Bai Shengyi looked up and realized her teammates were gone. The surroundings were still filled with pink peach blossoms, delicate and charming, but she noticed these were just ordinary peach trees.
"Chu Tianle? Feng Wuya? Xun Meng?"
Bai Shengyi called out each name, but no one responded.
As she pondered, a panicked cry came from not far away.
"Grandma! Grandma, what's wrong with you? Don't scare Yingying..."
A girl in her mid-teens, dressed in plain cloth, shook the old woman's body and shouted. Large patches of red rash had appeared on the old woman's neck, and she seemed to be losing consciousness.
"Sister, can you help save Grandma?"
Seeing Bai Shengyi, Yingying looked as if she had found a savior, her eyes lighting up.
Without waiting for Bai Shengyi's reply, she grabbed Bai Shengyi's hand and dragged her toward the old woman, saying, "Yingying only has Grandma. Yingying can't lose Grandma, woo woo woo..."
Bai Shengyi cautiously remained silent. The scene before her was too strange. She felt the old woman's pulse and subtly probed with her spiritual power...
She was actually a living person!
Were there inhabitants in this Flowing Light Secret Realm?
"Sister! What are you staring at? Hurry and save Grandma!" Yingying's voice suddenly turned low and hoarse, like a demon's whisper, her warm breath brushing past Bai Shengyi's ear.
Bai Shengyi even felt that beside her was not a young girl, but a fierce beast baring its fangs.
Interesting.
"If you want to save her, you can, but are you willing?" Bai Shengyi turned to look at the young girl.
As expected, the beast was not seen. Yingying stood half an arm's length away from Bai Shengyi and said helplessly, "Of course, I am willing!"
"No matter the cost?"
"I..." Before the word "will" could escape her lips, the charming young girl's head suddenly transformed into a bee's head, her hands turned into beastly claws, and she lunged at Bai Shengyi!
"Whoosh!"
Green spiritual energy met her coldly. Bai Shengyi was prepared and quickly retreated with the old woman.
"Little bee, aren't you saving your Grandma anymore?"
Yingying's voice rasped like torn wind, "This old hag steals my honey every day. It's good that she's dead, she can be food for our Queen."
"You too!"
As she spoke, her lower body also changed, transforming into a bee more than three meters tall. With a flick of its stinger, it shot out countless stingers towards Bai Shengyi!
Just as Bai Shengyi was preparing to defend with fire spiritual power, she heard Qing Meng Teng say, "Master, I'll do it!"
"Little Teng Ye, you're finally awake!"
"Yes, Master, I've gotten stronger again!"
Bai Shengyi also noticed that Qing Meng Teng was now a fourth-tier spiritual plant.
During the brief moment of conversation, Qing Meng Teng's leaves precisely blocked the stingers. Its leaves were far more numerous than the stingers. Seeing that it was outmatched, the bee actually threw a smoke bomb and fled!
"Guard me," Bai Shengyi instructed Qing Meng Teng and began to treat the old woman.
It wasn't that she was overly kind, but in this strange place, the old woman was indeed a living person. Besides a bit of kindness, she also wanted to gather information.
The old woman had been poisoned by a bee. Bai Shengyi had sensed it when she took her pulse. She was just an ordinary person, and the bee venom was potent, which caused her to faint.
Bai Shengyi used her healing technique to force the bee venom out of the old woman's body. Before long, the old woman woke up.
"Mmm... Ah? Young lady, did you save me?"
Bai Shengyi observed her subtly and nodded, "It was me. Grandma, why are you here alone? And poisoned by bees? It's fortunate I met you."
"No wonder my neck suddenly stung before I fainted. So I was stung." The old woman suddenly realized, "How has Yingying become so naughty? My old bones can't withstand her antics."
"Yingying?" Bai Shengyi listened to the doting tone and felt increasingly strange.
"Are you from out of town?"
Bai Shengyi tensed her mind, her expression unchanged, "Yes, Grandma. How did you know?"
"Every once in a while, people come to our Peach Blossom Village to look for something," the old woman gestured as if to get up. Bai Shengyi supported her, and she patted Bai Shengyi's hand, signaling her not to bother, and slowly stood up.
"But our Peach Blossom Village is just an ordinary village. What valuable things could we possibly have? Fortunately, we have Yingying and her group of guardian spirits. The honey they produce, people say, can increase cultivation after eating. We collect honey once a week and sell it to those people..."
As the old woman spoke, she suddenly realized that Bai Shengyi was also from out of town and quickly said, "But don't worry, our honey is very fairly priced. You only need one tael of silver for a large pot!"
Bai Shengyi looked at the gesture for a large pot that the old woman made and suddenly felt pity for the bee named Yingying.
Honey produced by demonic beasts must be much better than ordinary honey. So much of it, and it was sold for only one tael of silver in Peach Blossom Village?
The old woman insisted on thanking Bai Shengyi and led her towards their village.
The peach trees along the road were unbroken. In the old woman's words, those bee demonic beasts were the guardian spirits of their Peach Blossom Village. They didn't know what demonic beasts were, they just felt that these bees seemed to understand what people said, so they gave them names.
Yingying was one of them, who loved to joke with them, the honey collectors, and was actually not malicious.
"She probably never expected..."
Before the old woman could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the sound of an argument coming from not far from the peach forest.
"It's him! He's been lurking around our guardian spirits for days, he must want to take them away!"
"That's right! I also saw him tampering with the guardian spirits' nest!"
...
A group of middle-aged men dressed in rough cloth tunics surrounded a man in snow-white clothing. The man carried a zither on his back, his spine straight, his demeanor like pine and cypress, clear and ethereal.
"Hua Xueji?" Bai Shengyi exclaimed softly.
Hua Xueji seemed to have heard her and turned to look at Bai Shengyi. Just then, Bai Shengyi also hurried over and met his gaze directly.
Cold, silent.
Like a bottomless, undisturbed pool of water.
"Oh dear, esteemed sirs, it's all a misunderstanding. This is my friend, she should be looking for me!" Bai Shengyi stepped forward with a smile, pushing away the long spears and hoes extended by the middle-aged men.
As she spoke, she said to the old woman, "Grandma, please help me explain to these esteemed sirs as well."
"Ah Liu Anshan, you must have misunderstood. This young lady saved my life today..."
When the old woman explained how she was saved, the middle-aged men looked at each other.
Finally, the leader said, "Grandma Li, we'll believe her for now. But if she goes near the guardian spirits again, we will have to expel her from the village!"
Bai Shengyi replied, "Alright, I'll do as you say. Esteemed Sir, don't worry, we'll buy honey from Grandma Li's house and then leave."
"It was promised as a gift..."
Grandma Li retorted, but Bai Shengyi smiled and didn't respond.
When Grandma Li walked ahead to lead the way, she fell back a few steps and walked beside Hua Xueji, asking, "Hua Xueji, are there any places here where I can put the box?"