the garden's closure as quickly as possible.
But the Zhou Garden was vast. A few hundred human cultivators seemed like a lot, but scattered across it, they were sparse. And since everyone's goal was to find treasures, many would likely hide their tracks. In such a situation, even chance encounters were rare.
The reason they had all met by the river was that they shared a common goal—the Sword Pool. Whether it was the National Academy, the Li Mountain Sword Sect, or the Heavenly Dao Academy, they all had some records about the Sword Pool's location. That's why they had traveled upstream to this spot. They all knew this tacitly.
As for the master and disciple from Qingxu Temple, they had been tailing the master and disciple from Holy Maiden Peak since entering the garden. In a way, that was quite cunning.
The Zhou Garden world was vast, divided into three major regions by three mountain ranges. The famous prairie, which no one had ever dared to venture deep into, lay in the center. At the edges of the mountains and hills, which were also the edges of the Zhou Garden, were several gardens. These gardens were rumored to be Zhou's former residences, where treasures were most likely hidden. So most cultivators entering the garden would first search these places.
Liang Xiaoxiao said to Qijian, "Going to those places is too far and takes too much time."
He didn't finish his sentence, but Qijian understood. In fact, everyone present probably understood.
It seemed the Li Mountain Sword Sect was very confident in the information about the Sword Pool, or perhaps over the decades, their elders had analyzed something. Liang Xiaoxiao and Qijian were naturally eager to leave.
In the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, Chen Changsheng often treated Zheshe, so Zheshe was very familiar with that box. It didn't take long for him to prepare the needed items.
Chen Changsheng ignored what the Li Mountain Sword Sect brothers were thinking, took the items, crouched down, and began formally treating the Qingxu Temple head's injuries.
The copper needles had stopped the bleeding. Now he needed to suture the wound.
Ye Xiaolian glanced at it, and her face turned pale.
Even the young Taoist from Qingxu Temple's hands trembled as he supported his master.
As cultivators, whether in sect sparring or battles in the world, they had all seen blood. But seeing a metal needle piercing and stitching through human flesh was rare.
After sewing up the sword wound on the Qingxu Temple head's chest and bandaging it with clean cloth, Chen Changsheng didn't stop. He began using copper needles to clear the meridians in the man's chest and abdomen that had been damaged by Liang Xiaoxiao's sword intent.
Watching this scene, everyone's expressions shifted slightly, especially Senior Sister Tong from Holy Maiden Peak.
Holy Maiden Peak's Nanxi Zhai and the Qingyao Thirteen Departments in the capital were the most skilled healing sects in the cultivation world. For a thousand years, in the brutal wars between humans and demons, figures in white ceremonial robes could always be seen, playing a crucial role in the conflict.
She hadn't expected to see such exquisite medical skills in the Zhou Garden today, and Chen Changsheng clearly hadn't cultivated the Sacred Light Technique of the National Church.
The riverside was quiet, with only the gurgling of water and the occasional muffled groan from the Qingxu Temple head.
Everyone watched Chen Changsheng, not daring to disturb him.
Zhuang Huanyu disliked this scene. He raised an eyebrow slightly, nodded to Liang Xiaoxiao, and walked toward the forest upstream.
Chen Changsheng saw this from the corner of his eye but didn't stop him again.
Not long after, confirming that the Qingxu Temple head's injuries were no longer life-threatening, he stood up and said to Qijian, "I need to leave too. I have to find a way to reach the others. As you worried, they might not know the garden gate is closed. If they start fighting, they won't hold back, and it could lead to deaths."
Liang Xiaoxiao's expression shifted slightly, feeling that these words were aimed at him, but he didn't realize Chen Changsheng was just stating facts.
Qijian looked troubled. "We also have reasons we must leave."
"I understand." Chen Changsheng looked at the master and disciple from Holy Maiden Peak. "Could you trouble yourselves to look after them here for a while? I should be back before midnight."
Senior Sister Tong was momentarily stunned, not expecting him to make such a request. After thinking it over, she agreed.
Having been ambushed earlier and now having to care for the attacker, if she weren't a disciple of Holy Maiden Peak, she really couldn't have accepted it.
Chen Changsheng smiled gratefully, then headed downstream again with Zheshe.
The sunlight was bright, dispelling much of the gloom in the forest.
In the southeast of the Zhou Garden, there was a garden built against the mountain. Legend had it that this garden was constructed after Zhou's middle age, when he sought quiet but enjoyed the sound of birds, hence its name: Lakeside Mountain Whispers.
Lakeside Mountain Whispers wasn't the garden at the Zhou Garden's entrance, but it was the closest to the gate.
The garden at the entrance, since every cultivator entering the garden passed through it first, had been searched countless times. Later cultivators had no chance of finding anything left behind. So this year, many cultivators headed straight for Lakeside Mountain Whispers.
Birdsong filled the mountains like music, water flowed silently through the garden. Winding corridors, flying eaves, white walls, and lattice windows—according to the ironclad rules set by the human cultivation world, nothing in the Zhou Garden except artifacts and legacies could be moved. So even after centuries, it still retained seven parts of its original tranquility and nine parts of its noble air.
But in a certain room deep within this garden, there was only fear and unease. The tranquility and nobility had long been swept away by the stench of blood.
Over a dozen cultivators surrounded the scene, their expressions grim.
One cultivator lay on the ground, his abdomen pierced by a sword, a gash about five fingers wide. His left hand pressed over it, but it couldn't stop the blood from flowing, and even his intestines were visible, squeezed out. He was on the verge of death. In his right hand, the gray thread guide had already burned away, leaving only ashes.
Another cultivator, pale-faced, kept saying, "I didn't mean to. I thought that move, Qitong, would only wound him at most. How was I to know his true essence would stagnate at that moment and he wouldn't raise his sword? I really didn't mean to... And the gray thread guide burned, but it didn't work!"
The injured cultivator's abdomen was pierced, blood flowing endlessly, clearly about to die. The faces of those around grew darker. What unsettled them most was why the gray thread guide had lost its effect. Were they really going to just watch this man die?
Just then, several women in white ceremonial robes arrived at Lakeside Mountain Whispers. Joyful shouts and greetings rang out in the garden.
One woman didn't enter the room. She stood on the covered bridge, gazing at the sun gradually sinking toward the prairie in the distance, silent, as if she had noticed something.
(I'll try to get the next chapter out before eleven.)