Lingbao, I'm Sorry for Your Loss

Zhou Wanwan immediately took the jade pendant and began to channel energy into them.

Her energy is useful for plants, but whether it works for animals has never been tested.

She continuously channeled her energy into the snakes' bodies, and after half an hour, several snakes actually slowly opened their eyes.

They were startled when they saw Zhou Wanwan, and were about to jump up when they heard Lingbao's voice.

Lingbao shouted, "Blue Treasure, Little Black, shut up! This is my friend!"

Blue Treasure turned to look at it, tears welling up in its eyes.

A moment later, the two embraced and wept bitterly. Lingbao cried as she said, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't been gone for so long, you wouldn't be like this."

"What did you say? They were captured by bad guys, just last night."

"Do you know where they went? Let's go after them right now!" Lingbao trembled with anger.

Zhou Wanwan said, "Let's sit on the Old Scholar Tree first, and we'll ask questions as we go."

The Old Scholar Tree was also exhausted, panting heavily. Zhou Wanwan understood that its strength was nearing its limit.

Zhou Wanwan closed her eyes and channeled the energy within her body into the Old Scholar Tree.

The Old Scholar Tree is much better now:

"That's how it is when you get old; you get out of breath after walking just a few steps."

However, as soon as I inhale this energy, I feel completely comfortable.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "These people left footprints. Let's follow the footprints and see where they went."

These people must be extremely skilled, and there are many of them.

Because the footprints on the road were very obvious, Blue Treasure kept saying:

These people were dressed in dark blue close-fitting clothes, with dark gold cloud patterns embroidered on the collars and cuffs, and black jade belts around their waists; they were clearly from the imperial palace.

We overheard them muttering to themselves, "These thousand-year-old medicinal herbs are all top-quality; let's pack them up quickly."

"Send this to the Imperial Concubine to nourish her body; I guarantee it will win her favor."

Lingbao translated for Zhou Wanwan, Zhou Wanwan sneered, "So you're from the palace. No wonder you were able to get here."

This is deep in the mountains and forests, where dangers lurk everywhere.

Moreover, these medicinal herbs are guarded by these venomous snakes, making it impossible for ordinary people to get close.

Lingbao frowned and said, "Wanwan, what should we do? Those are top-tier imperial guards; we might not be able to defeat them."

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said, "What's there to be afraid of, experts from the Imperial Guard? We should be more confident. If we can't win, we'll run away, and we'll run as fast as we can."

Lingbao was quite fast; taking advantage of their inattention, he directly sprinkled the powder on their heads.

These people were indeed different from ordinary people; they fell down very slowly. Zhou Wanwan counted to one hundred before they finally collapsed to the ground one after another.

Zhou Wanwan quickly took action, and the Old Scholar Tree used its roots to strip all their clothes off.

Lingbao was looking for his Grandpa Purple Lingzhi, Grandpa He Shou Wu, Sister Huang Jing, and Brother Lingzhi when he saw these herbs lying An'an in the box.

Lingbao burst into tears:

"Grandpa... Waaah... Grandpa, wake up!"

I promise I'll never be naughty again, I'll listen to you no matter what, wake up!

This was the first time Zhou Wanwan had seen Lingbao like this. She sighed and said, "Lingbao, please accept my condolences. How about this, I'll try using my energy to see if I can help them?"

Lingbao nodded and said, "Yes, Wanwan, thank you, sob sob... I really don't want to lose them."

For Lingbao, these are its family.

Lingbao is actually no different from a child; these people are the ones who raised it.

Zhou Wanwan took out a lot of jade pendants and then poured all the energy from them into the medicinal herbs.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the medicinal herbs showed no reaction.

Lingbao sat on the ground, his face filled with despair. An hour later, he suddenly heard a faint voice. "Where am I?"

Lingbao jumped up and cried, "Grandpa Purple Lingzhi, waaaah... you really came back to life?"

Grandpa Purple Lingzhi smiled and looked at him, saying, "You rascal, you've come just in time, otherwise I wouldn't have even seen you one last time."

Lingbao still had tears on her face:

Grandpa, how can I save you?

And there's also Grandpa He Shou Wu, Sister Huang Jing, and Brother Lingzhi —they haven't woken up yet!

Grandpa Purple Lingzhi smiled and said, "Don't worry! Your little friend is very capable. They'll wake up in a little while."

After a while, they all opened their eyes.

Sister Huang Jing exclaimed, "That was close! I thought we were all wiped out! Those people are really despicable; I don't know where they got our information from."

Grandpa Purple Lingzhi sighed and said, "There must be a traitor among us."

They live in very secluded places; you can't find them at all without knowing someone who knows them.

Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said, "No one else knows about this, right?"

Grandpa Purple Lingzhi suddenly spoke up:

"There really was one, a young master from a prominent family. He was being chased and we rescued him."

He repeatedly assured us that he would keep our secret, and even swore an oath.

Zhou Wanwan asked, "What's his name?"

"His name is Xie Cheng'en? What Chengen? What does someone like him know about gratitude?" Lingbao was furious.

When we rescued him, he was barely clinging to life.

"We gathered so many medicinal herbs to save him, but who knew he would turn out to be like this," Sister Huang Jing said indignantly.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said:

"Actually, we don't know if it's him or not, but generally, medicinal herbs can't communicate with the outside world."

The fact that these people were able to find their way here certainly suggests they had a specific purpose.

Where is the Xie Family? Shall we go and ask them?"

What kind of person Xie Cheng'en is, and whether he was responsible for this incident, can only be determined through investigation.

Grandpa Purple Lingzhi looked at Zhou Wanwan approvingly and said:

"You're a really smart kid, and you know right from wrong. We old folks should thank you for saving our lives."

However, since we have suffered a significant loss of energy this time, we may need your help to recover.

Can we follow you? We will serve you as our Lord.

Purple Lingzhi was helpless; it had foreseen that it would face a great calamity, and if it couldn't avert it, it would perish.

But unexpectedly, Zhou Wanwan saved it, and now it can only stay with Zhou Wanwan.

To put it bluntly, this means the medicinal herbs are becoming attached to a specific owner.

Zhou Wanwan quickly shook her head and said, "It was just a small favor, I didn't expect anything in return."

Purple Lingzhi shook her head and said, "You saved our lives, so naturally we'll listen to you from now on."

Suddenly I saw a purple light, then I saw yellow, blue and white light.