After hearing Gu Yu's account, Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi all felt their scalps prickle.
They thought, A mortal had drunk spirit spring water nurtured by an earth vein eye for nearly six years and eaten spirit jujubes nurtured by an earth vein spirit spring for nearly sixty years, yet he was still alive and well.
How could that not count as an "extraordinary gift"?
After giving Gu Yu a long, searching look, Xu Taiping suddenly strode straight toward him, stopping only when he was four or five feet away.
Seeing Xu Taiping approach, Gu Yu immediately began trembling and said fearfully:
"U-Upper Immortal, could it be... could it be that this lowly one has done something wrong and offended you Upper Immortals?"
From the looks of it, Gu Yu would probably drop to his knees if Xu Taiping took even one more step closer.
Xu Taiping shook his head and said:
"No."
As he spoke, he placed a hand on Gu Yu's shoulder and explained solemnly:
"This journey to Ten Thousand Islands Lake to slay the dragon will be extremely dangerous. I'm checking your tendons and bones to see whether you're suited to accompanying us."
Gu Yu's expression immediately turned serious at this, and he thumped his chest hard.
"Upper Immortal, whatever else you might say, these old bones of mine are no worse than a young man's!"
Xu Taiping said nothing. Instead, he very carefully drew on his Gate Opening Realm cultivation and injected a trace of true qi into Gu Yu's withered shoulder.
He wanted to use a little true qi to test how Gu Yu's body would react.
"Bang!..."
To Xu Taiping's great surprise, when that trace of true qi entered Gu Yu's shoulder, Gu Yu's body-no, more precisely, his bones-gave a violent shudder,