CLANG!
Yang An's hand trembled, and the stick fell to the ground, making a sound like metal striking metal.
He froze on the spot, his expression strange.
It was only then that he realized something. The stick, which had looked like a tree branch at first glance, was covered in a layer of bark-like wrinkles.
This...
He looked at the stick, then at his own hand, a wave of nausea rising in his gut.
'Am I... Am I defiled?'
Who could have guessed the stick's true form would be so... unconventional?
Yang An felt as awful as if he'd just stepped in shit.
By this time, Pan Yu had already rushed to Pan Shi's side and helped him up from the ground, ready to take this chance to escape. But Yang An hadn't followed.
The two of them looked back at Yang An, who had stopped in his tracks, wondering why he had suddenly halted.
"Fellow Daoist?"
Pan Shi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and called out tentatively.
Yang An snapped back to his senses. This was their chance to escape; there was no time to waste.
But he couldn't help but glance at the stick on the ground, his face instantly showing hesitation. He was utterly torn.
'Take it?'
'Or not?'
'This thing is disgusting, but at the end of the day, it's still a Magical Artifact.'
'Even if I don't use it myself, I can give it to someone else.'
They were heading to the Xiyue River for the Communal Feast, and he didn't have a single valuable item on him. This thing might be tradable for something useful.
But the thought of the stick's bizarre origins made Yang An want to just leave it and run.
In the end, however, he frowned, bent down, pulled up a handful of weeds, and used them to wrap around the stick as he picked it up.
"I guess even heroes have to stoop low when they're broke."
Forcing himself to swallow his disgust as he retrieved the stick, Yang An suddenly glanced at Pan Yu, who was a short distance away. A brilliant idea struck him, and he quickened his pace to catch up with her and Pan Shi.
Pan Shi's injuries were not light, but thankfully, he could still walk. The three of them quickly left the area.
A quarter of an hour later, having traveled a good distance, they finally stopped to rest.
Pan Shi took an Elixir from his robes, tossed it into his mouth, and began to regulate his breathing. A moment later, his face contorted in pain, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Yang An was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening.
'The price of Pan Shi's Cultivation Technique must be kicking in. And on top of that, taking an Elixir has its own price. He's paying for both right now.'
He subtly shuffled his feet, putting a little more distance between himself and Pan Shi.
It wasn't for any particular reason. It was just that a gust of wind blew from Pan Shi's direction, carrying with it an indescribable stench.
During the fight with the Daoist, Pan Shi had taken a direct hit from the yellow wind blasted out of the stick. That was the source of the smell, and it still hadn't dissipated.
Even Pan Yu, who was standing beside Pan Shi, couldn't help but frown and take a few steps back in disgust.
"Fellow Daoist Pan Yu!"
Yang An took the opportunity to call out to Pan Yu. He walked over to her, holding up the stick in his hand.
Seeing Yang An approach, the image of him decisively setting the Daoist on fire flashed through Pan Yu's mind, and an inexplicable flutter of panic rose in her heart.
Before, when the three of them had been skirting around the village, she hadn't thought anything of being so close to him.
But now, his proximity made her heart beat a little faster without her even realizing it.
"Is something wrong, Fellow Daoist Yang?"
Pan Yu tried not to look up at Yang An's face and eyes. She lowered her gaze slightly and asked quickly.
"When we were leaving just now, I grabbed that guy's Magical Artifact on my way out. It's a bit inconvenient to carry, so I was hoping to ask Fellow Daoist Pan Yu for a favor. How about we put it in your Small Sumeru Bag for now?"
Yang An was also nervous. With a guilty conscience, he didn't dare to look Pan Yu in the eye as he spoke.
'She probably won't recognize what this thing is, right?'
"Okay, no problem!"
Pan Yu agreed readily. Without any hesitation, she took out her Small Sumeru Bag and stored the stick from Yang An's hand inside.
Seeing that Pan Yu hadn't noticed anything unusual, Yang An breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Pan Yu."
Pan Shi was still regulating his breath to recover, so the two of them had no choice but to wait.
About half an hour passed before Pan Shi finally finished and opened his eyes.
"Ugh... what is that smell? It stinks!"
The moment he opened his eyes, his facial features scrunched together in a distorted grimace. The sudden stench nearly knocked him out.
He looked up and saw that both Yang An and Pan Yu had, as if by unspoken agreement, moved several meters away from him. His junior sister, in particular, made no effort to hide the disgust in her eyes.
Pan Shi seemed to realize something and lowered his head to sniff himself.
The result: he nearly rolled his eyes back and ascended to the heavens on the spot.
It turned out the source of the stench was him.
In an instant, Pan Shi understood why.
He must have been contaminated by the foul wind from the Daoist's stick, which was why he now reeked to high heaven.
He had been in the middle of a fight before and had no time to notice. Only after the battle was over did he finally realize.
'That damn bastard!'
Right now, Pan Shi wished he could grind that Daoist's bones to dust and scatter his ashes.
He scrambled to his feet, but as he stood up, he saw Yang An and Pan Yu both take another step back in unison.
"I... I..."
Pan Shi suddenly found himself at a loss for words, full of grievance. He stood there, unsure of what to do.
Fortunately, Yang An quickly extended a hand and pointed to the left.
"Fellow Daoist Pan, I think there's a river over there."
Hearing Yang An's words, Pan Shi finally noticed the sound of gurgling water nearby and was overjoyed.
He felt as if he'd found his savior.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Yang! Please wait a moment, I'll be right back!"
With that, Pan Shi shot off like an arrow in the direction of the water's sound and soon disappeared from sight. Not long after, the sound of splashing came from where he had vanished.
He was gone for a full hour!
When Pan Shi finally reappeared, soaking wet, the stench clinging to him had dissipated significantly, and his complexion had improved as well.
He ran toward them with a smile on his face, but Pan Yu stopped him in his tracks when he was still several meters away.
"Stop, stop, stop! Senior Brother, don't come any closer!"
Pan Yu's face was still a mask of undisguised disgust as she held out a hand to keep him at a distance.
"..."
Pan Shi shot her a harsh glare but had no choice but to stop helplessly.
Who was to blame? The stench on his body just wouldn't wash off. Even after scrubbing off what felt like a layer of skin, he couldn't get rid of it completely. It really was repulsive.
"Sorry to keep you both waiting. Let's go," Pan Shi said apologetically, having no choice but to walk on ahead alone to lead the way.
The three of them set off again towards the Xiyue River, but they maintained a distance of two to three meters between the one in front and the two behind.
After walking for a short while, Pan Shi finally couldn't help but start complaining.
"We must have run into a Filthy Daoist! Those disgusting bastards specialize in a kind of unorthodox path, and they love to refine filthy things into Magical Artifacts just to gross people out!"
"That guy from before, that stick in his hand must be one of them! It was probably refined from some kind of filth!"
"Pah! Disgusting! Truly disgusting!"
"If I ever run into another Filthy Daoist, I swear I won't let them off!"
Walking ahead, Pan Shi grumbled nonstop, venting his anger.
But when he looked up, he saw Yang An suddenly rush past him from behind, leaving only a view of his back.
Yang An suddenly seemed to be in a great hurry.
"Fellow Daoist Yang, why are you walking so fast?"
"Huh? Junior Sister, why have you stopped walking?"