Xiong Er must have done something bad, right?
Wu Liang pulled a dark face and switched spots to drink. It had to be said, it really worked.
The seven or eight old blokes, forced into a corner by three human tumble dryers and unable to absorb any spirit energy, looked miserable.
Who knows what sins we committed to get these top-tier Mandarin Duck Pot tickets.
Only 24 hours, and now you lot are stealing all the spirit energy. We can’t absorb a scrap.
Watching Wu Liang guzzling bathwater, the group looked conflicted.
“Stop staring. Drink. What else can we do? We can’t come for nothing.”
“Even if they’re that extreme, they can’t suck all the spirit energy out of the water. Whatever we drink will still work.”
“Agreed in advance. No one farts, pees, or picks their feet while drinking, okay?”
They exchanged glances, steeled themselves, and plunged their heads in to drink.
Wu Liang’s eyes bulged.
Bloody hell. People are competing to drink this?
I refuse to believe you lot can outdrink me.
Glug, glug, glug.
Jiang Nan looked utterly defeated. They’re even competing now?
Even the anti-rubbing warden was stunned.
Are young people these days all this ruthless?
I’ve never seen anyone soaking and drinking at the same time in ten years.
At that moment, the girls in the clear broth side heard the breakthrough sounds from the spicy side and looked horrified.
Do you have to be this ferocious?
They had only just arrived. How are there already breakthroughs?
Xia Yao could not wait any longer and shouted towards the mist wall. “Little Nan! Da da da da da!”
Jiang Nan grinned. “Coming.”
He opened a spatial wormhole connecting the spicy side to the clear broth side and poked his upper body through.
He pulled out thirty packets of Bangran Heart-Pounding Jumping Candy. “Here. Everyone who came today gets some.”
The moment the girls in the clear broth side saw Jiang Nan, their hearts raced. Little deer bumped wildly, cheeks flushed.
Whether it was his wet hair or the water droplets sliding down sharply defined abs, everything was irresistible.
In their eyes, Jiang Nan even came with special effects.
“Wow. Is this what heart-pounding feels like? Slurp.”
“This guy is so handsome. Ah, embarrassing.”
“It’s heart fluttering. Oh no, I can’t look away. Little brother, add me as a friend? I have a loli voice.”
Even Little Dimple’s flashing red and blue cheek lights turned heart-shaped.
(ෆ❛ัᴗ❛ัෆ)
Hungry wolf-like gazes shot over. Jiang Nan’s lips curved into a smile. He flicked his hair back with one hand, revealing a clean forehead.
“Damn. It’s this charm I can’t place anywhere again.”
Xia Yao paddled over like a little wolf, took the jumping candy, eyes curving into crescents.
She grabbed Jiang Nan’s arm and hugged it to her chest. “Hehe. Want to come over and bathe together?”
Jiang Nan’s face filled with bitterness. He reluctantly refused. “No. I won’t.”
Damn. The dream is right in front of me.
Yet I can’t achieve it. Unacceptable.
Xia Yao blinked. “Why not? It’s a rare chance.”
Jiang Nan turned serious. “For your future happiness, I can’t soak over there.”
Xia Yao grinned mischievously, yanked his arm hard, and pulled his whole body through the wormhole.
“Come on over. Hehe.”
Jiang Nan’s eyes flew wide. He was about to plunge into the water with Xia Yao.
Terrified, he teleported away in an instant, vanishing back to the spicy side.
Xia Yao grasped empty air. (◦`~´◦)
“So scared of us?”
Nightingale snickered. “Jiang Nan isn’t scared of us. He’s scared of turning girly.”
“What’s da da da da da mean anyway?”
Xia Yao laughed. “You’ll know once you eat.”
She distributed the jumping candy, even Little Dimple got some.
Xia Yao and Zhong Yingxue poured theirs into their mouths, bit their lips hard, faces turning red from the shocks. Luckily they had eaten it before and built tolerance. They endured.
Under the shocked gazes of Ye Xingxuan, Nightingale, and the others, Xia Yao and Zhong Yingxue created water vortices in the clear broth side.
Top-tier talent plus jumping candy effects were undeniably terrifying.
Everyone’s eyes shone. What kind of divine jumping candy was this?
It actually boosted spirit energy absorption speed? South God is too good to us.
This way, one day of soaking equals ten days.
The excited group could not care less. They poured whole packets into their mouths at once.
The next instant, high-pitched screams mixed with crackling explosions echoed through the entire clear broth side.
Ye Xingxuan rolled her eyes from the shocks and plunged into the water, twitching.
Nightingale bit her lip hard, pounding her chest, feeling like she would die.
The three cat-girl sisters floated on the surface, cat tails puffed up, bubbling glug glug.
Little Dimple’s cheek alarm lights flashed wildly, tears welling in her eyes.
Three minutes later, seven or eight girls floated on the surface, bodies still twitching.
This divine jumping candy was too bang. Too addictive.
It scared the anti-rubbing warden. She thought there was an electrical leak.
Yet the next moment, huge waves rose in the clear broth side. Those who ate the candy became spirit energy black holes.
Xia Yao broke through one star on the spot.
Everyone grew excited.
But on the surface, no one could compete with Zhong Yingxue, Xia Yao, and Ye Xingxuan’s top-tier talents.
To absorb more, the cat-girl sisters and the others could only dive deeper into the clear broth side.
The Mandarin Duck Pot was hundreds of metres deep. Dive deep enough, and there was no competing for spirit energy. Just surface for air occasionally.
Little Dimple held her breath hard, eyes full of curiosity, and paddled desperately downward.
(◦ᵒ̌～ᵒ̌◦)°°｡
She reached the pool bottom. The bottom was not flat but a complex network of underground waterways.
Without thinking, Little Dimple flapped her little paws and swam in.
…
Jiang Nan was cultivating intently. At this rate, using all ten tickets, reaching gold eight should be no problem.
He turned to see Wu Liang competing with the eight old blokes to drink bathwater. Their bellies were swollen, yet none stopped.
Jiang Nan felt the spicy side water level had dropped.
Just then, a figure burst up from below Jiang Nan.
“Pwah.”
Little Dimple, gasping for air, threw herself into Jiang Nan’s arms. “Master.”
Jiang Nan hurriedly scooped her up. “How did you get to the spicy side? You’ll grow a beard like this.”
Little Dimple: ???
“I’m an ice-fire spirit beast. The Mandarin Duck Pot is yin and yang. Soaking on either side is the same for me.”
Jiang Nan stared. Bloody hell. I’m so jealous of that constitution.
Little Dimple said excitedly, “Never mind that. Master, look what this is.”
She held out her paws, each clutching a spirit material.
One fiery red, like lava crystal.
One milky white, warm and smooth like suet jade.
Jiang Nan blinked. “Red Flame Iron ore? And Water Cloud Jade? High-grade spirit materials. Where did you get them?”
Though not top-tier like Blood-Drinking Southern Red, they were still worth plenty of money.
Jiang Nan’s training reward included thirty jin of Red Flame Iron ore.
Little Dimple: “I found them in the underground waterways at the bottom. There’s loads more down there.”
Jiang Nan’s eyes gleamed. “Go, go, go. Let’s check it out.”
Spirit materials under the Mandarin Duck Pot?
That’s loads of money.
He took a deep breath and followed Little Dimple, diving over five hundred metres to the bottom.
Driven by money, Jiang Nan did not think twice. He plunged into the complex underground waterways.
Left turns, right turns. Over a thousand metres in. The spatial wormhole could no longer reach for air.
Beyond skill range.
So Jiang Nan pulled out an oxygen tank and continued downward.
(◦¥~¥◦)・゜・
Completely focused on money, Jiang Nan forgot about the spiked tub he had walled off with spatial barriers up in the spicy side.
Once out of skill range.
The barriers vanished automatically. The three hundred buckets of Dali 2.0 dispersed with the pool current…
He dived over two thousand metres. Surroundings pitch black.
Little Dimple had already switched to searchlight mode, lighting the way for Jiang Nan.
Finally, they reached a wide cavern inside the mountain.
Water pressure and temperature were extreme here. Even Jiang Nan’s skin turned red from the heat.
Yet he was deeply shocked by the sight.
The rock walls were covered in Red Flame Iron and Water Cloud Jade.
Jiang Nan even spotted Water Cloud Jade ore bigger than a lorry.
Jiang Nan: “Mmph!!! Glug glug.”
Opening his mouth nearly choked him to death.
How much money was this?
The Mandarin Duck Pot’s miraculous effects were surely linked to these spirit materials growing in the mountain.
Little Dimple signalled with paw gestures. “Master. Can I eat some?”
Jiang Nan blinked. “You can eat spirit materials?”
Only then did he remember that Little Dimple, still in her egg, had eaten his Ice Flame Crystal.
Little Dimple nodded. “I’m ice-fire spirit beast. I can eat ice, water, or fire attribute materials.”
“They boost my spirit skill power and help me level up.”
Jiang Nan stroked his chin, hesitant. “But this would count as stealing, right?”
Little Dimple: (◍❛ั̫❛ั◍)
“Nonsense. These things are just sitting here. No one wants them. Little Dimple and Master are only picking them up to take home.”
Jiang Nan: (˵•̀◡•́) Makes sense, makes sense.
Huh? Why does that sound familiar?
Still, he pulled out the Fang Tian painted halberd, eyes shining.
“Start digging.”
