Chapter 56: Romance: Flower with Thorns

Chapter 56: Romance: Flower with Thorns

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After stashing away the light, sea-green ornate light fabric robe and a small gourd filled with crystal clear water, Ja Sun walked out of his tent and stretched his body slightly. Bibi Dong and Liu Erlong were already present and once Xie Xan and Hu Lana came out of their shared tent followed by Ah Yin from her privately set up space, Bibi Dong inquired calmly.

"You all will enter together for one hour. Fill up your lungs with a deep breath because I will not allow any of you to keep your head out for more than 7 seconds. Ka-ul, lose your mask and everybody disrobe. Keep your inner garments on."

Bibi Dong instructed and everyone looked at each other.

"Do we have to?" Hu Lana scratched her cheeks awkwardly.

"Are you ashamed of your body?" Bibi Dong calmly inquired and always using her charms as a method of attacking her opponents. Bibi Dong's quite easily struck a nerve as Hu Lana scoffed and looked away.

"This training is for your benefit. If it helps, I did this training, too. But instead of a simple pool of the Iron Toad's poison, I dipped in the pool of poison collected from man-faced spiders."

Everyone flinched and stared at Bibi Dong incredulously.

"Did you think you can stand out without putting effort?" Bibi Dong sneered. If you don't want to remove your clothing, fine. The effects will be lowered is all and we will have to spend more time diving into the lake."

"Fine," Xie Xan grunted with a frown. He was the first to reveal his chiseled physique. But the girls still had some inhibitions. Bibi Dong gazed at Ja Sun with an inquisitive gaze.

"I can remove my mask, teacher. But there is no way to quicken the process with my clothes on?" Ja Sun inquired as he took his mask off. The other three instantly bore their gazes into his face. Over these weeks, admittedly, Ah Yin didn't let his hair grow out too much but near his forehead, his hair still bundled into thick locks. For the first time seeing a set of green irises surrounding two golden pupils without a mask, everybody's eyes lit up.

Bibi Dong nodded calmly, "Of course, there is. However, it is extremely painful..." realizing something, Bibi Dong gazed at Ja Sun, "But you don't mind that, do you?"

"Pain? No. Being the first idiot to remove his clothes, yes."

Ja Sun smiled. His smile was as derisive and dirty as the three had imagined and their lips twitched. Xie Xan looked at the bundled-up robe next to his feet and took a deep breath.

"If it is the painful experience you want, I have no right to stop you. Xie Xan, wear your clothes. Everyone, enter the pool. The toads below will not try to attack you. Remember, it is better if you can resist the pain and open your eyes in small intervals to have a proper effect. This lake is only formed from the poison of 10-year-old toads but it can injure 100-year-old beasts easily. Spirit Elders and higher should be fine.

Everyone nodded. Storing his mask, Ja Sun waited for everyone to move and began mumbling his mission. His eyes instantly lit up.

[Objective: Submerge within the lake of Iron Toads' poison and pump your fist in an enclosed space.

Optional Objectives:

1) Keep your eyes from shutting for more than 2 seconds after every blink.

2) Keep your breath underwater for more than 30 minutes.

Mission Rank: C-B-A

Mission Rewards: Silver Toad's GrassGolden Toad's GrassReflective Toad's grass.

Time Limit: 1 hour.]

Ja Sun was comparatively confident in his lung capacity. With spirit energy, one's basic bodily functions increases, and the quality of his body was better than cultivators of his own rank.

Seeing the many stopped at the edge of the lake, gazing at the putrid glance reluctantly, an astonishing situation occurred in front of their eyes.

Ja Sun rushed past the group and jumped high before curling his body midair. His hands wrapped around his knees and he shot down straight. With a loud splash, the putrid venom around him was pushed out and everyone gaped.

"Every minute to wait longer, I will increase your time in the lake by ten minutes."

Bibi Dong's chilly voice echoed behind them.

Gritting her teeth, Ah Yin looked towards the area where Ja Sun dove but he didn't come out. Slowly stepping forward, she placed a firm foot in the edge of liquid when

With a wave of spiritual energy suddenly blasting them from behind, everyone flew into the lake.

"Remain underwater as much as you can."

Bibi Dong had carefully calculated her strength and the blast of spirit energy pushed the group close to where Ja Sun dove in. With a focused expression under the mask, Bibi Dong stretched her hand and from the tip of her fingers, green-yellow mucus seemed to be forming into drops that floated around her. Intense force fluctuated from each drop and once she had created ten drops, Bibi Dong shot it towards the group. Two of each drop not mixing with the venom but entering the circulation of the five of them submerged.

"I would suggest not to speak out of bounds again," she replied calmly, "The external pressure had already reached its limit. Pushing further would have harmed you."

Both of their gazes clashed from behind their masks. In terms of actual seniority, Ja Sun and Ah Yin were her grandmaster's disciples. So she wasn't actually considered the elder one, these two were. But until now, Ja Sun calmly listened to her arrangements which calmed her down somewhat. But matching his gaze at this moment, Bibi Dong found how terribly wrong she was.

"Teacher, if you were the origin of that poison, you can create more of it. I only wish not to be held back in training because you happened to be... afraid."

"It must be hard for your mind to understand the concept of preservation. But I will not willingly harm those under my tutelage. Of course, I will try my best to teach you the meaning of self-preservation." Bibi Dong's gloomy voice shook the hearts of listeners and a white glow covered her body momentarily before she quickly controlled herself.

"So you will willingly lower the intensity of my training just to match with others? Might as well give us the same names and clothes."

"What do you propose?" Bibi Dong pulled a chair from her essence tool and crossed her legs. Glancing sideways, she looked at the remaining students, "Go, change."

She stated faintly and others left. It was the peak of noon so everyone was already feeling uncomfortable. Returning to their tents, the students left Ja Sun and Bibi Dong alone.

"I am not proposing anything. I just want to be taught fearlessly. If I am willing to jump into the fire, why would you douse the flames?"

Bibi Dong's eyes twitched.

"I will not"

"You can swim in the venom of a human-faced spider. But pushing little traces of poison is too much?" Ja Sun inquired.

Bibi Dong frowned for a moment.

"That is not the same. I'm more resistant to it."

"I'm not aware if I should tell you this. But this is a personal conversation, after all. Master said quite clearly that there are things that your master and mine cannot teach me. I respected his experience and agreed. If I had known that you like playing by the weakest points of the books, I wouldn't have joined the class at all."

Ja Sun stood up and silently returned to his tent. Why wouldn't he be frustrated?

Missions created around Bibi Dong have been amazing for him but today left him distaste and the putrid water was only half the reason.

Pumping his fist, Ja Sun found his rewards appearing in front of him.

The toad grasses were a good tonic so Ja Sun silently ate the blades of grasses. His blood slowly being pushed to the sixth level of the technique.

---

When everyone changed and waited for Bibi Dong's call, they didn't know that Bibi Dong herself had vanished from the encampment. Her figure flashing into the forest before she reached the peak of the first hill in a matter of seconds!

"Grandmaster," Bibi Dong gave a deep bow as she saw Qian Daoliu sitting on the peak holding a small skill manual in his hands and reading it with a peaceful expression. Her expression changed, however, when she found that the 'skill manual' was actually a simple book written by an ordinary human. After all, the title of the book was: Me and You.

"Hmm?" Qian Daoliu glanced sideways and revealed a confused expression, "Dong'er, why are you here? Go train your students."

"But... I thought you came here to teach me another lesson," Bibi Dong stated, clearly reluctant to leave without learning anything.

With a slightly amused expression, Qian Daoliu waved his hands, "I care about you lot. Xunji still has to seed another Seraphim so I am quite free nowadays. Go, be a good teacher. Lessons will come to you naturally."

Bibi Dong didn't dare linger after Qian Daoliu made his intentions clear. But she was also clear that he was the one who willingly revealed his breath to her.

However, why?

The ability to not learn the truth

On the way, Bibi Dong's expression froze and she stood rooted on a branch. Suddenly, a viper short out from the leaves and bit her ankles but strangely, the serpent itself trembled before limply falling off the branch. Its body corroding and turning into a bloody pool with a horrendous stench.

'The ability to not understand... the ability to not grow when you could be handed that feeling is truly frustrating,' her gaze changed.

From afar, Qian Daoliu observed Bibi Dong's aura turning tamer once again. She had gone through another qualitative step in her cleansing and once again, Qian Daoliu began reading the book in his head silently.

His expression much more serious.

'I cannot believe Xiao Yu will confess while he is sleeping. What a tease,' he frowned and his gaze turning a little dangerous. Very quickly, he flipped the page and continued to read with a heavy heart.

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