It was a woman wearing a long, pink gown. Her features were beautiful, and although she didn’t appear to be very old, there was a slight ancient air to her. She held a lantern in her hand, which shed light all around her as she walked forward.
She seemed to be a very cautious sort, and as soon as she arrived she looked around to make sure nothing was too suspicious in the area before relaxing a bit.
Almost as soon as the woman appeared, the black beetles, along with Meng Hao, roared and flew toward her aggressively.
However, as soon as the black beetles got close, she lifted her lantern high above her head and then opened its side to reveal the candle holder within. Resting on top of the candle holder was a tiny white branch, currently burning and letting off flickering firelight. The woman didn’t pause for a moment; she quickly sliced open the tip of her finger and splashed a drop of blood onto the flame.
When the blood hit the flame, it turned into a cloud of smoke which spread out toward the incoming black beetles. In the blink of an eye, the smoke had surrounded all of them, including Meng Hao.
Instantly, the beetles around Meng Hao stopped in place, seemingly in a stupor. Meng Hao gaped in shock until he realized that the smoke apparently had no affect on him whatsoever.
Although it had spread out very quickly, the light quickly began to die down. After a moment of calculation, Meng Hao was sure that it would only last for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
The next thing he saw was the pink-robed young woman looking very pleased with herself as she sped down toward the land mass below. She landed on the ground, sending smoke billowing out wherever she went and causing the beetles that flew up to fall into a coma. She proceeded along carefully and began to harvest medicinal plants.
“Stealing my business?” thought Meng Hao and was instantly enraged. One of the things he hated most in life was when people stole business from him. Earlier, he had been scared out of his mind to harvest medicinal plants in this area. He had used more than ten spirit-immortal stones, and even spent several days pretending to be a bug, and in the end his effort had allowed him to pick about seventy medicinal plants. However, this young woman only used a lantern and was able to harvest ten plants in one shot! That was something Meng Hao just couldn’t accept.
“I hate cheaters! This wench is a cheater!” Enraged, Meng Hao gritted his teeth as he watched the young woman quickly harvest medicinal plants. Finally, he shot forward; the smoke that had been used to put the black beetles into a trance had absolutely no effect on him.
The instant he flew into motion, the young woman turned toward him and gaped in shock.
As she looked over, Meng Hao performed the best possible black beetle roar that he could imitate, a roar that was… remarkably true to life.