Cui Ziming was so jealous that his eyes nearly spouted flames as he stared at Su Hao's arm.
Cui Hao secretly clicked his tongue, deeply shocked. This seemingly dull-witted Junior Brother Su was actually incredible!
Wei Ying and Zhang Yanyan kept sizing up Su Hao. No matter how they looked at him, this man seemed utterly ordinary, with even a pitifully low cultivation level. Could he have some kind of special constitution?
"Junior Brother Su..."
Liu Mei released Su Hao's arm and smoothed the thin gauze over her chest. Her smile held a hint of gloom. "I really couldn't tell. You've got quite some nerve."
"Er, I couldn't help myself. I'm truly sorry.
"Mainly because Senior Sister Liu was so proactive and enthusiastic, taking the initiative to link arms with me.
"If it had been Senior Brothers Cui Hao or Cui Ziming instead, ask them—could they have held themselves back?"
Su Hao scratched his head with an "honest" look.
"Su Hao..." Cui Ziming wanted to speak but stopped, unable to find a reason to reprimand him. It had indeed been Liu Mei who had approached him first.
"No matter, Junior Brother Su. Once we're inside the secret realm, we'll have a good time getting close again!"
Liu Mei placed a hand on Su Hao's shoulder. "But I heard your master went traveling. Why did you come out alone to seek death in the secret realm?"
"Er, it was just a sudden whim. I heard the secret realm was full of opportunities, so I thought I'd join in the fun." Su Hao continued to wear a simple-minded expression.
"Are you here to seek an opportunity, or are you planning to change course midway and flee the Golden Light Sect?"
Liu Mei leaned toward the latter possibility, yet she always felt that something was off about Su Hao.
A gentle, waterlike stream of spiritual power slipped into Su Hao's body and circulated several times.
She sensed that Su Hao's blood and qi were abundant, and that his yang energy was faintly stronger than an ordinary person's.
His Qi Refining Level 5 spiritual power was of decent quality—not something that could be condensed from some trash cultivation method.
She slightly furrowed her brows, suspicion showing in her eyes. "Junior Brother Su, why does Lin Zhi Shan favor you so much? What kind of miraculous pills did he give you? He should have had no time to look after you recently, yet your strength has advanced so rapidly."
"If I hadn't been harvesting from medicinal slaves day after day, your strength would have nearly caught up with mine. Your spiritual power is steady and solid, and your meridians are robust. You don't look like someone cultivating a technique that grants rapid success."
Liu Mei was filled with doubts. Before this, she had never taken Su Hao seriously.
For a moment, Su Hao could not answer.
Relying on Breath Concealment Technique and the Hidden Kill Talent, he had disguised his strength as Qi Refining Level 5—not too high, not too low, and unlikely to draw anyone's attention.
He had never expected Liu Mei to catch up with him.
If he revealed his Qi Refining Level 8 strength, wouldn't it shock Liu Mei senseless?
"Su Hao is Alchemist Lin's disciple!" Cui Hao exclaimed.
Cui Ziming, Wei Ying, and Zhang Yanyan all showed a trace of lingering fear in their eyes. If they had known this earlier, they absolutely would not have let Su Hao join their group. Of course, finding out now was not too late!
Su Hao helplessly shrugged and said to Liu Mei, "Sigh, Senior Sister Liu, I don't know either. I can't even recognize the pills Master gave me, but their effects are powerful. Thanks to his care, I have the cultivation I do now."
Liu Mei gave a cold laugh. She was in no hurry to get an answer. Once they reached the secret realm and no one was around to disturb them, she would have plenty of ways to make Su Hao confess.
This brat was too cunning—not a single word of truth! She had already confirmed that she had not bewitched Su Hao the last time!
She then leaped onto a nearby bench and sat cross-legged in meditation.
Cui Ziming and the others did not dare disturb her. They gathered to the side and communicated through secret voice transmission.
Su Hao leaned against the railing and pretended to rest with his eyes closed while secretly pondering a countermeasure.
"Sigh, that girl Xiaomei has harvested from so many promising disciples that the Outer Sect Disciples are now in a state of decline. Part of the blame lies with her."
Inside the small building, Fang Yunrong shook his head helplessly and sighed regretfully. "It's a pity. The big fish eats the little fish, and the little fish eats the shrimp. She harvests others, but she probably never imagined that one day, she would be harvested by that old ancestor."
After half a day, the Flying Ship arrived at the Blood Soul Secret Realm.
The blood mist before them was as dense as a city wall, stretching as far as the eye could see. Within it, towering blood trees appeared and vanished, while beast roars occasionally rang out.
The Flying Ship stopped when it reached the valley entrance.
Some people jumped down from the Flying Ship one after another and ventured into the blood mist.
"Junior Brother Su, shall we go?" Liu Mei stepped closer and raised her slender hand, wanting to link arms with Su Hao, but lowered it again.
"After you, Junior Brother Su." Cui Hao wore an obsequious smile.
After learning that Su Hao was Lin Zhi Shan's disciple, their attitudes had clearly changed.
Su Hao stepped forward and jumped down. The moment he landed, he dashed toward the mountain forest.
Liu Mei followed like his shadow, maintaining a distance of half a meter. She giggled. "Junior Brother Su has quite good footwork, but if you keep this up, you won't be able to shake me off."
"Not at all. With Senior Sister Liu accompanying me, those Senior Brothers wish they could replace me. This opportunity is rare—I wouldn't shake you off."
Su Hao suddenly stopped.
"Hahaha, you're overthinking it. Anyone with a bit of sense would have scattered first and hurried to avoid me. They know very well that I might come looking for them at any moment."
Liu Mei glanced at the figures rapidly departing in the distance.
While the two were talking, a blood-colored giant wolf, a zhang tall and covered in rotting flesh, burst from the bushes and lunged at Su Hao, whose aura was the weakest.
"It's a Rotten Blood Wolf."
"Attack its waist! Careful—its blood is highly poisonous. Don't let it splash you!"
Cui Ziming issued orders. Working in perfect coordination with Cui Hao, Zhang Yanyan, and Wei Ying, he surrounded the blood wolf in an instant.
The Qi Refining Level 5 Rotten Blood Wolf required all four of them to work together. After dozens of exchanges, they finally managed to kill it with great difficulty.
"A Qi Refining Level 5 Rotten Blood Wolf. Its Wolf Heart is worth five low-grade spirit stones. We made a profit the moment we came in. Hahaha."
Cui Ziming skillfully dug out the Wolf Heart, then glanced at Su Hao. "Junior Brother Su, this is also why we invited you into the group. Ferocious beasts have thick hides and tough flesh, and most possess special abilities. Our cultivators have weak magic power and no restraining artifacts, so we're at a disadvantage."
"With my Qi Refining Level 7 strength, if I wanted to kill it alone, my chances would only be seventy to eighty percent. And there are countless ferocious beasts in the Blood Soul Secret Realm. A battle could attract other ferocious beasts at any time."
"Cultivators who come to the secret realm basically travel in groups."
For the sake of Lin Zhi Shan's reputation, Cui Ziming restrained his impulse to mock him.
Liu Mei nodded with a coquettish laugh. "Su Hao, you've seen it yourself. With your strength, coming to the Blood Soul Secret Realm now is simply seeking death. Aren't you going to thank Junior Brother Ziming and the others?"
"Thank you, all four of you." Su Hao clasped his fists in thanks.
"No need. Thanks to you, Senior Sister Liu is traveling with us. With her guarding us, we won't be in any danger on this trip."
Cui Ziming gazed at Liu Mei with deep affection.
For the next two hours, Su Hao acted perfectly justified. Since these people thought he lacked the strength, he simply became a spectator, watching the four of them kill one ferocious beast after another.
Liu Mei likewise treated it like a spring outing, showing no intention of helping at all.
Only after all four had suffered minor injuries did they quietly conceal their auras and begin avoiding the ferocious beasts.
Night gradually deepened.
The group rested inside a cave.
Liu Mei sat on a stone. Before long, a pink, fragrant mist began to billow from her and drift toward everyone.
Su Hao reacted swiftly and retreated some distance.
Cui Ziming and the others noticed nothing. In an instant, they were surrounded by the mist, left dizzy and standing blankly in place.
Pain appeared on Zhang Yanyan's face. Her body visibly withered, while streams of invisible energy seeped from her pores and entered Liu Mei's body. The process lasted the time it took an incense stick to burn.
A skeletal corpse, withered as firewood, collapsed onto the ground, its limbs broken.
Liu Mei wiped the corner of her lips and shook her head in disgust. "This wretched woman had no pure yin essence left at all. Her blood and qi were both depleted. She must have indulged in lust quite often, and she cultivated an inferior technique as well. Her essence was far too poor."
Su Hao stood at the cave entrance and watched this scene without interfering or fleeing.
He silently absorbed a cluster of power that emerged from the corpse. Absorbed Talent Power: Frost Condensation.
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