After their first collaboration, Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er’s coordination became more and more tacit.
Every time a Ghost Lady Swamp Spider appeared, Lan Cai’er would take the lead, while Ye Lingyue looked for opportunities to strike. The two defended an area and waited for spiders all night, dealing with seven or eight Ghost Lady Swamp Spiders.
However, perhaps due to bad luck, they didn’t find a single Swamp Spider Core that night.
The two women discussed it and decided they could only try their luck in a different marshland the following night.
As dawn began to break, An Minxia was also in a somber mood.
Just like Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er’s plan, after setting up camp, An Minxia led her guards to search for marshes where the Ghost Lady Swamp Spiders resided.
An Minxia and her team also decided to take advantage of the night to start capturing Ghost Lady Swamp Spiders.
What frustrated An Minxia and her team was that despite waiting in the marsh area all night, they didn’t spot a single trace of a Ghost Lady Swamp Spider.
Until the break of dawn, An Minxia’s face had nearly turned green with vexation.
"What on earth is going on! Are there even Ghost Lady Swamp Spiders in Yunmeng Swamp? We spent the whole night and didn’t even see a single beast," An Minxia said, suddenly realizing something was amiss.
True, not finding Ghost Lady Swamp Spiders was one thing, but not seeing any beasts at all was out of the ordinary.
However, An Minxia couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She had no idea that the scent of the medicine on her body was deterring the animals, making them stay far away and avoiding her.
Just then, An Minxia heard a faint sound coming from the swamp ahead.
She immediately became excited!
Could it be the Ghost Lady Swamp Spider?
But as An Minxia turned her head to look, the shocking scene nearly scared her soul away.
Under the morning light, the swamp was covered in a dark mass, with no sign of any Ghost Lady Swamp Spider.
It was clearly a large swarm of poison bees, each twice the size of ordinary bees, like a dark cloud quickly approaching An Minxia and her group.
"Protect the miss!" The Innate Experts, also startled by the large number of poison bees, cried out.
Worse yet, more poison bees flew out from all directions of Yunmeng Swamp, as if all the poison bees from the swamp were converging.
"Quick, protect the miss and get out!" Poison bees emerged incessantly, exploiting every gap, and even the combined efforts of the eight Innate Guards couldn’t drive them away.
These poison bees were formidable; a single sting was both painful and itchy, threatening to take half a person’s life.
Among the group, An Minxia had the weakest cultivation and her body smelled of medicine, making her the prime target.
A poison bee king stung An Minxia’s face.
Instantly, An Minxia’s face, which was otherwise pleasant to look at, swelled up as if it had been inflated like a balloon.
Seeing the Innate Guards behind her getting trapped by poison bees one by one, An Minxia exerted all her strength, running wildly.
At this moment, she saw two people passing by ahead.
Weren’t they Ye Lingyue and Lan Cai’er?
"Lan Cai’er, Ye Lingyue, both of you, please save me." Along the way, An Minxia also tried to escape from these poison bees, but these creatures seemed fixated on her and just wouldn’t disperse.
"Hey, isn’t that County Lord An? What happened to your eight imposing Innate Expert guards? Oh dear, I dare not save you, what if I get bitten too? That would be a loss indeed," said Lan Cai’er, seeing An Minxia’s disheveled appearance and speaking with mock seriousness.
In fact, when Lan Cai’er saw the "huge" swelling on An Minxia’s face, she couldn’t help laughing so hard that her stomach cramped; without a doubt, Ye Lingyue’s Insect Repellent had taken effect.
Oddly enough, those poison bees only surrounded An Minxia and did not approach the two women.
The swelling from the venomous bites increased on An Minxia’s head, her entire face becoming a horrible sight to behold.
"Miss An, haven’t you understood yet? Debts are to be repaid, saving lives costs money, if you want us to act, you need to name your price," Ye Lingyue said leisurely from the side.
"Anyone who can save me, I will agree to any conditions." Desperate and cornered, An Minxia blurted out without a second thought.
"You said it yourself. County Lord An, actually, I do have a simple method to drive away the poison bees, and I can tell you. However, you must give me all your shares in Drunk Immortal Inn," upon hearing Ye Lingyue had a way, An Minxia almost cried tears of gratitude, but the next moment, hearing Ye Lingyue’s terms, An Minxia almost exploded with anger.
That damned bumpkin, actually wanting a share of Drunk Immortal Inn.
Initially, An Minxia had obtained the shares of Drunk Immortal Inn for just a thousand taels of gold, but now those shares were worth at least ten thousand taels of gold. Thɪs chapter is updated by novel⸺fire.net
Seeing An Minxia still unwilling to compromise, Ye Lingyue sighed repeatedly.
"I heard the poison bees in Yunmeng Swamp are extremely toxic. Once bitten, if not treated promptly, the wound will fester and the body will develop pus-filled boils resembling toads, and those boils will exude disgusting pus. What’s more, after healing, scars will remain, making one look like a colossal pig head. County Lord An, you are so beautiful, it would be a pity if you were left with scars," Ye Lingyue spoke with a tone of heartfelt pain.
Hearing about potential disfigurement, An Minxia nearly burst into tears.
She didn’t want to become a pig head, how could she face anyone in the future then.
"Alright, I agree, I will give you all the shares of Drunk Immortal Inn, just tell me quickly how to avoid these poison bees," An Minxia was now truly driven to a dead end.
"I like the straightforwardness of County Lord An. Immediately jump into the swamp ahead, and submerge your whole body. Remember, the entire body, including your head, must go in. Then the poison bees won’t bite you," no sooner had Ye Lingyue finished speaking than An Minxia, without any hesitation, plunged headfirst into the swamp.
The swamp of Yunmeng Swamp, accumulated over who knows how many years, contained all sorts of things—rotten leaves, animal feces, corpses, and the mixture was everywhere, its stench imaginable.
For An Minxia, who usually kept a distance even from a beggar, it was a torment of unspeakable dimensions.
As soon as An Minxia jumped in, she felt a disgusting stench engulf her from her nose and mouth.
Oddly enough, those poison bees still wouldn’t disperse immediately, hovering over her head for about a quarter of an hour before dispersing.
Unable to bear it, An Minxia gulped down a few mouthfuls of swamp water and blew several bubbles, truly sinking down now.
"County Master!" The guards of Duke An, who had rushed over, shouted as they hurried towards her.
But An Minxia didn’t respond for a long time, and by the time they hastily pulled An Minxia out of the swamp, they found she had already fainted from the stench.