A Chaotic World

Chapter 28: Rainbow Lotus

Who are you?

These words were spoken by Cui Zhenghao in a calm and natural manner. But when they travelled through the air to finally reach Lu Tianzi's ears, they actually sounded more like roiling thunder!

As expected, he had not been allowed into enter the city just like that.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi knew that he had to choose his next words very carefully.

A single wrong step could endanger his life!

But before he answered the question, Lu Tianzi needed to know exactly what Cui Zhenghao had seen.

Did he see Lu Tianzi as an overqualified worker at the Peak Essence Building realm?

Or had he seen through everything and detected the Slaughter Essence within Lu Tianzi?

Depending on how strong Cui Zhenghao's perception was, Lu Tianzi would have to provide completely different answers in order to convince him!

"What is it? Did you not hear Sir Cui asking you a question?" the attendant standing beside Cui Zhenghao was annoyed by how Lu Tianzi had hesitated for so long. "Hurry up and answer!"

But at this moment, Cui Zhenghao unexpectedly raised his hand to gesture for his attendant to back down.

"I will ask you again, who are you?" Cui Zhenghao's tone was just as calm as before.

Lu Tianzi saw how Cui Zhenghao treated his attendant and immediately felt thankful. From that short interaction alone, he could tell that Cui Zhenghao did not bear any hostility towards him.

This meant that it was more likely for Cui Zhenghao to not have detected the Slaughter Essence within him!

"My name is Zhanyuan," Lu Tianzi answered.

"Zhanyuan?" Cui Zhenghao frowned as he futilely searched his memories for a similar name.

"I have never heard of that name before. Someone with your cultivation realm, and at such a young age to boot, would definitely have caught the eyes of many people by now. It is impossible for you to be some unknown person. Tell me your true name."

Lu Tianzi gulped nervously upon hearing that.

This Cui Zhenghao was truly difficult to deal with!

But while he was still contemplating about how to answer, an excited voice suddenly came from someone who was quickly approaching the tent.

"Hahaha! Sir Cui! What a surprise to see you here!"

This voice sounded vaguely familiar to Lu Tianzi, which caused him to subconsciously tense up.

He had not been able to remember the source of the voice. But in his current situation, every familiar figure he encountered would also mean another risk for his identity to be exposed!

Cui Zhenghao, his attendant, and Lu Tianzi.

The three people in the tent all turned to look outside at the source of the voice, and that was when Lu Tianzi finally relaxed.

So it was this guy!

"What are you doing here?" Cui Zhenghao asked curtly.

"Haha! Sir Cui is a man of few words as always," Gong Shengjie maintained his smile as he entered the tent. "I am merely here to receive my good friend who is returning from working outside the city walls."

"Your good friend? The famous Gong Shengjie actually has friends among the workers?" Cui Zhenghao smirked as though he just heard something funny. "You must be joking!"

"Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth," Gong Shengjie directly walked over to stand beside Lu Tianzi. "Otherwise, you can ask Zhanyuan if what I say is the truth."

Cui Zhenghao was quite surprised by the sudden developments before him. He turned to face Lu Tianzi before asking once more, "Are you truly called Zhanyuan?"

"Yes, my name is truly Zhanyuan," Lu Tianzi decided to go with the flow.

Even though he knew that this would result in him owing Gong Shengjie a small favour, it was still countless times better than staying in this sticky situation!

"I see," Cui Zhenghao nodded in realisation.

Cui Zhenghao had been suspicious of the other party's identity initially. After all, Ivory Rock City was only so big. It was impossible for someone this young and already at the Peak Essence Building realm to be unknown.

That was why he was absolutely certain that the other party had hidden his true name.

However, if Gong Shengjie, son of the District Head of the Workers District had already known the guy from before, then things would be much more believable.

Cui Zhenghao even thought that perhaps it was he himself who was not updated on the talents of the younger generation!

"If there is nothing more, then we will take our leave now," Gong Shengjie maintained his smile as he asked.

Cui Zhenghao nodded, not intending to make things difficult for them.

With that, Gong Shengjie confidently led Lu Tianzi out of the tent and back into the Workers District.

"My gratitude for the help just now," Lu Tianzi thanked him after they had cleared from the area near the South Gate.

Gong Shengjie thoroughly looked him over in response, "Brother Zhanyuan really is a mystery. To think that even Cui Zhenghao would take an interest in you."

"Taken an interest in me, eh?" Lu Tianzi forced out a wry smile. "I would rather he not."

"Hahaha! Looks like you truly do not have much interest in power!" Gong Shengjie nodded in satisfaction. "But in any case, I hope Brother Zhanyuan is not hurt from the attack?"

"I am fine, but I am a little worried about Uncle Ye. After all, he was directly targeted by the demons just now," Lu Tianzi thought out loud.

"What?! He was directly targeted? How is he now? Where is he?" Gong Shengjie immediately panicked.

Seeing this anxious look on Gong Shengjie caused Lu Tianzi to feel really surprised.

Lu Tianzi had always thought that Gong Shengjie was a ruthless young man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. For such a person, it was unimaginable that he would actually be this worried over another person.

The only reason why he would act this way was likely because of Ye Xiangyuan.

Since Uncle Ye was the father of the girl whom he was going after, it was natural for Gong Shengjie to want to get into his good books.

In fact, seeing that he had frequently visited Ye Xiangyuan at her house despite being rejected every time showed that he probably was truly interested in Ye Xiangyuan, and not just treating her as another target to be conquered.

"Don't worry, he is fine for now," Lu Tianzi smiled. "Even if he isn't, just a bit more rest and he should be fully recovered."

Hearing that, Gong Shengjie let out a sigh of relief.

Gong Shengjie struggled a bit in his mind before he finally came to a decision, and pulled out a small wooden box.

"Here, give this to Uncle Ye to help him recover. As for the rest, you can consider it a gift," Gong Shengjie handed the small wooden box over to Lu Tianzi.

Lu Tianzi's eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw the small wooden box.

On the surface, it looked ordinary and without any special engravings. However, the glossy shine on the wood was unmistakable.

Lu Tianzi knew that it was impossible to polish normal wood to achieve such an elegant appearance.

The only explanation would be that this small wooden box was made of Jadewood!

Jadewood was taken from the extremely rare Jadewood trees. While it was not as strong as Ironwood, Jadewood possessed a different trait altogether.

When made into a Jadewood box, it was able to lock in energy, not allowing any excess energy to seep in or out of the box.

These special Jadewood boxes were extremely expensive, and were mostly used to store precious pills or herbs.

For Gong Shengjie to struggle so hard in his mind despite how influential his family was, that alone was testament to just how precious the item that he just gave away was.

Just that this precious item was definitely not the box, but what was contained within.

Lu Tianzi carefully received the small wooden box, afraid that he would drop it with a slip of his fingers. With a careful flick of his thumb, the box flipped open.

The moment the cover opened, a waft of sweet fragrance rushed out of the box, immediately attacking Lu Tianzi's nose without recess.

Just by smelling this sweet scent made Lu Tianzi feel extremely energised, as though he had just enjoyed a good night's sleep.

Within the box was a single plant.

It was a lotus flower the size of an adult male's fist. Rather than ordinary lotus flowers that were usually of only a few shades of colour, this one was completely different.

Even within that small plant, Lu Tianzi could see that there were seven layers of petals.

Seven layers of petals, each layer with a different colour.

The centre region was bright red. As it tended towards the outer petals, the colour slowly changed through the colours of the rainbow.

Just the look of the plant was beautiful beyond comparison, as though a true rainbow had been collected and formed into the body of a lotus flower!

"This is a Rainbow Lotus, and it is supposed to be really great for healing purposes," Gong Shengjie said. "Hopefully Uncle Ye would be fine after taking this! Being targeted by the demons was extremely unlucky, but at least he did not lose his life. As long as he received the right treatment, I am sure he will recover!"

Lu Tianzi was speechless.

He naturally knew of the Rainbow Lotus and its uses. Even for someone like Gong Shengjie who came from a powerful family, it definitely was not an item that he could just casually give away!

Moreover, he did say that Uncle Ye had been targeted by the demons, but he never mentioned that Uncle Ye was injured by them!

On the contrary, there was not a single scratch on Uncle Ye's body!

What Lu Tianzi was worried about was the psychological damage that could have been caused by the attack from the demons.

After all, it was normal to develop some kind of trauma after experiencing a near death experience.

Lu Tianzi did not know how Uncle Ye's mental state had handled the earlier situation, but it was true that without Lu Tianzi's presence, Uncle Ye would certainly have died.

As for this Rainbow Lotus, although it was an extremely potent herb that could be processed into medicine to heal severe injuries, it had no use whatsoever when it came to treating psychological health!

Lu Tianzi could not blame Gong Shengjie for jumping to conclusions either. If any regular worker were to be directly targeted by the demons, then 10 out of 10 of them would probably have died.

But considering everything, it would not make sense for Lu Tianzi to accept this Rainbow Lotus.

That said, Lu Tianzi simply could not bring himself to reject such a rare herb, especially when Gong Shengjie had willing offered it to him like that!

More importantly, on top of its medicinal usage, the Rainbow Lotus still had another possible usage.

The Rainbow Lotus was also a herb that was able to help with his cultivation!

"Since you have already offered, then I will not stand on ceremony. I shall accept this generous gift!" Lu Tianzi's eye lit up as he hurriedly kept the small wooden box. "For the favour today, I will definitely remember it!"

Hearing the assurance from Lu Tianzi, Gong Shengjie immediately felt better. He knew that even though the herb was precious, it was likely still the right decision to trade the Rainbow Lotus for the other party's goodwill.

"Hahaha! Good! Brother Zhanyuan, with that word of yours, nothing else matters!" Gong Shengjie laughed heartily.

"Well then, if you don't mind, I will return to Uncle Ye's house first," Lu Tianzi quickly bid Gong Shengjie farewell.

"Yes, yes! Brother Zhanyuan really should hurry back. I shall not hold you back any further then!"

The duo split up and Lu Tianzi headed back towards the Ye residence.

But he was barely halfway there when he caught sight of Uncle Ye waiting by the roadside.

Uncle Ye had walked on ahead after the check by Cui Zhenghao, so Lu Tianzi thought that he must have returned home first.

However, it seemed that Uncle Ye was truly bothered by Lu Tianzi's true identity and wanted to learn the truth before they returned.

"Uncle Ye," Lu Tianzi approached him carefully.

"Ah Zhan," Uncle Ye turned to look at him solemnly. "Don't you think that it is about time you told me everything?"