CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 45: WILD POMEGRANATE (PART 1)

Today’s luck was much worse than yesterday’s. All morning, they encountered more than twenty level seven and eight Star Beasts, all of which were powerful fighters.

Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao fought battle after battle, seamlessly transitioning between each fight, depleting both their physical and spiritual power greatly.

Taking advantage of Ye Qingting’s sword strike to repel the giant pincered locust, Li Xing led them crouching into the dense forest, using divine positioning to lure the giant pincered locust into a patch of giant flytrap plants. Using the momentum of the flytrap plants, they finally managed to escape.

Li Xing led them on a stealthy journey to rest under a large tree. Cui Tianxiao forced himself to stay awake, took out some array flags, and casually placed a few around before resting against the tree trunk, panting heavily.

Ye Qingting was also exhausted. If it weren’t for the good night’s rest they had, he and Ah Xiao might not have been able to hold out today.

Li Xing’s technique for setting up a Shielding Array was already superb; even when she was so close, the two didn’t notice her handiwork.

Having followed the two around the forest all morning, Li Xing was also hungry. She set up the Shennong Cauldron and rummaged through her Spiritual Pendant.

Wild vegetables, tubers, nut-like grains, peeled and deboned Star Beast Meat, and other items were thrown into the pot in succession, adding water to start cooking.

Ye Qingting actually wanted to stop her. Given their bad luck today, should they attract more Star Beasts, neither he nor Ah Xiao would have the strength to fight. But remembering the deliciousness from last night, Ye Qingting hesitated for a while and ultimately decided to keep quiet.

Grandpa always said to trust those you rely on. Having chosen Xiao Hua as their guide, he had to trust her wilderness survival skills.

The strange aroma spread around, and just by smelling it, Ye Qingting and Cui Tianxiao felt their strength returning.

"Hua... give your brother a free bowl just to taste the saltiness," Cui Tianxiao wheezed, desperately needing a bowl of hot food to comfort his body and mind.

"I’m not a servant. If Young Master Xiao wants some, he should serve himself."

Cui Tianxiao showed a face full of grievance: "You served Qingtian, why not me?"

"There are things I could do willingly, but if you order me to do them, I suddenly don’t want to."

"Tsk, your personality isn’t the least bit endearing, what a waste of a cute face!"

Despite the banter, Cui Tianxiao did not waste any time. After finishing one bowl, he dutifully turned the serving and continued to eat. The entire pot of meat soup was divided up with satisfying clangs until nothing was left.

Feeling full and warm inside, strength filled his body again. With energy restored, Cui Tianxiao started causing mischief again, licking his lips, feeling something was missing.

"Qingtian, I want to eat some fruit." In his haste to leave, he forgot many things. Face masks and sunscreen couldn’t be substituted in the forest, but fruit was possible.

"In the wilderness? No fruit. Bear it for a few days and have some when we get back home."

"If I don’t eat fruit for too long, my skin loses its radiance. I can’t accept that." Cui Tianxiao had severe appearance anxiety. It was baffling why this man, straighter than steel, took such good care of his looks.

Looking at Cui Tianxiao like an idiot, Ye Qingting said gloomily:

"I have something hard and crunchy here. Do you want it?"

Cui Tianxiao’s eyes widened dramatically, clutching his chest as if wounded: "Qingtian, you’ve changed. You’ve never been this harsh to me before!"

Ye Qingting was truly annoyed. Was this fool blind, not seeing Xiao Hua’s shocked expression? He didn’t want the young girl to mistakenly think there was something inappropriate about his relationship with this idiot.

"Get lost!"

Ye Qingting sidestepped Cui Tianxiao’s pounce and sat over by Li Xing. Poor Cui Tianxiao lay on the ground looking up at the sky like a jilted lover. _(¦3)∠)_

"Has love disappeared... eh, what the hell?"

From his angle, he could see the treetop above, full of red wild pomegranates.

Cui Tianxiao immediately got up, checked the tree crown’s direction, then the soil at the base, and finally counted the number of wild pomegranates before shouting "Heaven helps me too," and climbed the tree to pick a few.

Li Xing watched speechlessly as he took out his purification tray, placing the pomegranates on it for a cleansing round, then carefully testing the Chaos Power before confidently peeling one open.

The pomegranate seeds, crystal clear and enticingly moist, looked very appetizing.

"Wait!" Just as Cui Tianxiao was about to take a bite, Li Xing hurriedly stopped him. "I advise you not to eat things recklessly, or you might run into trouble."

"Tsk! You, who cook meals with on-site materials in the forest, what grounds do you have to advise me not to eat things rashly?"

Cui Tianxiao finally found a chance to show off:

"As they say, there’s always someone better out there. Don’t think that you’re the only one who knows which plants are edible. Your brother here is a botany talent. You’re probably not in preparatory military school yet, right? Let me give you a vivid and interesting lesson in advanced botany—watch this!"

Holding up the red pomegranate for Li Xing to see better, Cui Tianxiao cleared his throat and continued:

"This, is a wild pomegranate, a common wild fruit, high in sugar, juicy, rich in nutrients and trace elements, often used as an emergency ration in outdoor combat."

"There are several ways to determine if a wild pomegranate is poisonous: First, if the tree crown is large and sun-facing, it’s non-poisonous; second, if the tree roots are clean and free of insect holes, it’s non-poisonous; third, if the number of ripe fruits is more than twice the number of sub-branches, it’s non-poisonous!"

Ye Qingting nodded to himself; textbooks indeed stated it that way.

"This wild pomegranate tree is practically a textbook example of non-toxicity. What do I have to fear in eating it?"

Li Xing sucked in a breath, with an indescribable expression: "I think you should be more cautious. Just think about it, so many ripe fruits, yet none are taken by Star Beasts to eat—is that normal?"

Li Xing’s words aroused Ye Qingting’s vigilance.

"Makes sense. Ah Xiao, I think you should listen to Xiao Hua."

"Should a top military school student like me listen to a child? Hell no!"

Had Ye Qingting not spoken up, Cui Tianxiao might have used his brain. But when Ye Qingting spoke, Cui Tianxiao became more eager, biting into the pomegranate. The sweet juice exploded in his mouth, making him feel fulfilled in life.

Just as he was about to take a second bite, he suddenly realized his vision had narrowed.

Ye Qingting and Xiao Hua originally stood in front of him, but now he could only see a section of Qingtian’s neck and on the same level, Xiao Hua’s eyes.

What’s happening?

Ye Qingting was horrified to see that after Cui Tianxiao took a bite of the pomegranate, his eyelids and lips swelled like balloons. In seconds, the person standing before him transformed from a fair, handsome youth into a creature with bug-eyed fish eyes and sausage-like lips.

Li Xing covered her face in agony, thinking it was too ugly and wishing she hadn’t witnessed it.

Cui Tianxiao also sensed something strange with his body. Reaching for his eyes, the puffy sensation made him jerk his hand back in terror! Were these really his eyes?

No, no, no! None of this is real!

He admitted the pomegranate was problematic; he was poisoned, the toxin causing this hallucination—everything was an illusion. He must still look the same!

Desperately trying to open his eyes to see Ye Qingting, he wanted validation, but before he got there, Qingtian stepped back, his face looking like he’d seen a ghost.