Xu Niannian watched as Meng Hongying and the others drank the wine without guard. She covered half her face with her sleeve, a triumphant smile blooming as she thought to herself, In a moment, the two of them are going to make fools of themselves in front of all these people.
When that time came, she simply had to see what face they would have left to attack her!
Feng Wuhen had just resolved a small trouble and was happily picking up food with his chopsticks when a piece of de-boned fish suddenly appeared in his bowl.
Shen Ziheng smiled as Feng Wuhen looked over, saying, "Eat more fish. It is good for your body. I know you dislike picking out bones, so go ahead and eat. I will help you with these bones."
Feng Wuhen quite liked eating fish; he simply disliked picking out fish bones. Now that he had his older brother to help him with it, he did not stand on ceremony either, eating a mouthful of rice followed by a bite of fish in this fashion.
Of course, he did not forget to pick out food for Shen Ziheng either. Seeing this scene, Bing Ling grew a bit jealous, pushed his already empty bowl in front of Feng Wuhen, and without saying anything, just stared straight at him.
Watching Bing Ling's jealous expression, Feng Wuhen hurriedly picked up a few pieces of beef for him. Only then did Bing Ling retrieve his bowl with satisfaction.
When they had eaten about halfway, Xu Niannian suddenly felt that something was wrong with her. Why was her whole body itching?
Moreover, it was growing increasingly itchy. She first scratched the back of her hand, but it was useless even until she had scratched the back of her hand red. This sort of itch felt more like it was seeping out from her bones.
Thinking of this, Xu Niannian looked at her own wine cup. The wine cups in this inn were all identical; looking at it this way, she could not spot anything amiss.
Yet Xu Niannian knew her wine cup had been swapped. Still, she could not cause trouble for anyone, because she knew that once a commotion was made and everything was thoroughly investigated, she would be completely ruined.
The people of Mount Grand Mystery had always been fiercely protective of their own, able to assert three parts of reason even when they were in the wrong—let alone the fact that she had taken the initiative to move against disciples of Mount Grand Mystery, even if they were merely ordinary disciples. The people of Mount Grand Mystery would not let her go, and moreover, the statuses of these two were not low.
As for begging her master to help her, Xu Niannian clearly knew that was impossible.
Her master had always been a person who loathed evil as if it were a deadly foe. Once he found out what she had done, he would definitely expel her from the sect.
Therefore, as for the matter of the Itch Powder, she could only swallow her teeth along with the blood into her stomach.
The thoughts in her mind flashed past in an instant. Xu Niannian hurriedly stood up, her expression carrying panic and urgency, "I suddenly feel a bit unwell, so I will head back to my room to rest first. You all go ahead and eat slowly."
Without waiting to see what reaction the others had, Xu Niannian turned and walked toward the stairs. Because she was in too much hurry, she bumped into someone along the way.
The person she bumped into was dead drunk and looked at Xu Niannian reeking of alcohol, "Why are you blind, woman? Such a wide road and you crash right into people. What's this? Have you taken a fancy to your lord!"
Catching the smell of alcohol on him, Xu Niannian found it repulsive. Covering her nose with her sleeve, she tried to head up, but before she had taken even two steps, her hair was grabbed.
Seeing that her figure was slender and graceful, the drunkard wanted to take advantage of her. Who would have thought that when he grabbed her hair and hauled her back, he would see this woman's face was flushed bright red, and instead of resisting him, her two hands were scratching wildly at her own body.
Frightened by her, he immediately let go of his grip, his drunkenness half-frightened away. He tore off a piece of clothing from his own body and wiped his hands.
Furious and alarmed, he cursed, "Damn it, she's actually sick. Hurry up and get far away from me. If you pass on some filthy disease to me, I'll finish you off."
The drunkard's voice was not low. Everyone dining in the main hall looked over and then began pointing fingers at Xu Niannian.
"I've seen this woman a few times. She looked decent enough before; I never expected her to have contracted that kind of filthy disease."
"As the old saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover. This woman looks pure, but who knows how wild she plays behind closed doors."
"What's wrong with that? Look at how well this woman is built and how nice her figure is. Even if she's sick, so what? After playing with her, wouldn't it be fine just to buy some medicine and take it?"
For the Cultivation World, there were no illnesses that could not be cured. However, regarding filthy diseases, those cultivators of the Cultivation World simply could not accept them, because such people tended to have chaotic personal lives and rather poor character.
Hearing them speak of her like this, Xu Niannian let out a scream, "I haven't contracted a filthy disease! I merely consumed Itch Powder, do not slander me at random!"
"You claim you turned out like this because you ate Itch Powder—who knows whether what you're saying is true or false? Besides, who eats Itch Powder for no reason? You must be out of your mind!"
Xu Niannian felt she had been wronged to the extreme, while simultaneously harboring a burning hatred in her heart for Meng Hongying and Qin Xiaoran. Why wasn't it them who ingested the Itch Powder? Why wasn't it them being misunderstood?
Hearing the commotion growing larger and larger, the innkeeper hurried over to check what was going on. Learning the course of events from the scattered remarks of the bystanders, he stood three meters away from Xu Niannian.
"This young lady, if you have indeed contracted a filthy disease, you had better leave our inn quickly and not delay our business."
Xu Niannian saw the disbelieving expressions of the crowd, their pointing fingers, and now the innkeeper trying to drive her out.
Overwhelmed by anger and frustration, she fainted on the spot and tumbled all the way down the stairs with a series of rumbling thuds.
Fearing that someone might die here, the innkeeper hurriedly asked if there were any medical cultivators present to help treat her.
Feng Wuhen looked at Shen Ziheng. "Brother, go over and help out. Don't actually drive her out of her mind."
Shen Ziheng nodded, walked over, and told the innkeeper that he was a medical cultivator from Divine Physician Valley and could take a look. Then, after checking her pulse, he raised his voice and said, "This young lady was afflicted with Itch Powder, and just now she was overwhelmed by anger and frustration, which is why she fainted."
Hearing his self-introduction just moments ago and knowing he was a medical cultivator from Divine Physician Valley, the crowd believed what he said.
Yet not a single person stepped forward to apologize to Xu Niannian; instead, they resumed discussing her affairs.
This time no one claimed she had a filthy disease, but everyone kept saying her brain was sick—otherwise, what normal person would eat Itch Powder?
Shen Ziheng returned after checking her pulse, and Feng Wuhen mischievously teased him, "Why didn't big brother help carry the person back to her room?"
Watching this mischievous expression of his, Shen Ziheng gave him a light tap on the forehead, "If you hadn't asked me to go check her pulse, I wouldn't even have bothered with her. How could I possibly have carried her back to her room?"
Feng Wuhen touched the spot where he had been tapped. "Brother, I was just joking with you. Did you have to rap me on the head? What if you rattle me into a fool?"
Bing Ling spat out a bone from his mouth, standing on Shen Ziheng's side this time, "The force your brother used was so small, how could he possibly break your head? Besides, based on junior brother's intelligence and wisdom, even if you were a bit foolish, you would still be much smarter than the average person.
That's right, my junior brother's older brother, are there any medicinal pills that can transfer someone else's intelligence over to another person?
I feel a bit foolish and would like my junior brother to transfer some intelligence to me so I can be smarter."
Shen Ziheng was astonished that Bing Ling would take his side, and felt even more half-laughing half-crying when he heard the latter's subsequent words.
How could there possibly be such medicinal pills in this world!
Before you continue