"A Fierce Beast ambush?"
Shi Hao reacted instantly.
He stopped bringing the medicinal herb to his mouth and kicked hard against the branch with his left foot.
He forcibly twisted in midair, driving his waist and abdomen to turn around.
An enormous phantom ape lunged at him, claws flailing and fangs bared.
Not far behind that phantom ape.
A familiar black figure still held a throwing pose.
"Huh? Skinny Monkey?"
Shi Hao froze.
He held the Black Fiend Lotus aloft, his mouth still half open.
Shi Hao stopped what he was doing.
Golden light mingled with baleful energy crashed down.
His scalp prickled. He kicked off the trunk several times, arcing through the air to land beside Shi Hou.
"Skinny Monkey, what's happening to Furball?" Shi Hao pointed at the swelling golden phantom overhead.
Shi Hou did not look at the spectacle above.
His left hand shot out and clamped around Shi Hao's wrist, while his right swept across the Black Fiend Lotus's stem and roots.
The jet-black petals, stem, and roots slipped from Shi Hao's grasp.
Shi Hou flipped his wrist and tossed them into the Black Pot Space behind him.
Only after securing the ingredient did he withdraw his hands and dust off his palms.
"I was afraid you'd ruin a top-grade ingredient," Shi Hou said without batting an eyelid. "In desperation, I threw Furball at you like a hidden weapon. Who knows what got into Furball, suddenly turning into this?"
Shi Hao looked at his empty hands, then at the utterly self-righteous Shi Hou, and could only give two awkward chuckles.
He did not dare argue. After all, he had been caught red-handed trying to sneak a bite.
They turned and looked back into the air.
Furball's body was swelling madly.
Golden fur stood on end, growing