Chapter 114 Heartless Love (Part 9)
Wei Feng's wounds included both new and old ones. Jiang Gu first dealt with the troublesome chains and the fresh wounds, and then turned his attention to his broken shark tail.
Jiang Gu didn't like merfolk. Their sticky, cold scales always carried the salty smell of seawater. But in his memory, Wei Feng's merfolk tail was covered with round, shiny scales. Because he was still young, the scales on his abdomen were always exceptionally soft. His tail fin swayed in the water like a silver-blue ribbon. Sometimes it would nimbly curl up and stick to his calf, and then the whole merfolk would wrap around him.
Instead of being severed in the middle like this, barely growing back together with the skin and flesh, without the scales that glow underwater, leaving only hideous, raised, fleshy pink scars, densely packed together, which would make anyone physically uncomfortable just looking at them.
Long, slender, white fingers landed on the ugly, broken tail. Wei Feng flinched, but couldn't curl his tail. Jiang Gu ran his fingers down his abdomen along the bones and clearly felt the broken gap.
"Who dug it?" he asked casually.
Wei Feng said stiffly, "I forgot."
Jiang Gu lifted his eyelids and gave him a cold look. Wei Feng stared back at him. Seeing that Jiang Gu didn't speak, he said in a hoarse voice, "Stop...pretending. If it's useful...you should dig it out too."
It was clearly a harsh statement, but because it was accompanied by a sob, it made people feel wronged for no reason, as if he was deliberately throwing a tantrum.
Jiang Gu stared at him expressionlessly, then flipped the dagger in his hand and plunged it directly into Wei Feng's severed tail. Wei Feng was startled, but did not experience the expected pain.
A pain-blocking magic circle hovered over the wound, and crimson blood soaked Jiang Gu's fingers. Without blinking, he sliced open Wei Feng's flesh and touched his broken bones. Wei Feng couldn't struggle within the magic circle and glared at him angrily, but Jiang Gu said coldly, "Useless thing."
Wei Feng bared his teeth at him, and taking advantage of Jiang Gu's unpreparedness, wrapped his slender tongue around Jiang Gu's neck, and then suddenly tightened, pulling him in front of him. Jiang Gu was caught off guard, and his whole palm slid forward and supported him under his lower abdomen.
Wei Feng froze.
"If you move again, I'll cut out your tongue." Jiang Gu suppressed his anger, staring at the monster that was inches away.
Wei Feng's scorching breath sprayed onto his face, deliberately using his bloodied and mangled mermaid tail to stick to his snow-white clothes, letting the sticky saliva stain his neck. The filth and salty smell were everywhere. With just a pull and a tug, the once clean and aloof immortal became a mess.
Wei Feng was very satisfied.
He slowly released his tongue, staring intently at Jiang Gu's movements, watching him carefully as Jiang Gu used the dark stone to create a bone cone for a shark's tail, precisely filling the empty space in his own tail, and then roughly closing the skin and flesh of the shark's tail, wrapping the entire tail with a strip of cloth soaked in medicinal juice.
He tried, and his tail could barely move a little before Jiang Gu grabbed it and held it down.
"You can't move around for a month." Jiang Gu then looked at his twisted and deformed wings. "Can your wings regenerate?"
Wei Feng immediately sensed something was wrong. He knew Jiang Gu all too well. Compared to the cruelty of cultivators like Wang Yue, he was simply ruthless, even to the point of completely disregarding his own life and death.
He decisively broke free from the magic array's restraints and turned to run, but Jiang Gu seemed to have anticipated his actions, intercepting him within the magic array half a breath in advance. He grabbed the back of his neck and with a swift stroke, severed the pair of deformed and twisted kite wings at the root. Before the blood could even gush out, it was enveloped by layers of talismans and the magic array.
Wei Feng groaned, rolling on the ground in pain. His bandaged tail was covered in mud. Then, his chin was held down and he was forced to drink an unknown number of bottles of pills.
“Jiang…Gu!” His eyes were bloodshot with pain, as if he had returned to the Songsui Illusion five years ago. He too had his wings cut off by Jiang Gu and was then pushed into a dead end by his own hands. His hoarse voice was filled with anger and hatred as he began to rampage through the cave.
Torn between pain and rage, for a fleeting moment he thought of abandoning everything and taking Jiang Gu with him to die.
Jiang Gu remained indifferent and arrogant, standing there looking down at his painful and ugly state.
The surging ghost patterns completely engulfed the entire cave. Jiang Gu was tightly pulled into an embrace in the sticky, cold darkness, his bones aching from the constriction. Sharp fangs pierced his shoulders, and hot breath lingered on his neck. Jiang Gu merely frowned, and then casually used the ghost stone to temporarily fill Wei Feng's empty dantian and heart.
He guessed from Wei Feng's angry and painful breathing that the other party must be planning to say something harsh.
But when he opened his mouth, he choked up. Whether it was tears or the luminous pearl hitting his back, Wei Feng cried in a muffled and suppressed voice, and did not stop for a long time, as if he wanted to return all the tears he had accumulated over the past five years to Jiang Gu.
A cold body, scalding breath, a stench mixed with the pungent smell of blood, writhing ghost patterns clinging tightly to warm skin, flesh pierced by fangs trembling with numbness and pain. Wei Feng's chaotic and frenzied emotions surged like the sea, engulfing his entire being.
This feeling is strange.
Even though Wei Feng is now scarred, ferocious, and disobedient, and may not be of much use, and is completely different from the little apprentice he wanted, Jiang Gu doesn't want to lose him, and even feels a faint sense of satisfaction.
Much later, Jiang Gu finally understood that feeling was called losing something and then regaining it.
——
Wei Feng tossed and turned all night before finally calming down. Jiang Gu, mindful of Wei Feng's injuries, didn't really go all out to punish him. It wasn't until Wei Feng collapsed from exhaustion that Jiang Gu finally cleaned away the troublesome ghost marks on his body.
The beast was completely wrapped in strips of cloth, with only two pale eyes and a nose showing. As soon as he picked the man up, Wei Feng opened his eyes warily, and the murderous ghost pattern stopped just half an inch away from his brow.
After a moment of eye contact, the ghostly patterns drooped down as if nothing had happened, turning into a damp white mist that dissipated into the air.
Jiang Gu was about to open the spiritual realm when Wei Feng suddenly grabbed his wrist and leaned in, crumpling his neat, white sleeves and leaving indelible bloodstains and dirt on them. He almost pressed his face against Jiang Gu's, hoarsely uttering each word: "Jiang Gu... don't you... have anything... to ask?"
Hearing this bastard call him by his name, Jiang Gu's forehead veins throbbed.
Although he didn't care much about so-called etiquette, Wei Feng's disrespectful behavior still made him feel uneasy.
Wei Feng didn't get an answer, so he stuck out his tongue and licked away the blood seeping from Jiang Gu's shoulder and neck. The saliva burned Jiang Gu's perfectly good clothes into a mess. The ghost pattern also tugged at Jiang Gu's clothes and wide sleeves, wriggling and gnawing at them. In no time, Jiang Gu's clean clothes that he had changed into were ruined beyond recognition.
Jiang Gu, unable to bear it any longer, kicked him into the spiritual realm.
——
The next morning, the group met at the foot of the mountain.
Jiang Xiangyun gasped when he saw Jiang Gu. "Seventh Brother, did you go to Tushan last night?"
The reason was simply that Jiang Gu's body reeked of blood, as if he had been pulled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
"It smells fishy," Lu Ziming scoffed.
Jiang Gu glanced at him indifferently.
Lu Ziming possesses two souls in one body and two Yuan Dan pills, making him perfect for replenishing Wei Feng's body; however, killing him would be somewhat troublesome.
Moreover, he didn't like Wei Feng using other people's things.
Lu Ziming felt a sudden chill run down his spine and stared warily at Jiang Gu, only to find that the other man's murderous intent vanished in an instant, his gaze seemingly appraising some worthless, dirty thing.
Lu Ziming's face darkened, but Jiang Gu had already disappeared.
After traveling for many more days, the group finally came across another city.
“We are currently at the easternmost edge of the Wangyue Continent. There are few spiritual veins here, and the land is sparsely populated with few cities. It will become more lively 30,000 miles to the west.” Jiang Xiangyun said, looking at the map. “Heguan City belongs to Ganlou, but it is too far from Ganlou’s headquarters. If we are lucky, we may be able to contact the people of Qiankunlou.”
Lu Ziming said, "Young Master seems to be very familiar with Wangyue."
Upon hearing this, several people simultaneously turned their gazes to Jiang Xiangyun.
"To be honest, my great-grandfather brought me to Wangyue when I was young, and I also handled matters related to contacting Ganlou at the Jiang family, so I inevitably know a lot." Jiang Xiangyun smiled amicably. "Fellow Daoist Lu, you can rest assured, we are in the same boat now, and I have no reason to harm you."
Lu Ziming snorted with a sour face.
Lin Feibai smoothed things over, saying, "The situation is complicated now. We've made it this far thanks to the eldest young master. People from Yin Yang Tower and Qiankun Tower are probably looking for us, as are those traitors from the Eight Pavilions. One wrong step could be very dangerous. Why don't we do as the eldest young master suggests and split up in pairs to inquire about Qiankun Tower in the city?"
Zhou Tingran was in a weak position, so she decisively stood by Lin Feibai's side. After all, none of these people were easy to get along with, and they would be lucky if they didn't take her down with them if they were in real danger. Only this young master Lin seemed to still have a conscience and could save her in a critical moment.
Yao Li naturally followed Jiang Xiangyun.
Lu Ziming gave Jiang Gu a cold look, then turned and disappeared from the spot.
Jiang Gu would not go with him.
Although he agreed to go into the Yin-Yang Tower with Jiang Xiangyun, Jiang Gu completely distrusted the so-called trial. He was happy to delay the time to make full preparations before entering the tower, and Wei Feng's injuries also needed time to heal.
He planned to go to the weapon-refining shops in the city to find some handy magical artifacts, but ended up stopping in front of the clinic.
"Medicine to remove scars?" The doctor at the clinic said, "If spiritual energy cannot remove them, then it is indeed a long-standing injury that has damaged bones and muscles. I do have some here, but the price will be a bit higher."
The doctor looked quite old, with a frail appearance. He led the way with a cane, and Jiang Gu followed him up to the second floor.
"May I take a look at the injury?" The doctor took out a box of ointment from deep inside the shelf; it was covered with a thick layer of dust.
"It's inconvenient." Jiang Gu imagined the scenario of releasing Wei Feng, but then gave up the idea after looking at the room full of expensive medicines.
The old doctor was also good-tempered. He gave the ointment to Jiang Gu and then took a small knife as thin as a cicada's wing. "Shave the scar clean, apply a layer of medicine, and then supplement it with the Cleansing Spirit Array and the Bone-Regenerating and Flesh-Growing Pill. Change it every three hours. After forty-nine days, I guarantee that the scarred area will be as smooth as new."
Jiang Gu took it. "Will it hurt?"
The old doctor looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Nothing cut without pain."
"..." Jiang Gu put away the medicine and bought a lot of nourishing medicines.
Such a generous guest is probably rare in this remote city. The old doctor personally packed a bunch of medicinal herbs and pills for him and put them into his storage bag. "Judging from the medicine you brought, this person is seriously injured and his body is severely depleted. It will probably be difficult for him to recover in a short time. These medicines can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."
He put it tactfully, but Jiang Gu understood what he meant.
Wei Feng was too badly injured and had very poor self-healing ability. No matter how good the medicine was, it would be a drop in the ocean.
"Thank you." He thanked them politely, took the things, and left the clinic.
With so many people and eyes in the city, Jiang Gu deliberately went outside the city to find a secluded place to set up the formation before taking the medicinal herbs into the spiritual realm.
More than ten days have passed since he was kicked in last time. Wei Feng has spent most of his time sleeping in the spiritual spring. At first, he would wake up a few times and be ready to attack at any time, but as Jiang Gu came more and more often, he could only see a fish tail floating on the water.
He knelt down by the spring, grabbed the tail of the swaying fish, and pulled Wei Feng out of the water.
Wei Feng was wrapped tightly in strips of cloth and slept soundly. Several ghostly patterns listlessly approached him, sniffed, and then drooped down, turning into mist that dampened the hem of his clothes.
Jiang Gu placed two soothing spells between Wei Feng's eyebrows and swiftly cut the strips of cloth binding him. The damp, cold air seeped into his skin, and Wei Feng instantly woke up, meeting the gaze of Jiang Gu, whose face was cold and who was holding a blade, ready to cut his neck.
"..." Jiang Gu didn't expect him to wake up.
After all, during the previous few times he used the Sleeping Formation, Wei Feng's bones were broken and set but he didn't see him move.
Wei Feng looked down at his naked body, then at the blood-stained blade pressed against his neck. After a moment of contemplation, he said in a hoarse voice, "This skin... doesn't look good. If you want it... I'll grow you... a new one."
Jiang Gu tightened his grip on the razor blade.
Wei Feng's eyes were icy cold. "However... it will take... a long time, and there won't be... any scales."
As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Jiang Gu's hand, weaving his own fingers between Jiang Gu's. He then pressed Jiang Gu's knife against his patched-up chest, saying, "Start peeling the skin from here, quickly."
Jiang Gu's expression was icy. "What would they want your skin for?"
“Refining… magical artifacts.” Wei Feng lowered his eyes, staring at Jiang Gu’s fair hand, where faint blue veins were visible, looking particularly beautiful in the mist. “At first… when I threw it into the refining array, it was even more powerful than yours. I wouldn’t die… my wounds healed quickly, and the ghost patterns could regenerate flesh and blood… They wanted to test… what the effects would be when refining something into a magical artifact…”
Wei Feng's ghostly markings had somehow snatched the blade from Jiang Gu's hand. He grabbed Jiang Gu's fingers and placed them over the gruesome wound on his chest. "They cut off my flesh and blood... and nurtured my ghostly markings. At first, it could heal... but then it stopped... The blood kept flowing, and it hurt a lot... I sewed it up myself... I couldn't afford medicine, so it festered... worms grew in it, and my bones were bitten."
The rough texture of the scar made Jiang Gu want to pull his hand away.
Wei Feng stared straight at him and said hoarsely, "After you've peeled the skin... just give me a bottle of hemostatic pills... that'll do."
Jiang Gu's jaw tightened, a bitter anger welling up in his chest, but his voice remained flat. "What else did they do to you?"
Wei Feng suddenly grinned and let out a hoarse laugh, "I forgot."
Jiang Gu frowned.
That bastard did it on purpose. He had previously questioned Jiang Gu about why he pushed him away in the illusion, and Jiang Gu had dismissed it with a simple "I forgot." So he kept reminding Jiang Gu.
"Anyway... you don't have anything to ask." Wei Feng spat out the small razor blade from somewhere and put it in Jiang Gu's hand. "But... don't cut his throat. If you cut it again, he really won't be able to speak."
With a lump in his throat, Jiang Gu's expression grew even colder; he didn't want to stay here.
But Wei Feng wouldn't let him have his way. He blocked his retreat with the barely movable shark tail, the naked, slippery body twisting and coiling around him, the face covered in ghost patterns breathing close to him, the massive body encircling him completely, and a heavy shadow looming over him.
His hoarse voice was filled with resentment and malice.
"Jiang Gu... my back hurts."
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