Chapter 251: Two Places of Healing (Part 2)
Sunlight fell upon the girl’s face. Her features were delicate but not considered beautiful, yet in that moment, they brightened by several degrees.
She gazed quietly at the distant sun, reflecting on the events that had occurred since entering the garden today, and she had a rough idea of what was happening.
Just then, a white-robed girl from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance hurried over, stopped behind her, and said in a low voice, “That person’s injuries are too severe, Senior Sister…”
The girl nodded, signaling for her to go ahead, saying she would follow shortly.
The girl from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance walked back into the room and, ignoring the objections of the injured person’s sect mates, drove everyone out.
Only then did the girl enter the room. Two women from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance were treating the injured person, but his wounds were truly too grave. The common healing methods of the Li Palace were of little use. No matter how hard they tried, they could not stop the blood flowing from the wound in his abdomen.
When they saw her arrive, the women from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly made way for her.
The girl walked up to the injured person, glanced at him, and raised her right hand, holding it in the air above his abdomen.
A faint green light fell from her palm, like flowing water, yet gentler than water, continuously descending onto the injured person’s body.
The blood that had been gushing from the wound suddenly stopped.
Then, the light falling from her palm changed color, shifting from a refreshing, pleasant green to a pure, solemn milky white.
The white light bathed the injured person’s abdomen, and the terrifying wound visibly began to heal at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.
“The Garden of Zhou… has a problem. I suspect the garden gate has already closed. Later, have one of the cultivators here—the fastest one—go check the gate.”
The girl stood up and said to the women, “After I leave, light two signal flares. I believe the people among the mountains, streams, and rivers should be able to see them.”
Whether it was the Holy Maiden Peak or the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance, signal flares were always used on the battlefield. For cultivators and human armies, two flares meant hope. Though they were now in the Garden of Zhou, she believed that those cultivators who had been injured in battle but couldn’t leave through the gray lines would, upon seeing the two flares, find a way to come to the Forest of the Lakeside.
A slightly older woman from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance looked at her with concern and asked, “Senior Sister, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to do some things,” the girl replied calmly, then turned and left.
Watching her figure disappear into the depths of the garden, the women of the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance remained silent.
After a moment, someone recalled the miraculous scene they had just witnessed.
A girl said with admiration, “That was the Holy Light Technique, wasn’t it? I never thought Senior Sister, at such a young age, could cultivate the Holy Light Technique to this level. In my opinion, even the teacher might not be able to do it.”
“The latter part was the Holy Light Technique, but the beginning should have been the Natural Light of the Holy Maiden Peak.”
The slightly older woman said with a smile, “Senior Sister first studied at our academy, then went to cultivate at the Holy Maiden Peak. She combines the strengths of both the north and south—naturally, she’s extraordinary.”
Night gradually fell, and the Garden of Zhou grew cool, especially in the foothills, where a chill set in.
The white ceremonial robes of the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance were somewhat thick, enough to block the wind and cold, so the girl wasn’t worried. She walked seemingly casually through the wilderness, but in truth, she was searching for the cultivators who had entered the garden earlier.
Like Chen Changsheng and Qi Jian, she believed that no matter how powerful the force, it couldn’t truly alter the rules of this small world of the Garden of Zhou. The garden gate’s closure should only be temporary. The problem was that the sudden closure would bring many dangers to the hundreds of cultivators inside—dangers from within the human cultivators themselves and from other places.
In front of a cliff ahead, she encountered a student from the Star Plucking Academy. He hadn’t been injured in a fight but had made a mistake in his true essence circulation while using a movement technique, falling from the cliff. Even his marrow-washed body couldn’t withstand the impact from that height, resulting in several fractures. If he hadn’t met her, he might have truly been left to die.
The night deepened, and the forest grew eerie. In the distance, faint light from campfires could be seen. It seemed many cultivators had already noticed something was wrong, no longer caring about attracting competitors, only wanting to find companions as quickly as possible. At this moment, anyone in the Garden of Zhou could be their ally.
The girl walked toward the nearest campfire, her white ceremonial robes fluttering slightly in the night.
Under the night sky of the Garden of Zhou, the most conspicuous sights were the scattered campfires, though some were too far away to be easily seen.
Chen Changsheng and Zheshou emerged from the forest. He looked at a campfire on a nearby hill and said, “Let’s start with the closest ones. Don’t rush.”
Zheshou said nothing. As a descendant of the wolf tribe, patience was something he never lacked.
Chen Changsheng quickly realized this and felt a bit embarrassed. Then he thought of something and asked, “There should still be quite a few magical artifacts scattered around the Garden of Zhou. Are you sure you’re not losing out by following me like this?”
Zheshou replied, “What about you? Don’t you care about losing out?”
Chen Changsheng said, “When I think that the Li Mountain Sword Sect might have the exact location of the Sword Pool, and Liang Xiaoxiao and Qi Jian are heading there now, and even Zhuang Huanyu might find it… of course, I care a bit. But tonight, many people will be injured, even die. I can’t just ignore them.”
Zheshou looked into his eyes and asked seriously, “Why can’t you just ignore them?”
To a wolf tribe youth raised in the cruel snowfields, any mercy was a fatal weakness. He truly didn’t understand why humans and some demons couldn’t just… ignore them.
“Is it a bit of womanish benevolence?”
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, “It’s just… I can’t bear it.”
Zheshou was silent for a while before saying, “The responsibility of the strong is to make themselves stronger, so they can protect more of the weak.”
Chen Changsheng honestly replied, “Maybe… I don’t have much awareness of being strong? Besides, since the Li Palace put me in charge of these people, I have to take on some responsibility. And it seems I’m the only one here who knows how to heal.”
Zheshou said nothing more.
Chen Changsheng asked, “You still haven’t answered my first question.”
Zheshou said, “Tang Tang paid the money. I’m your bodyguard.”
Chen Changsheng thought of his friend still at the Heavenly Book Mausoleum and the yellow paper umbrella, and said with emotion, “It’s good to be rich.”
Zheshou finally added, “And I always feel that following you, I won’t lose out.”
As they spoke, the two didn’t slow their pace. Before long, they reached the hill, saw the campfire, and saw the people beside it.
Judging by their attire, they were two cultivators from the south. For some unknown reason, they had fought each other with swords, both suffering injuries, each bearing several wounds.
To Chen Changsheng’s surprise, the two southern cultivators were sound asleep, and their wounds had already healed. If not for the mottled bloodstains on their clothes, it would have been impossible to tell they had been injured.
He walked up to the two southern cultivators, felt their pulses, carefully lifted their eyelids to examine them, and finally lifted their clothes to check the wounds.
Though the wounds weren’t perfectly smooth, they were clearly no longer serious. Their deep sleep was likely the result of inhaling calming incense, which aided recovery.
“It was a senior sister from the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance. She used Severing Thought Incense on them.”
Chen Changsheng stood up and said to Zheshou, “With someone helping to treat people everywhere, we should have an easier time.”
But Zheshou shook his head and said, “It wasn’t the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance.”
Chen Changsheng looked slightly surprised, thinking he had thoroughly read the Daoist scriptures and was very familiar with the methods of the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance. The wounds of these two southern cultivators had healed so quickly, with a faint sacred aura still lingering at the edges—it was clearly the Holy Light Technique of the state religion. Why would Zheshou say it wasn’t the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance?
The Holy Light Technique of the state religion was extremely difficult to cultivate. At the level he was seeing now, even in the Li Palace, only about a dozen bishops could perform it. So he assumed the person who had treated these two southern cultivators must be quite old, a senior sister, or even more likely, a female professor. He just hadn’t noticed her when entering the garden.
“The healing of the wounds did use the Holy Light Technique, but the scent of the calming incense is wrong. It’s not the Severing Thought Incense of the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance, but the Stainless Dust from the Holy Maiden Peak, which is refined in the smallest quantities.”
Zheshou looked at him expressionlessly and said, “I’ve smelled the former many times. I’ve smelled the latter once, and I’ll never forget it. So I can’t be mistaken.”
Chen Changsheng then remembered that Zheshou had hunted demons in the northern snowfields and often carried out extremely dangerous missions for the Great Zhou military. He had hovered on the brink of life and death countless times. When it came to knowledge of the two great healing sanctuaries—the Thirteen Divisions of Green Radiance and the Holy Maiden Peak—few people were more knowledgeable than him.
“Someone who knows the Holy Light Technique and carries Stainless Dust… who could that be?”
He muttered to himself, thinking that someone who combined the strengths of both northern and southern sects must be a remarkable senior. But would such a senior still be stuck at the Penetrating Profundity realm?
Zheshou stared at him silently.
Chen Changsheng asked, slightly puzzled, “Why are you staring at me?”
Zheshou looked into his eyes and asked, “Do you really not know, or are you pretending to be clueless?”
Chen Changsheng was stunned for a moment, then understood. For a time, he was stunned again.
One of the main reasons he had entered the Garden of Zhou was to meet that girl and personally return the marriage contract to her.
But so many things had happened after entering the garden that he had forgotten about it—forgotten that she was also in the Garden of Zhou.
Someone who combined the strengths of both northern and southern sects, who could cultivate the Holy Light Technique to this level at the Penetrating Profundity realm, and who carried precious Stainless Dust… In recent years, wasn’t she the only one on the continent?
He looked at Zheshou, at a loss, and said, “No way?”
Zheshou looked at him expressionlessly and said, “Yes way.”
Chen Changsheng said nothing more. He looked out at the night-covered wilderness, thinking that she had stood here before, beside the same campfire. For some reason, he felt a strange mood.
“Let’s go?” Zheshou asked.
Chen Changsheng suddenly turned and walked back to the two southern cultivators, taking out copper needles to begin treatment.
Zheshou was puzzled, thinking that since Xu Yourong had already treated them, why bother with this extra step?
(The next chapter will come faster; I’ve already written a few hundred words. Every time I write about Chen and Xu, I feel inexplicably joyful…)