Chapter 208 - Dongguo Xiansheng and the Wolf
After Hu Xiaoxian had been set free. She kept her feet and looked at the scatted vines on the ground. She couldn’t believe her eyes.
She asked, “How did you do that?”
“I told you they were my friends.”
Qin Haodong was taking Hu Xiaoxian to leave. He said, “Let’s go back drinking.”
Seeing Qin Haodong was leaving without any intention to save them. Those entangled by the vines panicked, especially Lei Tianrui who was the closest to the mouth of the tree. He could only groan because his mouth had been covered by the vines and couldn’t say any words.
Hu Xiaoxian realized it. He stopped Qin Haodong and said, “Haodong. Please save all of them.”
“I don’t know them well. Why should I?” Qin Haodong said with an intriguing smile, “The Cannibal Vine is hungry. I can’t just leave my friend in the hunger. It has to eat something.”
“This is not the right time for joking,” Hu Xiaoxian said, “They were not being friendly to you, but you can’t just feed them to the vines. These are human lives in there.”
Qin Haodong remained unmoved and said, “They deserve it. It’s no one else’s fault.”
Hu Xiaoxian did not know that Dong Sihai and the others had set up Qin Haodong. Seeing Lei Tianrui was about to be thrown into the mouth of the Cannibal Vines. She pulled out her Purple Flash Sword again and yelled, “If you don’t, I will.”
historical
“You are no match for it.”
“But I will. They’re my fellows, and we’ll die together if we have to.”
Hu Xiaoxian said and she was going to act, but Qin Haodong stopped her. He said reluctantly, “Fine, I’ll save them for your sake.”
Then he patted on a vine near him and said, “OK, I’m afraid you have to stay hungry today. Now drop down all of them for me.”
The Cannibal Vine seemed a little bit reluctant this time. It did have dropped down all the people, but it threw them out. Lei Tianrui and the others fell on the ground and rolled like calabashes.
Seeing her fellows being saved, Hu Xiaoxian finally release. She said to Qin Haodong, “Thank you!”
After that, she took Qin Haodong’s hand and walked to the little fellow who was still chewing the chicken wings.
Lei Tianrui and the others had climbed up from the ground. Dong Sihai glared at Qin Haodong and said, “You know how to subdue the vines, then what took you so long to help us out?”
Zhao Qiankun yelled with him, “That’s right. You should’ve saved us earlier. What took you so long?”
“They’re so ungrateful, knowing nothing about paying back.” Qin Haodong sneered. “It’s already nice enough of me to save you, and it was all for Xiaoxian’s sake. Or I wouldn’t even care if you are alive or dead.”
Lei Tianrui said, “Qin Haodong, don’t forget we’ve saved you in that gangster inn. You could’ve been stuffed in steamed buns now had we not saved you.”
“Yeah, you’re the ungrateful one.” Other people followed him and yelled.
Qin Haodong said lightly, “Do you think I would really care about those ruffians in that inn? They would’ve died more miserably if you hadn’t been there. Moreover, it was Xiaoxian who saved me, how’s that has anything to do with you?”
Xie Zidan answered angrily, “We’re companions after all. You have to save us when we’re in danger.”
“Companions?” Qin Haodong smiled disdainfully and said to them, “Do you really think I couldn’t see through you little tricks? While we were camping in the noon, you left the site near the Cannibal Vines so that you could feed me to the vines. You call that companions?”
It had never occurred to them that Qin Haodong could see them through. Lei Tianrui, Dong Sihai, and the others felt so embarrassed. They went speechless, which was a silent approval to what Qin Haodong had said.
“Is that true?”
Hu Xiaoxian was irritated all of a sudden. She finally understood why Qin Haodong was so unwilling to save them. It turned out they asked for it.
Zhao Qiankun said to Qin Haodong angrily, “So what?” “Xiaoxian is the woman that our boss favors. You’re just a gigolo boy. A doctor like you doesn’t deserve Xiaoxian.”
Hu Xiaoxian was irritated, and she said, “It’s my own decision to like whom or not. How’s that has something to do with you?”
Lei Tianrui said, “You’ve been cheated, Xiaoxian. He’s just a useless gigolo boy.”
Hu Xiaoxian scolded, “Shame on you! You’re so ungrateful! Who saved you just now?”
Dong Sihai said, “So what? We wouldn’t have camped here near the vines if it was not for him, let alone the dangers we were faced with.”
Zhao Qiankun said, “Xiaoxian, I’ll show you what a real man should be like, and let you know how powerless the gigolo boy is.”
After he said that, he picked up a short knife, and stepped to Qin Haodong.
“How dare you!”
Hu Xiaoxian yelled and pulled out her Purple Flash Sword. Then she stood in front of Qin Haodong to protect him. Qin Haodong didn’t seem to be concerned at all; he pulled Hu Xiaoxian aside and said, “Calm down. A little shrimp like him can never make any big waves.”
Zhao Qiankun was annoyed. He was a real warrior in the ninth level of Overt Power anyway, and he had looked down on Qin Haodong.
He took a few steps, but before he had made his way to Qin Haodong, he suddenly felt dizzy. Then he fell down on the ground heavily. His mind was still clear, but his body was getting numb, and he felt like narcotic.
“Qiankun, anything wrong?”
Dong Sihai was Zhao Qiankun’s closest friend. He yelled and was going to support Zhao Qiankun off the ground, only to fall down on the ground by himself.
Soon, Lei Tianrui, Wang Yuancheng and Xie all followed and fell on the ground.
“Crap! We’ve been poisoned!” Lei Tianrui shouted and tried to use the Genuine Qi in his dantian to excrete the toxins, only to find in horror that he had lost connection with the Genuine Qi there. His body wouldn’t react to him.
Hu Xiaoxian was startled. She looked back at Qin Haodong and asked, “What’s going on?”
She barely finished talking when she felt dizzy and numb. Then she fell backward. Luckily, Qin Haodong was just standing beside her, so he held her.
“Haodong, what happened to me?”
Hu Xiaoxian asked in shock. She knew she had been poisoned, but she couldn’t believe it was Qin Haodong.
Qin Haodong slowly put her on the ground and said, “You’re all poisoned, but I didn’t do that.”
Zhao Qiankun yelled, “Everybody here has been poisoned except you. Who else can it be?”
Hu Xiaoxian said, “Are you out of your mind? Why does he have to do that? Why wouldn’t he just leave you to the vines? Why does he have to make it so complicated?”
“Well...” Zhao Qiankun was stunned, but later he yelled, “Then why is he the only safe one?”
Qin Haodong ignored Zhao Qiankun and picked a freshly cut vine. He pointed to the thorns on it and said, “The poison in you is from the Cannibal Vine.”
“The vines would pierce the thorns into its prey when they were entangled, and then the vines would release a toxin. This toxin is actually a digestive juice secreted by the vines to make it easy for itself to swallow the prey. The juice was very toxic to human beings.”
“This toxin first brought dizziness to human beings, then their legs and arms couldn’t move. Soon their body would fester, and then they will die.”
The little fellow yelled, “Papa, please come up with a way to save Auntie Xiaoxian.”
Hu Xiaoxian asked nervously, “Haodong, is there any method to detoxify?”
She was not just fearful of the dead. What she feared most and felt unacceptable was the festering before death.
Qin Haodong said, “We’ll need the doer to undo what’s been done. The antidote of the poison of the vines lies in its fruits. Its fruits were so out of reach for the ordinary, but not for me.”
He said as he finger-snapped to the direction of the Cannibal Vine. A vine picked a tiny little fruit and sent it to Qin Haodong.
“Eat it, and you’ll get well soon.”
Qin Haodong said as he put the tiny green fruit into Hu Xiaoxian’s red lips. Hu Xiaoxian swallowed it without any hesitation.
It was marvelous that soon after she ate that fruit, she regained her consciousness. Then she stood off the ground within three minutes. The Genuine Qi inside started to flow, too. Everything went as normal as they used to be.
“Xiaoxian, please save us.”
Zhao Qiankun said it because the poison inside him started to work and he could almost feel his body decaying.
Hu Xiaoxian felt dissatisfied with these people, too, but anyway, they used to be companions. They were now in Shennongjia on behalf of Xuanyuan Pavilion, and there were tasks yet to be finished.
“Haodong, can you help them?”
The little fellow said, “No, they are too bad. They were just yelling at Papa.”
Qin Haodong smiled and said, “Xiaoxian, you’ve seen it. Even Tang Tang can tell how shameless they are. I’ve just listened to you and save them once, but what about now? They’re biting the hands that saved them. I won’t do it ever again. Let’s just leave them and let them die.”
Lei Tianrui and the others felt their heart had lost a beat when they heard what Qin Haodong had just said. They were deep in the forest now, and if they couldn’t get treated, they would surely die; moreover, no one got to be blamed for that before they just offended Qin Haodong by themselves.
Hu Xiaoxian glared at them and sighed. Then she begged, “Haodong, I knew it was their fault, but they had their own lives, and we can’t watch them die. I have missions to complete and I’ll need their help. Can you just save them once again, for my sake?”
“No!” Qin Haodong answered without hesitation, “Xiaoxian, you must have heard about the story between Dongguo Xiansheng and the ungrateful wolf. He saved it and it ate him. I won’t make that mistake once again.”
Every sentence of Qin Haodong seemed to make a lot of sense. Lei Tianrui and the others did have crossed the line. Hu Xiaoxian couldn’t argue with him, but she just couldn’t stand by and watch her companion die.
She turned back and shouted at them, “What are you doing there? Apologize to him, now!”
She thought if they apologized to them, things would be easier.
Lei Tianrui was a young master from a big family, and he was respected in Xuanyuan Pavilion because his grandpa was one of the Nine Elders in there. It seemed impossible for them to apologize to a doctor if it was usual time, but now was different; he would die if he couldn’t swallow his pride.
Zhao Qiankun and the others looked at Lei Tianrui with earnestly in their eyes. Apparently, they were all afraid of death.
Lei Tianrui had kept his pride and self-esteem for half a minute before he dropped it for living. He said to Qin Haodong, “I’m sorry Doctor Qin. It was all my fault, please accept my apology.”