The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

The two men stared blankly at the sky, nodding and praising, "Brother, this girl really treats you well."

Lu Xiaosan looked up at the sky and saw golden clouds swirling above the lake. In the very center was a huge hole pierced through the clouds, a truly magnificent sight.

"To think that this girl Wen disregards such a magnificent scene and only wants to cure her brother's illness, tsk tsk tsk."

"Looks like my brother is in for a treat."

Lu Xiaosan smiled, patted the two of them and said, "Let's go, there's nothing to see here, let's go back to the hunting lodge first."

As the three walked along the road, Strange Eight-Knife asked him again, "Big Brother, how did you and this Wen girl meet?"

Lu Xiaosan looked suspicious and replied, "Big brother, she's a doctor. You should call her Doctor Wen. It's not appropriate for you to keep calling her 'little girl,' after all, my life is in her hands."

Both Guai Ba Dao and Fen Lao Shan were startled at the same time, "A doctor?"

"Yeah, what's wrong? Is something strange?"

Guai Ba Dao scratched his head, somewhat hesitantly saying, "But look at her hair color and eyes. Shouldn't she be the Hu girl you bought, brother? How come she's a Hu girl who understands Han Chinese medicine?"

Lu Xiaosan was a little angry and immediately said without thinking, "Whether she's Han or Hu, in the end she's just a little blonde. She's definitely not some girl you can just buy and sell!"

Upon hearing this, Strange Eight Knives and Pink Old Mountain laughed loudly at the same time: "Hahahaha, big brother, don't be angry. We were just saying it casually, don't take it to heart."

They added, "Moreover, our Great Tang Dynasty has now reached the point where all nations pay tribute. It is common for Han people to buy a barbarian as a maid, which is why we have this idea."

Lu Xiaosan did not answer...

Seeing this, Fen Laoshan laughed again, "It seems that you've fallen for Miss Wen, brother, hahaha."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaosan was speechless. She wanted to deny it but didn't know how to say it, only stammering, "I...this..."

Taking the opportunity, Guai Ba Dao shook his head and added, "Tsk tsk tsk, brother, it seems you can't escape the most dangerous word 'love' either."

"Hahahaha!" The two of them burst into laughter again.

This time, Lu Xiaosan couldn't manage a smile. He kept thinking: would he really be trapped by his relationship with the little golden retriever? Should he accept it calmly or run away as soon as possible?

The three little ones on the road were lost in thought, while the other two chatted and laughed beside them.

Arriving at the hunting lodge:

The pink monsters were stunned by the mess behind the hunter's house.

Fen Laoshan stamped his feet and roared, "Who the hell did this? Half of the mountain has been razed to the ground!"

Lu Xiaosan tilted his head and replied softly, "It was his mother who did it."

Both Guai Ba Dao and Fen Lao Shan turned around at the same time, looking at him in disbelief.

Lu Xiaosan was hanging his head, his eyes fixed on the ground, seemingly deep in thought.

And right above his head was the same hole in the sky he had just seen by the lake.

Seeing this, Fen Laoshan shook his head and laughed, "Forget it, there's nothing strange about this world anymore." He didn't know that the act of cutting through the sky and shearing the mountain was all the work of the elder brother in front of him.

With a wave of his hand, Guai Ba Dao said, "Never mind, I'm going back to sleep." He then opened the door and went inside.

We entered the house.

"Brother, you're sick, go to bed and rest first," Fen Laoshan shouted to Lu Xiaosan.

Seeing that Lu Xiaosan did not answer, Fen Laoshan went up and carried him to the bed.

As soon as he picked him up, Fen Laoshan sniffed him, and the pungent stench immediately hit him.

"Brother, you've been soaking in the water for so long, and you still smell like this! How long has it been since you last took a shower?" Old Man Fen said with a laugh as he carried him to the bed.

Lu Xiaosan slapped his thigh and said smugly, "Don't worry, this room will soon be so smelly that I can't stand it anymore."

Guai Ba Dao and Fen Lao Shan sat down on another kang bed and laughed, "Can't stand the smell? Hahahaha, this is the first time someone has dared to say that in front of us two brothers!"

"If you don't believe me, fine. I've already warned you." Lu Xiaosan said, then buried himself in the covers.

A pungent, sour stench suddenly wafted out from under the covers.

"Ugh!" Lu Xiaosan was caught off guard and almost fainted from the stench... This was his nose... his nose that was constantly immersed in the stench.

Lu Xiaosan jumped out of bed, gasping for breath, "Holy crap, that was so loud! Whose bed was this before?! Huff, huff, huff!"

"Hahahaha!" Strange Eight-Knife and Pink Old Mountain sat on the other end of the kang and burst into laughter.

"Brother Shan, let him try some aged pickled cabbage." Guai Ba Dao said with a wicked smile.

"Okay!" Old Man Fen was overjoyed and went to take off his shoes.

Lu Xiaosan frowned. "After all these years, am I finally meeting my match today?"

Lu Xiaosan took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on his aching feet that were about to be taken off his shoes...

The instant his hand touched the shoe:

With a loud "boom," Lu Xiaosan suddenly felt the world spinning, and his entire body was suddenly sent into the air by a strange force.

When they came to their senses, they found themselves and the three of them, including Pink Monster, suspended from the beams, each encased in a separate hemp net.

"Who is it? Who is so despicable as to set a trap on my bed!" Fen Laoshan shouted.

"I'm sorry, senior brother, I can't just watch you take off your shoes and trigger the trap. I'd be dead if I did." As soon as he finished speaking, a person crawled out from under the strange man's bed.

The man stood up, revealing his handsome features, tall stature, red hat, white shirt and black trousers, and a black and white gauze robe, exuding an air of aloof arrogance.

"You...you are Junior Brother Qin!" Pink Mountain exclaimed in surprise.

Junior Brother Qin bowed slightly, looked at the two people in the sack and said with a silly smile, "Senior Brothers, it's been a long time. I've missed you terribly."

"They're fine, but I'm the one who's hurt! Put me down right now!" Lu Xiaosan struggled and cursed from above.

"Senior brothers, I've been curious ever since you came in: Who is this little monk? Why is he with you two?" Junior Brother Qin said angrily, pointing at Lu Xiaosan.

"I'm you...!!" Lu Xiaosan's lips curled into a grotesque smile. Then, his entire body began to convulse in pain again...

"Ugh... Ahh!" Lu Xiaosan's illness flared up, and he began to struggle and writhe incessantly in the net.

The other three people in the room were startled. Fen Laoshan shouted urgently to Lu Xiaosan, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The eccentric Eight-Cut Swordsman also questioned Junior Brother Qin, "What did you do? How could he be like this?"

Seeing that they had turned their attention to him again, Junior Brother Qin smiled slightly, feeling quite satisfied.

He then deliberately feigned innocence: "Oh, senior brother, you've misunderstood your junior brother. I didn't do anything; he just suddenly took the wrong medicine and fell ill."

Seeing Lu Xiaosan shaking more and more violently in the net, each tremor seemed to tug at his heartstrings, Guai Ba Dao steadied himself and said seriously, "Junior Brother Qin, what will it take for you to let him down?"

"Since that's the case, I'll get straight to the point and stop with the small talk. It's a pity I was hoping to have a longer chat with my senior brother."

Junior Brother Qin paused, then asked softly, "What about the man in black who came a few days ago? Where did you hide him?"

"died!"

"Dead! Where did he die? Where is his body?"

"I don't know, I only know he's dead!"

Enraged, Junior Brother Qin pointed at the two of them and said, "Senior Brother, you two!"

“Junior Brother Qin, you didn’t set this trap for us just because of that man in black, did you? You’re going to be disappointed!” said Old Man Fen.

Junior Brother Qin took a deep breath and asked, feigning annoyance, "Then... let me rephrase the question: where are the blue fox fur, white eagle feathers, and mermaid eyes now?"

Both Pink Mountain and Strange Eight-Knife were shocked. "What did you say?!"

A sinister smile crept across Junior Brother Qin's lips. "Fine, I'll back down. I can find Qinghu and Baiying again, but you'll have to hand over the Mermaid Eyes to me first."

"Mermaid Eyes, why are you so sure the Mermaid Eyes are with us? We should be asking you! Where are the Mermaid Eyes? And who is that man in black?" Pink Mountain spoke with great anger. The Mermaid Eyes were originally the eyes of a wolf and a rhinoceros, a testament to their brotherhood, but now they had been taken away by that man in black and their whereabouts were unknown.

Junior Brother Qin snorted, pulled up a stool from beside him and sat down in front of the two of them, saying, "Senior Brother, stop pretending. Yesterday, someone stirred up a huge mess in East Lake. I almost fainted from the shock."

"Furthermore, only you can go down to the bottom of East Lake. Do you dare to say that you weren't behind yesterday's events?"

"We were indeed underwater yesterday."

Junior Brother Qin leaned back in his chair, looking smug, and said, "So, you should have gotten the mermaid's eye by now, right? Hand it over, and I'll let him go."

Guai Badao wanted to refute again, but he saw that Lu Xiaosan was trembling more and more violently, and even his initial screams stopped.

He was anxious, so he said, "Okay, put me down first, and I'll hand me over to you personally."