Chapter 140

Chapter 140: Who Took the Firefly Gu Worm?

Seeing the Old Shaman so calm, Feng He Yun could not hold it in and said in a mocking tone: “My Junior Brother looks like he is about to die, and Senior still asks why we came to see you?”

The Old Shaman glanced at Lu Shi Qing’s face and nodded like he had just realized something: “His complexion does look bad. I will first check his condition.”

He sent his Divine Sense through Lu Shi Qing’s body.

Standing to the side, Feng He Yun hurried to explain: “My Junior Brother had an accident while doing Gu Refinement. A Gu insect entered his body and bit back at him.”

The Old Shaman was skilled in Gu Arts. The moment his Divine Sense explored Lu Shi Qing, he understood the situation. He drew his Divine Sense back and clicked his tongue: “This is not a person with a Gu insect inside; this is a Gu insect that grew a person on it.”

The condition was a mess, and there were even signs of fungal poisoning.

Feng He Yun asked in a rush: “How is my Junior Brother?”

The Old Shaman answered with real surprise in his voice: “I want to know what he went through that made him risk his own life to refine such a dangerous Gu insect.”

He stared at the man before him whose face had gone purple and whose brows were locked tight. What Lu Shi Qing had done was close to madness.

Feng He Yun frowned and muttered: “Who knows. He locks himself in the Gu Refinement room every day. We cannot even see him.” [Could it be that Shen Sang Ruo leaving set him off?] He shook his head and mumbled, half to himself: “Our Third Junior Brother hates her so much he probably wanted her gone.”

Feng He Yun pressed him again: “Senior, do you have a way to save him?”

The Old Shaman waved for patience while fishing around inside his many layered robes: “Wait. Perhaps we can fight poison with poison.”

He added calmly: “We can use Gu insects to devour other Gu insects. That might remove his crisis.”

He took out several glass bottles in a row, the same kind he had given Shen Sang Ruo earlier.

Since there were many kinds of Gu insects in Lu Shi Qing’s body, fighting poison with poison would also take more than one type. The Gu insects in the bottles matched the types he had sensed inside Lu Shi Qing.

As he searched, the Old Shaman’s expression suddenly froze.

Catching it at once, Feng He Yun stared and asked: “What is it, Senior?”

The Old Shaman did not hide anything and spoke plainly: “One Gu insect for treating your Junior Brother is missing. It is called the Firefly Gu Worm.”

He added in a flat voice: “Two days ago, another person who entered this tower took it.”

Feng He Yun’s face went dark: “What? Then my Junior Brother still cannot be saved?”

The Old Shaman snorted: “What do you mean cannot be saved? It only means one Gu insect will remain in his body. His life will not be in danger.”

He truly wondered if these two were real brothers. Why did they jump to ‘he is going to die’ every time?

Feng He Yun pushed on: “Then can Senior refine another Firefly Gu Worm?”

The Old Shaman shook his head.

Feng He Yun’s voice rose, full of disbelief: “Senior, are you playing me on purpose? How could someone at your level forget the Gu Refinement method?”

Annoyance showed in the Old Shaman’s tone: “Leaving aside that refining the Firefly Gu Worm takes a very long time, even someone idle like me has only made one pair in thousands of years.” He gave a cold laugh: “The fireflies used to refine the Firefly Gu Worm are Protected Beasts in the Phantom Mirage Domain. If you hunt them, you will suffer Heaven’s Punishment. If you are willing to take Heaven’s Punishment for your Junior Brother, you can go look for those fireflies.”

Feng He Yun swallowed hard. He was the kind who would even make a sick Lu Shi Qing test poisons; how could he risk Heaven’s Punishment for him? The Phantom Mirage Domain was strange, and Heaven’s Punishment there could very well be real. [My dear Third Junior Brother would never want me to trade my life for his, right?] He used that thought to soothe himself.

Seeing his look, the Old Shaman’s scorn deepened in his eyes. [So this is what they call brotherly love, nothing more.]

Feeling that gaze, Feng He Yun did not want to be laughed at. He changed tack and asked: “Who took the Firefly Gu Worm?”

The Floating Cloud Tower had no duty to protect the privacy of those who entered. But faced with someone as rude and ill-mannered as Feng He Yun, the Old Shaman would never hand over Shen Sang Ruo’s name. He only said: “No comment.”

Feng He Yun forced himself to speak reasonably on another’s turf: “You cannot even tell me that? I am Master Ling Xiao’s disciple. Do you think I would go and rob someone?”

He tried again, softening and pleading: “Senior Old Shaman, my Third Junior Brother is at death’s door. Please tell me who took it. No matter what, I must get that Firefly Gu Worm for him.”

The Old Shaman rubbed his brow and said with clear impatience: “Even if I told you, so what? That person may not give it to you.”

He added sharply: “Do you think only you have fellow disciples? That person is also trying to save their own Third Senior Brother.”

[Master Ling Xiao’s disciple, and still this unreasonable?] The Old Shaman flicked his sleeve and warned: “If you want me to save your Junior Brother, then keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, even if Master Ling Xiao comes here, I will not hand over any more Gu insects to you.”

But Feng He Yun was stuck on one point the Old Shaman had said: “saving their own Third Senior Brother.” It made him think of someone.

Shen Sang Ruo was also inside the Phantom Mirage Domain, and she had reached Wuqing Stockade before them. Lu Shi Qing happened to be her former Third Senior Brother. [Are these really just coincidences?] He pictured her seeing Lu Shi Qing after the backlash, unable to leave him alone, then coming to visit the Old Shaman to save her “Third Senior Brother,” and asking for the Firefly Gu Worm.

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He even made up a reason for why she only asked for the Firefly Gu Worm: [Maybe she did not know how bad Lu Shi Qing’s illness was.]

Although the title “Third Senior Brother” was common in the cultivation world, he just felt, without thinking, that the person had to be Shen Sang Ruo.

This chain of guesses had the process all wrong and the answer accidentally right.

He put on a thoughtful face. [If it really is her, then her saying “Third Senior Brother” means she still keeps us in her heart. She still recognizes us, right?] Unable to hold back, he asked outright: “Old Shaman, was the one who took the Firefly Gu Worm named Shen Sang Ruo?”

The Old Shaman looked surprised. How did he guess Shen Sang Ruo at once? Did they know her, and even know her movements? He was still weighing it when Feng He Yun pressed, voice urgent: “Senior Old Shaman, just tell me whether it was her. We are her Senior Brothers; how could we harm her?”

He grew gentler just saying it: “Maybe she came to you for our Junior Brother, her Third Senior Brother. Please do not hide it from me.”