Chapter 1143: The Little Junior Sister's Tree Seed?

"Thank you, Brother Chen, for saving my life! Your great kindness and virtue are beyond repayment; I can only..." Gu Qinger, who had just recovered after taking the pill, hadn't finished his words when Gu Qingyi slapped him so hard that he doubled over at the waist.

"Sorry for the abruptness earlier; I didn't expect the situation to be like this, and I offended you greatly." Gu Qingyi, holding his sword, bowed deeply, his words overflowing with remorse.

So it was a misunderstanding! It was Brother Chen who saved my second junior brother! Xu Xiaoshou calmly accepted the apologies and thanks from the two Gu brothers. Without him, Gu Qinger would have truly died at the hands of Tianren Wu Shua. Especially that kick during his punch against Tianren Wu Shua—if it hadn't sent Gu Qinger flying away, the guy would have been shaken to death on the spot while unconscious.

"Pl... uh, please rise. It was just a small effort."

Xu Xiaoshou helped the two of them up. His curiosity was now satisfied, and he didn't want to waste any more time. He only wanted to find the main hall, so he casually asked, "Along your journey, have you encountered the main hall of Zui Yi Dian? I'm trying to get there but am struggling to find the way."

Main hall? A look of confusion flashed in Gu Qinger's eyes; he couldn't recall anything from before. With the description from his savior Chen Shu, he knew that after being controlled by Tianren Wu Shua, he had done many things in a daze, mostly self-sacrificing acts. As for what happened before that... He only remembered jumping off the cliff, entering this Sky City, wandering into Zui Yi Dian, and engaging in an endless stalemate with countless void servants. Once the fighting started, he lost track of time and couldn't stop. He couldn't kill the void servants, and they couldn't harm him; they fought chaotically until the end. Finally, that detestable orange-masked figure appeared, the void servants vanished, and Gu Qinger successfully forgot himself...

"I don't remember any main hall. I haven't even seen anything called a 'hall'; I've just been wandering in circles in the maze." Gu Qinger shook his head blankly.

Gu Qingyi shot him a cold glance, making his second junior brother shrink back and stop talking. Then Gu Qingyi said, "After entering Zui Yi Dian, I did visit one hall and one chamber: one called 'Zhen Huang Dian' and the other 'Fou Xing Ting'. I don't know if that's the main hall you're looking for. I still remember their locations quite well."

One hall and one chamber—Xu Xiaoshou had never heard of these names. "Can you describe the scenes inside?"

"Zhen Huang Dian was fairly safe, with no real dangers, just a talking giant stone statue. But it spoke very slowly, unusually so..."

"Fou Xing Ting was quite special; once you step inside, you can barely move. I didn't stay long, just broke the formation and left without exploring further."

Gu Qingyi described the decorations and styles of that hall and chamber in detail, leaving nothing out.

Xu Xiaoshou listened patiently to it all, but in the end, he found no useful information.

"Did you sense any special presences there?"

Xu Xiaoshou now had full confidence in Gu Qingyi's strength. If there was anything unusual in that hall and chamber, he believed Gu Qinger might not notice it, but Gu Qingyi should.

The three of them traveled together, with Gu Qinger trailing at the back. He couldn't help peeking out from behind his senior brother and curiously asked, "What do you mean by a special presence?"

Gu Qingyi didn't interrupt; this was also what he wanted to know.

Xu Xiaoshou pondered for a moment and said, "For example, something like a imprisoned Bansheng..."

"Bansheng?" Gu Qinger trembled, his pupils contracting as he sized up his senior brother from head to toe. He saw that Gu Qingyi had no injuries at all, not even a speck of dust; he looked elegant and composed, the complete opposite of his own bloodied state.

He had his answer and replied on behalf of his senior brother, "There shouldn't be any."

His senior brother was strong, but he couldn't beat a Bansheng. If they had encountered one, he would be dead by now.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the attention-seeking, blood-covered Gu Qinger and hesitated before saying, "You should probably change your clothes and wash your face."

Gu Qinger quickly went off to change.

"There are no living Bansheng, but there is something special!" Gu Qingyi's gaze turned serious.

"Ah? There really is a Bansheng? How did you survive?" Gu Qinger, wiping the blood from his face with his robe half on, stopped in surprise.

Is the gap between me and my senior brother that big? This doesn't make sense!

Gu Qingyi glared at his second junior brother and got back to the point: "The stone statue in Zhen Huang Dian had Bansheng fluctuations. It did speak, but I didn't dare ask much. Once I knew it didn't know where my junior brother was, I left."

Gu Qinger, who was fastening his belt at the back, felt a warmth in his heart upon hearing this, and tears welled up. He wiped them away while saying emotionally, "Senior brother, so you were looking for me all along?"

Gu Qingyi's eyelid twitched wildly; he couldn't hold back anymore.

"Shut up!" "You idiot!" "I told you to stay on Ginyin Cliff—who told you to come down?" "If I didn't look for you, you'd be dead somewhere, and how would I explain that to our master?" "If I didn't look for you, how could I be standing here right now?!"

"I..." Gu Qinger pinched his nose, too scared to even flick it away, frozen in place.

Xu Xiaoshou watched the two senior brothers bicker with a smile, but his mind flashed to the image of his junior sister. That girl was still missing; who knew where she had flown off to? He hoped nothing had happened to her. But with her strength, she should be fine. The void servants were powerful, but if she couldn't beat them, she could run. And if she used the "Shenmo Tong," she could even control someone like Rao Yaoyao. In Zui Yi Dian, as long as she didn't run into a living Bansheng—well, even someone like Han Ye or Jiang Buyi—she probably wouldn't die. She was the top beneath Bansheng, even mastering Saint force; she could scare even Taixu to death! The only thing Xu Xiaoshou worried about was his junior sister's brain, much like Gu Qinger's—it wasn't the sharpest. But luckily, she wasn't alone; she had Lei Xi'er in her mind. He wondered if Lei Xi'er had recovered and woken up by now, hopefully to guide her.

"What did the giant statue in Zhen Huang Dian say?" Xu Xiaoshou asked.

"Not much. It called itself the Void General and asked why I was in Zhen Huang Dian. I said I was looking for someone, and since it didn't know, that was the end of it."

"Void General?" Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback. "Describe its appearance in detail."

"You know it?" Gu Qinger, still clinging to the hem of his senior brother's robe and pleading, wiped his nose on it sneakily, then popped his head out in surprise.

"Maybe." Xu Xiaoshou didn't deny it.

"About one zhang tall, in black armor that was quite damaged, holding a black halberd taller than the statue itself." Gu Qingyi frowned as he thought.

Xu Xiaoshou was certain this matched the description of the Void General! He had thought the giant statue Gu Qingyi mentioned might be a hundreds-of-zhang-tall void servant statue. But if it was only one zhang high, it was the same height as Hong. In non-combat states, Void Generals seemed to maintain that size. From Ah Hong's memories, the Void General Fei was like that too. So, which one had Gu Qingyi encountered? Those two were already dead. If any were still "alive," they might be like Hong, just a fragmented "spirit."

"Did you catch its name?" Xu Xiaoshou asked.

He felt that Zhen Huang Dian was likely the main hall of Zui Yi Dian. After all, even Bu She Ting, which held a Bansheng prisoner, didn't have native Void Island creatures guarding it. But Zhen Huang Dian was guarded by a Void General, which meant it was more important than Bu She Ting. The main hall was probably there.

"Void General... Zui?" Gu Qingyi pondered. "Is that its name?" He wasn't sure.

It fit the Void Generals' naming style: single characters. But he had never heard of it...

Xu Xiaoshou only remembered that Void Island had three major Void Generals: Hong, Fei, and You. Where did this Zui come from? Like how there were eight Jianxian when there should be seven, were there four Void Generals?

Xu Xiaoshou pondered for a while and decided he had to visit Zhen Huang Dian, not for anything else, but for Ah Hong's sake, to figure out this "Zui's" identity.

"Have you heard of the 'Mian Si Ling'?" he finally asked. If Gu Qingyi had gotten information about the "Mian Si Ling" in Zhen Huang Dian, then that place was definitely the main hall of Zui Yi Dian.

"Never heard of it." Gu Qingyi shook his head.

"Mian Si Ling? What's that? Eat it and you get an immortal body?" Gu Qinger secretly dried the snot on his senior brother's robe and asked innocently.

"No." Xu Xiaoshou didn't bother much with this wildly imaginative guy and shook his head. "It's just that without it, people die."

"You?" Gu Qinger asked in shock.

Gu Qingyi glared at him. Anyone with sense knew not to ask such prying questions, especially to their lifesaver.

"Yes." Xu Xiaoshou smiled and nodded nonchalantly. "I only have less than four days left to live."

"Senior brother, we have to save him! He just saved my life..." Gu Qinger immediately grabbed Gu Qingyi's sleeve and shook it.

"Nonsense." Gu Qingyi roughly pushed away his dirty hand and lowered his voice. "Don't think I didn't notice what you did earlier—I'll deal with you later!"

Turning back, he regained his calm demeanor and said with a light laugh, "Brother Chen, why don't we travel together?"

"I'd be honored." Xu Xiaoshou was more than happy to have company. Not just because Gu Qingyi knew the way, but with his strength and status, traveling together would avoid a lot of trouble.

Throughout his growth, Xu Xiaoshou had never met an ancient Jianxiu who wasn't protective. That made sense; in the five domains of the continent, there were so few young ancient Jianxiu who achieved fruition that the elders had to be protective, or the lineage would die out.

Thus, with Gu Qingyi along, even if trouble arose, he might not need to act. Anyone thinking of attacking them would have to weigh whether they could handle the wrath of the seven Jianxian, Wen Ting!

Wen Ting... Thinking of him, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but feel curious. He had only heard the name but never met the person. He wondered about the strength of this Jianxian, who had wandered the Jianghu with Ba Zun An, always shining but forever overshadowed by Ba Zun An.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't ask, though; that would be impolite.

On the way to Zhen Huang Dian, Gu Qingyi moved quickly. He clearly understood better than Gu Qinger what "less than four days left to live" meant coming from their savior Chen Shu.

Xu Xiaoshou followed silently. Along the way, except for Gu Qinger chattering nonstop, the other two didn't speak.

"Senior brother, when you saw me this time, did you notice anything different about me?"

"Really, nothing? Look at my aura, feel my sword intent... hehe, guess what I've comprehended?"

"Senior brother, say something! But even if you ask, I won't tell you. It's my ultimate trump card—you can't beat me now... ouch, you're so weak!"

Gu Qinger's clumsy attempts at provocation were so poor that Gu Qingyi didn't even respond, just kept hurrying along.

"Wait."

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly stopped.

"Something wrong?"

Gu Qinger's ears twitched, and the nine swords on his back wheel trembled slightly. A resonant sword hum spread out, even making the maze walls vibrate, but nothing was detected.

Gu Qingyi, holding the Xie Jian Yue Lian, also stopped, sensing no enemies.

Xu Xiaoshou silently landed on the ground. He had sensed a faint spiritual energy fluctuation, common in the battle-scarred maze of Zui Yi Dian. But this time was different; it was his junior sister's spiritual energy.

Picking up a tree seed no bigger than a fingernail from the dusty ground, Xu Xiaoshou fell into thought. His junior sister's tree seed? She had gotten smarter, thinking to leave a signal for him? But how to decipher it... Dumb it down, get dumber! If I were my junior sister, how would I leave a signal?

"What's this?" Gu Qinger leaned in from behind to look.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't speak and used the simplest, most foolish method: injecting spiritual energy.

"Sizzle—"

The tree seed turned into a devouring vortex, crazily sucking the life force from his body.

Gu Qinger jumped in fright; he could see with his own eyes that Chen Shu's face had suddenly lost all color. At this rate, in less than ten breaths, a healthy person would be drained to a husk!

"Brother Chen, drop it quick! You can't pick up random tree seeds on the road!"

Gu Qinger was anxious; Zui Yi Dian was full of dangers. How could you pick up a tree seed? What if a wood-type void servant jumped out?

Xu Xiaoshou said nothing, as the seed was sucking life force, confirming his suspicion! This was his and his junior sister's exclusive signal; no need for prior agreement. One had the Ultimate Life Demon Body, endlessly absorbing life force; the other had the Eternal Weakness Constitution, supplying endless life force. If someone else picked it up and saw it drain life force so wildly, they'd throw it away immediately.

Xu Xiaoshou poured in energy desperately, his three passive skills working overtime, persisting for a good while. The tree seed swelled to the size of a human head without bursting.

Gu Qinger was stunned; he'd never seen anyone with such tenacious life force, visibly demonstrated like this! Was Brother Chen part cat, with nine lives? Or had he already died eight times?

Even Gu Qingyi was impressed. He had seen that Chen Shu was no simple ancient Jianxiu, but he never expected such overwhelming life force. But why persist in feeding his life force to this unknown tree seed...?

"Bang!"

With a loud explosion, once it exceeded the limit, the tree seed finally burst, turning into several crooked characters.

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils contracted, and his heart skipped a beat. Before he could destroy them, Gu Qinger behind him had already stretched his neck to look and, after straining to recognize them, read aloud in shock.

"What's this? Characters? What do they say?"

"Zhen Huang... Dian Jiang... Buyi..."

"Mmmph! Mmmph! What the... ouch..."