Zhang Liufang clapped her hands when she saw John awake, chuckling, "You're up, you're up! Master, you truly are incredible!"

Zhang Kongyun smugly put away his golden needles, stroked his beard, and chuckled, "Of course I am!"

Zhang Liufang crouched down and called out to John, "Hey, Big Nose! How did you get injured? Who hit you?"

But John merely stared at her with a bewildered expression. After a moment, he suddenly let out a simple, honest laugh and stammered, "Master, Master..."

Zhang Liufang was startled. She reached out and patted John’s face, saying, "Hey, wake up! I’m not your Master!"

Yet John continued to smile foolishly, "Master, Mas-Master is a good, good person..."

Zhang Liufang turned away, looking at Zhang Kongyun with resignation. "Master... you didn't accidentally needle him into becoming an idiot, did you?"

Zhang Kongyun’s face flushed with embarrassment. He glared angrily at Zhang Liufang and mumbled, "Nonsense! How could I possibly turn him into an idiot! Is my technique of Jīn Zhēn Dù È just a boast?"

Zhang Liufang looked skeptical. "Oh? Then why has he become like this?"

Zhang Kongyun, seeing his disciple doubting his authority, was instantly furious, his beard bristling. "It must be that this fellow's vital energy became chaotic, causing a temporary disruption in his upper Dantian, which led to the loss of his senses, rendering him dull and vacant!"

Zhang Liufang looked helplessly at the constantly grinning John and sighed, "Master, what do we do now? Just leave him here?"

Zhang Kongyun sighed as well. "Forget it. Let's take him back. I’ll mix some medicine when we return and see if we can cure him."

Zhang Liufang blinked, then beamed, "Great, great! Now I'll have someone to play with! Although... he's a bit slow! But that's still better than some old coot who spends all day tending vegetables!"

Zhang Kongyun rolled his eyes, flicked his sleeve, and declared, "Then you can be responsible for carrying him. I’m done with it!" With that, he turned and strode away.

Zhang Liufang quickly shouted after him a few times, but seeing Zhang Kongyun walk away without looking back, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye, she stamped her foot in annoyance. "Ugh, how mean! Asking a little girl like me to carry a big man like this. Ptooey, he stinks!"

Zhang Liufang pinched her nose and began carrying the foolishly smiling John, quickly chasing after Zhang Kongyun.

The two soon left the scenic area. Just as they were about to depart, Zhang Kongyun suddenly noticed a crowd of villagers gathered at the foot of the mountain, surrounding one villager who was shouting with arrogant indignation, gesturing wildly while brandishing a purplish-gold object in his hand.

Zhang Kongyun stared intently, and his heart jolted: Could that be the Medicine King Cauldron (Yào Wáng Dǐng)?

Zhang Kongyun immediately quickened his pace, taking a glance from outside the throng. Indeed, he saw everyone looking at the purple, three-legged tripod held by the villager with gasps of awe. The tripod emanated a strange fragrance, was exquisitely carved, and miraculously, was shrouded in a layer of white mist, resembling an artifact of the immortals.

If this wasn't the Medicine King Cauldron, what else could it be?

Alarmed, Zhang Kongyun squeezed into the crowd and quickly asked, "Old neighbor, is this medicine... ah, this cauldron, are you selling it?"

The villager immediately eyed him warily and snorted, "Sell it? Why wouldn't I sell it?"

Zhang Kongyun was overjoyed. "How much? I'll buy it!"

The villager laughed heartily, "That's not certain. Wang Er from next door just gave me some advice: I should take this to an auction house. Whoever bids the highest gets it!"

Zhang Kongyun was startled. "Ah? You plan to auction the medicine... er, this cauldron?"

The villager said proudly, "Of course! Anyone can tell this thing is a treasure. It will definitely fetch a good price at auction!"

Zhang Kongyun tested the waters. "I'll offer two hundred thousand right now for the item in your hands. Will you sell?"

The villager snorted, clutching the Medicine King Cauldron tightly, and mocked, "Someone already offered five hundred thousand, and I didn't sell! You think two hundred thousand is enough?"

Zhang Kongyun frowned, thinking: Someone got here first?

Zhang Kongyun quickly raised two fingers again. "Then I'll offer two million right now. Will you sell?"

As soon as the words fell, there was an immediate uproar among the crowd!

Two million was no small sum!

The villager froze momentarily. "Two million?" A fierce desire shone in his eyes, but he quickly gritted his teeth and said, "Not selling!"

Zhang Kongyun immediately followed up, "Then three million!" The surrounding crowd gasped again.

The villager, however, started laughing heartily. "Looks like it truly is a treasure! Not selling, not selling! I'll just wait for the auction and buy it there!"

Zhang Kongyun stared at the villager for a long time, grinding his teeth in frustration. He shook his head helplessly and retreated from the crowd.

Zhang Liufang scoffed. "Why don't we just snatch it? He won't sell it for three million—has he gone mad over money?"

Zhang Kongyun shook his head. "Nonsense! There are so many ordinary mortals here. Should you resort to robbery? How would we deal with the consequences? Never mind alerting the government, if people from other sects find out, won't we be scorned? We are of the Zhengyi School!"

Zhang Liufang, still carrying John, looked disappointedly at the villager still showing off in the center of the crowd. "Then what do we do?"

Zhang Kongyun sighed. "Since he wants to auction it, he can't run away. We'll send someone back to watch him. If someone tries to rob him, we’ll wait for them to succeed, and then we'll rob them. If no one dares, then at the auction, it will be a battle of wealth."

Zhang Liufang's worry turned to joy. "That's right! Does our Zhengyi School lack money?"

Zhang Kongyun shook his head. "That's not necessarily true. If the cultivation world discovers the Medicine King Cauldron is being auctioned, it will surely turn upside down, bringing about another storm of upheaval!" He sighed again. "Let's go. This trip wasn't wasted; at least we finally know the whereabouts of the Medicine King Cauldron."

Just as Zhang Kongyun, Zhang Liufang, and the dull-witted John were preparing to return to Mount Longhu, Chris, Fona, and Cheng Cheng, overjoyed, rushed towards the location where John had last been.

But when Chris reached the spot, she found that John was gone. Chris immediately panicked, running around frantically like an ant on a hot pan, shouting, "John! John!!"

Fona looked around and asked sympathetically, "Is this the place?"

Chris stomped her foot anxiously. "This is exactly where he was! I remember clearly! Wait, Yan Hua said he would help watch John. Where is he?"

Fona gently comforted her. "Chris, don't panic. Maybe Yan Hua moved John to another spot."

Chris cried out, "John was so badly injured; how could he be moved around casually?"

Cheng Cheng, who had sharp eyes, spotted a figure emerging from the jungle—it was Yan Fang. She quickly pointed. "Hey, over there!"

Chris rushed up to Yan Fang. "Yan Hua, where did you go?"

Yan Fang appeared completely unconcerned, smiling faintly. "I just stepped away for a moment. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Chris’s face was filled with horror, a sudden ominous thought flashing through her mind. She stammered, "What? You stepped away? He—John isn't with you?"

The smile on Yan Fang's face slowly solidified. "He" feigned surprise. "What happened to John? What's wrong?"

Chris's heart sank bit by bit. She felt her limbs go cold. "Damn it, John couldn't have..." Saying this, she immediately rushed to the edge of the cliff, peering down with wide eyes.

But the slope of Mount Huang was steep. Even though they were halfway up, the forest below was dense; even an army might struggle to be seen, let alone one person?

The more Chris looked, the colder her heart grew; the more she thought, the more panicked she became. Cheng Cheng suddenly pointed at the ground near Chris's feet and exclaimed, "Hey, look!"

Chris and the others looked in the direction Cheng Cheng indicated. They saw a few indistinct footprints near the cliff edge, and the surrounding weeds were quite disturbed. Chris's heart trembled violently. She said in fear, "Could it be..."

Yan Fang saw that everyone was indeed following the train of thought "he" had laid out, and was secretly delighted, but on his face, he looked anxious and worried. "Could it be that John rolled down?"

This sentence made everyone’s heart clench. Chris instantly knelt beside the cliff. She remembered how John had fallen off the cliff to save her, and after finally finding him alive, he still couldn't escape the clutches of the god of death. Grief overwhelmed Chris, and she burst into loud sobs.

Yan Fang also put on a look of "grief and self-blame," repeatedly saying, "It's all my fault! I—I should have watched him. I shouldn't have left!"

Fona, seeing Yan Fang constantly blaming himself, also sighed. "It's not certain yet. Yan Hua, you shouldn't blame yourself too much. Let's hurry down and search again."

Upon hearing this, Chris immediately stood up and ran wildly down the mountain.

After the group reached the bottom, even with the help of locals, they could never find any trace of John. Furthermore, the only local who had seen John lived on the other side of the mountain and did not cross paths with Chris and the others.

After searching for a long time, and seeing that dusk was approaching, Chris and the others finally gave up. After leaving their contact information with the locals, they began their journey back to Tiannan City.

Along the way, Chris was preoccupied, her mood heavy. After bidding farewell to Fona, she returned to Li Yundong's residence.

But just as Chris entered the building, she saw Ling Yue arguing loudly with two men in suits outside the doorway.

Both men in suits were kneeling at the door, their backs ramrod straight, completely blocking the entrance. One of the men rested both hands on his knees and spoke in slightly broken, stiff Chinese: "I am Saienji Katsutoshi of the Shingon Sect. I have been ordered by Lady Tachibana Masako to seek an audience with Sect Leader Li Yundong. Please introduce me!"

A supplementary chapter; today’s two updates as scheduled... M