Reunion

"With cultivation like that, you still dared to run wild!" The Medicine Slave returned to Ye Tong's side, picked up the bundle from the ground, and said without the slightest ripple in his expression, "Young Master, let's continue on our way! The sooner we get out, the sooner we can sell these things."

"Alright!"

Ye Tong sighed at the man's corpse and started down the path they had come from. He did not even spare another glance for the dozen or so cultivators who had been besieging the Colorful Leopard.

Here.

The stench of blood hung thick in the air.

The dozen or so adventurers stopped fighting one after another, allowing the three battered Colorful Leopards to flee in miserable disarray. With shock written across their faces, they watched Ye Tong and the Medicine Slave vanish into the distant forest before rushing toward the Innate Realm man's corpse. After one of them examined it, he finally shook his head.

"The captain is dead!"

The dozen or so people fell silent.

Only after a long while did a sturdy young man mutter, "That youth is the target of the bounty issued by the Tong Family of Cold Mountain City. His name is Ye Tong. I don't know the older one, but he must be an Innate Realm expert."

Suddenly, a burly man said, "I understand now. Damn Tong Family, they deliberately sent us here to die! Rumor has it that Tong Kaishan, that wastrel from the Tong Family, had one arm cut off by Ye Tong. Before this, I'd been wondering why the Tong Family didn't come out to seek revenge on Ye Tong themselves, instead issuing a bounty and asking others to avenge them. Now I finally understand. It's because there's an Innate Realm expert beside Ye Tong, one even stronger than our captain."

At once.

The dozen or so adventurers stirred restlessly. Their faces revealed both fury and alarm, and deep resentment for the Tong Family took root in their hearts. So the Tong Family had sent them here to die!

Luckily!

Luckily, their captain had wanted to keep all the benefits for himself and attacked them directly, only to be effortlessly killed in return.

Ye Tong and the Medicine Slave stepped across steep mountain rocks as they continued onward. The small incident just now had not affected them in the slightest.

"The Tong Family is rather interesting."

The Medicine Slave laughed. "See? I told you! The Tong Family head is a coward. Even though Master has been missing for a year, he still doesn't dare touch anyone from our Precious Medicine Workshop. What a scheme they came up with—using his wife's name to issue a bounty to the outside world. This old servant would wager everything that if we marched to their doorstep, once our strength was enough to crush them, the Tong Family head would definitely push out his wife of many years to take the blame and leave her for us to deal with."

Ye Tong sighed. "It seems I thought too highly of the Tong Family before."

The Medicine Slave smiled. "There's nothing to be done about it! We come from the Precious Medicine Workshop. The height at which we stand alone is enough to make many people's courage shatter and their bodies tremble. We used to keep a low profile, so we never caused any trouble. But Tong Kaishan rammed his head right into our doorstep. What you did did not disgrace the Precious Medicine Workshop's signboard."

Ye Tong rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Does our Precious Medicine Workshop even still have a signboard? It was burned to ashes long ago."

"Cough, cough..."

The Medicine Slave gave a dry laugh, lowered his head to watch the road, and said nothing more.

Whoosh...

A signal arrow shot in from afar and struck a tree four or five meters in front of Ye Tong and the Medicine Slave. Immediately afterward, several figures darted over and blocked their path.

Ye Tong stared blankly at them and muttered to himself, "No way, right? Could it be that we have bodies that attract calamity and disaster? Have we drawn someone else's killing intent again?"

The Medicine Slave asked, "Who are you?"

The leading man cupped his fists and said, "We are from the War Tiger Adventurer Team. From afar, we saw that you were carrying quite a few bundles out of the mountains. Those are your gains from the mountains, right? Would you be willing to make a deal with our War Tiger Adventurer Team and sell all these things to us?"

The War Tiger Adventurer Team?

Ye Tong recalled Crazy War Heaven, the burly man who had tried to recruit him at the arena in Cold Mountain City. He seemed to be the Second Boss of the War Tiger Adventurer Team.

The Medicine Slave nodded. "Your adventurer team has always had a decent reputation. Young Master, carrying so many things really is inconvenient while traveling. We might as well sell them to the War Tiger Adventurer Team. I have never heard of them murdering for loot, nor have I heard of them quoting black-hearted prices against their conscience."

Ye Tong said, "Since you rate them so highly, there is nothing to worry about. Friends, lead the way!"

Friends?

The leading man looked Ye Tong over in surprise. He truly had not expected this youth to address them in such a manner. Was he young but worldly?

Inside the valley.

Four massive tents stood supported between towering ancient trees, while dozens of sturdy men stood guard. The atmosphere here was exceedingly solemn. Although one group was still trading with the War Tiger Adventurer Team, they did not dare make loud noises, only quietly haggling with the person in charge of the team's merchant dealings.

"Two hours. Only two hours remain."

A rough voice rumbled out from one of the tents, startling more than a dozen birds into flight. The next moment, Crazy War Heaven swept aside the hanging door curtain and strode out.

As Ye Tong approached, he recognized Crazy War Heaven's familiar face and immediately smiled.

Crazy War Heaven looked toward the people trading on his left, and his fury deepened at once. He cursed loudly, "Chu Lao Jiu, you damned bastard! Third is practically dying, yet you still have the mood to trade with others? Is making money more important to you than Third's life? No more business. Tell them all to get lost!"

In an instant.

Ye Tong, who had been walking over, stopped.

No more business?

Someone was dying?

Could his luck really be this bad?

A middle-aged man wearing a small round cap and a gray robe turned around. He was somewhat thin, but had an exceptionally shrewd look.

Upon hearing Crazy War Heaven's curses, the man turned with an awkward expression and spread his hands helplessly. "Second Brother, I can't do anything either! If I were stronger, I'd have gone to catch that Thousand-tailed Snake. Staying inside the tent is too suffocating. I might as well come out and collect some goods."

Crazy War Heaven took a breath and asked loudly, "Where's Big Brother? Has he not returned yet?"

Chu Lao Jiu shook his head. "Big Brother took people to continue searching for that Thousand-tailed Snake. He hasn't returned yet."

Crazy War Heaven said angrily, "By the time they find it, the day lilies will have gone cold."

As he spoke.

He turned his head and looked into the distance, only to see the backs of an old man and a youth turning away, carrying seven or eight bundles as they prepared to leave.

"Huh?"

"That back looks somewhat familiar."

Crazy War Heaven frowned, but immediately cast the thought aside. His heart was full of worry, and he had no idea whether his Third Brother Ying Lei could survive this ordeal.

"Damn poisonous snake."

Crazy War Heaven spat to one side and cursed as he prepared to turn back into the tent. Yet his body stiffened at that very moment, and the youth's familiar back from just now surfaced in his mind again.

Was it him?

Crazy War Heaven's eyes widened larger than bronze bells. His figure shot forward like a cannonball, chasing into the distance. Within barely a dozen breaths, he caught up to Ye Tong and the Medicine Slave and blocked their way.

"Little brother, it really is you?" Crazy War Heaven cried in wild delight.

"Who is it really?"

A woman's voice came from afar. Soon, more than a dozen figures leaped in front of them. Mou Xing's face was filled with exhaustion, her lips slightly cracked, and her eyes bloodshot.

Crazy War Heaven asked urgently, "Big Sister, did you catch the Thousand-tailed Snake?"

Mou Xing shook her head bitterly. "We didn't find it."

Crazy War Heaven revealed a disappointed expression. Then, after turning back to Ye Tong, he stepped forward, grabbed Ye Tong's wrist, and asked hopefully, "Little brother, can you detoxify poison?"

Ye Tong's brows furrowed slightly. "The Thousand-tailed Snake's venom?"

Crazy War Heaven nodded repeatedly and said urgently, "That's right, the Thousand-tailed Snake's venom. The Third Boss of our War Tiger Adventurer Team—my third brother—was bitten by a Thousand-tailed Snake and poisoned. We used a special method to seal his qi and blood, temporarily suppressing the venom's spread, but too much time has passed. At most, he has two hours left. If we still can't find a way to detoxify him, my third brother will die when the poison erupts! Tell me, can you cure this poison?"

Ye Tong was silent for a moment before saying, "I cannot guarantee it one hundred percent, because I do not have an antidote for the Thousand-tailed Snake."

Crazy War Heaven asked, "What do you mean, you don't have an antidote? And what do you mean, you can't guarantee it one hundred percent? Speak plainly. If you can, you can. If you can't, you can't."

Ye Tong said, "Though I do not have a targeted antidote, I can try using other methods to detoxify him. However, the chance of success is at most seventy percent."

"Really?"

Mou Xing looked at Ye Tong in disbelief. That was Thousand-tailed Snake venom! A deadly poison that ranked among the top fifty in the Hundred Poisons Compendium. Without a targeted antidote, he had a seventy percent chance of curing it?

The first time Ye Tong saw Mou Xing, he had been struck by her beauty. The wild charm radiating from every inch of her body could stir a man's desire to conquer. However, Ye Tong had no thoughts in that direction now. Hearing Mou Xing's doubts, he merely smiled indifferently and offered no explanation.

"Let him try first. Whether he succeeds or not, we will remember this favor from our little brother!" Crazy War Heaven understood what Ye Tong meant. It was as if a great savior had fallen from the heavens, allowing him to see hope. Before the eyes of many people, he pulled Ye Tong into the massive tent.

Ye Tong surveyed the furnishings inside the tent before his gaze fell upon the simple bed. A young man about twenty-seven or twenty-eight lay there. If not for his darkened eye sockets and purple lips, he would have possessed something of a handsome young scholar's air.

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasized observation, listening and smelling, inquiry, and pulse diagnosis.

During the nearly hundred years Ye Tong had spent on Earth afterward, he had researched and studied many things, including traditional Chinese medicine. His medical skills in that field were extensive, and compared to many veteran physicians of traditional Chinese medicine, he was not inferior by much.

"Do you have silver needles?"

Crazy War Heaven shook his head. "Why would I carry things for embroidery?"

Mou Xing did not know what Ye Tong intended to do, but she still said, "I have some. How many do you need?"

Ye Tong said, "At least twenty."

Mou Xing turned and left the tent. Before long, she returned carrying a wooden box. After opening its lid and revealing a row of silver needles, she said, "They're all here. There are more than twenty."

Ye Tong nodded. "Prepare candlelight, a dagger, cloth strips, and a basin of clean warm water."