Old Acquaintances

[Name: Zhou Er]

[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Early Stage (53.97%)]

[Equipment Slot (1/3): Heart-Eating Pill.]

[Unsolidified Attributes: Hundred Poisons Immunity (Green).]

[Solidified Attributes: Cicada Concealment (Green), True Essence Flow (White)...]

Poison Cultivation was indeed swift. In just half a year, Zhou Er had made it halfway through his cultivation progress.

But it came at a price: cultivating Poison Cultivation had greatly shortened Zhou Er's lifespan.

After Foundation Establishment, he should have gained at least a hundred years of life. Now, that had been cut down to just a few decades.

Of course, he was hardly alone. The other disciples of Poison Dragon Cave were short-lived too; some did not even outlive ordinary mortals.

That was simply how Poison Cultivation worked: it traded away one's foundations for rapid progress.

But Zhou Er had no choice. Poison Cultivation was his only way forward.

With his Hundred Poisons Immunity attribute, the side effects of Poison Cultivation were already far milder for him than for most people.

If he kept cultivating Poison Cultivation, he might live for a few more decades.

If he didn't, he wouldn't have many days left once Zhu Yan emerged from seclusion.

Now Zhou Er had reached the point where he needed to choose his Life-Bound Gu. After fusing with one, he would gain the minor Divine Ability it possessed, and his cultivation speed could improve further.

Zhu Yan, for example, had fused with a Blade Spider and could control Spider Silk sharper than blades.

Unfortunately, Bashui City wasn't Poison Dragon Cave's stronghold, and there were no particularly powerful venomous creatures here.

A Life-Bound Gu was crucial. He couldn't choose one carelessly.

Another half year passed in the blink of an eye. Zhou Er still hadn't found a suitable Life-Bound Gu when an incident occurred at Zhu Yan's place of seclusion.

Zhou Er went to investigate and saw Zhu Yan emerge from a cocoon, holding a little baby in her arms.

The baby was a girl. Unlike Zhu Yan, she didn't have a spider's lower body; she was just an ordinary child.

But when Zhou Er probed the child's Spirit Root with his Spiritual Sense, he discovered she had a High-grade Wood Spirit Root.

"Baby, look. This is our child."

Zhu Yan looked at Zhou Er.

Nervously, Zhou Er approached. Seeing how gentle Zhu Yan looked, he didn't know what to say.

It seemed that Zhu Yan had gone into seclusion for the sake of this child.

"Isn't she adorable?"

Zhu Yan said with a smile:

"Those of us who cultivate the Witchcraft Gu Secret Art can hardly ever have children. I never expected you to give me such a wonderful gift, baby."

Then Zhu Yan suddenly noticed the poison qi on Zhou Er. Her expression changed at once.

"You actually cultivated the Witchcraft Gu Secret Art? Who told you to do that?"

"I wanted to cultivate it myself,"

Zhou Er said stubbornly.

Zhu Yan grabbed Zhou Er by the throat with one hand and snarled:

"How dare you disobey me? Who do you think you are?"

With Zhu Yan's hand around his throat, Zhou Er's face turned livid. He hesitated, wondering if he should use his Void Breaking attribute to escape first and figure things out later.

Just then, the baby in Zhu Yan's arms began wailing.

Zhu Yan immediately reined in her fury and released Zhou Er. Then she said:

"Be a good girl. Mother was just playing with your father. How could I ever kill him?"

Zhu Yan soothed her gently.

Watching this, Zhou Er felt a secret thrill of having made the right bet. He hadn't expected the witch to like children.

"How could I not cultivate the Myriad Poison Heaven-Devouring Scripture while I'm in Bashui City?"

Zhou Er explained.

But Zhu Yan paid him no mind. She slapped him aside and carefully tended to the little girl in her arms.

Only after she had soothed the child to sleep did Zhu Yan lay her on a spiderweb and come over to Zhou Er.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? You figured that if you cultivated the Witchcraft Gu Secret Art, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you."

After saying that, Zhu Yan dragged Zhou Er into another room.

The spiderweb swayed all night, and Zhou Er's cultivation declined a little more.

Fortunately, he could now recover that much in a single day.

"If you behave and do as you're told, I'll spare your life. But as the price, your little sweetheart won't be so lucky."

Zhu Yan stroked Zhou Er's face, her words a clear threat.

Zhou Er was horrified and immediately said:

"You said you wouldn't hurt her. That's why I agreed to come with you."

"You also promised me you wouldn't cultivate the Witchcraft Gu Secret Art."

Zhu Yan retorted.

"I never said that."

Zhou Er replied coldly.

Zhu Yan thought it over. Zhou Er really hadn't said that.

Even though she was in the wrong, she refused to back down.

After a long moment of deliberation, Zhou Er threw himself at Zhu Yan.

After their fierce battle, Zhu Yan was satisfied. She said:

"Fine. I promise. I'll let her go for now."

After that, with Zhu Yan's permission, Zhou Er went to see Gu Fan.

Gu Fan was still on Fanhua Island, but its blossoms were gone. Venomous creatures were being raised everywhere, and poisonous herbs grew in the soil.

Gu Fan, once the island's mistress, had become an unremarkable islander, laboring day after day just to earn Heart-Eating Pills.

"Sister Fan."

Zhou Er called out when he saw Gu Fan feeding her blood to a poisonous scorpion.

"Brother Er."

Seeing Zhou Er, Gu Fan thought she must be hallucinating.

Zhou Er and Gu Fan talked for a long time. At last, he took out a Storage Bag and said:

"Sister Fan, there are enough Heart-Eating Pills in here to last you for the rest of your life. Take them and leave this place!"

At the mention of Heart-Eating Pills, Gu Fan instinctively shuddered. Then she heard Zhou Er telling her to leave, and a boundless sadness filled her heart.

"Brother Er, let's leave this awful place together, all right?"

Gu Fan said through her tears.

Zhou Er said nothing. He only shook his head.

Gu Fan whispered something in Zhou Er's ear, then let him leave.

Not long afterward, Zhou Er heard that Gu Fan had swallowed more than a hundred Heart-Eating Pills at once. Venomous creatures had devoured her, and she had died when her body burst apart.

"Baby, who could have known she'd do something like that? If you want to go down there and join her, I'll send you on your way right now!"

When Zhu Yan saw how grief-stricken Zhou Er looked, she couldn't hold back her emotions. She had meant to comfort him, but in the end, she flew into a rage instead.

"I was thinking about what I should fuse with for my Life-Bound Gu."

Zhou Er looked Zhu Yan in the eyes as he spoke.

"Baby, naturally you should fuse with whatever you want."

Zhu Yan softened again.

Then she looked at the little girl in her arms and said:

"Baby, what do you think we should name our little darling?"

"If you like calling her Darling, then just call her Darling."

Zhou Er said casually.

"That won't do. I have to give her a proper name."

Zhu Yan thought about it for a long while and finally settled on the character Ying.

And so Zhou Er's first daughter was named Zhu Ying.

With a child to care for, Zhu Yan devoted most of her attention to Zhu Ying and paid much less attention to Zhou Er.

Zhou Er also had opportunities to go out, and he even got the chance to meet the Bone-Eating Devil Lord.

After half a month of travel, Zhou Er was escorted to Poison Dragon Cave's main base.

To Zhou Er's surprise, the Bone-Eating Devil Lord was a female cultivator of breathtaking beauty.

The Devil Lord had a perfectly proportioned figure and wore nothing at all, though a centipede tattoo concealed her intimate parts. Her air was languid.

"So you're the one Zhu Yan has fallen for. You really are handsome."

As he spoke, the Devil Lord cast a charm spell on Zhou Er.

When Zhou Er came back to his senses, his cultivation had fallen back to where it had been when he first entered Foundation Establishment.

The Devil Lord had been a little too ruthless, but he did compensate Zhou Er: he gave him an Azure Nether Poison Flood Dragon, which he could use to remake his Life-Bound Gu.

After obtaining the Azure Nether Poison Flood Dragon, Zhou Er didn't waste a moment. He found a seclusion cave in Poison Dragon Cave and began refining it.

After a month, he finally finished refining the Azure Nether Poison Flood Dragon. His cultivation surged, and he went to the Devil Lord Cave Mansion once more.

He had meant to offer his thanks, but in the end, he lost his cultivation again.

More importantly, Zhou Er hadn't felt a thing. He had completely lost his memories of that time.

Though he had lost those memories, after this ordeal, the solidification progress for Heart-Eating Pill was complete.

[Hundred Poisons Immunity (Green): Immune to a small portion of poisons; poison resistance increased by fifty percent.]

[Solidification Condition: Endure one hundred kinds of poison.]

The Devil Lord was worthy of the title. He had countless poisons hidden on him, and Zhou Er had been badly poisoned just from coming into slight contact with him.

Fortunately, the Devil Lord hadn't drained him dry.

After refining the Azure Nether Poison Flood Dragon, Zhou Er also gained two Divine Abilities.

One was Body Surface Adhering Scales, which could protect him. The other was Azure Nether Poison, which had moderate power.

After refining his Life-Bound Gu, Zhou Er returned to Bashui City.

It wasn't that Zhou Er didn't want to escape. Every Poison Dragon Cave disciple had swallowed a Heart-Eating Pill and was under the sect's control. Escape was impossible.

After the Heart-Eating Pill was swallowed, the Gu inside it latched firmly onto the user's heart and couldn't easily be removed.

They also had to take another pill each month. Otherwise, the Gu in their heart would erupt, killing them on the spot.

Besides, Zhu Yan always had people watching Zhou Er, leaving him no chance to escape.

When Zhou Er returned to Bashui City, Zhu Yan greeted him with a radiant smile, Zhu Ying in her arms.

Zhou Er had long since grown numb. Back at the City Lord Mansion, he remained practically under house arrest.

Worst of all, no matter how much Zhou Er cultivated, Zhu Yan would drain his gains away, intent on keeping him under her thumb.

If things continued like this, Zhu Yan would have him completely at her mercy.

The trouble was that Zhu Yan wasn't particularly generous with him. He didn't have any Spirit Stones, and she wouldn't give him any magical artifacts or Magic Treasures.

She simply kept him like a canary in a cage.

That left Zhou Er with no way to gather attributes, and his Equipment Slot stayed empty.

Besides, he had to keep cultivating to avoid being drained dry.

Fortunately, heaven never sealed every exit.

One day, Zhou Er was wandering around the City Lord Mansion when he spotted a strange weed growing in the courtyard.

[Silver Moon Grass: A spirit herb that grows by absorbing moonlight.]

[Equip to gain attribute: Moon Absorption (White)]

[Moon Absorption (White): Absorb moonlight to temper the soul, cleanse the body, and elevate Spiritual Sense.]

[Solidification Condition: Cultivate beneath the moonlight for one thousand hours.]

[Equip?]

Zhou Er didn't know why the Silver Moon Grass was growing there, but gaining another attribute could only be a good thing.

Especially since Moon Absorption looked like it had a very useful effect.

So Zhou Er pulled up the grass without hesitation and placed it in his Equipment Slot.

After that, whenever the moon rose, Zhou Er would go out into the courtyard and cultivate beneath its light.

As Zhu Ying grew older, she absorbed more and more of Zhu Yan's attention, and Zhu Yan's control over Zhou Er gradually loosened.

Two years later, though Zhou Er's physical cultivation had barely improved under Zhu Yan's exploitation, his soul had continued to grow. The area it covered had increased by nearly half, and the strength of his soul had risen by about as much.

With enough time, even if his body died, his soul would be able to roam the world freely and become a Ghost Cultivator.

Of course, that wasn't necessarily the only way to break free.

As Zhu Ying grew up, Zhu Yan gradually relaxed her hold on Zhou Er and treated him better and better.

At least on the surface, they really did look like a loving married couple.

But Zhou Er had never forgotten the humiliation he had endured over the years. He was just waiting for the day he could turn the tables and let Zhu Yan learn what it was like to be a canary in a cage.

During those two years, Poison Dragon Cave's disciples waged war in every direction, and the sect managed to establish itself in Chu State.

But nearly half the people in Bashui City had died. Some were sent to the battlefield; others met mysterious deaths.

By comparison, Zhou Er was lucky to still be alive, even if he was kept like a canary.

He had no idea when this life would end, but besides Poison Cultivation, he could also practice Moon Absorption. At least he was making progress every day. If he slowly held on until Zhu Ying was old enough to understand things, perhaps he could use her to escape.

On Zhu Ying's Third Birthday, Zhu Yan invited many fellow cultivators to Bashui City to celebrate with her.

Among them were Demonic Persons from the Hehuan Sect.

From a distance, Zhou Er spotted an exceptionally beautiful Hehuan Sect cultivator who looked very familiar.

Jiang Rui!

Zhou Er remembered that extremely feminine senior brother from Xiayun Sect.

While Zhou Er was still puzzling over it, the Hehuan Sect cultivator who looked so much like Jiang Rui arrived with her Dao Companion, hand in hand.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist."

Jiang Rui's Dao Companion offered her congratulations.

Once they drew closer, Zhou Er was almost certain that this person was Jiang Rui.

Back then, Jiang Rui had betrayed the sect and, in all likelihood, gone to the Hehuan Sect.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."

Zhu Yan said with a cheerful smile.

Zhu Ying was the guest of honor at this banquet. Zhou Er stood to one side without saying a word.

Jiang Rui seemed to notice Zhou Er as well, and found an opportunity to come over.

"Fellow Daoist, you look a lot like one of my junior brothers."

Jiang Rui spoke softly.

Even her voice had become extremely effeminate; it seemed her Demonic Cultivation Method had reached a degree of mastery.

"Senior Sister Jiang, it's me, Zhou Er."

Zhou Er quietly communicated with Jiang Rui through Spiritual Sense.

"Junior Brother Zhou, it really is you."

Jiang Rui was overjoyed to reunite with Zhou Er.

"Senior Sister Jiang, your dream has come true. Congratulations."

Zhou Er offered his congratulations.

"I should be the one congratulating you, Junior Brother. You've found such a beautiful Dao Companion and have an adorable daughter, too. I hear your daughter has a High-grade Spirit Root. I'm truly envious!"

Jiang Rui congratulated him through Spiritual Sense.

"Senior Sister Jiang, Zhu Yan has made me her Cauldron. My cultivation hasn't advanced at all in three years. Is there any way you can save me?"

Zhou Er knew Jiang Rui was now among the Hehuan Sect cultivators and seemed to hold a high position. Perhaps she could help him escape his misery.

"Junior Brother, how could this happen? Fellow Daoist Zhu seems to treat you well."

Jiang Rui said, puzzled.

It was all a façade. To her, I was nothing but a tool.

Zhou Er said helplessly, "It's all an act. To her, I'm nothing but a tool."

"Junior Brother, my Dao Companion is only at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm and can't match your Dao Companion. Even if he stepped in, he might not be able to save you. But I have something that might help you a little."

As Jiang Rui spoke, she took a small ring out of her Storage Ring.

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