Xiu Yingmei exited Chen Guan's tent and returned to the main tent.

"Brother, how do you plan to deal with Chen Guan?" Xiu Yingmei looked at Xiu Jie Ming who was reading documents and asked.

"What do you think I should do with him?" Xiu Jie Ming said while scribbling on his notebook.

"Since Lord Ji already knows that Chen Guan is on my side, he won't let Ji Nanhong be with him anymore. In this case, Chen Guan won't threaten the alliance between the Ji and Xiu families. Keeping him to serve our family is also an option," Xiu Yingmei deliberated while speaking.

Xiu Jie Ming put down the documents in his hands and looked at Xiu Yingmei seriously, saying, "Do you want to use him, or do you want to compete with Ji Nanhong?"

"Brother, I just think that he is a talent," Xiu Yingmei said urgently.

Xiu Jie Ming nodded, "Being able to defeat Jiang Qiemo, regardless of the method used, can be considered as talent. That's why I've treated him with such courtesy; this is a mark of respect. But this person cannot stay."

"Why? He can be said to be opposed to the Ji family now. Why can't we use him?" Xiu Yingmei could not understand.

"Lord Ji might not genuinely deny him; it might be a form of protection toward him," Xiu Jie Ming said calmly.

"That's only a possibility. We can't give up such an excellent talent just because of one possibility, can we?" Xiu Yingmei said.

"Even if it's just a possibility, it's a significant matter. We can't take risks with it. The more talented he is, the greater the negative impact on our Xiu family if he becomes a liability," Xiu Jie Ming said to Xiu Yingmei. "Now everyone knows I've treated him well. Once we enter Cuiyun Mountain, if he accidentally dies at the hands of a Secret Spirit, people can't say anything even if they suspect something."

Xiu Yingmei felt extremely disappointed, but she didn't know how to rebut Xiu Jie Ming.

"Little Mei, although he's indeed excellent, he's ultimately a floating surface without foundation and cannot become a towering tree. He is not your worthy match," Xiu Jie Ming said.

In the following days, Chen Guan and Brother Kou received the same courteous treatment, dining with the Xiu siblings. Even the Third Awakening Cultivators in their team didn't get such treatment.

Brother Kou was very grateful for such courtesy, and truly wished to serve Xiu Jie Ming faithfully.

As for Chen Guan, he felt quite uneasy; the more courteous Xiu Jie Ming was, the more alarmed Chen Guan felt.

"Isn't the existence of Xiu Yingmei enough for Xiu Jie Ming to let me go?" Chen Guan pondered how he could preserve himself.

Xiu Jie Ming was a top-tier Third Awakening expert. He hadn't entered the Grotto Heaven only because the Xiu family needed him to hold the fort at the Blessed Land; it wasn't that he couldn't enter the Grotto Heaven.

Currently, Chen Guan was only at First Awakening; defeating a World-Defying Secret Spirit at Second Awakening took all his powers, and the gap with a Third Awakening Cultivator was too huge. If Xiu Jie Ming truly wanted to kill him, he would have no chance at all.

"Xiu Jie Ming is treating me so well on the surface, probably because he doesn't want others to think he killed me. Most likely, he'll use external forces to make my death look accidental. That might be my only chance to survive," Chen Guan thought to himself.

Over the following days, Chen Guan secretly observed the cultivators in that task force.

They might find it hard to notice, but tiny red dots, the size of needle points, were appearing on their bodies. They were painless and itchless, so even if noticed, people usually didn't mind.

Chen Guan noticed these dots only because he knew the inside story.

"Indeed, without the little Flower Demon, the entire environment in Beimang Mountain has changed. What happened to the little Flower Demon might happen to all Secret Spirits and humans in Beimang Mountain in the future," Chen Guan mused.

Chen Guan himself hadn't grown such red dots, unsure if it was due to his constitution or because he was carrying a Celestial Immortal Peony.

"I've got some red dots growing on my arm. I wonder if it's because of the environment here causing some rashes?" Brother Kou said, observing his arm while scouting on the mountain.

"Must be the climate of the Secret Realm. I have a pet whose skill might solve this issue. Want to give it a try?" Chen Guan asked with a smile.

"Then let's try." Brother Kou extended his arm to Chen Guan.

Chen Guan summoned a little Flower Demon, and Brother Kou looked a bit puzzled, "The pet you mentioned, is it the little Flower Demon?"

"Yes," Chen Guan directly had the little Flower Demon unleash the Fragrance Wind Skill at Brother Kou's arm, taking this chance to test the effect of the Flower Demon's skill.

"How could a little Flower Demon have such ability? I once had a rare little Flower Demon. If it had such ability, I would be aware," Brother Kou simply didn't believe the little Flower Demon had such power.

Little Flower Demons were so common that if they possessed such ability, it would have been discovered long ago.

Just as he was about to say more, he saw the needle-size red dots on his arm slowly lighten and disappear in the Fragrant Wind.

"Wow... It actually works..." Brother Kou's eyes widened.

"Told you it works." Chen Guan's eyes narrowed into crescents as things seemed to be heading in his favor.

Needless to say, the large stockpile of little Flower Demons should fetch a good price.

Soon, the task force members noticed these red dots, including the Third Awakening experts, who also had these red dots appear on their bodies.

Xiu Jie Ming and Xiu Yingmei both developed the red dots and, after researching with the medical cultivators, concluded it was caused by the dispersing Primordial Evil's impact on the surrounding environment, which currently seemed to have a minor effect on the body.

However, for safety, the physician began looking into solutions, while Xiu Jie Ming planned to call in additional medical experts to prevent unexpected issues.

Before the physician found a solution, Brother Kou mentioned Chen Guan using a little Flower Demon to treat his red dots.

Xiu Jie Ming brought Chen Guan to use the little Flower Demon's Fragrance Wind Skill, and sure enough, it swiftly cleared their red dots.

"Unexpectedly, such a low-level Secret Spirit Pet actually has this ability. Luckily, Ah Guan was meticulous to discover this. Otherwise, we don't know how much time and effort we would have wasted to solve this issue," Xiu Jie Ming praised generously and then asked Chen Guan how many little Flower Demons he had.

Chen Guan said he had two little Flower Demons. Xiu Jie Ming borrowed one and sent people to the nearest city to buy some more little Flower Demon pets, intending to have everyone on the task force equipped with one just in case.

Brother Kou was a bit annoyed, not having expected the little Flower Demon to have such a function. If he had known, he wouldn't have sold the delicate little Flower Demon.

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