CH 28

Hearing what Yan Jiuge just said, Chu Qi couldn’t help looking over at his shoulder.

From the outside, the cloth showed signs of wear and tear, and the defensive spell on the robe had vanished. It was probably worn out during the fight.

But Yan Jiuge’s clothes were black. Even if the wound was bleeding, it wouldn’t show through.

He would have to take off his robes to see the injury.

Yun Jiangmiao stood beside them. He had a good understanding of the characteristics of different beasts and quickly persuaded, “The scales on that yao’s body are very likely to be poisonous. Your wound should be treated as soon as possible.”

As a medical cultivator, Chu Qi knew that poisoning was more troublesome than simple trauma. He would have to prepare an antidote to either be taken internally or applied externally.

Chu Qi cast a quick healing technique to treat the Cold-Swallowing Beast’s tail. He set it back on the ground and then focused all his attention on Yan Jiuge.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast murmured softly. It didn’t dare to continue to fight with Yan Jiuge, so it ran to the side to play by itself.

Seeing that they were busy, Yun Jiangmiao was self-aware enough to bid farewell and head back to the other Yushou Sect disciples.

The nine-tailed fox followed Yun Jiangmiao. Although he was curious about Chu Qi, he didn’t dare to get too close to Yan Jiuge.

—

There was no one around to disturb them for the time being. Chu Qi said to Yan Jiuge, “Ah-Yan, let me see your wound.”

Yan Jiuge’s shoulder was scratched by the scales of the jiao, which destroyed the defensive spell on the Tianxuan Sect sword cultivator’s robes. It was a small scratch that didn’t damage his bones.

He could have relied on his own spiritual power to heal himself, and it wasn’t as serious as Chu Qi thought.

However, being cared for so much by Chu Qi made Yan Jiuge hesitate.

“It’s enough to just use a healing technique. You don’t have to go to so much trouble.”

“No, you have to let me look. If you’re poisoned, I can make an antidote.” Chu Qi looked serious and refused to back down.

Chu Qi knew that Yan Jiuge never cared much about his own injuries, especially internal ones. Sometimes, he would even pick a fight and refuse to let him treat him.

“Ah-Yan, be good. I’ll just take a look.

Chu Qi urged him softly.

“…”

Yan Jiuge pursed his lips and his expression was a little uncomfortable as he emphasized, “It’s really not serious.”

“Yes, yes, it’s not serious. I heard you.” Chu Qi nodded along with his words, but continued to insist, “But still, you have to let me look.”

Yan Jiuge: “…”

—

Under the mottled shade of a tree, Yan Jiuge sat on the ground, leaning against the tree trunk. Chu Qi was squatting in front of him.

This spot was found by Chu Qi. Considering Yan Jiuge’s status as a rich family’s young master, he was unwilling to let him sit on the ground casually. Chu Qi even used a cleaning technique to brush away the fallen leaves on the grass beneath the tree.

Sitting down was easier than standing and this posture made it more convenient for Chu Qi to check the injury on Yan Jiuge’s shoulder.

His outer robe was removed and the sleeve of his inner garment slid off his shoulder, exposing his wound.

It was much more serious than how Yan Jiuge made it sound.

The skin had been shredded where it was cut by the scales, but because of Yan Jiuge’s strong self-healing abilities, the bleeding had already stopped.

“Fortunately there doesn’t seem to be any poisoning.”

After seeing the wound, Chu Qi was a little relieved and began using his spiritual power to heal him.

White spiritual power flowed out from Chu Qi’s palm and concentrated over Yan Jiuge’s shoulder as it healed his injury.

Chu Qi’s eyes were focused on the task at hand. Fragments of sunlight fell through the gaps in the trees and landed on his long eyelashes. He looked exceptionally elegant and gentle.

Yan Jiuge lowered his eyes, watching seriously.

He suddenly felt that being injured sometimes was a good thing. At least during this moment, Ah-Qi’s attention was fully on himself.

“Alright.”

After the wound on Yan Jiuge’s shoulder closed, Chu Qi confirmed that there were no blemishes or scars and withdrew his spiritual power in satisfaction.

When Chu Qi raised his eyes, he found that Yan Jiuge was watching him quietly.

Because he was leaning against the tree trunk, Yan Jiuge’s posture was a little lazy. The sunlight fell on the loose strands of hair on his forehead and the sharpness of his expression had faded by a lot, making him look very relaxed.

Dropping his line of sight, he could see that his clothes were loose and exposed his left shoulder. There was no longer any hideous wound to steal Chu Qi’s attention, so he could fully appreciate the smooth and beautiful lines of Yan Jiuge’s muscles and collarbones. He had a well-proportioned physique that only a sword cultivator could have.

Forcing himself to redirect his gaze, Chu Qi whispered a reminder to Yan Jiuge.

“I’m finished. Put your clothes on quickly.”

“En.” Yan Jiuge responded in a low voice and raised his hands to straighten up his robes.

The defensive spells on his robes had been worn out, so he couldn’t continue to wear them. Yan Jiuge went ahead and brought out his own robes from his qiankun bag.

These clothes were also black, but they were fancier than the sect uniform. They were embroidered with dark golden patterns that spread diagonally from the left shoulder to the hem. It looked very expensive, like the kind of robes that could only be bought with a lot of spiritual stones.

Chu Qi hadn’t seen Yan Jiuge dress in these kinds of robes for a long time. He had thought that the Yan family didn’t prepare it for him before, but now it seems like they still took him seriously.

Seeing this, Chu Qi couldn’t help but sigh with some emotion, “Although you’re not close with your family, at least they don’t treat you poorly in regards to clothes and spiritual tools. After so many years, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to just ignore you.”

“En. There’s no shortage of material things.” Yan Jiuge replied according to Chu Qi’s words.

Yan Jiuge seldom mentioned things related to his family.

At first, Chu Qi just thought that he had a bad relationship with them, so he consciously avoided touching on this subject. But thinking about it now, it seems like the Yan family didn’t treat him too harshly, so Chu Qi was a little curious.

Chu Qi couldn’t hold back and asked, “Ah-Yan, where is your home?”

“…”

After these words fell, the air was silent for a moment.

It was just a spur-of-the-moment question, but Chu Qi noticed that Yan Jiuge’s expression was a little unusual.

Thinking that he may have touched a sore spot, Chu Qi quickly amended his words, “I was just asking casually. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that….” Yan Jiuge hesitated before coming up with a suitable description, “It’s just that it’s far from Tianxuan Sect and very remote, so it’s a little hard to describe.”

The main residence of the Yan family was located at the junction of Yunhua Realm and Yunyin Realm, which was indeed rather remote.

“Okay.” Chu Qi nodded and didn’t continue to ask.

If Yan Jiuge didn’t want to talk about it, Chu Qi wouldn’t pursue it. Everyone had an unspeakable secret in their heart, like how he was reborn.

Chu Qi wasn’t troubled by this, but Yan Jiuge had his own concerns.

The status of the Yan family was somewhat special, so ordinary people weren’t allowed to enter. If one day, Yan Mingchao couldn’t hold on anymore and fell, the position of the Yan family head might fall to him.

Then what would he and Ah-Qi do?

Previously, Yan Jiuge had thought that after he had cleansed the evil qi from beneath the altar, that he would step down as the successor of the Yan family and stay with Chu Qi as an ordinary cultivator.

But every time they conducted the ritual, the evil qi in the black abyss seemed to have no end. No amount of sealing was enough.

If he couldn’t shed himself of this responsibility, would Ah-Qi be willing to accompany him in the Yan family Estate?

As quickly as this idea flashed through Yan Jiuge’s mind, it was rejected.

The Yan family Estate was like a cage. He didn’t want his Ah-Qi to suffer with him.

If there was no answer, they could only take it one step at a time.

As long as Ah-Qi was by his side, he would solve the remaining troubles as they came.

Yan Jiuge thought to himself.

—

After Chu Qi and Yan Jiuge rested for a while under the shade of the tree, Yun Jiangmiao walked over with the other Yushou Sect disciples and thanked them again.

Chu Qi: “You don’t have to be so polite, Fellow Cultivator Yun.”

That yao was originally a problem that they had caused. Yun Jiangmiao and the others were just unlucky enough to get involved as soon as they teleported in.

“Don’t spread the word that Ah-Qi is a medical cultivator.”

Yan Jiuge gave him a warning.

“We will keep this to ourselves.” Yun Jiangmiao understood.

Yan Jiuge nodded slightly.

In fact, Chu Qi’s status as a medical cultivator didn’t really need to be hidden. He was more worried about Chu Qi’s special spiritual power and talent being widely known. However, there was no reason to explain all this to Yun Jiangmiao.

“Also, about the corpse of that yao…” As Yun Jiangmiao said this, he had an embarrassed look on his face.

The yao was slain by Yan Jiuge, and Chu Qi had healed his internal injuries as well as the injuries of the other Yushou Sect disciples.

It felt a little inappropriate to be talking about the distribution of the yao parts.

But Yun Jiangmiao really needed the inner core of that yao. It would allow his contracted nine-tailed fox to increase its strength by a grade and help them be more prepared for this experience.

“I really need the inner core of that yao. I wonder if the two fellow cultivators will be willing to sell it to me?”

Yun Jiangmiao asked pleadingly.

Yao’s inner cores were useful for spiritual beasts, but for cultivators, absorbing the power in the inner core could lead to backlash from the yao qi. The risks far outweighed any potential gains.

Chu Qi called over the Gold-Swallowing Beast, who was playing with rocks nearby, “Xiao-Jin, did you need to eat the inner core of that yao?”

“Lulu.”

The Gold-Swallowing Beast swept away the pebbles with its tail and shook its head at Chu Qi’s question.

That thing doesn’t taste any good. Eating it would just discolor its body and make it look ugly.

“We don’t need the inner core. You can just take it.” Chu Qi replied to Yun Jiangmiao.

As for the remaining yao parts, there were some things that could be used as refining materials and could be brought back to Tianxuan Sect to exchange for some contribution points.

Chu Qi put the useful parts away in his qiankun bag.

Yun Jiangmiao took the inner core of the yao. He wanted to compensate Chu Qi with some spiritual stones, but Chu Qi had just dug up the ten-thousand-year spiritual marrow jade, so he really didn’t have any need for more spiritual stones, “You don’t have to compensate us for it. You and your contracted beast also contributed to the fight just now.”

“That won’t do. If you don’t need any spiritual stones, is there something else that Fellow Cultivator Chu needs?” Yun Jiangmiao still felt like he was taking advantage of him.

Chu Qi thought of the Gold-Swallowing Beast, “Then… what do you feed the spiritual pets in your Yushou Sect? Give me some of that.”

Although he knew that the Gold-Swallowing Beast liked to eat various ores, what if it also liked to eat the same food as other spiritual pets?

Yun Jianmiao may not have a lot of resources or spiritual treasures, but he at least had a lot of spiritual animal food. Hearing this, he directly gave Chu Qi a qiankun bag full of it.

After receiving the spiritual animal food, Chu Qi took out a bag and held it out to the Gold-Swallowing Beast, “Xiao-Jin, do you want to try eating this?”

“Lu.”

The Gold-Swallowing Beast lifted its tail, stood on its hind legs, and stretched out its paws to take the food given to it by its Master.

This time it was more careful. It didn’t eat it immediately like the night pearl, but cautiously sniffed it first.

!!!

It smelled delicious!

Its obsidian-like eyes glowed brightly as it placed the bag on the ground and buried its head inside to eat a big mouthful.

The bag of spiritual animal food was about the same size as the body of the Gold-Swallowing Beast, but that didn’t stop it from squeezing its whole body into the bag as it ate.

Chu Qi: “…”

He had wanted to say that it should give it a try first. If it wasn’t suitable, then forget it.

Chu Qi didn’t expect that the Gold-Swallowing Beast would eat the whole bag in one go.

Within the span of three breaths, the food bag was completely emptied and the little Gold-Swallowing Beast happily ran out with its tail curled up.

It looked up at Chu Qi with a face that was still dotted with crumbs.

“Lululu!!!”

Want more!

“Do you feel uncomfortable at all?” Chu Qi cast a quick cleansing technique on it to wash away the leftovers on its face.

“Lulu!”

It didn’t feel uncomfortable anywhere, and ate very happily. It even wanted to eat again.

Chu Qi was relieved. As he was about to take some more food for the Gold-Swallowing Beast out of his qiankun bag, he caught a glimpse of its tail starting to change color out of the corner of his eye.

It changed from its original metallic golden color to green!

“Xiao-Jin, you’d better not eat it.” Chu Qi paused and decided to not continue feeding the spiritual animal food to it. It may be that this food wasn’t quite right.

“Lulu?”

The Gold-Swallowing Beast was a little frustrated.

“Your tail has started to change color. Maybe you ate too much?” Chu Qi pointed to the tip of its tail.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast lifted its tail, and once it saw it had really changed color, it let out two sad grunts.

Yun Jiangmiao was watching from the side and couldn’t help but offer, “Spiritual animal food isn’t poisonous, but that bag of food was made from low-level spiritual beast meat. Some spiritual beasts can’t digest meat well… Why don’t you try the pure spiritual stone flavor?”

“Lulu!”

It really wanted to try the spiritual stone flavor.

Chu Qi took out a bag for it and watched as it ate it all in the span of another three breaths.

This time, under everyone’s gaze, the entire body of the Gold-Swallowing Beast turned green. When it realized what had happened, it let out a scream and jumped into the ground, unwilling to be seen.

“Ah… I’m so sorry.” Yun Jiangmiao was a little confused. He had never taken care of a spiritual beast like this one, so he didn’t know what it usually ate.

“It’s okay. Maybe xiao-Jin is just having some trouble digesting it.” Chu Qi knew that the Gold-Swallowing Beast could change color if it ate something strange.

Although the Gold-Swallowing Beast thought it was delicious, it seems that this spiritual animal food wasn’t suitable for it.

“Fellow Cultivator Yun, why don’t you take these back. It doesn’t seem like it’s suitable for xiao-Jin.”

“Lulu!”

A head that wasn’t as green as before popped out from the soil. The Gold-Swallowing Beast was a little aggrieved, but it still came out to protest Chu Qi’s decision.

“Lu!”

“Your body will turn green after you eat it. Do you still want it?”

“Lu!”

“Alright then, we’ll keep it.” Chu Qi sighed and decided to follow the Gold-Swallowing Beast’s wishes.

After getting an affirmative answer, the Gold-Swallowing Beast buried itself back in the ground and went back into hiding.

So green! So ugly!

But the things in that bag were so fragrant and delicious!

Why was there such a food that tastes better, but made you uglier the more you ate it?!

The Gold-Swallowing Beast couldn’t figure it out.

—

After this matter was over, the Yushou Sect disciples bid farewell to Chu Qi and Yan Jiuge.

They left the area on a flying spiritual tool. Even though there may still be treasures in the mountains and forests, what had happened with the yao just now left them with some lingering fears, and they didn’t want to stay longer than they needed to.

After the Yushou Sect disciples left, Chu Qi asked Yan Jiuge for his opinion, “Should we go look for Liu-shixiong and the others next?”

“There’s no rush.”

After thinking about it, Yan Jiuge opened his mouth and explained.

“We should be in the southern part of the secret realm now, while Liu-shixiong and the others are in the west. It’s quite far, and if we go over there now, we’ll all be looking for treasures together. During the last month it’s open, top-level natural materials and treasures can be found in the center of the secret realm. At that time, all of the cultivators will be heading in that direction, so we can just meet them there.”

Chu Qi felt that Yan Jiuge’s words were very reasonable.

The number of people that came from Tianxuan Sect was small. Other immortal sects would be divided into several teams, while they currently only had two. If they were to join back up, they would be moving around in one group and reduce their chances of finding good materials and treasures.

Yan Jiuge sent a message to Liu Weiming to update him on their plans and they agreed to meet up in the center of the secret realm.

After a while, the Gold-Swallowing Beast finished digesting the spiritual animal food and returned to its usual color and came out of the ground.

They then flew out of the mountain on Yan Jiuge’s sword.