Chapter 597 - Aftermath
"Brother Yuan! Where's Brother Yuan?!" Chu Liuxiang rushed to the hospital after returning to the Jaded Garden with Meixiu and Sebastian.
"Daoist Yuan is currently resting in the patient room." Senior Wang said to them.
"What about his condition?" Meixiu then asked.
"Don't worry, he's no longer in a critical condition."
"Thank you…" Meixiu released a deep and relieved sigh.
"We don't deserve your gratitude, as we didn't really do anything. There was a massive hole in the center of Daoist Yuan's chest, but it closed up on its own before we could treat it."
"However, he's still in a coma, and we don't know when he'll wake up."
Senior Wang then led them to the room that Yuan was resting in.
Inside the room, the other grand elders as well as some of the elite disciples such as Wang Ming and Li Jinxi were there.
"Brother Yuan!"
Chu Liuxiang ran to the bed where Yuan was resting.
"What happened after we left?" Meixiu asked them.
"Take a seat. It's a long story." Senior Hong said.
Once they were seated, he began telling them about what had happened after they were separated.
"After all of you left, we stayed behind to stall the demon, but it was simply too strong, overpowering Daoist Yuan even though he was using his golden aura that allowed him to defeat Li Jinxi effortlessly."
"As shameful as this sounds, we didn't really do anything, as we were all frozen from shock. If you were there to witness the demon that looked like something from hell, you would understand…"
"Daoist Yuan slashed the demon in half more times than we can count, tearing holes in its face every few seconds, but no matter what kind of damage he did to the demon, it would regenerate completely within mere seconds."
"After fighting for some time, the demon suddenly ran away from the tomb for some reason, and we chased after it."
"Daoist Yuan was much faster than us, so he went ahead."
"By the time we returned to the Jaded Garden, the demon had already gone on a rampage, killing many disciples, and we are still figuring out how many people had fallen to the demon."
"Shortly after we arrived at the Jaded Garden, we heard this inhuman scream coming from the immortal caves. We thought it was someone crying for help, so we rushed there as soon as possible."
"However, to our shock, when we arrived, we could only see Daoist Yuan and the demon— with the demon being pinned on the ground by some glowing swords. We decided to remain distanced to watch the situation, and we quickly realized that it was the demon that had been screaming for help."
"We don't know what happened to Daoist Yuan, but he seemed like an entirely different person when he fought the demon for the second time, completely overwhelming it without giving it any chance to fight back, even torturing and playing with the demon like it was some kind of toy."
"Yuan…?" Meixiu was shocked to hear that Yuan had tortured the demon, as that didn't sound like him at all.
"Also… Azure was one of the victims…" Senior Hong said to Senior Wang.
"Aiya! Azure! Why did I forget to warn her?" Senior Wang immediately slapped herself after hearing Azure's name, as she had completely forgotten about Azure, who would normally spend most of her time inside the immortal caves, not to mention how overwhelmed she was from the situation.
"So Junior Sister Azure is gone…" Wang Ming shook his head.
Azure was actually one of their most talented disciple who could comprehend many techniques with ease, but ever since she became blind, she would spend most of her time mastering the zither.
'Azure? That new friend Yuan made recently?' Meixiu thought to herself.
Although Yuan had mentioned that he made a new friend who can play the zither, they never really met Azure.
"Anyways, Daoist Yuan defeated the demon and ended the calamity shortly after." Senior Hong said.
"What should we do now?" Wang Ming asked.
"We first need to figure out the casualties so that we can notify their family, then we'll restore the areas destroyed by the demon. Once all of that is finished, we will figure the rest out." Senior Li said.
And for the next week, the Six Spiritual Families would work on restoring the Jaded Garden. As for Meixiu and Chu Liuxiang, they remained beside Yuan the whole time in the hospital.
Of course, news of what happened at the Jaded Garden had spread throughout the world, and the existence of demons was revealed to everyone.
News reporters flooded the Jaded Garden in hopes of getting interviews with the Six Spiritual Families, but they were all turned away.
Government from around the world also approached the Six Spiritual Families for questioning, and they were much harder to turn away for obvious reasons, so the Six Spiritual Families spoke with them.
And for Yuan's safety, the Six Spiritual Families didn't mention the person who defeated the demon, only saying that some powerful cultivator appeared out of thin air, defeating the demon in a blink before disappearing as quickly.
Of course, people knew that Yuan had fought with the demon, as Senior Wang had told everyone when they evacuated, but nobody besides very few people knew the whole story.
Yuan remained unconscious this entire time with nobody knowing when he'll wake up again.
While he was unconscious, Yuan would speak with the Divine Paragon and the handsome man whose identity was still unknown, and he would also regain some of his old memories.
Two weeks after the demon was defeated, Yuan finally woke up from his deep slumber.
"Brother Yuan! You're awake!" Chu Liuxiang was the first to notice his condition, as she would spend most of her time staring at his face.
Meixiu stopped her cultivation when she heard Chu Liuxiang's voice, and she quickly went to check on Yuan.
"Are you okay, Yuan? Can you speak?" Meixiu asked him.