"Sect Master, it's here!"
The speaker was Pang Jian, the independent cultivator who had left earlier. His eyes were fixed tightly on the scene below.
He did not need to say anything. The people of the Danxia Sect had already seen the herb garden radiating dazzling light. That enticing fragrance alone was enough to drive alchemist cultivators like them mad!
"Good, good, good! There really is a herb garden!"
Xuanhuo Zhenren, the Danxia Sect's sect master, could barely contain his excitement. He stared fixedly at the herb garden below, then only after a long while turned to Pang Jian. "From this day onward, you are my personal disciple!"
"Yes, Master!"
Pang Jian immediately knelt and performed a simple discipleship rite. The formal ceremony could be held after this matter was settled.
Xuanhuo Zhenren continued, "This herb garden will become the future treasure that safeguards the Danxia Sect. Every elder and disciple present will receive three times the usual pills for cultivation. Once this matter is settled, merits will be rewarded accordingly. Let me make this clear: if anyone leaks word of this, even at the cost of my life and cultivation, I will personally kill the traitor!"
"Yes, Sect Master!"
Everyone bowed in acknowledgment.
Only after suppressing their restless thoughts did Xuanhuo Zhenren slowly descend, entering the priceless herb garden on foot.
The Danxia Sect members cautiously followed him.
Once inside the herb garden, everything was just as Pang Jian had described. It was filled with rare treasures, and there was a thatched hut within. As the group approached, a Fairy slowly emerged from the hut.
Everyone's breathing caught.
Pang Jian had already told them that a mysterious Fairy lived in this herb garden, one of extraordinary beauty but rather peculiar behavior.
Now that they saw her, they realized Pang Jian had been wrong.
The Fairy was not merely extraordinarily beautiful. She was breathtakingly beautiful, like a celestial maiden beneath the moon. The very sight of her stirred ripples in one's heart.
The Danxia Sect members, who had originally come intending to seize the place by force, unexpectedly softened their expressions upon seeing her.
"May I ask this Fairy's name and origins?"
Xuanhuo Zhenren asked politely.
Yet Pang Jian behind him had a strange feeling. The white-clad Fairy in the herb garden clearly looked exactly as she had days ago, yet she felt as though she were an entirely different person.
The Fairy standing before the thatched hut had indifferent eyes. Previously, she had been startled by the flying sword and had seemed faintly wary of the four of them. But now, facing more than a hundred cultivators from the Danxia Sect, she did not even glance at them, showing neither panic nor caution.
That mirror floated at her side. Its surface was gray and murky, utterly unlike the clear mirror surface from before.
"May I ask, Fairy—!"
Xuanhuo Zhenren asked again, his tone gaining a sharper edge.
"Answer my questions, and I shall grant each of you one spiritual plant."
The Fairy spoke slowly. Her voice was ethereal and empty, carrying an ancient charm. It was like the sound of a zither, entering directly into everyone's souls.
"What?"
Everyone was baffled.
"Leave behind your possessions, and you may take another one," the Fairy added.
Her voice remained as pleasant as ever, but her words seemed utterly incoherent. Only Pang Jian understood and hurriedly said, "Sect Master, she said the same thing when we came last time!"
At this moment, the Purple-Clad Woman in the mirror gave a soft laugh. "She's stirred by mortal emotions again."
The others laughed in agreement.
"What questions does the Fairy have?" Xuanhuo Zhenren tried asking.
"Do you know where Earth is?"
"Earth? I do not."
"Do you know what traffic lights are?"
"This... I do not know either!"
"You are too foolish to answer my questions. Leave."
After that brief exchange, the Fairy dismissed them and turned to walk back into the thatched hut.
The Danxia Sect elders and disciples looked at one another.
After cultivating for so many years, this was the first time they had encountered someone with such a strange temperament.
"Sect Master, how about we..." an elder ventured. The others were eager as well.
They had already set up an array before descending, and there were no restrictions in the garden. With their combined strength, they could contend head-on against an Enlightenment Realm expert!
"No hurry."
Xuanhuo Zhenren raised a hand to stop them. Pointing at one disciple, he ordered, "Go pick a Spirit Crow Flower!"
"Yes, Sect Master!"
The disciple swiftly went over and successfully picked a spiritual flower. He stood where he was, then, at the sect master's signal, reached for another plant.
The instant his hand touched the spiritual plant, an inexplicable chill swept over him. Before he could react, his entire body was frozen solid. Only the Spirit Crow Flower in his hand still emitted a faint glow.
Everyone was horrified and looked toward their sect master in unison.
The mysterious Fairy had said she would give them one plant, so they could only take one. Whoever took more would die at once!
Xuanhuo Zhenren looked toward the thatched hut. His mind, which had been clouded by greed for treasure, was only now gradually clearing.
Damn it.
He should have thought of it earlier. Thousand Snow Mountain was not a forbidden ground, so how could a herb garden suddenly appear there? This had to be the abode of some powerful expert, which was the only reason it could safeguard so many treasures!
It was all Pang Jian's fault. Pang Jian had told him that the original owner was dead, and that the herb garden now contained only a mortal who did not even understand cultivation, someone who had accidentally obtained an inheritance. That was why he had rashly come here.
"My apologies for the offense. I hope the Fairy can forgive us."
Xuanhuo Zhenren quickly made his decision. They would leave the herb garden first and discuss matters afterward.
More than a hundred people cautiously departed, yet none of them were willing to leave. The Fairy in the herb garden was mysteriously powerful, but they had not yet used their methods. To retreat without testing her strength was truly unbearable!
"Sect Master!"
An elder said quietly, "Let us test her strength. If she withstands it, we leave. Surely she would not dare pursue us out of the snowy mountains. If she cannot withstand it, then although it would be a pity to destroy this garden full of spiritual herbs, at least our trip would not have been wasted!"
After hearing this, everyone looked eagerly toward their sect master.
After considering it carefully, Xuanhuo Zhenren nodded. "Good, we'll do it this way! Set up the Thunder Fire Array. Draw upon the earthfire and summon heavenly lightning to refine this entire herb garden!"
"Yes!"
The hundred-plus Danxia Sect members scattered as streaks of escaping light. Before long, the wind and snow ceased, dark clouds rolled in, the snow on the ground melted away, and vast flames surged from beneath the earth.
Lightning writhed through the clouds, and earthfire scorched the land for a hundred li. Yet the herb garden at the center of the array did not move in the slightest, nor did the Fairy emerge to break the array.
By then, everyone could see that something was wrong.
But the array had already been unleashed. Stopping now would be no different from suffering backlash themselves.
A moment later, Xuanhuo Zhenren shouted to all four directions, "Thunder Fire Array, form!"
Spiritual light flared from every side as the array took shape. A massive furnace wreathed in lightning and flame slowly appeared, bearing down on the herb garden below like a collapsing heavenly pillar, unstoppable in its force.
However.
An ancient longsword flew out from the thatched hut. Its sword light flashed once, and the enormous thunder-fire furnace instantly shattered, dispersing into lightning and flames that filled the sky.
The Danxia Sect members maintaining the array turned pale with terror. Just as they tried to flee, the sword light had already struck, piercing through their bodies without obstruction. After circling through the sky, it returned to the thatched hut.
The disturbance caused by the battle gradually faded.
Some independent cultivators arrived one after another. From afar, they saw the corpses of the Danxia Sect members lying on the ground, long frozen solid. Terrified, they turned and fled, spreading word of the incident.
"What a bore."
From within a mirror in the thatched hut came the bored voice of a young girl. "When will Lu Xing come? Watching him make a fool of himself is much more interesting."
"Hehe, has Old Ancestor stirred by mortal emotions too?"
"Yes. I just like watching him act like a fool. I even want to go to Earth and have a look!"
"Once we get to Earth, we'll be the fools instead."
"Ahhh! I'm not listening! I want to go to Earth! Earth is the Immortal Realm—I want to go there!"
"Sadly, we cannot go. Only she can go and see it."
"Think of a way?"
"If we wish to return to the Three Realms, we must find what we had in life..."