The small courtyard had eight rooms, with a large meeting room in the center.
Normally, the meeting room was very quiet, but today it was extremely noisy.
The eight people who had just worn hoods had now taken them off.
They all looked like living corpses—skinny, with sunken cheeks and unnaturally pale faces.
"Duo Qingyun, what are you doing? The Savior Girl exists to save the Mother Tree. Why did you let her rest?"
Qin Ming, the representative of the Qin Family, had a big build and a loud voice. When he spoke, it felt like the roof was shaking.
Duo Qingyun, the representative of the Duo Family, looked like a pale, skeletal scholar.
Facing Qin Ming's loud question, he calmly took a slow sip of tea.
"Old Qin, haven't you lived for over a thousand years? Why are you still so hot-tempered?"
"No kidding! You know we've waited over a thousand years for the Savior Girl to appear. Aren't you anxious?"
Qin Ming sat down heavily, breathing hard.
"I've lived long enough. Now I just want to be free and rest."
He looked up at the sky outside the courtyard. He hadn't seen it in a very long time.
After he said this, a few other old men sighed deeply.
Mu Hui, the representative of the Mu Family, sneered. "If you want to die, just do it. No one's stopping you."
The Duo, Mu, Ning, and Song families were always close allies, standing together.
The Qin, Shen, and Zhuge families were also close but often clashed with the four allied families.
The Ye Family never gave opinions. They always stayed silent.
Still, no one dared to look down on them—because Ye Wuwei, the Ye Family's representative, had the strongest combat power among them.
If he got angry, everyone could be in serious trouble.
Because of the argument about whether Dora should rest first, the two sides nearly came to blows.
Cough.
A light cough suddenly sounded. Everyone arguing fell silent at once.
Since the sacrifice over a thousand years ago, that man hadn't spoken—until now.
Ye Wuwei's hair, beard, and eyebrows were all snowy white, even his face.
He looked like a ghost in white. He stared at everyone coldly.
"One month to rest. After that, the treatment of the Mother Tree begins."
Without waiting for anyone to respond, he stood up and left.
Once Ye Wuwei was gone, Duo Qingyun calmly put down his teacup.
"Then it's settled. I'll be leaving now."
The four main families left one by one. Qin Ming slammed the table.
"Shen, why aren't they worried? The Mother Tree's leaves are already yellow. If anything happens to it, the protective barrier around the Pure Land will fail. Then the beasts will break in and slaughter us all."
Shen Liyi sighed. "Of course I know that. But Qin, people change. It's been over a thousand years."
Qin Ming froze. "What do you mean? Are you saying they don't want to save the Mother Tree anymore?
That can't be. If the Mother Tree dies, the last piece of Pure Land will fall. How will humanity survive?"
Shen Liyi shook his head and left without saying anything else.
Qin Ming was at a loss. He turned to Zhuge Qing.
"Zhuge, what did Shen mean?"
Zhuge Qing closed his eyes halfway. "I just saw a light of hope. Maybe letting the Savior Girl rest is the right choice."
Hmph.
That old mystic again.
Qin Ming couldn't stand his vague answers. He waved his sleeve and left.
In the now-silent courtyard, the two Mother Trees that had been still suddenly began shaking their leaves wildly.
"Come back, Danielle. You must come back."
Danielle kept tossing and turning in bed, trying to wake from her dream, but she couldn't.
"Come back. You must return."
"Who are you? Where am I supposed to go back to?"
Maybe this time Danielle was really angry, because she saw two fruit trees.
One was an apple tree, and the other was a pear tree.
For some reason, she could feel a deep sadness from both trees.
But the image only lasted for a second before disappearing.
Danielle wasn't sure if what she saw was real.
The good thing was that the sorrowful and mournful sound had stopped.
Danielle felt someone shaking her and forced her eyes open.
She saw two pairs of the same dark, concerned eyes looking at her.
"Danielle, are you okay?"
"Mom, are you okay?"
Danielle smiled faintly and said, "I'm fine. I just had a bad dream. Sorry for waking you both up. Go back to sleep."
Zachary looked at her with a complicated expression. "You've been asleep for three days. Do you still want to sleep?"
Danielle froze for a moment and looked at the time. It was true.
No wonder she felt so tired, she chuckled awkwardly.
"I didn't mean to sleep this long. I'll get up now."
As soon as she got out of bed, her legs went weak, and she almost fell.
Luckily, Zachary caught her in time.
Danielle looked up and forced a smile. "I'm fine. Just slept too long, my legs are a bit weak."
Zachary's face was serious as he picked her up and started walking.
Rain, the little troublemaker, appeared in an instant on Zachary's back.
Danielle was a bit confused. "What are you doing? I'm fine. Let me down."
"No, we're going to the hospital."
"I'm really fine. No need for the hospital."
Danielle didn't think it was necessary. She had always had this dream in her past life too.
Though it was the longest time she'd slept, she had checked it out in the hospital before, and nothing was wrong.
But Zachary insisted, so the three of them went to the hospital.
As Danielle expected, there was nothing wrong.
"I told you I'm fine, but you just wouldn't believe me."
Zachary rubbed her soft hair.
"Good, nothing's wrong. That's all that matters."
Danielle was about to say that Zachary was overreacting when she noticed someone standing at the door.
It was Fei Yang.
This guy was crouching at the gate like a stray dog.
Danielle blinked and hurried over. "Fei Yang, what are you doing here? Where's Leng?"
Fei Yang raised his slightly childish face and pouted. "Leng is in the mission hall, looking for a good team."
Fei Yang looked at Danielle with a grievance. "Why haven't you formed a team yet? Do you think we're not strong enough? But we'll work hard, and Leng and I really like you. Can you…?"
Before he could finish, hurried footsteps came from the road.
"Shut up, Fei Yang."
Leng rushed over, panting. She looked at Danielle apologetically.
"Sorry, I didn't keep an eye on him and caused trouble for you."
She was about to drag Fei Yang away, but since she really liked Danielle, she understood that everyone had the freedom to choose their teammates.
Leng had a clear understanding of that, but before she could take a few steps, her wrist was grabbed.
"Don't go, where else will I find my teammate?"