Qing Feng fixed Wang Shiyu a very strange look. He could not help wondering who the woman was and why even the Great Way of heaven and earth had to outcast her.

“Let’s get out of here.” Wang Shiyu rose to her feet, turned around resolutely, and made her way to the outside of the orchard.

Her face became calm as usual as if nothing had happened.

Qing Feng heaved with a deep sigh, having no idea what to say.

He had discovered some clues about her trouble, but that was not something he could change. All he could do was take his time to ponder over it. Although he did not behave as emotionally as Ming Yue, in truth, he was also full of sympathy for Wang Shiyu as well as a little irritated.

“Why does God have to be difficult with such a golden-hearted girl?”

Qing Feng had heard of Countess Huanzhu’s unconventional deeds in the city of Lin’an. She had rescued many poor people and refugees, which showed that she was a really good person completely different from those corrupted nobles.

Yuan Hou did not know what to say, either.

He was best at mocking but not consoling.

When four people made their way out of the orchard, Qing Feng suddenly remarked, “Your Highness, this Golden Striker doesn’t repel you. Perhaps it will bring your share of the opportunities.”

Wang Shiyu stopped short and looked back at the Golden Striker in Yuan Hou’s outstretched hand.

While the Golden Striker was no awesome treasure but a device for picking ginseng fruits according to Journey to the West, it did have some wonderful functions. For example, even Sun Wukong, the leading character in the novel, had no way to shoot down the ginseng fruits with his golden cudgel and had to steal the Golden Striker before obtaining the fruits.

Wang Shiyu took over the Golden Striker, held it in her hands, and then, a smile climbed to the corner of her mouth.

“None of the things here belong to me. My opportunity does not lie here.” All of a sudden, she threw the Golden Striker back to Yuan Hou and announced, “I won’t accept anything in the Five Villages Temple.”

Yuan Hou caught the Golden Striker. He gazed at the girl in front of him, and suddenly felt a little ashamed.

“What a headstrong woman she is!”

Ming Yue also chimed, “Exactly. To hell with the damn temple!” With that, she stuck her fingers into her throat and began retching. “To hell with the damn ginseng fruits! I don’t want any of them! I’ll spit it out…”

Yes, the adorkable girl was that faithful to her friends.

Wang Shiyu smiled and made to say something.

“Oh, ow ow… Crap, my stomach is aching.” Ming Yue howled abruptly while clapping both hands on her belly. Her complexion turned pale in a trice. Next, she rushed directly away from the other three and cried, “I think I’m having diarrhea…”

“Er, seems to I also have…” Yuan Hou abruptly covered his hands over his belly, too, looking as if he could not hold it longer. “This is not good, I think I also have diarrhea, I…” There came a thunderous rumble from his stomach. At once, he whipped around and ran away.

Wang Shiyu looked at Qing Feng in confusion.

Qing Feng was calm the whole time.

It was just that the layer of fine sweat beads on his forehead betrayed him. Soon, his stomach started to rumble alarmingly as well. Not panicking at all, Qin Feng veered the wheelchair around, drove it with his spiritual force, and unhurriedly went behind a large tree in a distance.

“Is that all because of the ginseng fruits?”

Wang Shiyu was confounded.

As she remembered, in the Journey to the West, Monkey Sun, Pig Bajie and Monk Sha ate the ginseng fruits without any getting any conditions. But how come these three people…

However, Wang Shiyu had neglected how powerful the three immortal-like figures in the novel were. In contrast, Qing Feng, Ming Yue, and Yuan Hou were basically ordinary mortal people. Therefore, a process was needed to transform them into higher-level beings after they ate the ginseng fruits.

After a while, Ming Yue sprinted back contentedly and said, “How relieved I am now! Haha, my suffering finally finished…”

But before her words faded, her expression changed, and suddenly, as if her buttocks had caught on fire, she turned and raced back.

That process repeated again and again.

The fuss finally came to an end after two hours. The three, kind of on the verge of collapsing, stopped having diarrhea. Ming Yue slumped directly on Yuan Hou’s shoulder, and Qing Feng’s face was rather sallow.

Even so, the eyes of the three were still full of vitality and energy. Their skin seemed to have changed, too, which now looked bright and radiant. The wonderful feeling the transformation brought could only be learned by themselves.

“The fruit is surely the treasure of heaven and earth,” Qing Feng said in admiration. “The medicinal effect of this fruit is fairly mild. If we had taken some other precious tonics, I’m afraid that by this time we have already imploded due to the overload of violent energy. We were indeed reckless when we took the fruits just now.”

That was the insight he attained when suffering from diarrhea.

“The medicinal properties are still in our bodies and will gradually be compatible with our bodies. They will provide endless benefits for our cultivation.” Qing Feng added.

That came from his own experience.

Prolonged illness made the patient a doctor. Since Qing Feng had been unable to walk, that made him understand about diseases and his own body far more than anyone else could. By then, he sensed that his body was full of wondrous energy, which spread to all parts of his body as if it were he was transforming into a large ginseng fruit.

The energy in the ginseng fruit was too immense. He could by no means digest all of it in a short time. So, it would take him a long time to slowly refine and convert the medicinal power into his own cultivation.

Wang Shiyu smiled next to him, “Fortunately, I didn’t eat, otherwise diarrhea… hey, too dirty.”

She, in turn, was comforting the three.

After dawdling for another hour, the four decided to leave the Five Villages Temple.

Because there were no other valuable things in that manor.

Shortly, the four doubled back to the gate of the Five Villages Temple. Ming Yue made to open the door. At that moment, Qing Feng’s complexion altered drastically. He motioned her to stop and whispered, “Go hide yourselves! Someone is coming from outside!”

The four quickly hid in the petrified bushes near the gate. Yuan Hou cast an illusory deployment that instantly enveloped all of them, lest they be spotted.

Squeak.

The gate of Five Villages Temple was pushed open.

“Your Highness, is this the place where the most powerful devil was slaughtered?” A voice came in, which belonged to Bloody-moon Evil Master.

Followed that was the voice of the Saint of Blood Sea. “You’re right, it’s here. The Five Villages Temple. Haha, we finally found it. This place has sealed the most terrible devil in the world, and immortals from our galaxy also take turns to take charge of the place once 1,000 years. Today is the day we assist the immortals in thoroughly finishing off the devil, make our names known in the universe, and assume the immortals’ mantle, hahaha!”

The Saint of Blood Sea looked quite excited.

Ming Yue and the other three, hiding in the petrified woods, were stunned upon hearing that conversation.

Qing Feng had a very good memory. He rarely forgot what he had seen or heard. Earlier, he had heard Bloody-moon Evil Master talking, so it immediately occurred to him that the owner of that voice was the enemy of his master.

He made a gesture to tell the others what he had realized and reminded the other three to keep themselves out of sight.

“Uh? Something is wrong. The door had been opened once before we arrived.” The surprised voice of the Saint of Blood Sea rang, which immediately turned into an appalled cry. “This is terrible! Follow me to the backyard. We can’t let the fruits be snatched by whoever arrived early!”

The two blood-colored figures dashed in the front yard like two bolts of lightning before racing towards the orchard with the ginseng fruit tree in the backyard.

Qing Feng looked alarmed.

From their dialogue, Bloody-moon Evil Master and that His Highness he addressed to seemed to have long known about the ginseng fruit tree. And they had made their way to the manor solely for that tree, hadn’t they?

“Let’s leave here first.” Qing Feng told the others through his spiritual force.

However, before they could walk out of the petrified woods, footsteps came from outside the gate again, which soon reached the gate.

The four had no choice but to take shelter in the woods again.

“The door is open? This is not good. Someone has already entered the manor…” A figure rushed in and bellowed, “Follow me quickly. As the king, I won’t allow anyone to take the magic fruit before me!”

That figure had wicked demonic aura wrapped around him. On his heels came scores of Shadow Guards wearing Western Qin’s royal black armors. After entering the Five Villages Temple, the party did not waste time observing the place but tore toward the orchard where the ginseng fruit tree was at the speed of lightning.

Obviously, they not only knew the existence of the ginseng fruit tree but also its location. They appeared to be very familiar with the Five Villages Temple, as though they had visited it before.

“We must get out of here quickly.”

Qing Feng made that decision without hesitation.

Of the four of them, Yuan Hou and Ming Yue had the highest combat strength. Yet, the two were definitely not opponents of those two parties who had rushed in the manor. As to Wang Shiyu, she even had no knowledge of martial arts. Once she was dragged into this… the consequences would be too dreadful to contemplate.

Nonetheless, before they had made it to the gate, several jets of aura decisively approached the Five Villages Temple with incredible swiftness.

A young man with silver pupils, holding in the palm of his hand a transparent cover decorated by nine golden dragons on the surface, was moving fast. After striding across the gate of the Five Villages Temple, he also headed quickly off for the orchard housing the ginseng fruit tree with a look of anxiety.

After that, a pair of sisters came in from the outside.

The elder sister was exceedingly beautiful. Her skin was smooth like jade. Her body was incredibly hot. And her aura was quite lofty. Her younger sister was wearing a black uniform, dangling a broadsword longer than her height around her waist. Though her facial features were very exquisite, it turned out that she did not have a mouth. The patch of skin under her nose was fair and smooth. That looked a bit funny. Even though there was no mouth on her face, the little girl was still mumbling something…

“Oooooh….” The younger sister drew out the long broadswords fastened to her waist and pointed it menacingly in the direction of the orchard with the ginseng fruit tree, as if she would hack anyone in their way. Without further ado, the pair of sisters hurried towards the depths of the manor.

Moments later, assorted people rushed into the manor from the outside.

A ferocious-looking old woman gripping a black cane followed a young man wearing a black uniform into the Five Villages Temple, and then, bustled in the direction of the ginseng fruit tree.

Next came a group of men and women cladding in the costumes of the five ethnic groups in the extreme south. Their aura was rather faint. And among them was a girl holding a baby who was making animated gestures. She also went through the gate after the others.

In a short time, several groups of people went into the manor. They obviously knew the existence of the ginseng fruit tree, and all ran straight towards the orchard without hesitation.

Hiding behind the illusory deployment, Ming Yue asked, “Are all of those people going to grab the ginseng fruits? Will they get into a fight?”

Just as she posed that question—

Rumble!

From the orchard carried over the sound of battling. The deafening roars rang through the entire Five Villages Temple.

“Saint of Blood Sea, hand over the magic fruit, otherwise, today you will be buried here!” The exasperated voice of Yue Guoxiang, a member of the Tianyi Palace, sounded especially clear under the dark blue sky.

“When I got here, all magic fruits were already taken.” The Saint of Blood Sea defended himself.

“Huh, do you think I can be fooled like a three-year-old kid?” Yue Guoxiang snarled, “The Place for Slaughtering Devils opened just half an hour ago. Before it was opened, neither the immortals nor the demons could enter. All of us have basically arrived here at short intervals. And you are the first to come to this orchard. There should have been four fruits on this magic tree, but now, as you can see, there is none. If it’s not you who took all the fruits away, did those magic fruits possibly sprout legs and run away on their own accord?”