...
The appearance of this third contestant is a little unexpected. Thanks to Jiang Chen's ‘blessing’, there are many famous pill masters from other places who came to explore the secret collection of Pill Emperor Chu.
There are enough second level pill masters here as there are ants in any given anthill. However, in the end, such an ordinary local pill master won the upper hand in the competition. Moreover, when he arrived with Jiang Chen, he was only slower than Jiang Chen for a few seconds, he's really amazing.
The third man easily falls into a friendly salute with one hand cupped over the other fist. “My name is Bai Heng, please teach me.”
Jiang Chen disdains this. “I won’t. Don't hinder me."
Soon, the space changes again, and a gate appears in front of them and begins to speak.
"Hello, three challengers. Welcome to my inheritor's gate. In the next few days, what you need to do is to capture the Golden Toad in the dense forest. The person who successfully catches the Golden Toad is my successor."
The door is actually talking, which is really extraordinary.
As the voice of the door falls silent, the ground underneath them trembles and shifts into a dense forest. Everything is full of life, all kinds of plants are scattered over the area, fully grown, and occasionally a small spirit beast peeks up from behind the flora.
A beautiful forest, but it would be very difficult to find a little Golden Toad in such a large place.
Jiang Chen is calm despite such a fact. On the contrary, he turns to Kong Wuying and Bai Heng. “Let's separate here and look on our own, don't follow me. If I find someone playing tricks on me, you won’t like what happens!”
Jian Chen throws down 二五八万 and then takes the biggest, smoothest path out.
(^ er wu ba wan = a mahjong metaphor for arrogant and cocky, cuz the tiles referenced are important in the game)
Now that he’s gone, it’s time for Kong Wuying to set out as well. He picks a path at random and begins to move forward.
After a few steps, he turns back. "Master Bai, why are you following me?"
Bai Heng's simple and honest face has a strange smile. He blinks at Kong Wuying and suddenly hums, “The winds of Beiling ~ the light of Xingtai ~ the pansy flowers blooming in spring all across the sky ~ "
There is no shadow in the sky, certainly no flowers. It seems to be some kind of secret language. It sounds like a ballad in Yeying. Because Beiling and Xingtai are landmark buildings of the Yeying continent and the pansy is the most common flower.
Is this man one of Kong Wuying’s people? But he hasn't heard this ballad before.
Kong Wuying is familiar with all 300 ballads of Yeying, which absolutely does not include this one.
So Kong Wuying keeps his face blank. “What are you talking about?"
Bai Heng smiles. "Master Ning, don't pretend, I know."
Kong Wuying says nothing.
Bai Heng looks at his blank face and exclaims, "You don't know? Don't you know such a well-known ballad?”
His face is incredulous for a moment before he claps his hands and finishes the rest of the song. “The age of blood ~ all of us here ~ our lord has a ~ fat head, fat big head ~ la la la ~ “
Bai Heng points to his insect soul puppet and says, "I'm good at tracking. Just now, my soul puppet spat out silk onto Jiang Chen. I can follow him easily. I’ll lead him away, you grab the Golden Toad. Remember, you must be quick!"
Kong Wuying nods. "Alright.”
Bai Heng's face suddenly changes. "Damn! He found traces of Golden Toad so quickly! Come with me!"
Bai Heng rushes away with Kong Wuying following, until they reach a valley.
Bai Heng says, "Jiang Chen and the Golden Toad are below. I'll go in and lead him away. Later, I'll give you a smoke signal, go in as soon as you see the smoke. You must act quickly. I'm not good enough. I'm afraid I can't lead him away for long."
Kong Wuying smiles. “Don’t worry.”
Bai Heng darts down into the valley.
Kong Wuying waits outside the valley for a while, then sees white smoke waft up from the tree cover. It seems that Bai Heng has already led Jiang Chen away.
With a smile on his face, Kong Wuying turns without hesitation and walks away from the valley.
At the same time, on a wet meadow by the river, a Golden Toad looks at the rare elixir in front of it, his small eyes greedy.
It vigilantly sweeps its gaze around, finds no danger, and boldly hops towards the medicine.
A big bowl falls from the sky and covers the entire toad, trapping it. Jiang Chen comes out of his hiding place with a happy look on his face.
He walks quickly to the bowl and is about to put away the Golden Toad when he abruptly crumples to the ground.
Bai Heng is holding a stick with a proud smile on his simple and honest face. He kicks Jiang Chen away without any politeness and picks up the Golden Toad in the bowl.
The Golden Toad struggles in his hands, but he holds on tight. Bai Heng says with a smile, “Little cutie, don't be afraid, I won't hurt you - ah!”
Bai Heng drops the bowl and the Golden Toad quickly turns into a golden light before disappearing.
Bai Heng collapses on the ground, his face is blue and purple, his whole body stiff as he stands there, frozen.
Kong Wuying saunters around Bai Heng and takes a seat on the ground, reclining his back against a tree, petting the Golden Toad in his hand. He smirks. “What’s that saying again? Something about a mantis eating cicadas and an oriole watching from behind and laughing.”
"You... why are you here? " Bai Heng asks in shock.
Kong Wuying pets the Golden Toad and raises an eyebrow. “You set a trap in the valley. I’d have to be pretty stupid to go there. By the way, I'd like to introduce it to you!" Kong Wuying raises the Golden Toad in his hand. "This is my new soul puppet. Spider-Kong, say hello."
Under Bai Heng's shocked eyes, the ‘Golden Toad’ turned into a little spider about the same size.
"How did you find out?" Bai Heng asks reluctantly.
Kong Wuying rolls his eyes. “There are so many things, do you really want me to elaborate on them one by one?”
Bai Heng: “...”