Chapter 19: Truly Disgusting
Ambush in the Cave
“How?!”
Feng Xizhi’s tone was shocked.
Her bought intelligence mentioned only one Core Formation-level black python guarding the Black Pool Ghost Lotus.
Now, four more appeared.
No time to explain—the pythons locked onto their aura.
Sensing Feng Xizhi’s weaker presence, they lunged at her first.
Green venom sprayed.
She countered with a burst of flames, incinerating it.
But the pythons’ massive bodies followed.
In an instant, Gu Chi dashed to her side.
Scooping up the stunned Feng Xizhi, he sprinted toward the cave’s exit.
Barely a few meters out, another python emerged from the pool below.
Its jaws snapped at them.
It had been lurking, waiting.
No time to curse.
Gu Chi summoned his air sword.
With a flash, it shot like an arrow, piercing the python’s head.
Not stopping, it sliced the beast in half.
Black blood rained down.
The four pythons behind gave chase.
Feng Xizhi, tucked in his arms, stared in awe.
Killing a mid-Core Formation python with one strike?
Among Eastern Domain’s youth, only Moon Wheel’s holy son Ji Yi and a few prodigies could match that.
She hadn’t expected Gu Chi could too.
“You’re this strong—why run?”
“One sword costs twenty percent of my energy.”
“I’ve got forty percent left, idiot!”
His body surged like thunder.
The cave was too narrow.
The pythons’ tails struck, dislodging boulders from the ceiling.
Rocks fell, blocking his path and the exit.
He swung his sword to cut through, but the pythons closed in.
In a split second, he calculated.
Running was a dead end.
He crushed a Turtle Shell Pearl.
A three-meter orb enveloped them, shielding like a cultivator’s aura.
The pythons bit at the orb, causing only ripples.
“Quick, your protective treasures.”
He glared at Feng Xizhi.
Without hesitation, she handed over a dozen mysterious-tier explosive talismans, a sword array disc, and her hairpin.
“Here!”
Either she wasn’t trying to sabotage him, or she was just that foolish.
“Where’d you get the lotus intel?”
He couldn’t help asking.
“I planned to meet you here, so I gathered Heavenly Action Secret Realm info.”
“Bought it from a mid-Core Formation rogue cultivator.”
“You idiot!”
He wanted to slap her.
“He scouted it, knew he was too weak, and sold the intel to lure others to clear the way.”
“He’s probably on his way to reap the rewards.”
No time to argue.
He took the talismans, threading them through the orb’s gaps with spiritual energy, sticking them to the pythons.
He activated the sword array disc, unleashing air swords to trap them.
Then he eyed the hairpin.
“How’s this work?”
“It holds my father’s sword intent.”
“Activate it, lock on with spiritual energy—cuts anything below Nascent Soul.”
He exhaled, using all three treasures.
The talismans lit the cave ablaze.
The sword array pinned the pythons.
The hairpin targeted the fiercest, late Core Formation python.
When the dust settled, he looked at the dark pool.
The air reeked of char.
Only one python remained, barely alive.
“Thank goodness.”
Feng Xizhi patted her chest, relieved.
But Gu Chi’s expression stayed grim.
She thought he was still angry, avoiding his ire.
Then she noticed his gaze fixed on the cave’s other side.
Someone approached, stepping on water.
Moonlight revealed a figure in a bronze mask.
“Thanks for the effort.”
The bronze-masked figure spoke slowly.
“A year ago, I entered this realm.”
“Saw six pythons guarding the lotus.”
“Guessed something rarer lay beyond.”
“Indeed, the other side has a four-hundred-fifty-year-old Black Pool Ghost Lotus.”
He held a lotus with thirty-six petals, gleaming like black jade.
His aura fully revealed—peak Core Formation.
“I can’t believe a cunning woman like you fell for such a stupid trap.”
Gu Chi sighed.
“The realm’s strongest beasts are peak Core Formation.”
“With my treasures, I’m safe.”
“Plus, I have the Supreme Void Seal—teleports a hundred miles instantly.”
“I know his face.”
“Out of here, Fire Phoenix Sect will hunt him to death!”
Scolded again, Feng Xizhi felt wronged.
She tried to prove she wasn’t foolish, just fearless.
Indeed, her status gave her leeway.
Gu Chi’s eyes landed on the jade pendant at her chest—the legendary Supreme Void Seal, a heaven-tier treasure.
But as he looked, she clutched her chest, gripping the seal, near tears.
“It only teleports one.”
He met her eyes, smiling.
“I don’t want to die…”
She paled.
“Maybe… negotiate with him?”
She turned to the bronze-masked figure.
“You know what it costs to attack me in this realm if my father finds out?”
“Oh?”
The figure’s eyes teased.
“When has Bronze Mask ever feared?”
Gu Chi wasn’t angry—he wanted to laugh.
Feng Xizhi panicked.
“You’re not Bronze Mask!”
He ignored their squabble, patting her head.
“Go.”
She froze.
“Use your Supreme Void Seal.”
He repeated.
“What about you?”
Her face lit with surprise.
The seal took seconds to activate.
She feared he’d interrupt, stealing it to escape.
But he was letting her go?
“If it can’t take me, don’t waste words.”
His tone calmed.
“We could team up.”
“He’s peak Core Formation—we might win…”
“He’s a demonic cultivator.”
Gu Chi cut in.
“Gu-ridden brain, not long to live.”
“At this stage, he can unleash early, even mid-Nascent Soul power.”
Her eyes showed despair.
“I…”
“Go.”
He said one last time.
“If I survive, you owe me three thousand stones.”
“Two thousand for your life.”
“Deal!”
She steeled herself.
No deep bond tied them—no clichéd life-or-death pact.
She activated the Supreme Void Seal.
Ripples formed; she’d vanish in seconds.
Gu Chi faced the bronze-masked figure.
Blood-red wraiths emerged, refined specters ready to shatter the strained Turtle Shell orb.
“If you survive… I might really fall for you.”
She said suddenly.
“Then I’d rather die.”
He shrugged.
She vanished.
Confronting the Bronze Mask
In the cave, moonlight poured down.
Gu Chi stood on the pool, unmoving.
The bronze-masked figure broke the orb but didn’t act further.
Instead, he asked, puzzled.
“Who are you?”
“Does it matter?”
Gu Chi smiled.
“You feel stronger than Feng Xizhi.”
“You should’ve taken her seal and fled.”
“Then I could’ve savored her flesh.”
“Not afraid of retribution?”
Gu Chi laughed.
“As you said, my brain’s gu-ridden.”
“Few years left.”
“If I don’t indulge before death, when will I?”
“I’m on Moon Wheel Sect’s kill list.”
“After this lotus, I’ll roam Central Continent.”
He removed his mask.
A scarred, ancient face, like an eighty-year-old’s.
Demonic cultivation was a one-way path.
Gu granted power but grew hungrier.
The stronger the host, the more it demanded.
Unfed, it turned them into mindless monsters.
“I’ve a question, senior.”
Gu Chi wasn’t angry—his face showed sincerity.
“Ask.”
The old cultivator was curious.
“In your years as a demonic cultivator, ever feel a moment of softness or guilt?”
“Of course.”
He answered softly.
“But when spiritual energy fills you, the gu grows.”
“That satisfaction—worth more than gold.”
“Guilt, pity, regret—they vanish.”
“That fullness… righteous cultivators wouldn’t understand.”
“Like ascending the clouds.”
“Even the world’s most beautiful woman, naked before me, I’d ignore.”
“I understand.”
Gu Chi replied softly.
His air sword appeared, shimmering blue and green.
Seeing it, the old cultivator grinned.
“A dual spirit root genius like you—I ate one once.”
“Unforgettable taste.”
“Really?”
Gu Chi said faintly.
His eyes turned deep red.
Black dragon horns sprouted.
Scales covered him, a thick black dragon tail forming.
“Every time I eat demonic cultivators like you…”
“I feel sick.”
As his Demon Dragon Gu’s aura emerged, the old cultivator’s gu went mad with fear.
Before he could react, Gu Chi’s sword slashed down, cleaving him in two.
No need to talk more with a dead man.
The gu crawled from the corpse, fleeing.
Gu Chi’s Demon Dragon Gu slithered from his throat, catching and devouring it.
It burrowed into the dead pythons, absorbing their essence.
Like a small snake, it returned to his chest.
The gu shared its sensations.
Ravenous when hungry, sated but disgusted when full.
Gu Chi dismissed his sword, staring at his reflection in the pool.
He cursed.
“Truly disgusting.”
He crushed a fire spirit jade, igniting flames to burn the withered corpses.