Chapter 343: It’s Not Like She Can Pay With Her Body, Right?

The surface of the deep Cold Pool was now littered with the fragmented carapaces of Poisonous Insects, all burning with bloody flames.

Chen Yuan had fallen straight into the Cold Pool. He surfaced a moment later and swam to the shore, his face deathly pale, blood streaming from his eye sockets.

‘Strictly speaking, the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall was easier to deal with than Candle Dragon of the Beast Taming Hall.’

Candle Dragon had sealed himself away with an Array and possessed the Life Transformation Pearl, which allowed him to preserve more of his Vitality. His only weak point was the pearl itself.

The Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall, on the other hand, had submerged himself in the Cold Pool to reduce his consumption of Vitality. But even so, his life force was still slowly draining away.

If another thousand years or so had passed, future generations entering the Endless Immortal Palace might have found the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall already dead.

However, everyone had worked together to defeat Candle Dragon. This time, Chen Yuan had faced the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall alone, so the toll had naturally been much greater.

Chen Yuan gasped for breath and sat cross-legged on the ground. He took out the Prayer Wheel and began to turn it, slowly recovering his Spiritual Power.

A quarter of an hour later, Long Yao also returned in a battered state.

Her skin was naturally snow-white, but now her face was as pale as a corpse. Her clothes were torn, revealing not smooth, delicate skin, but a series of gruesome, bloody gashes.

When she saw Chen Yuan sitting cross-legged on the ground and the corpse of the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall floating on the water, Long Yao’s eyes widened in utter disbelief.

She had exhausted all her trump cards, even risking her life, just to subdue those four top-tier Poisonous Insects.

In truth, she could have just left.

For a Gu Master of her level, collecting four top-tier Poisonous Insects in one go had already made this trip to the Heaven-Reaching Tower more than worthwhile.

But Long Yao had her own principles. She often called Central Plains People cunning, but if she were to abandon all integrity, take what she wanted, and run, she would be no better than them.

That was why, despite her grievous injuries, she had chosen to return and help Chen Yuan fight the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall.

Who could have imagined that by the time she returned, the man before her would have already dealt with the terrifyingly powerful Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall?

In that instant, Chen Yuan became utterly unfathomable in Long Yao’s eyes.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes. His face was still pale, but a good deal of his Spiritual Power had recovered.

“Did you capture the Poisonous Insects?”

Long Yao nodded and took out a translucent cocoon. Inside it was the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth.

“This cocoon can hold the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth for about five years. You just need to drip a drop of your Qi Blood onto it once a month to maintain its basic life functions.”

Chen Yuan looked at the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth, nodded in satisfaction, and placed it in his Qiankun Bag.

“By the way, what do you plan to do with the body of the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall?” she asked.

Long Yao looked at the corpse, which had four large holes blasted through it and was on the verge of disintegrating.

“Is this thing useful to you?” Chen Yuan asked.

Chen Yuan was surprised. ‘It’s been battered this badly, and it can still be used?’

Long Yao nodded. “It’s extremely useful. Although its Vitality has been completely extinguished, it was created by fusing countless Poisonous Insects. You should know, even if some Poisonous Insects die, their carapaces are excellent materials for Refining Gu.”

“With the body of the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall, I won’t have to worry about a shortage of materials for Refining Gu for a long time. Furthermore, the carapaces of some of the rare Poisonous Insects within it are considered priceless by us Miaojiang Gu Masters.”

“Then you can have it,” Chen Yuan said with a casual wave of his hand.

“What?! All of it?”

Long Yao stared at Chen Yuan, unable to believe her ears.

‘I just told him how priceless this is for a Gu Master, and he didn’t make a single demand. His generosity is almost excessive, isn’t it?’

“It’s useless to me,” Chen Yuan said lightly. “What would I do with it? Since you can use it, just take it.”

Although Long Yao hadn’t helped him fight the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall, her greatest contribution was capturing the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth.

If it hadn’t been for her, he would have had to expend a great deal of effort to catch the insect himself. If he had used too much force and accidentally injured or killed it, it would have been a real problem.

Hearing this, Long Yao stood and gave Chen Yuan a formal bow. “Thank you, Master Chen. The Long Family has always repaid every kindness and avenged every wrong.”

“Where I come from, we never forget a benefactor, and our hatred for an enemy can span nine generations.”

“Not all Central Plains People are treacherous schemers like Han Chang. Master Chen, I, Long Yao, will remember the kindness you have shown me today.”

“You’re making too much of it. We both got what we wanted,” Chen Yuan said, waving his hand dismissively.

Long Yao said nothing more, but her gaze was resolute.

Since leaving Miaojiang, most of the people she had encountered were treacherous schemers. Some took advantage of her perceived naivety, while others coveted her beauty with ill intentions.

By the time she reached the Heaven-Reaching Tower, her impression of Central Plains People was abysmal, which was why she had been so wary of Chen Yuan when they first met.

Now, Chen Yuan had generously given her the body of the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall without making a single demand. He wasn’t taking advantage of her, and this naturally caused her impression of him to improve dramatically.

Of course, in reality, Chen Yuan was being so generous because Long Yao had nothing he wanted.

‘She’s a Gu Master; I can’t use any of her Poisonous Insects. What am I supposed to do, ask her to repay me with her body?’

‘If I dared to suggest it, I’d be met with an overwhelming swarm of Poisonous Insects. It’s better just to be generous.’

Long Yao stored the body of the Master of Ten Thousand Gu Hall away, then released a swarm of bee-like Poisonous Insects. They swarmed over her body, and in just a few moments, her injuries were completely healed, the mangled, bloody wounds replaced by smooth, flawless skin.

Chen Yuan stared openly. ‘I gave her the body, so I should at least be allowed to look, right?’

‘And her skin really is fair,’ he thought. ‘So fair it’s almost blinding.’

Long Yao didn’t seem to mind. The women of many tribes in the Miaojiang Land were naturally bold and spirited, not bound by the same tedious etiquette as Central Plains People.

For convenience when hiking in the mountains, some tribeswomen even wore skirts so short they barely reached the tops of their thighs.

“By the way, Master Chen, what do you need the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth for? Do you plan to command it? Do you have the Secret Technique needed to control such an insect?”

This was something Long Yao had been wondering about for a while.

‘Chen Yuan is a pure Martial Artist and doesn’t seem to be an expert in the Gu Dao, so what would he want with the Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth?’

Besides, commanding a Poisonous Insect of this level required a specialized Secret Technique to unleash its full potential. To rely solely on the insect’s instincts in battle would be an incredible waste.

She hadn’t felt it was her place to ask before, but now that they were better acquainted, she finally voiced her question.

Chen Yuan didn’t hide anything. “I possess another top-tier Poisonous Insect, the Six-winged Golden Cicada,” he said directly. “I want to refine one of the Ten Great Evil Gu: the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu.”

“By the way, Miss Long, do you happen to know which of the Miaojiang Gu Masters is capable of refining the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu?”

“You have a Six-winged Golden Cicada as well?”

Long Yao was stunned. She shook her head, her expression complicated. “Most Miaojiang Gu Masters consider themselves incredibly fortunate to possess even a single top-tier Poisonous Insect.”

“I never imagined you’d have two top-tier Poisonous Insects that are on the verge of extinction, let alone that they’re the ingredients for one of the Ten Great Evil Gu.”

“But you’ve come to the right person, Master Chen.”

“In all of Miaojiang, only two people are capable of refining the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu.”

“One is the Sect Leader of the Gu God Sect, Ma Jiuxian.”

“The other is my master, the Dragon Ghost Witch. She is a descendant of the very same Great Diviner of Miaojiang, Long Tianxi, who first refined the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu.”

“But if you go to Ma Jiuxian, knowing the Gu God Sect’s methods, they will undoubtedly use every trick and coercive measure to steal your Six-winged Golden Cicada and Blood Spirit Celestial Eye Moth.”

“The only reason Ma Jiuxian even knows how to refine the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu is because he captured my master’s son and forced her to hand over the method!”

Chen Yuan looked at Long Yao in astonishment. He had never expected her background to be so extraordinary.

A Diviner is the head of all shamans. In Miaojiang, one who earns the title of Grand Diviner is a supreme existence, a figure akin to a guardian deity for the entire Miaojiang Land.

Back then, the Great Diviner of Miaojiang, Long Tianxi, had annihilated an entire army of the Central Plains Dynasty with the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu. He was, without a doubt, one of the most powerful figures of his era.

As a direct lineage heir to a Great Diviner of Miaojiang, Long Yao’s status was truly exceptional.

“If your lineage carries the legacy of the Great Diviner of Miaojiang, Long Tianxi, why would the Gu God Sect dare to make a move against your master?”

Long Yao gave a bitter laugh. “What good is the heritage of a Grand Diviner? Without power, you’re still just fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of others.”

“Miaojiang is different from your Central Plains. The Gu Dao has always been passed down within clans and villages.”

“My lineage descends from the Grand Diviner Long Tianxi, so our traditions have always been passed down within Long Family Village.”

“That all changed five hundred years ago when the Gu God Sect burst onto the scene. They changed the old ways of passing on knowledge, imitating the Central Plains by establishing a Sect system.”

“In the beginning, the Gu God Sect was just an insignificant Minor Sect, taking in the outcasts and traitors who had been expelled from their clans and villages—a bunch of good-for-nothings.”

“But over the years, the Gu God Sect grew larger and more powerful. By Ma Jiuxian’s generation, it had come to dominate Miaojiang. Now, seventy percent of all Gu Masters in the Miaojiang Land hail from the Gu God Sect.”

“Furthermore, the Gu God Sect’s methods have always been ruthless and tyrannical, acquiring what they want through trickery and brute force.”

“Through coercion or outright theft, they’ve stolen countless top-tier Poisonous Insects and Gu Technique Secret Methods from the clans and villages of Miaojiang.”

“Although Long Family Village is home to the descendants of the Great Diviner Long Tianxi, our ancestor’s glory has long since faded, leaving us at the mercy of others.”

“Ma Jiuxian had long coveted the method for refining the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu. He once approached my master to trade for it, but she refused.”

“My master had a worthless son, and Ma Jiuxian set a trap to capture him. He then forced my master to bring the Secret Technique for the Blood Spirit Heaven-Tearing Gu to the Gu God Sect in exchange for her son’s return.”

“Who could have known that my master’s worthless son had already betrayed her and joined the Gu God Sect? He even told Ma Jiuxian that my master knew many other Gu Technique Secret Methods passed down from Long Tianxi.”

“This led to my master being gravely wounded by members of the Gu God Sect. Before she fled, she gave me many of her Poisonous Insects and Secret Techniques so that I wouldn’t be implicated. She told me to come to the Central Plains and try my luck at the Heaven-Reaching Tower, while she went off alone to lead the Gu God Sect’s pursuers away. Her whereabouts are now unknown.”