The top floor of Tianling Pagoda.
Luo Hongyan stood at the window, glaring at Pang Jian as he walked away, gradually disappearing into the darkness.
In that empty and desolate sea of consciousness, the real Ning Yao was filled with grief and indignation. She stared at Luo Hongyan, whose skirt was fluttering, and asked, "Are you going to humiliate me to death?"
Luo Hongyan twitched her lips slightly and said disdainfully: "With your body and contact with Pang Jian, you actually think this is a humiliation to you?"
"Isn't it?"
Ning Yao said indignantly.
Luo Hongyan snorted lightly, and once again gathered the power in the Xuanyin Stone and condensed it into her spiritual body.
She said leisurely, "You have lost the feeling of your body, so when my skin touches his, you don't feel anything. However, I still reserve the right for you to see through your eyes."
"Since you can see it, you should know that when Pang Jian entered the Tongmai realm, he opened up four meridians in succession."
"Ning Yao, when you entered the Tongmai realm, how many meridians did you open up?"
There was sarcasm in her eyes.
Ning Yao hesitated for a moment before saying, "We didn't succeed in opening one."
"So, why do you feel that I am humiliating you by being close to Pang Jian in your body?"
Luo Hongyan, in the void, used both hands to draw strands of "Xuan Yin Power" and attacked unceremoniously: "At this point, do you still think that you, who were born in one of the seven major families in this world, are more noble than him, Pang Jian?"
Ning Yao was stunned.
"What a foolish woman! Judging from the cultivation talent that Pang Jian has shown, there is no one like him in the third realm."
Luo Hongyan shook her head with a cold face, and said sarcastically, "Based on this alone, he is several levels higher than your so-called Ning family background."
"You haven't figured it out yet. You, Ning Yao, are the toad, and Pang Jian is the swan you need to look up to."
As soon as these words came out, Ning Yao seemed to have suffered a heavy blow and was completely stunned.
"Think about what I said carefully and stop living in a dream."
…
The second day.
After waking up from a hangover, Pang Jian felt a little dizzy. He found himself lying in the weeds on the island, covered with a fur blanket.
The bamboo basket he had been carrying and the dragon-patterned spear were on the grass beside him.
He vaguely remembered that the blanket belonged to the deceased He Rong.
After a moment of hesitation, he guessed that Su Meng saw that he had drunk too much and fell asleep, and was afraid that he would be cold at night, so she brought a blanket over.
"She's a kind-hearted girl."
Pang Jian nodded secretly, took away the blanket and looked at the grass leaves next to him. There was no dew, which meant that a long time had passed.
He also didn't expect that the alcohol was so potent that it could make him drunk.
He was secretly alert and decided to drink in moderation in the future. If the evil woman had taken the opportunity to kill him last night, or if he had met a guy like Dong Tianze again, he would not know how he would have died.
He looked around and saw no one around, so he came to the top of the hill.
Standing at the highest point, he found that the witch was leading the little girl Su Meng to the area with the most dense flowers and plants, and was instructing Su Meng to pick herbs.
Su Meng nodded frequently, studied very seriously, and asked a few questions in a low voice from time to time.
“You haven’t left yet!”
Pang Jian snorted coldly. He didn't expect that after last night, the witch still stayed and continued to act as Ning Yao.
He currently couldn't tell the true power of the witch. Seeing that she hadn't shown any ill intentions for the time being, he decided to wait and see.
After calming himself down, he looked around and saw Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping riding a bamboo raft to the foot of the mountain in the north.
The two were climbing towards the mountain leading to the far north, as if they wanted to see what the legendary "strange fog" looked like on the other side of the mountain.
Seeing that no new guests arrived at the island in the middle of the lake and Dong Tianze no longer showed up, Pang Jian sat down where he was.
He took out the quality-depleted spiritual stones from the bamboo basket, and with the help of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that was about to dissipate on the island, he began to concentrate on practicing.
Only when his spiritual power is sufficient can he open up the other four meridians connecting his two feet. After the battle with Dong Tianze, only one-fifth of the spiritual power in his spiritual sea remains.
Such a small amount of spiritual power made him feel insecure, and he had to fill up his spiritual sea as soon as possible.
Time flies and it is evening again.
Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping appeared from the other side of the mountain, and with heavy faces they boarded a bamboo raft back to the island in the middle of the lake.
Not long after they appeared, Luo Hongyan and Su Meng also arrived beside Pang Jian.
After the conversation last night, Pang Jian's attitude was much colder when he saw Luo Hongyan again. On the contrary, Luo Hongyan acted as if nothing had happened and was still chatting and laughing with Su Meng along the way.
It’s just that it’s very difficult for Su Meng to smile, and when she forced herself to match Luo Hongyan’s smile, it looked very forced.
"You have it the easiest. You don't have to do anything. Alas, we are all destined to be hard-working. We are busy all day without realizing it."
Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Luo Hongyan put on a very hardworking posture, pointed at the herbs piled next to the white tower, and said, "The herbs that He Rong and his friends found earlier were too low in value, and they can't be exchanged for many spirit stones."
"What I picked with Su Meng today are the most precious Blood-Clearing Grass, Nine-Leaf Broken Star Flower, and Lightning-Struck Wood."
After she finished speaking, Su Meng's big eyes lit up slightly.
Pang Jian just said "Oh".
He saw that it was Su Meng who was busy all the time, while Luo Hongyan had nothing but her mouth and was now pretending to be hard-working.
"The Xuanyin Stone belongs to me, and you can divide the spiritual stones exchanged for these herbs among the others."
Luo Hongyan was annoyed by his attitude and rolled her eyes at him, but still said, "You have made greater contributions, so of course you should get more. I will talk to Zhou Qingchen when he comes over later to see how much more he can put in his storage bracelet."
Pang Jian looked strange. After a moment of silence, he asked curiously, "Are those spiritual materials really worth a thousand spiritual stones?"
"Today it's one thousand, this is because Su Meng is not yet... because we are not skilled yet. Tomorrow, the value of the spiritual materials that can be picked should be worth two thousand five hundred." Luo Hongyan said lightly.
"Thank you for your hard work." Pang Jian looked at Su Meng and said.
Su Meng quickly said, "It's all because of Sister Ning's good teaching."
After a while, Zhou Qingchen and his companion parked the bamboo raft at the edge of the island and went to the top of the mountain to find the three people.
"We saw the strange fog."
Han Duping, who was always frivolous, looked surprisingly serious. He said, "We didn't dare to go in, we just watched from a distance. The strange fog is not static, it is slowly spreading in our direction. At that speed, it will pass over the mountain in a few days and submerge Wulan Lake in ten days."
Zhou Qingchen said helplessly: "I think we should leave the Cenji Mountains as soon as possible."
Luo Hongyan also frowned: "Will it cover me so soon?"
"Almost." Han Duping replied.
"We have finished exploring the wonders of the Cenji Mountains. It's time to return to our family to report." Zhou Qingchen felt like retreating and didn't plan to go any deeper.
"Mr. Zhou, if I can walk out of the Cenji Mountains alive, I will go to the Zhou family to find you." Pang Jian said softly.
Zhou Qingchen was so anxious that he jumped up and down: "Pang Jian, are you really planning to explore the depths of the strange fog?!"
Pang Jian nodded.
He had a vague feeling that the "strange fog" was the place where his father disappeared. He always heard people say that all the cultivators in this world regarded the "strange fog" as the greatest forbidden area between heaven and earth.
But he just wanted to take the risk and go in to take a look.
"Pang Jian, do you know how dangerous this is?!"
Zhou Qingchen glared at him and growled.
"I can imagine." Pang Jian replied.
"No, you don't!"
Zhou Qingchen shook his head vigorously, took a deep breath, and said, "Since I can remember, all the words related to the strange fog are often accompanied by death, unknown terror, and mysterious disappearance. Not to mention practitioners like you and me, people who are hundreds or thousands of times stronger than us will also die in it!"
Han Duping and Luo Hongyan didn't say anything. Their expressions were very heavy and they obviously didn't want to touch the "strange fog".
Su Meng stared blankly at the mountains in the far north.
Seeing Pang Jian remained silent after making up his mind, Luo Hongyan knew that no one could persuade this guy to change his mind, so she said, "Well, we still have some time, so why not think about the current situation first."
"Zhou Qingchen, the herbs that Su Meng and I picked are very valuable, but we don't have a storage device. We need to use your magic device to store the herbs we picked. Let's discuss how to distribute them."
"Let me make it clear that I will not take any of the spiritual stones obtained from the herbs, but Pang Jian must take the lion's share!"
The last time on the top floor of the tower, Zhou Qingchen had an argument with her because of Pang Jian’s possession of the Xuanyin Stone.
This time, she took the initiative to fight for benefits for Pang Jian so that Pang Jian could get the biggest share.
Zhou Qingchen, who was determined to persuade Pang Jian to change his mind, sighed and nodded, and said to Pang Jian: "Think about the strange fog again."
Pang Jian looked at Luo Hongyan curiously and nodded: "Yeah."
In the next few days, Luo Hongyan still instructed Su Meng to pick herbs everywhere on the island.
Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping sometimes wandered around Wulan Lake and sometimes walked around the surrounding areas, trying to see if they could find Dong Tianze.
Pang Jian used the existing spirit stones in his hands to gather spiritual power day and night.
Gradually, the pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the island began to become polluted.
It's another evening.
After everyone gathered together again, Luo Hongyan said, "There was a ban on the island, which restricted the departure of spirits and ghosts, and also had the effect of purifying spiritual power. Now, due to the death of the black turtle and the departure of the beast soul, the ban has disappeared."
"The ban has been lifted, causing the spiritual energy to become even more polluted. Now there are no herbs worth collecting for me."
She and Su Meng had nothing to do.
"The strange fog has passed over the mountain."
Han Duping suddenly let out a strange cry.
Pang Jian looked suddenly towards the north of Wulan Lake, and saw thick gray fog slowly emerging behind those nearby mountains.
…
(End of this chapter)