Chapter 245 – Outside the Garden of Zhou, a Storm Came (Part Two) (2/2)

Priest Xin wiped the sweat off his forehead, then softly asked Chen Changsheng, “Enter the city to rest?”

Chen Changsheng shook his head. “I won’t enter Hanqiu City. Just waiting in the carriage is fine.”

The seemingly endless night tranquilly passed. With the coming of the dawn, people emerged one after another from the official road. Even more people hurried over from Hanqiu City.

Under the protection of several dozen priests, Mei Lisha arrived, at which point Chen Changsheng realized that this venerable elder was supervising the opening of the Garden of Zhou. However, he wondered when Mei Lisha had arrived, and why did he not travel together with them? The cultivators of the various sects and schools all had different reactions when seeing Mei Lisha. Some of them thought back to the words that Zhu Luo had said last night and subconsciously turned towards that grass hut.

The light spring wind breezed through the grass hut, ruffling Zhu Luo’s sleeve. Zhu Luo’s eyes were closed, his body leaning against the fence. It seemed like he had drunk himself into intoxication and he was unwilling to awaken.

Mei Lisha looked over and he could only smile and shake his head. Afterwards, he indicated that the ceremony to enter the garden should begin.

Every ten years, the Garden of Zhou would open once. It would remain open for one hundred days. After these one hundred days had passed, everyone had to exit, or else risk being torn to pieces by the changes and chaos occurring in the Garden of Zhou. This was an iron law that had been verified many times in the past. The Garden of Zhou possibly contained Zhou Dufu’s legacy. It would also contain the legacy of all those experts that had been defeated by Zhou Dufu. This was a truth that had already been affirmed.

To enter the Garden of Zhou could be said to be going on an adventure, and it could also be called a trial by fire. For this reason, the rules which humanity established for the Garden of Zhou were very simple. No matter who was the one that picked up a treasure or technique in the Garden of Zhou, that item would belong to the sect or school of whichever cultivator managed to successfully take it out of the Garden of Zhou. Stealing was permitted in the Garden of Zhou, and any other methods except killing were allowed.

In the past, there were people that asked, were these rules not too cruel and violent? The Pavilion of Divination, which had been entrusted by the Saints with devising these rules, gave the following explanation: if bitter encounters and the spilling of blood could not be had in the Garden of Zhou, then in the future, when confronting those callous and murder-loving Demon experts, they would still die. Why squander the resources? If humanity wanted to continue existing on this continent, then they must be a little heartless to the younger generation, which would bear such heavy responsibility.

As the priest explaining the rules delivered a solemn warning to the cultivators entering the Garden of Zhou, even more priests registered the names of the cultivators in books and distributed cloth bags. In these cloth bags were two items: a flowing water bottle to keep track of time and a gray string.

There were some people that did not understand why the flowing water bottle was necessary to keep track of time. Even if the sun and the stars in the Garden of Zhou were impossible to use for calculating the true date, they were nonetheless Ethereal Opening cultivators that would never count the days wrong. As for the gray string, everyone was very clear on its use. If one encountered an unconquerable danger in the Garden of Zhou, they found their harvest to be satisfactory, or no longer wanted to continue their exploration; they only needed to light that gray string and they would be automatically sent to the Garden of Zhou’s gate.

Zhu Luo would stand guard outside the Garden of Zhou — the human world had no moonlight. He could only drink alone under the starlight. Regardless of how dead drunk he was, as long as people could see him, they felt safe.

While Chen Changsheng listened to the priest explain the rules and took the bag that Priest Xin had gave him, his mind was elsewhere. His eyes somewhat nervously moved about the crowd.

The senior from Holy Maiden Peak as well as Ye Xiaolan had journeyed together with him. Now, the two women stood together with several other girls. They were probably their fellow disciples from Holy Maiden Peak. He very seriously looked around very seriously, but he did not find anyone that looked like her —— He had never met her before, but he heard that she was extremely beautiful. He should have been able to tell who she was at a glance.

Had Xu Yourong come or not? If she had come, then where was she?

The morning light gradually flourished, yet the fog did not disperse. In that space between the forest and mountains, the fog only grew thicker. The light of the morning sun was dispersed in that fog, transforming into all sorts of strange lines.

Suddenly, a cry of alarm arose from the crowd.

As the crowd looked into the fog, they saw a small bridge faintly come into being. Under bridge was flowing water. They saw a gallery, and at the corner of this gallery sat an old plumtree. This quiet and secluded beauty seemed to be one side of a garden.

Was this the Garden of Zhou?

This quiet garden amidst the fog seemed to be both fake and real at the same time.

It was like a mirage.

The instance the Garden of Zhou appeared, Zhu Luo opened his eyes.

He turned towards the quiet garden within the mountains, and a complex swirl of emotions bubbled up in his eyes as he began to think about many things.

His hand rested on the fence, constantly patting it.

Mei Lisha also opened his eyes. Slowly, he said, “Go, and do not lose yourselves in greed and forget the time.”