Second-Rank Medicine Slave

A sensation that sent ripples through his heart washed over Liu Feng, and his heartbeat quickened.

Compared to his own face, the feel of the two was completely different.

Right before him, Leng Qiuyue blushed, showing no intention of resisting. Her eyes were lowered, and she seemed utterly meek and delicate.

Liu Feng's breathing grew heavy. His gaze drifted downward, taking in her shapely figure, and a young man's instinctive impulse stirred within him.

Restless inside, his gaze grew heated. His palm left Leng Qiuyue's flushed cheek and slowly moved lower.

The next moment, Leng Qiuyue's delicate body suddenly stiffened, and a strange, coquettish cry escaped her rosy lips!

Liu Feng abruptly came to his senses and withdrew his hand at once. "I was presumptuous! Go back to your work. Try to refine Poison Qi as soon as possible."

"Th-then I'll take my leave!"

Leng Qiuyue seemed to awaken from a dream as well. Her little face flushed deep crimson, and she spun around and fled with the medicine box.

She was both embarrassed and startled. She never should have listened to Li Xiang'er's encouragement—but even more than that, she hadn't expected Liu Feng to really make a move!

The young woman's graceful figure was already gone. Inside the Stone Chamber, Liu Feng looked at his right hand with a strange expression.

He naturally had no idea what Li Xiang'er had taught Leng Qiuyue. He only knew that she had grown dependent on him. She hadn't refused the Blood Qi Pills he had given her, either.

But her parents had asked him to protect Leng Qiuyue, at the very least helping her become a Gu Master. He had nearly made a mistake just now.

Liu Feng sighed. For now, he couldn't tell her the truth—that he had been entrusted with this by her parents. Even without mentioning that her parents had passed away, he worried that Leng Qiuyue might grow suspicious.

If that happened and Leng Qiuyue acted on her own, not only would she get into trouble, but she might drag him down with her.

Putting the matter aside, Liu Feng took the three Exotic Gu and the segment of Blood Vine.

The Poison Qi in his body circulated, driving the Gu out of him.

"First, I'll refine the three Exotic Gu and this segment of Blood Vine. That should be enough to recover from these injuries."

"Also, the Exotic Gu Egg 'Fire Eater' needs a greater supply of blood and qi. Its name alone makes it clear that it's skilled at killing. It could give me another killing move."

"And my movement technique is too slow. I'll have to put some thought into the bone-body cultivation method in the Diamond Demon-Subduing Sutra."

A dense swarm of Gu surged over the three Exotic Gu and the Blood Vine, covering them completely.

Under the Zen Eye Technique, Liu Feng looked inward at his own organs.

The Exotic Gu Egg "Fire Eater" in his chest had dissolved more than halfway. A fiery-red Exotic Gu could be faintly seen within it.

As he supplied it with blood and qi, Liu Feng turned his attention to his bone body.

On the lowest bone of his spine was a wisp of "root tendril" that could barely be considered a Buddha Root. He needed to keep strengthening it with the guiding method.

Everything in Insect Valley remained as usual.

As in the past, it was common for one or two Gu Children to go missing; new faces would fill their places the very next day.

Over the past two days, the Gu Children had received orders from Third Senior Brother. They no longer had to deliver large quantities of medicine to the eastern cliff face.

Under the Thatched Shed, Leng Qiuyue cut medicinal herbs, somewhat distracted.

No one knew what was on her mind. At times she looked irritated; at others, her face was full of bashful sweetness.

"What are you thinking about? The Medicine Slave's about to wake up. A lot of Gu Children have gone to watch." Li Xiang'er had somehow crept up beside her.

When Leng Qiuyue saw Li Xiang'er, she glared at her with a stiff expression, still remembering how the other girl had given her terrible advice two days ago.

That little minx had egged her on, saying that if she was interested, she should use a few tricks sooner rather than later to get Liu Feng under her thumb.

Acting bashful, lowering her eyes, putting on a meek and easily bullied front—any of it could stir a man's bestial urges.

When she went to see Liu Feng alone, she hadn't known what to do, so she had simply followed Li Xiang'er's advice and acted meek and obedient. Who could have guessed it would actually work!

"What does it matter to me if the Medicine Slave wakes up? I'm not going!" Leng Qiuyue refused to budge.

"Didn't you hear? The three Senior Brothers need to take the Medicine Slave out on a mission. Little Brother Liu Feng will probably show up."

Seeing Li Xiang'er wiggle her eyebrows at her, Leng Qiuyue was so annoyed she could barely stand it. Still, she rose to her feet.

On the eastern side of Insect Valley, more than sixty Gu Children had already gathered in just a short while.

Quite a few Gu Servants had come, too. They had never seen a Medicine Slave before, and they wanted to broaden their horizons.

Before they entered Insect Valley, they had heard plenty of rumors about Gu Masters capturing martial artists or refining wandering cultivators who came looking for trouble into Medicine Persons.

But Gu Servants and Gu Children had no way of witnessing such methods firsthand.

At that moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the opening beneath the cliff face. The Medicinal Mud piled at its entrance was visibly churning.

Third Senior Brother Zhu Li frowned. Turning to the Gu Children and Gu Servants hiding in scattered groups farther away, he shouted, "Get beyond sixty zhang! When a second-rank Medicine Slave wakes, he can't control the Gu poison in his body. Touch him and you'll die!"

Beneath the stone eaves, under the shrubs, behind the trees, one figure after another fled in an instant.

"Why do you care whether they live or die? It's a good thing when fools die early." A figure arrived. It was Second Senior Brother Shen Yushu.

With his hands behind his back, he came to Zhu Li's side and joined him in staring at the opening at the foot of the mountain.

Zhu Li didn't respond to Shen Yushu. After waiting a moment, he suddenly said in a low voice, "He's coming up."

As he spoke, Zhu Li hurriedly took out a cloth pouch and pulled two pitch-black Gu from it.

He clutched one in his hand and passed the other to Shen Yushu beside him.

Holding these Nightmare Gu Larvae, the two were ready to use them at any moment to awaken the Nightmare Gu Mother in the Medicine Slave's head, preventing him from going on a rampage if he woke up with his mind still muddled.

"Glug, glug..." Countless bubbles shoved through the Medicinal Mud.

Under the tense gazes of everyone present, an insect leg like a black spear thrust out and instantly hooked onto the rock at the cave entrance.

Seeing this, Shen Yushu and Zhu Li retreated several paces, a layer of protective poison mist rising over their bodies.

Cries of alarm rang out from afar. Many Gu Children had retreated beyond sixty zhang, only to keep backing away in spite of themselves.

At the opening beneath the cliff face, a second, a third, a fourth...

One spear-like insect leg after another climbed up. Then, with a bang, the Medicinal Mud broke apart, and a hunched figure was "lifted" up by the insect legs like a puppet.

A rich, exotic fragrance wafted from the person's body. The plants and trees within a dozen zhang visibly withered and yellowed.

The eight insect legs crawled, and the figure suspended in their midst slowly opened his eyes.

Shen Yushu squeezed the Nightmare Gu Larva in his palm, channeling a wisp of Poison Qi from his body into it. At once, the figure opposite him raised his head, and the dullness in his eyes gave way to a faint spark of awareness.

Zhu Li showed no reaction when he recognized the figure's face, but Shen Yushu fell silent for a moment, recognizing the Medicine Slave.

"Li Si, put away your Soldier Gu and Gu poison!" Shen Yushu shouted.

The figure turned his blank face toward him. After staring for a moment, he rasped, "You're... Shen Yushu. I... saw you when you became a Gu Master."

As he spoke, he obeyed, putting away his Soldier Gu. The exotic fragrance soon faded as well.

The eight spear-like insect legs snapped back like steel blades in an instant, retracting into the black carapace on Li Si's back.

Zhu Li tossed him a loose robe. Li Si caught it, shook off the Medicinal Mud clinging to him, and put it on.

Now, the Medicine Slave's appearance was completely exposed to everyone.

At first glance, he looked like a hunchbacked middle-aged man with an unsound mind. Aside from his dazed and muddled expression, there was nothing particularly unusual about him.