Temptation

Mu Xiaochen and the other two discovered that whenever they interacted with Ye Tong, they seemed to turn into endlessly curious children. In their eyes, Ye Tong was shrouded from head to toe in an aura of mystery. The less they could see through him, the more they wanted to understand him.

Highly toxic venom.

How could it preserve one's life?

And there was what Ye Tong had said earlier. His body had developed certain symptoms—what exactly was going on?

Mu Xiaochen finished the entire bowl of medicinal cuisine. Warmth spread through his body, leaving him exceptionally comfortable. In the end, he still could not resist asking curiously, "Ye Tong, do you need poisons?"

"Mm."

Ye Tong answered without even raising his head.

Mu Xiaochen said, "If you tell me exactly what has gone wrong with your body, I can tell you something that will be an enormous piece of good news for you."

Ye Tong glanced at him and said, "If you're full, then go back where you came from."

"You..."

Mu Xiaochen was furious.

After quite a while, he said unhappily, "Since you don't want to talk about it, then I won't ask. As for that matter, there's no harm in telling you. Two months from now, there'll be a large auction in the county city. Among the auction items, there should be quite a few poisons you need."

Ye Tong smiled noncommittally. The toxins in his body were growing more severe. The further things progressed, the stronger the poisons he would need. Judging from his experience over the past year, in at most another year, the ordinary poisonous medicinal ingredients in Cold Mountain City would no longer be able to meet his needs.

But at a large auction, who could guarantee there would be medicinal ingredients with fierce toxicity? Or venomous insects?

There was no basis for it.

He was unwilling to waste his time.

Mu Xiaochen noticed that Ye Tong did not believe him and immediately said angrily, "I'm not lying to you. As far as I know, a Blood Demon Worm will be auctioned there. You understand poisons, so you should have heard of the Blood Demon Worm, right?"

"What did you say?"

Ye Tong abruptly rose to his feet, his sharp eyes fixed fiercely on Mu Xiaochen.

It was Mu Xiaochen's first time seeing Ye Tong react so intensely. He immediately felt rather pleased with himself and said, "You heard correctly. A Blood Demon Worm will be sold at that auction two months from now. But as for the price... hehe, even if you paid with those few dozen Silver Crystals, you probably still couldn't afford it."

Two months from now.

A sharp gleam flashed in Ye Tong's eyes. He made up his mind to make a trip to the county city and bid for that Blood Demon Worm.

One had to know that the Blood Demon Worm was ranked twenty-fourth among the deadly poisons in the Hundred Poisons Compendium. He did not need to use a poison of such potency for the time being, but what about a year later? Two years later? If the problem with his Poison Body remained unresolved, he could only use increasingly poisonous substances to fight poison with poison and preserve his life.

Others might turn pale at the mere mention of it and avoid it like the plague, but in his eyes, it was a priceless treasure that could save his life.

A smile played on Mu Xiaochen's lips as he asked, "Are you going or not?"

Ye Tong said decisively, "I'm going."

Mu Xiaochen burst into laughter and clapped his hands. "Then I'll wait for you in the county city. Once you arrive, come directly to the County Prince's Manor to find me."

Ye Tong asked in confusion, "What would I find you for?"

"Uh..."

Mu Xiaochen's expression stiffened, then he said awkwardly, "I'm afraid you won't have enough gold and silver and won't be able to afford it then. I can lend you some money. Besides, we came to your home as guests and drank your medicinal cuisine. We're already friends, aren't we? When you come to the county city, shouldn't I, the dignified Heir Apparent of the county city, show you some hospitality as the host?"

"That makes sense."

Ye Tong nodded approvingly and said, "Then this bowl of medicinal cuisine will be free of charge."

"What?"

Mu Xiaochen's tone shot up eight octaves as he asked in disbelief, "The medicinal cuisine... you were planning to charge us for it earlier?"

Ye Tong deliberately wore an expression of utter justification and said, "Your family has great wealth, with gold and silver as plentiful as sand and stones. Naturally, you wouldn't care about a bowl of medicinal cuisine. But I'm so poor that my pockets jingle. How could I have spare money to entertain outsiders who aren't ordinary?"

"Outsiders who aren't ordinary?"

Ye Tong said, "You are now."

A surge of anger lodged in Mu Xiaochen's chest, making him so depressed he wanted to ram his head into a wall. If not for Ye Tong's final sentence, "You are now," he truly would have wanted to slap this brat to death.

"When you come to the county city, remember to find me." With that, Mu Xiaochen turned and left. He truly did not want to stay here any longer and invite more frustration.

Yu Wanmei glanced at Mu Xiaochen's departing back and covered her mouth as she chuckled. Then she took a jade pendant from her robes and pressed it into Ye Tong's hand. "Little Brother Ye Tong, once you reach the county city, come to the Yu Family first. This jade pendant is proof of my identity. Once the Yu Family servants see it, they won't stop you."

"Thank you, Sister Yu."

Ye Tong did not refuse. Once he reached the county city, this identity-representing jade pendant might spare him quite a bit of trouble.

In the end.

Mu Xiaochen left with his two confidantes, and the Precious Medicine Workshop once again fell into a quiet atmosphere.

Actually.

Before Poison Demon Huo Lanqiu disappeared, he had indeed left behind a great deal of wealth. There had been fifty thousand taels of Blue Gold alone. But Medicine Slave insisted on brewing medicinal cuisine for Ye Tong every day, and the expense was even greater than Ye Tong's purchases of medicinal ingredients. That was what ultimately left the two of them penniless.

The former Ye Tong had not felt there was anything wrong with it, but the current Ye Tong felt that what he had eaten in the past had not been medicinal cuisine at all. He had been chewing mouthful after mouthful of Blue Silver and Blue Gold.

"That really is extravagant."

Ye Tong looked at Medicine Slave and asked, "How much money do you still have?"

Medicine Slave shook his head and said, "It's all spent."

"..."

Ye Tong was a little dazed. If he remembered correctly, after selling the Purple Coffin for five hundred taels of Blue Gold, he had only taken two hundred taels of Blue Gold. After rebuilding the Precious Medicine Workshop with the remaining money, there should still have been a hundred taels of Blue Gold left, right? That was a thousand taels of Blue Silver. They had only been back for half a day, and it was already all gone?

"Good thing this old fellow isn't a woman..."

Thinking of the women on Earth who loved shopping and buying everything in sight, Ye Tong felt a faint chill creep up the back of his neck.

On the street of the medicinal materials market.

Mu Xiaochen had returned to his jade-tree-in-the-wind bearing. He appeared gentle as jade, but a closer look would reveal the pride that occasionally leaked from him without his notice.

Yu Wanmei lowered her head, contemplating something in silence.

The other woman, Zhang Wenxin, walked beside Mu Xiaochen and asked, "As far as I know, there really will be a large auction in the county city two months from now. But the auction list is never released in advance. You told Ye Tong there would be a Blood Demon Worm at the auction. You were lying to him, weren't you?"

"Yes, and no."

Mu Xiaochen said smugly, "Although I haven't seen that list, there's a Blood Demon Worm in my family's treasure vault! Once we return to the county city, I'll send the Blood Demon Worm directly to the auction house. Then won't there be a Blood Demon Worm up for auction?"

"Pfft..."

Zhang Wenxin said, caught between laughter and tears, "No wonder you dared to say it. But you seem to really want Ye Tong to go to the county city?"

Mu Xiaochen thought for a moment and said, "That's right. That kid is very strange. Although he makes me angry every time, he also draws me in. In the entire Sky Net Empire, there are only a handful of young people who catch my eye, much less a youth like him. Since I can't remain in Cold Mountain City for long, I'll have him go to the county city instead."

Zhang Wenxin said, "He's quite remarkable."

Mu Xiaochen said as though it were only natural, "Of course he is. Someone who can say, 'Walk upright and sit straight, venture through the world with a clear conscience—this is the great path,' and, 'The heavenly way turns in cycles; cause and effect bring retribution,' can have no problem with his character."

Following behind them, Yu Wanmei suddenly spoke. "Although you value him greatly, even telling him to go to the County Prince's Manor and find you once he reaches the county city, he absolutely will not go."

Mu Xiaochen stopped in his tracks and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Yu Wanmei smiled. "Because he knows very clearly that even if he goes looking for you, he won't be able to enter the gates of your County Prince's Manor."

"Uh..."

Mu Xiaochen suddenly came to his senses and slapped his forehead. "I was muddleheaded. I actually forgot to give him an identity token. Come, let's go back."

Yu Wanmei smiled. "I already gave him my jade pendant. If he wants to find you, he will naturally come to me and have me take him to you."

Upon hearing that, Mu Xiaochen immediately laughed. "Wise and perceptive. Very good."

Yu Wanmei brushed the fine hair before her temples aside and smiled. "It truly isn't easy to earn praise from you."

Mu Xiaochen laughed speechlessly, then asked the two women, "The Blood Demon Worm is extremely expensive. Ye Tong probably doesn't have that much money. Tell me, if his money truly isn't enough then, will he borrow from me?"

"No!"

Yu Wanmei and Zhang Wenxin answered in unison. Afterward, the two women exchanged glances, and both revealed smiles.

Mu Xiaochen frowned and asked, "Why? He would personally travel to the county city for the Blood Demon Worm. Would he return disappointed merely because of his pride?"

Yu Wanmei and Zhang Wenxin once again answered in unison, "A gentleman does not eat food thrown at him in contempt."

"..."

Mu Xiaochen fell silent.

Tong Family residence.

Tong Kaishan walked alone with his head lowered. His entire aura had changed. All the desperadoes he had gathered before had been dismissed. What happened today had struck him like a blow to the head, bringing him to a great awakening and making him understand how foolish his past actions had been.

He felt Ye Tong was right. If one stood by the river often enough, how could one keep one's shoes from getting wet? If he provoked a fierce and brutal expert with terrifying cultivation someday, that person might simply split him apart with one strike. The Tong Family was powerful, but only within Cold Mountain City. In the eyes of those truly great families, they were likely not even worth an ant. Even among the adventurers who came from outside, many did not take the Tong Family seriously.

Arrogance!

One needed the capital to be arrogant!

Ye Tong had clearly been only a weakling at the Qi Refining Third Level, yet he had still severely injured him. Though Ye Tong's methods of poisoning were despicable and shameless, poisoning was also a part of one's strength!

When one's strength was weak, acting arrogant and overbearing was simply courting death.

"Courting death!"

Tong Kaishan feared death, so he understood Ye Tong's earlier words even more deeply.

As for revenge...

Tong Kaishan mocked himself with a smile. With the son of Zifu County's County Prince protecting him, seeking revenge against Ye Tong would be courting death! Once Mu Xiaochen became the new County Prince in the future, even if he merely found Tong Kaishan displeasing, a casual word from him would be enough to wipe out the Tong Family.