Only I Am A Reader
chapter-273

An Azure tree was going to emerge soon! The entirety of Murim was suddenly flipped overnight by the appearance of a very shocking piece of news!

Just as they had suddenly surprised everyone by dispersing free martial arts for almost nothing, the mysterious source had suddenly unleashed another bomb out of nowhere…

"Are they insane? Who wouldn't keep something like that to themselves?!"

To make matters even more unbelievable, the informant didn't just end it by releasing the rumor to the public, directly upping the stakes by revealing the location for the suspected emergence!

"Aren't you the crazy one for believing something like that? It's probably a decoy for something more important if it's not someone who is just messing up."

"Agreed, even if there is an Azure Tree, it's going to be far away from the spot that everyone knows about now."

Naturally, however, no one would easily believe something like that. Humans didn't suspect things that they obtained with effort, but they would become the best conspiracy theorists once something of great value strangely fell into their lap!

"Sure, sure… You speak as if you aren't going to check it out nonetheless."

"Of course, I have to go if it's just to see how many people will be tricked by it!"

"Can't you just be honest? You are just afraid to miss the fruits if the news turn out to be real."

Regardless, the major sentiment was to still go and take a look. In the case where it was a trick as expected, only a small amount of time would be wasted, but if it was actually true…

Then everyone was ready to risk their lives just to get one fruit, anything that could greatly increase a Martial Artist's battle prowess was worth betting one's life on in times like this!

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

According to the initial report, Leo and the others had about a week left till the expected Azure Tree's emergence. With some haste involved, they could arrive at the location within a day. The original plan was basically to stay there and secure the perimeter until they get what they came for.

"This is really hard to believe…"

However, it had only been two days since they decided to delay this trip, but shit was already hitting the fan! Cheon Jeong had barely accepted the trails that were discovered the first day, yet she was suddenly met with an even bigger shock the next day…

The whole world now knew about their little 'secret'!

'At least he did it on time.'

Naturally, Leo was already aware of this sequence of events. After all, the one behind all of this was none other than this world's favorite child!

It was only under the four's pleas that Cheon Jeonh backed down considering they were the major beneficiaries of this venture. Even then, she stressed that this would be the last time, holding Leo to the words that he would act differently if his gut feeling turned out to be wrong, but he no longer needed to worry about convincing anyone now.

"There was really someone that selfless? No, this is just pure malicious intent. To try and sow discord at the expense of something as precious as an Azure Tree…"

The outsiders who weren't sure of the credibility of the information called the one responsible for its dispersion an idiot, a trickster, a naive kid… each name depended on their speculation. However, to Cheon Jeong and the members of the Heavenly Strength Society, he was undeniably a big schemer, even Leo agreed to that.

'Protagonists can always borrow the strength of others with the right conditions.'

The rat companion of the fantasy monster known as the mimic was the one to find the Azure Tree using its special treasure detection ability just as it usually collected treasures for the mimic's use, but it wasn't like there was no other way to find something this special. All Geochin had to do was just use his cheat!

Even if it was a location that the Heavenly Strength Society had hidden for decades while enduring the tree's pranks one after the other, the things that could escape the Murim Lord's eyes were simply too few…

He had only detected it once but gave up on it considering the chance to receive a blank. It was just not worth the effort for someone who already stood at the peak. However, handling his untalented descendant's body had changed his perspective, an Azure fruit was something that he was in dire need of!

'How very convenient.'

Showing Geochin the way was the easy part, but the poor protagonist just had to witness the monsters' involvement in the plot for the Azure Tree. Knowing that he would likely get nothing if everything proceeded in the same direction, Geochin could only think of using the entire martial community and leave everything to chance!

"This really got too complicated. Haaa…How is it that every major event prepared for you always goes wrong?"

Cheon Jeong let out a sigh at the ridiculous turn the situation had taken. In the original novel, the Heavenly Strength Society would have stubbornly transferred a large portion of their forces, creating a situation that Cheon Chang couldn't escape from, but it was obvious that they couldn't do so now taking all factors into consideration.

First it was the Mount Hua Sword Conference, and now it was the Azure Tree's emergence? Couldn't things go smoothly just as they used to before this? Without knowing it, Cheon Jeong was so close to the core truth of all novels…

"Cheon Jeong-nim, how shall we proceed?"

The Society member responsible for the logistics bowed as he asked for further orders. While she wasn't responsible for moving around the Society, Cheon Jeong had the right to decide their course of action as the pillar who had been personally appointed by the Heavenly Demon to take care of the newbies.

"Hah, fine. We will be standby for the time being. Put some eyes on the area surrounding the emergence point, and… We shall depart the day before the imminent emergence."