Liu Ziyi did not show any abnormalities, only acting on the surface as if Shen Zhuoqing were teasing him for not being able to keep secrets, and he let out a light hum with an arched brow.
After shaking off that sudden fright, he looked ahead.
The two of them were walking too slowly, which had drawn the attention of Qiu Zaiqi and the Zhen Dao Sect disciples up front, who were now turning around to wave at them.
“Hurry up, Senior Liu, Senior Shen!”
“Coming,” Liu Ziyi lazily replied.
His subconscious urge to grab Shen Zhuoqing’s hand paused halfway, and he instead raised a hand to pat Shen Zhuoqing’s forearm to signal him to keep up, before walking toward the crowd.
Shen Zhuoqing naturally did not miss this subtle moment. His gaze followed the youth as he turned around, and only then did he step forward to follow.
The group arrived together at Shiyun Pavilion.
It was currently lunchtime, and Shiyun Pavilion was packed from top to bottom with disciples. Aside from the Zhen Dao Sect disciples brought by Liu Ziyi, there were also several unfamiliar faces wearing the garments of other sects, who were likely curious about the flavors Shiyun Pavilion had to offer.
“Woah, how magnificent!” A junior Zhen Dao Sect disciple exclaimed in astonishment as he looked at Shiyun Pavilion before him. He was following Qiu Zaiqi down the mountain for actual trials this time, and everything around him filled him with curiosity.
Liu Ziyi tilted his head with a smile. “If you talk about magnificence, shouldn’t the Zhen Dao Sect be even more astonishing?”
“Our Zhen Dao Sect doesn’t have a place like this! Every time I eat, the food is brought back from the main kitchen by my senior brothers.”
Hearing this, Liu Ziyi finally understood. That meant the Zhen Dao Sect not only had a main kitchen capable of feeding the entire sect, but the fellow disciples also frequently helped each other out? Yet just the thought of that one-eyed Qiu Zaiqi delivering food to his own junior brothers made Liu Ziyi want to laugh for no apparent reason.
It wasn’t out of mockery; he simply found it amusing.
“How does the food taste over there, then? If it’s delicious, I’d like to visit the Zhen Dao Sect next time.”
“Delicious! If Senior Liu comes, I, Pu Yue, will definitely beg Senior Brother Qiu to bring a portion of every single dish!”
“Alright, alright, just remember to tell your senior brother to empty his storage bags beforehand.”
While Liu Ziyi was chatting and joking with Pu Yue over there, Shen Zhuoqing and Qiu Zaiqi had already gone to find empty seats inside.
Although Shiyun Pavilion used spells to isolate the biting wind and snow, it still couldn’t truly be called warm, so they could only move as far inward toward the crowded areas as possible so that these young cultivators from Zhongzhou wouldn’t freeze.
Because of the peak hour, there weren’t many empty seats left in Shiyun Pavilion.
When Liu Ziyi and Pu Yue were motioned over, the surrounding area was already filled with Fujian Sect disciples, who were eating while curiously stretching their necks to look at their table. After all, compared to standard swords, the large sabers strapped to the backs of the Zhen Dao Sect disciples were exceptionally eye-catching.
“Woah,”
Hearing a very soft cry from behind him, Liu Ziyi couldn’t help tilting his ear to listen in, wanting to hear what his junior brothers and sisters were gossiping about.
Yet he never expected that the next second, the gossip would land squarely on himself.
“As expected of Senior Liu, to actually be able to keep the Saber Madman behind! I suppose it must be a huge pity that they couldn’t have a match this year!”
Liu Ziyi: ??
No, he wasn’t feeling pity at all!
“I saw Senior Liu and Senior Qiu here at Shiyun Pavilion a few days ago, and the two of them came alone. Their relationship is just too good!”
Liu Ziyi furrowed his brows and glanced at Qiu Zaiqi across the table, relieved to see that the fellow looked entirely oblivious, currently turning his head to give instructions to the Zhen Dao Sect disciples.
A certain spectator disciple: “I really envy this kind of spirit where all four seas are your friends.”
Liu Ziyi shook his head with a sigh. What four seas and friends? Even leaving the mountain was a challenge for him.
Unfortunately, Shen Zhuoqing had stubbornly chosen to sit right beside him, or else he would have definitely turned around to correct them and chat with his junior brothers to kill time while waiting.
Soon, however, Shen Zhuoqing pulled his thoughts back:
“What is it?”
“Ah,”
Liu Ziyi suddenly realized that his sigh just now might have been a bit too loud, as even the whispering behind him had ceased.
He turned his head to look at Shen Zhuoqing, stroked his flat stomach, and said with an innocent expression, “Nothing, I’m just a bit too hungry. It’s making a fuss out of hunger.”
As he spoke, he noticed that a side dish had already been brought up by a Shiyun Pavilion junior disciple.
The assistants at Shiyun Pavilion were all temporary positions, usually filled by registered disciples trying to earn spiritual stones to support their daily lives.
However, this particular junior disciple had an exceptionally unfamiliar face.
Such a clean face was the kind Liu Ziyi could remember at a single glance.
“Senior Brother, our new disciples this year reportedly also hail from Beixuan. Spiritual energy in Beixuan is quite thin, right?”
Liu Ziyi picked up his chopsticks, reached for the pickled spicy shredded cucumbers on the plate, and casually tossed out the question.
Though the topic shifted abruptly, Shen Zhuoqing answered anyway: “Mn. Several hundred years ago, the demon race perished, destroying several spiritual veins.”
After saying that, he reached out to intercept Liu Ziyi’s movement, his gaze falling upon the gauze wrapped around Liu Ziyi’s thumb web as he said helplessly:
“You’ve only just woken up, and already you’re ignoring your dietary restrictions.”
With that, Shen Zhuoqing picked up the plate of shredded cucumbers in front of them and placed it alongside another dish in front of Qiu Zaiqi and the Zhen Dao Sect disciples, introducing the dish:
“Although it’s a cold dish, it also has a warming effect. However, if you’re not fond of spicy food, you should only taste a little.”
Liu Ziyi withdrew his chopsticks, showing no sign of displeasure. Instead, resting his chin on the table, he echoed Shen Zhuoqing to the guests:
“That’s right. Sigh, since my injury hasn’t healed, I suppose I lack the fortune to enjoy it. The dishes on Tianxuang Cliff all lean toward the spicy side to help warm the body and purge toxins, so you guys should give it a try.”
Hearing Liu Ziyi say this, several of the Zhen Dao Sect members reached for their chopsticks.
Yet Zhongzhou’s palate was clearly much lighter than Luozhou’s. Even Qiu Zaiqi hesitated for a moment; Liu Ziyi remembered that when he came to Shiyun Pavilion with Qiu Zaiqi days prior, the man hadn’t touched a single dish containing chili peppers at all.
Only Pu Yue, the junior Zhen Dao Sect disciple who got along well with Liu Ziyi, trustingly picked up a few strands of shredded cucumbers.
Glistening with bright chili oil, they looked quite crisp and sweet.
The moment the food entered his mouth, Pu Yue wore an expression of amazement. “Mhm, delicious!”
Having received affirmation from one of them, the rest finally started using their chopsticks. Yet before they could even guide that mouthful of shredded cucumbers into their mouths, Pu Yue, who had looked so excited a moment before, suddenly changed expression.
Liu Ziyi was the first to notice the abnormality. It wasn’t the flushing redness of spice, but rather the rapid paling of his lips as if he had been poisoned. The face that had just been ruddy from the spiciness turned instantly ashen, carrying faint hints of a goose-liver hue.
“Stop eating!”
Liu Ziyi immediately stood up and slapped the table. The loud sound drew numerous gazes, but it also successfully stopped the others from continuing to taste the dish.
At that moment, Qiu Zaiqi beside Pu Yue also noticed his junior brother’s unusual condition and immediately pulled Pu Yue, whose face was tightly scrunched up, into his arms. “Pu Yue!”
“Cough, cough, cough…! Senior Brother, mhm,”
Pu Yue’s entire body trembled violently, the onset so swift and fierce that it caught everyone off guard. Trembling as he clutched the fabric over his chest, he rasped out, “There… there’s something,”
“What is it?” The other Zhen Dao Sect disciples crowded around anxiously.
Pu Yue couldn’t speak, only intermittently pounding on his chest as if something were truly residing in there.
Yet no matter what, a mouthful of fewer than ten strands of shredded cucumbers couldn’t possibly choke a cultivator to death, nor could it plunge them onto the brink of death in a split second.
At that moment, Liu Ziyi stepped forward. Disregarding the astonishment of the others, he ripped open the fabric at Pu Yue’s chest, only to find that the area he had been pressing and pounding was already beginning to fester in a bizarre manner.
Liu Ziyi instantly understood what it was. He had read about it in books.
Gu worms! It was a gu worm devouring Pu Yue’s heart and lungs!
This type of gu worm served no other purpose; it was merely a low-level, malicious poison meant to harm and take lives.
Liu Ziyi immediately extended his left hand to snatch Pu Yue’s arm away from Qiu Zaiqi, clamping tightly onto his wrist and beginning to channel his memories from ancient texts to force the gu worm out.
The festering hadn’t reached his chest yet, and Pu Yue still retained a shred of consciousness. Since it was caught in time, forcing the gu worm out wouldn’t be too difficult.
Qiu Zaiqi looked at Liu Ziyi in surprise, but ultimately did not speak to stop him.
Liu Ziyi closed his eyes, his lips moving slightly as spiritual light began to flicker at his fingertips. That spiritual energy channeled through their touching wrists into Pu Yue’s body, forcing a mass of black-purple toxic Qi out from his chest.
The process of expelling a gu worm was said to feel like ten thousand ants gnawing at one’s heart, protracted and agonizing.
Pu Yue sweated profusely from the pain, though he was too drained to even groan, merely leaning like a lump of mud in Qiu Zaiqi’s embrace as he gasped heavily for air.
Veins throbbed at Qiu Zaiqi’s temples, but his trust in Liu Ziyi suppressed the urge to interfere, leaving him to furrow his brow and observe Pu Yue’s complexion.
Although the expression looked even more painful, his skin tone was recovering compared to before…
Liu Ziyi hadn’t expected that an ancient text he skimmed while idling during cultivation would come in handy now. Straining to recall the incantations he had only read once, he gradually felt his physical strength draining away.
His spiritual energy still hadn’t fully recovered, and this gu worm was far from common; it consumed vastly more spiritual energy than he had imagined.
Even so, Liu Ziyi finally caught a glimpse of hope. The stagnant toxic Qi in the chest dissipated entirely, and a black gu worm slowly crawled out from the blurred flesh, the sound of it squeezing through the tissue enough to make one’s teeth ache.
“Gu… Gu worm,”
A silence settled over the surroundings before sound finally emerged. The next instant, the gu worm was enveloped by a spell cast from the side, plucked cleanly off Pu Yue’s body, and instantly crushed into nothingness.
Seeing the gu worm finally eliminated, the surrounding crowd relaxed their tension and crowded forward to check on Pu Yue and Liu Ziyi.
Both Zhen Dao Sect and Fujian Sect disciples were present.
Pu Yue was on the verge of passing out from pain, and Liu Ziyi was in no better shape. His face had turned pale from overexerting his spiritual energy, which only served to make his ink-black eyes stand out even more.
“Senior Brother, Senior Liu, are you alright? Your complexion is terrible!”
“Senior Brother just suffered an injury, and now he’s overexerted his spiritual energy to force out a gu worm…”
“Senior Liu, let us help you back to rest.”
People all around continuously offered to support Liu Ziyi, wanting to take him back up to Tianxuang Cliff or down to the Youning Valley medicinal gardens. Yet Liu Ziyi waved them off, offering a smile that, despite his pale face, carried those familiar deep dimples:
“I’m fine. You guys go check on him first. Although the gu worm is out, there might still be lingering poison…”
Saying this, Liu Ziyi leaned against the tables and chairs to push himself up from the crowd. The surrounding junior and senior brothers stopped talking, watching as Liu Ziyi turned his head to look at Shen Zhuoqing, who had just exterminated the gu worm.
“Senior Brother.”
From their angle, they couldn’t see Liu Ziyi’s expression, but Shen Zhuoqing saw it clearly.
Those ink-black pupils were brimming with incomprehension and suspicion.
“Take Daoist Pu to the Youning Peak medicinal garden. There might still be remnants of the gu worm.”
Shen Zhuoqing avoided Liu Ziyi’s gaze, which was heavy with complexity, and furrowed his brow as he issued orders, dispersing the clustered crowd in a few brief sentences.
Several Youning Peak disciples followed instructions and led the Fujian Sect and saber cultivators toward the Youning Peak medicinal gardens.