White Mushroom

"Did you manage to save your people, Miss Kannie?"

With no one else around, Chen Lin asked her directly.

Kannie smiled and gave Chen Lin a slight bow. "Thanks to your help, Brother Chen, my people are safe. It will still take a long time for them to recover fully, though."

Surprise crossed Chen Lin's face. She had actually done it!

"Did you meet Xiaohong, the Guardian?" he asked at once. "Was she the one who lifted the transformation rule?"

If a rule like that could be lifted, the Nightmare Realm would become a little less dangerous. However difficult the solution might be, having one was different from facing something impossible to undo.

Kannie looked faintly shaken. "Yes. I entered that place and saw her chained up with a thick chain. I don't know what kind of being could imprison a Guardian. I'd always thought Guardians were among the strongest beings in the Nightmare Realm."

Chen Lin's heart grew heavy. Niuniu was not the only one bound by chains; Xiaohong was too. The other Guardians in the Village were surely in the same state.

"Did you appear directly in the Mushroom Courtyard, or did you visit the Village outside?"

"I appeared right in the courtyard, as you guessed," Kannie replied. "Then the girl ladled me a bowl of mushroom soup from a huge pot and told me to drink it. The soup was black and thick, with a pungent smell. One look told me it was poisonous, but she said that if I refused, I would have to accept her challenge."

"And then?"

Hearing this, Chen Lin relaxed slightly. The chain had not sealed Xiaohong away completely. She could still move, and the rules of the Mushroom Hut had not changed.

Kannie smiled bitterly. "How could I dare accept a