Chapter 16 – The Walled Garden (Patreon)

The gang leader looked down at the blade sticking out of his chest, a look of disbelief on his face. He turned, but his comrade kicked him away before he could do anything else.

The others snapped out of their shock and roared, preparing to avenge their leader. But just as they raised their blades, they all clutched their stomachs and began to cough up black blood.

“Men die for money; birds die for food. Don’t blame me!” The attacker watched with cold eyes as his former comrades, with whom he had shared life and death, fell one by one. To make sure they were dead, he beheaded each of them.

As he was about to behead the last man, a sudden change occurred. The people in the corner, who had been presumed dead, suddenly tried to attack him together.

But how could heavily injured people fight against someone in perfect condition? In a moment, almost everyone was dead. Only Scarface Qing escaped in the chaos.

The attacker wanted to give chase, but he stopped. He quickly beheaded every corpse in the cellar and collected the cultivator’s robe, weapon, and pouch. He took all the jade tokens from the corpses and left the cellar with his loot.

He wanted to follow the trail of blood to chase after Scarface Qing, but after a few steps, he realized something was wrong. He turned abruptly and saw a young girl in gray standing behind him.

His pupils shrank, and he wanted to run, but it was too late. A gray stone came flying at him. He heard a muffled thump, and his world went from color to black and white.

Lynn Naya looked at the body in front of her. Once she was sure he was dead, she didn’t linger. She put on her rabbit fur gloves, took the jade tokens and the storage bag from his body, and dragged the corpse to a nearby cliff.

The West River, which flowed from the foot of Mount Yu, was at the bottom of the cliff. Lynn Naya threw the corpse into the water and watched as the current washed it away. When it was gone, she turned and made her way back to the DaoPalace.

With so many deaths, the Dao Palace would probably investigate the secret underground room. The attacker, who would never be found, was the perfect person to blame.

Even if the people from the Dao Palace used a soul-summoning technique, the soul fog that came out at night would swallow all the souls. After tonight, the Dao Palace would find nothing.

As for Xue Yong and Scarface Qing… There were many techniques in the cultivation world. If the Dao Palace truly valued the cultivator’s relics, they might use a special method to find out what happened from them.

But in Xue Yong and Scarface Qing’s memories, she had not been involved in the matter. Even if the Dao Palace wiped Xue Yong’s memory clean, the only thing they would find about her was the medicine and her concealed martial arts. But many people in the mortal zone had their own skills. This body’s parents were martial artists, so it wasn’t suspicious for her to have these skills.

Compared to the old healer who made the powder, the core members of the Spirit Snake Gang, and the other gangs who were involved, she was a minor character who hadn’t gotten involved and wasn’t at the scene. Since someone else had already taken the relics, the Dao Palace probably wouldn’t even notice her.

Sure that she hadn’t missed anything, Lynn Naya returned to the medicinal fields and then went back home. Xue Yong’s wife was still there, and Xue Yong hadn’t returned. Lynn Naya greeted his wife to reinforce her “morning trip to the medicinal fields” and then went inside.

She closed the door and immediately processed the jade tokens. In the end, her jade token had over 500 contribution points.

Next, she took out the cultivator’s weapon. Unfortunately, it was useless. A light squeeze and the sword crumbled. The robe, which she didn’t want to touch, also fell apart with a slight pull.

Finally, Lynn Naya took out the cultivator’s storage bag.

Perhaps because the cultivator was dead, the seal on the bag had disappeared. Lynn Naya easily entered it with her spiritual sense.

The storage bag was small, about a cubic meter. There weren’t many things inside: one jade token, three medicine bottles, seven or eight jade slips, three herbs, and more than a dozen translucent crystals containing spiritual energy.

The crystals must be the legendary spirit stones. The medicine bottles were empty, and the one that wasn’t had only four pills inside. She didn’t know what they were. Lynn Naya didn’t recognize any of the herbs, so she put them aside for now.

Finally, she looked at the jade token and the jade slips.

The jade token was an identity token. It recorded the basic information of a Dao Palace outer disciple named ZhaoJingdan who was a spiritual plant cultivator. Given the rich spiritual energy in the farm and the spiritual rice scattered in the cellar, the cultivator in the cellar was undoubtedly him.

As if to confirm the identity on the token, five of the seven jade slips were about planting spiritual rice and the things to look out for. The other two were the lowest-level martial technique, Grass Sword Technique, and one of the favorite techniques of “cautious cultivators,” Breath-Concealing Technique.

When she saw Breath-Concealing Technique, Lynn Naya’s last worry disappeared.

According to the description, once mastered, it would be impossible for anyone in the same cultivation realm to see through her cultivation.

Lynn Naya was most worried about running into another cultivator and being found out. Although it was unlikely that someone would be so bored as to hang out at the foot of the mountain, what if they did?

Now with Breath-Concealing Technique, she could continue to be cautious. She didn’t think the Dao Palace only had QiCondensation cultivators as the rumors said, but Foundation Establishment cultivators and other powerful figures usually didn’t come down from the mountain easily. Hiding among the mortals, she wouldn’t be exposed right away.

Without further ado, Lynn Naya sat down and began to cultivate Breath-Concealing Technique.

What was a bit unexpected was that after she cultivated the technique, a new cultivation method, Breath-Concealing Technique, was added to her status panel with a proficiency of “Not Started.”

Not Started meant she hadn’t learned it yet. If she mastered it, she would be able to hide her cultivation from others in the same realm. What if she got a higher proficiency? Would she be able to hide her cultivation from higher-level cultivators as well?

If that were the case, she would have a goal to work toward.

Even though she didn’t know if there were other proficiency levels, Lynn Naya was already excited and continued to cultivate.

Breath-Concealing Technique wasn’t a very difficult technique. She gained one experience point for every time she cultivated it. By the time the afternoon wore on, Lynn Naya’s proficiency in Breath-Concealing Technique had reached “Beginner.”

[Name: Lynn Naya]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Level 2 (0/100)]

[Martial Arts: Finger Flick: Mastered (99/100), Breath-Concealing Technique: Beginner (0/100)]

[Cultivation Method: Evergreen Technique: Initiated (1/100)]

[Skills: Medicinal Farming: Initiated (12/100), Healing: Not Started (99/100)]

[Exclusive Trait: Everlasting Life]

As Lynn Naya was looking at her status, someone knocked on her wooden door.

It was Uncle Wang.

Xue Yong had sent him. He said that he and Zhao Laoer had found a dying Scarface Qing when they came back from the Peach Blossom Forest. After they brought Scarface Qing back, they saw Xue Yong waiting anxiously at the edge of the safe zone.

Xue Yong had already found the old healer to treat Scarface Qing. He wanted to ask her if she had any healing medicine.

Lynn Naya had some basic healing medicine, but she was powerless to treat Scarface Qing’s injuries. The Life-Preserving Pill could only sustain him for two hours. It was a miracle that he was still alive.

But in the end, Lynn Naya put everything into her storage bag and went with Uncle Wang to the edge of the safe zone. She wanted to see for herself.

When they arrived, Scarface Qing was still alive. He had a circle of needles stuck in him. Suddenly, a man who seemed to be one of Scarface Qing’s underlings rushed over from outside the crowd and put a pill in his mouth.

The moment the pill entered his mouth, Scarface Qing’s pale complexion turned a visible rosy color.

“It works!” The old healer who was keeping Scarface Qing alive sighed in relief. “The medicine from the administrative hall is expensive, but it really does save lives.”

So he used a pill from the administrative hall.

Lynn Naya stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the sun slowly set behind the mountain. It painted a beautiful sunset in the sky. When the last ray of light was gone, dusk swallowed the land. The gray-black soul fog appeared out of nowhere, and countless tormented faces surrounded the Dao Palace.

There was no chance now.

Scarface Qing quickly woke up. He looked around, but before he could say anything, a middle-aged man in a Dao Palace steward’s robe came over with some people.

Scarface Qing, Xue Yong, and the old healer were all taken away by the Dao Palace steward.

The Dao Palace stewards rarely interfered in the mortal zone. Now that a steward had appeared, everyone could smell that something was wrong.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“Scarface Qing was so badly injured. Something must have happened outside. I wonder who hurt him.”

“Who knows.”

As the crowd murmured, Fan Shi noticed the pale look on Xue Yong’s wife’s face. “Sister Xue, why are you so pale?”

Her words caused everyone to look at Xue Yong’s wife. As they looked, they seemed to find the answer to their questions. They all began to ask if she knew what was happening and why her husband was taken away.

Xue Yong’s wife had no time to deal with them. She pushed through the crowd and left. Some people wanted to follow her, but Lynn Naya used a clever move to trip Fan Shi, who fell back into the crowd, giving Xue Yong’s wife a chance to get away.

Lynn Naya knew what Xue Yong’s wife was worried about. She wasn’t completely calm herself.

The next day, Xue Yong still hadn’t been released. But in the morning, Lynn Naya saw two streams of light fly over the Dao Palace toward the southeast Peach Blossom Forest.

Lynn Naya didn’t know if the two cultivators found anything in the farm, but on the third day, the Dao Palace issued a new rule. It said that if anyone found a cultivator’s relics and didn’t report it, their rented land would be taken away. On the other hand, those who reported it would receive a reward of at least 100 contribution points.

This new rule made it clear that all cultivation assets belonged to the Dao Palace and that mortals were not allowed to touch them. Lynn Naya had no right to complain. After all, they were the biggest landowners.

In a world where a mortal’s life wasn’t worth much, taking away their land was a lenient punishment. If this had happened in the past, they would have been flayed and had their bones ground to dust. At least now, they were allowed to live.

It’s good to be alive.

Seven days later, Xue Yong and Scarface Qing were released, which meant that the underground room incident was temporarily over.