Xue Yanluo looked at all the faces of the surrounding disciples, all of them wearing normal expressions, and a few moments later they returned to their usual tasks.
This only made Xue Yanluo frown even deeper, not knowing what was happening with all of them, seemingly unbothered by what had just occurred.
Among all the people, Xue Yanluo spotted the old maidservant of the Mistress of Currents, whom he had spoken to many times. He approached in a few steps, afraid she might disappear into the crowd at any moment.
"Wait," called Xue Yanluo, trying to stop her before she took another step.
The maidservant turned her head toward the sound, and her eyes snapped open as she said, surprised, "Are you all right?"
Xue Yanluo stopped short and glanced over his body. He was in perfect condition—why was someone asking if he was all right? He frowned and asked, "Is something wrong with me?"
The maidservant looked him up and down for a few seconds and shook her head. "No, no, I was lost in my thoughts. You are in perfect condition." The woman looked at Xue Yanluo one last time, her gaze lingering briefly on his head before speaking again. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"
"It was… nothing. It is not that significant a matter" said Xue Yanluo, unsettled by the look the maidservant had given him.
"Very well." The woman nodded. "Then I'll take my leave. You can come and find me any time you need to ask me something." She said her goodbyes and left the place at something just short of a run.
Xue Yanluo watched her shoot off, only barely not running. Seeing her reaction only made him wonder if there was something wrong with himself that he hadn't noticed—it couldn't be his smell, could it?
He returned to his tent, where his intention had been to hold a meeting discussing the recent events in the sky—but not even he knew how to explain what had just happened.
That left him with only one option: let time ease the strange atmosphere that seemed to have settled between him and the older maidservant, and then ask her what had happened in the sky.
As he turned to go back to his tent, a small circle had formed nearby—its members the very soldiers he had brought with him.
Xue Yanluo approached the group as they talked among themselves and asked about their gathering. "What are you all doing here…?" As he asked, he noticed the grave expressions on all the soldiers' faces and the wounds some of them were carrying. "What happened to you? Why are you injured?"
Everyone in the circle turned their heads, and their dull eyes lit up, their spirits returning as they rushed toward him.
One of the soldiers was the first to speak. "At last, my lord—I see you are also safe."
"Yes, yes. We came as soon as we could, worried about your safety," said another soldier with feeling.
Hua Zhenfeng immediately placed himself between the soldiers and Xue Yanluo, asking them to calm down before continuing.
With the soldiers settled, Xue Yanluo found his moment to say, "What happened to you? Why are you injured?"
The soldiers looked at each other, struck by the spotless condition Xue Yanluo was in, and hesitated for a moment.
Finally, one soldier overcame his hesitation and spoke. "Fourth Prince, did nothing happen to you recently?"
Xue Yanluo narrowed his eyes. "How did you end up injured?" he ordered in a solemn tone, looking at each soldier in turn, finishing on the one at the head of the group.
The soldier at the front glanced sideways at the others, and seeing them looking back at him, drew in a breath and answered. "Ah… During the… earlier event in the sky, when the sky broke apart badly, all of us fell to the ground with great pain all through our bodies and… I think we hurt ourselves."
"You… hurt yourselves?"
"Yes," the soldier confirmed, ashamed, and lowered his head. "It was very painful," he murmured at the end.
Xue Yanluo looked at Hua Zhenfeng and Bao Qingcao—both shook their heads, untouched by the pain the soldiers had suffered. Xue Yanluo thought carefully and found no answer.
Why did the event in the sky affect them so badly? I didn't see anyone suffering like that while it was happening… Xue Yanluo frowned, and his gaze sharpened on the soldiers in front of him.
He asked them, "Were you the only ones injured, or were the Five Eternal Seals disciples as well?"
The soldier at the front raised his head and answered quickly. "Yes, some of them were injured too."
"Yes, I also saw two near me were hurt—mostly on their arms," said another soldier.
"There were none injured near me. Did I have bad luck and my body decided to take the hit for them?" mocked the soldier with heavy bruises and broken teeth.
Xue Yanluo grasped the broad shape of what had happened, but it still didn't answer one of his questions. "And why haven't you treated yourselves?" he asked, looking at the soldiers' wounds.
They looked at each other, with none knowing how to answer. They had all thought of treating their wounds, but one of them had ignored his injuries and gotten up from the ground, saying he was going to check on the Fourth Prince's safety.
Everyone else saw that and understood the man was trying to score points with the Fourth Prince, so they quickly got up and went looking for him too—which made them forget about treating their wounds, and here they all were.
Xue Yanluo shook his head, seeing that none of the soldiers answered. "Never mind—go treat yourselves and find out if anyone else has been injured. Only one of you needs to come back and provide the information to my personal guard," he ordered, and with a wave of his hand sent the soldiers off.
Hua Zhenfeng came closer a short while later and asked with curiosity, "What do we do now?"
Xue Yanluo looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What do we do?" he said, not following.
"Yes — about the pillars. Are we still going toward them?"
"Why wouldn't we?"
"I don't know… but it looked like the pillar was fighting against that red mass outside the sky."
"That's not our concern. We don't know anything, so we can't decide even if we wanted to."
Hua Zhenfeng ended up accepting Xue Yanluo's reasoning, though his face showed his true feelings—lips pressed tight together.
Xue Yanluo noticed but decided to let it go. He couldn't indulge every personal feeling. He didn't know anything himself—how was he supposed to make a choice? Furthermore, he left the two of them in the tent to steady their thoughts and headed toward the older maidservant's tent.