Physician Morus was quite satisfied that Elara Stonefield could dedicate all her time and energy to cultivating the nameless incantation. However, regarding her specific progress in cultivating this incantation, he still often showed a displeased expression, always complaining that her advancement was too slow.
In recent years, Physician Morus's mysterious illness seemed to have worsened. The frequency of his violent coughing fits each day had increased, and the duration of each coughing spell also seemed to grow longer and more painful.
As his physical condition continuously deteriorated, Physician Morus's concern and attention towards Elara's cultivation progress also seemed to become increasingly intense and urgent. From his repetitive and tireless words of admonishment, Elara could clearly hear the unconcealable anxiety and anticipation deep within his heart.
Physician Morus truly seemed to value and think highly of Elara, his sole inner chamber disciple. Not only did he strictly adhere to their initial agreement, providing Elara with a monthly allowance of silver coins several times greater than that of other ordinary inner apprentices in Stonefist Outpost, but the way he usually looked at Elara was also always very peculiar and complex. That gaze was as if he were contemplating a priceless, world-class treasure, filled with affection, anticipation, and an indescribable… craving.
But Elara, who had long since cultivated the incantation to the third layer, had her senses sharpened considerably as a result. In some unguarded moments, she keenly noticed that behind Physician Morus's seemingly kind and caring gaze, there would occasionally be a flicker of a strange expression filled with greed and desire that made her feel inexplicably uneasy and made her hair stand on end.
These occasionally revealed strange expressions always made Elara feel a chill down her spine. She always felt that at those moments, Physician Morus, with that look in his eyes, didn't seem to be looking at a living person, a disciple he had painstakingly taught, but rather at a lifeless... thing that could be manipulated and used at will.
This feeling left her very confused and perplexed. She truly couldn't understand what it was about herself that Physician Morus could possibly desire and want so much.
Of course not! She had given herself this affirmative answer in her heart more than once. She was just an ordinary girl from a remote village, possessing nothing but her still relatively young skin.
Elara sometimes even thought that perhaps she had become overly sensitive and suspicious due to long periods of tedious cultivation. To secretly speculate and slander Physician Morus, who had shown her such profound kindness, was truly too ungrateful and improper.
However, she herself couldn't quite explain why, but in the most secret and dark corner of her heart, she still maintained an instinctive, indelible wariness and vigilance towards Physician Morus. Moreover, as time went by, this inexplicable sense of caution, far from diminishing due to the physician's various kindnesses, had instead become even stronger and clearer.
Currently, a very significant cultivation problem lay before Elara like a massive boulder blocking her path. She clearly sensed that she seemed to have encountered an insurmountable bottleneck in her cultivation of the nameless incantation. And, even worse, as Elara had consumed large quantities of various rare medicines to aid her cultivation under Physician Morus's arrangement over the past few years, Physician Morus's already limited supply of reportedly extremely precious cultivation-aiding medicines had now been completely depleted, gone without a trace.
Clearly, Elara Stonefield was not some once-in-a-million prodigy with extraordinary cultivation talent. Without the powerful assistance of those precious medicines, her progress in cultivating the nameless incantation had become completely stagnant, as if mired in a bog, making further advancement nearly impossible.
This cruel reality always made Elara feel very ashamed and guilty when facing Physician Morus. She felt that Physician Morus had almost unreservedly used all his painstaking efforts and years of accumulated wealth on her, creating the best possible cultivation conditions he could provide. Yet, she had repeatedly failed to meet his earnest expectations for her cultivation progress, making her feel she had let down the physician's profound kindness.
This strong sense of guilt made Elara find it somewhat difficult to face Physician Morus frankly, especially when confronted with his inquiring gaze, which was always filled with fervent expectation; she felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles, utterly ashamed.
It was somewhat strange, for reasons unknown, that Physician Morus, who in her eyes possessed unfathomable strength and possibly even mysterious powers, seemed unable to accurately perceive the specific details of Elara's cultivation of the nameless incantation through any other special methods. He seemed only able to get a general idea of her cultivation progress by periodically taking her pulse and diagnosing her. So, for all these days, he had actually been unaware of the great difficulty and bottleneck Elara was facing in her cultivation.
It wasn't until recently that Elara, tormented by inner anguish and unease, finally mustered the courage to confess her true cultivation situation to Physician Morus.
When Physician Morus heard Elara admit with her own lips that she had made no significant improvement or progress in cultivating the nameless incantation for a whole year, his sallow face, already worn from years of illness, instantly turned somewhat pale and unsightly. His usually expressionless face now became even more somber and grim due to shock and disappointment.
Unexpectedly for Elara, Physician Morus, after hearing her confession, did not berate her in a fit of rage as she had imagined. He merely remained silent for a long time, then told her in a slightly weary tone that he was preparing to go down the mountain for a while to search for some rare medicinal herbs necessary for concocting cultivation-aiding medicines. He instructed Elara to seize the time while he was away to continue practicing diligently on the mountain and absolutely not to slacken her cultivation of the incantation due to temporary difficulties.
Two days later, Physician Morus simply packed some luggage, took his usual herb-gathering tools, and quietly left Stonefist Outpost alone, heading down the mountain on a long journey. After he left, Elara was the only one left in the secluded Quietstream Valley, alone to face the vast and silent valley.
As for Elara's other senior apprentice and friend, Tyg, he had mysteriously disappeared from Quietstream Valley two years prior, when he had arduously cultivated that cruel "Might of the Stonehide" technique to the third layer. He had only left a simply worded farewell letter in his hut, claiming he was going out to explore the wide world and see more of it. This matter had once caused quite a stir and much discussion throughout Stonefist Outpost. Later, it was heard that Physician Morus personally intervened, pleading and explaining on Tyg's behalf to the Outpost's higher-ups, which finally prevented any implication for Tyg's original recommender or his relatives back home.
Tyg's sudden departure had felt very abrupt and unexpected to Elara, and she had genuinely grieved for several days because of it. After that, whenever she vaguely recalled this matter, she always felt in her heart that there seemed to be something not quite right about it, something more to it than met the eye. However, she was, after all, just an apprentice of low status and little influence, and no one would proactively ask her for her views or opinions on the matter. So, the incident eventually faded away and was gradually forgotten by people.
Later, Elara had also secretly wondered to herself if that fellow Tyg had, perhaps, been too afraid of the terrifying pain, far exceeding previous levels, required to cultivate the fourth layer of the "Might of the Stonehide," and had thus, one night, secretly and silently slipped away from Quietstream Valley.
After cultivating alone in Quietstream Valley for a few more days, Elara found that her cultivation still showed no obvious effect or progress. Coupled with the fact that she was, after all, a youth with a naturally lively and active disposition, she truly couldn't bear this day-after-day monotony and dullness. Thus, she plucked up her courage, stealthily left the secluded Quietstream Valley, and began to wander aimlessly within the vast Sunset Peaks where Stonefist Outpost was located.
Walking on these rugged mountain paths, which felt both somewhat familiar and somewhat strange to her, Elara couldn't help but feel a touch of inexplicable emotion and melancholy in her heart.
For these past few years, in order to concentrate on cultivating the nameless incantation, Elara had been virtually imprisoned in that small Quietstream Valley, as if in jail, never having the chance to take a single step out of the valley. She reckoned that those fellow apprentices who had entered with her had probably long since forgotten all about her, this junior apprentice who almost never showed her face, leaving not even a trace of an impression.
On the mountain paths, she would occasionally encounter some Outpost disciples on patrol. When these disciples saw her dressed in the standard uniform of an inner apprentice of the Outpost, yet looking exceptionally unfamiliar, they would immediately become very vigilant and come forward to carefully question her identity and origin. This forced Elara to spend a great deal of effort and explanation to finally get away and avoid unnecessary trouble.
To avoid encountering such pointless trouble and entanglement again, Elara simply chose to walk only on remote and difficult goat paths, doing her best to avoid those crowded and conspicuous places that easily attracted attention.
Indeed, after choosing these more hidden paths, she no longer encountered those annoyingly persistent interrogations and questionings on her way, allowing her to roam freely and farther, exploring mountain and forest scenery she had never seen before.
Looking at these beautiful mountain views, so different from the monotonous scenery within Quietstream Valley, filled with vitality and life, and listening to the chirping, clear, and pleasant calls of various small birds in the forest, for a moment, all of Elara's worries and frustrations seemed to be temporarily cast to the nine heavens, vanishing without a trace.
Suddenly, bursts of crisp clashing sounds of weapons, along with the hoarse shouts and roaring cheers of many people, were faintly transmitted from below a relatively hidden mountain cliff not far away.
For so many people to gather in such a remote and desolate place! And to make such fiery and intense sounds!
Elara's curiosity was instantly and completely piqued. No longer afraid of being discovered and questioned, she immediately followed the direction from which the sounds of fighting and clamor came, carefully and silently approaching the vicinity of that cliff.
Wow, what a grand scene! When she clearly saw the situation before her, she couldn't help but be slightly stunned, truly taken aback.
Below this hidden mountain cliff, completely obscured from view by dense trees and protruding rocks, a dense crowd of over a hundred people was gathered. This small open space, not very large to begin with, was now packed to the brim with so many people, completely impassable. Even on several taller trees nearby, several people were boldly standing on thick branches, craning their necks, looking down into the center of the area with great interest.
And in the center of this tightly packed, encircling crowd, two groups of young people, clearly different in attire and demeanor, were confronting each other with hostility, the atmosphere tense and explosive, as if a fight could break out at any moment.
Among them, the group on the left was the largest, numbering about eleven or twelve people. The group on the right was relatively smaller, but still had six or seven people.
Elara observed carefully and soon discovered that all the people present, whether those excitedly watching the commotion from the outer circle or those standing in the center confronting each other tensely, appeared to be around her own age, still just teenagers in their early to mid-teens.
An almost imperceptible, strange smile involuntarily touched Elara's lips. This was truly too coincidental!
Among so many people, she had, almost effortlessly, easily recognized several familiar old faces from when she had first entered the Outpost.
"Isn't that 'The Calculator' Sammy? And 'Ironhead' Rust, 'Swiftfoot' Marvin, 'The Tall' Saul... Huh! That chubby fellow, is that 'Glutton' Billy? He looks even fatter than before, a whole size bigger! Truly worthy of someone whose family runs a large kitchen, always well-fed and well-watered! This person is... Oh, it's 'Sootface' Lewis! Tsk! Tsk! I never expected that the kid who used to be as black as charcoal, after not seeing him for a few years, would actually turn out to be somewhat fair-skinned and presentable!" Elara, mimicking the others, quietly climbed a large tree with a relatively open view, and then, with great interest, began a "roll call" and commentary on those "familiar faces" below, as if no one else were around.