Chapter 931: Unexpected Injuries
[Wait…I just remembered something…didn’t the maestro have two kaijin assigned to assist the matriarch here with exploring the Abyssal Lands?,] Hurricroak asked her fellow kaijin.
[Kit and Rodenia?,] Nepherage replied.
[Yeah, them.]
[Anybody else find it wild that they’re only ones among us without a pun-like name?,] Razorstella commented.
[Kind of. Back to the main topic though, what happened to them? Last any of us heard from them was that they had made contact with the matriarch and then…poof. They went off grid, or at least muted…]
[Don’t…wait…I think I sense them…and they appear to be…stressed out?]
[Huh? Why?]
[Something about…not being able to handle a strong personality.]
[Dafuq?]
[They also appear to have been injured.]
[Dafuq?!]
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*Bing-Bong*
The following scenes will be in Tide Tongue, so normal quotations will be used.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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Shortly after drying themselves off and making their way to the innermost parts of Blessed Willow Manor, Patriarch Zhen Shi, Elder Zhen Long and Zhen Liu attempted to go and see the leader of the main branch, Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian.
In the past, they and the rest of the Zhen Clan were given orders that if and when the branch clan had established the teleportation array, and she wasn’t there to immediately make use of it or greet them, they were to come to her chambers to give their greetings instead.
However, they couldn’t really do that bit.
When the group from the branch clan had arrived at Zhen Xun Tian’s chambers, a pair of Zhen Clan guards were found to be stationed at her front door.
This was a highly unusual sight, given that Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian was the equivalent of a one woman siege weapon and didn’t even need protection.
Hell, the greatest deterrent to violating her privacy, was the fact that it would involve violating her privacy.
So when the group saw that she had guards in front of her door, they couldn’t help but be a little worried and incredibly curious.
After all, what the fuck could’ve happened to her to justify needing guards at her door?
Thankfully for them, her son, the Hero Elder Zhen Xun Po, was there to inform them of the finer details.
After he had escorted them to a sitting room away from his mother’s chambers.
Once they were settled in, Zhen Xun Po gave the branch clan the news. Needless to say, they were shocked.
“Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian was injured?”
“How?!”
“As I was saying… we’re not entirely sure.”
The ones who had the strongest reactions to the news were Patriarch Zhen Shi and Zhen Long, since the former was the matriarch’s nephew while the other simply respected her due to a mix of familial positioning and power differences. Zhen Liu looked surprised at the news, but didn’t explain as loudly.
Regardless of this variety of emotions, Zhen Xun Po simply let out a sigh as he tried his best to objectively report what had happened to his mother. Unfortunately, the details were sparse as all hell.
“All I can tell you guys for certain is that a few days ago, after receiving word that her ability to visit Stone Claw City was curtailed by the lack of a teleportation array, she decided to run off and go exploring that entrance to the Abyssal Lands that you and your kin reported about not too long ago,” Zhen Xun Po elaborated.
“Wait, did she go by herself?”
“No,” Zhen Xun Po shook his head. “On the day she left to go explore the Abyssal Lands, a pair of mysterious warriors showed up, they had a meeting and the next thing any of us knew, they had gone off to the Abyssal Lands without saying anything to anybody. They did leave a note saying where they going though.”
“Huh…”
At mention of this note, Zhen Shi and Zhen Long both directed gazes at Zhen Liu. The young warrior could feel the semi-judgemental gazes being pointed at his general direction, but he opted to more or less ignore them in favor of the snacks laid out on the table before them.
Well, that’s how it appeared on the surface anyways.
Knowing full well the story behind this reaction, Zhen Xun Po opted to just continue regaling what had happened after the matriarch left for the Abyssal Lands.
“Anyways, we figured that she’d be fine, given that the last time she went on a solo journey without informing anybody, she came back with an arsenal’s worth of Bronze and Silver tiered aether treasure and an elephant. So, you can imagine our surprise when she came back…injured.”
__Few days back: Zhen Clan Perspective__
“Another day of a whole lot of nothing…thank the heavens.”
In prior days, the Gate Elder of the Zhen Clan would’ve complained about the lack of action his position saw in terms of combat or violence. But, ever since the day of the Fallen’s Assault, the Gate Elder was more than happy to have these lazy days.
“Alright, since nothing is happening, that means I can just sit back, relax and drink this…wait a minute, what the…”
Unfortunately for him, today was going to be way more eventful than what he bargained for.
“What, no…who is that?”
From a distance, the Gate Elder could see what appeared to be a trio of people trying to support each other as they flew towards his location in a shaky and uneven manner, a clear sign that they had been injured.
Flight wasn’t allowed in Willow Scale, especially within the vicinity of the Zhen Clan’s estate, which could only mean one of two things.
One, this flying object was an enemy and had the audacity to attack Willow Scale City while it still had its defenses up.
Which was unlikely, because no alarms had been set off due to whatever this thing’s presence was.
Two, this flying object was actually a member of the Zhen Clan, but the only member of the Zhen Clan to be out and about at this moment was….was…
Uh oh.
“Oh no. OH NO!”
Realizing who exactly that injured group people were exactly, the Gate Elder immediately got off his ass and flew as fast he could to intercept the group.
“Hey look…she was right.”
“Cool…imma pass out now…”
“Same…”
“Oh no you don’t!”
Which was perfect timing on his end, because the two warriors that were supporting an unconscious and injured Zhen Xun Tian had finally passed out from their own injuries.
Luckily, he managed to react fast enough to catch all three of them with a quick application of aether construction.
Once he managed to secure the injured Matriarch and her companions, the Gate Elder let out an alert the Zhen Clan never expected to hear in any of the lifetimes.
[EMERGECY! EMERGENCY! PREPARE THE MEDICAL BAY FOR AETHER OVERLORD TREATMENT! THE MATRIACH HAD BEEN INJURED, I REPEAT! THE MATRIARCH HAS BEEN INJURED!]
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“…and she and the others had been recuperating since that day,” Zhen Xun Po finished his story. “A majority of their external wounds have recovered, but their internal wounds are still in the process of healing.”
“Damn…”
Patriarch Zhen Shi and Zhen Long both looked taken aback at the idea of someone like Zhen Xun Tian ending up in such a sorry state, given how their strongest memory of her was that of a boisterous ball of energy. However, that did not stop them from realizing something off about the Hero Elder’s words.
“Wait, slowly recovering? Don’t you have access to all manner of medicine and healers here?,” Zhen Long asked. “Your one of the big powers in the empire, right?”
Zhen Shi wanted to scold his son for being so blunt at this moment, but before he could, Zhen Xun Po provided an answer.
“That’s…the weird thing. Her injuries seem to be tainted with this weird energy that is actively healing, but it seems to also reject whatever medicines or treatments we apply to it.”
“What?”
Upon hearing this revelation from the Hero Elder, Zhen Liu and Zhen Shi both knew immediately what kind of wounds the Zhen Clan main branch members were dealing with.
Of course, onle one of these two aforementioned fellows knew how to treat such injuries, but he needed access to her in order to do so.
Or at the very least, he needed some help from some kaijin he wasn’t actually connected to.
…
‘Alright, Logos, Pathos. Is it possible for me to open up a link to Rodenia and/or Kit? I know the latter is a bit of a stretch due to me assigning them to the candy maker, but…’
=Actually… we’ve been working on that.=
‘Really?’
‘Cool…so what do I have to-‘
<=Downloading information, now.=>
‘Of course.’
