Chapter 32: Time to Take Action

At five in the morning, Beauty Youtao was lying on the ground, vomiting continuously. She had reached her limit.

"No, I have to go down the mountain..." Youtao struggled to climb up, trembling as she left the woods.

Ever since Li Banfeng left, Youtao had also had the idea of going down the mountain, but whenever she saw others still picking flowers, she couldn't bear to leave.

Eroded by the poisonous fog, Youtao's efficiency dropped sharply. In the past eight hours, she had only picked three Snake-Pattern Chrysanthemums, spending most of her time resting.

Even though she knew she was dizzy and could barely walk, seeing others picking flowers made her feel like she was suffering a huge loss, as if the gold pool was right in front of her and she could scoop up a fortune if she just gritted her teeth.

But after holding out until now, she was completely unable to hold on.

Walking on the mountain road, she vaguely heard footsteps behind her.

Youtao was startled, covered the pocket at her waist, and turned her head abruptly.

Turning her head this way was too violent; her vision swayed, and Youtao fell to the ground.

There was indeed someone chasing behind her—it was the little girl Caoye.

Caoye stepped forward to help Youtao up, took out a small porcelain bottle from her bosom, and gave it to Youtao: "Sister, I have cooling powder here. Eat a mouthful, and you'll feel better. If you don't trust me, I'll eat a mouthful first..."

Youtao laughed, took the bottle, ate a mouthful, and rested for a while; she really felt much better.

"This day, I've eaten quite a few of your medicinal candies and powders. Sister truly feels indebted to you." Youtao opened the cloth bag and took out five Snake-Pattern Chrysanthemums. "Don't dislike it, okay? Sister doesn't have many either, so just accept them."

Caoye shook her head: "I picked more than sister; I have some, and I still rely on sister to look out for me on the road."

Youtao pinched Caoye's face and said with a smile: "Let's go, let's go together."

The two walked down the mountain. After walking for less than an hour, a man's figure blocked their way.

Caoye was startled and shrank behind Youtao.

Youtao had walked the underworld and still had some composure.

She first observed the situation on the mountain road and then shouted at the person blocking the way: "This big brother, are you looking for Snake-Pattern Chrysanthemums? I can point you to a good place; there are plenty of good flowers there."

In the thick fog, the man laughed: "I think right here is a good place, and I think these two flowers of yours are quite good."

This voice sounded a bit familiar.

Youtao laughed upon hearing this: "Big brother, your mouth is truly sweet. If you say I'm a flower, I'll shamelessly accept it, but how old is this little girl? At most, she counts as a flower bud. Can you even bring yourself to do it?"

While speaking, Youtao reached out to Caoye, signaling her to bring the cooling powder over.

After eating a mouthful of cooling powder, Youtao's condition improved slightly. She realized that this hurdle probably couldn't be bypassed.

The man took two steps forward, and in the night, a shiny, oily bald head was reflected.

It was this bald man again!

"I won't waste words with you two." The bald man wiped his machete. "Leave the flowers, and I'll spare your lives."

While speaking, three of his followers emerged from behind the bald man.

Caoye was terrified and covered the cloth bag at her waist tightly.

Youtao patted her, signaling her not to panic.

Medicine Cultivators couldn't fight, but they should know how to use medicine. She didn't know if this girl had brought any poison.

But why didn't Youtao listen to the bald man and leave the Snake-Pattern flowers to save her own life?

Because she had walked the underworld and knew what kind of people these were.

This was a remote mountain, and they were two women.

Even if they really left the flowers, they might not be able to save their lives, and it wouldn't be a simple death.

Youtao laughed softly, blinked at the bald man, and said with tenderness: "Big brother, look at what you're saying. A real man, bullying two weak women—can you really bring yourself to do it?"

The bald man laughed: "I really can't bring myself to do it. How about this: you two serve me together. Whoever serves me comfortably, I'll reward her with a flower."

"Big brother, one flower isn't enough! If I put in more effort, can you reward me with more?" Youtao twisted her body, showing her charm between her exquisite curves.

Especially her voice, like a goose feather dipped in honey, brushing back and forth on his spine.

The bald man's heartbeat accelerated, and the heartbeats of his three followers also accelerated.

"Stinking woman, so you're the Joy Cultivator! You were the one who took action during the day!" The bald man spat. "Playing these tricks with your Grandpa? Today I'll let you taste the flavor properly!"

The four people rushed up together. Youtao pulled out two short knives from her waist.

In the small woods, Old Yanpao put the last bit of tobacco into his pipe, lit it, and took a few hard puffs.

"I have enough now. Everyone, we'll meet again." Old Yanpao had picked ninety-one Snake-Pattern Chrysanthemums in total; among this group, he earned the most.

But he couldn't hold on either.

He used tobacco oil to protect his throat, filtering out quite a bit of poisonous fog, but he was old after all, and having spent nearly twenty hours on Bitter Wushan, he had reached his limit.

Old Yanpao stood up and was about to leave when Hu Gaozi stopped him: "Old man, don't be in such a hurry. It's not dawn yet; wait a while before leaving."

Old Yanpao saw that the situation was wrong and looked Hu Gaozi up and down: "What, want to play dirty?"

Hu Gaozi laughed: "Old man, don't speak so harshly. We formed a partnership; shouldn't we look out for each other on this road?"

"You're carrying so many good flowers down the mountain; something will definitely happen halfway. Better leave them with us for safekeeping, and we'll return them to you after we get down the mountain."

"Leave them with you for safekeeping?" Old Yanpao laughed. "Thanks for your kindness, but we are casual acquaintances, and our fate ends here."

Hu Gaozi blocked Old Yanpao's path: "Old man, leave the bag. I'm sincerely doing this for your own good."

The old man sneered: "Little bastard, I saw long ago that you and that guy wearing glasses aren't good seeds."

"When that bald man came just now, you two only made noise but didn't take action, one singing and one harmonizing, performing a crosstalk show there."

"The fight was almost over, and you two rushed over to act like good people. You're in the same group as the bald man, right!"

These words were said for Qin Xiaopang to hear.

Qin Xiaopang stood stupidly in place, not knowing why Hu Gaozi and Old Yanpao were arguing.

Hearing Old Yanpao say this, he understood a bit.

Old Yanpao continued: "When going up the mountain, that bald man snatched us once. When we reached the place to pick flowers, he snatched us again. You acted like a good person inside, but actually, you wanted the bald man to test our skills."

"If our skills weren't good, you'd let the bald man snatch a wave first. We lost the flowers and would definitely have to risk our lives to get them back. Once night fell, you'd collect them all at once."

"If our skills were good, you wouldn't let the bald man take action. Once night fell, after we dispersed, you'd deal with us one by one."

"Little fat guy, that one called Baisha who came with you probably already died halfway, and those two girls probably didn't keep their lives either. If we don't take action now, we'll also die at the hands of these two bastards."

Hearing this, Xiaopang quickly put away his bag and lifted his axe.

The gold-rimmed glasses adjusted his glasses, looked at the two, and smiled: "Don't be impulsive. Let me advise you."

"Old Yanpao, your eyes are good, but unfortunately, you're too greedy. With your cultivation base, if you had gone down the mountain early, we wouldn't have been able to stop you."

"But you insisted on holding out until now. I estimate you can barely stand, right?"

"I can see you've walked the underworld, but you must be up Bitter Wushan for the first time."

"Do you think that pipe of tobacco oil of yours can block all the poisonous fog on Bitter Wushan? If that were really the case, Bitter Wushan would have become the world of you Smoke Cultivators!"

Old Yanpao laughed: "Tobacco oil can't block all the poisonous fog, but it can block at least half. It's still much stronger than you guys holding out until now. If you don't believe me, try it."

The gold-rimmed glasses sighed, took out a handkerchief, and wiped his glasses: "I shouldn't have spoken to a fool like you; it's too exhausting."

Hu Gaozi pulled out a dagger: "Just finish him; if he wants to die, can we stop him?"

Old Yanpao looked at Xiaopang.

Qin Xiaopang was still thinking about when it was the right time to take action.

Unexpectedly, Hu Gaozi suddenly jumped over and kicked Xiaopang in the face.

Food Cultivators, when full, have extraordinary physical talents—they can run, fight, and are very resistant to beatings, and have a certain resistance to poisons.

But if you pick out any one talent alone, he isn't the best.

Just like the talent of fighting, he obviously wasn't as good as Hu Gaozi, because Hu Gaozi was a Martial Cultivator.

This kick landed on Xiaopang's face. Xiaopang had no defense, and Hu Gaozi stepped forward and stabbed his stomach with a knife. Xiaopang barely dodged this.

But after dodging the knife to the stomach, he took another punch to the chin from Hu Gaozi. Xiaopang didn't stand firm, fell to the ground, and Hu Gaozi kicked his face, kicking Xiaopang unconscious directly.

Hu Gaozi was about to finish him off when he saw a burst of yellow smoke arrive behind him.

Hu Gaozi quickly dodged the smoke, and a piece of spark flew onto his face.

Both Hu Gaozi and the gold-rimmed glasses claimed to be first-layer cultivators; in fact, this was to scare people. Neither of them had layers, while Old Yanpao was a solid first-layer cultivator.

The gold-rimmed glasses couldn't deal with Old Yanpao alone, and Old Yanpao didn't give Hu Gaozi a chance to finish off Xiaopang.

Old Yanpao appreciated Xiaopang very much because when he fought the bald man earlier, only Xiaopang had truly taken action.

Waiting to deal with the gold-rimmed glasses and Hu Gaozi, when going down the mountain, he might encounter the bald man; having this little fat guy would also be a good helper.

Hu Gaozi saw he couldn't kill Xiaopang for a moment, so he hurried to besiege Old Yanpao with the gold-rimmed glasses. Old Yanpao used his pipe, smoke and fire together, dealing with the two. At first, he had the upper hand, and Old Yanpao thought he could deal with these two people in the time it took to smoke a bag of tobacco.

But after this bag of tobacco was finished, Old Yanpao didn't win, and his situation became unfavorable.

A Smoke Cultivator without smoke has their combat power drop by a layer.

The old man fought while retreating, and the gold-rimmed glasses waved his folding fan, attacking more and more fiercely.

This shouldn't be! The gold-rimmed glasses had also stayed on the mountain for a day; why didn't he show any signs of poisoning?

Old Yanpao was besieged from front and back, with no way out. He spat out the last puff of smoke he had held back, and the smoke rushed toward the gold-rimmed glasses' face like a sharp blade.

The gold-rimmed glasses waved his folding fan and blew the smoke away.

Blowing it away was useless; the smoke was poisonous. Old Yanpao spat out the poison he had hidden in his false teeth.

Hu Gaozi covered his mouth and nose, retreating repeatedly, tears and snot flowing together.

The gold-rimmed glasses coughed twice, but wasn't greatly affected.

Old Yanpao was startled: Why didn't this puff of poisonous smoke knock him down?

Could it be that he was a Poison Cultivator?

Oh no!

The last puff of smoke was also used up, and Old Yanpao couldn't find a chance to escape.

The folding fan fanned in front of him, but it made Old Yanpao smell a strange fragrance.

Not good!

There was poison on his fan!

Old Yanpao's vision blurred, and he realized he had been poisoned!

PS: There will be another update at twelve noon. Dear readers, vote more and leave more comments.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 33 =====