Far outside the forest, Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman walked side by side. They looked delighted.

This time, they experienced some dangers before arriving at this place in the secret realm. After a field investigation and excavations, they benefited greatly too. Although they did not collect new poisonous pills and spiritual herbs, their efforts were worth it because they managed to acquire that item.

Xia Zizhen turned to look at the first and sighed. "It's such a pity. We would've found more items if we had enough time."

Poisonous Saber Gentleman chuckled. "Zizhen, stop complaining. Being able to obtain this item is our greatest gain this time."

Xia Zizhen nodded and asked, "Aren't you going to the Poison Forest to collect poisonous pills this time?"

A strange look was seen on Poisonous Saber Gentleman's face. "It's extremely strenuous to collect those poisonous pills. I could tell that Ou Yangming has set his heart on them, so I'll leave that opportunity to him."

"I'm only afraid that there'll be a mishap when he gathers those poisonous pills. That won't be good," Xia Zizhen expressed after some thought. He added after a short pause, "We can't expose the secret realm's existence, but we need him to do that thing for us."

Poisonous Saber Gentleman raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't worry, you saw how that young fella poisoned the insect king. Hehe, he might be a blacksmith, but he has a high level of attainment in the Poison Art, so I'm sure he can protect himself."

"Oh, how's his Poison Art as compared to yours?" Xia Zizhen asked in a deep voice.

"Zizhen, are you kidding me? Hmph, as potent as he is, a blacksmith like him can't be compared to me," Poisonous Saber Gentleman responded arrogantly. He spoke in such a proud tone as he was full of confidence.

Nonetheless, they would not have imagined that even though Ou Yangming did not know about the Poison Art, he possessed a queer poisonous pill. What more, the poisonous pill gave birth to its spirit and evolved into an unbelievable being.

If Poisonous Saber Gentleman entered the Poison Forest at this moment and went in the right direction, he would have noticed that there were very few poisonous pills left at the periphery.

In fact, the depths of the forest, which he dared not explore, had been terribly robbed of its poisonous pills. As such, it would be 100 times more difficult to find poisonous pills there.

Xia Zizhen shook his head and sighed. "Ah, I somehow had a bad feeling about this. That young fella's not as simple as he seems."

Poisonous Saber Gentleman was not bothered. "Zizhen, you're worrying too much. So what if he's a little capable? Once he suffers a backlash from that power, he'll surely be dead."

After pondering seriously, Xia Zizhen nodded in agreement. It was true that Ou Yangming displayed a remarkable combat power before this, but he would only be an any in front of that being. At most, he would be a slightly bigger ant, but there would be no difference in his nature.

If Ou Yangming really died, Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman would not be worried about the 3 low-rank spirit beasts at all. This was because unless they and the spirit beasts reinforced or counteracted each other, they could easily kill the spirit beasts through a sneak attack.

"You're right, but I'm worried because he entered the secret realm with us. If he doesn't return, how should we explain it to Elder Bai?" Xia Zizhen smiled bitterly.

Poisonous Saber Gentleman tapped his shoulder hard. "Zizhen, stop overthinking. Since we're here to acquire this, we mustn't worry too much. If worst comes to worst, we'll cultivate here. Once we become Venerable Ones in the future, nobody will bring this up anymore no matter where we go."

"Okay, I hope that everything will turn out to be just as you said." Xia Zizhen's face changed for a brief moment, then he said, "Let's go, it's almost the appointed time, so let's not make him suspect anything."

With that, they hurried back to the agreed meeting spot. Nevertheless, they did not see Ou Yangming and Big Yellow; only Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard were seen lying lazily on the ground.

Xia Zizhen furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Where's Master Ou?"

Fat Antelope glanced at him and answered, "He's still inside, of course."

Poisonous Saber Gentleman and Xia Zizhen exchanged glances. They both looked worried.

'Ou Yangming has previously expressed a strong interest in the poisonous pills. Did he enter the Poison Forest to collect them?'

The Poison Forest was incredibly dangerous. One would not be attacked by animals, but the plants inside were shockingly poisonous. Even for Poisonous Saber Gentleman, who had studied the Poison Art for decades, he only dared to linger at the periphery and did not have the guts to go deeper inside. If Ou Yangming did not know his limits and directly ventured into the Poison Forest… The consequence would be unimaginable.

"Gentleman, you should go and take a look. If you meet Master Ou, help him if you can," Xia Zizhen noted.

Poisonous Saber Gentleman was reluctant, but he nodded seriously. He knew the severity of the matter, so he would not delay things.

Despite that, just as he turned around and wanted to leave, a wind blew as a black figure blocked his path.

Silver Ridge had unknowingly gotten up, and it stared fiercely at him.

Poisonous Saber Gentleman's face darkened a little. He naturally would not care much about a low-rank spirit beast, but he felt troubled when he thought about its background. If the man accidentally slaughtered the leopard, Ou Yangming would likely fall out with him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Xia Zizhen questioned with a dark face.

"Since you're back, stay here." The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard narrowed its eyes and added, "Master ordered us to ask you to wait here."

"Hmph, are you trying to stop me?" Poisonous Saber Gentleman laughed out loud.

The spirit leopard shook its head and replied to him, "I can't stop you, but I'll do my best."

Poisonous Saber Gentleman raised the corners of his eyes a little, and a threatening look could be seen in his eyes. He gently placed his hand on his saber's handle and asked, "Do you think that I won't kill you?"

An enormous momentum rose from Silver Ridge's body. After receiving a full equipment set from Ou Yangming, it was confident about fighting. Besides, even if it ended up not being a match for its opponent, it could simply escape.

With that, the human and the leopard confronted each other. The atmosphere was so tense that a fight would break out at any time.

At the spur of the moment, Xia Zizhen swayed and stood between them. "Leopard, your master didn't return by the appointed time, so aren't you worried?"

The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard shook his head without any hesitation. "I have confidence in them."

Ou Yangming was someone valued by even the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One, so how could he be troubled by the small forest around the lake?

Needless to say, the leopard was unaware of the dangers in the forest, thus it blindly trusted Ou Yangming and Big Yellow. If it knew about the Poison Forest and the spirit beasts that lurked inside, it would have an entirely different attitude.

Xia Zizhen took a deep breath to suppress his anger. "Leopard, I suspect your master's in trouble, or he wouldn't have missed the appointed time."

The spirit leopard swung its tail and finally looked hesitant. As far as it remembered, Ou Yangming was not one to go back on his word. If that was the case, why had he not returned yet? Could he really be held back by something?

"How about this? We'll wait for another 3 hours. If he still hasn't returned, we'll go and look for him. What do you think?" Xia Zizhen continued.

Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard looked at each other. This time, they quickly reached a consensus.

Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman smiled bitterly at each other. It was difficult for them to find a caster, and Ou Yangming turned out to be a potent one.

Before they achieved their goal, the caster must be safe.

※※※※

Ou Yangming and Big Yellow roamed in the forest for a long time. They collected at least 30 kinds of spiritual flowers and herbs.

From being surprised yet overjoyed, they eventually became numb. Moreover, Ou Yangming also realized that not every spiritual flower or herb was guarded by spirit beasts; most of them were protected by half-spirit beasts.

The half-spirit beasts had notable combat powers, but they were a piece of cake for Big Yellow.

Therefore, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow gained the spiritual herbs that they wanted without putting in much effort.

"Woof, woof…"

Ou Yangming stopped and looked at Big Yellow, which was still excited. He shook his head and said, "Big Yellow, we should go back."

He wished to continue too but since their time was up, even if it was for the sake of keeping their word, they could not go on.

Big Yellow whined as it was unhappy, but it left with Ou Yangming.

Instead of leaving the forest right away, they went back to where they parted with the small centipede.

The energy centipede was nowhere to be seen as it must have wandered off.

Ou Yangming turned his wrist to retrieve Ghost Mo's poisonous pill. He drew 2 circles on it with his finger, causing an invisible power to be released.

At the center of the Poison Forest, a nearly 1-meter-long centipede was leaping up to a big tree to absorb the energies of a poisonous pill at the treetop. As the centipede kept going deeper into the forest, the poisonous pills that it found were of higher quality. Similarly, as more poison-series energies gushed into its body, its body changed drastically. Its thin body had expanded to over 1 meter in size, making it look hideous and fearsome.

It was not as frightening as the real Ghost Mo, but it had almost unlimited growth potential.

All of a sudden, the centipede froze as if it sensed something.

Subsequently, it sucked the poisonous pill in front of it hard into its body. It sprung up without warning and zoomed away like a cannonball, then it disappeared in the blink of an eye.