After the three martial brothers finished scattering pollen over the large area and regrouped, Xiang Lanxuan had no idea what they were sneakily whispering about. She just saw that after the three of them returned, Nanzhu took Baili Xin away, and she had no clue what for.
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie, on the other hand, pulled her along to hide quietly in the flower and grass bushes to wait. Xiang Lanxuan could not make heads or tails of the situation and could not help but ask in a low voice, “What are we doing?”
Yu Qing brushed her off with a simple sentence, “Once your identity is confirmed, you will naturally know.”
After waiting for a long while, which Xiang Lanxuan estimated to be an hour or so, two shadowy figures finally returned, bringing a foul stench with them.
There was no need to look to know what it was. Xiang Lanxuan, covering her mouth and nose, felt a sudden wave of nausea and asked, “Why did you two bring this stuff here?”
Yu Qing also felt disgusted. “Put it further away for now. We will use it when it gets light.”
So Nanzhu and Baili Xin threw the pile of corpse grass they had carried a bit further away. Upon returning, they were still met with Yu Qing’s distaste, and he told the two of them to go sit downwind.
After that, nothing happened. They waited and waited. When the sky was already beginning to glow with the faint light of dawn, Xiang Lanxuan kept glancing at the Divine Tree and gradually grew somewhat anxious. Finally, seeing that she was being watched so closely that it was truly impossible to slip away from these people, she could not hold back any longer and had to remind them, “We should probably move a bit further away from here, otherwise there might be danger after daybreak.”
Nanzhu shrugged. “Now that it is getting light, it is easier to be discovered, so naturally it is more dangerous.”
Although he said this, his face showed no sign of fear.
Xiang Lanxuan simply laid it all out. “The night before last, not long after we entered, Old Thief Huan and I went up the tree and met a Demon King. He gave us a one day deadline and ordered us to hand you over to him before daybreak today, otherwise he will launch a hunt targeting everyone. It is about to get light. Are we just going to sit right under his nose and court death?”
As soon as these words were spoken, the few of them exchanged glances.
Yu Qing suddenly asked, “Why did you not say this earlier? You were not planning to take the opportunity to offer us to that Demon King, were you?”
Having been guessed correctly, Xiang Lanxuan would not admit it. Instead, she deliberately tried to scare them. “If I had that idea, would you believe it or not if I told you that you would already have been captured?”
The few of them dared not say they did not believe her and could only be half convinced and half doubtful.
Xiang Lanxuan then urged them again, “It is almost daybreak. What are we still waiting for?”
Yu Qing pondered for a moment and said, “Let us wait and see.”
Seeing this, Xiang Lanxuan instead breathed a sigh of relief. She had explained the danger so clearly, yet these men were in no rush to run away. It seemed they had truly come prepared and might already have a countermeasure.
However, she could only keep this thought to herself and dared not ask out loud, afraid of prying into the secrets they were hiding.
Amidst the silent waiting, the sky gradually brightened, and an inexplicable buzzing sound came from the direction of the Divine Tree.
Enduring the foul stench, the group wrapped themselves in several sets of strung together corpse grass. Whether it was Xiang Lanxuan or Yu Qing, they were truly overwhelmed by the stink at first. Fortunately, as the smell lingered, they gradually felt it was not so bad and slowly adapted to it.
In the faintly breaking morning light, this world of flowers once again displayed its enchanting and colourful splendour, so beautiful it was intoxicating. The scene was truly like a fairyland.
However, the group had no mind to appreciate this. Nanzhu’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Look, they are here.”
What was here? Xiang Lanxuan followed his line of sight and saw it was a flying insect. Looking closely, it was a five coloured flying insect, beginning to bob up and down among the stamens, resembling a large bee.
Before long, more and more five coloured bees appeared in their field of vision, busily flitting among the flowers across the land.
Xiang Lanxuan secretly observed the reactions of the others. Could these guys be waiting for this kind of giant bee?
Yu Qing and the others had their hearts in their mouths at this moment, feeling very nervous. Later, they found that these five coloured bees indeed did not approach their side. Even if they flew towards them, they would make a turn and detour around.
Only then did the group truly feel a sense of relief, confirming that the method suggested by the Vine Demon was correct.
This also proved from another angle that the Vine Demon had not tricked them, giving them a bit of confidence for their subsequent actions. They figured the reason the mansion doors could not be opened must not lie with the Vine Demon.
Seeing the five coloured bees busily flying back and forth between the Divine Tree and the flowers early in the morning before it was fully light, Yu Qing and the others felt very excited.
Their goal was simple, subdue the Queen Bee, find the Heavenly Spring or the Earthly Spring, and cure the hidden illness within their bodies.
As for whether the exit would open again, they were not worried. As long as they cured the severe hidden illness in their bodies and took care of themselves, Gao Laoer would naturally spread the word over time, and someone would naturally find a way to open the exit.
Of course, unless it was absolutely necessary, they did not want to go to that extreme, as getting out unscathed at that point would also be a troublesome matter.
As the sky grew brighter and brighter, the group lowered their postures further and further, almost lying flat on the ground on a small mound of earth. The corpse grass covered their heads, leaving only their eyes exposed to peer out.
By this time, they could clearly see that the surface of the Divine Tree seemed to be shrouded in a veil of dancing swarms of bees.
Xiang Zhen was once again sitting at the edge of the platform on the tree to watch the sunrise. The Divine Tree was so tall that while the sun was not yet visible from the ground, this place was already bathed in sunlight.
The swarms of bees danced in the sunshine, marking another day of flourishing flowers.
The man in floral robes walked over, patted his shoulder, and sat down beside him. Both of them reeked of alcohol.
The previous night here had been another long night of singing and dancing. The man in floral robes had insisted on dragging Xiang Zhen to indulge in the revelry. Xiang Zhen did not know how to sing or dance, but after drinking, he drew his sword and performed a sword dance. The sword dance was as free and unrestrained as could be, and the man in floral robes beat the drum to accompany him, so everyone had a great time last night.
After a night of romantic intoxication, they woke up to watch the morning sun, with flowers blooming like brocade on the ground and a gentle breeze blowing.
After the two of them sat in dull silence for a while, two bare chested men and two enchanting women arrived.
Xiang Zhen did not know the names of these four people because he was not the nosy type, and most of the time he was not even interested in many normal things. He only heard the man in floral robes call them Achi, Acheng, Aqing, and Alan. Achi and Acheng were the two men, while Aqing and Alan were the two women.
The four of them were holding food in their hands, including two bowls of nectar emitting a pearly lustre, and two basins of fresh fruit covered in dew. They were all spirit fruits, but they had clearly been eroded by evil energy.
The items were brought over naturally for the two men to eat.
The man in floral robes picked up a bowl of nectar himself, scooped a spoonful into his mouth, and said while savouring it, “The nectar I drink here is all freshly picked and fresh. It can dispel the effects of alcohol, so have some.”
Xiang Zhen did not stand on ceremony either. He picked up a bowl and said while eating, “It truly is a good thing. I was seriously injured during the Chaoyang Assembly before and had not fully recovered. Just this one bowl of nectar has completely healed me. It is more effective than any magical elixir.”
The man in floral robes laughed and said, “All the flowers you can see in the entire Immortal Mansion grew from the seeds of spirit grasses brought from the Immortal Realm back in the day. Although they have been tainted by evil energy, they are still spirit grasses. The nectar brewed by gathering the essence of a hundred spirits can naturally heal ordinary physical injuries with ease. If you like it, I will give you more to take out with you later.”
Xiang Zhen nodded silently and said, “Thank you. I just hope we can get out.”
The man in floral robes said, “Rest assured. After we finish eating, I will have the bee swarm search everywhere for the target and begin the hunt. I will definitely help you find that man with the moustache and find a way to send you out.”
After the two of them finished the nectar, he also asked Xiang Zhen to try some spirit fruits, saying that it was fine to eat these spirit fruits tainted with evil energy after drinking the nectar, and so on.
However, just then, the two men and two women serving nearby kept looking at each other from time to time. Their expressions became somewhat strange, and their bodies seemed a bit restless. Even the cheeks of the two men began to flush red.
At first, they thought it was their own inner desires and tried to suppress them, but later they found that the desire was somewhat wild.
After discovering that they were all experiencing this condition, Achi suddenly said, “My King, the food we ate might have been tampered with.”
Hearing the voice, the man in floral robes turned his head to look and noticed the restless state of the four. He could not help but raise his hand and touch his own cheek. His cheek was actually a bit red too. Just now, he also thought it was a fleeting desire that occasionally popped up, but now he realised something was wrong.
Some things are not poison and are difficult to detect normally.
He immediately stared coldly at Xiang Zhen, only to find that Xiang Zhen’s cheeks were also slightly red and his breathing was a bit erratic, clearly showing signs of an onset as well. He then turned his head and asked, “Was it on the fruit, or in the nectar?”
Achi said, “I only drank the nectar this morning.”
Acheng said, “Me too.”
The two women said in unison, “Us too.”
Achi immediately raised his hand and pointed at Xiang Zhen, saying, “My King, he is here. It must be him who tampered with it.”
Xiang Zhen was secretly using his magic to look inward and examine himself. Hearing this, he merely exchanged a glance with him and remained unmoved.
The man in floral robes had already stood up. He raised his hand and said, “It is not him. With so many of our clansmen guarding the place, no one could sneak into the honeycomb to tamper with it. The problem must be with us. It should be that our clansmen fell into a trap outside and caused this after crawling over the honeycomb when they returned.”
Acheng closed his eyes and clenched his fists for a while, then suddenly opened his eyes and said, “It feels like a forbidden item.”
Without needing his reminder, the man in floral robes was already pacing back and forth endlessly, sometimes coldly scrutinising the outside and sometimes remaining vigilant of his surroundings. He muttered to himself, “A method that hits the mark in one strike. It targets our weaknesses. This is not a secret that outsiders could know. It must be an insider from the Immortal Mansion. It seems an old acquaintance has returned from the Immortal Realm. No wonder the seal of the Immortal Mansion was suddenly activated.”
Achi said, “My King, since someone from the Immortal Mansion has returned, why treat us like this?”
The man in floral robes said, “I cleared the field back in the day and killed many people. I am not sure if I offended anyone, but in short, the visitor means no good!”
He suddenly turned his head and stared at the two women, saying, “We were fine drinking the nectar yesterday. We must have fallen into the trap this morning. The culprit is very likely nearby and could show up at any time. We can only try our best to stall for you. The rest is up to you. Go quickly.”
“Yes.”
The two women accepted the order in unison. Demonic energy erupted from their bodies simultaneously, and they both transformed into two exceptionally large five coloured bees and flew away quickly, escaping into the tree hollow.
Xiang Zhen, who was sitting cross legged in meditation, suddenly said in a deep voice, “It is an aphrodisiac, a very strong aphrodisiac. How could someone use this kind of drug on you?”
He was a bit puzzled. If there was truly some grudge, would it not be better to just use poison? Why use this kind of drug?
The man in floral robes, however, narrowed his eyes and stared outside, saying, “They are here. I really want to see which old acquaintance is playing tricks behind the scenes.”
The few people hiding under the corpse grass also saw someone flying across the sky.
A figure in white flew down and landed on a branch of the Divine Tree.
Nanzhu muttered, “It seems to be that Grand Elder Huan.”
Xiang Lanxuan, standing nearby, sneered, “It is exactly Old Thief Huan. He has a lot of nerve, daring to come see the Demon King empty handed.”