46. The second head
"What's this?"
Gui Fang Wu Di, his face bruised and swollen, held the conch cup.
"It suits my taste!"
Nine-Headed Chapter repeated the same lame excuse with annoyance, "Those who conceal their presence, drink!"
Gui Fang frowned, sniffed hard, and his face scrunched up.
"It's so bitter!"
Nine-Headed Chapter: "Only bitter? Impossible, I added a lot of ingredients."
"It's both bitter and sour." Gui Fang pushed the conch cup back. "I won't drink it. Let Bei Chen drink it."
"He has the biggest glass, you drink yours."
Who wants to drink this stuff?
Gui Fang Wu Di looked around. "Where did Tang Xi go? Where's Xuan Wu?"
"He said he was going for a walk outside, and Lord Xuanwu had something to do and left."
As Jiu Tou Zhang spoke, he curled up next to Gui Fang and whispered jokingly, "Hey, your friend seems pretty worried about you?"
"..." Gui Fang turned his head away uncomfortably. "Who asked him to worry? He's just being nosy."
Nine-Headed Chapter took two steps closer. "You want to go find him?"
Gui Fang shook his head.
“No need to lie.” Nine-Headed Octopus pointed to its eyes. “My little supernatural power can see through souls, and it can also see through lies.”
This guy has absolutely no sense of boundaries!
Gui Fang felt a chill run down his spine, indescribable, and quickly changed the subject, "Stop looking, hurry up and fulfill your promise. You want my eerie energy? How do I do it?"
"It's not eerie energy! It's poison! Who taught you to say that the spiritual vein contains eerie energy? That's nonsense!"
Nine-Headed Octopus corrected him methodically, "You haven't realized yet that 'evil energy' has a corrosive effect, have you?"
The ghost raised a pair of bone claws expressionlessly. "Of course I know! That's why I'm wearing these skull claws."
They even deliberately wove it into the shape of a nonsensical human hand bone, which is really childish.
Nine-Headed Octopus flicked at Gui Fang's "prosthetic limb," which was cold and hard, making its hand hurt: "How long can you suppress the toxins without wearing bone claw gloves?"
"Half an hour."
Gui Fang urged, "So how am I supposed to keep my promise?"
Nine-Headed Chapter held the conch cup up to Ghost Face, "What's the rush? Drink the Heart-Reflecting Water first."
Gui Fang picked up the cup, sniffed it gently, and still found it hard to swallow. So he picked up the cup and headed upstairs, saying, "I'll give it to my respected friend first."
Nine-Headed Chapter exclaimed in surprise: "Hey! Don't go up there! He's cultivating! He's been meditating since last night, and his spiritual energy hasn't stopped flowing."
Gui Fang paused, his gaze sharpening slightly.
"You can see that too?"
"No! Supernatural powers can only see through abstract things! I can sense it! The fluctuations of human spiritual energy are different from those of demons."
Nine-Headed Zhang swept Gui Fang down the stairs and slammed him to the ground, staring intently at him. "Don't dawdle, don't disturb him, don't change the subject, drink up!"
What a terrible fate.
Gui Fang sighed resignedly, pinched his nose, and drank the Zhaoxin Water in one gulp. He smacked his lips and was surprised to find that the drink had no taste and even a slightly sweet aftertaste.
"Is it bitter?" Nine-Headed Zhang carefully observed Gui Fang's expression.
“Acceptable,” Gui Fang replied, his eyes filled with suspicion. “Did you add something strange?”
"I added sugar."
"Did you add Coptis chinensis?"
Seeing that Wu Di's expression remained unchanged, Jiu Tou Zhang felt slightly relieved. Clearly, this kid's soul state was much better than Tang Xiao You's; there was no need to worry for now.
Gui Fang looked left and right, and after confirming that no one was around, he softened his tone, "Is my problem really incurable?"
"You overheard everything, didn't you?" Nine-Headed Zhang rolled his eyes, picked up the empty cup, and threw it into the kitchen sink.
"Either you destroy your spiritual veins, or you cleanse your marrow and refine your body—these are the only two paths. But... I'm curious, why do you all insist on being treated?"
"Leave them to die without treatment?"
Nine-Headed Chapter silently sneered at Gui Fang with his eyes: "Anyway, the poison has penetrated deep into the bone marrow, you can use it."
“But…” Gui Fang’s eyes flickered. “Never mind.”
Nine-Headed Chapter paused, suddenly sensing certain emotions from Gui Fang's subtle and obscure expression.
What are you afraid of?
Gui Fang shook his head.
The origin of "Strange Qi Condensed Silk" is "poison," a fact that even Gui Fang Wu Di himself was unaware of.
If Qinglong hadn't revealed the truth behind the "Legend of the Immortals," Guifang would still deeply believe that he is a freak who has survived to this day bearing the "sin" of the first head of the Guifang family. In order to 'filter' the corrosive poison, Guifang always wears gloves and tucks his ugly hands into his robes.
The skull claws that Qin Xiuluo had specially made were shattered before he entered the blessed land. Now, these comical golden skull claws are still riding on the coattails of the Golden Toad. Now, a suspicious octopus monster has easily seen through his innate corrosive poison with its minor supernatural powers and is demanding payment for this "sin".
What's so good about this thing?
Gui Fang Wu Di remained silent for a few seconds, then put away the skull claws woven with gold thread. With a flick of his wide sleeves, he revealed a pair of hands with distinct knuckles.
The dark veins on the back of his hand throbbed, like poisonous insects crawling inside his blood vessels. "Aren't you afraid?"
"Why am I afraid? Am I afraid you'll corrupt me?"
Nine-Headed Octopus chuckled. "Oh... I see. You're insecure because you're naturally poisonous?"
The veins on Gui Fang's forehead bulged: "No!"
“It’s just low self-esteem,” a tentacle circled in front of the nine-headed octopus’s eyes. “Your low self-esteem is inherently toxic. You can’t hug your family. You vent your accumulated negative emotions with your sharp tongue, but you never expected to trigger the strange ability of ‘jinxing’. Bad things you say come true. And your mouth has been sealed. Tsk tsk tsk.”
"I've lived for over a thousand years, and aside from everything else, I'm quite good at seeing through human thoughts. What you need to do now is accept yourself, not deny yourself."
Nine-Headed Chapter paused, then said seriously, "I've changed my mind! Marrow cleansing is too dangerous. The blessed lands have been quite turbulent lately, and crippling your cultivation would be detrimental to everyone. Since you're willing to contribute your toxins to me, I have a way to make you slowly accept them!"
Otherwise, the soul state of Ghost Fang will become increasingly similar to that of Little Friend Tang.
This kind of supernatural power is really annoying.
Gui Fang covered his mouth slightly. He was already used to the thread on his mouth, but he didn't expect that even this would be exposed in front of the Nine-Headed Chapter. In the end, he sighed as if he was surrendering.
"Alright, I know you're powerful. You want the poison, right? How do I do that?"
"Come in!"
The nine-headed octopus jumped into the water vat at the entrance of the accounting office, and one of its tentacles stretched out of the vat's mouth to call out: "I almost forgot you're human. Hold your breath for three seconds when you go into the vat!"
Is this water tank a dark room?
Gui Fang pinched his nose and leaned closer. The simple, dilapidated water vat required two people to hug it; it was placed against the wall in a corner and was actually quite inconspicuous.
I wonder how such a big octopus could squeeze into such a small water tank?
He craned his neck to look inside, but before he could see anything, a tremendous force suddenly pulled him into the water tank.
Suddenly pulled into the water tank, I heard a muffled bubbling sound as I entered the water, and it felt as if my face was hitting the surface. A feeling of suffocation washed over me.
!
Gui Fang quickly covered his mouth and nose. Before he could react, his body plummeted downwards, flipping over and falling into another space, leaving him somewhat dazed.
"Is this your lair?" Gui Fang looked around.
The nine-headed octopus was carrying a bucket of something. It dipped its tentacles into the bucket and used its hand as a pen to draw something on the ground. "Sort of. You'll be following my instructions in a bit."
There is another world inside the water tank.
This is a circular stone chamber, spacious and open, like a forgotten deep-sea altar. The Nine-Headed Octopus is drawing a formation on the ground, carrying a bucket of strange pigments. It doesn't resemble cinnabar, but rather "ink" made from a mixture of bioluminescent algae, the mucus of phosphorescent jellyfish, and unknown blood. In the dim light, it gradually outlines a formation, emitting an ominous blue-green glow.
Several twisted coral statues stood around the stone chamber, their forms resembling ancient gods slumbering in the abyss. The air was thick with the stench of the sea, like some kind of old, decaying, thousand-year-old coffin. The only sound in the entire space came from the array being drawn by the Nine-Headed Chapter, which seemed alive, occasionally bubbling and making breathing-like sounds.
"..."
Is that correct?
He had never heard of a "living" formation.
Gui Fang's throat tightened. After finishing the last stroke of the Nine-Headed Chapter, he put the "ink" bucket in his arms aside, pointed to the center of the formation, and said, "Sit down, meditate in the purple circle."
Following the instructions, Gui carefully stepped into the formation and sat cross-legged at its core.
The enormous, sucker-covered tentacles of the Nine-Headed Octopus snaked upwards, gently attaching themselves to the Ghost Fang's body and covering the key acupoints of the spiritual veins.
There seemed to be ripples in the air, a very subtle feeling. What brushed against my face was not like the wind, but more like a thick "water vapor," hard to describe. The formation began to emit a magnificent light.
Has it started?
Gui Fang was puzzled, then suddenly felt a chill envelop his entire body. He lowered his eyes, shook his sleeves, and exposed his arms, discovering that dark golden veins had emerged under his skin, like a spider web, and something seemed to be flowing along the veins, gradually converging towards the suction cups of the Nine-Headed Seal.
"Does it hurt?" Nine-Headed Octopus asked.
"without……"
Although the "eerie energy" was slowly drawn away, there was no discomfort in the body.
Gui Fang responded hesitantly, a chill running down his spine. The feeling of "power loss" was unfamiliar; each key acupoint was constantly oozing eerie energy, as if something was clinging to his body, sucking at his flesh.
He subconsciously looked up and saw the enormous nine-headed octopus in front of him, its eyes closed and its body focused on its inner energy. Even though it tried its best to curl up, its body was still more than two meters tall. The sense of oppression was even stronger when viewed up close.
The extracted "eerie energy" was dark gold in color, which was a large amount of gold element that had been "stolen" from the labyrinth mountain. After a few breaths, Gui Fang noticed that the "veins" under his skin were gradually turning black.
It is a "poison" that has been accumulated and concentrated over generations.
Gui Fang felt a chill run down his spine. The scene was disgusting and bizarre, as if what was gathering from his body toward the suction cup was not "eerie energy," but tens of thousands of invisible poisonous insects.
The Nine-Headed Octopus sighed contentedly, its enormous, semi-transparent head tilting back slightly. On its massive body, there seemed to be dark black patterns that lit up and then went out with each deep breath.
The entire formation glowed brightly with phosphorescence, and a faint black aura surrounded it, like damp mist filling the stone chamber, making the chamber appear eerie, with light and shadow intertwining in the black mist.
Nine-Headed Chapter suddenly spoke: "Concentrate, imagine the eerie energy around you impacting each suction cup, and make the force more even."
Gui Fang did as instructed, and the eerie aura dissipated, making the eerie aura in the stone chamber even stronger. The black patterns on the Nine-Headed Seal's body flickered rhythmically, like a heartbeat, and the patterns became more and more obvious.
A sudden change occurred.
Inside the enormous, translucent head of the Nine-Headed Octopus, the middle layer of "bubble heads" began to bulge and wriggle unnaturally, as if some kind of parasite was trying to break free.
Its entire head was translucent, with the outermost layer of skin as thin as gauze. Gui Fang clearly saw the changes within and was startled. "Nine-headed octopus! Your head!"
"Know."
Nine-Headed Octopus's voice was somewhat deep as it interrupted Gui Fang's reminder, pressing down on Gui Fang's head with one of its tentacles. "It's normal. If you're scared, don't look. Focus your mind on attacking your acupoints."
The middle layer of the "bubble head" was stretched to almost transparent, and you could even see the blood vessels slowly turning purplish-black and pulsating rhythmically.
Gui Fang couldn't help but curse a few times in his mind. Following the principle of "out of sight, out of mind," he was about to close his eyes when he suddenly saw an even more bizarre scene.
With a "sizzle" sound.
The sound was like some kind of thick flesh being torn apart. Gui Fang couldn't ignore it. He looked in the direction of the sound and immediately froze, his pupils trembling as he stared blankly at the head of the Nine-Headed Octopus.
The outermost "skull" suddenly cracked open, like a flower blooming, slowly opening to both sides. A viscous, transparent liquid gushed out, and the "bubble head" inside was filled with toxins. Its blood vessels were completely black and clearly visible. It swelled to twice its size, squeezing the smallest red "brain nucleus" almost to the point of being invisible.
The head, still developing, was emerging from the crack with a "gurgling" sound, along with a viscous, transparent liquid.
It's like another head splitting open inside a head.
This newborn head was completely different from the outermost layer of skin, which was as thin as paper. It was smaller, and the entire dark blue head was covered with black, pulsating blood vessels, with pale red streaks of blood and sticky liquid hanging from them. It was wrinkled, and at the mouth position was a mouth like that of a sea anemone, which was now opening and closing unconsciously, making soft "pop, pop" sounds.
Gui Fang stared in disbelief, so frightened he forgot to breathe. He had a strange feeling that this head was closer to the real "Nine-Headed Seal".
Suddenly, several deep folds in the head began to wriggle and struggle to open its slender eyes.
The three compound eyes were turning blankly at this moment, the pupils gradually focusing as they looked at the astonished Gui Fang Wu Di. Bright liquid seeped from the corners of his eyes, flowing down his wrinkled, pale skin and the face of the Nine-Headed Seal.
This is disgusting.
Gui Fang Wu Di tried to close his eyes, but the scene was too stimulating for his eyes, and he couldn't help but stare at the new brain.
The two split "skulls" fell off with a thud, shrinking rapidly as if withering away, and the new brain took a deep breath.
The fishy and eerie atmosphere in the stone chamber seemed to freeze for a moment. Gui Fang felt an indescribable fishy smell rush into his body through his nasal cavity, and his breath caught in his throat.
The three compound eyes suddenly converged, as if the newborn infant had instantly transformed into a thousand-year-old demon. Their gaze was sharp and piercing, locked onto Gui Fang. Their mouths opened and closed, the wrinkles gradually unfolding, seemingly continuing to expand. Their expressions revealed a primal, pure hunger and desire. Their eyes gleamed, and they uttered a strange, neither-male-nor-female tone: "Good stuff—"
Gui Fang finally couldn't hold back any longer and yelled, "Ugh, this is disgusting! Let me go! I'll pay! We'll pay for the room!"
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