“Master has been cooped up in the room for the past few days, so he went out for some fresh air. I reckon he’ll be back soon!” Hu Bugui replied with a smile.
Nodding towards the other party, Xiao Shun turned to Cao Wanqing beside him and softly said, “Let’s go back to the room, I’ll help you with your injuries later.”
Cao Wanqing lightly responded with a “Mm” and limped towards her room.
Seeing this, Hu Bugui inquired with concern, “Mr. Xiao, is Miss Cao injured?”
Patting his shoulder, Xiao Shun reassured him, “She had a little fall on the way, I’ll take care of it and she’ll be fine. No need to worry too much.”
Relieved to see his idol unharmed, Hu Bugui finally let out a sigh of relief.
Then, he smiled knowingly, “Hehe, I’ll go treat Miss Cao first. It’s almost noon, I’ll go buy some food and bring it up.”
With that, Hu Bugui left the suite with a mysterious smile on his face, without looking back.
“What is this kid always thinking about?”
Helplessly rubbing his nose, Xiao Shun couldn’t understand why this mature and steady Ning Zhiyuan had such a mischievous disciple.
After silently mocking him, he took off his coat and walked to the door of Cao Wanqing’s room.
“Come in!”
After a few light knocks on the door, a pleasant voice came from inside, with a hint of inexplicable quiver in the tone, leaving Xiao Shun puzzled.
Suppressing his bewilderment, he pushed open the door and entered.
At this moment, Cao Wanqing was leaning against the head of the bed, with her long and slim legs propped up on the edge of the bed.
Her head turned sideways to look out the window at the snowy landscape outside, her heart beating a little violently.
The footsteps approached from a distance, and before long, she smelled a faint scent of tobacco.
Standing by the bed, Xiao Shun saw that she showed no sign of turning back, so he assumed she was still sulking with him. Without much thought, he said to himself.
“I’ll give you an injection later. It may be inaccurate if you wear socks, so you’d better take them off!”
“Mm.”
Cao Wanqing’s voice trembled, but she maintained her same posture.
Seeing this, Xiao Shun was a little overwhelmed.
Does this young lady want me to help her take off her socks?
At this thought, he couldn’t help but recall the beautiful scene of helping Cao Wanqing detoxify the night before.
That scene was a little too passionate, Xiao Shun didn’t dare think too much about it, quickly cleared his mind, squatted down to hold Cao Wanqing’s right leg and helped her take off her socks.
Instantly, a flawless white jade foot appeared before his eyes.
In the light of the room, this foot was truly mesmerizing.
At this moment, Cao Wanqing’s face was flushed, covering her delicate features with a layer of shyness, her heart beating like a deer in a panic.
Suddenly, she felt a slight tingling at her ankles, followed by a warm flow slowly enveloping them.
Feeling extremely comfortable, she unknowingly immersed herself in the sensation.
After a while, Xiao Shun gently removed the silver needle from Cao Wanqing’s foot and said seriously, “Alright, why don’t you try to walk a few steps now!”
After saying that, he stood up and looked at the sleeping Cao Wanqing on the bed.
After waiting for a moment and finding no response from her, Xiao Shun couldn’t help but walk over to check.
To his surprise, she had already fallen asleep, with a sweet smile on her lips.
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Xiao Shun brought a blanket to cover her before quietly leaving the room.
“Mr. Xiao!”
Ning Zhiyuan, who had gone out for fresh air, had already returned to the suite at this time.
Seeing Xiao Shun coming out, he quickly greeted him.
Xiao Shun nodded slightly, then sat down on the sofa and slowly said, “I’ve taken care of the situation at Cliffside.”
Even if she didn’t say it, Ning Zhiyuan had already guessed the result. After all, seeing Mr. Xiao unharmed in front of him was enough to explain everything!
“Have you got ‘Asherah’?” Ning Zhiyuan asked.
“Not yet!” Xiao Shun shook his head.
Seeing this, Ning Zhiyuan anxiously asked, “Could it be that Nie Jiuchong got there first?”
“Not exactly. You guys hid it well, Nie Jiuchong didn’t find its exact location. We had a battle at the peak of Cliffside, and he retreated after losing, so he probably won’t dare to come back here to seek humiliation in the future.” Xiao Shun explained with a smile.
Although he had guessed the result, Ning Zhiyuan was still shocked to hear Xiao Shun’s words. He could clearly feel the young man’s strength from his casual description of the battle.
After a moment of contemplation, Ning Zhiyuan asked again, “If that’s the case, why didn’t you retrieve ‘Asherah’?”
Xiao Shun shook his head, “It’s not that I didn’t want to retrieve it, but ‘Asherah’ has already decayed into mud.”
“Ah!?” Ning Zhiyuan opened his mouth wide, looking unbelieving.
“Cerulean Asherah has been around for at least ten thousand years, and with nine full branches, it’s easy to infer that it has fruited. So why did it turn into mud at this moment?”
Of course, Ning Zhiyuan would never think that Xiao Shun had secretly kept the ‘Asherah’ plant and lied to him. After all, when he mentioned this secret of the sect, he had already expressed his intention to contribute the item, so there was no need for him to resort to such tactics.
“Mr. Ning, do you know about this?”
As he pondered why this rare treasure had decayed, Xiao Shun suddenly took out a black object from the side.
Seeing this object, Ning Zhiyuan immediately felt an extremely uneasy feeling, as if a great disaster was about to come.
When he saw the three small characters on the black iron, he couldn’t help but gasp.
“Antarctica House, this is the Antarctic Directive!”
“I didn’t tell you before, I’ve been keeping this thing, so please don’t blame me.” Xiao Shun said apologetically.
Although Ning Zhiyuan had confided all the secrets of the Hanging Flask Inn to him, which was a sign of complete trust, it was a bit unfaithful for him to keep this matter from Ning Zhiyuan.
But Xiao Shun didn’t intentionally hide it, after all, this item was of great importance as Ning Zhiyuan had said, so he didn’t dare to expose it recklessly.
Now, in order to discuss this matter with someone else, he had to take out this item and discuss it with Ning Zhiyuan.
With this in mind, Xiao Shun began to explain what had happened at the Hanging Flask Inn.
“When I approached the ‘Cerulean Asherah’, this token began to glow faintly. And when I entered the garden, a map appeared on it. As the pattern on it took shape, the ‘Asherah’ completely decayed into a puddle of mud!”
After hearing this, Ning Zhiyuan pondered for a moment and said to himself, “Indeed, the sect’s speculation all those years ago was correct!”
“What do you mean?” Xiao Shun was completely puzzled.
Ning Zhiyuan replied, “Since Mr. Xiao knows about ‘Asherah’ and probably also knows about the result of this rare treasure after ten thousand years, considering the lush nine branches of the ‘Cerulean Asherah’, it is obvious that it has fruited. So why is there no fruit?”
After saying that, Ning Zhiyuan looked deeply at Xiao Shun.