"With archery like that, no wonder he was a vanguard in the Brave Cavalry Camp," Gongsun Zhi praised.
Ning Yuechan silently nodded.
Combat skills required practice, but they required talent even more. Some people possessed plenty of cultivation, yet died without ever mastering certain advanced combat skills.
The young man before them truly had considerable talent.
The two exchanged a glance. They were already seventy or eighty percent convinced.
They believed him, but they couldn't help feeling a little rueful.
Our cultivation was clearly peerless, our mastery profound. Yet we were rescued once by a Qi Refining kid, then had him help us out of trouble again.
At that moment, the Faceless Giant was dashing around aimlessly with the Blood-Drinking Demon, while the Earth Element Demonkin Legion had been tricked into returning to the Demon Army Main Camp to haul dirt.
The two of them had escaped certain death, and could finally catch their breath.
Gongsun Zhi immediately made the call. "Excellent, Gu Qingshan. Let's leave at once. We might even make it back to the Human Race Highlands alive."
He then asked, "Saintess, can you still walk?"
Ning Yuechan shook her head. "No. I really can't go on this time."
Gongsun Zhi pointed at Gu Qingshan and said solemnly, "Gu Kid, support Ning Yuechan. We're leaving."
Forming a battle array required hand seals with both hands. If the kid supported Ning Yuechan, then should they encounter some sudden crisis, Gongsun Zhi would be free to use his full strength.
Ning Yuechan understood the situation too. She said nothing and silently held out her hand.
Gu Qingshan looked over. Her slender arm, fine as a willow branch, was completely covered by golden scale armor. A snug, dark-red bracer encircled her wrist, making her long, jade-white hand look all the more fair.
Who knew how many male cultivators under heaven dreamed of holding that hand? They would gladly pay any price for the chance.
But that could only ever be a dream.
Ning Yuechan was pure as ice and jade, with lofty standards. She rarely spoke, let alone made such intimate contact with anyone.
If this weren't a life-or-death moment, if she weren't truly unable to stand steadily, she wouldn't let a man support her.
But Gu Qingshan didn't move.
Hm?
What was wrong with this kid now?
The two mighty cultivators, both with unfathomably deep realms, turned to look at Gu Qingshan.
They saw him frowning, still deep in thought, with not a trace of delight or eagerness at getting close to a beautiful woman.
"What is it?" Gongsun Zhi asked.
"What happened to her? Why do I have to support her?" Gu Qingshan pointed at Ning Yuechan.
When he pointed at her so casually, Ning Yuechan actually began to doubt herself.
Would supporting me really kill him?
Was I really that unattractive?
A trace of indignation stirred in her heart. Ning Yuechan couldn't help biting her lip before explaining herself. "I've been fighting for days. I've been poisoned by four different toxins, and I have twenty-seven wounds, large and small."
"That doesn't make sense." Gu Qingshan looked at her in confusion. "Shouldn't you have supplies with you? Even in your Storage Bag, you ought to have healing and antidote pills, right?"
Ning Yuechan turned her head away. "I used them all up long ago."
Gongsun Zhi gave a bitter smile too. "We ventured deep into the Demon Army to investigate a secret, but the Nine Nether Demon Lord discovered us and hunted us for more than twenty days. We used up everything we had. I don't even have a single Healing Pill left."
Only then did Gu Qingshan understand.
So Heavenly Peak Holy Maiden Ning Yuechan was in such a dire state, and had run out of even the most basic supplies.
No wonder she had been trapped by the Five Great Demon Generals. After being held up for a day and a night, she had met her unfortunate end.
She was the most regrettable death in human history.
Gu Qingshan patted himself down, trying to find some supplies.
Gongsun Zhi and Ning Yuechan watched him. Seeing what he was doing, their eyes immediately lit up.
Right, the kid might have some supply pills.
Just as they were thinking that, Gu Qingshan lowered his hands and said, "Sorry, I don't have any healing pills either."
The two were immediately disappointed.
Ning Yuechan was almost annoyed. If he had nothing, why had he spent so long searching himself?
"Let's go. We need to hurry," Gongsun Zhi said, turning around.
"Wait."
Gu Qingshan suddenly remembered something.
He took out a leather pouch and poured out a Snake Gall that glimmered faintly.
The gall had been coated in thirty-seven special medicinal compounds, each applied through a treatment process that had penetrated from the outside in.
The potent medicinal properties seeped into the gall and blended with it, turning it into an exceptional remedy for detoxification and healing.
The Snake Gall had been processed into a pill, safe to take.
This was a method Gu Qingshan had mastered in his previous life. It worked extremely well.
"Python Demon Gall. It's very rare. It might help with the toxins and your injuries."
As he spoke, Gu Qingshan held the gall out in his palm.
Gongsun Zhi took it and examined it closely, then ground off a little and tasted the powder.
He suddenly looked delighted. "Just in time! Python Demon Gall replenishes the blood and heals the flesh. Combined with the right spirit medicines, it strengthens your ability to detoxify. It's exactly what you need! Exactly what you need!"
Gongsun Zhi urged her on. "Saintess, there's still hope for you. Take it quickly."
Ning Yuechan stared blankly at the Python Demon Gall in his hand.
With her knowledge, she naturally understood how precious and important this gall was to her right now.
But the sight before her had stirred up painful memories buried deep in her heart.
Ning Yuechan suddenly asked, "If you give me this gall, what about you?"
"Me?" Gu Qingshan froze, then patted his chest. "I'm fine."
Ning Yuechan's voice was calm and soft. "Your cultivation is so low. You could run into trouble at any moment. Why don't you keep it to save your own life?"
Gu Qingshan froze.
My cultivation is low?
I'll run into trouble?
Did this girl even know how to talk to people?
Gu Qingshan glared at her silver mask and said impatiently, "Are you going to eat it or not? If not, I'll throw it away."
Even Ning Yuechan's usually mild temper couldn't stop her from glaring back at the boy behind her mask.
What kind of attitude was that? What did he mean, "If not, I'll throw it away"? How could anyone talk like that?
She bit her lip tightly, unable to decide whether to accept or refuse.
This one Python Demon Gall was a hundred times more precious than an antidote pill. Once she swallowed it, it could dispel the toxins in her body and restore the vitality of her blood and qi.
Python Demons weren't particularly strong, but they only fed once a year. After eating their fill, they burrowed deep into the mountains and slept for a whole year.
Three hundred and sixty years later, when a Python Demon transformed into a flood dragon, it would leave its lair to seek a Five Elements spirit land, nourishing its Divine Soul as preparation to become a dragon.
It was incredibly rare to encounter a Python Demon at just the right time.
This Python Demon Gall looked to be nearly three hundred years old. It was all the more impossible to find by chance.
Yet the other party had taken it out so casually.
If this had happened at another time, if Ning Yuechan hadn't been utterly spent and poisoned, if the other party hadn't just happened to produce a Python Demon Gall that could cure her, she wouldn't have felt the slightest stir of emotion.
But in precisely this situation, it brought the pain buried in her memories rushing back.
Back when she had first joined the Heavenly Peak Sect, Ning Yuechan had drawn everyone's attention with her monstrous talent for cultivation.
As she grew older, her astonishing, peerless beauty also became apparent to everyone.
Gradually, almost every day, one of her senior brothers would try to win her favor.
In the end, when she was still a young girl, she was moved by a senior brother who was just as outstanding as she was, and began trying to get closer to him.
Who could have known that during an outdoor trial, the two of them would be trapped for months in an ancient ruin filled with poisonous miasma, unable to escape?
That senior brother secretly set a trap, intending to kill her and take the last antidote pill in her Storage Bag.
Ning Yuechan would never forget the vicious look on that senior brother's face, or his frenzied roar.
"You damned little slut, hand over the antidote pill!"
That day was Ning Yuechan's birthday, and the first time she had ever killed anyone.
From then on, Ning Yuechan shut her heart away and devoted herself solely to the Great Dao.
And now, once again, she was in a desperate situation, poisoned just as before. Yet a young man had casually taken out a Python Demon Gall, unconcerned, and impatiently said, "Are you going to eat it or not? If not, I'll throw it away."
Before you continue