Chen Guan originally planned to visit the Beimang Mountain Secret Realm in a few days to see the situation. Who knew that as soon as he returned to his dormitory and hadn't even had a good sleep, a messenger came knocking on his door.

Chen Guan received orders from the Reserve Team, instructing him to cooperate with the work team coming from above, and to set out for the work team campsite at Beimang Mountain early the next morning.

That's how it is for soldiers—whenever there's an order, it must be executed. Before reaching a certain rank, there's not even the right to ask what the task involves.

Chen Guan didn't know who was in the work team, nor what he was supposed to do, but he had no choice but to leave the Reserve Team early the next morning and head to Beimang Mountain once again.

Originally, An Yiqi wanted to accompany him, but Chen Guan refused. He felt that the timing of the work team's arrival was a bit too convenient, suggesting something might be amiss, so he didn't let An Yiqi follow and told him not to go to Beimang Mountain recently and to wait for his return.

The Reserve Team specially assigned an instructor to lead Chen Guan to the work team's camp, without telling him its location.

Carrying the Celestial Immortal Peony, Chen Guan followed the instructor of the Reserve Team into Beimang Mountain once again, observing all the way.

The usually common little flower spirits were completely unseen now. The few secret spirits that appeared occasionally seemed a bit odd. At least from Chen Guan's observation, there seemed to be something wrong with their eyes, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

"It seems my guess was correct. The reason the little flower spirits exhibit this sickly special state is because they have been infected by some kind of disease or energy. Among all the secret spirits, only the little flower spirits rely on the pollen and nectar of peony flowers for sustenance. If it was a transmission through air or something else, it wouldn't affect only the little flower spirits while leaving other secret spirits unharmed."

"Moreover, the little flower spirits are widely distributed. How could all little flower spirits everywhere be infected? The most likely reason for this situation is related to the peony flowers."

"If I'm not wrong, the little flower spirits got sick after ingesting the nectar and pollen of the flowers."

"But the Celestial Immortal Peony itself is not toxic and is even medicinal. How could it cause the little flower spirits to become sick?"

"The conclusion must be that the fault does not lie with the Celestial Immortal Peony itself, but rather with the land where the peony is planted. The Celestial Immortal Peony absorbed certain elements from the soil, which were then ingested by the little flower spirits through pollen and nectar, affecting them and causing illness. Yet, the little flower spirits also neutralized this bizarre elemental influence from the earth, preventing other secret spirits and humans from being affected."

"Now that all the little flower spirits have disappeared, although the Celestial Immortal Peony can still absorb those unknown substances, without the little flower spirits to process them, the strange elements accumulated in the peony can't be diminished. Consequently, these mysterious elements will continue to gather on the Celestial Immortal Peony and might even disperse into the air if they reach the saturation point."

"In the past, the Celestial Immortal Peony and the little flower spirits silently bore the burden of these elements, but now everyone has to face this mysterious unknown element."

Chen Guan collected so many little flower spirits in advance because he speculated that if the mysterious element spread throughout the Secret Realm after the flower spirits disappeared, humans and cultivators would be infected and would need to find a way to eliminate the contamination.

The fact that the little flower spirits withstood the invasion of mysterious elements for so many years indicated their resistance to such elements.

Chen Guan boldly speculated that the fragrant wind secret skill of the little flower spirits could neutralize the mysterious substances.

When the time comes, those afflicted by these mysterious elements will need the flower spirits' abilities to rid themselves of the contamination, naturally raising the value of the little flower spirits, making it easy to sell them for a good price and earn a fortune.

Moreover, after this Celestial Immortal Peony left Peony Mountain, all the little flower spirits disappeared. Does this mean that if this Celestial Immortal Peony is gone, no more flower spirits will exist in the future? If so, the batch of little flower spirits with Chen Guan would be unique pets.

Of course, all of this is just Chen Guan's speculation. Whether the little flower spirit pets will actually be useful is still uncertain.

If it turns out that the flower spirits' resistance is merely due to their strong physical immunity, unrelated to their skills, then even if Chen Guan is left with a mountain of little flower spirits, they might be worth nothing.

Chen Guan admitted to Duan Shulin that this investment was very risky, and he wasn't lying. He himself was not quite sure.

But once the Celestial Immortal Peony was uprooted, all the little flower spirits vanished, making Chen Guan feel that the flower spirits must have some significance.

Therefore, he was waiting, waiting for a problem to arise within the Secret Realm, to test the little flower spirits, to see if they could resolve the issue, and then decide whether to exchange the Celestial Immortal Peony with the Holy Horned White Deer.

If the flower spirits could solve the issue, then trading them wouldn't matter. But if they couldn't, Chen Guan would have to reconsider whether to use the Celestial Immortal Peony for the exchange.

The Beimang Mountain is now the exclusive Secret Realm of the Celestial Court Army, so if all goes well, the Celestial Court Army would eventually be under Chen Guan and Ji Nanhong. Would it not be self-defeating to cause the Beimang Mountain Secret Realm to become uninhabitable for human cultivators?

Chen Guan continued to follow the instructor and felt increasingly uneasy as they went, because the direction the instructor was leading him was clearly towards Cuiyun Mountain.

"Are we headed to Cuiyun Mountain?" Chen Guan urged his white horse to walk a bit faster to be level with the instructor's horse, and when the instructor looked over, Chen Guan asked directly.

"I can't say," the instructor replied with a smile.

Chen Guan felt the instructor was sincere; although he refused to answer, he practically gave Chen Guan the answer.

After all, he was one of his own team members, so naturally, the instructor would lean towards them compared to outsiders.

"They want me to cooperate with the work team at this time? Just who exactly is in the work team?" Chen Guan couldn't guess, so he had to take one step at a time.

When he was less than ten li away from Cuiyun Mountain, there stood an unnamed hill only a few hundred meters high. From there, one could directly see Cuiyun Mountain. In the past, when Chen Guan came to Cuiyun Mountain, he had observed it from here but hadn't discovered much due to the distance.

The instructor led him up the hill, where, as expected, a Celestial Court Army unit was stationed.

The instructor talked with the guards for a while, and soon the guards went inside to relay a message. When he returned, he had Chen Guan follow him to the main tent.

The instructor wasn't invited inside, nor did he intend to enter. After giving Chen Guan a few reminders, he left directly.

Chen Guan followed the guard into the main tent and at first glance saw a familiar figure.

"Isn't this the guy who sold me the sickly little flower spirits?" Chen Guan was slightly surprised as he looked at the person closest to him.

Brother Button didn't recognize Chen Guan. When the little flower spirits were collected, he had disguised himself with makeup and hidden his face with a hat.

Looking further in, he saw Xiu Yingmei, but now Xiu Yingmei was sitting to the side, while a powerful and robust man occupied the main seat.

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