Kapitel 118: Honest Deal
"As you can see, everything is delivered as agreed..." Huo Mei Yan has a serious expression, clenching her eyes as she fails to hide her discontentment, "...nothing is missing."
As she speaks, her gaze shifts to Chen Wei's face, who, in her eyes, is much uglier than he really is. Next to him is the unconscious body of a Gu Master from the Huo Clan at his feet, whom she quickly recognizes as Huo Hou Hui, having memorized the descriptions of the faces and physiques of all the Gu Masters captured by Chen Wei.
Chen Wei, on the other hand, doesn't care in the least about her dissatisfaction as he checks the Gu and various valuable cultivation resources with ease, using storage Gu while keeping most of his attention on the elders of the Huo Clan, his guard up, expecting a surprise attack at any moment.
"Truly, business done with honorable righteous forces is the best..." Chen Wei wears a mocking smile on his face as he mimics her tone, "...they always pay their debts on time."
'Our debts? Is that a new word for extortion?!' Huo Mei Yan screams indignantly in her heart but keeps a blank expression.
Chen Wei can clearly see Huo Mei Yan's nose twitching as she narrows her eyes even more at him, seemingly on the verge of attacking him over his words, but in the end, she makes no move.
Not only her, but all the elders who accompanied her again to pay the extortion have similar expressions, a complex mix of melancholy and something else. He can also see a cold, calculating gleam in the eyes of Huo Xin, who seems to be containing his anger.
"I assume you plan to negotiate for him, right?" Huo Mei Yan breaks the silence to ask about Huo Hou Hui since Chen Wei hadn't asked for any Gu in exchange for his release before, yet here he is at his feet.
"Well, as I said, this is a negotiation, not daylight extortion," Chen Wei speaks with a broad smile that he quickly places on his face, "so how could your honorable clan not gain any benefit by fulfilling your part of the agreement?"
"He is my guarantee of the good health of the other Huo clan members, as well as a demonstration that I am a trustworthy person in my dealings!"
As soon as Chen Wei finishes, he tosses the unconscious body of Huo Hou Hui at the feet of the Huo clan elders, who not only refrain from rushing forward to check the physical state of their subordinate but actively distance themselves from him, eyeing him suspiciously, not daring to lower their guard.
"If I wanted to launch a surprise attack on you, I wouldn't do something so obvious..." Chen Wei shakes his head in helplessness, seeing the Gu Masters' nerves on edge.
"Huo Li Li, if I'm not mistaken, this is one of your subordinates from the healing pavilion of the clan, so you should be the most qualified to check his physical condition, correct?" Huo Mei Yan quickly speaks in a voice that seems like a calm and simple suggestion.
But Huo Li Li, hearing this, sighs in resignation, knowing that regardless of the clan leader's tone, this is an order she cannot refuse.
In fact, she expected this much because she was harshly reprimanded by all the clan elders without exception for her actions in the previous negotiation. In her opinion, what she did was no more condemnable than what Huo Xin himself did, but since the elders needed a scapegoat and she has much less influence than Huo Xin, she was unfortunately the unlucky one this time.
"He is mostly healthy, considering the circumstances," Huo Li Li evaluates Huo Hou Hui's body precisely and expertly, making any ordinary healing Gu Master look like an idiot who doesn't know what they're doing, "...he also doesn't have any internal injuries or parasitic Gu, from what I can see."
"But more importantly, his aperture is completely intact!" She says this with a bit of relief, for in this era, the number of Gu that can damage or use someone's aperture is countless, said to be a courtesy left by the Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable.
"Of course, it would be intact! Were you questioning my honesty?" Chen Wei speaks, feigning great indignation. "Besides, didn't I already guarantee that all of them would be delivered intact like this?"
"Of course, we wouldn't question your honesty, but fatal accidents can happen in fights between Gu Masters... unfortunately, the number of those who end up crippled is incredibly high," Huo Mei Yan quickly intervenes in the conversation, not giving Huo Li Li, who was about to speak, a chance to refute Chen Wei's words.
"Well then, since that's all for our agreement today, we'll take our leave," Huo Mei Yan continues swiftly, taking the initiative to leave this time so as not to lose face again by being dismissed by Chen Wei as if she were of no importance.
Chen Wei nods lightly with a slight smile, watching them leave. They all retreat at the same time, not daring to turn their backs to him or even blink and lose sight of him for a mere moment, as they carry Huo Hou Hui, still keeping their guards high.
Chen Wei shifts his gaze to a fat toad with puffed-up cheeks in his aperture, which was used to transfer the cultivation resources and Gu extorted from the Huo Clan.
'I wonder how many of these have been compromised or tampered with...' Thinking this, he narrows his eyes at the Huo clan Gu Masters, who are now a distant black dot. 'Not having a Gu specialized in verifying Gu materials is really a problem, even though I can rely on my experience in refining and using Gu materials to handle a part of them.'
'But I suppose it's only a minority... besides, these Gu materials are the lowest-value ones on my list, so it's unlikely they were tampered with.'
Chen Wei says calmly, for although some of the materials here are ones he plans to use for future refinements, the key word is still "future," as he wouldn't dare to do so more than he needs while still on this mountain, which belongs to the Huo Clan.
'As for the Gu, most are for support... they clearly don't want to risk increasing my combat or defensive capabilities in any way.' At this moment, Chen Wei finally relaxes his guard, seeing that the Huo clan elders are out of sight. 'But luckily, one of these support Gu is what Yu Lian needed to be her vital Gu.'
Finishing his assessment, Chen Wei sets his eyes on three Rank 1 Gu swimming happily in his primeval essence, resembling a button in the shape of a cute pig. This is the Greedy Pig Gu.
'Each of these three can store 25,000 primeval stones... truly an incredible result for a Rank 1 Gu,' Chen Wei turns around and heads towards the rustic house. 'Unfortunately, it lives up to its name and requires 49 primeval stones per week or more precisely 7 a day as food...'
As he walks, Chen Wei recalls a conversation he overheard in the past, where some bored Gu Masters were theorizing that the unknown creator of this obviously artificial Gu might have some way to transfer the primeval stones the Gu consumes to himself.
At the time, since it was just a conversation full of resentment and envy from some subordinate Gu Masters of his family, he ignored it, but now that he thinks about it, it's not entirely impossible that this is the creation of some immortal trying to increase their attainment in the theft path.
Chen Wei shakes his head, clearing those thoughts as he opens the door to enter the house.
"She's getting worse... did you manage to get the Immaculate Blue Powder?" Feng Hua didn't even give Chen Wei time to step inside the house before asking, with a face that tried to appear impassive, but he could clearly see the nervousness and anxiety in her eyes.
"Fortunately, yes... since it's a common material, they delivered it to me quickly without giving it much thought, but I still need to check if it hasn't been tampered with in a way that could worsen her health," Chen Wei quickly said, seeing Feng Hua's expression relax.
Chen Wei then shifted his gaze to Wang Mei, who was sleeping weakly, sitting in a comfortable chair beside the wooden stove with her hands on her belly. Yu Lian, who was beside her preparing tea, sighed in relief upon hearing what Chen Wei said.
"I can process the powder while you finish the tea," he said, taking out the Immaculate Blue Powder from the Fatty Frog Gu before placing it on the table and slowly and skillfully processing it while carefully verifying the authenticity of the powder.
'This brings back memories...' he thought in the back of his mind, recalling the time when, not long ago in the He An Clan, he personally processed this powder every day until he memorized the process with his eyes closed, ensuring that the powder received the best treatment before being used in the famous Immaculate Pregnancy Tea from Longhua Shan Mountain.
After finishing the powder processing in a little less than half an hour efficiently, he handed the processed powder to Yu Lian to finish the tea.
"I should finish quickly; I used to prepare a lot of these!" Yu Lian said, quickly grabbing the powder and heading towards the kettle over the fire.
"Ahh, no please... it's horrible..." Wang Mei, who woke up from the commotion, murmured weakly, covering her nose to block the smell of the tea, as the bad taste it had ruined her appreciation of the good teas of this world.
Chen Wei didn't even give time to listen to Wang Mei's complaints about the bad taste of the tea, which she always made, and instead, he headed for a small room in the house that was apparently used as storage.
There he was met with the sight of five unconscious Gu Masters piled almost on top of each other.
If anyone saw their physical condition, they could only describe their predicament with one word: inhuman!
"Well, I had to store my refining materials for the Blood Eyes Gu somewhere... it's just their bad luck to be the most suitable candidates," Chen Wei said lightly.
All of them had their eyes removed from their faces in a way that seemed straight out of a horror story, but it didn't stop there, as their arms and legs were twisted at strange angles, appearing on the verge of breaking, preventing them from moving an inch.
Not that they could move even if this weren't their condition, as their tendons had been cut with terrifying precision, completely disabling their use of their limbs but still sparing their lives.
"This still counts as intact, right?" Chen Wei humorously said to himself as he slowly walked over and squatted beside the Gu Masters.
"This is going to be really risky... but no risk, no reward, right?"
He quickly took out the Fire Cracker Gu and the Fire Horns Gu—one being a small firefly that constantly made ticking sounds and the other a beetle with red horns twice its size.
These were the two main Gu needed for one of the obscure refining recipes of the Aperture-Breaking Fire Gu, so obtaining these two Gu in the first resource delivery from the Huo Clan was no mere luck. But clearly the influence of Huo Xin, who had previously communicated through the wooden stove fire to suggest he request these Gu.
And now that they had a Gu that allowed for more "direct" and extended communication, Huo Xin could pass on the entire refining recipe for the Gu, as well as his intent to cooperate with Chen Wei and inquire about his plans.
Of course, Chen Wei hadn't revealed his intentions honestly, only sharing what was necessary while applying great caution and suspicion toward Huo Xin.
"No matter the risk, let's begin..." Chen Wei took out a pot where he quickly processed Pollinating Cactus and Burnt White Barks, following the instructions passed by Huo Xin, which he had already memorized and reviewed several times, searching for any traps or intentional errors.
As soon as he finished this process, he mixed the processed pulp, which seemed to burn like something poisonous, and placed it inside the Hollow Hook Thorns. He then inserted them with surgical precision into a special point on the Gu Masters' abdomens.
And why is this point special, you ask? Well, this is the spot any Gu Master would recognize as the location of an infinitesimally small and almost non-existent point they have their aperture in.
Seeing this, Chen Wei's eyes gleamed with a determined and calm light as an involuntary smile appeared on his face.
"...no matter what, I cannot afford to fail!"
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein