Chapter 39

"Truly an unforeseen disaster." Su Peng shook his head. He originally intended to build good relationships with everyone in the Purple Mist Sect, but never expected to inexplicably lose five points of favor with this Senior Ancestor Fan.

"It's getting late... I should go eat." Su Peng thought to himself. The young attendant bid farewell to Su Peng and left. Su Peng temporarily logged out in the Purple Mist Sect's kitchen. Considering he might have to work overtime today, he had taken some bread and milk from his room and placed them in the computer room, eating a quick meal before continuing to log in.

After logging in, Su Peng went to the dining hall of the Purple Mist Sect. Dugu Sheng and others either ate a lot or chewed slowly, so their meal was only halfway through. Su Peng sat down with everyone, served himself a bowl of rice, and started eating.

Perhaps the reverse hypnosis technique was too powerful; while eating, Su Peng found that both the taste and his hunger were alleviated, though his real body wouldn't actually gain any nutrients from this meal.

"Did you hear? Second Senior Uncle came to find you just now?" Seeing Su Peng come over, the relatively lively Third Senior Brother Chen Qizhen asked.

"Yes, he also sparred with me in cooking, but it seemed I ended up disappointing him." Su Peng answered truthfully. Zhong Lingxiu, who was sitting next to him, tapped her bowl with her chopsticks and said, "Actually, the cooks in the sect also practice some basic skills. It shouldn't take two days to recover from a stomachache, right?"

"Ah! I get it!" Chen Qizhen suddenly looked up and said, "I think I understand. Could it be that the cook's stomachache was caused by Second Senior Uncle, with the aim of preventing the cook from making meals for a few days so he could show off?"

Hearing Chen Qizhen's words, Dugu Sheng, who was about to pick up some food, paused and said, "I think this is very reasonable."

"That's right! Almost exactly!" Zhong Lingxiu exclaimed, "Second Senior Uncle almost poisoned us! Fortunately, Little Su came to the sect, or we would have had a hard time these past few days!"

The elder seated at the head of the table, the often meditating old Taoist, nodded and said, "This analysis is very reasonable... After dinner today, one of you should go talk to Second Senior Brother. If it is indeed the case, have him give the cook the antidote."

Hearing the words of the sect leader Yun Daoshi, everyone was silent. The First Senior Brother was still absent-minded, the Second Senior Brother kept eating, Chen Qizhen scratched his head, and Zhong Lingxiu seemed to ignore it, teasing the food in her bowl.

Seeing this, Su Peng sighed and thought that Fan Jian's relationships in the sect were really not good, but it was also a good opportunity for him to show himself. He said, "If the seniors and sisters have other things to do after eating, I can go see this Senior Uncle and explain the situation."

"That's a good idea." Yun Daoshi nodded and then extended his chopsticks, saying, "Let's eat."

...

After another half hour, the meal was finally over. Su Peng asked Chen Qizhen for directions to Senior Uncle Fan Jian's residence. Although it was on the back mountain, it was not protected by any special array, and he just had to cross a forest to reach the house.

The moon was still a sliver, providing some light. Su Peng didn't carry a lantern and followed the direction Chen Qizhen had given, heading towards the back mountain.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Su Peng entered a forest. As soon as he entered, he felt an uncomfortable sensation, as if he was being watched by something strange.

"Am I just being paranoid?" Su Peng thought. This was the back mountain of the Purple Mist Sect, and large wild animals should have been cleared by the Second Senior Brother Dugu Sheng and others. There shouldn't be any powerful beings around. However, why did he feel something that made his hair stand on end?

Su Peng didn't dare to be careless, as his intuition was usually very accurate. If he had this feeling, there was a high chance that something was indeed there.

For over ten minutes, Su Peng walked cautiously through the forest. He had left his fine steel sword in the bamboo house and only carried four throwing knives on him. As he walked, he felt increasingly uneasy and drew one of the knives, holding it in his hand.

At that moment, Su Peng suddenly heard a low growl. He immediately tensed up and felt something pounce from behind him!

He reacted quickly, seeing a gap in the nearby trees, and rolled on the ground. He felt the thing behind him miss, and quickly stood up to look back!

"Are you kidding me..." This sight almost made Su Peng scream in shock!

He saw that the thing that attacked him was a black leopard... but if it were a normal black leopard, Su Peng wouldn't have been so surprised.

This black leopard's skin was mostly rotten, half of its body exposing dark red muscles, seemingly still attached to the fur. Its eyes were lifeless, and half of its mouth was decayed. Under normal circumstances, it would have been dead long ago, but it was still alive and jumping down from the tree to attack Su Peng!

At this moment, Su Peng also heard a rumbling sound behind him. When he turned around, he saw three wild wolves with their skin peeled off, staring at him with blood-red eyes. These three wolves were similar to the wild dogs infected by the T-virus in a science fiction movie he had seen.

"Did you guys get the wrong scene? This is a martial arts game, not a biohazard..." Su Peng, sweating coldly, said, gripping the throwing knife in his hand even tighter.

"Roar!" At this moment, the zombie-like black leopard growled and pounced at Su Peng!

Su Peng raised his hand and threw a knife. His throwing knife technique had finally reached level 10. Although it didn't trigger a critical hit, level 10 added a skill called Focused Throw, which greatly increased the power and accuracy of the knife, but also consumed twice as much stamina. Su Peng not only used Focused Throw but also used a bit of his internal energy!

"Roar..." The black leopard was unlucky. The knife hit it in the eye socket as it pounced, piercing through its brain. The zombie black leopard fell to the ground, struggled for a moment, and then stopped moving.

"The brain is the weak point!" Su Peng thought. At this moment, the three skinless wolves behind him also pounced!

Su Peng drew two knives in each hand and threw them in quick succession. This was the throwing technique he had practiced, called a Shower of Flowers, which could reduce the power of multiple consecutive throws. The two knives flew out, one hitting the eye socket of a skinless wolf, and the other entering the mouth of another!

The skinless wolf hit in the eye socket fell to the ground and quickly stopped moving, but the one hit in the mouth chewed the knife in mid-air and swallowed it, then pounced on Su Peng along with another zombie-like wolf!

"Is this the end for me?" Su Peng felt the two wolves pounce on him, the slightly rotten smell of their muscles stimulating his sense of smell. These two wolves, possibly due to their zombie state, had much more strength, and he couldn't struggle free.

"No! I still have one move!" Despite being pinned to the ground, Su Peng unexpectedly remained calm!

He still had one ultimate move left, Internal Energy Infusion!

Just as Su Peng was about to burst with internal energy for a final counterattack, the two 'zombie wolves' on top of him suddenly howled and fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Oh... I guess I didn't use enough of the powder..." At this moment, a rather despicable voice sounded in Su Peng's ear...

...

Twenty minutes later, in a cave on the back mountain of the Purple Mist Sect.

"So, these things are all your experiments, Senior Uncle Fan?"

In the cave, Su Peng looked at the skinless black leopard and 'zombie' wolves on the stone table and rolled his eyes, looking at the person in front of him.

The person in front of him was none other than Fan Jian, whom he had seen in the kitchen earlier.

Fan Jian, with his white beard, was wearing oil-resistant gloves and using a sharp knife to dissect the bodies of the animals that seemed to have been infected by the T-virus. As he dissected, he said, "Oh, I scared you. I'm researching a powder that can invoke the life force of dead creatures, allowing them to move after death. I've made some progress, not only making them move but also controlling them to some extent. I've been using these animals to guard this place for a few days, but I didn't expect you to run into them."

Su Peng was furious. In a martial arts game, Fan Jian was conducting out-of-place biohazard experiments and even involving him. What if he got infected?

"Fan Jian, Senior Uncle, you can do biohazard experiments, but why here in the Purple Mist Sect? Your experiments are really affecting people's moods... If someone unfamiliar with the sect sees this, they might think the Purple Mist Sect is a demonic sect. I almost made the same mistake, thinking this was the base of some secret organization."

Su Peng, still shaken, started to speak without restraint, no longer maintaining the dignity of this Senior Uncle, and called him by his distinctive name. However, this Senior Uncle was in a good mood and said, "Biohazard experiments? What a good name... Life and transformation, indeed... I'll call it that from now on... I was wrong this time. My senior brother has scolded me several times, but I can't help but want to... experiment with my powder. Don't tell my senior brother about this today, and I'll have a way to repay you."

Hearing Fan Jian's words, Su Peng thought that reporting him wouldn't do much good and slowly nodded, "Alright, I'll keep it a secret for you this time."

"Ha, thank you then." Fan Jian said. Su Peng saw a small line of text appear in the lower left corner of his vision: "Fan Jian's favor towards you increased by three points."

"Only three points?" Su Peng thought, but seeing the animal corpses the Senior Uncle was handling, he couldn't muster the energy to complain. "By the way, there's one more thing..."

He told Fan Jian about the cook. Fan Jian scratched his head and said, "My senior brother is indeed wise, discovering it was me. Alright, I'll give the cook the antidote tomorrow."

"It really was you..." Su Peng was almost speechless with his future Senior Uncle.

At this moment, Fan Jian seemed to have finished the dissection. He suddenly stopped and sighed, "What a pity, my powder is best used on humans to fit my design... But I'm not a member of a demonic sect, and I don't want to desecrate human corpses, so I used these animals for experiments. I wonder if the different human constitutions will affect the success of my powder, even though it worked on animals..."

He paused and continued, "I've heard that the most accurate explanation of human constitutions is in a medical book called the 'Medicinal King's Medical Classic.' Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to see it..."

Su Peng's ears perked up...

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