Chapter 158 The Realm of Trials (Part 9)
Wei Feng's primordial spirit was kicked out directly.
He nimbly flipped over in mid-air, gripped the Sorrowful Flame, and crawled into the puppet's shell. He forced himself to remain calm and looked up at Jiang Gu—and the little spirit sitting on Jiang Gu's shoulder, its short arms wrapped around Jiang Gu's neck.
A murderous intent erupted instantly.
The little spirit trembled in fright, hugging Jiang Gu even tighter. Its little boots stepped on Jiang Gu's collarbone, and it went around to his back, only its round, black head peeking out, wiping away tears.
"Give me the Sorrowful Fire," Jiang Gu said coldly.
Wei Feng scoffed coldly: "Give me this useless little piece of trash first."
"..." Jiang Gu frowned in displeasure.
He didn't want to lay a hand on Wei Feng, after all, his primordial spirit was already so badly injured. Perhaps he still had some desire to maintain his gentle and reliable image, but clearly Wei Feng's terrible temperament was crossing his bottom line.
When the door was knocked, Jiang Gu was holding Beiwenhuo in one hand and Wei Feng's neck in the other. Wei Feng's primordial spirit and puppet body were bound hand and foot by the Li Huo Rope. The guy was still glaring at him defiantly.
"Ah Gu, are you there?" Xiao Qingyan's voice came from outside the door.
"Here." Jiang Gu responded, and with lightning speed covered Wei Feng's mouth, kicking him into the spiritual realm.
The Sorrowful Fire was placed into Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness. When Jiang Gu opened the door, he saw Xiao Qingyan smiling. He looked very happy. "Ah Gu, I heard that you have passed the first level of cultivation. I came here to congratulate you. I was delayed on the way for a few days. Please don't blame me."
Jiang Gu opened the door and invited the person in.
"Huh, what happened in this room?" Xiao Qingyan was startled by the mess on the floor. The whole room looked like it had just been through a fierce battle, and even one of the bedposts had been kicked and cracked.
"The spirit pet was a bit disobedient, so I gave it a quick scolding." Jiang Gu smiled. "How has Young Master Xiao been lately?"
His smile was faint and fleeting, but Xiao Qingyan was still stunned, and after a long while, he nodded slowly, "It's acceptable."
"Is your cultivation progressing smoothly?" Consultant Jiang asked.
"Ah." Xiao Qingyan finally came to her senses and said with a wry smile, "You must have heard about it from them in Yin Yang City, right?"
Jiang Gu remained silent. These past few days, he had been either fleeing for his life or cultivating, and he really had no time to inquire about his affairs.
However, Xiao Qingyan was quite perceptive, as if she had finally found someone to confide in. She said in a low voice, "I was born with extremely poor aptitude, only a three-elemental root. My mother even wanted to strangle me. Fortunately, my father loved me and raised me personally. He even cleansed my marrow and turned me into a heavenly spiritual root. He found me the best master and gave me the top-tier magic treasures and resources... Unfortunately, I have extremely poor comprehension and am not diligent enough. Now I am twenty-three years old, but I am still only at the Great Perfection of the Mahayana stage."
He looked at Jiang Gu with a hint of trepidation, "You're a complete waste, aren't you?"
"..." Jiang Gu's expression was somewhat complicated.
In Xiao Qingyan's words, the three spiritual roots meant extremely poor aptitude. He had reached the Great Perfection of Mahayana cultivation at the age of twenty-three but had become a waste. If Xiao Qingyan were placed in Pingze, he would probably be a "genius" that his family and sect would have to carefully protect.
Xiao Qingyan said bitterly, "Besides, I don't want those messy magic treasures and resources. My master and fellow disciples just fawn over me. No matter where I go, I'm protected. I never encounter any difficulties or dangers. I just want my mother to look at me more and my father to spend more time with me. Why can't they understand?"
...Jiang Gu didn't understand either.
What on earth is this bastard so troubled about?
Xiao Qingyan was troubled for a long time before belatedly raising her head and giving Jiang Gu an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with these trivial matters."
"It's alright." Jiang Gu couldn't understand the troubles of the young master of Yanyu Terrace. After all, Xiao Qingyan only had to worry about whether his father and mother loved him or not, but he had to consider whether he could survive the assessment and enter the second level in five days.
He had long known that the gap between people was like a chasm, but he remained calm. "Perhaps you can find an opportunity to prove to your father and mother that you are not as weak as they think."
But he could cause Xiao Qingyan even greater trouble.
Xiao Qingyan's eyes lit up slightly. "A-Gu, do you have a solution?"
"I'm afraid that's not quite right." Jiang Gu hesitated for a moment, then declined.
"It's alright, tell me what you mean." Xiao Qingyan said impatiently, "The people around me are all just flatterers, only you are willing to tell me the truth."
Jiang Gu paused for a moment before saying, "Why not try your luck in the Trial Realm?"
Xiao Qingyan was stunned, and hesitated before saying, "But with my cultivation level—"
“When I entered the first realm, I was only at the Mahayana stage,” Jiang Gu said. “The only way to shut them up is through strength, to put them in a life-or-death situation.”
Xiao Qingyan's heart skipped a beat.
A few hours later, Xiao Qingyan bid him farewell, looking somewhat dazed. Before leaving, she solemnly grasped his hand, her eyes filled with deep affection. "A-Gu, you're right. I won't back down anymore. Even if it's just for you, I will prove to everyone that I'm not a good-for-nothing!"
Jiang Gu smiled and saw him off.
He closed the door and turned around, the genuine smile on his face slowly fading away—if his guess was correct, Xiao Qingyan was probably also a so-called "Jade Tribulation" or "Jade Steps," but he didn't know why Xiao Dan valued Xiao Qingyan so much. In any case, he would not let Xiao Qingyan continue to live in peace.
Wang Yue and his ilk tormented his disciple to such a terrible state; there's no reason why their own disciples could be so safe and sound. He will repay them all.
Just like the elders and disciples of Yanghua Sect who had tormented and bullied Wei Feng, Jiang Gu thought of those who were still locked in narrow black cages, their souls searched every day, yet unable to lose their minds and forced to remain conscious, and rubbed his cuffs.
Of course, this made him seem rather ruthless—he looked at the person who had emerged eerily from the spiritual realm, and noticing Wei Feng's still messy hair, his eyebrows twitched slightly, "Calmed down?"
"Calm down?" Wei Feng sneered. "Jiang Gu, you really have no taste, even Xiao—"
Before he could finish speaking, a hand grabbed his throat. Jiang Gu said calmly, "What did you call me?"
Wei Feng glared at him fiercely and said defiantly, "Don't think I can't beat you. If my true form were here, you wouldn't even have the power to resist."
Jiang Gu leaned closer to him and slowly curled the corners of his mouth, "Then come over here if you dare."
Wei Feng tilted his head back, his eyes burning with anger. He was about to bite Jiang Gu when Jiang Gu pressed him down into the seat. Most of the injuries on his body were from his own attempts to break free of the Fire Rope. Healing and pain-relieving arrays were cast one after another. Jiang Gu pressed down on his shoulders, walked behind him, and reached out to gather his messy hair.
When the comb teeth brushed against his scalp, Wei Feng froze on the spot.
Clearly, Jiang Gu had never done such delicate work before, and his technique was a bit stiff. He pulled a red ribbon and tied Wei Feng's hair into a ponytail, and said in a deep voice, "Your fighting movements are so stiff, and you can't even tie your hair properly with your fingers. Your original spirit has not stayed in your body for the past few years."
It sounds like a question, yet it also sounds like a certain statement.
Wei Feng wanted to retort angrily, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a dry, sore feeling came from his nose and throat. He moved his lips slightly and clenched his back teeth.
His silence confirmed Jiang Gu's suspicions.
He had been suspicious from the moment Wei Feng eagerly entered the puppet's body. It wasn't until he fought with Wei Feng that he discovered his movements were extremely stiff and slow compared to the primordial spirit, and he couldn't even tie his hair properly—such trivial matters were obviously not something Wei Feng would think of solving with magic.
Jiang Gu smoothed his hair and said in a deep voice, "I am indeed late. Where are you now?"
Snap!
Wei Feng suddenly slapped his hand away.
Jiang Gu was stunned for a moment, then reacted and immediately started to form a seal. However, Wei Feng's movements were even faster than his. Black mist spread out and viciously snatched away the sleeping little primordial spirit inside the black jade bracelet. The Fire Rope in Jiang Gu's hand turned into thousands of threads, trying to bind him.
"Wei Feng!" Jiang Gu shouted coldly.
Wei Feng's resistance faltered for a moment, but then he disregarded everything and risked his soul being scattered to leave. Seeing that the wounds on his primordial spirit were increasing, Jiang Gu's breath hitched and he released the Fire Rope.
The black fog vanished without a trace in an instant.
The little wooden puppet resembling Wei Feng lost its spirit and fell to the ground with a thud, shattering into pieces.
Jiang Gu lowered his eyes and stared at the puppet for a long time. With a sweep of his long sleeve, the broken pieces of wood turned into dust and disappeared along with Wei Feng's primordial spirit.
Beiwenhuo remained huddled in a corner of his mind, but now there were more than a dozen unfamiliar refining talismans. The talismans were drawn very hastily, but their spiritual power was astonishing, greatly accelerating the melting speed of the weapon refining array. A faint black mist surrounded them, and it was obvious who had done it.
Jiang Gu looked at the talismans, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
——
Beneath the blood-red Bodhi tree, a large plume of black mist swept over the meditating youth, filling in his missing arm and even restoring the void in his primordial spirit at his heart.
The writhing ghost patterns transformed into fine threads, stitching those primordial spirits into the main body's primordial spirit. The sensation of stitching primordial spirits was not pleasant; Wei Feng's face turned pale, and the Blood Bodhi behind him trembled slightly.
"How many people have you confirmed?" Chu Guanshan's voice came from the Blood Bodhi behind him.
Wei Feng said coldly, "We've only confirmed that two people aren't Jade Rank."
"who?"
“Lin Feibai and Jiang Gu,” Wei Feng said. “Although Lin Feibai has good aptitude, he doesn’t react to my primordial spirit at all. Moreover, he has already formed a Daoist partnership with that woman surnamed Zhou, and the two are very affectionate… I had the greatest suspicion about Jiang Gu before, but as you have seen, my avatar has tried to probe him many times outside the Boundary Realm without success. I have also carefully tested him in the First Realm. He is now just a single spiritual root that has been cleansed, with extremely poor aptitude. His primordial spirit is also dull and without luster. At most, his luck is better.”
"Heh, he was your former master after all. He'll be hurt if you say that to him," Chu Guanshan laughed.
"Heh, he's not my master. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been brought to Wangyue by Lu Liyu. If you hadn't stopped me, I would have killed him long ago." Wei Feng said coldly, "Don't mention him in front of me. It only disgusts me."
"Tsk, what a waste of all my energy." Chu Guanshan said with some regret. "But you did manage to use him to obtain that piece of primordial spirit from under the Sorrowful Flame. Wen Ziheng didn't notice, did he?"
"Of course not," Wei Feng said. "I have already refined the Sorrowful Fire into my primordial spirit, so I can't let those people benefit from it."
"Tsk, not bad." Chu Guanshan said, "Continue to explore the remaining levels, and let me know immediately if you have any news."
Wei Feng looked up at the endless sea of blood before him. "Aren't you afraid that if I make too much of a move, Xiao Dan will find out?"
“No, the Burning Platform Hall is currently drawing most of his attention.” Chu Guanshan pondered for a moment and said, “He shouldn’t be paying attention to the Trial Realm for the time being.”
“Jiang Gu is encouraging Xiao Qingyan to enter the Trial Realm. Perhaps we can lend him a hand,” Wei Feng said calmly. “But this will only bring more trouble to Xiao Dan.”
“Okay.” Chu Guanshan scoffed lightly, “He cherishes Xiao Qingyan so much. If the jade steps really appear, let’s see if he wants the jade steps or his precious son… It seems that Jiang Gu is still somewhat useful. Let’s keep him for now.”
Wei Feng clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"Alright, once we find the jade steps, you can do whatever you want with him." Chu Guanshan laughed, "Aren't you going to recall your body? You had a perfectly good body, but you insisted on going back into the Life and Death Tower to be tortured again. You truly are a disciple I personally taught."
"Let it dissipate." Wei Feng said curtly.
Chu Guanshan said, "Alright, anyway, that shell is really ugly. See if there are any suitable shells in the Trial Realm. If you like one, I can help you get it."
"Okay." Wei Feng nodded. "Thank you, Master."
Chu Guanshan chuckled, his aura vanished completely, and the Bodhi tree returned to stillness.
After a long while, Wei Feng finally pulled out a small, pitch-black primordial spirit from the mist. It was not yet intelligent and had been by Jiang Gu's side for a long time, so its perception of its true form was almost zero. It was filled with fear and trembled as it curled up into a ball.
Wei Feng stared at its exquisite outer robe, dark armor, and the protective magical artifacts adorning it. A surge of jealousy made him unconsciously tighten his grip on its fingers. The little spirit let out a painful wail, tears streaming down its face, its red ribbon brushing against Wei Feng's fingers.
The grip on it came to an abrupt halt.
The young man, whose expression was sinister, suddenly had tears welling up in his eyes.
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