Chapter 165: Too Much to Handle

"What the hell, what is going on here?"

Xu Chen was so startled that his Yuan Qi surged, shaking the snake-headed plant away.

But in an instant, he was even more dumbfounded; the snake-headed plant acted just like a frightened animal, actually retracting entirely into the soil, leaving only three head-like leaves exposed, and it even nervously turned its heads in unison to look at him.

And what made Xu Chen's heart skip a beat was that on these snake-like leaves, there were actually two golden circular spots, looking just like a pair of strange golden eyes.

But fortunately, Xu Chen did not sense any danger from the snake-headed plant, making him feel it was just a false alarm.

"Senior Sister, how did this thing turn into this?" Xu Chen asked with a strange expression on his face.

Zhao Xuan also shook her head with a strange expression and said, "I don't know either, but this situation has only appeared in the last few days. However, it clearly has no malice; it seems just curious. Xiaobai was the first to discover it. They have been playing around in the Medicine Garden every day these past few days; it's quite fun."

"Quite fun?" Xu Chen felt a bit dazed for a moment.

"Yes, this thing looks quite smart. It usually hides itself in the soil and only pops out when someone comes, and it even runs around the Medicine Garden by itself," Zhao Xuan explained.

"This thing can run?" Xu Chen was completely bewildered.

Zhao Xuan nodded and said, "Didn't you notice that its current position is not its original one?"

Xu Chen looked around for a few moments and realized it was indeed so. The snake-headed plant was originally not far from the entrance of the Medicine Garden, but now it was almost near the Soul Returning Wood.

These plants really are all strange; it's one thing that they look so demonic, but they are actually acting like dogs too. Not only can they run, but they can even snatch food. Is this the rhythm of them becoming spirits?

Xu Chen's mouth hung wide open, unable to close for a long time.

Zhao Xuan urged, "Alright, hurry up and find a place to settle the Seven-Star Golden Toads first. The Spirit Qi in the Medicine Garden has been getting richer lately, and it's also relatively clean and quiet. I think it's most suitable to put them here."

Xu Chen came back to his senses, probed his Divine Sense into the Spirit Beast Bag, and then gave it a gentle shake, and seven large toads of various sizes fell out with a thud.

"Croak... croak..."

Once these toads, which had been stifled in the Spirit Beast Bag for seven or eight days, came out, they were briefly stunned for a moment before hopping in all directions, burrowing into the plant clusters. Two of them were particularly conspicuous, with golden bodies covered in emerald green spots, looking exceptionally striking.

Xu Chen wasn't worried about these toads disappearing; his Divine Sense followed them closely. He was mainly worried about the toads fighting each other, especially attacking the two Seven-Star Golden Toads.

But fortunately, after a burst of hopping in all directions, these toads soon each found a hidden spot to lie still. Some even started digging holes directly, looking as if they were preparing to build nests on the spot.

Xu Chen didn't care much about the other toads he had picked up to make up the numbers, but he kept observing the two Seven-Star Golden Toads. He found that they stayed together and didn't run too far, actually squatting and huddling together under the Soul Returning Wood, seemingly not wanting to move their nest.

Xiaobai was very surprised by these suddenly appearing large toads and excitedly followed them around. However, it seemed to sense that the aura of the two golden toads was very powerful, so it didn't dare to get too close, instead circling around them constantly, its ruby-like eyes looking full of curiosity.

"Junior Brother, why do these golden toads look different?" Zhao Xuan asked with a face full of surprise.

Xu Chen smiled and explained the reason, pointing to the pair of real golden toads: "Only this pair are true golden toads; the others are degenerated wild toads. Usually, you only need to keep an eye on this pair."

Zhao Xuan nodded in realization and said, "So that's how it is. These two do look different, with obvious Spirit Qi. But if they are just left here like this, will they be eaten by Xiaobai?"

Xu Chen squatted down and summoned Xiaobai over, pointing at the golden toads: "Xiaobai, these golden toads are useful. You must help look after them in the future; don't let them run out of the Medicine Garden, and definitely don't eat them as food!"

Xiaobai actually nodded as if it understood, rubbing its head against Xu Chen's hand and making a whimpering sound.

Xu Chen just stood up and said to Zhao Xuan, "Alright, Senior Sister, Xiaobai has already promised not to eat these golden toads!"

Zhao Xuan:...

Amused as she was, she also knew that Xiaobai was indeed very smart and perhaps had truly understood Xu Chen's words.

However, although the golden toads had settled down for the time being, their food was still a big problem.

According to the breeding experience Xu Chen learned at the Jade Palace of the Jade Clarity Hall, the daily food for these golden toads was also very refined, requiring food rich in Spirit Qi and Spirit Pills, and especially the frequent feeding of some Spirit Insects.

In order to breed these Seven-Star Golden Toads, the Jade Clarity Hall had people specifically raising Spirit Insects and refining special Spirit Pills for beasts.

But Xu Chen didn't have the time or effort to do that, let alone the energy.

Therefore, this food was also a big problem for him.

Although these golden toads would be in a semi-dormant state in the Spirit Beast Bag and could go without food or water for a long time, they had been hungry for seven or eight days after all, so they had to be fed immediately after being released.

He thought about it and suddenly remembered that the Third-Tier Spirit Sparrow seemed to be addicted to eating Soul-Entering Pills. A flash of inspiration struck him; he flipped his hand to take out a bottle of Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills, walked under the Soul Returning Wood, squatted beside the two Seven-Star Golden Toads, and poured out two Spirit Pills onto the ground.

"Croak~"

The moment the Spirit Pills were dropped, the two golden toads were suddenly stimulated by something incredible, letting out deafening croaks, and scrambled to stick out their long tongues to roll them up. In an instant, the two Spirit Pills were swallowed into the golden toads' bellies.

"Croak~ croak~"

Seemingly sensing the croaks of their companions eating, or perhaps sensing the aura of the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills, the five toads that had already jumped away to hide in the surroundings also scrambled out from their hiding places, their speed incredibly fast, leaving behind trails of afterimages as they leaped.

Although these golden toads had degenerated, they still carried some of the bloodline and aura of Spirit Beasts. They were not useful for medicine, but their strength was comparable to some wild beasts, and they could even contend with some small wild beasts without falling behind.

He had already witnessed these situations in the canyons of the Jade Clarity Hall.

Ordinary snakes and rats were actually food in front of some powerful toads, and the fighting between them was also very bloody and cruel.

Especially those toads that still had many golden markings on their bodies were the strongest.

The five bowl-sized toads soon gathered near the Soul Returning Wood, and they were not afraid of humans at all. They were only a bit nervous about Xiaobai, but they all glared at the two golden toads, seemingly wanting to snatch food from the toads' mouths.

And the two golden toads were clearly not pushovers either, issuing deafening croaks in unison against the outsiders, while the fleshy bumps of various sizes on their bodies swelled up, seemingly showing signs of spraying venom.

Xu Chen was startled and hurriedly used his Yuan Qi to roll the five ordinary toads away to a distance of over a zhang.

Just kidding, the medicinal value of the Seven-Star Golden Toad was all in this skin.

Or rather, it was in these poison glands.

Especially the poison glands where the seven green spots were located; that was the best material for refining Heqi Pills.

However, these two golden toads had already begun to degenerate; the seven green spots were now reduced to only five, and two of them were even relatively pale in color, continuing to degenerate.

Without the threat of the group of toads, the two Seven-Star Golden Toads soon calmed down again, then closed their eyes as if to start digesting the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills. Xu Chen felt a joy in his heart; it seemed the effect was still quite good.

Thinking of the strengthening effect of the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills on the soul and body, Xu Chen even had a whimsical idea: perhaps if he continued to feed them like this, the two Seven-Star Golden Toads might really recover their full bloodline and reach a state fully suitable for medicine.

If that were the case, would those few degenerated golden toads also have this effect? After all, the bloodline still existed, it had just degenerated to be quite thin.

Thinking of this, Xu Chen poured out five more Soul-Entering Pills and threw them in front of the five ordinary toads. He saw a few afterimages flash by, and the Spirit Pills on the ground disappeared in the blink of an eye.

But what left Xu Chen dumbfounded was that one of the toads actually missed, failing to snatch a Spirit Pill, and instead, the snake-headed plant that suddenly popped out of the soil snatched one first.

This toad turned its head around in a daze, and when it discovered its Spirit Pill had been snatched, it croaked in anger and pounced on the snake-headed plant. While the snake-headed plant tightly wrapped around the Spirit Pill with its snake-like leaves, its three vine stems also attacked the toad like three small snakes. In an instant, a large toad and a strange-looking plant were rolling and fighting in the Medicine Garden. Moreover, very quickly, the toad was entangled by the three snake vines; while it kept screaming in pain, it also kept spraying venom outward.

However, this kind of venom seemed to have no effect on the snake-like plant at all; instead, it tightened its grip more and more. Xu Chen hurriedly released his Yuan Qi to shake the snake vines away and rescued the toad.

But it seemed to be too late; the toad was already on its last breath and dying.

Just as Xu Chen was observing this toad, the other few toads that had snatched up the Spirit Pills suddenly became agitated, each one acting as if it had swallowed a burning coal, beginning to hop and roll about croaking loudly inside the Medicine Garden; shortly after, they all lay on the ground foaming at the mouth, twitching and struggling incessantly, their four legs kicking up dirt as they thrashed.

Holy crap, they've all been poisoned!

Xu Chen's face twitched uncontrollably, turning black then red, as colorful as if a paint shop had opened up on it.

Zhao Xuan was also dumbfounded, and only after seeing that all four toads had stopped moving did she whisper, "Junior Brother, it seems you've poisoned them all to death!"

Xu Chen:...

Fine, it seems a Spirit Pill is truly not something that ordinary mortals or beasts can digest.

Xu Chen could understand this; after all, while a Spirit Pill is a great tonic for a cultivator, it is a deadly poison to a mortal.

These degenerated toads that had been so difficult to retrieve clearly no longer possessed much potential as a Spirit Beast, and they were fundamentally unable to digest or absorb the medicinal properties of the Spirit Pill.

Furthermore, these Spirit Pills also contained white Qi components, and although they could strengthen the Soul, their powerful body-tempering effects were something these creatures were not fated to endure.

Another one that was lucky enough not to snatch a Spirit Pill didn't fare any better; it was strangled by a vine-like plant, likely with its bones shattered, and it probably wouldn't survive either.

Xu Chen let out a long sigh.

This blow had come too suddenly, completely catching him off guard; they were all gone in an instant.

Although he felt somewhat sad, Xu Chen could only eventually accept the reality before him, and with a sweep of his vital energy, he tossed the five toads far away into the thicket outside the Medicine Garden.

It was better that they were dead, as that way he wouldn't have to worry about them threatening or disturbing the two golden toads; if he fed them well in the future, as long as the two golden toads mated and laid eggs, there would still be many ordinary golden toads next year, and when that time came, he could continue his feeding experiments, and perhaps with a bit of luck, he might slowly produce more true golden toads.

(End of this chapter)