CHAPTER 725: CHAPTER 709: ANOTHER DAY OF PLUCKING THE GINSENG SPIRIT

Scraping the bone to remove the sores, just hearing about it makes an adult feel pain, let alone a little girl?

Even though Qin Liuxi had applied pressure to the little girl’s sleeping acupoint, when she scraped off the rotten flesh from her bones and removed the poisoned sores, the little girl still woke up from the pain and cried bitterly.

Gu Po’s eyes reddened with heartache as she held the little girl’s flailing hands to prevent her from hurting herself in her struggles.

Qin Liuxi crushed a Spirit Fruit and fed it into her mouth, and after pressing an acupuncture point to numb the area, she quickened her movements.

After scraping off the poisoned sores and washing the area with clean water, she sprinkled golden sore medicine on it, and with Old Clan Chief Wuyang, who had returned with herbs, they worked together to mix a medicinal paste to apply on the wounds. They also cooked a soup with herbs to dispel wind and evil energy for the little girl to drink, which finally calmed her down. She fell asleep sucking on her fingers.

Qin Liuxi sighed as she looked at the tear droplets on the girl’s eyelashes and turned to Meng Chenxiang, who was trapped and silent, and said, "Do you see her pain? Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. What does she know?"

Meng Chenxiang argued forcefully, "It wasn’t that I wanted to possess her; this is the sin her brute of a father has caused. He happened to be seen by her mother killing me, which frightened her into premature labor. After my death, filled with resentment, this resentful energy naturally attached to the little girl’s soul. Who would have expected her bones to develop a poisonous sore? Also, if it weren’t for my use of ghost power to seal the sore, it would have swelled up long ago, and her bones would have been rotten and useless."

Qin Liuxi narrowed her eyes, "You were twelve when you died, and she was just born prematurely? A perfect cycle of reincarnation." Qin Liuxi wasn’t sure whether to sigh about this fateful connection or something else.

Qin Liuxi asked, "What unfulfilled wishes do you still have now?"

Meng Chenxiang’s aura surged as she said, "I was tricked by that beast Scholar Zeng into going to the schoolhouse. My parents probably don’t even know I’m gone and are still searching for me everywhere..."

As she spoke, she lowered her head and tears of blood streamed from her eyes.

Qin Liuxi fell silent.

Gu Po, who had been harboring resentment towards her, also fell silent, her eyes showing a hint of pity.

Wuyang then said, "Little Ya was found by Gu Po at the foot of our village’s mountain in the snow. How could that Scholar Zeng’s family throw her away?"

Meng Chenxiang said scornfully, "Her grandmother despised her for being a girl. After half a year, she was still frail and seemed unlikely to grow healthy. She cried every day, and took advantage of her mother’s bedridden state, due to the shock, to throw her away."

"Are you from the same village? Where is it?"

"It’s Sanyang Village."

Wuyang looked at Qin Liuxi and explained, "Sanyang Village is not too far from our village but not close either; it’s a hundred li away."

Qin Liuxi nodded, "I will send you back later."

Meng Chenxiang was overjoyed.

However, Gu Po hugged the little girl tightly in her arms, looking down at her. Was she also going to send this child away?

"Don’t worry, Little Ya was lucky to be found by you. You can raise her," Qin Liuxi said again as she looked at Little Ya and sighed, "She no longer has a mother."

Without a mother, and even if her father were alive, with such a grandmother, returning was equivalent to a death sentence. Not to mention, such a father did not deserve to be called one.

Gu Po sighed with relief and looked at Qin Liuxi with grateful eyes.

Wuyang took the opportunity to speak up for Qin Liuxi, requesting a Golden Silkworm Gu for detoxification.

Qin Liuxi relayed their discussed method once again, earnestly asking: "You’re a master of gu play, I humbly ask for your guidance – is our method viable? If so, could you please help us refine the Golden Scorpion and Golden Silkworm Gu for detoxification? If you’re reluctant, once the poison is cured, you may take the poisonous insect back. I only need to help Quan Jing detoxify. His ancestors have always been Generals, protecting the people and the land of Da Feng Country. For such a person to live is also a blessing to the people of Da Feng."

Gu Po’s gaze softened as she said: "Bring me the Golden Scorpion. I have a gu mother that is about to transform into gu. Just put it in, and we can refine a gu mother with the venom of the Golden Scorpion."

Qin Liuxi was surprised: "It’s about to transform and we can still introduce more poisonous insects?"

"Refining gu is about continuously introducing poisonous insects, every once in a while removing the dead ones and adding new ones. Only by repeating this cycle can we produce a gu mother that is both fierce and strongly poisonous. If you bring me the Golden Scorpion now, as they fight, the victor becomes the gu mother. Of course, there are also special techniques and mnemonics for refining gu, not something those outside of our kind should try lightly. Refining gu is most prone to backfire, and once the gu is broken, the person refining it can also suffer the backlash – this is the punishment of the Heavenly Dao."

Gu Po looked at Qin Liuxi and continued: "Refining gu involves contact with numerous poisonous substances, some of which are not easy to control and can easily lead to contamination and destruction of one’s appearance, so don’t refine gu lightly."

Qin Liuxi looked at the pockmarked skin on her face and hands and immediately thought of Si Lengyue. Did that girl consider this?

"If the gu mother is refined, won’t Quan Jing be unable to withstand the detoxification?"

Gu Po said again: "One can establish a gu through a Blood Covenant. Once the covenant is formed, the Golden Silkworm Gu will not attack the host and might even protect him. However, if there is a Blood Covenant and the Golden Silkworm Gu is attacked, the host will also suffer backlash. This is the mutual support and constraint. But if he hosts the Golden Silkworm Gu, henceforth, he will be immune to all poisons. With the gu mother’s help, his own body can become a weapon. The venom of the Golden Silkworm Gu is incredibly deadly; one infected would bleed from all orifices to death. Also, because its venom is so potent and against the laws of nature, the more one uses it with evil intent to harm others, the more severe the backlash they will face."

This was telling Qin Liuxi the pros and cons of hosting the Golden Silkworm Gu, for consideration of the future, and to not lightly harm others with the poisonous insect venom.

Qin Liuxi said: "Once the gu mother is refined, before hosting it, I will inform him of the pros and cons. I am a person of the Taoist Sect, who truly believes in karma. Likewise, how he will fare after hosting the Golden Silkworm Gu is his own karma to bear."

Gu Po nodded.

"There’s no time to delay, I’ll go back and fetch the Golden Scorpion," said Qin Liuxi and asked Meng Chenxiang to enter the Soul-locking Bottle for now. She didn’t take Hei Sha either, as it had taken a liking to the mountains in Xiangnan and went off to roam.

As Gu Po watched her walk into the shadows and disappear, her eyes carried an added hint of astonishment – this woman was even more formidable than she had thought.

The Golden Scorpion was kept in the Medicine House of an annex at the Qin Mansion. Qin Liuxi did not disturb anyone, emerged from the Yin Road directly into the Medicine House, took the scorpion, and grabbed several other medicines.

Just as she was leaving, she thought for a moment and took a Jade Box with her.

Little Ginseng was boasting immodestly about the big storms it had endured over the millennia with a pair of male and female ghosts at the bottom of the wall.

Suddenly, seeing Qin Liuxi walking over, it had an ominous premonition.

"Come here."

Little Ginseng turned and fled: No, I won’t go over.

It was fast, but Qin Liuxi was faster, grabbing a leaf and tearing off a root, throwing the Little Ginseng aside and placing the root into the box, she opened the Yin Road and vanished.

Little Ginseng: "?"

It got plucked again!!

The male and female ghosts laughed, their ghost energy scattering: That must be the Storm Power from the legends!