The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#206 - Half incense stick

“Having trespassed upon this blessed land, I am already deeply grateful for the hospitality of your village's feast; I wouldn't dare continue to impose,” Lu Jing said. “In fact, my companion and I were already planning to take our leave.”

“It's not even dawn yet. Even if you wanted to return to the other side of the mountain cave, you wouldn't be able to,” the farmer continued to urge. “You should still come with me to see the village chief.”

“Is this the way you treat guests here?” Lu Jing raised his eyebrows. “Forcing guests to do things they don't want to do?”

Upon hearing this, the farmer sighed. “Esteemed guest, you are mistaken. We are only acting out of kindness. If the guest is unwilling to accept it, so be it. Why must you slander us?”

As he spoke, the expression on his face appeared very earnest, without the slightest hint of sophistry. At the same time, there was a deep look of disappointment in his eyes, and as his voice fell, the other villagers around him also nodded in agreement.

Seeming to agree with the farmer's words.

Lu Jing once thought that the fellow before him was just trying to make excuses to keep him here, but seeing the expressions on the faces of the others, he suddenly understood that these people probably genuinely thought this way.

He only felt that the scene before him was unspeakably absurd.

Just a short while ago, he had interacted with these villagers and could feel their friendliness and enthusiasm. Perhaps some of the etiquette they followed seemed a bit antiquated because of the distance in time.

But generally speaking, it wasn't much different from the other side of the mountain cave.

Yet now, these people were like they had suddenly lost all common sense, unanimously calling a stag a horse, and all deeply believing it.

This was the first time Lu Jing had encountered such a bizarre situation.

Then, he heard Jing Xiang's secret voice transmission in his ear, “See that? This is the consequence of you disrupting the pattern of the strange object… These villagers were originally reasonable, friendly, and courteous, but now they have all become incomprehensible.”

Jing Xiang paused, then continued, “There's no other way. We can only force our way through. I need to prepare a formation now. You need to find a way to hold out for half an incense stick's worth of time.”

“Oh, and one more reminder. When I interacted with these villagers before, none of them knew any magic. I've never seen them use that 'Burning Wood to Find People' trick before, so next, you'd better be careful of their spells. After all, the secret power here is ten times denser than in the academy.”

“…If you really can't hold on, be sure to call for help in time.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jing took a deep breath and gripped the Zen staff in his hand.

As if to confirm Jing Xiang's warning, when the villagers saw Lu Jing gripping the Zen staff tightly, they moved as if triggered by some kind of mechanism.

They put down the farm tools in their hands, their fingers fluttering up and down, while chanting incantations.

It was as if, in an instant, the entire population had changed jobs to become mages.

Upon seeing this, Lu Jing had no other choice but to exclaim, “Damn, these NPCs don't follow the basic rules!”

But Lu Jing's figure in the middle remained unmoved.

Seeing that this move couldn't do anything to him, some of the villagers quickly changed their hand seals. Immediately afterward, the soil churned, and the tree roots also pulled out from the ground, wrapping around Lu Jing.

But Lu Jing still didn't panic and repeated his old trick.

He channeled his inner strength and attached it to the Zen staff. Although the Zen staff wasn't a sharp weapon, the tree roots it touched still broke one after another.

It was just that, compared to the branches, there were still too many tree roots.

Moreover, some of them were particularly cunning, taking advantage of the moment when Lu Jing was entangled by other tree roots to secretly bypass the Zen staff in his hand and wrap around Lu Jing's ankles.

A gleam of joy flashed in the eyes of several villagers.

However, when they used magic to control the four tree roots to tighten and pull backward, wanting to drag Lu Jing to the ground, they found that they couldn't pull him at all.

It was at this time that they discovered that Lu Jing's feet had unknowingly stepped out two footprints several inches deep on the ground, and as they continued to exert force, they saw a red pattern flashing under Lu Jing's skin.

Then, the four tree roots all snapped, but Lu Jing's skin didn't even have a red mark left.

Several villagers exchanged glances, all reading shock in each other's eyes.

What kind of monster is this?! Tree roots as thick as three fingers can't even bind him!

However, they didn't give up. Soon, someone activated a new spell, causing the branches and roots to burn, turning into fiery clubs and whips, greatly increasing their power.

Now, Lu Jing had to deal with it carefully. After all, his Firescale Armor was only trained to the third level and hadn't reached the point where it was invulnerable to fire and water.

And if his eyebrows and hair were burned, he would have to play bald for a while.

Fortunately, Lu Jing also had a way to deal with it. He danced the Zen staff into a silver dragon, bringing up a large gust of wind. Any flames that approached would be blown away directly by the terrifying wind.

Even the villagers standing ten feet away could feel the stinging pain brought by the strong wind blowing on their faces.

But upon seeing this, they were not surprised but delighted, because they knew that the more fierce a move looked, the more inner strength it would consume. Lu Jing's reckless urging of his power didn't look like he could last too long.

So as long as they dragged it out like this, when Lu Jing's strength was exhausted, it would be his death.

Thinking of this, the villagers were no longer anxious. They used magic to control the remaining branches and roots, mainly harassing and no longer attacking strongly.

And as time passed, they felt that they were getting closer and closer to victory.

It was just that the aura on the opposite side, for some reason, showed no signs of weakening. Instead, it was getting stronger and stronger. Several villagers standing closer had to take half a step back, and after a while, they took another step back. Even the flames on the branches were suppressed smaller and smaller.

Looking at Lu Jing on the opposite side, his face was still not red and his heart was not beating fast. Now, even the most determined people couldn't help but waver, suspecting that the monster on the opposite side would never run out of strength.

Half an incense stick later, Jing Xiang's voice came from Lu Jing's ear again, “It's done. Stop.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jing withdrew the Zen staff. As the shadows of the staff disappeared from the sky, the villagers on the opposite side, whose faces had already shown anxiety, turned from worry to joy again.

They manipulated the branches and roots to attack Lu Jing, but before that, a sachet flew towards Lu Jing first.

“Put it under your nose,” Jing Xiang instructed.

Before his voice fell, a strange fragrance spread from the forest. Except for Lu Jing, who had put the sachet under his nose in time, the remaining villagers swayed after smelling the strange fragrance and all began to stagger.