Han Yunxiâs group had crafted a giant iron cage and lowered it into an underground room so that the bars were touching the walls. It wouldnât hold an undying fellow like Bai Yanqing for long, but for now it kept him in check. They hadnât seen what heâd been reduced to by Su Xiaoyu until they took him out.
Currently, they were standing outside the cage, looking at the unconscious man inside. According to Su Xiaoyu, sheâd tortured him until he fainted. Although they couldnât discovered anything specific about his bloodstains, they knew that Bai Yanqing was all but crippled.
Gu Qishao knelt by his side and lifted his chin to check. Like Su Xiaoyu said, he had no teeth left. He glanced at the group and asked, âHow long will it take for his teeth to grow back?â
âWith his recovery rate, not too long,â Han Yunxi had one hand on her hip and the other over her stomach. More and more, she looked like a mother.
âPrincess, we only have one set of the nine toxic teardrops. Letâs be prudent with them and take a sample of his blood first to raise the thorny thistles, all right?â Gu Beiyue asked.
âThatâs an idea!â Han Yunxi exclaimed.
Gu Beiyue quickly brought over a small bowl and had Gu Qishao take some blood samples. While Gu Qishao stood gard in the cage, Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue quickly began their experiments. As for Long Feiye, he had no time to watch the show and went to deal with his own business. After Baili Yuanlong got news that Bai Yanqing was taken care of, he had urged His Highness to hurry back to the army. Truthfully speaking, Long Feiye couldnât afford to stay away for long. After reading the generalâs letter, he silently burned it up without telling Han Yunxi.
After all, Gu Beiyue wasnât familiar with poisons while Gu Qishao was busy standing guard. Without Han Yunxi here, the doctor would be in a lot of trouble. No matter what, he had to wait until they finished research on Bai Yanqing and the nine toxic teardrops before leaving this place.
A few days later, Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue did as Gu Qishao suggested and used Bai Yanqingâs blood to raise the Blood Rattan seeds. As it was a carnivorous plant, it could sprout just from absorbing nutrients from flesh and blood. Within one hour, it would grow to incredible lengths. Meanwhile, the seeds made from Gu Qishaoâs blood could even sprout in an instant.
For the sake of differentiating between the plants, Han Yunxi called the vines grown from Gu Qishaoâs blood Qi Blood Rattan and Bai Yanqingâs blood Bai Blood Rattan. After the Bai Blood Rattan reached maturity, they took its seeds and planted it into dirt and animal corpses. They discovered that these vines too, could sprout instantaneously. The only difference was that Bai Blood Rattans were extremely poisonous!
Now Han Yunxiâs group was even more convinced that their âplant essence extractâ theory was right. Taking advantage of Bai Yanqingâs unconscious state, they went to experiment on the man in person by planting Bai Blood Rattan into his flesh. If they also grew into undying vines immune to poisons, then it would prove that Gu Qishao and Bai Yanqing shared similar constitutions. Perhaps the method to dispel Poison Gu humansâ immortality could work on Gu Qishao, too.
Gu Qishao personally planted a seed into Bai Yanqingâs wrist. Han Yunxi, Long Feiye, and Gu Beiyue all stood outside to watch in silence.
What would happen?
Gu Qishao was the most nervous one of all, but he still chuckled carelessly as he inserted the seed. The rest stared at Bai Yanqingâs wrist, but there was still no reaction after some time had passed.
âHow can this be?â Han Yunxi was surprised.
The Bai Blood Rattan would sprout in dirt and animal corpses, so it shouldnât have no reaction to Bai Yanqing himself!
âThisâŚwhy?â Gu Beiyue was surprised as well.
But Gu Qishao only laughed out loud. He showed the seed still hidden in his palm and crowed, âItâs because I havenât planted anything yet!â
âGu Qishao!â Han Yunxi huffed and nearly went to kick him. Gu Beiyue was more mild-tempered and only smiled while shaking his head helplessly.
âPoison lass, donât be so nervous. At most Iâll just age a little slower and marry your daughter in the future!â Gu Qishao chuckled.
âYouâre dreaming!â
âYouâre courting death!â
It was obvious that Han Yunxi had said the first line while Long Feiye said the second. Before Gu Qishao could retort, Gu Beiyue shouted, âQishao, stop fooling around. Hurry and plant it, itâll be troublesome if Bai Yanqing wakes up.â
A flash of pain flitted through Gu Beiyueâs eyes as he looked at Gu Qishaoâs smile. Gu Qishaoâs jokes used to hide his true words, but now they were merely lies. How could he ever marry the princessâs daughter? It was still unknown whether he could survive past this trial. For something purported to be âundying,â his time was already running out.
Finally, Gu Qishao planted the Bai Blood Rattan seed into Bai Yanqingâs wrist. As soon as it touched the flesh, it sprouted into a vine that towered into the air. There was little difference between this vine and Gu Qishaoâs, aside from the fact that it was poisonous!
Han Yunxi was thrilled. âQishao, quick!â
Gu Qishao immediately slashed through the vine with his sword, only to discover it was impervious to his blade. Now Gu Qishao was excited as well. âFire, bring me fire, quick!â he cried.
Long Feiye tossed him a torch and Gu Qishao proceeded to burn the vine. To their delight, it didnât destroy the plant.
âItâs the same!â Gu Qishao cried in joy.
âYour Highness, you try!â Gu Beiyue urged next.
Gu Qishao got out of the way as Long Feiye unleashed his Lustbite energy and hacked down with his sword, only to seeâŚonly to see the vine sliced through.
The results left the group of four extremely moved. Vines suddenly flew out from Gu Qishaoâs right sleeve to head for Long Feiye. Understanding his intentions, he faced them with Lustbite energy. As Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue both watched tensely, Long Feiyeâs sword hacked Gu Qishaoâs vines to pieces.
Silence greeted the aftermath. Gu Qishao looked at Long Feiye in disbelief, a little dumbfounded. At last he said, âLong Feiye, youâre really capable of killing me!â
Han Yunxi was almost too happy to speak. She tugged at Long Feiye and exclaimed, âOur guesses were right! Theyâre right! Thereâs no such thing as an undying body! They simply have greater endurance and recovery rates than normal humans. Itâs not impossible for the Lustbite energy to kill Poison Gu humans!â
âYes! Senior Han Chen was right. There are stronger powers than the Lustbite energy on the Mysterious Continent also capable of killing off Poison Gu humans and Qishao!â Gu Beiyue was excited. âOur theory has to be correct! Bai Yanqingâs undying body follows the same principle as Qishaoâs! Weâll definitely find a way to cure Gu Qishaoâs body! For sure!â
Han Yunxi grinned. âGu Qishao, weâll create the antidote first. If a day comes that Qishaoâs body shows abnormalities that we canât treat, he just has to take the antidote and turn back to a normal human. If nothing goes wrong, you can choose to grow old with us or stay as Lil Thingâs companion. Thatâs your choice.â
Gu Qishao subconsciously glanced at Gu Beiyue, who looked back. Poison lass had thought of everything for him, but she had no idea that his body was already showing abnormalities. Still, he put on a fit of narcissism and said loudly, âSomeone as loyal as me will definitely want to turn old with the rest of you!â
As he spoke, he walked towards Long Feiye and rested a hand on his shoulder. âLong Feiye, how about having your daughter acknowledge me as her godfather one day? Thatâll make up for me being unable to marry her. Howâs it sound?â
Long Feiye didnât speak, but suddenly grabbed Gu Qishaoâs other hand and snuck his fingers up the sleeve. To Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue, it only looked like Long Feiye was trying to wrench himself free, but his actions caused Gu Qishao to freeze. That was because Long Feiye had touched the abnormal state of his arm.
Long Feiye soon released Gu Qishao and only regarded him with a cold look. As if threatened, Gu Qishao shut up. As it was common for Long Feiye to silence Gu Qishao with a single look, neither Han Yunxi nor Gu Beiyue thought much of it.
Gu Beiyue said, âPrincess, why donât we take some Poison Gu blood for use late and cure Bai Yanqingâs poison now?â
Han Yunxi had already combined the nine toxic teardrops into a small bottle. She also successfully analyzed each of their poison properties and ingredients to compare with the remaining Perplexing Butterfly Illusion in her hands. After recording down all their types and quantities, she handed the record to Gu Beiyue. The nine toxic teardrops were potent poisons on their own, but together their toxicity weakened. It couldnât even dissolve simple wood and plants, to say nothing of a human body. Han Yunxi knew they were still capable of dissolving something, but she didnât know what.
If their theory on the plant essence extract was true, then these teardrops were probably targeting that vey essence in Bai Yanqingâs body. Of course, this was only a guess and they needed to test it. They wanted to see how the nine toxic teadops would affect Bai Yanqingâs Poison Gu body and whether his constitution and blood would change afterwards. Moreover, they had to destroy his immortality, or else itâd be impossible to trap him.
Gu Qishao immediately took some of Bai Yanqingâs blood, then got the bottle of combined toxic teardrops from Han Yunxi. He looked at the crowd, who nodded back at him, then poured the liquid down Bai Yanqingâs throat. Gu Beiyue hastened to take Bai Yanqingâs pulse.
âHis pulse is getting weaker!â Gu Beiyue announced.
Han Yunxi couldnât help it and went to take his pulse as well. Like Gu Beiyue said, Bai Yanqingâs heartrate was growing weaker. His body even seem to grow exhausted and show signs of heading towards death.
âHe wonât die, right?â Han Yunxi was worried.
âHis body is getting weaker. Check his breathing! âGu Beiyue was a little anxious.
Gu Qishao placed a finger under Bai Yanqingâs nose and turned alarmed. âHis breathingâs very weak. His internal organs couldnât have rotted away, right?â
âNo, itâs normal exhaustion,â Gu Beiyue was certain. The poison teardrops were an antidote capable of removing an undying bodyâs inherent traits. It couldnât kill Bai Yanqing!
Whatâs going on? Bai Yanqingâs not going to die just like this, right?