"This tree is truly something to have withstood an attack of that level and even protect these two. But it seems to have paid a cost for it. I wonder if it was worth it." Feng Xin sighed as he saw its current lackluster appearance. It looked more like a shrub than a tree as its height had shrunk to less than a meter tall and almost half of the remaining leaves had hints of dryness to them. Feng Xin stored away the tree in the leopard pouch before he squatted down and placed both his palms atop Peng Zhen's and Gui Bingwen's backs. He started channeling his qi into them to revitalize their dried-up meridians and empty dantian.
At a glance, he could already tell they were suffering from qi drain. Given sufficient time they would recover by themselves but Feng Xin didn't have the luxury of that time as both of them had things to answer for and he too had questions of his own that he needed answers to. More specifically the owner of that bone saber. He had a feeling their identity was not normal as there were not many people who had an Ao Yin's corpse lying around and even fewer people who had the capabilities to refine a weapon out of it. The leopard storage pouch was the nail in the coffin. Storage treasures that had life-nurturing capabilities were a true rarity that even rank 3 sects may not have one. Something of that grade was qualified to be a sect's highly valued treasure but here it was along with a monarch-rank weapon. The owner must have had powerful backing. The sooner Feng Xin knew their identity the better he could plan his next moves.
After a few minutes of Feng Xin continuously channeling his qi into the two elders, they started showing signs of recovery. Their skin tones had turned rosy as opposed to the earlier paleness. Peng Zhen groaned as he showed signs of waking up. He felt a cool gentle qi coursing through his body washing the fatigue and pain away. It was the most comfortable he had felt in a while. He slowly opened his eyes and turned towards the source of the sensation he felt over his body. It was then that he caught a glimpse of Feng Xin. However, Peng Zhen's eyesight was blurry so he at first saw the vague outline of a male cultivator. He immediately panicked thinking it was Dong Yanlin but cool reasoning soon took over as he thought it was highly unlikely for it to be him. For one even if Dong Yanlin survived the second attack he would barely have any energy to spare and the man was a member of a bloodthirsty sect so benevolence wasn't in his creed. Peng Zhen in coming to this conclusion decided to no longer worry too much about who the person was and go along with it. In his current state, even someone at the body refining stage could easily kill him much less the person before him. He could sense how vibrant and pure his qi was and that told him that the owner of that qi was powerful even more than Cheng Yuan. He guessed the person must have had a reason for saving them and almost as if in response to Peng Zhen's thoughts Feng Xin softly spoke up,
"Nice of you to wake up Peng Zhen. I hope you had sufficient rest to be able to take a journey with me. You and your friend over here will have to follow me back to the Cultivation order courts to answer for a few things one of which is using the Order in one of your schemes. You have quite the guts on you, I almost can't help but admire it." Feng Xin's cold gaze bore into Peng Zhen which left him feeling suffocated. Peng Zhen felt for a brief moment his lungs freeze over before they thawed out a second later. The thick murderous aura Feng Xin was releasing was just as heavy as the one he had experienced from the Ao Yin.
"I will do as you say, esteemed master." Peng Zhen said in a humble tone. He internally sighed to himself but he soon regained his calm. The moment he set his plan into motion of the different scenarios he had expected to happen this was one of them and which had the highest likelihood. He had resolved himself to what would come next. Being caught by the Order was one of his best-case scenarios. His only regret was things didn't quite work out as he expected especially when it came to the Tupelo tree's current state and Dong Yanlin's scary background.
Feng Xin observed Peng Zhen's ability to regain his calm quickly and couldn't help but admire his mental fortitude. This was one of the prerequisites to ever make it far in cultivation. Normal people paint cultivators as lofty people fighting against fate, challenging the heavens. But the reality of it is much simpler, they just want to improve their quality of life. It is a road with a lot of hurdles and those who keep on overcoming them are those with the appetite to take a beating and still keep hoping, trying, and getting up and continuing onwards. Mental fortitude was what fuelled this journey when talent and resources just couldn't cut it.
Gui Bingwen woke up moments later and just like Peng Zhen he at first had a bewildered expression at how he woke up so fast before it turned to panic when he assumed it was Dong Yanlin's doing. He hurriedly scurried back on his knees trying to get away from Feng Xin. He only calmed down when he got a clear look of his face. However, this left more questions as he turned his head towards Peng Zhen almost as if asking who the person before them was with Peng Zhen shaking his head with a bitter smile. That reaction was enough for Gui Bingwen to know it was someone from the Order.
"Good, now that both of you are up and okay it's time for us to leave. Haishi come over here, we'll be heading in the southwest direction closer to the outskirts of the green fog region. There is someone we have to pick up there." Feng Xin said as he jumped atop Haishi carrying Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen along with him. The two elders were shocked to see a spirit beast that was as strong as Cheng Yuan and the qi flooding in due to the primal lotus dew effect further mystified Haishi in the minds of these two elders. They weren't sure if it was a special trait of hers.
Haishi quickly flew in the direction Feng Xin said with the green swallow following at the side. It still had a few more minutes left before it disappeared. During the journey, Feng Xin took the opportunity to question Peng Zhen about the owner of the bone saber. It was from them that he learned of Dong Yanlin's true background. Everything clicked into place on how such high-end treasures could be with one person. In terms of rank, the blood ghost hands sect was equivalent to rank 1 sects. They may be even richer since they've wantonly robbed, murdered, and pillaged other sects and empires without fear. They were also crazy and skilled enough to fashion a weapon from a bloodthirsty creature such as the Ao Yin. The weapon refiner was even skilled enough to trap the spirit of the beast into the weapon making it a spiritual ranked monarch weapon.
A weapon or treasure having a spirit means it has the ability to grow past its current rank without the use of treasures as long as it's given sufficient time. The weapons themselves also require less qi to operate as the weapon is sentient to absorb the surrounding qi by itself and adding the user's qi on top of that is like adding wings to a tiger.
This derived conclusion left Feng Xin with a furrowed brow as he remembered the trace locator array he had removed from the leopard storage pouch that was drawn by someone at the palace stage, most likely the real owner of the pouch. He was confident of mopping the floor even against someone at the peak of core formation realm despite being at the late stage himself. However, someone at the palace stage was a whole major realm above him. He would consider it a win if he escaped from such a fight with only light injuries. Of course, if push came to shove he had certain means to ensure he kept his life. However, those means worked against those in the early stage of the palace realm. If someone in the middle stages or the late stages show up he would have to wash his neck or achieve a major breakthrough in fawning dao otherwise only certain defeat awaited him.
"How could a case between a sect master and his spirit beast over food end up with so many twists and complications? Someone in your sect must have the worse luck alive." Feng Xin said once he had heard the complete story and had sorted out his thoughts.
Gui Bingwen coughed almost trying to stifle a laugh as he threw Peng Zhen a mocking look who on seeing that look decided perfect the stillness dao with barely any reaction coming out of him. Feng Xin saw their antics but ignored them as he had urgent matters at hand. He was even debating whether to request backup from the nearest order branch. It was bound to have someone at the palace stage at the helm of it and in case they were unavailable even a few late-stage core formation experts there would be sufficient to put up a fight against someone at the early stages of the palace realm.
"If you can pull in more people to make your work light, do it no need to break your back." Feng Xin couldn't help but smile to himself as he remembered one of the creeds Yang Qing piously lived by. He pulled out a map from his storage ring. The map had eagle-shaped symbols vastly spread out throughout the map. Those eagle symbols represented the branches of the Order spread all over the southern continent. Feng Xin traced his current location as he marked the closest branch to him before he pulled out a communication talisman specific to that branch. It didn't take long before it connected.
"Hello, this is inquisitor Feng Xin numeral IV of the superior core court attached to the main headquarters."
"Hello Feng Xin what is the mantra of the day." A young male voice sounded from the other end
"The blue dipper downs the raging storm."
"Mantra matches. My name is Long Song a numeral III inquisitor and the person in charge of branch communications today at the green mountain branch. How may we help you today inquisitor Feng Xin?"
"No need to be so formal there Long Song. I may require the branch's help in handling a potential rank 3 problem. I'm not too certain but I may have attracted the attention of a palace realm member in the conduct of my duties."
"A rank three issue huh sounds troublesome. Let me call the boss. Something of that level will need his input, luckily he is around." Long Song disappeared and shortly after another voice sounded.
"Hello there this is branch leader Hu Fang, I've just heard you may have a rank 3 problem on your case. Can you tell me which direction you are coming from, the background of the potential threat, how far away you are, and the means of travel?" Hu Fang said in a gruff voice.
"I've just left the green fog region and I should be arriving from the south of your location. The case I'm working on may have members of the blood ghost hand sects involved as one of the perpetrators was a core formation expert of the sect. The reason I suspect a palace realm expert involvement is the treasures I confiscated were at the monarch stage with one of them having a trace locator array inscribed on them by someone at the palace stage. I have already destroyed the array and sealed the other treasure so there is minimal chance of being tracked through them but this is the blood ghost hands, I'd rather not risk it. I'm about 200 miles away flying with a cloud-swallowing kite at the late stages of the core formation realm." Feng Xin calmly replied.
"Blood ghost hands huh mmmh this is troublesome. It's better if I come personally. With the speed of the kite, we can meet halfway in twenty minutes or less. Being attached to a superior core judge you should have measures to ensure your safety until then. Who are you attached to?"
It was a while before Feng Xin answered and when he did it was in an almost muffled tone with some embarrassment. This reaction of Feng Xin drew curious looks from Peng Zhen and the rest wondering what could be wrong.
"Hello, are you there?" Hu Fang curiously asked when he didn't get a response.
"Sorry I was distracted for a moment. His name is Yang Qing."
"Whaaaat? La... ahem I mean Judge Yang Qing who's about to be promoted to the palace realm courts?"
"Yes him." Feng Xin sighed as he answered choosing to ignore what Hu Fang almost said at the start. Yang Qing's antics were well known throughout the order even down to the branches. It made for a great topic of conversation during tea and lunch breaks.
" Ahem, I'll make my way over. See you then inquisitor Feng Xin." Hu Fang quickly said as he cut off the connection which Feng Xin couldn't have wished for it to happen any moment sooner.
"Why couldn't I have a normal boss." Feng Xin internally lamented completely ignoring that he too had a widespread negative reputation as a food fiend.
It took over twenty minutes before they were close to the area where Feng Xin had earlier come in from. It was then that a huge black shadow charged at them from one of the clouds before it stopped a few meters above them causing a massive shade on Haishi and the rest. Haishi's body froze midair with massive tremors appearing on her body from a deep sense of fear from the shadow looming above them. Everything within her body was trembling and racing wildly as an internal voice deep within her was screaming for her to run with all she had but she couldn't even move a step. As for Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen they were flatly pressed on her abdomen with Feng Xin still seated calmly next to them.
"Ellie quit with your antics we need to leave fast. There may be trouble brewing that even I am not confident of dealing with and oh you can't eat her. I plan to introduce her to the beast tamer hall and have her inducted into our unit. She'll be your partner from now on." Feng Xin said as he waved his hand dispelling the pressure the cloud-swallowing kite was emitting.
Haishi was still trembling as a leaf despite the earlier pressure being cleared. Feng Xin was not too surprised by this as it was expected. Spirit beasts with a higher bloodline could suppress those with lower bloodlines just by emitting their presence. This suppression was so potent that a spirit beast at the 5th stage of foundation realm with a higher bloodline could suppress another beast with a lower bloodline at the peak of foundation realm. However, this suppression loses effect if they are major realms apart. But in Haishi's case, she was suppressed by a spirit beast who had a higher bloodline than hers and also had higher cultivation too as Ellie was at the 8th stage of core formation realm. She was suppressed on two fronts.
"Everyone get on the kite we will be using her to fly back. You too Haishi." Feng Xin said as he leaped off towards Ellie. She was big enough to accommodate them all and then some. Feng Xin to avoid any mishaps decided to use Ellie on the flight back.
Haishi meekly got on with Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen in toe who at the moment had the same look of worry on their faces. They knew the Order was powerful but hearing something and seeing it for themselves is a different thing. They couldn't help but worry that they had triggered a sleeping dragon that may destroy even their sect in retaliation. Once they were on board Ellie bolted without a second to lose in a speed that was a hundred times faster than Haishi's. Feng Xin had to erect a spiritual barrier to prevent the rest from being thrown off or torn by the winds.
..................................................
"I tried to hurry here as fast as I could once I detected the Ao Yin's aura being released from the broken first seal but it seems I was still a step too late."