Venerated Venomous Consort

Gu Xijiu’s intuition told her that the offer must be something unreasonable and illogical, a crazy idea for sure. Hence, she needed to know what it was before making any commitment.

“Please accept me as your disciple!”

“Ah?”

“I would like to have you as my master. I want to learn about array formations, the use of poisons, the art of healing, and the facial disguise technique.” he named his request very seriously.

Gu Xijiu was speechless. She had the feeling that Mr. Zhu must be the most arrogant, annoying, and unpredictable man in all of the Devil Kingdom. Hence, his request was rather odd. Was he still the same man that she first saw?

Since he already made his offer so generously and openly, Gu Xijiu did not feel the need to beat about the bush. She was direct with him. She promised to accept him as her disciple, only on the basis of his performance.

For their initial deal, it was easy for her to make a commitment as all they agreed on was an exchange of knowledge. However, she needed to think it through carefully if he intended to become her disciple. If she accepted his request, he would become her first-ever disciple. She did not want to bring shame upon her name by having a disciple with an awful personality.

Swiftly, Mr. Zhu created a door in the air and leaped into another space. Having observed this spell a few times, Gu Xijiu finally noticed that it was actually a transmitting door. Once activated, he could travel to anywhere in the Devil Kingdom as he pleased. Just as how he sent her to the garden of blossoming flowers and this time to the desert.

The man was said to be the most mysterious man ever known, who would come and go swiftly like a shadow. It was all because of this transmitting door, which was the best escape route anyone could ever have.

Meanwhile, Gu Xijiu lay in the array formation, contemplating about her injury. She knew that even with the herbs that Mr. Zhu retrieved, she could only make a pill to contain the toxins in her body from spreading. Nevertheless, they would still be in her body.

To eradicate it, she would need the other half of the cure from Yuanyuan. After the mess that Mr. Zhu left behind in the princess’ residence, the guards there would definitely become stricter. Moreover, Di Fuyi would be there with her to take care of her injury.

If Mr. Zhu was determined to make another brave attempt to barge into the princess’ residence, there was no way he could get any closer to Yuanyuan without first having to face Di Fuyi. Thus, Gu Xijiu needed to find another way.

As time ticked on, her thoughts became more intertwined. Soon, the moon slowly faded away, silhouetted against the sun on the other side of the horizon. The first faint streaks of dawn started emerging in the east.

The temperature in the desert rose quickly as soon as the sun appeared. At night, she could still feel the cold despite being under a layer of covers. When the sun came up, even the thinnest dress was too much for her in the heat.

Although she managed to drive some of the toxins out of her body, the remaining toxins were still lingering in her system. The pain remained. She could barely move and might as well have been paralyzed. Under the torrid sun, she started to bath in her sweat and was starting to get very uncomfortable. The array formation was able to keep out the wild animals in the desert, but not the sun.

As the sun beat down on her, she slowly became dehydrated. She licked her dry lips and decided to reach out for the bottle of water in her storage bag. Unfortunately, the bottle slipped from her hand, and the water fell onto the ground, spilling every drop onto the sand.

Helplessly, Gu Xijiu started to believe that she might already be at the end of her life. All of a sudden, the water on the ground started to boil!

“Hsshhh!” A giant, fiery red snake emerged from the sand! It was about ten feet long, but with a head as big as a basket. Right now, it was only three feet away from Gu Xijiu!

As soon as it emerged, it stretched its body and stood tall. Their eyes met, and they continued to gaze at one another.