The Extreme Alchemist of the Mighty Cauldron

This laugh instantly put Gu Hanshan on edge, yet he still forced himself to remain calm, staring coldly at Fang Lin.

“Gu Hanshan, be honest now. Are you a spy infiltrating my Purple Mist Sect?” Fang Lin casually said.

Gu Hanshan’s eyes widened instantly: “How dare you slander me! Don’t try to throw dirt on me. I believe you are just coveting the Thousand-year Ginseng. But let me warn you, Fang Lin, don’t ruin your relations with the royal family due to this Ginseng, otherwise, you will become the criminal of our Purple Mist Sect!”

However, the more he spoke, the more people despised Gu Hanshan. It was clear to all that Gu Hanshan was only trying to make things difficult for Fang Lin, aiming to undermine his credibility with the royal family.

Even though Yang Pojun was upright, he wasn’t fool. Despite his doubts on the motive behind Gu Hanshan’s words, what he said wasn’t entirely wrong. The value of the Thousand-year Ginseng was truly ineffable. If the Purple Mist Sect really got it, would they still share half of the benefits with the royal family?

Seeing the change in Yang Pojun’s expression, Qing Jianzi quickly said, “Brother Yang, don’t listen to Gu Hanshan’s nonsense. He is a disgrace to our Purple Mist Sect. Once the Thousand-year Ginseng is in our possession and we refine it into pills, we will definitely share half of them with the royal family.”

Gu Hanshan’s face was incredibly grim. His fists clenched, and anger surged in his chest. Qing Jianzi publicly humiliated him by calling him a disgrace to the Purple Mist Sect. He wasn’t given any face and was treated as insignificant.

The disciples of the Purple Mist Sect chuckled secretly, and some looked sympathetically at Gu Hanshan. It seemed pitiful that he, being a true disciple, had sunk to such lows.

Yang Pojun was still troubled. He felt that if the Thousand-year Ginseng were to fall in the hands of Qing Jianzi and Fang Lin, it might be like the Chinese proverb, “It’s like throwing a meat bun at a dog—it won’t come back.”

“Eh, where’s the Thousand-year Ginseng? How come it disappeared in the blink of an eye?” Suddenly, a member of the royal family asked in surprise.

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this, and Fang Lin quickly looked towards the rock wall, feeling a chill in his heart.

It was gone. The Thousand-year Ginseng that was just running around on the rock wall was nowhere to be seen.

“How can it be gone? It was just here a moment ago, wasn’t it? Where’s it gone?” Fang Lin was dumbfounded, mumbling to himself.

Qing Jianzi gave a bitter smile, and Yang Pojun’s face darkened. Under their watchful eyes, the Thousand-year Ginseng had actually run away. This was absolutely odd.

They were arguing about the ownership of the Thousand-year Ginseng just a moment ago. Now that the Ginseng had disappeared, all their previous arguments seemed to be nothing but a waste of time.

“Did anyone see where the Ginseng ran off to?” Fang Lin quickly asked.

Everyone looked at each other and stayed silent regardless of whether they were from the Purple Mist Sect or the royal family. Not a single person could answer Fang Lin.

Fang Lin held his forehead, his face twitching. With so many people present, not a single one noticed when the Thousand-year Ginseng ran off.

The delicious meat that was just within reach had disappeared like that. Who would believe this?

Fang Lin didn’t want to say anything more. At that moment, he just wanted to sit in a corner and stay quiet for a while, otherwise, he feared he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from cursing.

That was a Thousand-year Ginseng! It was hard to say when they would encounter one again. If he could have obtained this Ginseng, Fang Lin could have used it for countless things. It would have been a great help to him.

Unfortunately, it had run away. Under everyone’s vigilant gaze, it had disappeared without a trace.

Fang Lin couldn’t help but sigh. No wonder they say that a Thousand-year Ginseng has spirituality. It’s not just spirituality, it’s more like demonic intelligence. It was moving around silly on the rock wall just a moment ago, and took the opportunity to flee when everyone was arguing incessantly.

Seeing Fang Lin’s vexed and anguished expression, Gu Hanshan was feeling particularly satisfied. Although he too wanted the Thousand-year Ginseng, if he couldn’t get it, at least Fang Lin couldn’t get it either. This alone was enough to bring him pleasure.

“Since the Thousand-year Ginseng is gone, there’s no longer any issue of uneven distribution. Let’s collect the remaining Ginsengs. We’ll go to the rock wall on the left and you can go to the one on the right,” Qing Jianzi said to Yang Pojun, quickly recovering from the loss of the Ginseng.

Yang Pojun nodded, feeling somewhat regretful. But at least there’s still a pile of Ginsengs to be harvested, which was somewhat comforting. Although the total value of all Ginsengs on the two rock walls might not amount to one Thousand-year Ginseng, at least there was a large quantity.

Then the Purple Mist Sect and the royal family respectively went to the left and right rock walls and began to enthusiastically gather Ginsengs.

Fang Lin didn’t go. He was still distressed over the loss of the Thousand-year Ginseng.

However, for most of the people, they were in good spirits. Despite their brush with death, they still reaped some rewards.

The two groups kept to themselves, tending to their own Ginseng harvesting. The precious Ginsengs were being put into each person’s Nine Palace Bag as if they were radishes.

Of course, they still needed to count the quantity, because these Ginsengs had to be handed over to the sect when they left the cave, they couldn’t be kept for personal use.

Among the Ginsengs, there were a few that were five hundred years old. Although their value was far from that of the Thousand-year Ginseng, they were already considered a big gain.

Gu Hanshan shamelessly followed them to collect Ginsengs. Qing Jianzi glanced coldly at him, but didn’t say anything more.

After a while, the Ginsengs on both rock walls were completely collected. Everyone had a satisfied look on their faces, their harvest was indeed quite substantial.

“Fang Lin, stop obsessing over it. Maybe we will encounter the Thousand-year Ginseng again later.” Seeing Fang Lin’s gloomy face, Qing Jianzi consoled him.

Fang Lin sighed, also understanding that the Thousand-year Ginseng was a matter of fate which cannot be forced. He can no longer obsess over it, as this wouldn’t make it reappear. However, Fang Lin still felt annoyed.

The people rested in the cave for several hours, recuperating their strength. Many of them also recovered from their injuries.

“We should continue to go deeper.” Yang Pojun came over to Qing Jianzi and said.

Qing Jianzi nodded and signaled for everyone to move.

Both groups ended up not splitting, even though they had disagreed over the issue of the Thousand-year Ginseng, but now that Ginseng was gone, joining forces to overcome their difficulties seemed more practical.

They left the cave from the exit in the other end and walked along the winding passage for quite a while. The journey was surprisingly peaceful, and they didn’t encounter any danger.

However, nobody dared to let their guard down. Especially during these times, they knew they had to stay alert. In this Endless Dungeon, there was no truly safe place.

After walking for more than an hour, they reached the depths of the dungeon.

Boom!!!

A huge Demon Beast burst out from the hard soil, opened its double jaws full of sharp teeth, and tried to swallow everyone in one gulp.

“Scatter, quick!” Qing Jianzi shouted, and everyone hurriedly dispersed.

Like a huge lizard, the Demon Beast crawled out from the soil. Its massive body and hideous appearance filled the air with a foul smell from its gaping mouth.

“Look at its back!” someone shouted, pointing at the giant lizard.