This was why the mont the artifact's spirit appeared, all Yang Qing had been hoping for was for the rings to be five. Anything else would be bad. In all his years at the Order, this was the fourth ti he had heard the fourth ring that signified the death of a mber of the Order, and those previous tis, it had been one person, unlike this one where there were two deaths and several severe injuries.
On his way to the Crystal Lake Pavilion, the air was the sa all around, which was one of sombreness. Even though everything still ran as it should have after the announcent was done, the graveness in the atmosphere could not be hidden. The heaviness in their steps, the occasional lost look, the way almost every Order employee at the valley would look up, where the artifact spirit of the celestial bell had just been in the hopes that the spirit would suddenly appear and say the announcent was false or would make another announcent of complete recovery of those who were gravely injured.
Whether they knew the victims or not, every Order employee was heavily affected by the announcent whether it was here at the dical Valley or so remote branch millions of miles away, the sentint they shared was the sa which was distraught worry.
It wasn't long before Yang Qing and Lai Lei reached the Crystal Jade Pavilion. The pavilion was made of crystal clear jade that looked to have blue ocean-like water flowing around it.
Yang Qing already detected countless unfathomable presences as he made his way into the pavilion. At the entrance was a middle-aged man with a gold eagle emblem embroidered on his black robes, along with gold braces with the sa symbol. The man was a gold eagle guard.
To prevent any misunderstanding Yang Qing imdiately made a call to Ren Shu and inford him of his arrival. He thought it necessary to do so since it was an ergency state and he was not exactly a mber of the dical Valley, he had no reason to be there, even in an emotional capacity.
The only way he would be allowed into the area was if he was a gold-grade healer or alchemist. With such credentials, he would be allowed in, but without, his only option was through the head of the area.
Ren Shu imdiately appeared after Yang Qing's call and led him and Lai Lei into the pavilion. Once inside, he imdiately disappeared, most likely to supervise the treatnts of Hao Da and the rest while Yang Qing and Lai Lei waited for any news on the second floor of the pavilion.
The Crystal Jade Pavilion was established specifically for dealing with life-threatening ergencies of Order employees. Countless lives had been stolen from the reaper's hands thanks to the pavilion, and all who worked here were all at the gold grade.
When Lai Lei was injured, he had been institutionalized here.
"Do you feel okay being here?" Yang Qing asked once he noticed Lai Lei silently looking around.
Even though his face seed at ease, Yang Qing knew him well enough to notice his emotions seed a bit shaken when they stepped into the pavilion.
Lai Lei smiled bitterly as he said,
"This place, well is a place of contradiction for at the mont. I'm both gladdened and terrified by it.
My life was saved and restored here but it also serves as the anchor for where I almost lost it, well this place and the hidden abode at the Silver scaled oak forest.
Even though I don't rember much from back then on how I passed out and lost my hand and supposedly would have imploded and died had the essence of the congruent white lotus intervened, or Hu Jiaying's aid, sohow every ti I am here, my body rembers that sensation.." Lai Lei said as he rubbed his mildly trembling hands.
"But it is better now, and the feeling has been slowly leaving over the past few months, it won't be long now before I can co here without feeling like that, though I hope I'm never back here.." he added with a smile.
" too.." said Yang Qing as he closed his eyes to ditate.
After a few minutes, the floor that had just been the two of them now had others. The parents and relatives of the deceased and heavily injured inquisitors from the Deer Mountain Branch were waiting on the second floor with them.
As for the branch chief and Hao Da, Yang Qing did not know much about the branch chief, but from the muffled talks of the relatives and family mbers present, he gathered the branch chief had a wife and daughter. The wife was a geomancy specialist and mostly surveyed the spirit stone mines of the Order, but she was currently in secluded ditation. As for the daughter, she was a fourth-year student at the Institute and though she was available, she was too petrified to co to the Crystal Jade Pavilion and asked to be inford of the progress at the Institute.
When he thought of Hao Da, Yang Qing couldn't help but sigh to himself. He had no one, which wasn't unique since there were a lot of orphans who ca through the doors of the Order. But in Hao Da's case, his problematic youthful days when he picked fights all the ti when he was at the Institute, didn't leave him with a lot of friends, leaving Yang Qing as one of the few and Yang Qing's family. Other than that, Yang Qing didn't think there were that many people Hao Da was close with, seeing that he was imdiately deployed to the branches after he graduated to help ground his behavior.
Last he saw Hao Da, Yang Qing believed the thod had worked as he seed less tense, and whatever he had, eating away at him from his ti as a student, he seed to have co to terms with.
"If he made other friends, then it's likely his colleagues from the branch.." Yang Qing thought as a sympathetic sigh escaped his lips.
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