"Ely, are you alright? You've seemed a little off ever since just now."
Stelle looked at Elysia with concern. Ever since they had parted ways with Fu Xuan, Elysia had seemed distracted, as if her mind were elsewhere.
"I'm fine. I just feel a little prickly all over, like someone's watching me." Elysia tilted her head. "Fu Xuan wouldn't have sent someone to monitor us, would she?"
"Probably not. She's one of the Luofu's Six Charioteers—the Master Diviner of the Divination Commission. If she wanted to know our movements, she could simply perform a divination and find out."
Dan Shu, who had been silent until now, spoke as she stepped to their side. "Within the Alchemy Commission, aside from that genius Qingque, the one with the strongest divination abilities is the current Master Diviner. Not to mention she possesses the celestial eye bestowed by the Aeon of Erudition. With that, Fu Xuan could know what's happening outside without even leaving her quarters."
Elysia blinked, curiosity flickering in her eyes. Could divination really do something like that? Her understanding of divination was limited to horoscope explanations in magazines, though she quite enjoyed reading them.
But what Dan Shu described clearly wasn't that. It sounded more like seeing the future itself.
"However, that's not even the most impressive part. As for what other special abilities the Master Diviner has, I'll explain in detail after we retrieve the medicine. I'm fairly familiar with matters concerning the Luofu's Six Charioteers."
"No need to be so formal. Just call me Ely. We're friends, after all." Elysia smiled faintly. "So, Dan Shu, where are we heading next?"
The group walked deeper into the Alchemy Commission. The surroundings were unusually quiet, almost as if someone had deliberately arranged it that way.
But they did not think too much of it, assuming they were simply frightening themselves.
A few minutes later...
"What is going on? Why are there so many Abominations of Abundance?"
Stelle leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. Not long after entering the Alchemy Commission, they had been attacked by Abominations of Abundance. In the ensuing chaos, they could only flee. Individually, one or two were easy enough to handle, but in such numbers, they became a real problem.
Left with no choice, they retreated, choosing to temporarily avoid the gathered creatures rather than confront them directly.
Elysia stood behind a patch of grass, peeking out cautiously as she observed the Abominations of Abundance nearby.
"Dan Shu, do you know another route? We're not familiar with this place at all... Dan Shu?" Elysia turned around but found no trace of her. "Did we get separated while running just now?"
"What should we do now? Should we go look for her? But the area is full of Abominations of Abundance. Should we contact Fu Xuan...? She should still be nearby."
Fu Xuan had said that if they encountered members of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, they should contact her and she would bring the Cloud Knights. But even if the Cloud Knights came, facing such a large number of Abominations of Abundance would be troublesome. And perhaps they were already occupied elsewhere—after all, these creatures couldn't be targeting only them.
And by the time Fu Xuan arrived with reinforcements, Dan Shu might already be nowhere to be found.
"In that case, let's split up and search. I'll head that way."
As she spoke, Stelle gripped her bat and strode off, swinging it to knock an Abomination of Abundance flying with a heavy thud.
Watching Stelle's departing figure, Elysia turned and headed in the opposite direction.
The surroundings were completely unfamiliar to her. Although she had been on the Luofu for some time, she had never visited the Alchemy Commission. After all, she was in excellent health and had never fallen ill—not even once—so she had never needed to see a doctor.
The paths within the Alchemy Commission twisted and turned like a maze. After walking for quite some time, Elysia still saw no sign of Dan Shu.
After a moment's hesitation, she looked toward the distance. There was a stretch of sea ahead, with several platforms built upon the water.
"Dan Shu wouldn't have gotten lost and fallen in, would she?"
Once the thought appeared, it began to spread uncontrollably. When a bad idea takes root, it only grows. Elysia's mind filled with images of Dan Shu accidentally plunging into the sea.
Elysia pressed her lips together lightly, then ran straight toward the shore. When she arrived, she noticed there were very few Abominations of Abundance around. It was as if all of them had gathered where the group had first appeared.
Ever since she left that area, she hadn't encountered a single one, as though they had all vanished without a trace.
"These Abominations of Abundance... what exactly are they?" Elysia frowned slightly. "It's almost as if someone is controlling them from behind the scenes. They were all gathered in one place. Could someone have known we would come to the Alchemy Commission? We decided to come here on a whim. No one else should have known."
She muttered softly to herself as she walked along the shoreline, her gaze sweeping the surroundings in search of Dan Shu.
Her eyes narrowed slightly when she spotted a figure in the distance. The aura surrounding that person was no different from that of the Abominations of Abundance. In fact, their appearance was no different either.
Though still humanoid, their body was covered in budding branches, like a fusion of plant and living being. It was deeply unsettling. In their hand, they held a staff intertwined with wood.
This one gives off the feeling of a mastermind... They must be the reason so many Abominations of Abundance have gathered within the Alchemy Commission.
Without hesitation, Elysia gripped the longbow in her hand.
The bow was named "Whisper of the Past." It fit her perfectly. As long as she could restrain the target with a crystal flower, she could eliminate them with ease.
For Elysia, this was hardly a difficult task.
Skillfully placing her right hand on the bowstring, she released a crystal arrow without the slightest hesitation.
A pink crystal blossom bloomed in midair and shot toward the figure in the distance. In just a moment, it would be over.
Yet the outcome was beyond her expectations. The crystal flower failed to hit its mark. Just before it struck, the figure vanished.
Before Elysia could react, the person had already reappeared not far from her.
"They dodged it... Could it be they haven't fallen into mara...?"
"Of course not."
To Elysia's surprise, the other party answered her directly.