Qi Ping and Nan Jie faced Zhou Pangzi's request, and both agreed without much hesitation.
Because the mountain stream where Zhou Pangzi was located was on the outskirts of the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, not far from everyone, going to see it would not result in any loss, nor would there be any danger.
More importantly, as members of the Fusheng Society, if they stood by and did nothing in such a simple matter today, then if they encountered something in the future, who would come to help them?
Almost everyone in the Fusheng Society now, more or less, had received help from others when facing difficulties.
In the cruel lower echelons of the Cultivation World, lone wolves are rare; generally, they either form their own groups or join other power organizations.
Lone wolves in the Cultivation World are usually people who possess both courage and strength, basically true powerhouses, because those who are not powerhouses are generally dead.
Furthermore, although Zhou Pangzi had participated less in Fusheng Society matters in recent years, he never said no when his help was needed, including when Qi Ping was fleeing from the bees; Zhou Pangzi came without a word after he found out.
"Of course, Big Brother Pang! You should quickly take us to see them, lest something happens due to wasted time," Qi Ping replied.
Nan Jie also nodded in agreement.
"Alright, alright, then quickly follow me. I'm really afraid they'll starve to death if this continues. Those are over sixty Black Spirit Ducks!"
"They started not eating or drinking four days ago. Before that, everything was fine, but nothing happened that day either."
Zhou Pangzi rambled on like this the whole way, expressing his distress while detailing various aspects of the Black Spirit Duck problem.
He had such a rambling personality, coupled with his lack of cunning and his chubby appearance, which made him quite endearing.
Soon after, the two followed Zhou Pangzi to a mountain stream nestled by a mountain and water.
Inside the stream, there were neatly trimmed flowers, plants, and trees.
In the middle of a vegetable patch, a rather exquisite rustic-style courtyard was situated.
The courtyard was adorned with various beautiful and lovely decorations, which, judging by the style, were likely arranged by Zhou Pangzi's wife and children.
Inside the courtyard, there were two beautiful women dressed in light yellow silk, and beside them were four children playing happily.
Upon seeing this, Qi Ping couldn't help but sigh that Zhou Pangzi was a blessed man, not only having married two beautiful twins but also having both wives simultaneously become pregnant and give birth to two sets of Dragon and Phoenix twins.
"Daddy, you're back!"
Seeing Zhou Pangzi return, the four children immediately happily clung to him.
"Yes, did you miss Daddy?"
Zhou Pangzi hid the bitterness in his heart, smiling widely as he hugged each child one by one.
"Yes! Daddy, will you play hide-and-seek with us?" the four children said in unison, clearly all enjoying playing with Zhou Pangzi.
"Not now, Daddy has things to do. Can you play by yourselves for now? Daddy will play with you later."
"Okay, then we'll go play by ourselves."
While Zhou Pangzi was greeting his children, his two wives immediately went back into the house to make tea.
In their eyes, Zhou Pangzi had brought back a Cultivator, who certainly could not be neglected. Perhaps Zhou Pangzi had never told his wives about the hardships of low-level Cultivators!
However, Qi Ping and Nan Jie shook their heads and refused, saying that solving the Black Spirit Duck problem was more urgent.
But there was another important reason: Cultivators generally do not interact with the Mortal family members of other Cultivators.
Lack of common topics was one issue; more importantly, getting involved in a Cultivator's Karma brought no benefit to a Mortal without a Spiritual Root.
Soon after, Qi Ping and Nan Jie were led by Zhou Pangzi to his duck farm.
"Look, they are just lying there motionless. We can't even move them. They haven't eaten or drunk for four days. The only thing they do is occasionally quack a few times. Now they are already so weak, sigh."
As Zhou Pangzi said, Qi Ping looked over and saw more than sixty Black Spirit Ducks lying weakly on the ground, motionless.
Black Spirit Duck is a first-order low-level Spirit Beast that has been bred in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range since ancient times. Under normal circumstances, the Black Spirit Duck's feathers are bright and lustrous, and its body emits a strong Spiritual Qi.
But now, their feathers were dry and withered, and there was not a trace of Spiritual Qi on their bodies.
"Under normal circumstances, such a large-scale and identical set of symptoms is most likely a plague or poisoning..."
So Qi Ping and Nan Jie stepped forward and carefully examined them with their Divine Sense.
However, after a long time, the expressions on their faces changed from calm to deeply furrowed brows, yet they still found nothing.
Because within the Black Spirit Ducks' bodies, there were no symptoms of plague or poisoning.
Their internal functions and various organs were perfectly normal; they just appeared somewhat weak from not eating.
When Zhou Pangzi saw this scene, a look of disappointment flashed in his eyes.
Many of his friends whom he had brought to see them had also looked, just like Qi Ping and Nan Jie, unable to find the root cause of the problem.
"How is it? Can you also not find the reason?"
After waiting for a long time, Zhou Pangzi found that the two still had no clue, but he still asked somewhat unwillingly.
If these ducks all died, it was unlikely that even those breeders who raised carnivorous Spirit Beasts would buy them as sick ducks. They wouldn't dare to feed ducks with an unknown cause of death to their own Spirit Beasts.
And Cultivators would be even less likely to eat them.
But this way, Zhou Pangzi's losses would be significant.
Nan Jie nodded in response to Zhou Pangzi's inquiry. She indeed couldn't find the problem, and her extensive experience was in planting, only knowing a little about breeding.
If so many people with rich breeding experience couldn't solve it, how could she?
Zhou Pangzi could only sigh helplessly at this.
Things had come to this; was there truly nothing that could be done?
Zhou Pangzi's heart was filled with despair at this moment.
However, just as Zhou Pangzi thought that Qi Ping would also come up empty-handed like the others, Qi Ping made a shushing gesture to Zhou Pangzi.
This gesture immediately ignited hope in Zhou Pangzi's heart. Had he found something?
Nan Jie also looked at Qi Ping with some surprise. She found that Qi Ping was truly bringing her one surprise after another today.
"Big Brother Pang, have there been any reports of flowing light grass appearing here or in the nearby mountains?" Qi Ping suddenly asked after a long period of contemplation.
"flowing light grass? It really has appeared, and I even know where it is! Are the Black Spirit Ducks' symptoms related to flowing light grass?"
Zhou Pangzi was both surprised and shocked.
He had never told anyone about the flowing light grass. For Qi Ping to know about it now, he must have truly found the root of the problem!
This made Zhou Pangzi very happy.
It seems there are benefits to being well-read! Zhou Pangzi lamented in his heart. So many people with extensive breeding experience couldn't figure out the reason, yet Qi Ping found the breakthrough point!
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