CHAPTER 691: 691 WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY IT EARLIER?

Hiss hiss ssss!

Within the Nanyu Mountain Range, a group of people including Yun Xiao from the Lin Family quickened their pace upon learning that the Tao Family had already taken the lead. Subconsciously, they moved even faster.

Such haste inevitably led to overlooking many issues. Setting aside the Vein Demons that could appear at any moment, some man-made dangers were even more likely to be ignored.

"Hmm? Something’s not right!"

Just as Yun Xiao stepped into a pine forest, he suddenly paused, feeling an indistinct sensation—something was off. Instinctively, he tugged at Lin Xuanhao next to him and called out.

"Yun Xiao Big Brother, what’s wrong?"

Although Lin Xuanhao had not spent much time with Yun Xiao, he deeply respected this friend from the Hidden Dragon Continent. He turned his head with curiosity, especially noting that Qiao Guinong up ahead seemed to have noticed nothing unusual.

"Didn’t you smell anything?"

Yun Xiao sniffed the air and repeated his question. By then, people including Lin Zhenjiang in front had noticed the conversation and halted, turning their heads back towards them.

"Smell? What smell? There’s nothing!"

Lin Xuanhao looked utterly clueless, but still tried to sniff aggressively. He came up with nothing and then turned his gaze towards his father and the Chief Meridian Refining Master, Qiao Guinong.

"Young people always like to make a fuss over nothing. If the old man here hasn’t noticed anything, do you really think you could have sensed it so easily?"

Qiao Guinong, who had not detected any abnormalities, was quite displeased with Yun Xiao for delaying their travel. With his status in the Lin Family, there was nothing wrong with speaking his mind.

After all, he was a Meridian Refining Master with the Earth Rank Low Level Power of Soul. Even Lin Zhenjiang, the Family Head of the Lin Family in the Seeking Origin Realm, couldn’t match his sensing ability.

"Let’s not waste any more time, let’s quickly continue our journey. We must not let the Tao Family get ahead of us!"

Lin Xuanting also looked dismissively at Yun Xiao, believing him to be just an attention-seeker trying to catch his father’s attention with such tactics. Unfortunately, it was a rather clumsy effort. Didn’t he know that the Lin Family had an Earth Rank Low Level Meridian Refining Master?

Crack!

Just as everyone turned to continue onwards, a Lin Family guard inadvertently stepped on and broke a dead branch. The slight vibration caused the pine tree above him to shake, dropping several pine needles.

The guard paid no mind to the nearly imperceptible pine needles, simply brushed them off, and one of them happened to touch his exposed right hand.

"Ah!"

However, while others disregarded it, the guard screamed loudly. Everyone then saw clearly that his right hand had turned pitch black, evidently poisoned.

Thud!

The guard, in agony from his right hand, felt a dreadful pain penetrating his heart. He could not help but stagger backward several steps, crashing into the pine tree. Numerous pine needles showered down on him, unavoidable.

"Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah!"

Several Lin Family guards close to him were hit by the pine needles and screamed, especially those with needles hitting their faces, which quickly silenced them.

"Everyone get out of the way, the pine needles are highly poisonous!"

At this moment, Qiao Guinong, the master of poison, realized what had happened. Even as an Earth Rank Low Level Meridian Refining Master, he couldn’t help but feel a chill at the thought of such a potent poison that acted on skin contact.

"There’s no saving them now!"

Seeing this, Yun Xiao couldn’t help but shake his head. His knowledge came from his previous life as the Long Xiao Battle God. From the first glance at those black-faced Lin Family guards, he knew that it was too late to do anything.

If it had only been the first guard poisoned on the palm, perhaps amputation could have saved his life. But because the guard had crashed into the pine tree, causing needles to prick their heads and faces, they were beyond help.

"Get out, everyone quickly get out!"

Seeing the poisoned guards stumbling about, Lin Zhenjiang’s face darkened. After a furious shout, he took the lead and pulled out his adopted son, Lin Xuanting.

It’s worth mentioning that because Yun Xiao had not moved earlier, Lin Xuanhao was luckily not under the pine tree. At this moment, he turned his head to look at Yun Xiao, his eyes filled with horror.

"Yun Xiao, did you already know those pine needles were poisonous?"

Recalling Yun Xiao’s earlier warning, Lin Xuanhao really regretted it. If he had heeded Yun Xiao’s advice at that time, the Lin Family guards wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.

"You already knew? Then why didn’t you say it sooner? Because of you my Lin Family lost so many guards!"

Saved by his father, Lin Xuanting suddenly heard Lin Xuanhao’s question and, seeing only half of the Lin Family guards remaining, immediately shed his hypocritical demeanor and directly accused Yun Xiao.

"Big Brother, how can you say that? Didn’t Yun Xiao already warn us earlier? It was your own fault for not listening, so who else can you blame?"

Fortunately, Lin Xuanhao still had some sense, and although he was also grieved over the numerous casualties among the Lin Family guards, he knew that this matter had nothing to do with Yun Xiao. Instead, it was the Lin Family’s failure to heed Yun Xiao’s advice that had led to this predicament. Why would Big Brother still say such things?

Perhaps at this moment, it was the first time Lin Xuanhao realized Lin Xuanting’s true nature. The tragic deaths of the guards, combined with his original disdain for Yun Xiao, caused Lin Xuanting to almost lose control.

"Yun Xiao, you should have made it clear earlier. If you had been clear, why wouldn’t we have believed you?"

Qiao Guinong also looked rather unsightly, perhaps also feeling the embarrassment of being proven wrong. Although his words were not as obvious as Lin Xuanting’s, every word was an attempt to assign some of the blame to Yun Xiao.

"I didn’t know that those deadly toxins were hidden on the pine needles. However, it is you, a low level Earth Rank Meridian Refining Master, who failed to sense anything wrong and stubbornly disregarded advice, so at least half of the responsibility for this incident lies with you!"

Yun Xiao was not one to take a loss without fighting back. Having given a warning earlier that went unheeded, and now after suffering a loss, to have the blame pushed onto himself? Did they really take him for a pushover?

"You..."

Qiao Guinong, who had never been so directly criticized, was truly incensed. Previously, he could have used his status and power to suppress others, but this youth was not a member of the Lin Family and had spoken quite reasonably, leaving him truly at a loss for words.

"Alright, what’s done is done. What’s the use of saying all this now? Let’s think about how to get through this pine forest instead."

Lin Family Head, Lin Zhenjiang, naturally wasn’t feeling great either and even regretted not having listened to Yun Xiao before, so after speaking, his gaze unintentionally swept over the youth in coarse clothes several times.

"What else can we do? With such a vast pine forest, who knows which pine needles are poisonous? It looks like we have no choice but to take a detour!"

Qiao Guinong forcibly suppressed his anger, but regarding the deadly toxins encountered just now, he seemed to have some guess as to who was responsible, hence he felt totally uncertain.

"Damn, Lu Yuanpei, that old bastard, to use such a despicable tactic! Better not let me catch you, or I’ll certainly have you pay back today’s vengeance with your blood!"

Hearing Qiao Guinong’s words, Lin Zhenjiang understood that it must be the Tao Family’s doing, and that the one capable of deploying such a bizarre and terrifying toxin could only be the Tao Family’s chief Poison Vein Master, Lu Yuanpei.

"But if we take a detour, we’ll probably fall even further behind the Tao Family’s people!"

Lin Xuanting thought quickly and spoke of a difficult choice. After all, the pine forest was neither too large nor too small; taking a detour could lead to a delay of half a day, by which time it might all be in vain.

"Do we really need to go to such trouble?"

Just when the members of the Lin Family were at a loss, a lazy voice suddenly came from an angle. As everyone turned their heads, they saw the person speaking was the youth in coarse clothes carrying a wooden sword.

"Yun Xiao, do you have a way?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xuanhao was the first to brighten up. After what had happened just now, he undoubtedly developed an inexplicable confidence in Yun Xiao, and he also believed that this person wouldn’t be joking with his own life, right?

As for the other members of the Lin Family, even Qiao Guinong and Lin Xuanting kept silent this time because they, just like Lin Xuanhao, suddenly harbored an inexplicable confidence in this mysterious youth.

"The method is actually quite simple. As strong as the poisoner’s methods might be, it’s impossible for him to have smeared deadly toxins on every tree and every pine needle in this pine forest spanning tens of miles. If we just walk under the trees without the deadly poisons, wouldn’t that be fine?"

Yun Xiao spread his hands out, suggesting a seemingly simple solution, and he was somewhat unable to understand why these Lin Family people couldn’t think of such a straightforward logic. Were they really just a bunch of fools?

"Simple?"

But after Yun Xiao finished speaking, the faces of the Lin Family members all twitched, particularly the chief Meridian Refining Master Qiao Guinong, whose face was flushed with anger. Could this youngster be mocking them?

If it were so easy to determine which trees’ pine needles contained deadly toxins, then this method would indeed be feasible. However, the problem was that he couldn’t find them. If he couldn’t find them, entering the pine forest rashly would be tantamount to gambling with their lives.

Yet here was this youngster, looking as if it was all self-evident, and what was with his expression? Was he implying that they were idiots? It had been a long time since anyone had dared give him such a look.

At this moment, every member of the Lin Family fixed their gazes on the coarsely-dressed youth in silence.