Returning from the Immortal World

Inside the main control room, Kuwako Yamamoto stood quietly in front of the main console, watching the distressed Zhu Long and his team through the holographic footage. She exhibited a smile. She was already a belle, to begin with, and the floating smile added a much deeper charm to her looks.

Unfortunately, there was no man nearby but only Teng Nu, a sentient being that hadn’t yet known the way of the world. Just as her eyes inadvertently scanned over the holographic footage next to her, however, a sudden look of surprise appeared in her eyes.

“Well, the Indians?”

It never occurred to Kuwako that there was an Indian ability user still left in the vestige. The person was severely scarred, struggling to get up from the floor. The fellow should’ve been killed by the American ability users, but he unexpectedly survived his death verdict. Looking at his appearance, however, he was so severely injured that he would be killed instantly should he encounter any further danger.

Inside the botanical area.

Tang Xiu was full of sweat after casting the sealing art on 35,680 nuclei. Despite the burden, he kept working without resting which still made it take a long time to finish the work. He had even consumed too much of his mental energy, resulting in his pale complexion.

Three days passed by in a flash. Having spent his mental energy for the sixth time and after recovering, Tang Xiu had finally completed casting a seal on 35,680 energy cores. Now, plainly speaking, these sentient plants wouldn’t pose any danger to him even if they were released from the nursery plant area.

However, his task was not yet completed even after casting the seal as he still needed to impart them the Shapeshifting Art. He didn’t want to be seen by outsiders with his crowd of a plant army behind him. That would scare them shitless, no less!

“Huff…”

After being done with imparting Shapeshifting Art to 35,680 plants, Tang Xiu finally inhaled a breath of relief and quietly sat cross-legged. He didn’t hurry to restore his spent mental power but observed the plants instead. Time ticking by and, finally, a grass type plant swayed as an intense green light suddenly bloomed, revealing a seven-plus-year-old child in front of Tang Xiu’s eyes.

“This is amazing.”

The child blinked and immediately looked at Tang Xiu and respectfully cupped his fists.

Tang Xiu responded with a pale smile and waved at him while moving at the same time to break the array shrouding the nursery garden.

“Master.”

The child’s voice was clear. He was naked and hadn’t transformed any clothes. After the instruction from Tang Xiu, he created some strangely shaped clothes. Feeling helpless upon seeing him, Tang Xiu had to take out his smartphone to find some photos of children’s wear, hinting for him to change his clothes.

Immediately after, the plants began to transform into human form unceasingly. After a long while, there was no longer any plant inside the botanical area, as a total of 35,680 men and women, young and old, were all looking at Tang Xiu respectfully.

“Alright. You all have just turned into human form but you haven’t yet learned human customs,” said Tang Xiu with satisfaction. “So be it, then! You’ll stay in this base for a while and I’ll send a group of humans to come here and they will teach you common sense and the knowledge on Earth. If you have mastered the customs and knowledge, I’ll take you to live outside.”

“Understood!”

Their loud reply made Tang Xiu secretly satisfied.

As a matter of fact, for Tang Xiu to appear in front of them after using coercion and temptation was also a huge risk in and of itself. After all, these guys were all old monsters that had lived for more than a million years. Even if they didn’t learn systematic cultivation techniques, each of them had a terrifying strength; even he was secretly worried inside, that they would immediately cause a global catastrophe once they came outside.

“This won’t do. A measure must be put in place in advance. I gotta work hard to manufacture Tribulation Evasion Talisman since only with this talisman will they probably able to hide from the detection of Heavenly Dao allowing them to live well on Earth. But these guys have been living for too long and the energy they possess is too powerful. Even the Tribulation Evasion Talisman might not be able to conceal their aura. I’m afraid they can only stay in this place for the time being.”

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and immediately imparted some basic cultivation techniques from the Immortal World to them. “Regarding your duty now, you will all to stay here to safely and steadily cultivate. It won’t be long before I take you to ascend to the Immortal World in the legends. But none of you are allowed to leave this place secretly without my permission. Anyone who dares to violate my command will have their souls wiped clean, so don’t blame me for being cruel and merciless later.”

“Understood!”

All the sentient plants that had transformant into human form hurriedly concurred.

When Tang Xiu returned to the main control room, he saw Kuwako touching her chin and deeply frowning. He couldn’t help but ask, “Are there any problems? You seem to look deep in thought.”

Kuwako shook and sobered up as she pointed to the holographic footage, “I just found a fish slipped out of the net, Boss. He’s an ability user from India and is kind of severely injured, though his life is not in danger. He is currently recovering from his injury and should probably recover soon.”

A surprised look filled Tang Xiu’s eyes, but he nodded and said, “It’s indeed an escaped fish. Seems like those Americans and French didn’t do their job properly. Let him be, though. Let him live since he’s alive anyway. Besides, of all the various countries that jointly entered the vestige, leaving only two teams and everyone else dead might cause some troubles later.”

Kuwako looked dull for a moment before she thoughtfully nodded and said, “You’re right. Needless to say about other countries, but the United States will definitely not give this up given their usual overbearing attitude. That’s right; what should we do if those countries send more people again?”

“Do you not know that this vestige only opens twice every ten years?” Tang Xiu was surprised. “And by the way, what date is today?”

“May 5th,” answered Kuwako.

Tang Xiu frowned before he nodded. “Since it’s May 5th, then we still have two days left. You must leave this vestige within two days and bring a dozen energy crystals out with you. If some other countries want to snatch them, give them hell.”

“You mean… I’m leaving with the Chinese team?” asked Kuwako.

“That’s right. Not just the Chinese team of four; you’ll also go out with that Indian man,” Tang Xiu nodded. “With people from three countries coming out alive, the other countries will guess that something wrong happened in the vestige, I believe. But they won’t throw all the blame to our two countries either. Also, return to Japan directly after you go out! I’ll send someone to look for you in Japan when I leave this place.”

“You mean, you’re going to stay here for a while, Boss?” hurriedly asked Kuwako. “You couldn’t be thinking to stay here more than two days…”

Tang Xiu raised his hand to interrupt her and smilingly said, “Do I even need the submarine to pick me up if I want to go out? The entire vestige is now under my control, I can even override its system procedures now. I can control the ships in this vestige to leave whenever and as long as I want.”

“I understand.”

Kuwako then suddenly pointed to the botanical area where Cheng Xuemei was still wrapped in the dark green light cocoon and asked, “What about her?”

“She’s exactly why I need to stay here for a while before I leave,” answered Tang Xiu. “I already inspected her situation before I came back from the nursery garden. She’s not in danger, but it will take quite some time for her to wake up. Don’t worry, though! I’ll take care of her properly. You just need to make up some excuses to the Japanese authorities to cover things up.”

“Understood.” Kuwako nodded and turned around to leave.

In the peripheral passages of the vestige, four Chinese ability users were all badly battered. Yet, they brought out some weapons and the previously disassembled robotic parts. Instead of leaving in a hurry, they quietly waited here since they had to board the United States’ submarine to leave this place.

“Boss Zhu Long, what do you think about Tang Xiu’s chance of survival?” asked Firedevil slowly. “Will he come out? We’ve been waiting here for two days already.”

“You ask me but whom should I ask, huh?” Zhu Long shook his head. “This vestige is freakishly strange and is full of perils and dangers. The slightest bit of carelessness may cost you your life. We’ve been here for five days but none of any countries’ ability users comes out, which only means that they’ve probably died inside.”

“I believe that he will definitely come out,” interjected Aquababe suddenly.

“Why are you so sure?” asked Zhu Long, surprised.

“Intuition,” said Aquababe.

Electrolady sized her up with a strange expression before she smilingly teased her, “Don’t tell me you took a liking for Tang Xiu?”

Aquababe straightly threw her face to the side with an expression that seemed to say ‘I’m too lazy to bicker with you. Mind your own business.’

Suddenly, the four people suddenly jumped up from the floor cautiously as they saw Kuwako Yamamoto come out from the inside.

“The Japs?”

Zhu Long’s team of four frowned. Never did they expect that the first person who came out alive would turn out to be someone they liked the least, a Japanese.

Kuwako shot an indifferent glance at the four and lightly said, “You truly have excellent luck, losing only a few, and it seems like you’re hauling quite a good harvest too. Care to share some with me?”

Zhu Long sneered, “Are you not afraid we’ll join forces to kill you and snatch the things you brought instead?”

“Had it been people from other countries, I may have to worry about that.” Kuwako shook her head. “But you Chinese? Hmph, not your style.”

A cold gleam flashed in Zhu Long’s eyes. As he was about to drive Kuwako away, a staggering figure rushed out. It was the Indian man whose body was all battered. He was holding a dagger and was glaring at everyone else with killing intent.

“Count yourself lucky.”

Zhu Long sneered and gave the signal to the rest. They then picked up the things they brought out, no longer waiting for Tang Xiu, and they walked straight outside. As soon as the team members of each country returned to the location of the connecting point, the submarine would immediately send them out. That was the agreement between these countries.

Deep in the vestige.

Tang Xiu was in front of the main consoles, watching the people from the three parties go out at the same time, a smile carved on the corners of his mouth. He had already thought of countermeasures to immediately shut down the entire vestige after all them left. After Cheng Xuemei woke up, he’d then take her to leave.

As for the spoils, strictly speaking, he had obtained too many. He could randomly take some and give it to Duanmu Lin when he left. Just that would earn him some great merits.