Perhaps the disciples of the Pill-Refining Hall and Wuming Hall had used up all their bad luck over the previous few days. In the journey that followed, they encountered no more obstacles too difficult to overcome! Ahem, ahem—there was simply nowhere worthy of our behind-the-scenes young hero's intervention.
Though the unbroken mountain range took the caravan nearly a full day to cross, even forcing them to camp somewhere other than their planned site; though beyond the mountains lay another stretch of swampland and rushing streams, whether the small beasts hidden in the grass or the ferocious beasts within the marshes, all were easily dealt with by the Wuming Hall disciples. Their only price was a few injured horses, several abandoned carriages, and a handful of disciples suffering minor wounds.
By noon the next day, after crossing the swamp and climbing a gentle slope, they were greeted by a vast forest, so lush and emerald-green it seemed ready to drip with water! Well, it could not be called merely a forest. It was an undulating expanse of hills, with towering trees several zhang high in some places, green grass in others, and even more areas planted in neat plots with different varieties of herbs!
Most remarkable of all, a faint white mist shrouded the enormous hilly ground. Even the fierce afternoon sunlight could not pierce it. It was the perfect place for growing herbs.
Zhang Xiaohua was the last to climb the gentle slope. Seeing such a wondrous sight, he could not help asking, "Senior Brother Lu, do you dare say this isn't the back garden of our Incense-Passing Cult? Oh—our rear herb garden?"
Lu Chaoxian wore the same dazed expression. Only after a long while did he speak. "I had long heard the senior brothers who came before speak of