The back of her head throbbed with pain, and her eyelids felt as heavy as lead weights.
Voices could be heard nearby.
"Herbalist, how are they doing? It's been a day and night, why haven't they woken up yet?"
"Don't worry, Brother Baili. They only recently reached Foundation Building stage, but they've repeatedly consumed spirit herbs and forcefully used spiritual power. Their dantian is somewhat unstable now. I gave them some spirit medicine for calming and nourishing yesterday, which is why they're sleeping so deeply."
Baili Dao breathed a sigh of relief.
"They should wake up soon though," the herbalist who came with the Imperial Pacification Office observed the young couple lying on the bed and instructed, "When they wake up, remember to tell them not to use any spiritual power for three days and rest well."
"Understood!" Baili Dao readily agreed and escorted the herbalist out, "Thank you, Master!"
As he turned back, just about to close the door, he saw Jian Huan, who was lying on the outer side of the bed, open her eyes.
Her eyes still held obvious confusion.
This was a common symptom after sleeping for too long.
Most importantly—damn,
Why did the back of her head hurt so much!
Baili Dao was overjoyed and strode over, his eyes filled with concern: "Miss Jian, you're awake? How do you feel? The herbalist just left, should I call him back to check on you?"
Jian Huan frowned and instinctively shook her head.
The memories before she fainted flooded back into her mind as she fully regained consciousness.
She remembered holding that green jelly-like substance Qi Wan had given her, while being wary of Shen Jizhi, thinking this must be the precious treasure he had mentioned earlier that was stabilizing the formation's eye!
A force kept pushing the entire underground palace upward, the ground shaking unstably. Afraid she might lose her balance and drop the jelly substance, she hurriedly stored it in her storage pouch.
Though it had taken them a very long time to descend through the underground palace and caverns, they weren't far from the surface above.
Almost as soon as Jian Huan had secured the jelly substance, light from the real world flooded in.
The sunlight outside was so bright, clouds in the sky were light and drifting, and birds scattered in panic, making alarmed chirping sounds that were noisy yet real.
It had been so long.
Jian Huan's face bore a slightly relieved smile as she quickly scanned her surroundings.
They were in a mountainous area, surrounded by towering trees with lush foliage.
As the entire underground world was pushed up, the trees that had originally grown here were tilted in all directions, as if they had weathered a fierce storm.
The layout of the Jiang family's old residence was real, just ten paces away from Jian Huan.
White tiles and black walls stood quietly there.
At this moment, Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi were standing under a tree.
Though the underground palace had two levels - one was the main hall and one was the formation's eye.
But now, both had vanished.
Above their heads was a canopy of vibrant green leaves.
The tree before them, judging by its position, stood right behind Qi Wan and Jiang Cheng's bedroom, with its roots extending into the Jiang residence. Its luxuriant branches stretched out over the mansion's walls, providing shade over Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi.
They both looked up, the tree's image reflected in their eyes, their lips slightly parted in surprise.
They simultaneously held their breath.
The tree gleamed with a green fluorescence in the sunlight. The mountain breeze, carrying the warmth of summer, swept up the green fluorescence from the tree and entered their nostrils, gathering in their dantian, creating an indescribably comfortable sensation.
This—
The Medicine King Peak of the Jade Clarity Sect grew an entire garden of spirit herbs, flowers, and trees, but none of them emanated spiritual energy like this tree before them.
One look was enough to tell that this tree was no ordinary specimen - it must be extremely valuable!
Just as this thought emerged, a sharp pain shot through the back of her head, and Jian Huan's eyes closed as she lost consciousness.
Jian Huan: "!!!"
What was this? This was a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! There was an oriole! There actually was an oriole!!!
Damn!!!
Jian Huan suddenly jumped up from the bed.
Beside her, Shen Jizhi had already awakened when Baili Dao came to check on Jian Huan.
He also remembered what had happened...
They both jumped up almost simultaneously, then reached for their storage pouches in perfect unison.
Thinking their storage pouches might have been taken too, their hearts nearly stopped, and they forgot to breathe.
When their fingertips touched their storage pouches, Jian Huan's heart came back to life, beating heavily.
But she wasn't completely relieved yet. After checking inside her storage pouch, she found all the valuable items were still there, even that green jelly substance, and finally let out a long breath.
Though she didn't know why their attacker hadn't killed her and Shen Jizhi, or taken their storage pouches.
But it was good that the storage pouches were still there.
Baili Dao looked at Shen Jizhi, then at Jian Huan, and without another word, ran towards the door, shouting: "Wait, Herbalist! Something seems wrong with them..."
"Come back!" Jian Huan called out to him.
Baili Dao's hand was already on the door, but he turned back at her call: "Are... are you both alright?"
"The storage pouches are still here, we're fine," Jian Huan replied, looking around before asking Baili Dao, "What happened? How did we get here?"
Baili Dao finally relaxed: "Elder Yu Qing found you and brought you out from the formation ground."
Upon hearing Elder Yu Qing's name, Jian Huan quickly asked: "Did they catch the oriole— I mean, did they catch the culprit who knocked me and Shen Jizhi unconscious?"
Shen Jizhi, who had been carefully checking every item in his storage pouch, looked up at Baili Dao upon hearing this.
Baili Dao shook his head: "No, when Elder Yu Qing arrived, you were already unconscious. We were hoping you could tell us what happened."
Just as he finished speaking, two women and a man walked in from outside.
The three people in the room looked up.
The woman in white in the middle was a familiar face - Senior Sister Bai Ying, whom Jian Huan had met when she first arrived at the Jade Clarity Sect. The other two were strangers.
Jian Huan made to get out of bed, calling out as she did so: "Senior Sister Bai Ying."
With outsiders present, Shen Jizhi discreetly put away his storage pouch, stopping his inventory.
Bai Ying steadied Jian Huan who was trying to get up: "No need to get up, you both should rest well."
Then she greeted Shen Jizhi: "Senior Brother Shen."
Shen Jizhi replied politely: "Junior Sister Bai."
Bai Ying pointed to the woman on the left: "This is Senior Sister Hong Yu from the Imperial Pacification Office of Azure Dragon City," then pointed to the man on the right: "And this is Senior Brother Su Tian from South Dust Immortal Island, who specially rushed here this morning."
There were many puppet people on the mountain who had fallen unconscious due to the formation being broken.
South Dust Immortal Island was the premier medical cultivation sect in the Nine Provinces. Elder Yu Qing had contacted the island's master, who sent a group of people over today.
As for the Imperial Pacification Office, being an organization jointly established by various cultivation sects and the imperial court, plus having many cases of missing children related to the Yujiang City incident, they were naturally involved.
After Bai Ying made the introductions, she got straight to the point: "Senior Brother Shen, Junior Sister Jian, we'd like to know what happened."
Jian Huan hesitated slightly, exchanging a glance with Shen Jizhi.
Would revealing Qi Wan and Jiang Cheng's situation affect the Jade Clarity Sect?
Bai Ying noticed their hesitation and took the initiative: "It's alright, you can tell us everything, everyone here is trustworthy. Besides, everyone already knows that Qi Wan is our Jade Clarity Sect's talisman master Qi Wanyi, and Jiang Cheng is our sword cultivator Jiang Chen."
Such a major incident couldn't be covered up.
Moreover, their Jade Clarity Sect had always been upright and never intended to conceal anything.
So there was nothing to hesitate about.
Shen Jizhi tilted his head, looking at Jian Huan beside him, and said: "You tell them."
Just thinking about having to say so much, he refused.
Besides, that tree's image kept lingering in his mind... it had been within reach...
Shen Jizhi raised his hand to gently massage his brow.
Jian Huan: "..."
Fine, she was the talkative one anyway.
Jian Huan organized her thoughts and began describing everything from Chu Chu onwards, focusing on the key points.
However, she omitted the part about Qi Wan giving them the green jelly substance.
After she finished, Bai Ying exchanged glances with the other two.
Bai Ying was most concerned about the children: "Those children, you brought them all out?"
"Yes." Jian Huan nodded and proceeded to take out the children, the embryos contained in golden bowls, and the spiritual root halos from her storage pouch.
Shen Jizhi followed Jian Huan's lead.
Looking at these items, the three visitors fell silent.
Hong Yu couldn't help but curse: "This is too vicious!"
Since the perpetrator was ultimately connected to the Jade Clarity Sect, Bai Ying didn't echo the sentiment.
Su Tian crouched down and briefly examined a few children before saying, "They have parasitic death worms in their bodies."
Hong Yu snorted coldly, "Cultivators who traffic humans love using parasitic death worms on people. This way, they can carry people in their storage pouches without being discovered."
She asked Su Tian, "You can remove the death worms, right?"
Su Tian nodded, "Yes, we can, but these—" he pointed to the embryo-shaped and spirit root-shaped ones, "I'm not sure what to do with these."
Even the people from South Dust Immortal Island didn't know, let alone others.
After some thought, Su Tian pointed to the unharmed children: "For these children, we'll concoct medicine in the next few days to neutralize the death worms' poison. But for those others, I'll need to take them back to South Dust Immortal Island to consult with the elders."
Hong Yu replied, "Fine. Once the children recover, our Imperial Pacification Office will send them home."
Bai Ying and Su Tian had no objections to this.
But Jian Huan, Shen Jizhi, and Baili Dao did.
Jian Huan said, "We'll personally escort Chu Chu and Niu Niu back."
Knowing this matter was initiated by the Chu family, Hong Yu agreed, "Alright."
Shen Jizhi pointed to the vessels containing the embryo-shaped forms: "Please return these items to us afterward."
Jian Huan nodded firmly.
Bai Ying and the others: "..."
Su Tian, wanting to build good relations with Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi, said while storing the children in his storage pouch, "I'll have my junior disciples transfer them to other containers soon, and return them to you as quickly as possible."
Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi nodded with satisfaction.
This was the best outcome.
Bai Ying and Hong Yu still had matters to attend to. They needed to interrogate each of the captured servants from the Jiang mansion one by one, to extract more information about which families had bought children over the years and about the details of the demon clan.
Therefore, the three prepared to leave without further delay.
Bai Ying said, "Both of you should rest well for a few days. If there are any questions, someone will come to ask, and you should answer freely. This is also the wish of the Sect Leader and Elder Yu Qing."
Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi nodded, watching the three leave.
Just as they reached the doorway, Su Tian instinctively looked back at Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi, seeming to have something he wanted to say but couldn't.
However, there were too many unrelated people present, so after weighing his options briefly, he left with the others.
In the room, Jian Huan stroked her chin and whispered to Shen Jizhi, "That Su Tian will definitely come back to find us."
Shen Jizhi had noticed too: "When we were talking about that tree, he wanted to interrupt you several times."
Jian Huan: "Yes, he'll definitely come back. I feel like he also wants that tree."
At this point, Jian Huan paused.
Who wouldn't want it? She wanted it too.
She gritted her teeth and made a fierce declaration: "If I find out who this 'sparrow' is, I'll definitely skin them alive!"
By now, that person had probably fled far away, but it didn't matter – there would be time in the future.
Jian Huan could only console herself with this thought.
Hearing this, Shen Jizhi nodded slightly, his eyes filled with frost.
Sitting in a chair beside their beds, Baili Dao lowered his head in contemplation.
He couldn't understand most of their conversation.
Why would Su Tian come back to find them? And who was this 'sparrow'?
Ah, this familiar feeling.
Baili Dao shook his head.
Shen Jizhi suddenly noticed Baili Dao. He stared at him quietly before abruptly asking, "... Did you cancel the carriage?"
Baili Dao looked up, startled: "Huh?"
Shen Jizhi repeated his question: "Did you cancel the carriage?"
Baili Dao: "N-no."
Jian Huan shot Shen Jizhi a disapproving look: "Why are you being so harsh with Baili Dao? If he hadn't found every possible way to bring Elder Yu Qing here, we would have already met in the underworld. You should be nicer to someone who saved our lives."
Shen Jizhi: "."
He explained to Baili Dao: "I'm not being harsh, this is just how I talk."
Baili Dao was overwhelmed by this unexpected honor.
Master Shen actually explained something to him personally?
This had never happened before!
