Chapter 4263 — Obtaining the Infant Ginseng
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
With this single stalk of infant ginseng now in hand, even if they accomplished nothing else on this journey to the Southern Isle, it would already count as a bumper harvest with coffers overflowing. Life truly was a matter of unpredictable fortune—coming to the Lu Feng Forest this time had indeed been a wise move.
"Wonderful!" After digesting it for quite a while, Huang Xiaotao finally accepted the reality that this thing really was infant ginseng, and only then did she brighten with joy. Yet as she recalled what had just happened, her expression dimmed once more. "It's just a pity about Chu Bubai and Guo Dengtao and the others…"
Though only a scant few days had passed since they first met, and they had exchanged no great deal of words, in Huang Xiaotao's eyes these people could after all be counted as her teammates—all of them had ventured in together for the sake of the infant ginseng. And now the infant ginseng had fallen into their hands by accident, while the people were gone and everything had changed.
Chu Bubai had died miserably right before their eyes, just like that. As for Guo Dengtao, Wang Feng, and Feng Hongyu, though she had not witnessed it herself, even the strongest among them, Chu Bubai, had met such an end—no guessing was needed to know that they too must have met with disaster.
Over the years, Huang Xiaotao had long since grown accustomed to the rhythm of trial missions, and she had weathered no small number of blows from teammates dying horribly. Anyone else might well have grown numb to it long ago, but as a girl soft on the outside and firm within, she likely would never manage to turn a blind eye.
Even for these people she had known only briefly, with whom she had no real bond at all and who had come together purely for the sake of profit, Huang Xiaotao still regarded them from the bottom of her heart as teammates, and grieved from the bottom of her heart at their wretched deaths—rather than secretly rejoicing over the ebbing of rivals in the contest for gain.
"Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng and the others—truly a great pity…" Wei Zhao patted Huang Xiaotao's shoulder in consolation, then shifted his tone. "But as for Chu Bubai, he deserved his death a hundred times over."
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Huang Xiaotao could not help but start. Like the others, all along the way she had thought Chu Bubai was actually a rather steady and dependable sort.
"Xiaotao, have you forgotten what he said right before he died?" Wei Zhao shook his head.
"What he said before he died?" Huang Xiaotao thought it over, utterly baffled. "Something about sacrificing five Golden Core experts, I think…"
"Exactly. Guo Dengtao and the rest knowing him beforehand is one thing, but you and I were complete strangers to him. When it comes to a secret as weighty as the infant ginseng, any normal person would never bring it out to share, would they?" Wei Zhao gave a cold laugh. "Yet not only did he do so, he even invited us to join him. Doesn't that strike you as fishy, Xiaotao? There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. In the world of cultivation, such good fortune is even less likely."
"Now that you mention it, it really is strange." Only then did Huang Xiaotao catch on, belatedly. She had left everything to Wei Zhao's judgment and had not thought so much of it before, but now that he brought it up, she was suddenly enlightened.
"So the five Golden Core experts he spoke of sacrificing before he died—it's quite clear which five he meant." Wei Zhao's voice was grave. "Apart from Chu Bubai himself: you, me, Guo Dengtao, Wang Feng, and Feng Hongyu. That makes exactly five Golden Core experts. According to what he said, once the five of us were sacrificed, the infant ginseng would lose its attacking power. Then he alone would reap the spoils. His heart was fit to be cut out."