Xiao Jianming let out a slow sigh. "I sensed my lost item on him!"
Hearing this left Xu Linyun slightly startled. Even she understood that with Xiao Jianming’s status, there was no need to lie; since he said that he’d sensed his lost item on Fang Xing, then it was extremely likely the item was truly on Fang Xing.
Everyone else looked towards Fang Xing. No matter which side they were on, they were all suspicious of him.
Yet Fang Xing simply pointed towards Feng Qingwei and said, "I have sensed that my underwear is on her, can I body search her as well, then?"
Feng Qingwei quivered with anger. She had interrupted just that once, and now the boy had decided to pick on her. She was a virgin maiden who has saved everything for her beloved shixiong, Xiao Jianming, yet this boy was using underwear as a means to shame her. Was this not intentionally trying to ruin her reputation?
At this time, even the golden crow—who was pretending to be unintelligent—could not help but to giggle silently to himself. When he had first met Fang Xing, he had only seen the boy’s viciousness without knowing about such an unruly side of him. The boy was indeed someone suited to his taste.
Xu Linyun said, "Enough, Shidi Fang. To prove your innocence, I think it’s best that you let him do the body search!"
Fang Xing shielded himself with his arms, as if hesitant. "It’s not that he can’t touch me, but you will have to agree to three conditions…."
Xiao Jianming gave a cold look and asked, "What conditions?"
Fang Xing pointed at Xiao Jianming’s nose. "First, you’ve tarnished my reputation by saying that I stole something of yours. Now, if you’re able to find it on me, then I’ve got nothing I can say, but if you don’t find it… you have to compensate me for the damage caused to my body, mind, reputation, and spirit…."
Xiao Jianming displayed a cold smirk. He was certain that the Purple Mist Orchid was on Fang Xing since he’d seen the hint of purple light from behind during the chase in the air. Besides, he had been following the boy closely, and there was no way he had the opportunity to throw it away or hand it over to someone else. As long as he searched carefully, there was no doubt as to where it would be, and he thus quickly answered, "Sure. If you truly do not have it on you, I will compensate you for your losses!"
Fang Xing then continued, "Second condition, I’m not getting touched by a man. Only women can body search me!"
"Eh?" Everyone was surprised at this rather odd request.
Furrowing his brows, Xiao Jianming quickly turned and looked towards Feng Qingwei before nodding. "That is also possible!"
Feng Qingwei had been brought up and personally taught by his uncle. They had known each other since they were young, to the point it was even possible Feng Qingwei harbored a secret infatuation towards him. Aside from himself, she was possibly the most reliable person here; if she was the one to perform the search, there was so little difference it would be akin to him doing it himself.
Then, Fang Xing shifted his eyes and faked a cough. "As for the third…." He abruptly turned towards Feng Qingwei and continued, "I suspect that this woman has stolen my underwear. Once she’s done searching me, I will have to search her!"
Fumes of anger immediately began to appear on Feng Qingwei’s face, especially when she saw a few disciples quietly laughing to themselves which embarrassed her further. She clenched her teeth and said, "Why are you pestering me without end? Are you trying to delay this? We’ll see what you say when I search you and find the item you stole!"
Fang Xing spread open his arms. "Come then! We’ll see what you say when I search you and find my underwear!"
Her teeth still clenched, Feng Qingwei turned towards Xiao Jianming. "Big Brother Jianming, what does it look like?"
"As long as you take out and open all of the storage items he has, I will be able to sense it immediately," he responded.
Feng Qingwei nodded her head and walked towards Fang Xing, but as she drew close, she felt something cold against the back of her head—Xu Linyun’s longsword. She flinched at the act, but Xu Linyun was the one to speak, "Allowing others to be so close without protection is a big taboo for cultivators. Shimei Feng, there’s nothing wrong with searching Shidi Fang, but it’s best that you not do anything more than that."
Finally understanding her meaning, Feng Qingwei let out a long sigh. "Please rest assured, Shijie Linyun. I will not do such foolish things!"
Cultivators could use all sorts of powerful methods and skills, especially if they were allowed into close range. If a cultivator were to draw in close while bearing ill intentions, whether they utilized secret Qi attacks, planted deadly poisons, or even simply placed an offensive talisman, wouldn’t the target be completely out of luck? The victim wouldn’t even have the time to activate anything to defend themselves.
It was because of this possibility that Xu Linyun had pointed her sword at Feng Qingwei and reminded her not to cross the line. As for Xu Linyun’s warning, nobody thought anything of it; even Xiao Jianming felt it was an appropriate act.
Feng Qingwei didn’t mind this either. She instead focused herself on searching Fang Xing’s body, and soon all eight of his storage sacks had been taken out and opened one at a time. Each one was filled with either medicinal pellets or Qi from rare spirit items—all eight of them clearly housing plenty of good items—yet the purple light Xiao Jianming had been expecting was nowhere to be seen.
When all eight storage sacks had been checked with a quick glance from Xiao Jianming, he then signaled for Feng Qingwei to continue. Feng Qingwei, on the other hand, grew curious, but when she looked at one of the storage sacks the next moment, her whole body froze.
The rest of the disciples looked at her nervously, not knowing what she had just discovered.
Dumbstruck, Feng Qingwei turned her gaze to Fang Xing and abruptly asked, "Why do you have so much Illusory Soulgrass in your storage sack?"
Fang Xing creased his eyebrows and cursed, "Why the f*ck does that have anything to do with you?"
Feng Qingwei’s face reddened. "I was the first one to discover that valley, yet you…."
As it so happened, Feng Qingwei had been the first one to locate the valley thanks to the knowledge of geography she’d developed in the Shanhe Valley, yet she had managed to grab only a small amount. When she saw that Fang Xing’s storage sack had so much—nearly a thousand of them—she was certain that he had stripped the valley completely. How could she not grow emotional?
As for the rest of the Qing-Yun disciples, they also threw complicated expressions in Fang Xing’s direction.
Fang Xing smirked. "The Foundation Stage beast didn’t care about this Illusory Soulgrass. It must have just thought the valley had more than the normal amount of Demonic Qi and was utilizing it for its own cultivation practice. Then it must have been interrupted by us and didn’t want to stay there anymore, so it grabbed something from the back of the valley and flew off. None of the Illusory Soulgrass had been touched!"
Everyone was astonished. No one had expected an outcome like this. Suddenly, someone broke the silence, "If that Foundation Stage beast did not want to kill us, then… then wouldn’t that mean that we… could have…."
What he had wanted to say was, ‘Did we really have to run and miss out on so much Illusory Soulgrass?’ He was not the only one to have such thoughts, and even those who had been "saved" by Fang Xing earlier looked towards him with a trace of bitterness.
Fang Xing snickered. "I don’t know about anything else, but from what I saw of the beast, I’m sure it’s not someone who likes to hold back on killing a few humans…."
"Then how did you survive?" someone asked, their tone no longer friendly.
Fang Xing rolled his eyes at the question. "Do you not know how handsome I—your grandpa—am?"
Left speechless, the person who had asked did not respond. However, the same unsettled emotion began to spread amongst all of the disciples here.
At that moment, another voice rose up, "Are you not all ashamed of yourself? Shixiong Fang saved us from the hands of a Foundation Stage beast. You all saw its ferociousness back then, how can you all be sure that you wouldn’t have died if you stayed behind? Whether it be through ability or pure luck, for him to survive while under the hands of the beast, for him to save us, this can’t be seen as anything other than bravery in the face of danger. Yet now you’re all suspecting him?" It was Qin Xing’er who had spoken this time, and her eyes were as though alight with flames of wrath as she looked hatefully at the person who had spoken just before her.
As for that person, he was unwilling to make any eye contact, avoiding her gaze while clearly uncomfortable with her question. After all, these thoughts had been caused by nothing other than envy upon seeing how much Illusory Soulgrass Fang Xing had collected all for himself. It was nothing more than a weakness in his heart.
"Enough. There’s no need to debate over these trivial matters. Continue the search!" Xiao Jianming interrupted with annoyance. He did not care about any of this; his only concern was the whereabouts of the Purple Mist Orchid.
Seeing as how Xiao Jianming had spoken, no one else dared to say another word. Feng Qingwei quickly nodded at his command and kneeled down to continue her search.
From Fang Xing’s boots to the legs of his pants and up, nothing was found. When she reached his crotch area, she hesitated, only for Fang Xing to respond with a laughing, "Be gentle…."
"Pff... ahaha...." Someone from the Duanzhen Valley suddenly let out a laugh they could no longer restrain.
Although Fang Xing might still be young, he was male after all, while Feng Qingwei was female. To have her touch that particular area would have been quite a difficult task, and her face was already a bright red. However, since this had been an order from Xiao Jianming, she did not dare to take it lightly. Opting to use [Oversense] instead of her hands, she scanned the area quickly before continuing upwards, not allowing a single inch to escape her sight and senses.
To the end, there was nothing found. Even Xiao Jianming couldn’t help but to crease his brows. He was confident in what he had seen in the air, and it had further added to his definite suspicions that Fang Xing had hidden the herb somewhere.
At that moment, Feng Qingwei suddenly noticed the ring clipped around the back of Fang Xing’s ponytail and quickly hid a peculiar look in her eyes. "Hrm? That tie you’ve got on you, pass it to me to look!"
Fang Xing hesitantly replied, "What’s there to see about it?"
Feng Qingwei showed a cold smirk while nodding to Xiao Jianming. Then, proudly, "Your secret is about to be revealed; are you worried?"