Chapter 125: The Three-Eyed White Phantom Sheep

"Shen Qinghu, you’re something else. You really are. Other people坑 their fathers, but you坑 your own brother." Qingzhen said indignantly.

It was a trauma, a genuine psychological trauma! That period of retching until he felt like his insides were coming out was simply unbearable. Just thinking about it made him want to vomit again!

He really hadn't expected that it was his own sister who had caused it all.

"Well, I didn't know, did I?" Qinghu said, putting on an innocent expression. "It was an accident, all an accident."

"An accident my foot! If you hadn't been recklessly sending that sour, putrid stench everywhere, would such an 'accident' have happened? I think you did it on purpose, deliberately trying to sabotage your brother." Qingzhen said, his anger far from subsided.

"How could I have known you were under that crack?"

Qinghu looked at him with an expression of utter innocence.

When she was little and had eaten the dried meat their mother had hidden, she would always use this same look when trying to pin the blame on her fourth brother.

*Oh, Fourth Brother, I was just taking a look, and then it was gone—it ended up in my tummy.*

The brat was incredibly skilled at acting innocent with her eyes.

"Even if you were innocent, I’m the one who suffered, aren't I? I vomited until I felt like my intestines were coming out. Tell me, how are we going to settle this?" Qingzhen asked angrily.

Qinghu obediently offered up three Green Cage Fruits as tribute to her fourth brother.

Qingzhen didn't even recognize what kind of fruit they were; he just felt that their fragrance was fresh and could soothe his nausea. He immediately crunched them down.

"Mm, tastes pretty good."

"Shen Qingzhen, you actually ate three Green Cage Fruits in one go?" A cry of shock came from the cave entrance. Then, another woman, covered in grime and reeking of that same sour, putrid smell, climbed up the rope.

"So what if I ate them? My sister gave them to me. Are you jealous? Even if you are, you aren't getting any. Besides, that sour, putrid smell we smelled from the crack was something she put in there. If she doesn't compensate me, what else can I do? That stench was something she created; I nearly vomited my internal organs out." Shen Qingzhen said, digging the seeds out of the fruit pits and then eating the remaining pits as well.

As his father used to say, when eating spirit fruits, you must eat the peel and the core; not a single drop should be wasted.

Qinghu collected the seeds and put them into her small seashell.

"Shen Qinghu, so that smell was your doing?" The moment she emerged, she heard the truth.

Shen Qinghu, you are really something!!

The other person pointed a dirty claw at Shen Qinghu's nose, furious.

"Who are you?" Shen Qinghu didn't recognize who had called her name for a moment. After all, she was too filthy; she couldn't even see her face!

"Waaah, Shen Qinghu, if it weren't for you, how could I have ended up like this?" The other person, upon hearing this, looked at her clothes, her hands, and then touched her face. She burst into tears.

She was finished. Her glorious beauty was gone. She had become a dirty, beggar-like hag.

"Who is this?" Qinghu turned to look at her fourth brother.

"Ruan Qingwu, obviously." Qingzhen said with a grin. He looked at Ruan Qingwu with an expression full of schadenfreude. Truth be told, the current Shen Qingzhen was like a mischievous older child; things like maturity or pity had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Ruan Qingwu used to bicker with him whenever she had nothing to do. It was no wonder he would secretly laugh now that she had become so disheveled.

"What? This is Ruan Qingwu? Oh my, how did you end up like this?" Qinghu looked at the dirty Ruan Qingwu in astonishment.

*Waaah...* The crying grew louder.

How did she end up like this? Wasn't it all Shen Qinghu's fault?

She had just vomited and vomited until she looked like this.

"Shen Qinghu, you’ve killed me."

"Aren't you still alive?"

"Shen Qinghu, it's all your fault. Look at me, what a state I'm in!"

"Hey, hey, don't come over here. The smell on you makes me want to vomit just by smelling it."

"Shen Qinghu, I hate you! My lady-like image is completely ruined."

"That's where you're wrong. You didn't really have a lady-like image to begin with. Think about it—you, who spends all day playing with alchemy furnaces, what kind of lady-like image is that? Doesn't the soot from your alchemy room coat your face every day?" Qinghu argued with a straight face.

"Shen Qinghu, shut up. I never want to talk to you again."

"And here I was thinking, do you need to wash up? There are only men here, and I'm the only girl who can keep watch for you."

"Ahhh~ Qing Xiaohu, don't go! It's all my fault. Please keep watch for me; I need to take a bath." Ruan Qingwu immediately grabbed Shen Qinghu's arm and dragged her along.

"Didn't you say you didn't want to talk to me anymore?" Qinghu spread her small hands, looking indignant.

"No, no, that's not it at all. We are the best of friends!" Ruan Qingwu said, immediately trying to curry favor.

"Hmph." Qinghu acted haughty. *If you don't talk to me, I won't talk to you either.* "Hurry up and go. You smell so bad, I don't like it."

"So keep watch for me! I'm going to take a bath right now. Where is there a place to bathe around here?" Ruan Qingwu winked. That look on a clean, delicate little girl might be called playful and cute, but on a dirty little girl, it was simply an eyesore!!

Qinghu curled her lip.

"Just wait a moment, until the others are pulled up."

"I was wondering why the rope was so heavy. So there were people behind." At this point, the little lion pulled up a skin-and-bones skeleton. However, he was much calmer this time and even dragged the person away from the cave entrance.

His strength was a bit great, and his speed a bit fast. As soon as the poor soul came out, he was panting heavily, nearly hanging on by a thread.

The little lion didn't care if the person was dying; he just placed him on the gravel ground next to him and went back to drag out a dirty little boy. "Oh, this smell, it's so fragrant. It's like a tender little lamb raised at home."

The certain "little lamb's" body stiffened, his hair standing on end.

"Don't worry, kid, I won't eat you." The little lion bared his sharp teeth.

*Whimper, whimper...* The little boy was almost scared to tears. A young man behind him quickly climbed up, walked straight to them, and shielded the boy behind him.

"This kid is shy."

The little lion looked at the young man and sniffed. "Was it an illusion? Why is there such a smell of lamb meat?"

The young man and the little boy behind him both shrank back: "..."

At this moment, another skeleton was pulled up. This skeleton was a bit too weak; as soon as he came up, his breathing was almost imperceptible.

"Sister, do you have any more Turtle Essence Pills? Give me one." Qingzhen hurriedly jumped over to assist the skeleton man.

Qinghu flicked a Turtle Essence Pill over, and Qingzhen fed it directly to the skeleton. Only then did the skeleton man regain some strength.

At this point, the last young man was pulled up.

***

"Chong-ge, you're up?" Qingzhen clearly had a very good impression of this young man. Seeing him climb out, he immediately greeted him.

"Is there anyone else down there?" the other little lions pulling the rope asked.

"No, I'm the last one. Ah, finally alive. Thank you all so much." The young man said.

"Brother, did you eat some lamb jerky? Otherwise, why do you smell so much like lamb meat?" A little lion enthusiastically patted the shoulder of the newly emerged young man.

The young man: "..."

Could he blame the Lion tribe for having such sensitive noses?

"I didn't eat any lamb jerky. I'm from the White Sheep Tribe." The young man said honestly.

That little lion: *How embarrassing.*

When he looked at the young man, a shy smile appeared on his face involuntarily.

The honest young man also felt a bit awkward. But he was from the White Sheep Tribe; wasn't it normal for him to have the scent of lamb?

The rope provided by the Fire Lion had pulled up a Shen Qingzhen, a Ruan Qingwu, three skin-and-bones skeletons, two young men, and a boy—truly quite a few.

"I said, why was this rope so heavy? So there were so many people strung along on it." Little lion Shi Mingzhao said in astonishment. "I said I smelled nothing but lamb meat. So you’re from the White Sheep tribe. Ah, you guys wouldn't all be from the White Sheep tribe, would you?" He pointed to the three who had come up last.

"Yes, we are all from the White Sheep tribe." The oldest young man who came up last said quietly.

"I said, Fourth Brother, how were you not worried about having nothing to eat or drink in that shaft? The lamb was right there in front of you." Qinghu realized suddenly.

The White Sheep boy immediately glared.

"What are you saying? Those are my newly sworn brothers. Two older brothers, one younger brother. Plus the eldest brother, I have four brothers now. Hurry up and come over to call them brothers, too." Qingzhen immediately glared at Qinghu, gesturing for her to come over and greet them.

Qinghu hurriedly shook her head, refusing to go.

"Hey, hey, what’s wrong with you? Why are you being so disobedient?" Qingzhen said impatiently.

"You recognized a bunch of sheep as brothers; Eldest Brother will be very annoyed." Qinghu said, hands on her hips, accusing him.

"Xiao Hu'er, are you looking for a beating? I recognize some brothers, what does that have to do with Eldest Brother? We keep our friendships separate." Qingzhen said, feeling a bit guilty. When he recognized the three White Sheep brothers, he hadn't thought about whether his Eldest Brother would approve or not.

He had just acted on a whim at the time.

"Then since you keep your friendships separate, you can be friends with them, but why do you have to make me call them brothers? I don't believe you dare to drag Eldest Brother over and make him recognize these 'brothers' too. And Father, do you dare let Father recognize three more sons?" Qinghu immediately retorted. Besides, that would be so awkward—wouldn't their father have to beat him with a shoe sole?!

"You..." Qingzhen was so angry his eyes widened. This brat really didn't give her brother any face at all.

"Brother Shen, your sister is actually quite straightforward and cute, and what she says makes some sense. Isn't it fine for us to keep our friendships separate?" The White Sheep tribe was naturally cautious. Otherwise, if he hadn't sensed that Qingzhen truly had no bad intentions, he wouldn't have called him brother.

However, they were willing to be brothers with Qingzhen, but that didn't mean they were willing to be family with Qingzhen's relatives.

That would be too rash, and it would make them feel awkward, wouldn't it?

"Furthermore, it was your sister who rescued us from the shaft; this is a life-saving grace. Come to think of it, we should be the ones thanking her. If it weren't for your sister's help, we might have been like our predecessors, stuck in the well for five years without seeing the light of day." Among the three sheep tribesmen, the oldest young man was the most reasonable, his attitude very honest and mature.

He didn't look like someone who would be calculating or aggressive.

This made Qinghu take an extra look at him. It had to be said, this sheep looked quite good—the kind of sunny, handsome look that wasn't aggressive but was very likable.

But that was all.

For Her Majesty, falling into the Shen family, her parents and brothers were a "world-delivered" package, so she had no choice but to accept it. Besides, she had been a little daughter in the Shen family for over a decade, and through daily contact, she had developed feelings for her family. So she quite liked her brothers and parents.

As for others wanting to climb up the social ladder and be relatives with her? Don't even dream about it.

What is a "brother"? Her Majesty's first reaction was to refuse!

Her Majesty's real relatives were either God Emperors or God Kings; three sheep couldn't just mess around.

"That's right, the brother we recognized is Shen Qingzhen. We don't dare to climb up to the rest of you." The White Sheep boy immediately blurted out. Little lambs were just a bit impulsive.

Another young man beside him gave him an annoyed look, clearly not very satisfied with his younger brother's impulsive behavior.

The lamb shrank back but still raised his little face haughtily.

"At least you have some self-awareness." Qinghu gave a thumbs-up. Lambs had to be sensible, otherwise, they would end up on the table, plated and served.

Qinghu's expression made it clear she was not willing to recognize any "sheep brothers."

Qingzhen angrily went up and ruffled Qinghu's hair buns. "Shut up. I'm not asking you to recognize them as brothers, but you should at least show some respect. After all, they are your brother's friends."

"You really recognized each other as brothers? Eldest Brother went out to train for several years and didn't come back with any 'brothers', did he?" Qinghu was incredibly surprised.

"Eldest Brother is Eldest Brother, and I am me. When the feeling is right, you just recognize a few brothers." Qingzhen said, quite proudly. Although he had indeed acted on impulse at the time, he didn't regret it later.

He didn't consider himself as smart as his Eldest Brother in judging people, but if the feeling was right, he would recognize the brother. If he later found out he had misjudged, then they would just part ways.

He had heard from his Second Grandfather that it wasn't unheard of for people to be brothers one day and stab each other in the back the next. As long as they weren't blood relatives, Qingzhen was prepared for the possibility of betrayal from the start.

As his Second Grandfather said, generosity and free-spiritedness were also a form of indifference. One must set boundaries in their heart for certain relationships, otherwise, it would hurt both yourself and others.

"Alright then." Qinghu didn't say anything more. Respect—that she could do. In fact, the best respect would be to put them on the table, but unfortunately, Fourth Brother would definitely not agree. *Sigh! Goodbye, little lamb, my braised lamb in an iron pot!!* "By the way, Fourth Brother, do you want to take a bath? You smell terrible."

"I'm dirty—who's fault is that?" Qingzhen's fur stood on end.

"So go wash up. There's an underground river right over there. The water is quite clear." Qinghu said. As she spoke, she took out plenty of toiletries for her brother.

"I brought my own." Qingzhen said.

"Qingwu, do you need any?" Qinghu asked again.

"I have some too. There's a small river there; keep watch for me, I'm going to wash up too." Ruan Qingwu said. Qinghu had refused to keep watch for her earlier; was she waiting for everyone to come up and go together?

She would have to find a safe and good spot later.

"Me." The withered skeleton hand beside Ruan Qingwu reached out as well, clearly wanting to wash too.

Ruan Qingwu's eyes struggled for a moment, finally turning into determination.

"I'll help you wash."

The withered skeleton head clattered its jaw, seemingly smiling.

But it was so scary.

The other two skin-and-bones individuals were also taken away by the White Sheep boy to wash.

***

While keeping watch for Ruan Qingwu, Qinghu ordered the little lion to monitor the situation at the shaft, in case a swarm of corpse beetles came running out—that would be a headache.

However, the worst-case scenario did not happen. By the time Qingzhen and the others finished washing, they were handsome young men once again!

"Since you're all finished washing, let's leave this place. If the corpse beetles chase us again, it won't be fun." Qinghu said.

"Ah, yes, let's go quickly. If the beetles come again, what will we do? But where are we going?" Ruan Qingwu asked.

"To the surface."

"Will the corpse beetles chase us to the surface too?" Ruan Qingwu asked again.

"Once we're on the surface, we can call for people, gather more, and just wipe out all the beetles gathered underground, right?" Qinghu said.

"But there are so many beetles, how can we wipe them out? Besides, they can run. If we can't beat them, maybe they'll retreat temporarily. What will we do then?" Ruan Qingwu asked.

"These corpse beetles should be raised by someone. If they are raised, as long as we kill their master, they will die too." The young man from the Sheep tribe, who looked like he had just reached adulthood, said. "We suspect that these corpse beetles had blood slave seals imprinted on them when they were eggs. Generation after generation, they will be enslaved by their master. This method of enslavement is somewhat similar to the techniques of the Water Tribe.

Moreover, the underground palace we fell into had very obvious illusion settings.

So it should be that the Water Tribe, who are good at illusions, domesticated those beetles.

The opponent should be an illusionist, a beast tamer, and they must have obtained some secret blood-enslavement techniques; it's also possible they are a puppeteer."

"Looking at how articulate you are, and you three are from the White Sheep tribe—could it be that you are from the Three-Eyed White Illusion Sheep tribe?" Little lion Shi Mingzhao asked.

"Are you from the Fire Lion tribe? We are indeed from the Three-Eyed White Illusion Sheep tribe. We have a very poor relationship with the Golden-Maned Violent Lion tribe; we are sworn enemies. You won't betray us, will you?" The young white sheep asked.

"No, he wouldn't dare." Qinghu said firmly.

"Why?" Qingzhen asked.

"Fourth Brother, haven't you noticed until now? These, these, and those are all the little followers I've collected. They all listen to me." Qinghu pointed at the group of dogs and lion cubs around her.

"Yes, we all listen to Sister Hu." The dogs gathered around, especially fawning.

*Mm-hmm.* Qinghu nodded.

See? That's how much style she had.

Qingzhen felt his heart go sour. *Dammit, I was being stunk to the point of doubting my life in that shaft, and you were outside collecting a group of followers.*

"This heaven is simply too unfair."

When Qinghu heard this, she immediately put her hands on her hips and laughed in a very chuunibyou way. The people around were all speechless. However, the dogs were very helpful, knowing to howl along.

Only then did Qingzhen and Ruan Qingwu realize that this was a group of wolf cubs!!

*Tooth-aching, tooth-aching, tooth-aching!!*

Qingzhen's eyes were turning red.

The little followers beside Qing Xiaohu were either wolf cubs or fire lions. Regardless of which one you looked at, they were all strong combat races.

"I said, how is your luck so good? Even your little followers are of such high quality."

"That's right, who do you think I am?" Qinghu let out a strange cackle.

Qingzhen felt his hands itching; he really wanted to beat someone up. "..."

The three from the Sheep tribe were even more dumbstruck.

The two older young men couldn't help but smile.

At first, they thought Shen Qingzhen's little sister might be difficult to get along with, but now it seemed it wasn't that she was difficult—it was clearly a case of "silly-person-syndrome" acting up.

Of course, the little girl might also be shy.

That's why she had some guard against them.

Their own young ones, who hadn't reached adulthood yet, were often like that too.

So the two young men immediately regained a lot of goodwill toward Shen Qinghu.

They were able to be friends with Qingzhen mainly because Qingzhen felt straightforward and harmless. One had to know that their White Sheep tribe was extremely vigilant. Shen Qinghu had initially opposed recognizing them as brothers—although they didn't really care much, they had invisibly felt that Shen Qinghu wasn't easy to get close to and wasn't someone worth befriending.

But at this moment, they felt that Shen Qinghu was actually the same as Shen Qingzhen—someone worth befriending.

The journey back to the surface wasn't short at all. Although everyone had cleaned themselves up, Qingzhen and his group hadn't eaten or drunk well for days, so their physical strength was failing.

When they reached the surface, the few skeletal, skin-and-bones individuals finally collapsed, gasping for air, clearly on the verge of dying.

Having not seen sunlight for years, they didn't dare to open their eyes to look directly at the sun. But they cherished this moment of returning to the light of day so much. One skeleton even had dry tears flowing from the corners of his eyes.

"This won't do, they look like they're about to kick the bucket." Qinghu said.

"Mm, the three seniors have had it tough. In that shaft, they relied entirely on helping each other to persevere until now." Qingzhen sighed. "If only I had some eighth-grade spirit liquid. As long as I had some, the seniors might be saved."

"If you don't have eighth-grade spirit liquid, Ruan Qingwu can refine Turtle Essence Pills, can't she? I remember she had some saved up before. That stuff is very nourishing; wouldn't it work if you fed it to them?" Qinghu asked, puzzled.

"I fed it to them. The twenty or so Turtle Essence Pills Ruan Qingwu brought were all fed to them; otherwise, the seniors wouldn't even have been able to make it to the surface with us." Qingzhen said in a low voice.

"Then what about the higher-quality Turtle Essence Pills you had?" Qinghu asked.

"Ate them. When we were chased by the corpse beetles, we ate them while running." Qingzhen said.

"Then how long were you chased for? To eat that many Turtle Essence Pills?" Qinghu asked in surprise.

"Ever since we entered the spirit cave, we were in an underground palace. There were corpse beetles everywhere, and they chased us until we were jumping up and down. Oh my, the way we were hunted... I thought I was definitely going to die several times." Qingzhen said with an expression of doubting life. "Once, dozens of corpse beetles crawled on me and bit me crazily. Fortunately, Ruan Qingwu and I escaped together in the end. Luckily, Ruan Qingwu had one antidote pill that could counteract the corpse beetle toxin, otherwise, you wouldn't be seeing your fourth brother now."

"Why are you so unlucky?" Qinghu asked.

"I want to know why I'm the only unlucky one too." Qingzhen said, his face full of indignation. "Look at you, you even collected a group of lion-dog followers."

*Lion-dogs again!!*

The little lion and the little dog glanced at each other sideways. *Dammit, cursed bad luck, being grouped with that thing again.*