Fu Mingxu was immediately angered by his shameless behavior.
A note from the author:
Fu Mingxu: We're all men, what's the difference?
Hantao on display.
Fu Mingxu: Holy crap! Get out of my way! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-03-24 00:00:00 and 2022-03-25 00:00:00!
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 33
An hour later, Han Tao finally managed to loosen his grip.
Fu Mingxu said with a dark face, "Put me down quickly."
He vowed that the first thing he would do upon landing was to practice flying spells.
Han Tao's complexion had returned to normal, but the beads of sweat on his forehead rolled down in the wind, leaving a damp stain on his blue shirt.
Seeing that he remained silent, Fu Mingxu softened his tone and said, "My legs are numb from standing."
As soon as he said it, he regretted it a little, because it sounded a lot like he was being coquettish.
Thinking of this, he felt a chill run down his spine and immediately spat in his mind a few times.
The two finally landed, and the long period of standing in the same position left his legs numb and weak. As soon as Fu Mingxu's feet touched the ground, his calves instinctively bent, and if Han Tao hadn't caught him by the waist, he probably would have had a close encounter with the ground.
"Let me catch my breath." He leaned against the tree trunk and tried to circulate his chaotic energy as he had done before. The tingling sensation in his legs quickly dissipated.
Then, Fu Mingxu stood up and jumped a couple of times, relieved that he had regained his mobility. He remembered everything that had just happened under the tree, shuddered, and immediately ran outside the canopy.
Once he was bathed in sunlight again and regained his freedom, he snorted coldly, put his hands on his hips, and said, "Now, let's settle the score."
Han Tao followed him out, lowering his eyes: "What accounts are we settling?"
"Of course it's your thing..." Fu Mingxu suddenly realized, he covered his mouth, and stopped himself from saying the words that were about to come out.
But then Han Tao was getting closer to him, and the two seemed to be back to the moment when they were pressed tightly together on the tree trunk.
Han Tao stared intently at him: "What account?"
"Pah!" Fu Mingxu turned to look at the sky, completely unmoved. "Disgusting!"
He always lost his composure when faced with Han Tao, and at this moment he deeply felt his lack of swear words.
Her slender, long neck, exposed to the sunlight, was more beautiful than the most shimmering silk gauze. Its porcelain white sheen gleamed with an alluring light, igniting a flame within her at first glance.
Although Han Tao knew he had gone a bit too far today, seeing him like this, he felt it was normal that he couldn't control himself.
However, Fu Mingxu seemed genuinely angry. From his angle, one could even see the other's puffed-up cheeks and raised eyebrows.
The mountains and forests were lush and the air was fresh. Birds hopped about in the treetops, but the lively activity among the trees seemed irrelevant to the two of them.
Fu Mingxu's attempt to confront Fu Mingxu failed, and he angrily looked up at the sky.
The quiet atmosphere between the two was broken by a cough. He subconsciously turned his head to look and saw Han Tao covering his chest with one hand and his mouth with the back of the other.
When he realized he was being looked at, he turned slightly to the side, as if deliberately avoiding something.
"What's wrong with you?" Fu Mingxu asked, frowning as he stared at him, puzzled. "Does what you did just now have any aftereffects?"
Seeing his suspicious look, as if to say "Are you all bark and no bite?", Han Tao, who had been holding back his cough, could no longer suppress it as if it had found an outlet.
The violent coughing startled Fu Mingxu. He only realized what had happened when he inadvertently glanced at the red blood seeping from between the other person's fingers.
Han Tao bent down and turned to the side, her back to him, her voice unsteady: "Don't come any closer."
The more he said this, the deeper Fu Mingxu's doubts became, along with an unnoticed worry.
"Let me see." He ran up to Han Tao and looked in the direction he was looking. On the lush green grass, the bright red color stood out.
What a waste.
The sweet aroma momentarily distracted Fu Mingxu, but he quickly snapped back to reality and deftly pulled out a pill.
"Open your mouth." Fu Mingxu noticed the bloodstains on his lips that he hadn't had time to wipe away, and pushed the pill inside. Seeing that he was just staring at him, he was instantly enraged and pressed down on his Adam's apple with his free hand.
"Gulp." Han Tao swallowed the pill smoothly.
Fu Mingxu then noticed that half of the color had disappeared from his face, and his usual fierceness had vanished, leaving only a gentle and reserved undertone, like an abandoned puppy.
He stomped on the ground until the smell of dragon blood disappeared before he had time to look at the person who was vomiting blood.
Seeing his gaze fall on him, Han Tao quickly said, "The Dragon Soul has shattered a bit more."
He spoke in a tone as casually as if he were discussing the weather, without any of the seriousness he would show in his next sentence.
"The blood is from the Dragon Soul's injury, not a lingering effect from what just happened."
It concerned the dignity of a male prostitute and his partner's doubts about his function, so he had to explain carefully.
Fu Mingxu was stunned by his method of focusing on the key points. It took him a long time to react, but he snorted twice and muttered, "Whether it's a side effect or not is none of my business."
The dragon, whose mind was elsewhere, did not hear his mutterings. After a moment of contemplation, it couldn't help but say, "My dragon soul hurts so much."
"You deserve to be in so much pain! Who told you to fight with Immortal Lord Siyang?" Fu Mingxu said without any politeness.
Han Tao was taken aback, and his expression suddenly turned extremely disappointed: "He grabbed your wrist."
Fu Mingxu sneered: "Haven't you ever arrested anyone?"
Han Tao continued, "He said he would take you back to the Star-Picking Platform."
Fu Mingxu crossed his arms and looked at him: "Did I agree?"
The more he spoke, the more intense the anger in his eyes became, more dazzling than the fiery sunset.
“I wanted to end the battle, but he wouldn’t agree.” Han Tao glanced at his expression and tentatively said, “I’ll have to trouble you again with the dragon soul you helped me repair.”
Fu Mingxu completely ignored his question and asked, "Then why didn't he beat you to death?"
Han Tao said seriously, "He can't beat me."
Fu Mingxu thought he was just bragging, but he didn't call him out on it. He snorted and walked towards the market, reminding him, "I'm going to the auction house now. I just assumed you were hot-tempered and couldn't control yourself when you saw something."
As he spoke, he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, so he stopped and turned around: "Hey, what's wrong with you...?"
As soon as I turned around, I bumped into a hard wall of flesh, which almost scared me to death.
The tall figure seemed to envelop him. Han Tao looked down at him, his eyes filled with an unusual stubbornness: "It has nothing to do with those two."
He felt nothing but disgust at that kind of sordid existence. Only the scent of her in his arms could easily stir his emotions, making him yearn for her countless nights.
But Fu Mingxu had no intention of discussing this in detail with him, completely ignoring the dragon's desire to prove itself.
He glanced at the sky, remembering that Shen Ange had said the Demon Flower was the last item, and estimating that there was still time, he said, "I need to go to the auction house, don't waste time."
After saying that, he thought of his dragon soul, sighed softly, and tossed him a bottle of pills: "Take these first, they will stabilize your dragon soul and prevent it from deteriorating further."
She couldn't help but glare at him again: "Of course, if you get into another fight, I won't care if you die."
Han Tao gripped the jade bottle tightly in his hand; the smooth surface of the bottle seemed to still retain his body heat. He poured out the pills from the bottle; the turquoise pills had six intricate pill patterns on them.
"Don't worry, there's no poison." Fu Mingxu glanced back and noticed his movement, jokingly saying, "What? Afraid I'll retaliate?"
Han Tao didn't reply. Instead, he quickly walked a few steps to catch up with him and then swallowed the pill in front of him.
Fu Mingxu was stunned, his eyes widening slightly: "Aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself to death?"
That bottle contained a full seven Rank 6 pills; an ordinary cultivator would probably have been overwhelmed and died from the sheer volume.
Seeing that he was completely unaffected, and even regained some color in his pale face, Fu Mingxu gave him a thumbs up: "Your dragon physique is truly amazing."
Han Tao's lips curled up: "Of course."
But Fu Mingxu's next words were: "Tsk, it seems that to cure you, I'll have to waste more spiritual herbs than others."
I thought he was praising his dragon!
The two quickly arrived outside the auction house in the market. The auction had already begun, and the two men standing at the door raised their hands to stop them: "You can't go in."
Fu Mingxu slowly took out the token that Shen Ange had prepared earlier and said frankly, "I found that I didn't have enough spirit stones, so I rushed over."
With an auction house notice, the two people at the door had no reason to stop them.
He turned his head and smiled at the person next to him: "I'll go in first, you can wander around outside."
Just then, Manager Liu from Yunshilou rushed out from inside and whispered something in the guard's ear. The guard looked startled and then bowed to the two of them, saying, "Please."
Fu Mingxu was suddenly stunned by his respectful manner until he felt a tightness on his wrist. Han Tao, who was next to him, looked down at him and said, "Go in."
So, he was led inside without really understanding what was going on. Manager Liu led the two of them to the front row, ignoring the stares of the crowd.
Chang Hong was surprised to see the two of them come in together, but then sat down with relief.
With Han Tao present, Fu Mingxu's chances of winning the Demon Flower were much greater. He noticed that there were an unusually large number of people at today's auction. In addition to the alchemists from Tianxuan Sect and Sword Sect, even two seventh-grade alchemists from Medicine Sect had come and, coincidentally, were sitting in the front row with Fu Mingxu.
According to the information gathered, they all came for the Demon Flower.
When did the Demon Flower become so sought after? Chang Hong remembered that the Demon Flower had appeared a year ago, but no one cared about it at the time. In the end, it was only bought by the Medicine Sect at a low price because of its rarity.
Fu Mingxu arrived at the perfect time, neither too early nor too late. The two had just sat down for a short while when the Demon Flower made its appearance.
He didn't notice that someone who had witnessed the events of the previous night recognized them and, after a moment of surprise, began to whisper among themselves.
"Now, our final auction item is a Demon Flower," the cultivator on the auction platform announced loudly. "Besides the starting price of one thousand top-grade spirit stones, this auction of the Demon Flower also requires that each of you provide something that the seller will need."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd erupted in uproar. Putting aside the high price of one thousand top-grade spirit stones, that last sentence was simply giving the seller an opportunity to ask for an exorbitant price.
Several alchemists frowned, clearly puzzled by the auction house's actions.
The cultivator smiled, seemingly anticipating everyone's reaction, and explained, "Because this Demon Flower is very special; it is the King of Flowers."
"Moreover, when the expedition team found the Demon Flower, they were trapped by demons and only escaped with the help of the Flower King. This expedition team belongs to our auction house, so we cannot refuse this request, both morally and logically."
While the auction house's decision has drawn criticism, it is also well-founded.
Having said that, the cultivator, unfazed by the murmurs below, bowed slightly and made an inviting gesture: "Now, it's up to you all to offer yourselves."
The bottom price is there; although it's a bit high, it's still acceptable for those who really need it.
What intrigued Fu Mingxu was who this person was and what their conditions were.