“What do you mean?” Yu Qing simply did not understand. How did he feel that Little Martial Uncle was scolding him? Was he complaining that Yu Qing was meddling too much?
Watching Little Martial Uncle’s departing figure, he felt he needed to find an opportunity to have a proper chat with him.
This matter was truly not trivial. Accepting disciples recklessly was a great taboo of Linglong Temple. As the sect leader, he could not be a mere figurehead. He could not know and pretend not to know. Some matters required bottom lines, and timely warnings were necessary. Otherwise, it would be his dereliction of duty as sect leader…
On the other side, Nan Zhu also pulled Mu Aotie to the side, muttering, “Did you see? Little Martial Uncle thinks quite highly of that little junior brother.”
Mu Aotie looked at him, his eyes asking, “And then?”
Nan Zhu explained in a low voice, “Build a good relationship with the little junior brother. If something is difficult to say, let the little junior brother speak to Little Martial Uncle about it. Win over the little junior brother, and together deal with that scoundrel Old Fifteen.”
Mu Aotie understood, and nodded slightly.
Not far away, Little Martial Uncle strolled over slowly, fanning himself with a folding fan. He saw the two brothers huddled together muttering. His ears twitched slightly, and his gaze toward the two brothers instantly became strange.
The two brothers also hurriedly returned and greeted him. Little Martial Uncle responded with a few perfunctory sounds.
When the group successively returned to the room, Chong’er had already boiled the tea and poured cups to cool. He sat there smiling and teasing Datou. When he saw his master return, he quickly stood up properly.
Yu Qing, who entered last, stroked his little beard and noticed that Chong’er’s personality seemed to have become much more cheerful. He remembered Chong’er used to always look submissive and cautious. Chong’er’s features and figure had also matured considerably, becoming prettier. Looking more carefully, Yu Qing found Chong’er had quite a distinctive charm.
Suddenly, Yu Qing felt he might understand why Little Martial Uncle wanted to accept Chong’er as a disciple. Could that Little Martial Uncle who loved looking in mirrors have accepted Chong’er because Chong’er was also good-looking? Thinking of this, Yu Qing became increasingly speechless.
“Master, the tea that Datou boiled is ready.”
Chong’er first offered a cup to his master.
Little Martial Uncle held the tea and examined it left and right for a while, still somewhat hesitant. Finally he stared at his disciple again and asked, “Chong’er, are you certain this is drinkable?”
Yu Qing and his three fellow disciples simultaneously rolled their eyes. So after all that fuss, he still did not believe them.
Chong’er nodded, “Master, it is drinkable, definitely no problem. I drank it before and nothing happened at all.”
Seeing his disciple repeatedly guarantee, Little Martial Uncle finally raised his cup and drank it in one gulp, tilting his head back with eyes closed as if drinking poison.
The others could see that this Little Martial Uncle was still so fond of cleanliness. If not for the sake of eating Immortal Peaches, he would probably rather die than drink Datou’s bathwater.
Chong’er then served tea to the three senior brothers, and only then took a cup for himself.
As he was about to drink, Yu Qing suddenly called out, “Chong’er, um, do not drink yet.”
Chong’er froze, and the others were also surprised.
Yu Qing walked over and put down his teacup, “I suddenly remembered something. Chong’er, you also drank water boiled by Datou before. I do not know if the evil-warding effect is still there after such a long time. How about not drinking tea first, and trying an Immortal Peach instead?”
Hearing this, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie quickly exchanged glances. They already knew what Old Fifteen was thinking. He wanted Old Sixteen to test for poison.
The three of them had discussed this matter back at the Peach Garden in the Little Cloud Realm. They all wanted the others to stop drinking Datou’s boiled water for a period of time, but none were willing to try, because no one wanted to suffer.
Chong’er was stunned, and slowly put down his teacup. He still trusted Yu Qing quite a bit, believing Yu Qing would not harm him, and nodded in agreement.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie looked at the teacups in their hands, silently saying nothing.
But Little Martial Uncle was not having it. He stepped forward and said, “Can it still be effective after so long? Using a living person to test this, is that not a joke?”
Yu Qing said, “Little Martial Uncle, determining whether drinking Datou’s boiled water has long-term effectiveness is very important. Rest assured, nothing will happen. We have Datou’s boiled water prepared right here. If something seems wrong, drink water immediately.”
Little Martial Uncle fell silent. He knew this test was actually important. It determined whether those who ate Immortal Peaches could leave Datou behind. If it was confirmed to be long-term effective, they could completely secretly transport a batch of Immortal Peaches to Linglong Temple, where there was still someone after all.
Chong’er trusted Yu Qing very much. Seeing Yu Qing wanted to test, he immediately helped speak, “Master, with Datou by my side, it will be fine.”
Little Martial Uncle was still hesitating.
But Yu Qing immediately took an Immortal Peach, directly placed it in a nearby water jar to wash, then presented it to Chong’er with both hands.
Little Martial Uncle had just reacted and wanted to stop him, but Chong’er, who had already received the peach, had already taken a bite without hesitation. It was sweet and juicy. He even nodded repeatedly toward everyone, saying, “Master, Immortal Peaches are truly delicious.”
Little Martial Uncle wanted to speak but stopped, seeing that he had already eaten, so he had to let it go.
The group stared closely at Chong’er’s reaction.
Chong’er ate bite after bite, swallowing bite after bite into his stomach.
However, after five or six bites, his face suddenly turned deathly pale. His entire body began to shiver uncontrollably. His eyeballs started turning red, and the reddening was very fast. His two eyes quickly became blood-red. The blood vessels on his cheeks and neck began to show black tree-root-like patterns, and a trail of blood seeped from his nostrils.
He became possessed so quickly, and the reaction was so obvious. The group was greatly shocked. The evil energy in the peach was truly too dense.
This was actually no longer ordinary evil energy. Like the spiritual energy contained within the peach, it was nearly materialized. Swallowing nearly materialized evil energy into one’s stomach, the effects were imaginable.
Chong’er still had a trace of consciousness not yet extinguished by the evil energy. At this moment he only looked at Yu Qing. Seeing Yu Qing, whose eyes were wide open, had not called for him to stop, he shivered and continued to bite the peach.
The group almost acted simultaneously, but Little Martial Uncle was still the fastest. With one sweep he knocked the bitten Immortal Peach from Chong’er’s hand, quickly struck several major acupoints on Chong’er to stop the evil energy’s rapid spread, then quickly dragged the person onto the couch.
The master and disciple sat cross-legged. Little Martial Uncle pressed both palms against Chong’er’s back, rapidly circulating his power to help his disciple suppress the evil energy.
Yu Qing quickly grabbed a water cup, pried open Chong’er’s mouth, and forcefully poured water into his mouth using his power.
Chong’er’s expression showed he was in extreme pain. His body was trembling violently. If not for his master forcibly restraining him with techniques, he would certainly be struggling in pain. Yet the corner of his mouth revealed a terrifying sinister smile, and his two eyeballs were as red as demons.
Heaven knows what kind of pain he was enduring at this moment.
Fearing one cup of Datou’s boiled water was not enough, after Yu Qing finished pouring, he threw away the empty cup, reached out and grabbed his own untouched cup of water through the air, and poured it directly into Chong’er’s resisting mouth.
Still fearing it was not enough, after throwing away the cup, he flashed over and directly took the water pot, pouring all the remaining somewhat hot water in the pot into Chong’er’s stomach.
After doing this, he retreated to the side to watch. He could only watch, and exchanged a glance with Nan and Mu. The three fellow disciples were still shaken with lingering fear, grateful that they had not been the test subjects back then.
Especially Nan Zhu, grateful that when he first tried the Immortal Peach, the evil-dispelling power in his body was still present.
Fortunately, with Little Martial Uncle rapidly catalyzing the water poured into Chong’er’s stomach, Chong’er soon stopped trembling. The dripping blood from his nostrils also stopped. The black tree-root-like patterns on his cheeks and neck were also slowly fading.
Chong’er’s eyes had closed, and the pained expression on his face gradually subsided.
The three fellow disciples all breathed a sigh of relief, estimating that the evil-dispelling effect had emerged and the danger had passed. This could be seen from the reaction of Little Martial Uncle, who was responsible for circulating power to treat him.
After a good while, Little Martial Uncle took out a pill with one hand, stuffed it into Chong’er’s mouth, helped him swallow it, then circulated power again to catalyze it.
After formally withdrawing his power, Little Martial Uncle laid Chong’er flat, pulled the brocade quilt on the couch and gently covered it over the unconscious Chong’er. Chong’er’s complexion was still very poor.
Little Martial Uncle, who had stood up, suddenly turned back and coldly stared at Yu Qing, “Why did you not test it yourself?”
Yu Qing said sheepishly, “Is it not because Chong’er’s interval was longer? Testing the long-term effect in the human body is just right.”
Nan Zhu suddenly clapped and said, “Little Martial Uncle, reminded by you, I remembered. This fellow back at the Peach Garden in the Little Cloud Realm wanted the two of us to do this test. We refused, so we told him to do it himself, but he absolutely refused.”
Mu Aotie nodded with a solemn expression, “That is right, this indeed happened.”
Yu Qing immediately turned toward the two, furiously saying, “You two dogs are deliberately kicking me when I am down… ah!” Before he finished speaking, there was a miserable cry.
A figure flashed over. With a bang, he was directly kicked flying out.
Flying out the door, crashing to the ground and rolling, startling the one-eyed man in the distance who looked this way.
Yu Qing, who scrambled up while rolling, patted his clothes, covered in dust and dirt, and immediately left. Hide first, avoid the bad luck first. Running into someone while they are angry would definitely bring more misfortune. The experience summed up from childhood beatings from that person: hiding first is the right thing. As for the sect leader’s dignity, since he was in the wrong first, temporarily not putting on airs was acceptable.
Nan Zhu touched his broken rib area, unwilling to let it go. He continued to speak persuasively beside Little Martial Uncle’s ear, “Little Martial Uncle, Old Fifteen this fellow is indeed not a good thing. He currently holds a large amount of money and controls such a huge shop at Youjiao Port. The authority over so many Immortal Peach transactions is entirely in his hands. Also, that Datou who can dispel the evil energy in the Immortal Peaches is his raised spirit pet. All the benefits are monopolized by him alone. May I ask, how could he still put us in his eyes? Little Martial Uncle, once he breaks through to the Xuan realm, I am afraid even you will not be in his eyes.”
Little Martial Uncle turned around and asked in return, “Tell me honestly, after he obtained these Immortal Peaches, did he ever shortchange you, did he ever prevent you from refining them?”
Nan and Mu exchanged glances. The former somewhat unnaturally said, “That he did not.”
Little Martial Uncle asked again, “The money he earned selling Immortal Peaches, did he use it for sect expenses or for his own private spending? State each case as it is. As long as you can name one case, I will immediately deal with him.”
The two wanted to speak but stopped. After pondering for quite a while, Nan Zhu only managed to say, “None have been discovered for the time being, but that does not mean he will not in the future.”
Little Martial Uncle raised his hand to stop, “Future matters, speak of them in the future. When you discover them in the future, it will not be too late to tell me. That is to say, so far, everything in his hands is being used for various sect expenses.
In other words, there is nothing improper about him temporarily managing sect property as sect leader, and we have not discovered anything to criticize.
Then what I want to know now is one thing. Two hundred million, that is an astronomical sum. What do you want that two hundred million for? Do you want to treat it as your private property, or are you preparing to treat it as sect public property?”