A Chaotic World 298 Learn it the Hard Way

Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue casually made their way to the exit, stepping through the tall wooden fence to enter the forest once more.
"So, which way should we go next?" Nanlan Qianxue asked.
Lu Tianzi smiled bitterly in response. "Let's just leave here for now."
He did tell Elder Ximo that they were heading to Bog Town next, and that was indeed where he wanted to go as well.
But in all honesty, all he knew about Bog Town was that it was east of the mountain inn where he first met Beiwei Jinguo. As for its exact location, Lu Tianzi had absolutely no idea.
Lu Tianzi was certain that he would be able to get the information he needed had he just asked Elder Ximo, but he was still reluctant to do so.
Now that he had obtained Lord Er's inheritance, his top priority was to leave Wondertrap Mountain as soon as possible.
After all, the Healer Circle had been trying in vain to obtain Lord Er's inheritance for a while now. Lu Tianzi certainly did not want them to find out that he had actually been first to obtain it, and even brought it out of the ancient tomb.
The longer he stayed, the more chances there were for things to go wrong.
If he did ask Elder Ximo about Bog Town, there was always a chance that Elder Ximo would instruct a subordinate to lead them there. In such a situation, Lu Tianzi would not have any good reason to decline Elder Ximo's offer.
Elder Ximo might have been on friendly terms with them, but who knew where his priorities lay?
Any unnatural reaction from Lu Tianzi's end might just draw the suspicions of the Healer Circle.
All things considered, he would rather forget about the matter altogether so as to avoid such a situation. As for the rest of the small stuff, he could simply figure it out along the way.
Even if he failed to locate Bog Town in the end, so be it then.
It was not as if he really had to go there anyway.
Lu Tianzi cast his gaze upon his surroundings.
Weeks had passed since they first arrived at Wondertrap Mountain, but the forest looked just like before. It was beautiful and pristine, though still infested with poisonous plants of all sorts.
With Lu Tianzi's current understanding of the poison arts, these poisonous plants no longer posed any sort of danger to him.
Despite that, Lu Tianzi did not just hurry down the mountain.
Instead, he walked through the forest in a leisurely manner, slowly taking in everything in his surroundings.
Lu Tianzi was no longer the same person as before.
Now that his wealth of knowledge had increased, Lu Tianzi had a newfound appreciation for all these poisonous entities present in the forest.
From time to time, he would pick a few plants, storing it away for future use.
"Wait a minute," Lu Tianzi suddenly halted his steps.
"What's the matter?" Nanlan Qianxue asked.
"This forest looks familiar," Lu Tianzi squinted as he carefully examined his surroundings.
"Is that surprising?" Nanlan Qianxue blinked blankly.

They had taken the exact path up, so they had naturally seen this forest before. Why was Lu Tianzi making it sound like it was something unusual?
"No, I'm not referring to what we have already seen," Lu Tianzi shook his head.
Nanlan Qianxue did not understand, but she simply remained silent after seeing the focus in Lu Tianzi's eyes.
Beside her, Lu Tianzi's gaze slowly swept across the forest, covering the uneven ground, and scrutinising the entire terrain.
After a good few moments, a smile finally broke out across his face.
"There's somewhere I want to go before we leave the mountain," Lu Tianzi said.
"Suddenly?" Nanlan Qianxue was caught by surprise. "Where?"
"Follow me," Lu Tianzi smiled before leading the way up the mountain once more.
This time, Lu Tianzi took a completely different path, no longer heading towards the fenced up territory of the Healer Circle.
Lu Tianzi's pace got faster as they moved along, as though he was quickly gaining confidence about the way to go.
Nanlan Qianxue did not complain, following his lead with nothing more than pure curiosity.
They passed through a small clearing where Lu Tianzi paused for a good few moments, then continued on until they arrived at the edge of a cliff.
The dense trees seemed to part naturally here, opening up a small gap through which they could look into the distance from their high vantage point.
From where they were, they could see a large crater below, overgrown with vegetations. The thick canopy of the trees formed a screen above the crater, preventing them from peering within. This crater stretched on almost endlessly, forming almost the entirety of the vast landscape.
A cool breeze blew against their faces, ruffling their hair in a gentle manner as though welcoming them to enjoy this majestic scenery.
"What a nice view," Nanlan Qianxue exclaimed, her gaze extending into the horizon.
However, Lu Tianzi had a frown etched across his face.
"What happened here?" Lu Tianzi thought out loud.
"What do you mean?" Nanlan Qianxue asked in confusion.
"There is supposed to be a city down there," Lu Tianzi mumbled hesitantly. "A really prosperous city…"
According to his memories, this should be the same spot where Lord Er enjoyed resting at in the past. The environment might have changed entirely with dense vegetation having taken over, but the mountainous terrain still remained somewhat similar.
On top of that, he had managed to find his way to the clearing earlier where Guo Ming had practised forming the Thousand Venoms Bead, as well as to this very spot.
This proved that it was more than just his imagination.
However, the one thing that should have been the greatest landmark, the Thousand Venoms City, was gone.
In its place was this massive crater that had not been there before.
Did he get it wrong?
No, that was not it.
Something happened here, and it was something on such a massive scale that it caused even the terrain to change.
Was it done by Shafeng?
And how did the previously barren mountain become this infested with poisonous plants?
Lu Tianzi had his own guess by now.
Since the Thousand Venoms Sect had always been focused on pursuing the peak of the poison arts, it was likely that much of their research materials and pets would have been released into the wild with the destruction of Thousand Venoms City.
These research materials and pets included various poisonous plants and beasts, and most of them could easily survive in the wilds.
Since Wondertrap Mountain was the nearest mountain, it was not impossible for these released materials and pets to have ended up on the mountain.
That would explain why this mountain was now infested with poisonous entities, contrary to how it was in the past.
However, his deduction was not without its flaws.
If Shafeng was able to destroy the Thousand Venoms City to the point of not leaving a single trace, this probably meant that he had completely defeated Lord Er.
In that case, how could Lord Er possibly have the luxury of building a tomb for himself after that, especially here on Wondertrap Mountain which was this close to Thousand Venoms City?
"There is supposed to be a city?" Nanlan Qianxue did not understand what Lu Tianzi was saying. "Did you read that somewhere?"
Lu Tianzi sighed. "Nevermind, I must have been imagining things. Let's go after we take care of our remaining business here."
He had already seen everything that he wanted to see, and there was no reason to stay any longer.
Even if he did, there was no way for him to find out what happened in the past.
As for taking care of their remaining business, Lu Tianzi was referring to the six figures that had sneaked up on them from behind.
"It seems that your senses aren't too bad," Elder Xiquan praised as he stepped out from his hiding spot behind the trees.
"May I know what brought Elder Xiquan all the way out here?" Lu Tianzi asked with a smile.
Elder Xiquan smirked. "Let me ask you a theoretical question, Sir Tianzi. Assume you are the leader of an organisation. While you were away, two peasants sneaked into your organisation and pretended that they are rich nobles, causing your subordinates to treat them with great respect and presented them with gifts. When you returned, your subordinates convinced you to treat these two peasants with respect, and you even expressed a certain degree of caution around them in front of your subordinates. When you finally find out that they are mere peasants, what would you do?"
"Well, if they truly pretended that they are nobles, I would not hesitate to punish them. But if it's purely a misunderstanding on my subordinates' part, then all I would do is to ask these two peasants to leave," Lu Tianzi answered without hesitation. "What about Elder Xiquan? I am sure Elder Xiquan would not act against these peasants if it is not actually their fault?"
"But people's hearts are unfathomable. How can one ever be sure that these peasants have not been planning this all along to leech on your organisation's resources?" Elder Xiquan questioned in return. "If you do not make an example out of them, who knows how many more peasants will do the same thing in the future? On top of that, you would need to answer to your subordinates as well, for they have suffered in your absence."
"Suffered might be too strong a word, Elder Xiquan. Did the peasants hurt them somehow?" Lu Tianzi shrugged. "Or do you mean that my pride would be hurt since I failed to see through the fact that they are indeed peasants? I guess the latter would make sense if I had somehow managed to become the leader of an organisation despite my pettiness."
"Do you not understand the situation you are in?" Elder Xiquan snorted in disdain. "Even now, you dare to continue throwing insults?"
"Well if there really is such a petty leader, doesn't Elder Xiquan agree with me that he deserves to be insulted?" Lu Tianzi asked with a look of innocence.
"It looks like that skull of yours is far too thick for anything of value to get through. Any word I say will just be lost on you, so I might as well just show you directly," Elder Xiquan raised a hand and gestured forward with two fingers.
At his signal, five men immediately stepped out from the trees, gathering behind Elder Xiquan.
As opposed to the white uniform usually worn by the members of the Healer Circle, the five of them were donned in black overalls.
Except for one who was at the Second Cycle Origin Core realm, the other four were all First Cycle Origin Core realm martial artists.
Standing in a line, they were intimidating to say the least.
But even their strong presence could only pale in comparison when placed beside the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm Elder Xiquan.
Faced with such a lineup, Nanlan Qianxue could not help but take a step back. Unfortunately, the cliff behind prevented her from moving far.
Her subtle action did not escape the eyes of Elder Xiquan, who let out a mocking laugh. "Haha, Lady Qianxue can't possibly be concerned about the cliff, can you? Such a matter should be nothing to an Overlord powerhouse."
"I never said that I am an Overlord," Nanlan Qianxue retorted.
"You misled others into believing you are one, and that's all that matters!" Elder Xiquan snapped back.
"What exactly does Elder Xiquan want?" Lu Tianzi's tone turned cold.
"Don't worry, nobody will be dying today," Elder Xiquan laughed. "But as your senior, I would like to teach you about the consequences of pretending to be someone you are not. And just in case it doesn't register through that thick skull of yours, I would have to let you learn it the hard way!"

Chapter end

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