Chapter 17: The Detoxification After Taking the Spiritual Dew Spring

As Lin Wenxian stepped back fifty meters, he finally didn’t smell the overpowering stench anymore. He took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed in relief.

“Ugh—” Just as Lin Wenxian thought the smell had finally dissipated, it seemed to follow him. Even as he tried to inhale the fresh air, the stench lingered, and he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He bent over and vomited profusely.

As he puked, tears streamed down his face—not because he was in pain, but because he was heartbroken over the dinner he had just thrown up.

“Ugh—” Just when Lin Wenxian thought he was the only victim, the sound of vomiting and cursing started to spread throughout the village.

“Which idiot is doing this in the middle of the night, disturbing the whole village with such a foul smell?!”

Even from the room of Lin Dayou, the sound of dry heaving could be heard, indicating just how powerful and strong the stench was.

Lin Wenxian, upon hearing the cursing, was so frightened that he didn’t dare to make a sound. He quickly covered his nose and mouth, standing tensely a short distance away, anxiously waiting for Lin Luoxi.

“Big Brother, I don’t think I can go back yet,” Lin Luoxi, emerging from the outhouse, said with a bitter expression on her face.

“What’s wrong? Why can’t you go home?” Lin Wenxian wondered aloud, but he was secretly thinking the worst—that Lin Luoxi had indeed fallen into the outhouse.

Taking advantage of the moonlight, he checked Lin Luoxi’s body up and down. There was a bit of dirt and stains, but nothing seemed too unusual.

“Big Brother, I stink,” Lin Luoxi said, her nose wrinkling as she could smell the odor herself without even needing to get close to her clothes.

“What do you mean you stink?” Lin Wenxian walked over with concern, but before he could approach, the unbearable stench hit him.

“Second sister, what did you do? It smells worse than… than…” Lin Wenxian quickly pinched his nose, recoiling from the pungent odor.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you to the creek at the south of the village to wash off.” Fortunately, it was summer.

“Okay!” Lin Luoxi, resigned to the fact that she smelled bad, followed behind Lin Wenxian as they made their way south toward the village.

As they walked, the local dogs began to react aggressively, barking and growling furiously in Lin Luoxi’s direction.

The villagers, hearing the dogs’ frantic barking, assumed that some monster or invisible entity had appeared and dared not speak out, allowing the dogs to continue their intense barking.

Lin Wenxian didn’t dare get too close to Lin Luoxi, walking quickly while she lagged far behind. Lin Luoxi, knowing how bad she smelled, didn’t ask her brother to wait for her.

“It’s shallow here. Just wash off in the creek,” Lin Wenxian instructed, pointing to the creek that shimmered faintly under the moonlight.

“Got it, Big Brother,” Lin Luoxi said. Without hesitating, she took off her shoes and quickly walked into the water.

She hoped to wash off the strong smell from her clothes.

“Huh? Why is there this greasy mud on my clothes?” Lin Luoxi noticed something strange. She was sure the clothes she had changed into earlier didn’t have this oily residue.

However, since the water in the creek was flowing and the area was large, it didn’t take much effort to clean herself. She didn’t think much of it and quickly continued to wash off the awful odor.

As she was busy cleaning herself, she didn’t notice that the dirty water flowing off her body was gradually disturbing the fish in the creek. They flipped and flopped, scattering all over the place.

While she was squatting in the water, cleaning herself, her face suddenly came into contact with something cold.

As she was about to scream in shock, she looked around and saw that hundreds of fish were flipping and glimmering in the moonlight around her.

Lin Luoxi immediately realized that the fish were probably reacting to the smell on her body. She quickly stood up out of the creek.

“Big Brother, Big Brother, so many fish…” Lin Luoxi exclaimed, but she didn’t dare say that the fish had been knocked out by the smell on her body.

Lin Wenxian frowned. “Little sister, are you still half-asleep, or are you seeing things? It’s the middle of the night, where would all these fish come from?”

Even though he said that he dutifully moved closer to Lin Luoxi, just in case the fish attracted her deeper into the water.

“Big Brother, look, such big fish!” Lin Luoxi, worried that Lin Wenxian wouldn’t believe her, lifted a large fish she had just caught, shaking it in the creek.

The fish had only been knocked out by the toxins released from Lin Luoxi’s body, not killed. As Lin Luoxi held it, the fish, exposed to the air, wiggled its tail in discomfort.

However, despite the creek not being very wide, the fish were quite large. Lin Luoxi couldn’t help but admire them.

“Little sister, if you’re done washing, hurry up and come back. Fish are just fish, what’s so special about them? These fish taste awful, they have such a strong fishy smell when you cook them,” Lin Wenxian teased. He was certain Lin Luoxi was just craving meat, which made her so excited over the stinky fish.

“What? It tastes awful. Big Brother, if you know how to cook it, these fish don’t have a strong fishy taste at all! They’re really nourishing too. For example, Mom and Dad are weak; if they had some fish soup, it would be the perfect remedy,” Lin Luoxi replied, her mouth watering at the sight of the fish.

In her eyes, the fish were just plates of delicious fish meat. But seeing Lin Wenxian’s disgusted expression, she didn’t waste any more time arguing with him. She quickly grabbed the fish that had been knocked out, taking advantage of the moment before the creek water diluted the toxins she had released.

The larger fish were slippery, and with only one hand, Lin Luoxi couldn’t catch them. Since Lin Wenxian didn’t seem interested in helping, she decided to take care of it herself.

One by one, she grabbed the fish and tossed them onto the shore, quick and efficient. There were so many fish available—she couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity under the cover of the moonlight.

Of course, Lin Luoxi secretly used the water’s cover to toss a few of the biggest fish into her spatial pocket.

“I’ll help, Little Sister!” Lin Wenxian, watching Lin Luoxi getting so excited, was tempted and couldn’t resist. He rolled up his pants and entered the water.

“Okay!” Lin Luoxi replied. As Lin Wenxian waded into the water, she got up, collected a few reeds from the shore, and began threading the fish onto them.

A quarter of an hour later, the stream of water flowing down from the mountains had diluted the toxic water Lin Luoxi had released, and the fish began to regain consciousness.

Under the cover of the night, they slowly swam away, waving their tails.

“Big Brother, I’m done, we’ve got enough for quite a while,” Lin Luoxi said, looking at the large fish she had strung together. There were already four strings, each with around thirty fish.

Since it was summer, fish didn’t keep well, so she hurriedly asked Lin Wenxian to come up.

Although it was early summer, the creek water was still very cold at midnight.

“Okay!” Lin Wenxian, still engrossed in catching fish, hadn’t had enough yet. But seeing that the fish were no longer flipping belly-up, he reluctantly came ashore.

If only he hadn’t hesitated earlier, he thought to himself. He couldn’t help but feel regretful. But seeing the pile of fish on the shore, he smiled in satisfaction.

“Little Sister, are you sure these fish are good for the body?” Lin Wenxian asked. He still remembered the time when he had been so hungry that he had caught a fish by the river and had tried to eat it.