Shen Yuan Ring

In the pitch-black night, the village chief walked along the muddy path, a cold smile playing on his lips.

(As expected, he's an innocent child, much easier to fool than that woman yesterday. After dinner, I'll reunite you with them and make sure you're together for life.)

After the village chief brought Ji Daoyi home, Ji Daoyi smelled a faint scent in his house. If he hadn't been an alchemist and was very sensitive to the smell of spiritual herbs, he wouldn't have noticed that the scent of the mind-controlling powder was still lingering in the air.

The "Bewitching Powder" is not highly poisonous; it simply causes the person to fall into a coma immediately after ingestion. Even if you slap them, they will not wake up. Without the antidote, they will remain in a coma for up to a week before naturally waking up.

(It seems that Sister Yueyue and the others were drugged by the village chief's mind-control powder and are probably being held somewhere now. Luckily, Xiaohu wasn't brought along, otherwise he probably would have fallen for it too. It seems the village chief isn't an alchemist, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a basic mistake.)

"You must not have eaten yet. Wait a moment, I'll go prepare some food."

"Thank you, village chief."

After the village chief left, Ji Daoyi quickly took the antidote for the bewitching powder he had made himself. He didn't wander around either, just like an honest and obedient child.

He planned to turn the tables on the village chief, making him think he had succeeded, so that he could be taken by the village chief to the place where Wang Yueyue and her group were being held.

Fifteen minutes later, the old village chief served a table of home-cooked dishes that he had prepared.

"My family didn't prepare any good meat or vegetables, so we just made do with what we had. I hope you won't mind. I'll go to the market tomorrow and buy some more meat."

"How could I complain? If it weren't for the village chief taking me in tonight, I would have to camp in the wild. I'm already very grateful to have a hot meal." Ji Daoyi said politely when he saw the two dishes the village chief had prepared, but in his heart he despised the village chief in front of him. He wanted to poison him but was reluctant to part with the food.

"Village Chief, please eat first." Ji Daoyi naturally placed a piece of food on the village chief's plate.

Seeing this, the village chief didn't stand on ceremony and ate the vegetables that Ji Daoyi had put on his plate, saying from time to time, "You eat too! These vegetables are all prepared for you. Although they're not fancy dishes, I grew them myself, so they're absolutely safe."

Upon hearing the word "existence," Ji Dao felt nothing but contempt.

(If I weren't an alchemist, I almost would have believed you. That old rascal is really wicked; he doesn't even blush when he lies, unlike Little Tiger!)

In order to rescue Wang Yueyue and the others as soon as possible, he barely ate a few bites of vegetables before feeling his head shaking, and then he collapsed onto the table.

"Hey, what's wrong? Don't scare me." The village chief saw Ji Daoyi faint and quickly went over to push him.

After seeing that Ji Daoyi was indeed unconscious, the village chief said, "Luckily, you took the antidote first, otherwise you would have been caught by this kid. You are a little clever, but that's all. Unlike me, I would not eat food given by strangers."

The village chief grabbed Ji Daoyi, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and walked deeper into the backyard.

They arrived at a cellar, and he casually tossed Ji Daoyi aside. With a thud, Ji Daoyi completed a free fall.

"One... five. Five people now, just one little brat is missing. I hope you'll come obediently tomorrow, so I can collect the 500,000 yuan stones without lifting a finger. The Ji family is so easy to fool. They just made up a wolf demon mission and sent these little geniuses to their deaths. What a pity. Blame it on your Ji family for being too arrogant in recent years. It's a pity this beauty can't be exchanged for money, but once I get the medicine, I'll definitely let you have some fun. That way, your life won't have been in vain."

The village chief counted them one by one with his hands and found that one person was missing. He then complained a few times.

Upon seeing Wang Yueyue's appearance, he felt a strange malice rising within him. However, he only uttered a few words before leaving the cellar, perhaps because he was impotent.

Ji Daoyi didn't know whether the village chief was really leaving or just pretending, so he didn't get up immediately. Instead, he waited about fifteen minutes before carefully getting up and moving his feet.

He took out the antidote he had on him and gave it to each of them. After a while, Wang Yueyue, who had the highest cultivation level, was the first to wake up.

Upon hearing Wang Yueyue's groans, Ji Dao quickly whispered, "Sister Yueyue, don't speak loudly."

Upon hearing Ji Daoyi's voice, Wang Yueyue immediately asked in a low voice, "Daoyi, what's going on? How did we get here? And why are you here too?"

“You’ve been drugged by the village chief of Yi Village and have been sleeping here for a day. I’m here to rescue you. Sister Yueyue, you’re only just waking up and your strength hasn’t fully recovered yet, so we shouldn’t act rashly.”

"Understood. I'll use my internal energy to recover my strength first. I should be fully recovered in half an hour at most, then we'll go out together to settle the score. By the way, how are Zihan, Puyu, and Wang Dan?"

“They were also affected by the mind-controlling drug, just like you. I have given them the antidote, and they will wake up soon.”

A few minutes later, Ji Zihan and the others gradually regained consciousness.

Ji Zihan saw Ji Daoyi standing to the side, but didn't see Ji Xiaohu: "Daoyi, why are you alone? Where is Xiaohu?"

"I asked Xiaohu to wait for my message outside the village, just in case."

"What if he can't get your message and comes directly to the village to find you? Wouldn't it be dangerous if he ran into the village chief?"

Ji Daoyi calmly explained, "Don't worry about that. I have an agreement with him. If I don't go out to look for him within two hours, it means something has happened to me in Yi Village. He will then go back to his family to notify my mother to come and rescue us."

After Ji Daoyi's reassurance, everyone's emotions were finally calmed down.

........

In the grove outside Yi Village, Ji Xiaohu sat alone on the ground, looking very anxious.

"Why hasn't Brother Dao arrived yet? Could it be that, as he said, this wolf demon mission is a trap? We've already exceeded the agreed time. We can't wait any longer. I need to go find reinforcements. Every second that passes means more danger for them."

Afterwards, Ji Xiaohu mounted his beast horse and headed towards the Ji family's location.

The village chief's backyard cellar

After half an hour, Wang Yueyue had recovered to her peak condition. She stood up and asked in the direction of Ji Daoyi, "Daoyi, I have fully recovered. Shall we go out now?"

Ji Daoyi thought for a moment, "No rush, let's wait until Zihan and the others have recovered. We're currently in the shadows, while he's in the open. We have the initiative, and this time our mission is based on a lie fabricated by the village chief."

"What did you say? This wolf demon mission was a lie?"

"Yes, it was the village chief who said it himself. He thought I was under the influence of the mind-controlling drug, but he didn't know that I had already taken the antidote. He just told me everything while talking to himself."

After Ji Daoyi repeated what the village chief had said, Wang Yueyue became even more furious. If her eyes could kill, there would probably be corpses strewn all over the place by now.