Chapter 645 Medicine Boy, Arctic Emperor
At the eastern foot of Tianjue Shenshan Mountain lies a secluded valley shrouded in clouds and mist.
In the dark, sunless forest, several young medicine boys carrying medicine baskets were carefully making their way forward.
From a distance, these young medicine boys looked to be only seven or eight years old, yet they carried medicine baskets on their backs that were larger than themselves, walking along a rugged path covered with fallen leaves.
The path was flanked by towering ancient trees, each over a hundred feet tall, unlike ordinary trees.
The ancient trees in the misty valley have their own unique features.
The thick branches are a deep, dark jade color, and the swaying leaves exude a faint, chilly aura.
The leaves shimmer with light and shadow, appearing dark during the day and blue at night. When combined with water vapor, they can form a mist that confuses people's senses.
Walking in the forest, the hot air you exhale will turn into ice crystals within seconds.
Even more bizarrely, despite the extreme cold, black streams still flow through the forest.
The puddles on the ground, whose depth was unknown, did not turn into ice caves.
The stream and puddles appear shallow, and the current is not rapid.
However, if one accidentally falls into the water, one will be swallowed by the terrifying undercurrents and become part of the forest.
The group of young medicine boys bypassed the black puddle and finally stopped in front of an ancient tree.
Beneath the ancient tree where the medicine boy stood, tens of thousands of dark purple flowers formed a continuous expanse.
A dense, chilling aura swept over them, causing the young apprentice to shiver involuntarily.
If you look up along these dark purple flowers, you will also find countless dark green mushrooms distributed on the slightly damp tree trunk.
A shimmering green light emanated from the mushroom's surface, illuminating the boy's wrinkled face.
An old man with a medicine boy's face, pitch-black leaves, eerie purple flowers, dark green mushrooms, and the echoing roars of beasts in the air...
Coupled with the thick fog with visibility of only two or three meters, everything seemed exceptionally eerie, as if one had entered a dark and gloomy place from afar.
"Roar roar roar—"
"Hehehe—"
"Coo coo coo—"
"Moo moo moo—"
“Gagaga—”
A strange and muffled sound came from the depths of the valley.
Hearing the eerie voice, the young apprentices simultaneously raised their heads and gazed into the depths of the canyon shrouded in mist.
An aged voice echoed through the woods.
"Those big guys in the alien zoo are making a ruckus again."
The young apprentice leading the group plucked a dark purple flower and whispered.
"Ignore them, let them roar... What strange beasts? To put it bluntly, they're just a bunch of blood slaves raised by the sect. Sooner or later, they'll be devoured by the ancestor."
Perhaps the words touched on some taboo, for the remaining five apprentices all shuddered, and a layer of cold sweat seeped from their already wrinkled skin.
They trembled all over, not daring to utter a single word, and simply lowered their heads, reaching out to grab the purple lily that could freeze one to the bone.
The Purple Shade Flower is a unique species of heaven and earth, capable of freezing all things and connecting with the netherworld.
This flower has extremely demanding growing conditions, only growing in extremely shady places.
For the purple lily to bloom, it needs to be nourished by the spirits of living beings.
Watering it every three days, for a full thousand years, is necessary for it to finally bloom.
If we use ordinary mortals from the Taiming Realm as the unit of measurement.
The blooming of every purple shade flower means the death of a million mortals.
Therefore, in the many mortal kingdoms of the Taiming Realm, the Purple Shade Flower has another name that is more widely known.
——Hundred-Refined Blood Nether Flower
At this moment, six young medicine boys stood in a sea of purple lilac flowers, each with a medicine basket on their back filled with freshly picked flowers.
"I heard from the junior disciples at the Beast Garden that many of the beasts in 'Garden A' have lost their heads. Apart from a pool of blood, the senior disciples managing the Beast Garden found nothing. On the contrary, the beast children guarding 'Garden A' have all been skinned alive."
Amidst the roars of the strange beasts, a crouching medicine boy suddenly spoke up, revealing some shocking news.
The other five apprentice doctors' expressions darkened, and they quickened their movements even further.
After about fifteen minutes, a young apprentice with his head down spoke.
"In the past ten years, many of the junior apprentices who looked after the bamboo forest have died. I heard from the senior apprentices in Wanzhuwu that the bamboo shoots in Wanzhuwu are growing big and tender."
The atmosphere grew even more somber after he finished speaking.
Everyone lowered their heads and used their hands, which were almost frozen, to pick the purple lily flowers one by one.
"The Wanshan Kingdom on the western slopes was destroyed a few days ago. Throughout the entire country, in more than 4,800 cities, not a single person survived."
"I went to the Enforcement Hall a few days ago, and all the people there were unfamiliar faces; I didn't recognize a single one of them."
"An explosion occurred at Tiankui Peak a month ago, reducing the entire Pill Pavilion to ruins. All four junior brothers perished."
"The peak master of Tianque Peak has gone mad and invented some kind of 'immortal cultivation' method, planting all the disciples in the peak into the ground."
"A few years ago, a demonic calamity struck the Cangkun Realm, killing 80% of all living beings in the world."
……
The cold words came one after another, and the faces of the six apprentice doctors grew increasingly grim.
They picked the purple lily flowers like madmen, and even though their hands were cracked and split from the cold, they showed no sign of stopping.
It seems that only in this way can they prove their value, and only in this way can they avoid becoming the subject of gossip.
"In the entire Absolute Heaven Sacred Sect, only the six of us cultivate the Nine Netherworld Profound Path, and only the six of us can feed and harvest the Purple Yin Flower. To our Ancestor, the six of us are of use!"
"Absolutely! Absolutely!"
"We're useful! We're more useful than anyone else!"
Amidst the hoarse shouts, the six young apprentices regained their composure and picked the purple lily flowers even faster.
"The three senior uncles who guarded the Kunwu Realm suddenly disappeared 300,000 years ago, and there has been no news of them since."
"All three of my senior uncles have the cultivation of a half-step Golden Immortal. They can be called great powers in the three religions of Taoism, Buddhism, and Demonism. They are second only to the various Immortal Lords."
"Where do you think they went after 300,000 years?"
The sound stopped abruptly, and after a long, long time, the leading apprentice doctor whispered a command.
Whom are you suspecting?
"Our Ancestor is the great sun of our Absolute Heaven Holy Sect. With our Ancestor presiding over this, how could anything happen within the sect?"
In the dead silence, one of the medicine boys suddenly looked up and gave the other medicine boys a maniacal laugh.
"What if our ancestor went mad?"
……
"You're insane! Utterly insane! If you want to die, go die yourself! Don't drag us down with you!"
Watching his fellow disciples disappear into the distance in an instant, the boy's laughter grew even more manic.
"What kind of 'Ancestor of Absolute Heaven' is he? In the end, he's just a low-life adventurer! You may be afraid of him, but I'm not!"
Amidst the stares of others who looked at him as if he were dead, the young apprentice calmly pulled a golden token from his robes.
The words "Arctic" gleamed on the token.
"This token! Could it be the legendary Arctic Holy Palace Token...?"
"Indeed, my master is the Northern Emperor."
"Junior brother, you, you, you..."
Amidst the trembling voices of the five medicine boys, Bei Yuanchen spoke loudly.
"After four hundred thousand years of enduring hardship and biding my time, I have now uncovered the deeds of Ancestor Jue Tian. The new world known as the Nine Realms will ultimately become my stepping stone to becoming an Immortal Lord!"
"Fellow disciples, are you willing to lend me a hand?"