Chapter 4299 — Now They Could Not Leave Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Half a month had passed, and the scene in Zhenduan City now surpassed what it had been before—not only had the crowds failed to thin, they had grown larger still, until the place was more packed than ever.
Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao exchanged a helpless glance. This clamor, fit for a vegetable market—and yet every one of these people, set loose anywhere else, would be a cultivator of no small skill. Now they were so thick on the ground they were worth less than dogs. The situation truly left one speechless, though it also showed plainly enough just how magnetic the Lu Feng Forest was.
But in this, Wei Zhao had it wrong. By now, only a scant dozen days remained before the miasma mist returned; to go adventuring in the Lu Feng Forest at this hour was already too late.
So many people gathering in ever greater numbers—it was not for the Lu Feng Forest, but for another matter altogether, one more important and far more stirring!
Wei Zhao, however, had no intention of concerning himself with all that. Right now he wanted only to go to the docks and see how things stood. The ship they had booked was not due yet, but there might be other routes, and it never hurt to make preparations in advance.
Yet when he and Huang Xiaotao reached the docks, they discovered to their surprise that the place was heavily guarded. No one was permitted in or out; the entire harbor had been placed under martial law.
"What's going on here?" Wei Zhao could not help but wonder. When they had come before, there had been no such host of guards, still less a full lockdown barring all entry and exit!
"You two are from out of town, aren't you, young sirs?" A middle-aged man dressed like a boatman at the side glanced at Wei Zhao and his companion as he spoke. By the look of him he must have made his living at the docks, but he too had been driven out now and could not get in.
"Yes, yes—uncle, could you tell us what's happening here?" Wei Zhao seized the opening and asked at once.
"Heh. What else could it be? The Morning Star Yellow-Rank Cultivator Academy of the Eastern Continent is coming here to recruit, that's what. It was the same every time they came before—to keep everyone else who got wind of it from swarming over, they seal off the docks and let no one in or out," the middle-aged man said, curling his lip.
"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. Before they had gone into the Lu Feng Forest, they had heard that a Yellow-Rank Academy from the Eastern Continent was coming to recruit; little had he expected to run right into it now.
"Truth is, word got out long ago, and whoever was going to come has come already. Sealing the docks at this point is like taking off your trousers to fart—plain pointless. Thanks to that I can't even do my work; I just stand here sucking down the northwest wind. What a damn mess!" the middle-aged man cursed and grumbled in his indignation.
"That makes no sense. Even if they're afraid of drawing too many people, couldn't they just let people out and not in? Why seal off the whole harbor outright? And with such a show of force..." Wei Zhao said in puzzlement.
"Tell me about it!" The middle-aged man shook his head helplessly. "They say they're afraid the word will spread further, and if too many people are drawn here and all jam up at the docks, it'll be easy for trouble to start. So they sealed the whole thing off. Hmph—when have the great ever bothered about what small folk like us think..."
Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao exchanged another helpless look. Now they could not leave even if they wanted to. Presumably the docks would not reopen until this so-called Morning Star Academy of the Eastern Continent had come and gone; until then, getting away would be impossible.
There was nothing for it. Standing watch at the docks any longer was useless, so Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao had no choice but to follow the flow of people back into Zhenduan City.