1504 The Mysterious Gardener
The next morning, as agreed, Jane brought over a fruit basket filled with freshly-picked strawberries. They were lusciously red and still covered in morning dew.
Xia Fan grabbed a strawberry and tasted it. He found them particularly tasty, and once they were in his stomach, he felt a warm current flowing through his body.
Jane smiled and asked him, “So? Are my strawberries tasty or not?”
Xia Fan put on a dazzling smile. “To tell the truth, it’s the tastiest strawberry I’ve ever had. How exactly did you grow them? Each one of them is bursting with juice and is incredibly delicious.”
!!
Jane was very happy to hear Xia Fan’s praise. “In truth, this isn’t my handiwork, but the work of Uncle Luolin. He’s the castle’s gardener, and I learned everything I know from him.”
At this moment, Bright Pearl, who was still quiet as she recovered from her injuries, suddenly spoke in Xia Fan’s mind, ‘You have to pay attention to this Luolin person. He’s suspicious.’
Xia Fan was startled. ‘He’s just a gardener. How could he be suspicious?’
Pearl replied, ‘Don’t forget that I’m a dragon. Dragons are born from nature and exist above nature. These strawberries are very unusual. You’ll understand when you use your Scent ability.’
Xia Fan could release and restrain his Scent ability as he pleased. In normal circ.u.mstances, he didn’t have it activated, for once he did, tons of information would rush in through his nostrils, like the smell of the toilet or the fabric of Jane’s underclothes today. It was very problematic.
But since Pearl had suggested it, Xia Fan sniffed lightly.
In a flash, the scent of the strawberry entired Xia Fan’s mind, leaving him confused.
‘So? Am I right?’ Pearl asked.
‘It truly is very strange. These strawberries seem to have the scent of energy crystals?’ Xia Fan responded mentally. ‘And one of these strawberries has a special scent, like that of printer ink.’
Jane exchanged a few more words of idle chatter with Xia Fan before leaving, agreeing to bring some strawberries tomorrow morning.
Once Jane was gone, Xia Fan looked hastily through the basket and found the strawberry with the special scent, breaking it apart lightly.
Xia Fan gasped in surprise.
It turned out that there had been a small slip of paper in the strawberry. There had been no cut on the strawberry, so how had the paper slip gotten in?
At this moment, Traveling Buddha came out from the bedroom and yawned. He asked what Xia Fan was holding, but Xia Fan said nothing. He unfolded the paper, frowned deeply, and then handed the paper to Traveling Buddha.
“What is this?” Traveling Buddha read the paper and then shook his head in confusion.
There was a sentence on the paper: To break through the watery ink, the Battle Buddha must ascend to heaven!
Xia Fan frowned and said, “It seems to be written for you. What does it mean for the Battle Buddha to ascend to heaven?”
Traveling Buddha shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. First, tell me who gave you this slip of paper.”
Xia Fan replied, “I’m guessing that it’s from the castle gardener, a guy called Luolin.”
“A gardener?” Traveling Buddha pondered. “I’ve never heard the name before, but he clearly understands our Divine Buddha Clan, hinting to me the method to deal with the Water Devil.”
Xia Fan considered that and asked, “So what do you think?”
Traveling Buddha replied, “I think this person means well. Is there a way to send him a message?”
Xia Fan looked over the basket. “Jane will come and take back this basket at noon. We can put the reply in the basket’s handle. Look, there’s a crevice here.”
Traveling Buddha looked at where Xia Fan was pointing, and then he plopped a strawberry in his mouth. He then took a pen from his spatial ring and wrote a few words on the back of the paper.
Xia Fan took the paper and saw that Traveling Buddha had written, When the Killer Buddha is unleashed, all will die!
“What’s a Killer Buddha?” Xia Fan asked curiously.
Traveling Buddha shrugged casually. “Don’t ask too many questions. He’ll know if he knows.”
Xia Fan had no choice but to hide the message in the basket’s handle. At noon, when Jane delivered lunch, she took the basket back with her.
The next morning, Xia Fan became expectant.
“I’ve come to deliver more strawberries!” Jane smiled as she walked into the room.
“Welcome, welcome. I was starting to get hungry just waiting for you,” Xia Fan replied.
“Ha, you seem to have taken a liking to my strawberries! Fine, I guess I’ll bring you some more tomorrow,” Jane grinned.
Once Jane was gone, Xia Fan sniffed in antic.i.p.ation. Sure enough, one of the strawberries had a unique scent. When he broke it open, he saw a new slip of paper.
But this time, there was only one word on it: Formidable!
Once Traveling Buddha got out of bed, Xia Fan gave him the paper. Traveling Buddha smiled and said, “Heheh, I didn’t think he would actually get it. I say, that person you might be looking for could be this Gardener Luolin, no? There are few in the universe who can understand what I say. This Luolin must have an extremely deep relations.h.i.+p with my clan.”
Xia Fan lightly shook his head. “I can’t be sure, because I only know the unique physical attributes of the person I’m looking for, not his name or status.”
Traveling Buddha was rather disappointed. “Is that so? Then what are these unique physical attributes?”
Xia Fan replied, “One eye is black, and the other eye is white.”
“Yin Yang Eyes?” Traveling Buddha was taken aback.
…
It was eventually time for the appointed Blood Battle. Early in the morning, Jane was very sullen when she came to deliver the strawberries.
Xia Fan asked her what was wrong, and she said that she couldn’t bring herself to be happy because she was worried that Traveling Buddha might die.
“Such a kind girl,” Traveling Buddha said, throwing a strawberry into his mouth. He smiled at Xia Fan and said, “If you like her, you should take her in.”
“You! Do you realize what time it is? I can’t believe you’re in the mood to joke,” Xia Fan frowned.
——-
It wasn’t long before guards came to escort Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha to the battleground. They left the castle and city and were taken to a mountain basin.
The arena was in the mountains, carved out from a mountain slope.
There were many spectators, in the tens of thousands. Perhaps because life was boring here, the city’s residents had come out in droves to see the Battle Buddha’s Golden Light versus the Water Devil, a clash of two apex abilities.
Looking up, Xia Fan saw that those elders were seated at a higher elevation, and the entire arena was surrounded in a giant cage. Two people entered, and only one person could come out alive. In other words, this was a fight to the death!
The light of the early morning was warm, but Xia Fan felt an inexplicable chill.
That power descended again, the same mysterious power that had rendered Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan completely helpless circled above him in the air. Xia Fan felt like some G.o.d was standing at the apex of the universe and looking down at him.
‘Pearl, do you know what this power is?’ Xia Fan mentally asked.
‘Don’t talk with me! I’m hiding! This level of energy isn’t something we can fight against!’ Pearl said urgently, and then she added, ‘If my guess is right, it should be those old scoundrels from the Ashen Dragon Hidden Moon era that weren’t killed. They’ve survived all the way until now!’
Xia Fan was stunned. The war between the Skywings and Ashen Dragon Hidden Moon had been forty thousand years ago. There were still survivors?
In other words, they had to be at Eternal Rank, or even Legendary Rank! After all, only experts of that level could have lived so long!
“Brother, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Traveling Buddha nonchalantly patted Xia Fan on the shoulder and then walked toward the cage, not the slightest bit concerned.
“Wait!” Xia Fan called out in shock.
Traveling Buddha stopped, but without turning around, he shook his head and continued forward, muttering, “Too shameful, truly too shameful. I can’t believe I ended up becoming a burden to you.
“Xia Fan, just watch. Don’t think that you’re the best in the universe. Today, let this young master teach you what a furious Buddha looks like!”