It was a quiet night, and the Koo-chee beast blinked its big eyes. Huangfu Xin’er chewed up the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruit bit by bit and fed Xiao Chen mouth to mouth with the fruit pulp and juice.

Xiao Chen held his breath, and his heart beat fast as he tasted a cool and bitter taste. At the moment, he had a strong desire to suck her tongue with great strength, but Huangfu Xin’er withdrew her naughty tongue as soon as the two tongues touched. She let go of his neck and stepped backward gently and swiftly.

Xiao Chen tried to pull her back to him, but he only managed to touch her cold fingertips. Huangfu Xin’er looked at him with a more tender expression, yet her voice was still icy when she said to him, “Does it still taste bitter?”

Xiao Chen stared at her quietly, and he seemed to freeze. Huangfu Xin’er continued in a cold tone, “I’ll share whatever you taste bitter.” After saying this, she stretched out for the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits in the hands of the Koo-chee beast. However, Xiao Chen took her hand and said with a smile, “No… no, thanks, Xin’er.”

At the moment, Xiao Chen recalled what happened decades ago. Back then, he was diagnosed to be born without spiritual roots and unable to practice martial arts. Xiao Yifan visited immortals all over the world for cures, and fetched Xiao Chen all kinds of medical herbs he could find to make him medical decoctions.

However, Xiao Chen was very depressed during that time, and he once smashed a bowl of bitter decoctions. Later, when Huangfu Xin’er visited him, she brought him a bowl of decoctions, drank half of it, and said to him, “I’ll share whatever you taste bitter.”

“Xin’er…” Xiao Chen felt something cut his heart. Old memories rushed back to him at the moment. Back when the Huangfu family went to him to break off the engagement, they brought him a Nine-flowered Shrub of Jaded Leaves, which Xin’er tried her best to win, and at that time, she knew nothing about the dissolution of the engagement.

“Hump!” Huangfu Xin’er tossed his sleeves, scoffed lightly, and turned back. Xiao Chen cleared his throat and said with a serious expression, “Brother Koo-chee, how many fruits do you have? Give them all to me.”

“Koo-chee, Koo-chee, Koo-chee.” The Koo-chee beast looked happy and handed Xiao Chen four Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits.

Xiao Chen did not frown even a little bit when he put the four fruits into his mouth one by one. He chewed and swallowed them. A moment later, Gui Xian walked in and said with a smile, “It seems the girl always has a measure.”

“Burp…”

Xiao Chen belched and suddenly felt a sharp pain from his stomach. After that, he felt as if he were to be burned into ashes, and his face was covered with bright red streaks. He seemed to be suffering from sharp pain as a restless force rampaged inside his body. Under the force, the Yin and Yang forces in his body became restive as well.

The three forces bumped each other inside his body, seemingly to smash his internal organs. However, in a short time, the forces were neck and neck in terms of power. They supplemented each other yet counteracted each other.

Seeing him in pain, Huangfu Xin’er and Ziyun’er walked to Xiao Chen immediately. However, Gui Xian waved his hand at them and said, “He is fine. These are normal reactions.” After saying this, he walked to behind Xiao Chen, struck several parts of his body, and infused some Mystic Power into his body.

Several moments later, Xiao Chen came to a stable situation and fell asleep. Gu Feng walked in at the moment, with a big bloody snake gall in his hands. Looking at the unconscious Qingluan, he said to Gui Xian, “This is the gall of the seven-colored python I killed. Could you please check if it’s helpful to her?”

Gui Xian stared at the gall carefully and then looked at Qingluan before saying repeatedly, “Great! Great!”

Ziyun’er was all smiles as she looked at Gu Feng and said, “Thank you so much for your help, Senior Gu Feng!”

“Hump!” Gu Feng tossed his sleeves and threw the gall at Gui Xian, saying in a frosty tone, “You lasses know nothing but weeping and making pitiful faces, saying that you lost your sisters. Hump!” After saying this, Gu Feng walked out of the cave.

Ziyun’er froze and smiled gently.

At midnight, a gust of chilling air woke Xiao Chen up. He felt the force that came from the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits turned stable and gathered in his elixir field like an asleep volcano.

Xiao Chen sat up, finding that his clothes had been changed into clean ones. Where his left arm was cut off was wrapped up and felt cool.

“Boy, you woke up? Don’t move your left shoulder in the following several days. I put something on your wound to absorb the toxins in your body,” Gui Xian said slowly while sorting out something.

“Absorbing toxins?” Xiao Chen asked, puzzled. Gui Xian explained to him, “The toxins extracted from Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits are the strongest poison in the world. Even an immortal would die once he touches it. If you had not lost one arm, you shouldn’t have eaten the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits. Now, you’re impervious to all kinds of poisons. Well, many people would use poison on their enemies when in danger. However, you are resistant to kinds of poisons. How lucky you are!”

Xiao Chen was stunned by the words “resistant to all kinds of poisons”. He naturally knew that there were many peculiar people who were good at attacking others with strong poisons, and being attacked, even a Rogue Immortal would die.

When Fort Raksasa besieged Danyang Zi on Miasma Mountain Range, the latter, a cultivator at the peak of the Nirvana Realm from Order of the Divine Fire, would not have been killed by those four people if he had not suffered a sneak attack and got poisoned by Su Lianyue. It showed that poison could be really frightening, especially the poison used by an expert.

“Why haven’t I died from the toxins of the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits?” Xiao Chen wondered to himself. But soon, he figured out the reason—he lost one arm and had a special physique. The toxins were discharged from the wound on his shoulder. In other words, if he had not lost one arm, he would have died from the toxins.

However, his case was special. Not all the toxins could be discharged by cutting off one arm.

After straightening out his thinking, Xiao Chen massaged his shoulder, seeing which, Gui Xian immediately warned him, “Don’t move, boy. The toxins you excreted are the strongest poison in the world and very useful to me.”

“Useful?”

None-flower Dust chimed in with a smile, “You don’t know why he obtained the name Gui Xian, Brother Xiao? Many people regard him as a divine physician who saves the sick and can bring the dead back to life; they don’t know that his strongest skill is to kill invisibly. That’s why he is addressed as Gui Xian. Haha!”

Xiao Chen nodded his head and finally understood that in the past, if Gui Xian wanted a city to fall, he could turn this city into somewhere nothing could grow by using poison.

Gui Xian snorted coldly, and a chilling light flashed within his eyes as he said in a cold tone, “I’ll give Immortals’ League a ‘great’ gift for what they have done back then.”

Xiao Chen stared at Gui Xian and could tell that Gui Xian hated Immortals’ League much more than hating the Zuoqiu family. In this life, Gui Xian was a victim of the Zuoqiu family’s crime, and in his previous life, he was possibly killed by Immortals’ League, which was actually a blood feud, just like Xiao Chen, who did not hate Immortals’ League, Order of the Divine Fire, or the Mo Clan as much as he hated who plotted against him back then.

The moon dipped in the west, and the night seemed to be quieter. Ziyun’er fell asleep by Qingluan’s side when she looked after her. Gui Xian, Yi Tong, and None-flower Dust went out while others all fell asleep. Looking at Huangfu Xin’er, who sat back against the wall, Xiao Chen said in a light voice, “Xin’er, why don’t you sleep?”

Huangfu Xin’er did not reply. Bathed in moonlight, she looked as if she were covered by layers of gloom. Xiao Chen walked to sit beside her and pulled her into his arms, saying, “Take a rest. We’ll have to set off for the North Continent tomorrow, and we’ll be fine…”

Huangfu Xin’er looked up at him. They looked into each other’s eyes and saw their reflections. Eyes fixed on her rosy lips, he lowered his head to kiss her. However, before his lips fell on hers, he felt a sharp pain from his heart.

Huangfu Xin’er’s expression changed slightly, and she quickly struck several main acupuncture points on his chest while saying in a soft voice, “You still bear Heartless Curse with you, so don’t act recklessly. Let’s go to sleep.”

The night passed in peace, and when Xiao Chen woke up in the morning, he found he still hugged her tightly with his right arm. With a smile on his face, he kissed her on the forehead. However, the gentle kiss caused his heart to suffer from fierce pain. Awoken by his movement, Huangfu Xin’er immediately got up and moved away.

“Ahem, are you awake?”

Gui Xian walked in with some herbs in his hands and looked at Xiao Chen, asking, “How do you feel now?”

Xiao Chen stood up and looked much better than last night. He tried to stretch himself but found his left shoulder numb. Possibly because of the toxins of the Seven-apertured Octarine Core Fruits, he felt like a flame lay concealed in his elixir field, yet he did not know when he could absorb all the power of the flame.

He had a hunch that if he could absorb and refine the power, he probably could reach the Apotheosis Realm. By then, the cultivators in the Grand Completion Realm who were raised by the Immortals’ League with elixirs would pose no threat to him.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen squeezed his own fingers. Now, he was hunted by the Immortals’ League, but he believed that someday, he could establish a force that even the Immortals’ League would feel frightened at, just like the Immortals’ League felt frightened at the Spirit Silence Room and the Administration of Heaven. By then, he would hold the same status with the three forces, able to stamp Order of the Divine Fire and the Mo Clan under his feet, and nobody would dare to provoke him.

Gui Xian nodded and brought Xiao Chen back to reality by saying, “You recovered well. We must set off for the North Continent right now. I need to go there to make some preparations and ask an old friend of mine for help, so as to reattach your arm.”

After getting changed, they immediately set out for the first city in the North Continent, Cangyun City, whose size was similar to that of Xianyong City. They reached outside the city at noon, and looking from afar, they saw many people wait in a long line in front of the gate of the city. One would be carefully checked before he could enter the city, but it didn’t seem to be people from the Immortals’ League trying to find Xiao Chen and his companions.

In any case, Xiao Chen and his companions decided to be careful. They dispersed and pretended that they were strangers, so as to avoid being suspected. Gu Feng and Xiao Ning hid their powerful auras, and Su Xiaomei went back into the jade. Though he had a soul body, Gui Xian looked like normal human beings after he put on a cloak. Others could not tell that Gui Xian had a soul body unless they were sensitive to souls like Xiao Chen was.

When they got near to the gate, Xiao Chen became wary as well because he sensed two cultivators at the Apotheosis Realm from the city gate tower. The two cultivators reached the realm with their own power instead of elixirs. Things appeared strange since two cultivators in the Apotheosis Realm were arranged to stay in an ordinary gate tower.

“A lot of people have died recently, right?”

While Xiao Chen was lost in thought, he suddenly heard a sharp voice. The speaker was a short and thin man, and the man walking beside him made a hush gesture and said, “In one night, flowers blossomed all over the village, and all the villagers died, just like what happened in Mu Family Village a hundred years ago. Be quiet, let’s stop talking and enter the city quickly.”

Xiao Chen looked serious and suddenly paused his steps. In one night, flowers blossomed all over the village, and all the villagers died.