Chapter 96: Dark Clouds on the Horizon

When he heard there was a list with two hundred names, Yu Nianzhen trembled lightly.

Just that snippet of information already told him a lot.

For such a list to exist, the organisation should have known the names of everyone who would enter the thousand herbs garden ahead of time.

While this information was not a secret within the sects, it was not known by outsiders.

That the organisation could come up with the list meant they had spies in major sects and families.

As if that was not enough, they also had a fast way to communicate.

The reason for this assumption was that the sixteen regions were a distance from each other.

If the organisation relied on normal methods of communication, it was difficult to relay the information promptly.

However, all these were not what bothered Yu Nianzhen the most.

What bothered him the most was that the organisation required a lot of members to deal with the two hundred on the list.

This meant that a lot of organisation members had somehow entered the secret realm.

No matter how he thought about it, Yu Nianzhen did not think this was a coincidence.

The only explanation he could come up with was that the organisation had spies at the elder level.

Only elders had the power to allocate secret realm placings to whoever they wanted.

’This is not good.’ Yu Nianzhen thought.

He was wondering what to do when the leader of the masked cultivators continued to speak.

"There are four months before the inner region opens. Before then, we should eliminate at least half of the targets."

"All the others can be dealt with in the inner region."

After that, the group fell into silence.

Yu Nianzhen wanted to leave to avoid detection, but a buzz was heard from the man he took as the leader.

The man removed a jade plate from his storage ring and injected a strand of qi into it.

Soon after, a list appeared in front of him.

"Another one has been dealt with." He said.

However, Yu Nianzhen didn’t hear the words because he was busy looking at the list.

At first, he only saw a list of names, but the more he looked, the more details he noticed.

’Names, age, sect, origin, aptitude, and an image.’ Yu Nianzhen frowned when he saw that.

Other than information regarding aptitude, the other was relatively complete.

’Am I on the list?’ He wondered and began to quickly peruse the list.

He didn’t expect to be on it since he hadn’t been up and about for many years.

However, he was surprised when he saw his name right behind Jiang Yue’s.

’At least they don’t know our aptitudes.’

After he saw that, Yu Nianzhen no longer lingered.

He turned about and rushed back to the other three.

"How was it?" Jiang Yue asked when he saw Yu Nianzhen.

"Not good. Let’s leave this place before we talk."

The others also used an invisibility talisman, and they hurried away from the area.

It was not until three hours later that Yu Nianzhen finally called a stop.

They found a patch behind a small hill and used an array plate to set up a defense formation.

After that, they retreated into the array, and three pairs of eyes turned to Yu Nianzhen.

"They have a list." He informed.

"List?" This was asked by Wang Xue’er.

Yu Nianzhen told them everything he found out, and everyone fell silent.

As talented disciples of their sects, they also came to the same conclusions as Yu Nianzhen.

"Why are they doing this?" Bai Ruyue asked.

Her voice was a little hysterical, and her face revealed her panic.

From Yu Nianzhen, she knew her name was on the list.

"I have a theory." Jiang Yue said.

His voice was solemn, and his eyes were cold.

"So do I." Yu Nianzhen agreed.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but it was the only thing that made sense.

"Could it be that this organisation has a way to transplant origin from one cultivator to another?" Wang Xue’er asked.

"I think it does." Jiang Yue said.

Otherwise, the actions of the group would not make sense.

If all they wanted was to eliminate talented cultivators, they could do so without going to the trouble of removing their cultivation foundation.

However, now that they had gone to the trouble, it meant there was a use for the stolen foundation.

This theory would also explain why the members of the group were so powerful.

It was because their origins had been replaced by those of the killed talents.

"This..." Bai Ruyue started but couldn’t go on.

"I wonder if the sects know this." Wang Xue’er was concerned.

For more than a decade, the sects and major families were on edge because of this secret group.

They despised it for its reckless killing of talents, but Wang Xue’er didn’t know if the sects knew the underlying reason for these ’reckless killings’.

"We need to find others and group up." Jiang Yue said.

Their group of four was powerful and could handle a group of sixteen cultivators in the mundane world.

However, handling a group of sixteen cultivators from the secret group was a bit too much.

If things went wrong, they would all die, and their origins would be stolen to transplant to others.

"Agreed..." Yu Nianzhen was about to say more when he heard something.

"What’s wrong?"

The other didn’t answer and instead continued to listen.

A moment later, the other three heard something and their faces dulled.

As one, the four people rushed out of the defence array and retreated a few metres away.

Before they landed, the place they were previously sitting began to crack.

A thick tree root emerged from the ground and pierced the defence formation.

Although the defence formation could resist one attack of a low-level qi transformation realm cultivator, it could not resist one attack from the root.

"What is it?"

Jiang Yue looked at the tree root and couldn’t help but shiver.

If it were not for Nianzhen’s keen instincts, they would have been too late to react to the tree root.

"Is it a herb?" Wang Xue’er asked, but her voice was unsure.

From that attack, she knew the tree root’s level was higher than the origin forging realm.

If she was not mistaken, the root was more powerful than the qi transformation realm.

"Let’s run." Bai Ruyue screamed and turned to run without waiting for the others.

"Wait." Yu Nianzhen said.

After the first root, more roots had begun to emerge from the ground.

He could also see part of a trunk and branches.

Most importantly, there were hundreds of fruits hanging on the branches.

"Could this be what I think it is?"

Jiang Yue was excited.

After five months, they had yet to find the fruit that would allow them to enter the inner region.

Although he wasn’t particularly worried since there was enough time to search, he was a little uncomfortable.

This feeling became even more urgent after he learned about the secret group.

If they had to spend the following months hiding or fighting, they would not have time to travel around the secret realm.

Fortunately, the tree had appeared, which eased his mind.

"Let’s retreat a few more metres."

Yu Nianzhen grabbed Jiang Yue and moved backwards.

As the tree emerged from the ground, the four could see its size.

Its trunk had yet to fully emerge, but it was already fifty metres tall.

The trunk had a diameter of ten metres, and the branches were as wide as a man’s waist.

"It’s good that it didn’t appear all at once, or we couldn’t escape." Wang Xue’er commented.

Jiang Yue frowned and thought about it.

No matter how dangerous a secret realm was, it was governed by rules.

The thousand herbs garden was for origin forging realm cultivators, and everything they encountered should be possible to handle.

In that case, he figured that the speed of the tree’s emergence was also governed by rules.

Given its strength, no one would survive if it appeared too suddenly.

In this way, origin forging realm cultivators still had a chance to escape rather than confront the tree.

"We should be able to grab the fruits at the periphery." Yu Nianzhen suggested.

After the tree completely emerged from the ground, he saw it didn’t attack them.

This meant they would be safe as long as they stayed outside its attack range.

"I will give it a try."

Without waiting for a response, he moved a few steps forward.

As expected, the tree reacted as soon as he was within its boundary.

Thick branches flew downwards and rushed toward him.

For their size, the branches were extremely fast, and he barely had enough time to get out of the attack area.

When he was without, the branches retreated, and everything looked peaceful again.

"Everyone will depend on their own ability to grab a fruit." He said.