Chapter 23: Red Cards
Half an hour have already passed when Fang Lin’s group has entered the forest. Tang Ya, who had been carrying Fang Lin since their entrance, skidded to a halt and looked at Venomshade. She gestured for them to rest behind those large trees.
“Let’s stop here for now to rest and to formulate on what to do.” She then threw Fang Lin’s body unceremoniously on the ground. “You.” She looked at Venomshade and said “Wake this fatass up already, I can’t bear to touch him anymore.”
Venomshade sighed and approached Fang Lin. He withdrew a vial inside his robes.
“You’re an alchemist?” Tang Ya inquired.
Venomshade just smile and shook his head. “I’m no alchemist, I’m just a poison brewer.”
When Tang Ya heard this, she could not help but to raise her vigilance. Poison brewers can easily kill a higher staged opponent as long as they have poison powerful enough to do that. Not only that, but dying from a poison concocted by poison brewer is a painful one. Because of this, people usually steer clear of them and avoid to offend them at all.
Venomshade opened the lid of the vial and put it near Fang Lin’s nose. Seconds later, his body began to convulse and he opened his eyes. He immediately leaped up, putting himself in a crouched position. His eyes warily observed the environment around him while emitting a killing intent. Fang Lin then relaxed as he realized he just over-reacted.
When Tang Ya saw these actions of Fang Lin, she thought “So this pervert is a fighter too huh. Does that mean what he did earlier is an act?”
When Fang Lin saw the accusatory look on the faces of Tang Ya and Venomshade, he could not help but feel guilty. Who could have known that Xiao Ya possessed some magic hands? Just thinking of it right now made Fang Lin shiver. “If this keeps up, I could really be in Master Xiao Ya’s harem! I need to have a strong will! Think of her as an old hag!” He recited this mantra under his breath.
“Can you explain what happened to you back there?” Tang Ya asked Fang Lin. But then she heard him muttering “Old Hag, old hag, old hag, old hag...”
“You bastard! How dare you call me an old hag!” Tang Ya immediately unsheathed the six-feet long broadsword at her back. It gleamed menacingly against the daylight. “I’ll maim you!”
“No! I’m not calling you an old hag! It was someone else!” Fang Lin could only say these things as he saw that Tang Ya is already at her boiling point.
“What Fang Lin said was true.” Venomshade interjected. “The poison I made him smell earlier also had some truth potion. Of course, as long as you have qi or mana, this can be easily erased. But Fang Lin here is at the Body Refinement Stage so he cannot counteract the effect of the poison. But its only a trace amount so it should be gone in about 3 minutes.”
“Why did you put something like that on me? Do you think I have an ill intent on the two of you?” Fang Lin of course had been angry from what Venomshade did.
“Ah, its because of your weird behavior earlier. I suspected that maybe they were some people here that were sent as spies from other sects. They might do something to disrupt the selection this time.” Venomshade cringed himself upon remembering Fang Lin’s shameless moans. “That thing you did earlier could have been a signal to to the others, or just a way to distract us”
Venomshade then looked deeply at Fang Lin. “There are still 90 seconds until the effects of the potion disappear. Now tell me, are you sent here as a spy and if not, what are your intentions?”
Tang Ya readied her body, clutching her broadsword, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
Fang Lin then took a deep breath. “I am not a spy that was sent here by any sect or power. I wanted to join the Immortal God Sect because I want to build a harem of girls with diversity!” Of course, Fang Lin is telling the truth here. But telling the truth and telling all of the truths were entirely different. Fang Lin just chose to tell the truths that will not put his identity in compromise.
Several moments later, Fang Lin felt as if a veil that was covering his eyes have been removed. He then knew that he had been freed of the potion’s effects. He sighed in relief.
“You are really a pervert!” Tang Ya angrily said.
“Haha at least he is not an enemy.” Venomshade said merrily. “For now, lets find an empty cave and discuss what to do. But we should do it carefully.”
After an hour of slow, tense walking, they already found an empty cave. Once inside, Fang Lin gathered some rocks and wood and he arranged it in front of the cave to make it partially camouflaged.
Fang Lin then withdrew his card. Venomshade and Tang Ya showed theirs too. They laid it on the floor and compared it with each other.
From what Fang Lin can see, their cards were virtually the same except for the egg and the weapon icon in the front of the card. Fang Lin’s card has a generic looking sword and a red colored egg. Tang Ya’s was a wooden bow and a blue egg. Venomshade’s are a set of needles and a green egg.
Venomshade frowned when he saw the differences. “As long as a person is not stupid, it it easy to infer that the objectives of this exam is related to the egg and the weapon.” He paced around the cave. “But how can we confirm that?”
Upon hearing this, Fang Lin smiled. He then stood up and shook something out of his robes. What fell on the ground were 5 red cards. This were stolen by Fang Lin amidst the confusion in the entrance of the forest. He took advantage of the fact that Tang Ya has been pushing the people out of her way. This gave him the chance to use his meaty paws to get their cards. Too bad he passed out before he could get more.
Tang Ya and Venomshade looked at Fang Lin in surprise. “Haha you do not need to idolize me that much!” Fang Lin tried to laugh, but he stopped once seeing the fed-up expression of the other two. “I suspect that maybe our cards will do something once its near the card of the other people.”
He then kneeled and drew out a card from the ground. It had the number 738 and it had a rapier and a blue egg. He then put it near his card. Suddenly, the rapier from the #738 card was swallowed by Fang Lin’s normal looking sword. The sword then looked a little more durable. As for the egg, nothing happened.
He then noticed that the color of his egg is red (of course, the one in the card) so he then chose the card #1879 which has a bow and a red-colored egg. Once near each other, the egg at the card #1879 was swallowed up by Fang Lin’s egg.
After some more experimenting, the three formulated these observations:
1. You can steal the cards of others. Once stolen, it is already considered ownerless.
2. The contents of an ownerless card will be swallowed by a card with an owner as long as the conditions are fulifilled.
3. An ownerless card cannot swalllow the contents of another ownerless card.
4. If the weapon type is similar, the weapons of the ownerless card will be swallowed by the weapon in the card with an owner. A sword can swallow a saber, a bow can swallow a crossbow and etc.
5. If the color of the egg in the ownerless card is the same as the one with an owner, it will be swallowed too.
6. This swallowing seems to improve the quality of the egg and the weapon.
7. The range of the map increases with more swalllowings.
At the end, Fang Lin ‘swallowed’ 2 eggs and 3 swords. Tang Ya had 1 bow and 3 eggs. Venomshade however is unlucky, only having acquired 1 egg.
After they finished all of this, they realized its already night. In the distance, they could hear the noises made by other beasts. Hearing this, they did not dare to go outside.
Tang Ya looked at the two of them and said “You two sleep in that corner over there. I’m gonna sleep on the other end.” She looked at Fang Lin menacingly. “Whoever touches me in my sleep shall lose their hands!” With one final glare, she leaned against the cave walls and closed her eyes. Seconds later, she fell asleep already.
Fang Lin and Venomshade then went to sleep too.
Suddenly, Fang Lin was fiercely woken up by some harsh voices. He opened his eyes and saw Tang Ya and Venomshade looking at him disappointedly.
“What did I do wrong?” Fang Lin thought.
It was then that he noticed that Yao’er was not merged with his shadow anymore. What’s worse is that she was sleeping on Fang Lin’s chest. While naked.
Tang Ya with her twitching eyes said “You better come up with the right answer. Because from what I see, any answer you give will be wrong!”