“Heh, are you here to see if this Sovereign is dead yet? Then I must disappoint you.”
Elder Huang and Elder Fan fell to their knees with a heavy thud.
“Holy Lord, please be wise. Your subordinate absolutely has no such intention,” Elder Huang hastily denied.
“Holy Lord, we only felt that this matter was highly suspicious. Our sect has not had any major conflicts with the righteous sects lately. We do not know what purpose that person had in sneaking into our sect. I heard that many outsiders have recently arrived at Xiaoyao Town at the foot of the mountain, and I worry they have come prepared. That is why we lost our heads in panic and ended up disturbing the Holy Lord,” Elder Fan said.
“Mm. Qin Hao, send someone down the mountain. Tell our sect members in the town to pay close attention to those outsiders and report immediately if anything is amiss. If there is nothing else, you may withdraw,” Jun Wuye said, looking at the three elders.
“Yes.”
“Your subordinates take their leave.”
Jun Wuye rubbed his temples. His current situation was a perilous one, with wolves in front and tigers behind, and he was injured. He desperately wanted to change this situation.
His primary task was to resolve the poison in his body, otherwise, he could not use any of the original host’s martial arts. Medicine King Valley? Currently, the attitude of Medicine King Valley was unclear. Would they be willing to detoxify him? Forget it, it was better to rely on himself than to beg others. Besides, he did not want anyone to know that he could still draw breath after being hit with a lethal poison.
A thought suddenly occurred to Jun Wuye. He recalled that snake gallbladders could neutralize poison. It just so happened that there was a python in the nearby mountain range. Would its gall be effective against this poison? Whether it worked or not, he would only know after trying. However, with his current martial prowess, he feared he might not be able to defeat it.
Jun Wuye looked at the sword beside him, stood up, picked it up, and began to practice again.
Fan Ke returned to his room, summoned his confidant, and asked, “Did you really administer that poison?” Both times Fan Ke saw Jun Wuye, the man was perfectly fine. The first time, he assumed the poison simply had not taken effect yet, but a whole month had passed. If the poison was not fake, then his subordinate had bungled the task.
“Elder, this servant saw the Holy Lord drink it with his own eyes. It is absolutely true. Perhaps the Holy Lord possesses deep internal energy, causing the poison to take effect slowly.” The confidant was also puzzled, as he had personally watched the Holy Lord drink the concoction.
“No matter how slow, it would not take a month. That was Red Crane Crest poison!” Fan Ke felt anxious and irritable. Could he have been discovered by the Holy Lord? Yes, that must be it. Over the past month, the Holy Lord had more than doubled the security guards, and those going down the mountain were being thoroughly searched.
“This… this servant does not know.”
“Tell everyone not to act blindly. Keep a low profile and watch the Holy Lord’s movements.”
“Yes.”
“You may leave.” Fan Ke felt more and more that something was wrong. He had to make other plans.
Bai Mo lay on a chair in the courtyard, basking in the sun with a stalk of green foxtail grass dangling from his mouth.
“Zaizai, what else is there to eat around here?” He had tasted everything edible in this valley. He only liked two things, and he was already tired of eating them.
“Woof!”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. There’s nothing to eat, and there are no phones. This is so boring. I’m about to grow mold.”
[I think you are about to meet with misfortune. You have eaten all the fish belonging to your nemesis,] the Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains appeared and said.
Bai Mo turned his head. [Tutu, you’re awake! Your slumber was quite short this time. Speaking of my nemesis, why hasn’t he returned yet? He’s been out for several days. Could he have met with an accident?]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains asked, [Are you worried about him?]
Bai Mo replied, [I’m just afraid that if he dies, no one will provide my meals anymore. It would be quite difficult to find a second sucker like him.]
He sat up. [Tutu, you know where he is, right? How about we go find him?]
The main reason was that the man had forgotten to leave him allowance money when he left, making it impossible for him to go out and buy food.
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains replied, [He is in a small town about one hundred and thirty li away from here.]
Bai Mo stood before the Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains and spread his arms wide.
[What are you doing?] the Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains asked in confusion.
Bai Mo said, [Fly me there! There are no surveillance cameras around here anyway.]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains tried for a moment and said, [Um, Momo, I haven’t recovered that ability yet. I can’t do it.]
Bai Mo lowered his arms. [Then what should we do? Are you telling me to walk over a hundred li?]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains replied, [Doesn’t this body of yours know martial arts?]
Bai Mo replied, [But I don’t know how to use them yet!]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains said, [Then jump. Didn’t you jump really high before?]
[No way, that would ruin my image.] Bai Mo suddenly remembered the horse in the backyard that he had almost eaten. He turned around and headed straight to the backyard.
“Sweat-blood horse, here I come! Hey, we meet again.” Bai Mo smiled and waved to greet the horse. After that, he went to untie the rope.
“Let’s go find the Valley Lord. Be good and come with me.” He pulled hard. “Why won’t you budge, you horse!”
“Snort, snort!” The horse resisted, pulling back in a battle of wills.
Bai Mo could not budge it at all. Looking at the dog that had followed him over, he said, “Zaizai, quick, tell your brother to come with me.”
“Woof, woof!”
“Young Master Chu, are you planning to go out?” a man walked over and asked.
Bai Mo stood up straight and straightened his clothes. “Yes, I need to leave the valley for a bit.”
“Oh? The last time I saw this horse, it was very obedient to you. What happened?”
Bai Mo thought to himself that the last time he took it out, he had almost killed it. It was probably terrified of him and refused to budge.
“Are there any other horses in this valley?”
“There are, but none of them run as fast as this one.”
“Then take me there.” As long as there was one, it would do. Even a slower horse would be faster than his own two legs.
Bai Mo rode the horse and galloped toward the valley entrance with Zaizai running behind him. He turned his head and shouted to the dog, “Zaizai, you can stop here! No need to follow me further. I will bring your master back soon!”
Zaizai stopped short at the valley entrance, watching Bai Mo’s receding figure.
“Whimper, whimper…” Why didn’t he take it along?
Bai Mo had not felt this exhilarated in a long time. Looking at the road ahead, he shouted, “Beautiful world, this young master is leaving the valley! Whoo-hoo! Giddy up!”
Bai Mo traveled for a whole day. Riding a horse for so long was exhausting. [Tutu, how much longer?]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains said, [Soon, soon! Just over this mountain and we will be there.]
Bai Mo replied, [Find a shortcut. Let’s reach it before dark.]
[Alright.]
In a short while, the Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains guided Bai Mo toward the shortest path across the mountain.
Looking at the pitch-black cave in front of him, which was taller than a person, Bai Mo asked, [Are there living things inside?]
The Map of a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains replied, [Yes.]
Bai Mo said in exasperation, [Damn it! If there are, why did you make me go this way? Do you think my life is too long?]
With a cave this large, whatever was inside must be massive. He would not be able to handle it.
[It is fine. There are two living things fighting inside. We can wait until they are finished and then act as the situation demands.]
[Are they the same species killing each other?] Bai Mo asked curiously.
[No, different species. Someone wants to eat snake meat.]
Hearing this, Bai Mo grew excited. Someone actually dared to enter the snake’s nest! He had not eaten snake meat in a long time and was craving it. [Alright, then let’s wait outside.]
Jun Wuye did not expect this creature to be so massive; it was almost a magical beast. However, it seemed to be very afraid of him. Just now at the entrance of the cave, it had fled the moment it saw him.
At this moment, seeing that the snake was about to head down another fork, Jun Wuye darted over and sliced off its tail with his sword. Yet, the snake kept running forward without even looking back. Why did this snake not fight back? Chasing and fighting like this was exhausting his energy.