Chapter 603: Explorer Union Branch? Here?
"Okay… I believe you…" After spending close to an hour talking with Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao finally managed to convince her that the thing she had eaten was not a human heart.
If he had to convince her before she had eaten it, Xuan Hao feared that he might not have been able to leave her courtyard for the next few days…
"Hm? It seems like some of your friends are about to show up, I will get going now that the problem with your body has been solved and there are no problems after you consumed the Spirit Blood Leaf." Sensing that the alchemy elders from the Spring Flower Sect were making their way towards the courtyard, Xuan Hao thought this was a good opportunity to slip away-
Whoosh~
As he quickly left the courtyard after saying that. Not waiting for Zhu Lian to respond. Fearing that she would start asking any more questions and keep him around for another few hours.
"Ah? Elder Xuan-"
Knock Knock~
Calling out to Xuan Hao as he ran away, Zhu Lian was interrupted by a gentle knocking sound coming from the entrance to her courtyard.
"Elder Zhu, it's us, we forgot something back when we left earlier and just came back to- What on earth happened?! How come your body is fine all of a sudden!?"
As the first person among the alchemy elders from the Spring Flower Sect stepped into the courtyard, she could not help exclaiming in surprise upon seeing the current condition of Zhu Lian's body.
After all, she had just finished inspecting her and knew very clearly just how bad the condition of her body had been! If not for the fact that Zhu Lian was someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, she would most likely have ended up dying with a body like that!
Yet… At this point in time, she was standing completely fine in front of them without the slightest sign of having been injured in the first place… Not only that, but the aura coming of her body was clearly far more powerful than it had been before!
"How did you recover so quickly?! No more than an hour passed since we left!"
"True, did you perhaps get the help of someone? Maybe you found a divine spiritual herb?"
Hearing the group of alchemy elders from the Spring Flower Sect stare at her with expressions full of curiosity, Zhu Lian had no idea what to say as she remembered the 'spiritual herb' Elder Xuan had given her.
"Haha… It's nothing, I managed to get the help from one of my sect's seniors." Not daring to say anything about the Spirit Blood Leaf that she had been force fed, Zhu Lian decided to throw the responsibility for her recovery over to a senior having helped her out.
"I see… The seniors of the Flying Sword Sect truly are powerful…"
"Indeed, for them to have a way to help Elder Zhu, they are truly skilled in the art of healing!"
"Or maybe they just had a precious spiritual herb they got while out adventuring."
Seeing the trio's attention move away from her, Zhu Lian let out a sigh of relief before helping the group get the things they had forgotten earlier. Wanting them to leave as quickly as possible so she could inspect the changes that had taken place in her body after she had consumed the Spirit Blood Leaf.
Even if Elder Xuan had told her there was nothing wrong with her, she could not help feeling a bit worried given the exotic appearance of the 'spiritual herb' in question.
…
Having left Zhu Lian courtyard, Xuan Hao began making his way towards the Shattered Star Peaks.
Now that he had collected the things needed for the Qi Gathering Formation, all there was left to do was set it up.
At the very least, the formation was not something difficult to set up. The main difficulty that came with setting up a Qi Gathering Formation, was the materials used in setting it up!
Although it would definitely be more effective if set up by a skilled formation master, the Flying Sword Sect did not really have any formation master at that skill level currently, so that would have to wait for the future.
Even if it was not operating at 100 percent efficiency, it would still be strong enough to keep the chaotic qi at the Shattered Star Peaks at bay and that was the main reason why he had wanted to set up the Qi Gathering Formation.
Whoosh~
"This place… Has grown quite a lot…"
Arriving at the base of the first mountain of the Shattered Star Peaks, Xuan Hao could not help glancing towards the town that was located just next to his current location.
The town that acted as the entrance to the Shattered Star Peaks and at the same time the place where a Flying Sword Sect branch was located, had grown a lot ever since it was decided that the Shattered Star Peak would become the future location of the Flying Sword Sect after it merged together with the Spring Flower Sect.
Even from a simple glance, it was easy to see that the town was already on the way to be transformed into a massive city in no way inferior to the Flying Sword City located just outside the entrance of the Flying Sword Sect.
Actually, the city beneath the Shattered Star Peaks would most likely end up becoming even larger than the Flying Sword City, as it would have to accommodate way more people and at the same time act as the Flying Sword Sect's new gateway between the sect and the outside world-
"Hm? This is…" Frowning slightly as he was looking over this rapidly growing city, Xuan Hao focused his attention on a massive building located next to the branch of the Flying Sword Sect.
Watching the constant stream of people moving in and out of the building, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes.
"The Explorer Union… Why did they suddenly establish a branch here?"
Indeed, the large building just next to the branch of the Flying Sword Sect belonged to the Explorer Union!
Not only that, but Xuan Hao could clearly feel the presence of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm inside the branch building of the Explorer Union. Even if the person in question was only around the earlier stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, this was still more than enough to alert Xuan Hao.
The only reason why the Explorer Union would send someone like that would be if a new ancient ruin had been found nearby.
With this in mind, Xuan Hao could not help thinking about the Half Spirit Race and the other things he had found inside the Shattered Star Peaks.
Did the Explorer Union perhaps discover something? Or maybe they finally decided to turn their attention towards the Shattered Star Peaks that had mostly been ignored by them due to the fact that nothing of interest had been found there and how deadly it was to explore for an extended period of time…
Thinking this, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes even further as he observed where the explorers going in and out of the Explorer Union were going.
For now, it was important to know what the Explorer Union was up to and what had caused them to establish such a large branch.
Establishing the Qi Gathering Formation could wait for a few minutes as he found out whether or not he would have to find a way to keep the Explorer Union out from the Shattered Star Peaks. After all, he didn't really want them to find the rocks filled with blue divine energy that he had found on the peak of the Second- and First-Star Peak!
…
"Hah… Looks like I was worried for nothing…" After following the explorers leaving the Explorer Union for a few minutes and seeing where they were going, Xuan Hao concluded that the Explorer Union had not established a larger than normal branch at the bottom of the Shattered Star Peaks because of the Shattered Star Peaks.
Instead, the reason why they had established such a large branch, was because they had discovered a massive underground ancient city that had been destroyed a long time ago.
It just so happened, that the city at the base of the Shattered Star Peaks was the closest city to this underground ancient city ruins and became the perfect location for the Explorer Union to establish a large branch.
The underground ancient city ruins had just been discovered and there was still many ancient treasures and dangers hidden inside it from the conversations he happened to listen to from the explorers making their way towards these ancient ruins located underground.
From them, he even managed to overhear that a demon beast in the Nascent Soul Realm had been spotted after a team of explorer had managed to make it inside the core area of the ruins!