102: No, he's going to vomit.

Old Gang Leader coughed twice, looking gravely ill. “Third Brother, is what you said true?”

“Of course… it’s true.” Xiong Mao hesitated noticeably when he said this.

This was also what the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley had taught him, because she understood Bao Hui and knew that he was inherently suspicious, so she deliberately set a trap for Bao Hui to fall into.

As expected, when Bao Hui heard this, he almost jumped up. “You’re talking nonsense! If you really went out, would no one have seen you? You clearly escaped one after the other with the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley!”

The more Bao Hui spoke, the more he felt his judgment was accurate. “But you have no relationship with the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley, you didn’t even know her before, so there’s only one explanation.”

“What?” Xiong Mao’s eyes widened, eager to hear how Bao Hui would explain.

Bao Hui walked down, looked at Xiong Mao, and said, “You’ve always been single, with no woman by your side. So when you saw the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley, you fell for her. You then sent the guards away, intending to do something improper to her, but improper operation led to the chains being undone, and she took the opportunity to escape.”

“And you, afraid of taking responsibility, wanted to catch her back, so you ran after her, right?”

After Bao Hui finished speaking, he looked at Xiong Mao smugly, as if he thought he was very clever.

Xiong Mao’s inner thoughts: “…”

But on the surface, he immediately pretended that his lie had been discovered, and said guiltily, “It’s not like that, you’re talking nonsense.”

Bao Hui then became even more certain of his judgment. “You don’t need to say anything more, Xiong Mao, Xiong Mao, I never would have thought… if you needed a woman, you only had to say so! Don’t we, the Axe Gang, have enough women we’ve captured? Why did you have to provoke the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley?”

Xiong Mao said nothing, as if his secret had been exposed.

But in his heart, he thought: The Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley was right. As long as he showed hesitation, Bao Hui would make up the lie for him.

“Alright, since it’s just a farce, let it go. A minor punishment to serve as a warning. Third Brother, hand over twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones, and this matter will be over. However, the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley must be captured and brought back; this task is entrusted to you,” the Old Gang Leader said.

“Ah?” This was something Xiong Mao had not expected.

“I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Once the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley is captured and brought back, I can personally arrange for her to be given to you as your wife,” the Old Gang Leader coughed twice again.

Xiong Mao: ???

Regardless, his goal was achieved. “Yes, Gang Leader, I will definitely bring her back as soon as possible!”

So, when Zhuang Sanming, Su Duo, and Ximen Chuifeng arrived on the green train, they saw Xiong Mao cultivating in one of the seats.

Before they could even ask, subtitles appeared:

【Welcome aboard this train. Please sit tight and hold on. Please purchase a ticket to board. The ticket price is one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones.】

“Here you go!”

Su Duo held the ticket money for all three of them, making it convenient for Lin Feng to give them three tickets at once.

【Welcome aboard this train. Please sit tight and hold on.】

After getting their tickets, Su Duo and the others walked further inside.

“You’re here.” Xiong Mao heard the sound, looked up, and indeed it was the three of them.

“You got out so quickly? Didn’t your Old Gang Leader suspect you?” Su Duo looked at him in disbelief.

“He did, but Bao Hui covered for me. Anyway, I managed to muddle through,” Xiong Mao said. “However, all the low-grade spirit stones I promised you were confiscated as a penalty. I only brought this much out.”

He poured out the low-grade spirit stones from his storage bag; there were only two thousand in total.

“The Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley already anticipated this. Two thousand low-grade spirit stones it is; it’s better than nothing,” Ximen Chuifeng collected the low-grade spirit stones.

“I’ll bring more when I come out tomorrow. This time was too rushed, and I was afraid they would get suspicious.”

In truth, Xiong Mao was very nervous. Although he had done as the Valley Master of Hundred Flowers Valley instructed, he was still unsure.

However, the Old Gang Leader insisted that he bring her back again, which meant his conjecture was correct: destroying Hundred Flowers Valley was indeed a conspiracy.

“Alright, let’s talk more after we get off the train. The low-grade spirit stones have been paid, so we can’t just not cultivate,” Zhuang Sanming reminded them.

“You’re right.”

So, all four of them sat down and entered a state of cultivation.

Before closing his eyes, Ximen Chuifeng suddenly noticed that two bottles of water were missing from the table by the train door.

What was going on? The last two days he came, there were always three bottles displayed together on the table!

Could it be… someone bought two bottles?

No, it was also possible that two people bought two bottles.

If the effect wasn’t good, no one would buy it.

Ximen Chuifeng believed his analysis was correct, so he thought that when it was time to get off the train, he would buy this last bottle.

As a genius intelligence peddler, one must have a very keen sense for new things.

At the same time, Tong Changshan, who had gotten off the train and returned to his temporary small wooden house, closed the door, locked it from the inside, and then propped a stick against it.

“Phew… no one should suddenly come in now.”

Tong Changshan touched his chest, then took out the train exclusive water he had put in his storage bag.

“What’s so magical about this water?”

Tong Changshan placed the water on the table and stared at it for a while.

He found that it didn’t seem special at all.

Placed in the sun… still nothing special.

No matter how he looked at it, it was just a bottle of ordinary mineral water.

But if that were truly the case, why would those people who boarded after him buy it?

Never mind, he’d try it first. Even if it was just mineral water, at most he’d have wasted some money; it wouldn’t kill him.

So he gently unscrewed the cap, stared intently at the water in the bottle, then closed his eyes and drank it straight down.

There was a tragic grandeur, like a warrior marching off never to return.

After drinking, he opened his eyes, raised his arm, and looked at it. “It doesn’t feel like anything?”

Could it really be ordinary mineral water?

It shouldn’t be!

Tong Changshan stood up and moved around. At first, he felt nothing, but very quickly, he realized he smelled terrible.

“Oh my, why is it so stinky?”

Tong Changshan frowned, sniffing himself, and found that all the foul odor was coming from his body.

Lots of black sludge was oozing out of the pores on his arms and legs.

“Ugh—”

No, he was going to throw up.

He quickly opened the door and rushed out, jumping into a ditch.

“Mmm… that’s better.”

The ditch was shallow, so there was no fear of drowning. Tong Changshan soaked in it and finally felt that he didn’t smell so bad anymore.

But what exactly was going on?

He had only drunk a bottle of water, so why did so much sludge suddenly come out of his body?

Tong Changshan couldn’t quite figure it out.

Wait!

He suddenly remembered that once, when he was stealing from a prominent family in a certain Wall, he had stolen a Marrow Cleansing Pill. The instructions on it seemed to say that after taking it, one’s body would start to smell.