Chapter 50: Be Quiet

"Dabao is really something else now!"

"Even the village chief knelt before him!"

"Sigh, the kid is still young. By doing this, hasn't he completely offended the village chief?"

"Indeed, things are going to be troublesome now!"

The villagers buzzed with discussion. Seeing Liu Fugui fall to his knees, the onlookers quickly dispersed, terrified of getting involved. The group of men from the Liu family clan wanted to act, but lacking the courage, they also hurried away.

Today, Liu Fugui's prestige had been dragged through the dirt.

The authority he had accumulated over twenty years as village chief was ruthlessly trampled into the mud by Chen Dabao.

"Dad, we simply cannot let today slide! We must find a way to kill Chen Dabao!" Back home, Liu Xiaowu felt utterly humiliated, his face twisted with anger.

If he hadn't spoken, it would have been fine, but mentioning Chen Dabao made Liu Fugui's face darken further. He suddenly grabbed a vase from the table and smashed it fiercely onto the floor, shattering it into pieces.

"Old bastard, what are you throwing a tantrum for? If you have the guts, go deal with Chen Dabao! Why are you acting so mighty at home?" Deng Hongyan had pretended to go out to throw away some garbage, and returning just in time to witness this scene, she shrieked shrilly.

"Shut your mouth! It's not your turn to call the shots in this household!"

Liu Fugui glared fiercely at Deng Hongyan, slammed the door shut, and strode away.

Left boiling with anger, Deng Hongyan started shouting and cursing inside the house.

Realizing the situation was turning south, Liu Xiaowu sneaked back into his room.

Meanwhile!

Over at Chen Dabao's house, seeing that everyone had left, Chen Dabao bolted the front door, returned to his bedroom, and broke the illusion spell with a flick of his fingers. Xia Xiaoxue instantly materialized on the bed.

In truth, Xia Xiaoxue had been lying there all along, merely concealed by Chen Dabao using an illusion technique. The spell could not hold for long; had they delayed any further, her presence would have been discovered.

"So hot!"

Touching Xia Xiaoxue's forehead, Chen Dabao found it burning up. He hurriedly gave a gentle twist and pulled out the silver needles from her forehead.

"Mmm!"

Xia Xiaoxue let out a soft moan and slowly opened her eyes. Reaching out to grab Chen Dabao, she pulled herself toward him. "It's hot, I'm so hot!"

Clutching Chen Dabao tightly, Xia Xiaoxue rubbed her flushed, pretty face against his chest while one of her hands began tearing at her own clothes. With a sharp tug, a patch of smooth, porcelain-white shoulder was exposed.

"Sister Xiaoxue, don't!"

Chen Dabao's entire body stiffened. Seeing her alluring red lips closing in to kiss his face at random, he panicked and hastily pressed a spot on the back of Xia Xiaoxue's neck, forcefully rendering her unconscious once again.

"Good grief, I mustn't lose my primordial essence!"

Chen Dabao swallowed hard, knowing that the effects of the aphrodisiac had fully taken hold. He quickly lifted the clothes over Xia Xiaoxue's abdomen and began performing acupuncture.

As the silver needles pierced her skin one by one, Xia Xiaoxue's flat stomach was soon covered with them. Before long, her body grew rigid, and she broke out in a delicate sweat.

"Finally done!"

Chen Dabao let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He then hurriedly pulled out the silver needles, covered her with a light blanket, and rushed out of the room.

The female sprite was far too seductive; he dared not stay another minute.

Stepping outside, Chen Dabao took a cold shower, then returned to another room, crossed his legs on the bed, and began to cultivate.

Early the next morning, just as the first light of dawn broke.

Everything came back to life with the morning sun!

Chen Dabao stepped outside, headed first to the fields to cast a minor Spirit Gathering Spell, and then returned home to grab a bamboo basket, preparing to go up the mountain to gather herbs.

No sooner had he left than Xia Xiaoxue opened her eyes inside the bedroom.

Sensing her body carefully, Xia Xiaoxue let out a faint sigh. As someone experienced in the ways of the world, she could feel no lingering abnormalities whatsoever.

Clearly, Chen Dabao had not engaged in any deep intimacy with her last night.

Sighing softly, Xia Xiaoxue got up to take a shower.

She originally intended to leave, but changed her mind before stepping out the door.

Carrying his bamboo basket, Chen Dabao headed up the mountain facing the morning sun.

Peach Blossom Village was nestled in a mountainous region, with a peak rising directly behind it known as Mount Daqing. Stretching for dozens of miles, Mount Daqing was densely forested and had never been commercially developed.

The mountain teemed with flora and fauna. In earlier years, wild boars would descend every year to ravage the crops, and wild wolves would occasionally attack livestock, prompting the village to organize a specialized hunting patrol.

Over the years, wolves had become exceedingly rare, and wild boars only ventured down on the occasional occasion.

Traversing mountains and ridges, Chen Dabao gradually penetrated deeper into Mount Daqing.

"Astragalus, Atractylodes, Pueraria root, Gastrodia, and even Dragon's Beard Vine!"

Chen Dabao used a machete to clear a path. While trails existed on the outer slopes, the inner mountain paths were rugged and overgrown. The outer slopes were frequently visited by villagers gathering herbs to sell in the town or city.

Consequently, herbs were scarce on the outer slopes, whereas deep in the back mountain where human footprints were rare, medicinal plants could be found almost everywhere.

Nowadays, with large-scale cultivation of traditional Chinese herbs, ginseng could mature in just two years—eating it wouldn't even cause a nosebleed, making it no different from a radish. Many other herbs shared the same fate.

Ginseng, Dendrobium candidum, and Ganoderma lucidum grown artificially possessed virtually no medicinal efficacy. Using the exact same herbal formulas, remedies of the past worked wonders, while modern herbs offered meager medicinal value. Only wild traditional herbs remained effective.

The problem was not that the ancient prescriptions had failed, but that the medicinal ingredients themselves were lacking.

Herbs rushed to maturity by chemical fertilizers and pesticides were worlds apart from those that grew slowly in the wild.

After hiking through the mountains for over an hour, Chen Dabao had already filled more than half his basket with herbs.

"Pity I only found an ordinary Ganoderma. Blood Ganoderma probably doesn't exist on Mount Daqing!" After searching for a long time, he had only managed to find a common bracket fungus.

Blood Ganoderma was extremely rare; in reality, it was simply a mutated form of ordinary Ganoderma that had absorbed the blood of a venomous snake while growing, thus undergoing a transformation.

Whether one could encounter Blood Ganoderma depended entirely on luck.

Chen Dabao's luck today seemed merely average, as he failed to find any.

"If I can't find it, I suppose I'll have to buy it. Blood Ganoderma is the final herb required for the Guiling Decoction. I'll ask around the herbal medicine market in the city next time!"

After searching a bit longer with no sign of the Blood Ganoderma, Chen Dabao checked the sky and decided against further searching, preparing to head back down the mountain.

Descending now would bring him home around noon. After lunch and a free afternoon, he could head to the city's herbal market to inquire.

*Rustle!*

Just as Chen Dabao turned to head down the mountain, he noticed the bushes ahead shaking. Startled, he instantly grew alert and gripped his machete tighter.

Mount Daqing was rich in wildlife; not only were wild plants abundant, but wild animals were as well, primarily wild boars and wolves, both of which posed significant dangers.

Seeing the small tree ahead shake as if something was hiding behind it, Chen Dabao cautiously approached, parted the foliage with his hand, and froze in sheer astonishment.

His eyes widened in disbelief!

The woman on the other side widened her eyes as well, and a small stream of water began to trickle at her feet.

Hidden inside the shrubbery was a woman wearing an outdoor jacket, relieving herself.

The pretty woman stared in shock, her mouth opening to scream.

"Don't scream!"

Chen Dabao's expression shifted slightly, turning instantly stern as he looked past the woman.