Ch.35 Part 1 – Shifting the Blame (I)

Outside the camp where the disciples of Qingfeng Valley and Fentian Palace rested, Elder Yan Mingfeng sat cross-legged on a large rock. His eyes were closed, and his spiritual consciousness seemed to be fully immersed in his cultivation. Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader walked to him, but Yan Mingfeng still did not open his eyes.

“Meng Qi hasn’t come back yet.” The sect leader stood beside Yan Mingfeng for a moment, “This is already the sixth day.” She looked at the endless mountains and forests in the distance: “The injured disciples become more and more anxious. If they aren’t back soon, I’m afraid it will cause everyone’s panic.”

“Who? What kind of panic?” Yan Mingfeng finally opened his eyes.

Before the sect leader could answer, a loud noise came from behind.

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan stumbled forward. Her eyes were red, and tears rolled down uncontrollably as she ran. “Sect leader…” She hurriedly rolled up her left sleeves, revealing her white wrists, “I…this…!”

Lan Zhuxuan was followed by two other injured female disciples from Qingfeng Valley. Their eyes were also wide open, and their face was as white as paper. A few steps behind, the injured male disciples of Qingfeng Valley and Fentian Palace were also standing. All of them looked at Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader with visible anxiety and worry.

“What happens?” The sect leader’s expression instantly turned grave, and she quickly walked up to Lan Zhuxuan. A small sprout of delicate green vine was grown on her white wrist, with two tender little leaves. If it didn’t grow on Lan Zhuxuan’s wrist, it actually looked pretty cute. But now, the sprout only made people felt extreme disgust and terror.

The sect leader walked quickly to the other injured disciples. Regardless of which part of their body was hit by the immortal devouring vine, all of them had a similar sprout grew on their wrist.

“This…” The sect leader was surprised. She raised her eyes to Elder Xun Yan, who sighed helplessly and shook his head. He was strong enough, but there was a specialty in everything. He seemed to have heard the name of immortal devouring vine before, but its usage, origin, and effect…all of it, Xun Yan only heard from Meng Qi for the first time.

“The vine cannot be pulled out, nor can it be cut off.” Xun Yan said in a grave tone. It has, as Meng Qi said, completely integrated with the disciples’ flesh and blood. They had tried to pull and cut it off. With just a single touch, however, even the toughest disciple of Fentian Palace instantly passed out in pain. And the thin vine sprout—or even its leaves—that looked so tender and fragile did not get harmed in the slightest.

“Sect leader!” Lan Zhuxuan cried so much that she could hardly breathe, “This disciple is so scared! This disciple is so scared! Ju-junior sister Meng…Meng Qi hasn’t come back yet?”

“This disciple is so scared! Wuuuuu…” Lan Zhuxuan’s cries became louder and louder. The other two Qingfeng Valley female disciples who were already panicked also affected by her and began to cry silently.

Even the male disciples turned pale. They might not be afraid of death. But that day, Meng Qi said that even if they die, their body would be occupied by this disgusting and terrifying monster who used their flesh, blood, and residual aura as nourishment, then utilizing the rest of their body as a flower pot to nurture new vines. Just thinking about it made their blood run cold.

“Sect leader…wuuuu…” Lan Zhuxuan cried even louder, “Why hasn’t junior sister Meng Qi come back? Didn’t she say that she will be back soon? This thing has already grown, will it useless even if she comes back now? Wuuuu…” She sobbed, “Is junior sister Meng Qi not coming back?”

“Meng Qi, she…” The sect leader hesitated. Meng Qi has only joined Qingfeng Valley for around half a year, so she didn’t have a deep impression of this relatively new disciple. However, she had heard Elder Yan mentioned that there was a talented young disciple who might not even be lost to her favored personal disciple Lu Qingran. The sect leader subconsciously turned her head to look at Elder Yan, seeking an answer from the man.

“Meng Qi will be back.”

“But…but junior sister Meng Qi has been away for seven days. She is with young palace master Chu, maybe…maybe they…” Lan Zhuxuan lightly bit down her lip. She stopped midway, but everyone could guess her unfinished words.

“Senior sister Lan.” At this moment, one of the tents opened, and Lu Qingran quickly walked from inside. She held a bamboo slip in her hand, and talked in a soft, relaxing tone: “I have looked up almost all the books I can find, and this one mentions the immortal devouring vine.”

Lu Qingran looked around. Although she was speaking to Lan Zhuxuan, she also smiled soothingly to the other injured disciples: “Although it doesn’t record the name ‘immortal devouring vine,’ but it wrote about a plant that grew in the Demon Realm, which gave the same symptoms like those described by junior sister Meng. It should be the same thing.”

“Really?” Lan Zhuxuan suddenly stretched out her hand to grip Lu Qingran’s wrist. Her power was too strong, and it was somewhat painful. But Lu Qingran just frowned slightly and didn’t fend off Lan Zhuxuan’s grip. “If this book is correct, as long as junior sister Meng Qi can come back within half a month after you got the injury, you can still be saved.”

“Then, does it say how to treat it?” Lan Zhuxuan asked quickly. At this time, even Qingfeng Valley’s sect leader and Elder Xun Yan have walked over them.

Lu Qingran shook her head regretfully. “No. The person who wrote this book has only heard about the rumors of the immortal devouring vine from others and has never really seen it, so he doesn’t know how to treat it.”

“That…” Lan Zhuxuan’s lips moved lightly, “Then Meng Qi… does she really know how to treat it?”

Not only Lan Zhuxuan, everyone here wanted to ask the same question. The vine was something that even the sect leader and elders of Qingfeng Valley have never heard of. Even the ancient books Lu Qingran found only wrote about some rumors. A Qi Condensation cultivator who has only started learning medical cultivation half a year ago, could she really cure it?