Chapter 270 A Glimmer of Hope (Part 3)
From the time Wei Feng met Jiang Gu in the Chaolong Secret Realm when he was sixteen, Jiang Gu had been constantly fighting, cultivating, and breaking through. There were always stronger opponents waiting for him, but Jiang Gu never backed down. Getting injured and running away had become commonplace.
However, Wei Feng rarely saw Jiang Gu seriously injured. Even when they lost all their cultivation, Jiang Gu never showed any weakness. No matter when, Wei Feng could always see Jiang Gu standing behind him, always calm and composed.
While Wei Feng was crying out in agony, Jiang Gu wouldn't even flinch at his injuries. Often, before Wei Feng even realized he was hurt, Jiang Gu had already taken care of them himself, without anyone noticing—like just now, if Wei Feng had insisted on having a spiritual connection with him, he might have agreed after weighing the pros and cons.
Wei Feng was relieved that he hadn't acted recklessly, but also somewhat fearful, because Jiang Gu's primordial spirit was already extremely weak; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he would perish at any moment. However, he couldn't forcefully enter Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness any further. Whether Jiang Gu refused or agreed, it would consume his spiritual power, and if Jiang Gu continued to force himself to endure as before, it would only worsen his injuries.
Wei Feng recalled the few steps Jiang Gu staggered backward and his slightly sluggish reaction when he lunged at him. He got up from the futon and pushed open the door.
Although Jiang Xiangyun and Feng Wuyou are smart, they certainly won't tell him the truth. He needs to find someone who is intelligent but also easy to manipulate.
Wen Hanjiu was startled by Wei Feng's sudden appearance.
"Y-what's wrong?" He stammered. It was really not his fault, after all, the vine demon was in a half-human, half-vine form, hanging upside down on the roof beam reading a book, with seven or eight calligraphy brushes of different colors wrapped around its vines.
Wei Feng was silent for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Aren't you dizzy?"
“My body grows downwards, so reading books upside down helps me stay alert,” Wen Hanjiu added. “It also allows me to write more words.”
Wei Feng wasn't interested in his unusual hobby, but since he heard that standing upside down made him more alert, he stopped him from jumping down and turning back into human form.
"I have a question for you, and you must answer truthfully," Wei Feng said kindly. "Otherwise, I'll eat you alive."
"..." Wen Hanjiu almost fell off the roof beam. "Go ahead and ask."
"After the primordial spirit and bones are melted by the Chaos Core, can they be restored to their original state overnight?" Wei Feng asked.
Wen Hanjiu was stunned for a moment, and said, "Ping An once said that the Chaos Core can absorb the spiritual and turbid energies between heaven and earth and turn them into Chaos Energy, and can also transform them into divine power to supply the Path to Heaven. Ordinary cultivators' primordial spirit and body cannot withstand both Chaos Energy and divine power for a long time. Previously, the Chaos Core only stayed in Jiang Gu's sea of consciousness for a few hours, and his primordial spirit was seriously injured."
Jiang Gu was an immortal who had reincarnated in the mortal realm and possessed immortal bones. An ordinary cultivator would probably have been reduced to ashes the moment the Chaos Core entered their body.
“I swallowed one-fifth of the Chaos Core, but I feel nothing at all.” Wei Feng looked at him. “What do you think is the reason?”
"Perhaps... it's because of your special constitution?" Wen Xiuji asked uncertainly.
Wei Feng revealed a ferocious smile.
"..." Wen Xiuji was in great distress. He said, "I don't know anything about the Chaos Core, let alone medicine. But if your primordial spirit has been shattered and your bones have melted after swallowing the Chaos Core, I'm afraid you won't be able to heal on your own unless you use a similar method to heal the body."
The room fell into a deathly silence.
Half an hour later.
After hearing Wei Feng's words, Feng Wuyou asked in confusion, "What pain relief array? Was it developed by medical practitioners from your Pingze Continent? I've never heard of it before."
Chanlin said, "If there really were such a formation, it would be great. It would stop the pain without blocking the sense of touch, and it wouldn't affect fighting or cultivation."
It really doesn't affect him. Every time Jiang Gu uses a pain-relieving magic array on him, he can cultivate whenever he wants, and fighting is no problem for him either. It's just that he rarely cultivates; he prefers to sleep.
Feng Wuyou, a man of wide experience, stroked his chin and said, "Although I've never heard of this pain-relieving array, there is a way that can achieve a similar effect."
"What method?" Wei Feng stared intently at him.
"The principle is somewhat similar to the Shadow-Swapping Array your master used before, which transfers the pain to another person. However, this method requires too much complexity and precision, and besides, it's not very useful. The wound won't disappear into thin air; you still have to heal it. At most, it will make the injured person feel better and calmer." Feng Wuyou asked in confusion, "Why did you suddenly think of asking this?"
Wei Feng said, "I suddenly remembered."
“You might as well just ask your master,” Jiang Xiangyun said. “Before, there were some troublesome prisoners in the Jiang family’s secret prison who couldn’t be killed directly. So they would use this method to torture other prisoners and then transfer the pain to this person, making them suffer excruciating pain without any injuries. It also seems to be able to accumulate the number of prisoners. Usually, they would confess everything in no time. However, it’s easy to drive someone crazy. So my great-grandfather banned this method a long time ago. But everyone in the secret prison knows about these methods.”
Jiang Gu was previously in charge of the Jiang family's secret prison.
Wei Feng clenched his fists tightly at his sides, a fierce undercurrent surging in his dark eyes.
He couldn't quite remember when Jiang Gu had used the pain-relieving array on him. Was it when he was injured and yelling in the Chaolong Secret Realm, which annoyed him? Or was it when he was injured every day and his bones were itching so much that he couldn't sleep at night after he had just become an apprentice? Or was it when he discovered that Zhou Huaiming was Jiang Gu in disguise and cried so much that his primordial spirit was about to dissipate? He couldn't remember.
So much time has passed that his memories of pain and despair have become very vague. What remains are Jiang Gu's cold reprimands and unfamiliar care. In the beginning, Jiang Gu didn't even know how to bandage wounds properly. Usually, he would be wrapped in a thick layer of cloth that would fall apart with a single tear, with either too much or too little medicinal powder inside. If he tried to protest, he would be met with a cold glance from Jiang Gu. But as long as Jiang Gu placed healing and pain-relieving magic circles, he would usually be able to jump around again.
When Wei Feng was young, he was spoiled and mischievous. He would make a fuss if his wound hurt, if he couldn't sleep, or if his bones itched so much that he would jump up and down in the cave. He didn't care how cold and heartless Jiang Gu was. He only knew that Jiang Gu was his master. He would pester Jiang Gu whenever he was unhappy. Now, when he thinks back, he is amazed at how Jiang Gu managed to endure it... Moreover, he was stubborn and could cry his primordial spirit apart.
Even a crack in one's primordial spirit can cause unbearable pain, so how could it not hurt when one's primordial spirit is about to fall apart from crying? But Wei Feng never felt any pain. Only Jiang Gu patiently wiped away his tears while coldly warning him to stop crying.
These were all details he had never noticed or paid attention to before, but once he began to suspect them, one by one, they all turned out to have clues.
Jiang Gu learned these methods from the Jiang family's secret prison. At first, he was probably really annoyed by Wei Feng's crying and screaming, so he simply transferred all the pain to himself. Anyway, Wei Feng wouldn't notice anything, and even if he did, he would just brush it off with a casual remark. Over time, it became a habit.
So in Wei Feng's eyes, if he was injured, he would go to Jiang Gu, and his master would set up many small magic arrays so that he would no longer feel bad. He could cry whenever he wanted to throw a tantrum, and it didn't matter if his primordial spirit was about to dissipate from crying, because his master would help wipe away his tears and coax him back to normal. He could break his ghost patterns whenever he wanted, and his meridians and primordial core could be repaired as before. When he fought, he always charged forward without regard for his life... He even swallowed the Chaos Core without any scruples, and dared to go against the Heavenly Dao to forcibly interrupt Jiang Gu's ascension and leave him behind, even if it meant being shattered to pieces and having his soul torn apart.
It wasn't that he wasn't afraid of death—back in the Chaolong Secret Realm, he even knelt down and begged for mercy to save his life—it was because he knew Jiang Gu wouldn't let him die, so he dared to act recklessly and arbitrarily.
But pain doesn't just disappear.
A complete body and soul cannot be born overnight.
Over the years, Jiang Gu stood calmly and composed behind him and in front of him, silently shielding him from countless pains and hardships.
So when he heard Feng Wuyou say that he was a cursed person, he was surprised and puzzled. Although he had suffered some hardships in Wangyue during those years, he thought he had lived a relatively smooth life, at most feeling a little anxious about losing Jiang Gu.
So that's how it is.
With red eyes, Wei Feng turned and walked away.
Jiang Xiangyun and Feng Wuyou exchanged a glance, and were about to work together to stop the person when they saw Wei Feng abruptly stop outside the door.
“I entered my master’s sea of consciousness before. He asked us to help Chang Ping’an to bring Xiao Dan to the Changning Divine Palace.” Wei Feng turned to look at them. “You don’t need to worry. I will not go to the Yaoyan Divine Palace to find Jiang Gu rashly. If I really want to go, you can’t stop me.”
Jiang Xiangyun breathed a sigh of relief almost imperceptibly, but Feng Wuyou asked, "What did you ask Wen Hanjiu?"
"Let's see if we can persuade him to join us," Wei Feng said dismissively.
He turned and left, leaving Jiang Xiangyun and Feng Wuyou looking at each other in bewilderment.
"This kid's reaction... does he know, or doesn't he?" Feng Wuyou asked.
"They probably already know," Jiang Xiangyun shook his head. "Even if Seventh Brother is meticulous, his injuries this time were too severe, and he inevitably revealed some flaws. He probably already has a plan in mind, but—"
"Just what?"
"I just never expected him to use those torture methods from the secret prison on himself... to deceive his disciple," Jiang Xiangyun said incredulously. "How could his ruthless Dao heart remain unbroken?"
Chanlin scratched his head on the tea tray, remaining in his original form: "Is it possible that he's really annoyed by Wei Feng's crying? That kid cries all the time, I'm getting annoyed for Jiang Gu too."
"So you can't find a Daoist partner and will be alone for the rest of your life." Feng Wuyou pinched his big mouth in annoyance.
——
Yaoyan Temple.
Jiang Gu was healing when a silver-white feather suddenly appeared in his mind, with a bright red ring around its edge.
He raised his hand, and the feather landed steadily in his palm, revealing two lines of small characters:
'I've already informed Jiang Xiangyun and the others of the news, and taken the opportunity to absorb two Purple Mansions. My primordial spirit is also recovering.'
'I accidentally lost a scale, so I'm giving it to you.'
A silver-blue scale, about half the size of a palm, appeared in front of Jiang Gu, condensing extremely pure metallic spiritual power that had already been refined.
"..." Jiang Gu stared silently at the scale.
Regardless of how a fire-attribute cultivator could refine golden spiritual power, if I'm not mistaken, this should be the heart-protecting scale that Wei Feng has painstakingly nurtured over the years.
Long ago, he had tried every means to dig one out by hand.
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