Chapter 97: Decision
Chapter 97: Decision
"Crack!"
A pitch-black ore the size of a fist was easily snapped in half by a large, dark green pincer.
The Iron Crab youngster waved its massive pincers at Lu Chen, its eyes bulging as if in disdain.
"It's been a while since I last practiced, and your skill has certainly improved!" Lu Chen exclaimed with a smile, offering the now-halved pure iron ore to the crab's pincers.
The ore was divided into halves, then quarters, and finally eights, visibly shrinking in size as the Iron Crab tirelessly snapped at the pieces with relentless tenacity.
Accompanied by the crisp cracking sounds, Lu Chen's thoughts wandered.
Having been invited to the secret realm, he had felt the lack of autonomy that came with being a loose cultivator.
Usually, he kept to himself, tending to his spiritual fields and avoiding conflicts and entanglements. He presented himself merely as a spiritual herbologist with decent planting talents.
To avoid unnecessary troubles, he had even established a cooperative relationship with the Foundation Building Pill Master's Hundred Grass Hall and placed himself under their wing.
Yet, when the Wang family cultivators showed up at his doorstep with an invitation, he still felt compelled to agree, despite his reluctance to venture into the secret realm and assist in identifying spiritual herbs.
The helplessness of being a low-level loose cultivator was laid bare.
After this trip, he contemplated leaving Linyangfang City.
By recommending him to the Wang family, Hundred Grass Hall had, regardless of their intentions, brought him trouble. Whatever goodwill that existed between them had now dissipated.
Of course, this didn't change his feelings towards He Guan Shi, the thin and elderly man who had taken care of him over the years.
As for the Wang family, with two of their high-level Qi Cultivating masters perishing in the secret realm, they would undoubtedly be furious and seek him out for answers. Even if he had a clear conscience, he might still end up suffering collateral damage.
But where would he go if he left Linyangfang City?
Move to a new city? Lu Chen guessed that even if he changed locations, he would still be bound by others.
Find a secluded mountain forest and live a reclusive life, cultivating spiritual herbs? That seemed a bit unrealistic. Firstly, cultivating spiritual herbs required pure spiritual energy, preferably from spiritual fields near spirit veins. Secondly, being alone would make him vulnerable to demons, evil spirits, and beasts. Lastly, it would be challenging to obtain high-grade spirit seeds.
Therefore, the best option seemed to be joining a sect.
With Lu Chen's current cultivation base of the eighth layer of Qi Refining, coupled with his unique and exquisite skills in cultivating spiritual herbs, he had the qualifications to enter a sect.
The benefits of joining a sect were evident: purer and denser spiritual energy for the growth of spiritual herbs, a safe and stable environment, and potential access to high-grade spirit seeds and young spiritual beasts.
Having made up his mind, Lu Chen immediately thought of the Celestial Sword Sect mentioned by the cold female cultivator.
With the Qingyun Token she had given him, joining a sect would be much easier, and he was also quite intrigued by the mutated sword grass she had mentioned.
"Next, I need to prepare to leave the city and deal with the Wang family's issue," he said to himself.
He stood up, his mind shifting to the Iron Crab youngster at his feet.
Its pincers were now trembling and shaking uncontrollably, yet whenever a small piece of pure iron ore was presented, it couldn't resist the urge to snap it in half.
Lu Chen tossed it into the Spirit Spring Pool, put away the pure iron fragments, activated the Mist Concealment Array, and instructed the Grass Puppet to watch over the spirit fields carefully. Then, he set off toward Hundred Grass Hall with the Cloud-Stepping Lynx.
Inside Hundred Grass Hall, the aroma of medicinal herbs was rich and pungent. As Lu Chen walked through the door, he spotted the thin, elderly man standing dumbfounded at the counter.
"Young Lu, you're finally back!"
"I've been so worried since hearing about your trip to that secret realm. I'm glad you made it back safely." The thin, elderly man gently patted Lu Chen's shoulder.
"Thank you for your concern, He Lao," Lu Chen said, feeling a warmth in his heart as he expressed his gratitude.
He Lao glanced around to ensure no one was paying attention, then lowered his voice. "One of the spirit herbologists who entered the secret realm with you mentioned that you encountered an evil spirit intrusion. What really happened in there?"
"It's true," Lu Chen nodded gravely. "We were harvesting and processing spirit herbs under the guidance of the Wang family cultivators when, one day, one of the herbologists suddenly disappeared without a trace."
"Shortly after, one of the high-level Qi Cultivating masters from the Wang family detected that one of his companions had been corrupted by an evil spirit, and the two engaged in a deadly battle. The rest of us herbologists had low cultivation bases and were unskilled in combat, so we fled for our lives, fearing we'd be caught in the crossfire."
"As for what happened after that, I'm not sure. I escaped from the secret realm and managed to find a few cultivators who helped me return to the city," Lu Chen explained truthfully, though he withheld some crucial details.
He omitted how he had discovered the evil spirit, reported it to Li Jianfeng, killed Li Jianfeng after he was corrupted, evaded the cunning evil spirit, and eliminated several teams of cultivators with ill intentions.
The greatest lies were not nine truths and one falsehood, but a mixture of truths that, when combined, became a lie.
From He Guanshi, Lu Chen learned that, including himself, there were now five or six herbologists who had returned. Of the remaining two from the Hundred Grass Hall, only He Ping had not returned.
Lu Chen felt a slight relief knowing that with more people back, his story would be more believable, and the blame would be spread out if the Wang family sought to hold them accountable.
He paused, feigning hesitation before steeling himself and continuing. "He Guanshi, I'm afraid He Ping might not make it back. When I was escaping, I saw him from a distance, and it looked like he had caught the attention of an evil spirit. I'm afraid the chances of his survival are slim."
"Is that so? Then the Wang family owes us an explanation!" He Ping was related to the hall's pill concoctor, so his status was not ordinary.
"There's something else I must clarify," Lu Chen said solemnly. "During the herb-gathering expedition, Wang Ruhai, who was supposed to remain at the camp, ventured out to explore the secret realm on his own and ended up tainted by the evil spirit, which led to this entire fiasco."
"Is this the truth?" He Guanshi asked sternly.
"The other herbologists can vouch for this," Lu Chen replied.
"In that case, the nature of this incident is entirely different," He Guanshi said.
If it had simply been a case of an evil spirit intrusion, it could have been passed off as an unfortunate accident, and the Wang family would have had the right to question the surviving cultivators.
However, because Wang Ruhai had neglected his duty to protect the herbologists and his negligence had led to the evil spirit intrusion, the blame fell squarely on the Wang family, and Lu Chen and the others were absolved of any responsibility.
Moreover, the deaths of the herbologists could be attributed to Wang Ruhai's failure.
Each of the over a dozen herbologists who had ventured into the secret realm was a treasured member of a major force in the city. The loss of any one of them would be a significant blow.
Now that it was clear that the Wang family's negligence had led to this outcome, the other families and forces in the city would not let the matter rest and would demand answers.
With this shift in dynamics, the Wang family would have their hands full dealing with the fallout and would have no time to bother with a small fry like Lu Chen.
(End of Chapter)
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