Chapter 27 – The Price of Arrogance

After returning to the underground shelter, Lynn Naya didn’t go to the bottom. She stayed in the tunnel, about a meter or two deep, and used her spiritual sense to observe her surroundings.

After about fifteen minutes, she confirmed that the Dao Palace disciple’s body in the burning house had been destroyed. Since no one came to search for it, she returned to the underground chamber.

The storage bag in her hand had lost its spiritual seal when its owner died. With a quick scan of her spiritual sense, she could tell the size of the bag and a general idea of its contents. Since it wasn’t a good time, Lynn Naya stopped her investigation.

But the unexpected gain made her heart stir.

It’s true that murder and arson pave the way to wealth. Even though I didn’t kill him, it would be great if I could pick up a few more.

Greed only appeared in Lynn Naya’s mind for a moment before she suppressed it.

This time, the body was right above her head, and there was a fire nearby to destroy the evidence. She might not be so lucky with another body in another location. She couldn’t risk herself for a few treasures.

In the end, Lynn Naya decided to wait and see. If there were any other bodies nearby, she would take them. But if they were too far away, she wouldn’t bother. She figured she was lucky to have gotten one, and the chances of it happening again were slim.

Sure enough, luck did not visit her again. On the contrary, the battle in the air grew fiercer, and the ground was constantly being hit. To avoid getting hit by a stray attack, Lynn Naya went back down and used the earth to absorb most of the force.

The waiting felt long, especially with the piercing wails of her own people above. When she thought about how some of those people were ones she had seen and talked to, Lynn Naya’s heart ached.

After an unknown amount of time, Lynn Naya suddenly realized that the sounds on the ground had stopped. She was a little unsure at first, but after listening carefully and confirming there was no more sound, she told the others to stay put and went up to the entrance of the tunnel to check.

The fighting had indeed stopped. The beasts and the Dao Palace disciples were in a standoff. It seemed one side had given in and they were negotiating.

Lynn Naya was too far away to hear what they were saying, but the atmosphere was tense. The Dao Palace disciples were ready for a fight, their spiritual energy coiled around them.

The more defensive a person was, the less confident they were. It seemed the Dao Palace was the one to have given in.

At one point, their negotiations fell through. A fierce beast outside the safe zone swung its tail, and a streak of green spiritual energy went through the safe zone and slammed into the bell-shaped shield around the Dao Palace, causing more cracks to appear. This must have made the Dao Palace disciples compromise. Soon, a white-haired, white-bearded old man took out an item.

The moment he did, Lynn Naya smelled the same unique fragrance from the day before.

So it was the exotic treasure that caused this war.

The old man held the treasure in his hands and said something to the beasts. Then, he threw the treasure into the air. As soon as it left the safe zone, the most ferocious beast took it and let out a stream of fire at the Dao Palace’s shield.

The already crumbling shield made a loud cracking sound that Lynn Naya could hear, and then, in front of everyone, it shattered.

“You beast! I’ll fight you to the death!” The old man seemed to have lost his mind when he saw the shield shatter. He let out a roar and shot toward the beast outside the safe zone like lightning.

In the next moment, Lynn Naya saw the old man hold a beast and shoot into the sky, and then with a boom, a visible spiritual barrier exploded in the high heavens.

Was that a… self-detonation?

Lynn Naya had seen many people die for profit. This was the first time she had seen a senior so resolute for his sect. She felt an ache in her heart and an endless sense of grief.

Humanity is just too weak.

The old man self-destructed and died, leaving nothing behind. The beast he took with him was unable to dodge and took the full impact of the explosion. Its head was blown off, and its body fell from the sky.

The old man’s sacrifice infuriated the Dao Palace disciples. Another old man, who was the leader, had a spiritual vortex appear around him. He roared, “If you keep bullying us, don’t blame me for taking another one of you with me when I die!”

“Me too!”

“I’m with you!”

“We’ll both get hurt, but no one is getting out of this easily!”

One by one, the Dao Palace disciples stepped up, and humanity’s momentum soared.

Perhaps because they had gotten what they wanted, the other beasts didn’t want to anger these desperate madmen. They circled for a few times and then leisurely flew away.

As soon as the beasts left, the Dao Palace disciples in the sky landed. Lynn Naya knew the turmoil was temporarily over. She saw hundreds of Dao Palace disciples fly down from the mountain and returned to the underground chamber, smart enough not to get in their way.

The others in the underground chamber didn’t know what was happening outside. They saw the commotion had stopped and immediately asked Lynn Naya, “Is it over?”

“More or less.” Lynn Naya said in a low voice.

“Should we go up now?”

“No,” Scarface Qing replied. “It’s still too chaotic. We should wait a little longer. Healer Lynn, what do you think?”

At this point, they were all unconsciously seeking Lynn Naya’s opinion on every matter.

“Yes, let’s wait. Someone will find us.” Lynn Naya could sense that a Dao Palace disciple was passing by, seemingly searching for something.

After the disciple left, she continued, “Let’s get our story straight. We were digging a basement to store medicine, and it just so happened that this happened today. We hid down here to take shelter. Understand?”

“Understood.” Xue Yong said first.

When he said that, the others followed and agreed with the story.

They were not fools. They knew if the truth came out, it would cause trouble for Healer Lynn. If it weren’t for Healer Lynn, they wouldn’t have been safe.

“Healer Lynn, don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll take all the blame.” Scarface Qing said.

“It won’t come to that.” Lynn Naya said, telling them to relax. The Dao Palace was probably busy with their own problems right now and wouldn’t investigate the mortals too closely.

Even if they did find out that they dug a hole a night beforehand, so what? She wasn’t the one who brought the treasure in, and she wasn’t the one who lured the beasts. She just had a bad feeling and prepared for the worst. What was wrong with that?

They waited for another fifteen minutes, and then a familiar person came.

Lynn Naya motioned for Scarface Qing to quickly climb up the rope.

Scarface Qing agreed, and soon after he went up, they heard Zhou Feibai’s voice. “Sister? Sister, are you okay?”

Hearing her brother’s voice, Zhou Yuan immediately became emotional. “I’m fine, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

“That’s good.” Zhou Feibai seemed to be relieved. “I’m coming down to bring you up.”

With that, he jumped down. Lynn Naya quickly moved to the back of the chamber. After Zhou Feibai carried Zhou Yuan up, she had Xue Yong carry his daughter up.

“I’ll bring you all up.” Zhou Feibai said, jumping back down.

He brought them up one by one, and it was soon Lynn Naya’s turn.

As he reached out to her, Lynn Naya ignored him. She hugged the jujube tree and grabbed the rope, telling Scarface Qingand Xue Yong to pull her up.

As soon as she got out, her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. Lynn Naya looked around, and all she saw was destruction. More people had died in this one day than in the past few years from starvation, freezing, and murder combined. Everywhere she looked was a scene of devastation.

Zhou Yuan and Xue Yong’s wife were already hugging each other and crying. Scarface Qing and Xue Yong also had a sorrowful look in their eyes.

Lynn Naya didn’t pay Zhou Feibai any mind, and he didn’t seem to care. He waited for everyone to calm down and said, “I’m going with my senior brothers to help settle the others. You guys stay here and don’t go anywhere.”

Hearing this, Lynn Naya gave Scarface Qing a subtle look.

Scarface Qing immediately understood and offered to help Zhou Feibai. “It’s a time of need. Since Xue Yong is here, why don’t I go with you and see if there’s anything I can help with?”

Zhou Feibai gave him a look, then nodded. “Alright, come with me.”

Next came the reconstruction. Unlike the first time they came to the Dao Palace and escaped death, everyone had a hint of doubt in their hearts this time.

Will everything really get better?

Will something like this happen again, or even two or three more times?

Through countless blank eyes, Lynn Naya once again had a strong desire for power. If she was strong enough, today would have been different.

“Dad, our house is gone,” Xue Yong’s eldest son said, his eyes filled with tears. “The grape vine is gone too. My sister won’t have any grapes to eat.”

Xue Yong reached out and patted his head. “The house can be rebuilt. We can plant a new grape vine next year. Everything will be okay.”

“Will it really be okay?” The child asked in a muffled voice, clearly not convinced.

This time, Lynn Naya was the one who answered him. “Yes, it will be okay. It will.” As long as I’m still alive.

Half a day later, when evening came again, the number of casualties was tallied.

Among the people Lynn Naya knew, Supervisor Zhang and his wife were gone. Their family of three only had one child left. It seemed Supervisor Zhang couldn’t rest until he knew his child would be taken care of. Lynn Naya went to him and promised to look after his child. Only then did he close his eyes with tears of blood.

The Qian Baolin family was all gone. It was said that a fireball had hit their house, and no one got out. Uncle Wang and Zhao Laoer and their wives were lucky. They were out when it happened. They ran as fast as they could when the commotion started. Zhao Laoer lost an arm, but they were all alive.

It was a good thing that they could go outside then. Many people escaped. Although many of them still died, it was better than staying inside. At least many people came back alive from the outside before nightfall.

After Lynn Naya and the others helped bury the bodies of the people they knew, they were quickly put to work on the reconstruction.

Lynn Naya was a medicinal farmer, so she didn’t stay at the bottom of the mountain for long. After she built a temporary shelter, she was called back to the herb forest to take care of the Cold Moon Grass.

The Cold Moon Grass was delicate and would wilt if not watered for more than three days.

Just a day or two later, Lynn Naya’s feelings were completely different upon returning to the herb forest.

Before, she thought the Dao Palace was a massive power. But now, it seemed the Dao Palace was not as strong as she had imagined.

Has humanity really reached a dead end?

Lynn Naya sat under the tree and thought.

How strong is the Dao Palace? Can it withstand the next wave of beasts?

If it can’t, should I stay and lie low, or should I leave? If I stay, how will I protect myself? If I leave, is there a place for mortals to survive out there?

Does the soul fog cover the entire continent, or is it only around the Dao Palace? If it’s only around, how big is the diameter?

The more she thought about it, the more Lynn Naya realized she was too low on the totem pole to see the whole picture. Most of these questions couldn’t be answered just by her thinking. She needed time to slowly gather information.

In the end, she concluded that staying in the Dao Palace was the best option for survival right now.

The Dao Palace was the safest place, so she would stay for now. Next, she had to focus on cultivating and gathering information about the Dao Palace and the outside world.

She also had to get her hands on the poisoned needles and the Shapeshifting Techniques as soon as possible. She also needed to stock up on life-saving and healing pills. In short, she had to prepare for the worst.

With a clear plan in mind, when Lynn Naya saw the girl in the red robe come to the herb forest, she took the initiative to ask her about the beast attack. She wanted to know if the Dao Palace was still reliable.

The girl in the red robe was one of the two people Lynn Naya knew who was familiar with what was going on in the DaoPalace. They had been eating together for almost a year. It wasn’t strange for her to ask about this after her near-death experience.

“It’s fine to tell you. It’s going to spread anyway,” the girl said with a sigh. “Basically, one of our disciples went on a mission and accidentally found a celestial herb. That herb was the main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill, so the disciple risked his life to bring it back. But the herb had already developed a spirit and was actively releasing its fragrance to lure beasts. That’s what caused all this.”

I knew it was that kid!

“Thanks to that disciple, I’ve heard more crying these past few days than in the past few years combined. Now, no one dares to close their eyes during the day, for fear that another beast attack will happen so fast they won’t have time to run.” Lynn Naya said mockingly.

“Sigh, that disciple has already been sent to the Cliff of Contemplation to reflect. Something like this shouldn’t happen again,” the girl said, comforting her. “The Dao Palace has already sent a message to Senior Brother Yanxi. He should be on his way back. When he comes, the Dao Palace will be stable for at least twenty years.”

Senior Brother?

Lynn Naya noticed the title, but she didn’t immediately ask about it. Instead, she asked, “He’s that powerful?”

“Yes,” the girl said, her eyes full of undisguised admiration. “Senior Brother Yanxi is a true genius. When you see him, you’ll know what it means to be a favorite of the heavens.”

“…” I don’t believe it. Can he really be more of a favorite of the heavens than me?