Chapter 5

Tang Zheng didn’t know how far he had run, nor did he remember how many times he had fainted.

His body was covered in wounds, but only a few were severe. However, this kind of real injury was something he had never experienced before!

This isn’t a game! This isn’t a game! This isn’t a game!

Death means real death.

There’s no Resurrection Cross, and no main city with a resurrection point.

This isn’t the game world he was familiar with!

Everything is real!

He opened his eyes again, and it was already morning with the sun rising. He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Tian Meng lay beside him in a very peculiar position. Tang Zheng sat up and saw that the purple-gold belt was already scattered to one side. He cursed under his breath and pushed Tian Meng, “Are you dead?”

Tang Zheng knew the characteristics of the Paper Intoxication, so he had used the purple-gold belt to carry Tian Meng on his back. Now that the belt was scattered, Tian Meng was in mortal danger!

However, when Tang Zheng pushed him, Tian Meng woke up, “I… we… where are we?”

Tang Zheng stood up and pointed.

Tian Meng was slightly confused for a moment, but as soon as he reacted, his face turned pale. He had never imagined that he would have such an experience in his lifetime—lying right in the center of the most toxic Paper Intoxication!

Looking around, there was nothing but large patches of Paper Intoxication!

The visual and psychological impact almost made Tian Meng faint again.

“Are you hallucinating?” Tang Zheng waved his hand in front of Tian Meng’s eyes.

“No… no…” Tian Meng’s breath was still weak, “I’m not hallucinating, and I’m not dead… Could it be… Could it be that there’s a Paper Intoxication King nearby?!”

“I’ll check.” Tang Zheng made a gesture to stop, feeling that Tian Meng would really die if he kept talking.

Tang Zheng stood up and looked around.

As far as the eye could see, there were only the brilliant Paper Intoxication flowers, each as big as his palm.

However, even in this beautiful sea of flowers, the King was particularly conspicuous, and Tang Zheng didn’t need to search for long to find it!

The King flower was three palms in size, even more vivid and brilliant. The outermost layer of its petals was golden, the next layer was black, and then golden again, repeating in seven layers!

Staring at its stamen, it was like seeing a pair of alluring eyes, smiling with a hint of coquetry. The sunlight on the petals made his entire soul tremble…

Tian Meng rested for a while, recovering some strength, and continued, “Paper Intoxication is a cluster of poisonous flowers. As long as the King is alive, the Paper Intoxication will bloom year-round!”

“Then, I’ll kill the King?” Tang Zheng said, reaching out to pinch the stem of the King flower.

“Ah, don’t…” Tian Meng quickly stopped him, “Although every part of the Paper Intoxication, whether flower, leaf, or fruit, is highly toxic, the King is not only non-toxic but also…”

Before Tian Meng could finish, Tang Zheng saw a change in himself.

As soon as his hand touched the King flower, a layer of mist rose from the stamen, enveloping his entire arm. The deep, bone-deep wound on his arm began to heal at an incredible speed!

At the same time, a large area of Paper Intoxication around the King flower withered rapidly.

“Uh…” Although Tian Meng had heard about the characteristics of the Paper Intoxication King, he was still stunned by what he saw.

In a short moment, the wounds on Tang Zheng’s body were almost just shallow marks. He immediately helped Tian Meng, using the same method to heal his injuries.

As soon as their wounds were healed, the Paper Intoxication in the field began to wither in circles!

“Ha, hahaha…” Tang Zheng laughed out loud after a brief look.

“What… what are you laughing about?”

Tang Zheng shook his head, tore off a piece of his robe, and filled it with some soil, carefully digging out the King flower and placing it in the soil.

Tian Meng was stunned by his skilled technique.

As soon as the King flower left the ground, it became even more vivid and eye-catching, but all the other Paper Intoxication flowers withered even more quickly.

Before Tian Meng could react, he saw Tang Zheng wrap the King flower in the cloth, tuck it into his chest, and then take out a fire striker, blow it to ignite, and throw it in the direction they came from…

In a short while, strange and beautiful golden flames rose from the brilliant flower field!

“Hahahaha…” Tang Zheng spread his arms wide.

Beautiful!

So beautiful!

The entire flower field withered rapidly and was then quickly set ablaze. Golden flames spread out in patches, and the dazzling smoke rose higher and higher…

Two blue family servants, wearing purple-gold masks, who were carefully picking Paper Intoxication at the edge of the field, suddenly straightened up, staring in shock at this unprecedented scene. After a long while, one of them muttered, “Could it be… those two who turned into fertilizer?”

“Fertilizer your head! It’s over! The flower field is over! We’re over! Run! Run fast!” The other one threw down his flower hoe and ran.

“Hahahaha…” Tang Zheng laughed loudly, walking in the opposite direction of the burning field, singing, “When the great wind rises, the clouds fly high, and the power of the sea returns to the homeland…”

The golden smoke rose to form a brilliant cloud above Tang Zheng’s head.

Tang Zheng’s laughter echoed freely in the vast flower field, “Did you see that, Tian Meng!”

“Saw… saw it!”

“We’re sending off Xiao Ji!”

“Uh.” Tian Meng’s eyes turned red, and he nodded heavily, quickly following Tang Zheng.

…

Clang!

In the main hall of the Hidden Blue Manor, a teacup flew past a young man’s cheek and crashed to the ground.

The young man knelt on the ground, his eyes downcast, not moving an inch, but his peripheral vision flickered with a sharp edge.

“Sha Ze!” The old man sitting in the hall, his white beard trembling with anger, “I’m not listening to any reports now. You speak!”

Lan Sha Ze quickly lowered his head, hiding the intense hatred in his eyes.

No one needed to remind him of the day by the flower field when he had confidently said, “No need to search!”

Had he done anything wrong? Those who entered the Paper Intoxication field had no other way out but to become fertilizer!

But what was the result?

The fertilizer was alive!

The flower field in Fengmen Village was completely burned.

Now, the entire Hidden Blue Manor knew that he, Lan Sha Ze, had made a huge mistake!

“Sha Ze, you should know that this fireworks display by our Lan family was quite large,” one of Lan Sha Ze’s sisters said.

“It’s said that the golden smoke covered the entire Wulong Town. The Tang Family Castle in the northern suburbs will surely have a good show this time,” the other siblings said with cold smiles.

Now, in Wulong Town, the eastern street was mostly controlled by the Tang Family Castle, while the western street was the domain of the Hidden Blue Manor.

The two sides fought each other, competing in wealth and prestige, with no room for even a surface-level peace.

Those two fertilizers, although they burned a property under Lan Sha Ze’s name, had disgraced the entire Hidden Blue Manor!

Under such circumstances, the teacup thrown by the old patriarch, filled with star power, not directly hitting Lan Sha Ze’s face, showed the old patriarch’s deep affection for his grandson.

“Old Ancestor, everything is due to Sha Ze’s negligence,” Lan Sha Ze gritted his teeth but didn’t offer any unnecessary explanations.

“Negligence?” An elder sitting next to the old patriarch sneered at Lan Sha Ze, “The Fengmen Village property is the largest of the family’s assets. Can you just gloss over it with a simple ‘negligence’?”

“Whatever Second Uncle says is true,” Lan Sha Ze’s hate suddenly turned, and as he raised his head, his eyes immediately showed a smile, “But, I hope Second Uncle doesn’t forget where the set of purple-gold soft armor, always prepared for the Fengmen Village flower field, is now!”

The elder called Second Uncle was instantly taken aback.

Just two days before the flower field was burned, he had borrowed this set of purple-gold soft armor from Lan Sha Ze to help his son successfully draw a star, officially entering the first star realm!

But he never expected that, just a few hours later, the incident at the Hidden Blue Manor would be linked to this set of purple-gold soft armor.

“Even if I borrowed the purple-gold soft armor, couldn’t you have come back to ask me for it in such a big matter?” The old man’s face turned red as he added.

“Let’s not talk about this. I have another question for Sha Ze,” another elder, with a seemingly kind face, shifted the topic from the purple-gold soft armor, “If I’m not mistaken, there should be a third-star warrior stationed at the Fengmen Village flower field, right?”

“Yes!” Lan Sha Ze’s eyes twitched.

“Then I’m curious, with a third-star warrior present, how could such an accident happen?”

“…” Lan Sha Ze was momentarily speechless.

How could a third-star warrior be willing to waste his life in a poor and desolate place like Fengmen Village? And how could he let a third-star warrior waste his life?

In the Starlight Continent, out of ten people, only one can light the first life palace, out of a hundred, only one can light the second, and out of a thousand, only one can light the third. For fourth, fifth, and sixth stars, the ratio is one in ten thousand, one in a hundred thousand, and one in a million. Beyond that, advancing further requires not only strength but also opportunity and determination, and even risking one’s life to draw dangerous main stars into higher life palaces is common…

Just a difference of one star is like a chasm!

Lan Sha Ze originally thought that having a first-star warrior, the Viper, who had drawn the Seven Kill main star, stationed in Fengmen Village was enough. The Viper’s first life palace was lit by the Seven Kill main star, making him very powerful, and Fengmen Village was very secluded, rarely visited due to its legends, and had not had any issues for years.

As for the third-star warrior Xu Qingyan, Lan Sha Ze naturally had more important things for him to do…

Who knew the Viper would be so useless?

Even if the Viper’s opponent was also a first-star, a weakling who had drawn the Heavenly Mechanism star into his first life palace, could he kill a first-star warrior with the Seven Kill star in his life palace? It was a huge joke.

But the facts were right there, and it wasn’t funny at all.

“Sha Ze…” The old patriarch called his name.

“Yes! If it was just one person, Xu Qingyan could handle it. But there were two people,” Lan Sha Ze hated it in his heart but cleverly twisted the concept in his words.

After all, everyone in that small room, including the Viper, was dead. As for the few witnesses who had seen a glimpse of Tang Zheng and Tian Meng’s strength, it wouldn’t be hard for Lan Sha Ze to silence them.

The old patriarch’s frown gradually eased, “Two people? Even if they were two, to escape from Xu Qingyan, they would both have to be second-star warriors and pay a huge price.”

Lan Sha Ze knew this conclusion was wrong but didn’t dare to correct it.

His mind was already turning to the aftermath, such as killing some people to silence them and later giving Xu Qingyan some benefits to make him lie about participating in the battle in Fengmen Village.

“Although our Hidden Blue Manor is just a local power in Wulong Town, this small place probably can’t tolerate so many strong dragons!” The star constellation behind the old patriarch, a sharp long sword, rose, and his eyes emitted a strong killing intent, “Find them! Bring the star divination disk! Whether they are second-star or third-star, dig up the earth to find the person who destroyed our Hidden Blue Manor’s Fengmen Village property!”

Everyone under the Lan family lowered their heads, as silent as cicadas in winter.

That sword was the Lan family’s star constellation, the Crescent Moon!

And on the Crescent Moon that rose behind the old patriarch, four bright star points were lit in sequence!

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Thank you to Xiao Moran, Yu Shiqing Ying, Zui Meng Taoyuan, Xi Fu Hong, Doudi Lao Nian, Guixin Xueyue, Xue Ye Xingchen, Wubainian Meng Chang’an, Yiyechan, Xingkong Zhi Hu, Shouhu Zhe Pingfan Yisheng, Shui He Zhi Wu, Lan Sheng, and Azhihe for your generous donations of 1888, 1476, 1276, 688, 300, 200, and 100 starting coins respectively!

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