Chapter 46 046 "It's so good to be alive..."
Shocked, Huo Wu gritted her teeth and ruthlessly struck her right arm with her left palm, severing her own right arm!
The mechanical right hand made of the sacred wood slammed heavily to the ground, but was instantly devoured by a dense swarm of tiny insects!
Seeing the worms swarming towards her again, Huo Wu took a step back in fear. Realizing her subconscious reaction, veins bulged on her forehead. She then used three more tail needles to kill the worms.
In an instant, the corpse of the Gu worm turned into a puddle of water, scalding a hole in the floor!
She stared intently at the corpses of these Gu worms, each word rolling from her throat:
"...How did you do that?"
Huo Wu's face was unusually pale, her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were fixed on the little poisonous creature with a sinister look, all traces of her former domineering aura gone.
She had always been proud of her invincible body, impervious to fire and water, and her unparalleled phantom poison, yet this unknown young man before her had broken through them one after another… How could she not hate him?!
"I'm asking you how you did it!"
Before she could finish speaking, her only remaining left hand lunged at the little poisonous creature!
The little poisoner quickly used his bamboo flute to block the attack. Although he was skilled in making Gu poisons and his skills were also quite good, especially his light footwork, which was as smooth as flowing water. Even in the small farmhouse, he was like a floating duckweed or a lone goose on the edge of the clouds. In his haste, all that could be seen was a glimpse of emerald green moving about amidst the fluttering of his clothes.
Fire Dance's attacks were fierce and unstoppable, but Little Poison noticed that her movements were much slower than before.
Even though Huo Wu only had one hand left, she still possessed over forty or fifty years of internal strength. The little poisoner did not choose to confront her head-on, but instead held a bamboo flute and lightly touched various parts of Huo Wu's body. Huo Wu's body was already heavy and she could not grasp him. Wherever the little poisoner's bamboo flute went, some Gu worms were scattered. However, this time the Gu worms did not easily crawl into the gaps of the mechanism to bite her as before. Instead, they slid down as soon as they touched the mechanical wood on Huo Wu's body.
His Gu worms were extremely vicious yet extremely fragile; they died the moment they landed, leaving a shocking burn mark on the ground.
The little poisonous creature frowned, then nimbly flipped over, holding its bamboo flute, and stood not far away, its dark eyes fixed on the liquid dripping continuously from the body made of the Fire Dance Divine Wood... It remained silent for a long time.
It's oil.
She used her internal energy to force out the grease that had seeped into the mechanical gears. Although this made her already clumsy movements even more stiff, it also successfully prevented the Gu worms from entering her body.
Very smart.
Not only could his Gu worms not find a way in, but the bamboo flute had struck all the acupoints on her body, and they were all as hard as rocks. If the Gu worms couldn't enter this divine wood body, he wouldn't be able to find a way to break through it anytime soon. Besides... there weren't many Gu worms left in the bamboo flute.
Each of the Gu worms inside the bamboo flute was fed with his heart's blood for forty-nine days, and after multiple molts and mutual strangulation, it was refined into more than a hundred top-grade Gu worms. Now, there are at most only a dozen left.
These dozen or so Gu worms might be their last chance.
"...Tsk."
trouble.
The bamboo flute was gently held in the palm of his hand. His slender, jade-white hand slowly tightened its grip on the long bamboo flute, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged like the undulating mountains.
For a time, a stalemate ensued.
The little poisoner's thin lips were pursed into a line, and his eyes were deep and unfathomable, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"The Achilles' heel is in the chest."
Suddenly, from the depths of the sweet, poisonous fog came Jiang Ling'er's low, slightly hoarse voice.
Both Little Poison and Fire Dance paused for a moment. Fire Dance, who was usually slow to move, reacted faster than Little Poison. Before Jiang Ling'er could finish speaking, she flew into a rage, and a terrifying blue vein bulged on her forehead. She kicked the unconscious Yang Dalang in front of her toward Little Poison, then turned and disappeared into the depths of the poisonous fog!
The little poisoner's expression changed, but he could only take on the unconscious, blood-soaked Yang Dalang. In the blink of an eye, when he looked up, Huo Wu had already disappeared!
Jiang Ling'er, seemingly powerless to resist, remained slumped against the window frame, her head bowed, seemingly unaware of Huo Wu's approach.
"I should have killed you long ago, so you could meet your short-lived father in the afterlife!"
Enraged, Huo Wu instantly closed in on Jiang Ling'er, raising her left hand to deliver a deadly blow aimed at the top of her head!
Just as Huo Wu's left palm, carrying immense force, appeared before Jiang Ling'er like a dark cloud obscuring the sun, Jiang Ling'er suddenly opened her eyes, her voice low and weary yet clear as she spoke:
"Is this the place?"
Huo Wu paused slightly, puzzled, then her pupils contracted. She tried to stop her, but it was too late. At the same time that she slapped Jiang Ling'er on the head, Jiang Ling'er raised her hand and slapped her on the right side of her chest!
Huo Wu's palm strike, which had been prepared with all her might, was disrupted by an unexpected turn of events, causing most of the internal force to dissipate when it struck Jiang Ling'er's head. However, the excruciating pain, as if her head had been shattered, still caused Jiang Ling'er to spit out a mouthful of blood!
Blood sprayed directly onto Huo Wu's chest. At this point, her body went limp, clinging to life by its last breath, unable to muster even a sliver of strength. Yet, this seemingly effortless palm strike… revealed a charred handprint beneath the blood on Huo Wu's left chest, while the corresponding right side…
Suddenly a crack appeared!
Jiang Ling'er's face was as pale as paper, and after spitting out blood, she could still laugh: "As expected..."
He Yong, her fifth uncle, once told her that some people in this world are born with their mind on the right instead of the left. She didn't believe it then, but she does now.
She had previously thrust her palm down on Huo Wu's chest, intending to kill her with a single blow to the heart. However, Huo Wu met the attack with her left chest, seemingly unafraid of having her heart pierced by the palm... At the time, she truly believed that Huo Wu was like Di Qing, or even more so. Although Di Qing possessed an indestructible body, he was still flesh and blood, and there were ways to break his defenses. However, Huo Wu was truly impervious to blades and spears, and water and fire could not penetrate her body. With the tail needle in her hand, she could not get close, making her far more troublesome than that fellow Di Qing.
She had already given up on finding Huo Wu's weakness, but the fight between Xiao Du and Huo Wu just now made her previously abandoned guess resurface.
Perhaps she deliberately met the palm strike with her left chest to protect her right side.
Perhaps she was the extraordinary person He Yong once described, whose heart was naturally located on the right side; otherwise, there would be no way to explain her strange and seemingly conspicuous act of deliberately facing him with her left chest.
What Jiang Ling'er didn't know was that although Huo Wu's entire body was made of heavy, mechanical divine wood, as hard as iron, only her heart gate was as thin as a cicada's wing. This was to protect her heart meridian so that she could better operate this body. No one else in the world knew this. And no one else should ever know! Therefore, in her battles with the Little Poison, she repeatedly and intentionally protected her right heart gate. Even the almost demonically clever Little Poison couldn't imagine that someone was born with their heart gate on the right. If Jiang Ling'er hadn't already fought with Huo Wu and harbored some suspicion, she probably would have died at Huo Wu's hands without knowing this secret.
In short, she made the right bet.
Huo Wu's eyes were bloodshot with rage. The anger at having her life force exposed was a hundred times greater than the anger at having her Longevity Scripture stolen. She never imagined that she would fall into the hands of this reckless girl! They must die here today!
The left palm that landed on Jiang Ling'er's head instantly transformed into an eagle claw. Just as the fingertips were about to pierce into Jiang Ling'er's head, a green bamboo flute suddenly pierced through the crack on her right side from behind!
All the Gu worms were poured in!
Huo Wu's pupils contracted slightly, and suddenly she let out a heart-wrenching roar as her body convulsed. The creaking sound of gears being bitten echoed, sending chills down her spine. Even though her left hand had uncontrollably slipped off Jiang Ling'er's head, and even though only two fingers could barely move, she stubbornly held onto Jiang Ling'er's throat with those two fingers. Her hateful gaze fell on Jiang Ling'er's pale face, but she paused when she saw the lingering lividity on her neck. She was quickly knocked away by the little poisonous creature's palm, and Jiang Ling'er was also grabbed by the little poisonous creature's wrist and pulled into its arms!
The moment Jiang Ling'er's skin touched the little poisonous creature, a vast expanse of ghostly blue flames poured from the creature into her body. Huo Wu, though unable to see it, could watch as Jiang Ling'er's numerous wounds healed at a visible speed...
“No wonder…no wonder the tail worm didn’t work on you, it turns out it was the Heart-to-Heart Gu…no.” Huo Wu murmured, staring at Jiang Ling’er’s self-healing wounds. Suddenly, her eyes sharpened and fell on the little poison creature. “It’s not just the Heart-to-Heart Gu, you’re not only the old poison creature’s disciple, but also a successor of the Ghost Path, aren’t you?”
Upon hearing this, the little poisonous creature's eyes flickered slightly, and it spoke vaguely: "It is thanks to your tail needle, senior, that this junior has remembered some... interesting memories."
Huo Wu was knocked to the ground by the little poisonous creature. The Gu worms gnawed at her internal organs, and she collapsed like a mountain, unable to get up again.
"Hahaha... Hahahaha! I never thought that the Ghostly Path and Ghostly Soul Book, which I thought had long been extinct, would reappear in the world... I was able to experience the legendary Heart-to-Heart Gu of the old poison master and the Ghostly Path and Ghostly Soul Book, which is comparable to the Longevity Manual, at the same time. I became a wisp of a dead soul in the Ghostly Soul Book... I've made a profit, and I won't lose anything even if I die."
Huo Wu's desolate and manic laughter gradually subsided, and her trachea emitted a weak, labored breathing sound like a bellows, as the Gu worms invaded upwards. Gradually, her once bright eyes also dimmed.
Jiang Ling'er froze, unable to resist struggling in the little poisoner's arms: "What... is it the Heart-Connecting Gu? And what is the Ghostly Soul Book?"
Upon hearing this, Huo Wu glanced at her, her murky and dim eyes staring at her like an abyss filled with poisonous mist, and she sneered with a sinister smile:
"What difference do you think you have between yourself and these Gu worms?"
Jiang Ling'er's brow twitched violently, and she stood there stunned.
Huo Wu, panting heavily, looked up and gazed past the stunned Jiang Ling'er to the little poisonous creature behind her, her words carrying a hidden meaning: "The old poisonous creature controls snakes, but you've surpassed him, even controlling people... Be careful, manipulating people's hearts might backfire."
Jiang Ling'er didn't hear the second half of the sentence clearly because three silver needles suddenly flew out from behind her and pierced straight into Huo Wu's throat!
The little poisoner, surprisingly, picked up Huo Wu's tail needle and did the opposite, delivering the final blow and ending Huo Wu's life with a flick of her sleeve. Huo Wu probably never imagined that one day she would die from the very tail needle she was most proud of.
His last words, tinged with resentment, were:
"I never expected to be defeated by two kids today. The old poison master has truly found a worthy successor and taught a fine disciple!"
He died before he could finish speaking, his eyes wide open in death as he stared intently at Jiang Ling'er and the other person.
Jiang Ling'er trembled, and the little poisonous creature hugged her even tighter, its cold, slender hands covering her eyes as it whispered:
"...Don't look."
Even with his eyes covered, Huo Wu's jealous and mocking gaze still lingered in her mind's eye, seemingly still taunting her—
What difference do you think there is between you and these Gu worms?
What does this mean?
Unfortunately, Jiang Ling'er had no time to think. She was too weak and slipped down. If it weren't for the little poisonous creature holding her waist tightly, she would have already fallen to the ground.
The little poisoner's long eyelashes fluttered suddenly, and he realized that the scalding blood on the back of Jiang Ling'er's neck had soaked through his long sleeves. Even though the raging ghostly flames on his body were constantly repairing her wounds, the injury to her head from the Fire Dance Palm was too severe. The speed at which the ghostly flames repaired her wounds couldn't keep up with the speed at which she was bleeding. The little poisoner could feel the body in his arms getting colder and colder...
Shivering from the cold, the little poison belatedly realized that it wasn't Jiang Ling'er who was shivering, but him.
He pressed his thin lips together almost into a straight line, silently sealing several acupoints around Jiang Ling'er's body, and then stuffed many pills into her mouth.
Anyone who knew its value would be astonished. It was the Nine-Turn Resurrection Pill, a priceless treasure capable of healing flesh and bones and pulling people back from the brink of death. He stuffed one pill into Jiang Ling'er's mouth as if it were free!
There was a slight sweetness after the initial bitterness, but overall it was still bitter, terribly bitter. Jiang Ling'er swallowed two with difficulty and refused to eat any more.
"Don't worry about me... save Yang Dalang..."
The little poisoner seemed to have anticipated her question, answering quickly and with excessive calmness, focusing intently on taking a handkerchief from his pocket to stop the beads of blood seeping from the back of her neck:
"He won't die."
Jiang Ling'er caught a glimpse of Yang Dalang lying unconscious not far away. The bleeding had stopped, and although his face was frighteningly pale, he was not dead.
Jiang Ling'er breathed a sigh of relief: "You really..."
It's very reliable.
Before she could finish speaking, she finally collapsed from exhaustion in the little poisonous creature's arms, her thin eyelids closing wearily.
The more the little poisoner tried to stop the bleeding from the back of her neck, the more blood dripped from between his fingers. His hands trembled, and finally he dropped the handkerchief on the ground. A surge of emotion welled in his deep, dark eyes, and a crack appeared in his pale, cold mask. He buried his face in Jiang Ling'er's ink-black hair, holding her tightly as if trying to melt her into his very bones. His cool, thin lips brushed against Jiang Ling'er's equally delicate earlobe, his whole body trembling, his voice hoarse as if chanting:
"You're not allowed to leave me alone, you promised me...you promised me..."
"You promised me..."
The icy tears splashed onto Jiang Ling'er's collarbone, yet they were so hot that her tightly closed eyelashes trembled involuntarily.
"You clearly...you clearly promised me..."
"You clearly..."
Feeling so wronged, like a little puppy.
Jiang Ling'er, unable to bear it any longer, raised her hand and slapped the little poisoner on the back of the head:
"Don't make noise, let me rest."
It was a light, seemingly insignificant slap, yet it made the little poisonous creature instantly open its eyes, its eyelashes trembling, and it even forgot to breathe.
"Good boy." The hand patting the back of his head seemed to be soothing a large dog, no, it should be a cat. The fingertips gently patted his head through the soft hair, stroked the fur, and finally hung down lazily to rest on his waist. "Don't worry... I'm not that easy to die."
After speaking, she took a deep breath of the cold plum blossom scent emanating from the little poison creature, then shifted her position to nestle more comfortably in its arms. The countless strands of ghostly flames on the little poison creature's body began to heal her wounds, and the blood on the back of her neck had congealed at some point, gradually giving her pale, almost transparent skin a healthy glow.
"It's so good that I survived."
She murmured unconsciously, and finally closed her eyes, her even breaths spraying onto her neck, which was covered with the fragrance of cold plum blossoms.
The little poisonous creature was stunned, as if it had survived a calamity, and hugged Jiang Ling'er tightly as if she were its own flesh and blood. After a long while, it let out a low sob.
"……Um."
Before I knew it, the first snowflakes had fallen outside the window.
Daylight broke.
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Author's Note: Hehe, see you tomorrow!
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