Chapter 376: Chapter 211: Brother Pingtou: "Big Brother, Give Me Some Face, Let Me Down!

Even though the weeds were damp with dew, the roaring Flame still scorched the ground with a sharp crackling sound.

In the pitch-black night, the Flame illuminated the surroundings, its light flickering across the faces of Lu Yuan and Brother Pingtou.

Not far away, several birds, startled by the firelight, flapped their wings and fled.

Lu Yuan flicked a finger of his left hand, and the birds were knocked unconscious, drifting down to the ground.

Brother Pingtou turned to look at the Flame and shouted with a hint of defiance, "Kid, you’re not going to roast me, are you?"

Lu Yuan remained silent.

After a dozen or so seconds, seeing that the grass was mostly burnt, Lu Yuan retracted the Flame.

He then flicked his sleeve, blowing away the soot and ash to reveal a clean clearing about seven or eight meters in diameter.

Lu Yuan produced a stool and sat down, placing Brother Pingtou, whom he had been carrying, on the ground.

"Hot, so hot!" Xiaotian yelped twice before settling down.

The freshly burned ground was still radiating scorching heat.

Lu Yuan pulled the birds over with a suction force, tossed them in front of Brother Pingtou, and said, "Eat up. I tossed you earlier, so consider this an apology."

Seeing that this member of the Human Race before him was being polite, most of Xiaotian’s anger dissipated. He said, "I eat my food cooked, not raw."

’Heh, this little guy doesn’t eat raw food. I have no idea how he’s managed to survive,’ Lu Yuan thought. With a flip of his hand, he conjured a cluster of Flame and began to roast the birds.

Lu Yuan carefully controlled the heat, and in no time, the savory aroma of roasting meat filled the air.

He then took some seasonings from his robes and sprinkled on cumin and fine salt. The sight of the crispy-skinned meat was enough to make anyone’s mouth water.

Lu Yuan tore off a bird’s leg and took a bite.

Drooling, Xiaotian yelled, "Kid, give me some!"

"Kid?" Lu Yuan said while chewing, holding up the bird’s leg.

"Big Brother!" Xiaotian’s eyes sparkled as he stared intently at the roast meat in Lu Yuan’s hand.

Only then did Lu Yuan give the roasted birds to Brother Pingtou.

Xiaotian swallowed a few mouthfuls and said, "I’m calling you Big Brother, so you shouldn’t call me Brother Pingtou anymore. Call me Xiaotian."

Lu Yuan didn’t say anything after hearing this.

"Since you’re not saying anything, I’ll take that as a yes," Xiaotian continued, still gulping down the meat.

After Xiaotian finished eating, Lu Yuan finally remembered the purpose of his trip. He slapped his forehead and said, "Crap! I’m running out of time!"

Half of the midnight hour had already passed.

Lu Yuan shot to his feet and began frantically searching his surroundings, paying no more attention to Brother Pingtou.

Xiaotian trotted happily behind Lu Yuan, shouting, "Big Brother! What are you looking for?"

Lu Yuan had no desire to spend a second night on the mountain. Without turning his head, he said, "Star Spirit Grass!"

"Oh, that stuff. I know where to find some." Xiaotian propped himself up on his hind legs, trying his best to look taller.

Hearing this, Lu Yuan crouched down and said in a serious tone, "Really? If you’re messing with me and I miss the right hour, I’ll really roast you! I just wonder if your meat tastes any good."

"No way! Just watch," Xiaotian said with great confidence, patting his chest with his front paws.

"Fine. If you can really find it, I’ll roast more meat for you," Lu Yuan said, only half-convinced. He could only hope this talking Brother Pingtou was somewhat reliable.

Xiaotian dropped to all fours and said, "Follow me, and keep up!"

Lu Yuan followed Brother Pingtou, winding and turning until they reached the back of a mountain, where all sorts of shrubs grew taller than a person.

This had to be the place. The surrounding Spiritual Qi was abundant, and even in the dark of night, it couldn’t conceal the vibrant life force.

Xiaotian stood up and said, "Big Brother, go on. It’s just forty or fifty meters ahead."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan quickened his pace, afraid that the Star Spirit Grass would wither once midnight had passed.

After just a few steps, Lu Yuan felt like he had run into a spiderweb, which covered his entire face.

Lu Yuan pulled the web off his face. "SPIT, SPIT, SPIT. There are so many spiderwebs in these bushes."

Lu Yuan lit a faint blue Flame at his fingertip to illuminate his surroundings and avoid running into any more webs.

The light revealed the scene around him, and a cold sweat broke out on Lu Yuan’s back.

"Oh my god, did I just walk into the Silk Cave? Why are there poisonous spiders everywhere? Each one is as big as a fist," Lu Yuan muttered to himself, frozen in place.

Multicolor spiders had spun huge webs between the bushes, waiting for prey.

Suddenly recalling how he had just plunged headfirst into a web, Lu Yuan slowly looked up.

He saw a female spider just a dozen centimeters from his forehead.

Why a female spider? Because the one above his head was unnaturally vibrant in color.

So Lu Yuan decided it must be a female.

"Fucking disgusting." Lu Yuan was more afraid of these things than anything else. He found them even more repulsive than those deceptively kind-looking Xingzi.

Lu Yuan subconsciously flicked the Flame from his fingertip at it.

Scorched by the Flame, the vibrant female spider was about to fall.

Lu Yuan hastily retreated two steps, and the burning spider barely missed his face as it dropped.

"That was close. It almost landed on my face."

This burst of Flame startled the surrounding spiders, and they began to stir.

Lu Yuan quickly retreated several more steps, only then realizing that Brother Pingtou had stayed put and not followed him in.

Lu Yuan shouted, "You rotten Brother Pingtou! What kind of path is this? It’s full of poisonous spiders!"

Xiaotian giggled and said, "You’re a grown man. Haven’t you ever heard that where there is poison, the antidote is always within ten paces?"

Lu Yuan roasted the spiders crawling toward him and said, "Well, I don’t see a single Star Spirit Grass within ten paces!"

"The Star Spirit Grass is in the clearing on the other side of the bushes." Xiaotian was lying on the ground, belly-up, scratching an itchy spot with his paw.

Hearing Brother Pingtou’s words and looking at the two-to-three-meter-high bushes in front of him, Lu Yuan figured it was only a dozen meters or so to the other side.

Lu Yuan retreated a few dozen steps, and the poisonous spiders stopped approaching him, instead crawling back to their webs.

"What’s wrong, Big Brother? You’re not chickening out, are you?" Xiaotian asked in a slightly mocking tone.

"Shut up! One more word and I’ll pick you up and throw you in!" Lu Yuan snapped.

Seeing this, Xiaotian said no more.

Lu Yuan started running toward the bushes.

Xiaotian watched this, a grin on his face as if mocking Lu Yuan. ’This human is really stubborn,’ he thought. ’He plans to run through the bushes at top speed? Isn’t he just going to get a face full of spiderwebs?’

Just as Lu Yuan was about to crash into the bushes, he leaped. He jumped eight or nine meters into the air, executed a beautiful flip, and landed gracefully, easily clearing the ten-meter-plus wide thicket.

It was like the perfect combination of a pole vaulter and a gymnast.

Xiaotian watched the figure fly over the bushes in the moonlight. "What a human. His physical prowess is on par with mine."

Lu Yuan lit a Flame again. Before him was a large patch of grass, dotted with the faint green glow of countless Star Spirit Grass stalks.

Lu Yuan didn’t count them, but there were probably several hundred stalks.

Lu Yuan crossed his hands and then spread them apart, using a powerful suction force to pull all the Star Spirit Grass from the ground into his System Space.

’There’s no point in leaving this Star Spirit Grass here; it’ll just wither after midnight. I might as well take as much as I can and use it for Alchemy within the next day.’

’Besides, raw meat doesn’t even rot in the System Space. Maybe the Star Spirit Grass can last more than a day in there too.’

When Lu Yuan felt he had gathered enough, he plucked three more stalks of Star Spirit Grass from beside him.

The moment midnight passed, the Star Spirit Grass on the ground withered instantly, as if the soil had sucked all the energy out of it.

Lu Yuan crossed back over the bushes the same way he came and returned to Brother Pingtou’s side.

Xiaotian stood up, looked at the three stalks of Star Spirit Grass in Lu Yuan’s hand, and complained, "Only three? What a waste. But since almost no one can find this place, you can always come back later."

Lu Yuan was still grateful to Brother Pingtou. He said, "Thanks, Xiaotian!"

"Don’t mention it!" Xiaotian replied.

Lu Yuan started walking back toward his campsite. In the distance, he saw the flickering of torches and faintly heard someone shouting, "Young Master Nephew, where are you?"

Xiaotian, trotting at Lu Yuan’s heels, asked, "Are those members of the Human Race your friends?"

"Yes," Lu Yuan replied.

"They seem to be in a real hurry," Xiaotian continued.

"I know. So can you walk any faster?" Lu Yuan urged.

If Lu Yuan hadn’t been worried Xiaotian couldn’t keep up, he would have already broken into a run.

Provoked by Lu Yuan’s words, Xiaotian began, "I..."

Before Xiaotian could finish, Lu Yuan used his Inner Strength to pull Xiaotian into the air, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

Lu Yuan murmured, "This way is much faster, isn’t it! Xiaotian, tell me, aren’t I a genius?"

Xiaotian flailed his paws and yelled, "Big Brother, have some mercy! Put me down!"