"Uncle-Master, Uncle-Master! Calm down!"
Shen Qing and Li Xian panicked as they followed Elder Yaoyue closely. But Elder Yaoyue walked so fast that they almost failed to keep up.
Elder Yaoyue was holding a wooden stick. Looking imposing, she was searching in the places where the True Man Huxiao might appear. Those who didn't know would think she was going to take revenge.
"Uncle-Master, you're going to fight True Man Huxiao with just this wooden stick. How can you succeed?"
Shen Qing lowered her voice and shouted from behind. She was both afraid that her voice was too loud for others to hear and worried that Elder Yaoyue might be too impulsive.
"Found him!"
Finally, after searching over two mountain ridges, Elder Yaoyue found True Man Huxiao in the small spiritual beast breeding garden. He was helping a small spiritual beast wash its paws while humming a tune. He had no idea what was about to happen to him.
Seeing that True Man Huxiao had his back turned to her, Elder Yaoyue thought it was a perfect opportunity. She raised the thick wooden stick high and aimed it at the back of True Man Huxiao's head, then brought it down hard.
Shen Qing was shocked to see this.
Her eyes widened as she stretched out her hands, wanting to stop Elder Yaoyue but not knowing how.
So Shen Qing and Li Xian could only watch as Elder Yaoyue's wooden stick smashed down hard on True Man Huxiao's head.
Shen Qing was so stunned that she was already thinking about how to explain it to True Man Huxiao later.
Elder Yaoyue had used all her strength, and the thick wooden stick instantly split apart.
The dull sound when the stick hit the head made Shen Qing and Li Xian instinctively cover their own heads.
Shen Qing even wondered if this blow would turn True Man Huxiao into a fool.
Although Elder Yaoyue had acted decisively, she wasn't as calm as she seemed.
After she struck the blow, True Man Huxiao just stopped moving and stood still. Elder Yaoyue felt uneasy and had already come up with dozens of excuses in her mind to explain the misunderstanding.
"Um, True Man Huxiao, you're in such good shape. I originally wanted to test if you could react in time to an unexpected attack. But I didn't expect that even though my... weapon, the stick, broke, you're still okay..."
Elder Yaoyue said awkwardly as she carefully leaned forward in front of True Man Huxiao.
True Man Huxiao was standing with his back to them, showing no reaction. This made all three of them feel very nervous.
But the next second, True Man Huxiao's tall figure collapsed to the ground, kicking up dust.
The small spiritual beasts that had been surrounding him scattered in all directions, and the feed was scattered all over the place.
Elder Yaoyue used all her strength to turn True Man Huxiao's body over. When the three of them gathered around to take a look, they saw that True Man Huxiao had rolled his eyes, with a pained expression frozen on his face. He had fainted.
Seeing this, Elder Yaoyue felt relieved. She raised her eyebrows at Shen Qing and said, "It still has to be your Uncle-Master who takes action personally. Isn't the plan a success now?"
Shen Qing couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth. She felt a bit helpless about Elder Yaoyue's flighty behavior.
"Yes, yes, yes. Uncle-Master, you're the most amazing."
Although Shen Qing wasn't hit, she could empathize deeply because she saw a huge bump visibly rising on True Man Huxiao's head.
True Man Huxiao was so strong, yet he was knocked out by Elder Yaoyue's single blow. One could only imagine how much strength Elder Yaoyue had used.
Although Li Xian still maintained his usual expression on his face, he was constantly sighing inwardly. He really had seen all kinds of people during this trip down the mountain.
"Come on. Now let me see what's inside this sachet!"
Elder Yaoyue grabbed True Man Huxiao's sachet and carefully opened it. Inside, there were many fragrant petals.
These petals were brightly colored, with some pink crystals on them. They looked no different from ordinary spiritual flowers.
"Uncle-Master, what kind of petals are these?"
Elder Yaoyue put the petal under her nose to sniff it, then held it up to the sun to examine its veins.
But no matter how she examined the petal, she couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"It's strange. These are just ordinary petals. There doesn't seem to be anything seriously wrong with them. I just don't know what kind of flower they are."
Elder Yaoyue held the petals in her hand and kept checking them unwillingly.
Shen Qing also picked up a petal and put it under her nose to smell. But the faint fragrance turned into a pungent stench in Shen Qing's nose.
"It smells so bad. Why is there such a pungent smell?" Shen Qing covered her nose. The stench was so strong that it made her nose sting.
Li Xian also picked up a petal and put it under his nose. But he only smelled the faint fragrance on the petal and didn't smell the pungent smell that Shen Qing had described. The same was true for Elder Yaoyue.
"You smelled a stench instead of a fragrance? How strange..."
Shen Qing's expression also became serious. She originally thought there was nothing wrong with these petals. But since different people smelled completely different scents from the same petals, there must be something wrong with them.
"These petals..."
Ling Zhou's voice sounded. Shen Qing immediately remembered that maybe Ling Zhou would recognize these petals.
"Master, do you know what kind of petals these are?"
Ling Zhou shook his head. Then he remembered that Shen Qing couldn't see, so he replied, "I don't know. But in my eyes, there seems to be a faint black mist around the pink crystals on these petals. And these petals are really strange, little apprentice. Try crushing one."
Crush it?
Shen Qing tried to squeeze the petal in her hand. She found that the petal was a bit thick, as if it was full of juice. It was impossible to crush it easily. Tearing it might be a better option.
But since Ling Zhou said so, Shen Qing thought there must be a reason. She put the petal in her palm, then closed her fingers and squeezed hard. The petal was actually crushed.
The crystals on the petal were also crushed.
When she opened her hand, Shen Qing felt that the pungent smell had become even stronger. The color of the petal in her hand faded, and it turned into black powder.
"What is this?!"
The petal in Shen Qing's hand had turned black. Elder Yaoyue quickly walked over to check the black powder in Shen Qing's hand.
Now Elder Yaoyue and Li Xian could also smell the pungent stench.
"The petal has turned black!"
"Wait, what's this?"
Elder Yaoyue had been looking at Shen Qing's hand. But then she noticed that Shen Qing's palm was starting to turn black. Her eyes widened in shock, and she quickly used a cleansing spell to remove the powder from Shen Qing's hand.
But after the powder was removed, the blackness on Shen Qing's hand still spread. It even extended up her arm in a thin black line.
"Ah, my hand is a bit stinging..."
Shen Qing watched as the black line spread towards her shoulder. At the same time, she felt a stinging pain in the meridians wherever the black line reached.
At the same time, True Man Huxiao made a sound. His eyes slowly opened, and he reached up with his arm to touch the huge bump on his head.
"What happened..."