The Immortal’s Poison

Wen Leyang and Little Chili Pepper looked at one another before they both burst into polite laughter. Wen Buzuo laughed as well and addressed the matter directly, "Hey, young fellow, is your surname ‘Big’ and your name ‘Dragon Root’?"

The Qing Miao child angrily shouted at Wen Buzuo, "My surname is Chi and my name is Maojiu!"

Wen Buzuo continued to roar with laughter, "Chi Maojiu? I thought you said that you were the Big Dragon’s…" However, before he could finish his sentence, the vision before his eyes darkened as the old Qing Miao man who had regarded them as underdogs earlier appeared suddenly in front of him. The old man’s expression was savage as he glared at Wen Buzuo, who had not noticed where he had come from at all.

The old Qing Miao man had not appeared conspicuous when he was sitting by the side but now that he was standing up, one could see that his physique was unexpectedly tall and robust. Wen Buzuo was already considered as a husky sort of fellow yet he had to raise his head to look up at the old man.

The rest of the Qing Miao clansmen too gathered around immediately and blocked Little Chili Pepper and the others from the inside.

The old Qing Miao man cursed in the Miao Language as he stretched out his hand to press it mercilessly against Wen Buzuo’s vile face. However, he had not expected his fingers to come into contact with an icy-cold surface. Instead of a fleshy face, his hand felt like it was grabbing onto a metal disc instead and his face filled with shock when the force exerted by his fingers were frozen on his fingertips instead of bursting onto the face.

Underneath his five fingers, the vile face which had belonged to the fellow with the fair complexion had unwittingly transformed into an honest-looking youth with a scar on his cheekbone.

Wen Leyang chuckled as he looked at the old Qing Miao man. He had placed his face unreservedly at the power of the old man’s five fingers. Wen Buzuo looked at Little Chili Pepper with a face full of puzzlement; he did not know how the old Qing Miao man had appeared by his side, nor did he know how he had escaped from the old man’s grasp. All he had felt was a force around the back of his neck and the next thing he knew was that he was standing next to Mumu. After a short while, Wen Buzuo finally made a resentful huff and said to Little Chili Pepper, "He should consider himself lucky today. I’ve applied poison on my face, he would have been killed the instant he had touched me!"

This time it was the Miao woman who said a few words rapidly from behind the crowd.

Wen Buzuo roared loudly, "Stand back!"

The Miao clansmen quickly turned around and shot him a furious glare. Wen Buzuo had a martyred expression on his face as he explained, "I was only translating what she’d said."

The three-inch nail younger brother was afraid that his older brother would get into trouble again so he went and stood in front of him in a sturdy manner. He was exactly like a nail, anyone who wanted to come forward had to pull the nail out first.

The Miao woman appeared to have a rather important status in the Qing Miao clan as the Miao clansmen, though still furious, slowly began to move away from Wen Leyang’s group.

The Miao woman gently patted Chi Maojiu’s head, "Who was it that allowed you to speak so carelessly?" She then looked with mild surprise at Wen Leyang, "The people of Wen family, since when did they become so terrifying?"

Wen Leyang chuckled for he was unsure of how to answer that question. Instead, he stretched out his arm and grabbed a carrot from his pocket.

Since the last encounter on Zhanyan Peak when he had used his body to smash onto the old monk Hope Sense’s protective prohibition spell, from that experience he knew that even if his body was completely exhausted, he could still recover quickly as long as he was allowed to relax for a short while. He had now regained half of his physical strength so he was able to exchange himself with Wen Buzuo as he was worried that the Qing Miao clansman would strike out too forcefully.

The Qing Miao child Chi Maojiu saw the carrot and his eyes immediately brightened once again, "This…what kind of object is this?"

"It’s a carrot, do you want one?"

"Yes!"

Wen Leyang laughed as he tossed the carrot to the child. Chi Maojiu had stretched his hand out to grab the carrot when the Miao woman extended her arm and plucked the carrot from the air. Her other hand continued to pat the child’s head, "Maomao, you should not simply eat anything that belongs to the Wen Bucao’s disciples."

Wen Leyang was slightly embarrassed as he tried to defend himself, "It’s not poisoned. Why would I want to poison a little child?"

Little Chili Pepper frowned and her expression turned unpleasant, "Don’t simply eat anything that belongs to Wen Bucao, yet you had simply grabbed it from the air. If he had wanted to poison you, you would be laid flat on the ground by now."

The Miao woman was not angered at all, the friendly smile stayed on her face as she spun the carrot around on her fingers. Mumu appeared to want to say something but gasped and closed her mouth. The people on the scene had sharp eyesight and they could clearly see that as the Miao woman was spinning the carrot, her fingers were not in direct contact with the carrot at all - there was an extremely thin gap between her fingers and the carrot.

The Miao woman had a sickly complexion yet she could still perform such a proficient skill. Little Chili Pepper was stunned for a moment, to her knowledge, only two family elders of the Luo at Crow Ridge were able to perform a similar feat. But Wen Buzuo was reluctant to give in and muttered in defiance, "If there was a Poison of the Wind on that carrot, you’d be lying on the ground by now."

The Miao woman ignored him and with a deft twist of her hand tossed the carrot back to Wen Leyang. She smiled heartily as she said, "Maomao’s status is rather special so we must always be extra cautious." She paused for a while before saying, "Hand the letter over. Maomao is the Big Dragon Root of the Miao Bujiao."

Wen Leyang did not think twice before he asked directly, "It’s him? How many Big Dragon’s Roots are there in the Qing Miao clan?"

The Qing Miao clansmen appeared displeased again as they stood up one after another. 

Little Chili Pepper too was displeased. Ever since they had entered the broken temple, the group of Miao clansmen had only whined to them. They did not speak in a proper manner and would turn hostile at the slightest provocation. The good hands of her family which had accompanied her had almost been completely annihilated. She had been suppressing the anger in her heart earlier but she has had enough as she ran up next to Wen Leyang and declared loudly, "We’re here to deliver a letter to the disciples of the Miao Bujiao. All we wanted was for our three families which shared a common ancestor two thousand years ago to now be as intimate as brothers. Yet when we had rushed over from afar with clues about our Grand Master Tuoxie, all you Miao Bujiao had tried to kill us and now you’ve turned hostile from some blunt words. Do you really think that our two families were at your disposal?"

The three-inch nail Wen Bushuo too spoke up suddenly, "The Miao clansmen had been after us all the way, if it wasn’t in the name of your abilities then it was because of the topographical advantages. You’ve killed my brothers, I shall dig out your ancestors’ graves!"

Wen Bushuo was both surprised and joyous as he stole a glance at his younger brother. This could be the longest speech he had ever said in his entire lifetime. Even though his foreword did not match the rest of his speech, just by his opinion one could understand that he too had turned hostile.

Since the younger brother had spoken, the professional elder brother too would naturally chime in, "So what if you have the topographical advantage? We had entered the mountain in a group of thirty-four people, now there’re still five of us remaining while the group of sun-fearing dwarves on the other hand, who knows how many of them were left! I’m afraid that they have all turned into ashes in the green-flamed brazier!"

Mumu and Wen Leyang simultaneously looked at Wen Buzuo in puzzlement and both of them asked, "What do you mean by the dwarves with the green-flamed brazier?" Ever since Wen Leyang had killed the entire ‘Swarm of Bees’, they had all been forced to immediately flee for their lives. Little Chili Pepper utterly had no time to find out these matters.

"How did you even know about that?" asked Wen Leyang as Wen Buzuo had not followed along when they went to massacre the enemies.

The expression on Wen Buzuo’s face became prideful again, "Back when we were escaping from the forest, I had asked the four brothers who went with you."

Wen Leyang did not know what else to say, he could only give a genuine and sincere thumbs up to Wen Buzuo. Back when they were trying to escape from the dense jungle, the path ahead had been full of traps while behind them was a giant crack which was trying to swallow them whole. Wen Buzuo had been the slowest in the group and he was continuously tossed to the front of the queue only to fall to the back of the queue again. Yet he somehow still had the time and effort to find out this bit of gossip.

Other than the Miao woman, the group of Qing Miao clansmen had been hostile from the beginning. However, upon hearing the fact that Wen Leyang’s group had massacred the dwarves and extinguished the ghost flame, their expressions changed to one of apologetic surprise. They looked at one another and slowly sat down. Two young chaps brought Wen Leyang’s group some bamboo stools for them to sit on.

The old Qing Miao man pointed at the bamboo stools and instructed with a choppy accent, "Sit!"

Wen Buzuo examined the bamboo stool with his eyes attentively as he mumbled, "I hope it doesn’t start spreading its hooves and run away after a while."

The old Qing Miao man’s expression was deeply concerned as he leaned forward ever so slightly, "So all the dwarves were dead? What about …the green-colored bonfire?"

Little Chili Pepper huffed as her anger had yet to cool down, "I thought all of you would be able to see that in your vision?"

The Miao woman shook her head, "Three bamboo horses were severed by them. I thought that there was no hope in rescuing you so I did not waste any more of my energy. Moreover…I could not cast my vision into that area."

Wen Leyang bit into the carrot and told the story of how he had massacred the dwarves from start to finish, but he did not mention how he had been able to locate the enemies.

When Wen Leyang talked about the part of how he had extinguished the green-colored bonfire and how that had caused the heaven to split and the ground to crack, the old Qing Miao man jumped up in excitement. He rubbed his hands together as he spoke to the Miao woman in a loud and unintelligible voice. All the wrinkles on his face were scrunched together, an expression of joyful viciousness tangled in his face, it was extremely unpleasant to the eyes of others.

Wen Buzuo immediately translated the old Qing Miao man’s words in a low voice, "Second Mother, the wicked witch must have been severely injured this time. We shall strive to…to avenge the Big Dragon’s Root!" When he said the last few words, the remainder of the Qing Miao clan became angry again. Could it be that the Big Dragon’s Root of the Qing Miao clan was dead?

Second Mother’s was clearly surprised but she pondered carefully before she spoke, "We should clarify the matter first through a discussion." She was replying to the old Qing Miao man yet she had spoken in Mandarin.

Little Chili Pepper was plain-spoken and straightforward as she asked the Miao Woman, "The Big Dragon’s Root is dead? How did he die? What happened? Back in the forest those…"

Wen Buzuo had a sympathetic expression on his face as he worked out a useless idea for Wen Leyang, "If the Big Dragon’s Root is dead, then we should just burn the letter and consider it delivered."