Chapter 4680 — Curing the Poison Wound

"Mm—strictly speaking, this thing isn't a spirit beast at all. It belongs to the insect class," Gui Dongxi said after a moment's pondering.

"This is an insect?!" Wei Zhao was startled. He glanced at the corpse on the ground—by every appearance a mutated, highly venomous lizard—and never would have guessed it was actually an insect. It truly had character.

"Correct. If my memory serves, its full name is the Eight-Legged Kache Insect. Its intelligence isn't particularly high, but its body carries a potent venom of extraordinary ferocity—enough to easily bring down even a Xuan Ascension cultivator," Gui Dongxi explained.

"Bring down even a Xuan Ascension cultivator?" Wei Zhao was shocked. From his experience, ordinary poisons had long since lost much potency against high-tier cultivators—many could kill common folk with ease, yet their effect diminished sharply against the powerful, and by the Nascent Soul stage they were practically no threat at all. He had never imagined this bizarre creature's venom could be so potent!

"Indeed. This creature ranks among the rare poisons. You can put its carcass away—it may prove useful later. Alchemy and artifact forging could both make use of it," Gui Dongxi said.

"Right." At a mere thought, Wei Zhao stowed the Eight-Legged Kache Insect's carcass into the jade pendant's space, then looked at Huo Yudie, whose life force was ebbing ever weaker, and said with a headache: "So what do we do about her? If we don't think of something fast, she'll die, won't she?"

From the very beginning until now, he had gone to enormous trouble trailing them this long, and still hadn't even caught a glimpse of the Thunder Mystic Vine. If Huo Yudie really did go and die in a place like this, Wei Zhao would be well and truly screwed.

"What's there to do about it? It's simple—just draw the poison out for her," Gui Dongxi said, his tone indifferent and unconcerned.

"How do I do that?" Wei Zhao couldn't help scratching his head.

"It's not hard. The most primitive method will do—suck it out with your mouth," Gui Dongxi said with a laugh.

"Huh? Suck it out with my mouth?" Wei Zhao nearly choked on the words, coughing for a good while before managing, speechless: "Ahem—wouldn't that be the death of me? Didn't you just say, Senior, that this venom can easily bring down even a Xuan Ascension cultivator…?"

"Others would die, but you, brat, won't," Gui Dongxi said with utter certainty.

"Why not?" Wei Zhao asked, astonished.

"Don't think I don't know about your immunity to all poisons. Wasn't it brewed for you by that Old Man Wei? Your constitution was tempered from childhood, and now that your strength has grown, it has only become more firmly established. No matter how potent the poison, it would do nothing to you," Gui Dongxi said.

"You even know about that?" Wei Zhao grew all the more astonished. True, Gui Dongxi had been residing within his body for no short while, but that had only begun shortly before he came to Cloud Tier Island. Anything earlier—if he himself had never brought it up—there should be no reason for Gui Dongxi to know. Especially something like his immunity to all poisons, which traced all the way back to Old Man Wei.

"Oh, when I had nothing better to do, I had a casual rummage through your past in your sea of consciousness. So I retain a vague impression of things like that," Gui Dongxi said, curling his lip as though it were nothing.

"What? You snooped through my memories?" Wei Zhao was greatly alarmed. He had never considered such a possibility before—if Gui Dongxi could casually leaf through his memories, then he could have no secrets left at all before him. This feeling of being laid utterly bare was terrifying!

Granted, Gui Dongxi was hardly an outsider. At least for now, they shared honor and ruin, fortune and misfortune alike. Even so, this sense of having every secret exposed was enough to send a chill down one's spine at the mere thought of it.

"Heh, idle hands make idle work, no? I did it to pass the time and amuse myself. Rest easy, brat—those little secrets of yours hold no interest for me," Gui Dongxi said with a cackling laugh.

"Er—may I ask, Senior, just who did you learn this shameless disposition from? Why do I keep running into such disreputable sorts…" Wei Zhao was left speechless. Back when they had not known each other well, he hadn't noticed; now that they were familiar, he had discovered that Gui Dongxi too was thoroughly disreputable. He could not help but think of the old man.

"Heh heh, stop muttering to yourself, brat. Best draw the poison out of her quickly—it's already spreading. Dawdle any longer and this girl really will be dead beyond all doubt," Gui Dongxi said with a strange chuckle, cutting him off.

"Fine!" Seeing the purple-black discoloration on Huo Yudie's calf growing ever larger, Wei Zhao dared entertain no further stray thoughts. He laid her flat on the ground, then, gritting his teeth, bent down.

By now Huo Yudie's wound had been dissolved open and was steadily oozing black fluid. The moment Wei Zhao drew near, he nearly threw up on the spot; it was only by sheer willpower, forcibly suppressing his nausea, that he steeled himself and put his mouth to the wound.

As he drew the poison from Huo Yudie, Wei Zhao silently fumed. Once this girl recovered, he thought, he would absolutely have to renegotiate their share of the spoils—otherwise, he'd be sucking out this potent venom for nothing!

Bending over Huo Yudie's calf, Wei Zhao felt not the slightest trace of romantic sentiment. True, he had a constitution immune to all poisons, but the Eight-Legged Kache Insect's venom was terrifyingly potent; each time he drew a mouthful from her wound, a searing, stinging pain would abruptly shoot through his lips.

After several moments of this, the poison in Huo Yudie's body finally began to ease. Her calf, which had been a hopeless mess of black and purple, gradually regained a faint flush of color, and her breathing, already too weak to notice, began to steady. Yet this was hard on Wei Zhao. Though the venom had no effect on him whatsoever, that searing sting was very real—quite apart from anything else, his mouth was nearly numb now.

Numb mouth or no, Wei Zhao dared not slacken in the slightest. Huo Yudie might be showing signs of improvement, but since the Eight-Legged Kache Insect's venom could easily bring down a Xuan Ascension cultivator, so long as the tiniest remnant remained, it could yet cost Huo Yudie her life.

And besides, though Wei Zhao was immune to all poisons, he dared not grow careless. What if the venom was simply too overbearing—what if, through some misstep, even he wound up poisoned?

Wei Zhao lay beside Huo Yudie's leg, grunting and huffing as he drew out the poison. Just then, two furtive figures suddenly emerged from not far off—two men.

Though they wore no unified uniform, each bore a badge at his collar depicting twin clouds with outspread wings. Ren Zhongyuan and Yi Xiaotian wore the same badge—clear proof that this was the emblem of the Xiangyun Academy!

Only, in both countenance and bearing, these two fell far short of Ren Zhongyuan and his companions, and their strength was likewise inferior—not even reaching the Nascent Soul stage, they were merely two cultivators at the peak of Golden Core. (To be continued) R466