Chapter 382: All for nothing?

Cao Cixiu laughed without a shred of pity, "It's no longer needed, rest easy on your way."

After exerting force, he suddenly loosened his grip, and the Ruohua that had slipped to the ground experienced a moment of having survived a catastrophe.

She drew deep breaths of fresh air, only to suddenly discover that all the strength in her body had been drained!

Cao Cixiu just watched her dying struggle, like a fish out of water suddenly baked under the sun, and after not much flopping, she became completely still.

"I don't want to dirty my hands." Cao Cixiu patted his palm, as if he'd touched something filthy, utterly disgusted.

Qilin: "Is she dead?"

Mu Yuanzhi: "Probably not."

"How merciful." Gu Rongjin commented.

"I sealed off her last breath; it's almost no different from being dead, but she's still alive." Cao Cixiu said.

He didn't even glance at the woman lying on the ground like a dead fish.

Mu Yuanzhi: "You're keeping her for research?"

"Wrong, it's for you to study; after all, it's a living fossil that's been alive for three hundred years." Cao Cixiu said.

"Young Master Cao, do you already know the answer to the miasma's mutation?" Mu Yuanzhi asked again.

"They told me this woman also doesn't know why the miasma mutates; perhaps it's a natural phenomenon of nature." Cao Cixiu said, "Of course, that last sentence is my guess."

Who they refer to goes without saying.

Qilin curiously asked: "Can you hear plants and animals speak?"

"Just a survival skill." Cao Cixiu casually said.

Mu Yuanzhi: "Such an impressive survival skill—where did Young Master Cao learn it?"

"Innate." Cao Cixiu gave a mysterious smile: "Have you heard of coffin children?"

All three nodded.

As the name suggests, a coffin child is an infant born after a person's death and being sealed in a coffin; such infants generally cannot survive, though there may be exceptions—at least they've never seen one—but legends endow coffin children with various mysterious colors, some saying they're ominous, some saying they're a yin official borrowing a shell, all sorts of folk tales exist, wondrous beyond description.

If Cao Cixiu were a coffin child, then the deathly aura emanating from his whole body could be explained, Mu Yuanzhi thought.

"I can understand the words of dying birds and beasts and decomposing organisms." Cao Cixiu pointed to his ear, "And I can also understand the speech of some plants and animals born in graveyards."

Mu Yuanzhi reasoned by analogy: "So you just listened to the plants and animals to find the way to break this formation?"

"Exactly, Princess is very clever; I overheard the whispers of two maggots, knew the layout here, so I chose the simplest, quickest method and blew it up!"

Qilin: "Blown up? What did you use to blow it up?"

That huge blast just now would definitely require a pile of explosives, right?

Where could this person have gotten so much explosives?

Could it be tied around his waist?

Cao Cixiu curled his lip: "All you need is one fire starter."

"Impossible! Unless this fire starter was researched by my senior sister!" Qilin waved his hand.

"Exactly." Cao Cixiu nodded.

Mu Yuanzhi said vaguely: "I've done research on this before, but the power is too great; carrying it around is a bit dangerous, so I tore up the drafts and threw them away, planning to study further to find a safer solution."

"What a waste to throw it away; our princess picked it up, pieced it together, and then had people develop it." Cao Cixiu said without reservation.

Mu Yuanzhi: "……"

Pei Si actually managed to find someone who could reconstruct just by looking at her design drawings?

The Ministry of Works personnel couldn't do that……

As expected, are there masters among the common folk?

Gu Rongjin nodded: "So today we still rely entirely on my wife to clear the level!"

Regarding his flattery, Qilin wholeheartedly agreed: "Indeed, we still need the senior sister!"

Mu Yuanzhi touched her nose, also agreeing with the praise: "Exactly, at critical moments we still have to rely on me."

"Indeed, we owe it all to the Princess." Cao Cixiu took no credit, was indifferent, he didn't care.

Qilin still couldn't figure it out: "So is this an illusion or what? Why are we simultaneously in different spaces, occasionally intersecting, yet we just can't meet each other no matter what?"

"I don't understand the principle; I only guessed the solution." Cao Cixiu said.

But his words obviously couldn't convince them; they knew Cao Cixiu must be hiding something, or didn't want to say, or was just being mysterious— in short, nothing could be pumped out of him.

Qilin wanted to wait for Yuan Yan to return and ask Yuan Yan, who would be more reliable.

Gu Rongjin sighed: "So this time we went through all that trouble for nothing?"

We got not a scrap of useful information, and we even missed eating the reunion meal together.

It's already Lunar New Year's Day!

Mu Yuanzhi suddenly said: "Perhaps it's not the miasma mutating, but something interacting with the miasma……"

Gu Rongjin nodded in deep agreement: "It's not an internal cause; it must be an external factor. If it's not the miasma mutating, then only something else together inside the body could trigger the mutation."

Qilin: "So the key might still be the people of Hanlu Stronghold and Xiao Yichen!"

Cao Cixiu curled his lip: "Now the chief of Hanlu Stronghold has come to our door—how about we invite him into the urn?"

Qilin: "This matter still needs long-term planning……"

At least we should wait for Yuan Yan to return.

Cao Cixiu didn't care much; the mission is done, he can go back and report to Pei Si.

"What about the Flame Pool? Can Young Master Cao communicate with the creatures here to resolve the Flame Pool?" Qilin looked expectantly at Cao Cixiu.

Cao Cixiu: "Extra tasks come with a fee; what benefits can the Valley Master offer me?"

"Why don't you say what benefits you want? You've gone to such trouble to help us Juechen Valley—what's the reason?" Qilin threw the question back.

This is also what Gu Rongjin and Mu Yuanzhi want to know: what exactly is the Third Prince's purpose in helping them repeatedly?

Back when they were in Jingcheng, Pei Sike wasn't so eager to deal with them, which inevitably made them wonder why.

Cao Cixiu chuckled: "You'll have to ask our Highness about that; I, Cao, can't decide the answer, but I can inquire about the solution to the Flame Pool. As for whether you'll get an answer and what you'll offer in exchange, we'll talk about that later."

He said that and then vanished in a flash.

They knew he went to ask the indigenous people.

Qilin: "Should we wait for him to come out?"

"No need! You all go out first!"

The already distant Cao Cixiu threw out a sentence.

Qilin: "Let's go…… wait, how did he get in? Isn't there only one set of protective armor left? This is still pieced together from east and west……"

Mu Yuanzhi spoke of this with admiration in her eyes: "Before there was no time to say, he got in this way, without any protection."

Qilin and Gu Rongjin both raised their thumbs.