"Who are you?" the Immortal Fairy asked, eyeing the four newcomers warily. All of them had a higher cultivation level than hers, every one of them in the Golden Core stage.
Lu Chang's smile widened.
The four of them frequently roamed the dense forest. On the surface, they acted like anyone else—fighting demon beasts and gathering heavenly treasures and earthly wonders. In truth, their true forms were demon beasts, covertly murdering and looting, snatching storage rings, stripping their victims bare, and trading with shady human fences to reap huge profits.
They had originally come to discuss their next plan with the lake's master, never expecting to run into a young girl here.
Late Foundation Establishment cultivation, an obedient and cute appearance, disheveled clothing, and bare feet—she was probably a young lady from some noble clan out on experiential training who had gotten separated from her guards.
This was a very common occurrence. After all, across such a vast forest, the highest cultivation realm certainly was not limited to the Golden Core stage.
As far as they knew, there was an elephant demon nearby with Nascent Soul stage cultivation and terrifying strength.
Lu Chang had limited experience and could not recognize what the Immortal Fairy was wearing, but he was certain the fabric was exorbitantly expensive.
When a noble clan's young lady went out for training, she was bound to have plenty of good things on her. Even if her clan investigated later, they had nothing to fear; this was the dense forest, where life and death were in heaven's hands. Who could guarantee an excursion went without accidents?
At worst, they could just pin the blame on humans themselves; humans did this sort of thing plenty often anyway.
Besides, the little girl was even cooking out here—obviously a simple-minded, carefree sort, easy to dupe.
Lu Chang ran through all the possible scenarios in his mind. Once certain there was no danger, he stepped forward with an amiable air, expressing concern about the Immortal Fairy's background.
"We are cultivators who came to gather medicinal herbs by the lake, and we never expected to meet you here, little girl. This place is dangerous—there is a Golden Core stage demon beast lurking about, and even we don't dare linger here for long."
The Immortal Fairy recalled the lake's master she had casually punched to death earlier. He had been a total pushover, completely harmless. She shook her head. "Dangerous? Not at all."
"That's only because you haven't run into it yet! Where are your elders? It's very dangerous here!"
"He went off to challenge a Golden Core stage demon beast. I was bored, so I ran off... Ah, wait, no, he's not my elder!" The Immortal Fairy instinctively followed Lu Chang's lead, but noticing the discrepancy, she hastily corrected the logical contradiction.
Lu Yang was merely a junior; she was the senior here.
Lu Chang and the other three exchanged glances, thoroughly convinced the little girl had snuck out.
"Fish King, are you there?" Lu Chang secretly reached out with his divine sense to contact the lake's master, wanting to ask about the girl's situation and see if they should cooperate on a score.
"Not there?"
Lu Chang called out several times with his divine sense, but received no reply from the Fish King.
Could it have assumed human form and gone ashore to hunt for prey elsewhere?
If so, it was simply the lake master's bad luck, leaving the four of them to enjoy this windfall all to themselves.
"Are you looking for a fish?"
The Immortal Fairy's words startled Lu Chang. He had been communicating with the lake's master via divine sense—how could an outsider have noticed?
"Then let's eat! It was just finished."
The Immortal True Fire had burned the branches to ashes, and the residual heat of the ashes was used to heat the beggar's fish.
The Immortal Fairy dug a large lump of clay out from the ashes, cracked open the outer clay layer, and peeled back the inner layer of lotus leaves. A refreshing, appetizing fragrance diffused through the air, prompting Lu Chang and the other three to take a deep breath.
In all their time surviving in the wild, this was the first time they had smelled food this aromatic.
Was this the prestige of a great clan? Even what they ate in the wilderness was on an entirely different level.
"Eat up! This is the fish you were looking for," the Immortal Fairy said out of the blue.
Immortal chef though she was, what was an immortal chef? Still a chef. And what a chef loved most was having guests eat the food she made.
Thus, the Immortal Fairy generously shared the freshly prepared beggar's fish with the four of them.
Seeing how carefree and witless the little girl seemed, the four didn't think she would poison it. Besides, the beggar's fish truly smelled wonderful.
They decided to finish this meal before sending the little girl on her way, and they would make their strike a bit gentler.
Each found a large rock, sitting together in a circle to enjoy the delicacy.
Lu Chang retrieved a pair of chopsticks from his storage ring and lightly picked up a piece. To his surprise, the fish meat was so tender that the slightest pressure broke it apart. Left with no choice, he adjusted his strength and gingerly picked up another piece.
The fish melted the moment it entered his mouth, feeling like a mass of water on his tongue. Before he could even register the flavor, it slithered straight down his throat with a slurp.
The Immortal Fairy picked up two twigs, swished them in the lake, and used them as chopsticks.
She carefully picked up a piece, brought it to her mouth, and relished it.
"Mmm, delicious."
"By the way, why do you demon beasts transform into human form?" the Immortal Fairy asked suddenly. "Isn't a demon beast's form supposed to move more easily through the dense forest?"
The four bolted upright, glaring down at the Immortal Fairy.
"You knew we were demon beasts?!"
"I could tell right from the start."
"Then why didn't you react at all?"
"Why should I have reacted?"
Lu Chang was about to praise her courage when the fish meat that had slid into his stomach suddenly seemed to turn from water into fire, blazing inside his belly. It scorched through his eight extraordinary meridians, severing them and sapping all his strength as bean-sized drops of sweat beaded on his forehead.
Thud—
Lu Chang collapsed, clutching his stomach and squirming on the ground. The other three did the same, toppling over and staring in utter disbelief at the seemingly harmless Immortal Fairy.
All four reverted to their original forms: Lu Chang was a fox, while the other three were a hedgehog, a snake, and a large lynx.
The Immortal Fairy discovered that the fish meat's toxicity was considerable—it was even eroding Lu Yang's wood clone. If this continued, she would soon be forced back to Lu Yang's side.
Secretly circulating her Immortal Dao fruit, she dispersed the fish meat's poison.
"Just what kind of fish is this?! How did you poison it?!" Lu Chang's eyes went wide. Trying to divert the Immortal Fairy's attention, he quietly circulated his power to resist the toxicity.
She had seen through their disguise, acted completely nonchalant, invited them to eat, and poisoned the meal!
What a deeply scheming individual!
"It's the Fish King you were looking for! It wanted to eat me, so I ate it," the Immortal Fairy said naively. "Weren't you looking for it? It's a bad demon beast, so stop looking for it."
The Immortal Fairy wrinkled her small nose, displeased by the Fish King's insolence.
Back in ancient times, how could any demon beast have dared treat her like that? Such treasonous insolence would have warranted taking its own life!
"Isn't the Fish King a pufferfish?!" Lu Chang cried in horror. The Fish King was the master of this lake, a pufferfish at the peak of the late Golden Core stage, brimming with lethal poison from head to tail!
Most importantly, this girl was only in late Foundation Establishment—how could she possibly have defeated the Fish King?
"Attack! Kill her! She ate the fish and is fine—she must have the antidote on her!" Lu Chang and the other three temporarily suppressed the pufferfish venom with their cultivation and sprang up to attack.
"And take her storage ring too!"
With four Golden Cores ganging up on a single Foundation Establishment cultivator, he refused to believe this little girl could still win!
"So you're bad demon beasts, just like the big fish!" The Immortal Fairy was very dissatisfied with their attitude.
She had just been planning to cure their poison, but who would have thought they would try to kill her instead?
Chapter 244