Inside the Moon God Palace, all three Sect Masters and six Saintesses were present in full.
Jing Tianbai led Jiang Chen back to the Moon God Palace.
"My Lords, I have brought Young Master Shao here. Young Master Shao, please pay your respects to the Sect Masters," Jing Tianbai reminded him.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly, stepped forward, cupped his fists, and gave a slight bow. "I am Shao Yuan, a wandering cultivator. Greetings to the Sect Masters and all the Saintesses."
Jiang Chen had a sharp enough eye to tell that the younger girls among them had to be the new generation of Saintesses.
His gaze drifted over and, in a single sweep, settled on a girl in the center. Though her features bore little resemblance to his father's.
But that air about her — it allowed Jiang Chen to recognize her at a glance. This girl had to be his little sister, the own flesh and blood of his father and mother!
In that moment, Jiang Chen felt his heart stir, and a trace of gentleness surfaced in his eyes.
The girl he had noticed was none other than Xu Qingxuan. Her first impression upon seeing Jiang Chen was far more favorable than what Pill King Jilang had given her.
At the very least, this man didn't carry that put-on, self-important air about him.
His words and bearing were open and forthright — no deliberate flattery, no affected modesty.
Though his gaze had swept past with a touch of impropriety, lingering on her slightly longer than courtesy would warrant, Xu Qingxuan didn't sense anything vulgar or indecent in it.
Instead, a flash of gentleness had appeared in Shao Yuan's eyes. That caught her off guard. Most ordinary men, upon seeing her, would either feign composure, or scramble to impress, or pretend to be aloof, or put on a pretentious act — and some even had gazes that were bold and lecherous.
But this young man's gaze was as gentle as sunlight. It was something entirely different. For no particular reason, it reminded Xu Qingxuan of her mother's hand gently stroking her cheek — just as soft, just as warm.
"Young Master Shao looks quite young!" The Grand Sect Master studied him for a moment, then spoke with a smile. "I hear that Young Master Shao made quite a stir at the bounty arena in Pill Fire City?"
"I wouldn't call it a stir — I was just a bit lucky. The senior experts were all going easy on a young man like me, which is what made it look impressive."
"Hm. A young man who is neither servile nor arrogant, who achieves results without growing conceited — on that alone, Young Master Shao is no ordinary person."
"You flatter me, Sect Master."
After tea was served and several rounds of pleasantries and probing had passed, the Grand Sect Master finally turned to the matter at hand. "I hear that Young Master Shao is a genius in the Dao of Alchemy, and Pill King Qingfeng has spoken quite highly of you. We have invited you here to ask for your help in examining what has gone wrong with our Moon God Treasure Tree. In recent years, its leaves have been falling at an alarming rate. It almost seems to be withering away."
Jiang Chen set down his teacup. "Seeing is believing. Let me take a look first."
The Moon God Sect quite appreciated Jiang Chen's pragmatic approach.
The Grand Sect Master personally led the way, guiding Jiang Chen directly to the location of the Moon God Treasure Tree.
In terms of sheer size, the Moon God Treasure Tree could not compare to the Treasure Tree Sect's Canxia Treasure Tree. However, in terms of quality and grade, it was superior by an immeasurable margin.
Jiang Chen gazed upon the Moon God Treasure Tree and clicked his tongue in admiration. "The Moon God Treasure Tree is the foremost pure yin tree in all the world. No wonder the Moon God Sect has endured for so long — it is all thanks to this tree."
Jiang Chen offered a few words of praise and circled the Moon God Treasure Tree several times. He began conducting some routine inspections. The routine inspections had actually already been performed by the Azure Phoenix Pill King and the others long ago.
However, none of the three great sect masters made any attempt to stop Jiang Chen's actions. They simply stood off to the side, silent and still, observing his every move.
Jiang Chen's knowledge far surpassed that of the Azure Phoenix Pill King and the rest. The range of his routine inspection naturally dwarfed theirs as well.
Yet none of the various routine inspections revealed any problems whatsoever.
Including the air, the soil, the feng shui, and all manner of surrounding environmental factors—nothing showed any anomalies whatsoever. If that was the case, then virtually every external cause could be ruled out.
As for internal causes, Jiang Chen had examined those as well. Although the Moon God Treasure Tree showed some signs of decline, judging from its growth rings and the condition of the trunk itself, it had not yet reached the end of its natural lifespan. It was clearly still in a period of vigorous vitality.
Internal causes could definitely be eliminated.
The Moon God Treasure Tree simply had no issue with its natural life cycle coming to an end.
As for external causes, every possible scenario had been systematically ruled out by Jiang Chen as well.
This was strange. Jiang Chen furrowed his brow slightly, staring at the Moon God Treasure Tree in a daze. He could find neither an internal cause nor an external one.
He was almost tempted to suspect whether someone from the Moon God Sect had deliberately damaged the tree. But judging from the Moon God Treasure Tree's outward appearance, there seemed to be no signs of deliberate harm.
A careful search yielded absolutely no clues in that direction either.
For the moment, Jiang Chen was quite at a loss. With his level of expertise, a single glance was usually enough to identify most problems.
This was the first time that, even with his vast reserves of knowledge, he found himself completely stumped.
That meant the issue with the Moon God Treasure Tree was exceedingly well-hidden.
With a soft sigh, Jiang Chen stepped back and walked over to where the members of the Moon God Sect were gathered.