Given this, how could Xu Qingxuan dare tell her mother this news? She didn't want to lose her mother. Her mother was her closest kin in this world — in her heart, even closer than her Master.
She firmly believed that her mother was nothing like what the Green Moon lineage described. A person's character could be seen from their every word and deed.
So many people in the Green Moon lineage spoke ill of her mother every single day, yet her mother never said a bad word about anyone. Although her mother was deeply dissatisfied with the Moon God Sect — believing it had destroyed her life — she had never once lost her composure and uttered a single cruel remark.
How could such a mother be as wretched as those people made her out to be?
While mother and daughter were talking, a woman's voice suddenly came from outside: "Saintess Qingxuan, the Second Seat saw that you hadn't arrived yet and sent me to fetch you."
Xu Qingxuan made a funny face, planted a kiss on her mother's cheek, and giggled: "Mama, I'm kissing you on Father's behalf — hope it brightens your whole day! All right, Xuan'er is off to see Master now!"
Xu Qingxuan stepped out, gently closing the wooden door behind her, and said to the woman who had called her: "Senior Sister Xie, Master is starting this early today?"
"Yes. I heard that Pill King Jilang from Pill Fire City has arrived, so Master wants to meet him. Oh, and Master asked you to come along so you can meet Pill King Jilang too."
"I don't want to meet some man," Xu Qingxuan grumbled.
"Hee hee, this Pill King Jilang isn't just any man. He's the successor personally groomed by Great Emperor Danji of Pill Fire City — known as the undefeated legend of alchemy. Even our Sect Leaders treat him with the utmost courtesy. They say... heh heh... Pill King Jilang once declared that when he searches for a dao companion, he would definitely come to our Moon God Sect to find a Saintess." Senior Sister Xie's tone carried a dreamy quality.
Xu Qingxuan, however, felt nothing: "What does that have to do with me? I'm a Saintess who aims to become the next Sect Leader — I have no interest in meeting some stinking man! Besides, what 'undefeated legend of alchemy'? Wasn't he defeated a few years ago by some Pill King Zhen from Glazed Tile City? Am I remembering wrong?"
"Hee hee, nobody's saying you have to marry Pill King Jilang. The Second Seat wouldn't allow it either. Come on, Qingxuan, hurry up and go, or the Second Seat will scold you again."
The Second Seat was the second-highest Sect Leader in the Moon God Sect. She was the ancestral matriarch of the Green Moon lineage. Years ago, she had single-handedly discovered Xu Meng, yet had failed to protect her, allowing Xu Meng to fall into the mortal world.
This had been her own fault, but she refused to admit it. Instead, she blamed Xu Meng — believing that she had allowed the Moon God Sect's most precious bloodline to be defiled by a mortal man, and that this was entirely Xu Meng's doing. To that end, she had not hesitated to brainwash Xu Qingxuan, ensuring that the entire Green Moon lineage saw Xu Meng as the Moon God Sect's shame. She constantly bombarded Xu Qingxuan with her conditioning, telling her she needed to work harder to atone for her mother's sins.
It had to be admitted, this brainwashing approach — while it had failed to turn Xu Qingxuan against Xu Meng — had still left deep shadows in the young woman's heart. Xu Qingxuan felt that if she did not become the most outstanding Saintess in the entire Moon God Sect, her mother would forever bear the weight of shame and guilt.
……
The Moon God Sect possessed a Moon God Treasure Tree that had been passed down for tens of thousands of years. Legend held that it was a species originally brought from the Celestial Jade Palace, which had taken root and sprouted in the Divine Abyss Continent, growing into a magnificent treasure tree.
This Moon God Treasure Tree was also the Moon God Sect's totem treasure — their supreme and sacred totem.
The tree was remarkably unique: purple in spring, azure in summer, blue in autumn, and crimson in winter. With each change of season, its colors shifted with perfect clarity.
So precise was the transformation that the tree could almost be used to mark the boundaries of the four seasons.
This was also the origin of the Moon God Sect's four lineages — Purple, Azure, Blue, and Crimson. Their roots traced back to this very Moon God Treasure Tree.
However, recently, the Moon God Treasure Tree had begun experiencing problems. Not with its colors — those remained accurate — but its leaves had started to visibly wither and fall.
The tree's foliage had originally been extraordinarily lush. But over the past few days, the leaves were growing fewer and fewer — at least half had already fallen compared to their peak.
This had thrown the entire Moon God Sect into a state of deep panic.
After all, the Moon God Treasure Tree had served as the Moon God Sect's totem for countless generations. For this totem to suddenly show signs of trouble was enough to send waves of inexplicable fear and a sense of crisis through every member of the Moon God Sect — from the sect master all the way down to the lowliest disciple.
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
Once they grasped the severity of the problem, they began seeking out pill masters and spirit plant specialists to diagnose the issue.
Yet after examining the tree, every pill master and spirit specialist offered a different opinion — no two analyses were even remotely alike.
But when it came to actual solutions, they all hemmed and hawed. Not a single one could give a definitive answer.
This made the Moon God Sect realize that these people were utterly unreliable. That was why they had turned to the outside world for help. Over the past period, they had formally sent out a distress signal to Pill Fire City.
And Pill Fire City, to their credit, had responded with appropriate gravity. Several renowned Pill Kings approaching the level of Pill Emperors had made their way to the Moon God Sect to examine the Moon God Treasure Tree.
Among them was Pill King Ji Lang, representing the younger generation, as well as Pill King Qing Feng, Pill King Gu Yue, and Pill King Tian Ya from the older guard — each one of them possessing the caliber of a quasi-Pill Emperor.
That these figures had come together for a joint consultation spoke volumes about how seriously the Moon God Sect regarded the Moon God Treasure Tree.
Xu Qingxuan followed behind her master, watching the Pill Kings who had traveled so far to be here. While she felt some curiosity and quietly hoped these experts could cure the Moon God Treasure Tree, she had little real interest in the Pill Kings themselves.
In her mind, pill masters of this caliber were supposed to be white-haired, white-bearded old men.