Chapter 4269 — A Step Too Late

Of course, even with the best of luck, one still needed the strength to seize the opportunity. Anyone else in Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao's position would have been killed by the gray-robed man long ago—that would not be good fortune, but sheer bad luck.

"Alright, let's get out of here. This place is far too dangerous." Wei Zhao tucked the pouch into his jade pendant's spatial realm. He dared not linger any longer, and paying no mind even to his own injuries, he hurried Huang Xiaotao away. He himself did not much care—so long as he held Huang Xiaotao's hand, he could simply restore her as they went.

"Mm." Huang Xiaotao nodded hurriedly. She too knew this place was no longer safe to remain in, and that they had to leave as soon as possible.

They had just caused such a commotion, and the gray-robed man's fate was a cautionary tale right before their eyes. Linger another moment, and who knew whether another meddler might burst in upon them? This was the heart of the Lu Feng Forest; apart from exceptions like Chu Bubai, those who could normally come and go here were all Nascent Soul experts—this was no idle talk.

The two fled at once, yet they dared not run blindly. Instead they followed the route map Chu Bubai had given them, retracing their path back the way they had come. This was the only way to withdraw safely; otherwise, one careless misstep and they would blunder straight into the lair of some powerful spirit beast—then the fun would truly begin.

Two hours later, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were already dozens of li from the spirit beast graveyard. They had met no mishaps along the way, nor been followed by any person or beast. The whole journey had been smooth and untroubled.

"Alright, we should be safe now. Let's stop and rest a while. We'll heal our injuries before moving on," Wei Zhao said.

Huang Xiaotao was more or less fine; she had dealt with the lingering injuries in her body even while dashing along. But Wei Zhao himself was still wounded. Though it was not serious, letting it drag on was never a good thing—it had to be treated as soon as possible.

"Mm." Huang Xiaotao nodded, panting. Two hours of unbroken running through such dense forest had been sustained only by the scant true qi in her body; if she did not rest soon, she would not be able to hold out much longer.

Wei Zhao glanced around, found a relatively clean boulder, and had Huang Xiaotao sit on it while he tended his wounds nearby.

Half an incense stick's time later, the last traces of injury in his body were swept away completely. Not only did he feel light all over, but his spirit and vitality had improved considerably; while healing, Wei Zhao had even taken the opportunity to channel a good deal of true qi into Huang Xiaotao.

It was the only sensible choice. Even setting aside the closeness between Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, and considering it purely from the standpoint of a teammate, Wei Zhao had to ensure Huang Xiaotao was always in full fighting condition—this was the danger-ridden Lu Feng Forest, after all. Anything could happen, and none of it would be strange.

"I'm fine now. Shall we keep going?" Huang Xiaotao stretched her limbs, refreshed, and turned to ask.

"No need. From the look of things, there shouldn't be any trouble now. It's rare to come to the Lu Feng Forest, and there's still plenty of time before the miasma returns—let's look around here. With a bit of luck, we might even stumble on something good," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head.

Along the way, he had carefully confirmed the timing of the Lu Feng Forest's miasma dispersal from Guo Dengtao and the others. Judging by past years' experience, there was at least half a month before the miasma returned—time enough to spare.

The Lu Feng Forest's two most coveted natural treasures, the infant ginseng and the Wandu Golden Elixir Fruit, had both already been obtained, one after the other. Anyone else might be trembling with nerves by now, their only thought being to flee.

But Wei Zhao had never been of such mediocre temperament. No matter how fine a treasure, if it lay beyond his reach, he would not covet it; yet whatever fell within his reach, he never let slip easily.

"Mm, I'll follow your lead." Huang Xiaotao nodded. Had she been alone, carrying the infant ginseng and the Wandu Golden Elixir Fruit, she likely would not have dared linger here; but with Wei Zhao beside her, she had no such worries at all.

"Then let's search around this area. But to be safe, we shouldn't stray too far from this route map," Wei Zhao said, consulting Chu Bubai's so-called family heirloom map.

By position, this was still fairly close to the core of the Lu Feng Forest. The only place confirmed safe was the route they had already traveled; to wander about heedlessly would not be boldness, but digging one's own grave.

And just as Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were preparing to continue their treasure hunt, a figure abruptly appeared in the devastated spirit beast graveyard—a man in black beneath a bamboo hat.

"Plucked already? I'm a step too late?" Looking at the traces of battle before him, studying the mist that should have been there but had already dispersed, and the gray-robed man's ghastly corpse, the man in black could not help but be stunned, so shocked that for a long while he could not speak.

He had come all this way from the North Island for the sake of the infant ginseng, only to arrive a step too late—someone had beaten him to it. How was a man supposed to swallow that?

For anyone else, missing out on a natural treasure as vital as the infant ginseng would of course be a great pity, but it would be no more than a spell of regret. The problem was that he had not come for the infant ginseng for his own use.

"Ruined! Ruined! It's all ruined now!" The man in black paced about in a frenzy, scratching his scalp and muttering to himself, "This was the key material for the gene serum research! The last failure in creating a Nascent Soul expert very likely came from a problem with the infant ginseng's gene mimicry. We had to find a genuine infant ginseng to attempt a remedy—but now, like this... how am I supposed to explain this to Miss Luan when I get back?"

Creating Nascent Soul experts—that was the key project headquarters had prized above all else of late. If his own poor start caused the entire project to stall, and, dragging on long enough, it might even be abandoned halfway—that was a responsibility of monstrous proportions, one no one could bear!

At the thought of such grave consequences, a chill ran down the man in black's spine; he had frightened himself into a cold sweat. The organization's methods of punishment were truly brutal beyond what ordinary people could endure.

"Damn it! If I find out who snatched the infant ginseng before me, I'll tear him limb from limb!" the man in black ground out through clenched teeth, boiling with rage. (To be continued...)