"You… what do you mean?! I'm just a little tree spirit!" Xiao Rong bristled, the green leaves on his head rustling in agitation.
Yao Ranran's gaze drifted as she walked forward. "We can't waste time here. The treasure is still waiting for us ahead."
Jiang Shengxiang chimed in quickly. "That's right, that's right. The people behind us are going to catch up!"
Xiao Rong's expression shifted and his ears twitched in alarm. "Exactly! We can't let them snatch the treasure!"
The three reached a swift consensus.
Yao Ranran casually picked a direction, and they pressed on.
The massive boulder behind them silently followed.
-
Outside Shiyan City.
"Heaven truly favors handsome men! The entrance to the Eastern Wilderness's secret realm is right here!" Nie Rong laughed heartily, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth before diving headfirst into the swirling vortex.
He landed in a wide expanse of grassland. "Those dogs won't let me off. I need to find a teammate to hide with inside this secret realm. After all, a lone handsome man is far too eye-catching!"
He coughed twice, muttering to himself, "Those dogs are too cunning—using the Earthfiend Bone-Sealing Needle to block my cultivation. Even my healing pills are gone. Looks like… other than selling my charms to rope in a stranger for cover, I have no other choice!"
Nie Rong crouched in the grass, his narrow eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Too strong—pass.
Too ugly—pass.
Already has a Dao partner—pass."
"Boss, boss! There's definitely treasure up ahead! I can smell something different!" Xiao Rong's nose twitched furiously.
Nie Rong's eyes lit up at once, excitement flashing within. "She's the one!
Her cultivation isn't high, she hasn't even formed her foundation. Even injured as I am, I could easily subdue her… but such a peerless beauty, how could I possibly harm her?" He touched his storage ring, pulled out a pill, and swallowed it.
In the blink of an eye, his lips curved into a smile and his entire face began to shift. His narrow bean-green eyes morphed into a pair of alluring peach blossom eyes. His thick, crude lips became thin and handsome.
With the face changed, even the sleazy aura that clung to him dissipated, replaced by something dangerously attractive.
"Let's go check it out, then," Yao Ranran replied.
"Mm-hm! You have to trust me!" Xiao Rong waved his little hands frantically, eager for their attention and trust.
Jiang Shengxiang chuckled. "Rong-yé is a spirit of grass and wood. I trust your instincts, but we can't let anyone else get there first."
Xiao Rong clenched his tiny fists. "Don't worry. No one's stealing the treasure I've found!"
Nie Rong glanced down at his tattered robe, then tore it open to reveal a sculpted collarbone and a strong, broad chest.
"No woman can resist this."
He smeared a few streaks of blood across himself, then ran ahead, settling under a tree in a perfect half-reclined pose—angular jawline catching the light, long legs stretched out, bare chest gleaming under the sun.
"Quick! Boss, Xiao Jiang, hurry up!" Xiao Rong grew impatient, extending a vine to tug both Yao Ranran and Jiang Shengxiang forward.
Jiang Shengxiang rubbed his nose.
This wasn't the first time Rong-yé had said this. Every time there was a "special scent," it ended up being a spiritual sapling under a hundred years old.
They'd never had the heart to pluck such a young thing.
Utterly useless.
"Almost there, almost there…" Nie Rong suppressed the upward curl of his lips, his heart brimming with smugness.
Yao Ranran idly admired the scenery—until her gaze landed on a man under a tree.
Blood.
An injured man.
Half-naked.
And good-looking at that.
Alone in the wilderness…
And posed far too seductively.
Was this man serious?
Yao Ranran shook her head.
No.
This was definitely a trap.
Men lying alone in the wilderness, especially in novels, almost always came with a horde of enemies on their tail.
She looked away after only a glance.
Xiao Rong, utterly focused on the treasure, passed by without sparing the man a glance.
Jiang Shengxiang gave him a quick look—stunned by his looks—then abruptly quickened his pace.
Someone already dead on the first day? The Eastern Wilderness's secret realm truly was dangerous.
The trio swept past him without pause, leaving only a gust of wind.
The breeze cooled Nie Rong's cheek.
"…"
"What's their problem?! You think you can escape my plan?!"
Nie Rong forced his eyes open and reached out toward Yao Ranran. "Help me! Save me!"
Yao Ranran turned her head the other way. "Oh, look! The scenery over here is so much better."
Was someone speaking just now?
She must not have heard it.
"Yes, yes! Fairy Ranran truly has an eye for beauty!" Jiang Shengxiang instantly turned his head as well.
Unlucky. Very unlucky.
And no, he hadn't been startled by what looked like a corpse suddenly speaking.
Nie Rong: "…"
"Fine. If you won't fall for this, I've got plenty more tricks."
He reached into his robes and flung a scroll toward them. A smirk tugged at his lips. "Hmph. This scroll contains paintings of naked men and women, including the man I transformed into. Let's see if you can resist!"
The scroll unfurled without wind, floating into the trio's path.
Jiang Shengxiang made a questioning sound.
Yao Ranran narrowed her eyes.
Xiao Rong's vine lashed out, shredding the scroll to pieces midair. "No one is stealing the treasure I found!"
Nie Rong's face twisted. "My paintings of naked men and women!"
The three kept walking, drawing farther away.
With the scroll destroyed, Nie Rong's frustration boiled over.
"Fine! If you won't come to save me, I'll just drag you over myself!"
He sprang up, yanked the jade belt from his waist, and sent it whipping toward them. It lengthened with the wind, shooting straight for the trio.
But before it could touch them, it struck a strange boulder in the middle of the path.
Just before impact, Zhou Shengqian's voice sounded urgently in his companions' minds. "No matter how much it hurts, don't make a sound!"
The disciples of Biliu Sect gaped silently, tears streaming down their cheeks.
"Already set up defenses?" Nie Rong frowned at the rebounding jade belt, then at the three's leisurely retreating backs. His anger only deepened.
"A mere Qi Refinement stage—watch me break your defense!"
He whipped the belt against the boulder again and again in frustration.
Zhou Lili gritted her teeth, crying silently. "Father, I can't hold on. I'm only at Qi Refinement!"
"Li Li, we must not expose ourselves! Fairy Ranran is a Jīndān Zhēnrén!"
Nie Rong's brows lifted. "Still not broken? Seems I underestimated you."
Pouring all his spiritual power into the jade belt, he leapt into the air and rained blow after blow onto the boulder.
Rainbow light from the strikes poured down from above. Zhou Lili's eyes rolled back and she fainted.
"Just ahead! It's right ahead!" The closer they got to the scent, the more excited Xiao Rong became.
Yao Ranran and Jiang Shengxiang exchanged a doubtful glance.
Could it be… this time, Xiao Rong had really found a treasure?
The three moved farther and farther away until they vanished from the Biliu Sect disciples' sight.