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The tension was palpable, and no one dared to make a sound.

The one who finally broke the silence was, surprisingly, another familiar male voice: "This... did I come at a bad time?"

Xu Ye turned around, furious, only to see Zou Wu standing there with an awkward grin on his face.

"I've come to collect the Zhuohuo Sunflower."

He scanned the cave briefly and gave a light cough: "I wonder if Junior Sister Ning Ning's Jinyu Furnace..."

"It's working fine now."

Ning Ning forced a smile, picked up the palm-sized furnace nearby, and after a moment of hesitation, led Zou Wu out of the cave.

No one noticed the flash of smug triumph in the man's dark pupils.

He wasn't a fool. To verify whether that furnace was real or fake, he had long been lying in ambush near the Zhuohuo Sunflower patch. Sure enough, not long after, he had spotted Ning Ning coming to harvest the flowers.

The young girl was naive and inexperienced; she actually thought such a trick could fool him. He figured she was playing a long game, waiting for him to voluntarily offer up high-grade spiritual plants before disappearing with both the person and the treasures.

Well, he simply wouldn't play along. He kept handing her Heaven Grade trinkets, enjoying the pleasure of having his Heaven Grade spiritual plants doubled indefinitely.

Little girl, you want to play games with me?

Upon receiving another pile of Heaven Grade goods, Ning Ning's expression dimmed as expected, yet she still promised to return double the amount to him before long.

The two soon parted ways. Just as Zou Wu was about to leave, he caught the unexpected sound of footsteps behind him.

He whipped around to find Xu Ye, who had just been clashing with Ning Ning in the cave.

"Junior Brother Xu."

Zou Wu studied his gloomy expression, unable to guess the reason for him suddenly chasing after him: "Is something the matter?"

Xu Ye gave a cold laugh, looking down at him: "You still don't get it? They are scamming you."

Right, that whole group thought he was a gullible idiot.

Zou Wu raised an eyebrow and asked him via voice transmission: "And so?"

Seeing his calm demeanor, the youth before him finally revealed a hint of panic: "You... you knew about it all along?"

"That wasn't hard to figure out."

He chuckled smugly: "As for you, suddenly telling me about this, I assume you want to get some benefits out of me?"

"As expected of a Senior Brother from the Haoran Sect."

Xu Ye relaxed slightly, his hand subconsciously clenching into a fist: "I want to cooperate with you to get our hands on the Heaven Heart Grass."

Zou Wu looked somewhat surprised: "Heaven Heart Grass?"

"Even I don't know where Ning Ning keeps it. Soft tactics and pestering don't work; if you want to get your hands on it, you can only use force."

He had been poisoned, and his speech was a bit hazy, but the ferocity in his brow remained sharp as a blade: "Although the elders have decreed that we are not allowed to bully the few with the many, that only applies to normal circumstances—if we have a legitimate reason to deal with her, everything becomes a different matter."

"A legitimate reason?"

"This furnace is nothing but a trap. Her real plan is to wait for you to deliver the precious spiritual plants and then run off. Xiaochong Mountain is so vast that even if you searched for her day and night, you wouldn't necessarily find her. But if you have me, everything will be different."

Xu Ye's voice was cold: "I will use a Communication Talisman to tell you her location, allowing you and the others from the Haoran Sect to intercept her. By then, Ning Ning will be the one who swindled the spiritual plants, and you, as the victim... wouldn't you have sufficient justification to do whatever you want?"

This was the most reliable plan Zou Wu had heard so far.

If he didn't cooperate with Xu Ye, at best he would only end up with a pile of Heaven Grade spiritual plants, which were nothing more than common trash compared to the Heaven Heart Grass.

"However..." He paused for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of mockery and curiosity, "Why would you want to cooperate with me?"

"Who doesn't want the Heaven Heart Grass? Ning Ning only has two leaves on her; there's no way I could get a share. If I cooperate with you, we can split it in half, and I'll still be able to get one leaf."

Xu Ye shrugged: "Besides, you saw it yourself. I've known those two for less than a day. The fact that she could argue with me over a mysterious Charm Cultivator shows she's just a young girl with nothing in her head."

After a brief silence, the young Sword Cultivator suddenly lowered his eyes, revealing a soft expression: "Most importantly, if I can give it to Senior Sister... she might just look at me in a new light."

"Pah! To hell with your 'new light'!"

Outside the Profound Mirror, a group of people were holding back a furious woman: "If Su Qinghan finds out you did something like this, she'll beat you to death! How did I end up teaching a disciple like you? Oh, my aching back!"

After saying this, she looked at Tian Xianzi, who was leisurely drinking tea nearby: "Your disciple has been set up, aren't you even a little angry?"

Tian Xianzi ate a piece of White Jade Cake and grinned: "Let's keep watching. The best part is yet to come."

Rong Ci woke up from a muddled dream, hazily catching sight of two figures not far away.

A blurred male voice reached his ears: "So, tonight? No problem. Besides, that kid Xu Ye doesn't know where he went; it's actually more reassuring if it's just the two of us."

Then came Ning Ning's voice: "Will Xu Ye be alright? I didn't expect him to be so angry... It would be terrible if he ran into danger."

"Your luck is really something."

He Zhizhou laughed: "There's actually a distribution map of Tianhe Stones hidden in this cave, and one of the pieces is right nearby. I heard that stone is very useful for forging swords; it's a treasure seen once in a thousand years—"

Perhaps noticing that he had opened his eyes, the other person was startled, swallowing the rest of his words.

"You're awake!"

Ning Ning's reaction was much more normal than He Zhizhou's. Rong Ci could tell she was genuinely happy: "The wound shouldn't be as painful as before, right? You slept for a very long time."

Rong Ci curled his lips into a smile: "Sorry, did I interrupt you two?"

An awkward silence filled the cave.

"No, not at all!"

He Zhizhou gave a dry laugh: "We were just discussing postpartum care for Spirit Beasts, right, Ning Ning?"