Capítulo 82: Rewards after tribulation
What moment in the novel made you realize that Fang Yuan was the real deal? Like not some "villainous" protagonist who cares about going around saving Jade beauties and just killing young masters while seeking some edgy revenge
What do you think would be the secondary/specialty path that Great Dream immortal Venerable would have?
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"Argh...ahh, this is going to be a real problem..." Chen Wei said, using one hand to hold onto a branch while covering the cut on his torso with the other.
"Do you need help? I'm coming!" Wang Mei quickly ran towards him.
But before she could reach him, Chen Wei swung himself down from the branch, landing on the ground with ease without removing his hand from his wound.
"No need, I can move by myself... but I'll need some of this," Chen Wei pointed to a bunch of herbs lying on the ground where Yu Lian had been before the battle started.
"Alright, but they need to be processed into a pulp... I'll do it for you," Yu Lian advanced to pick up the herbs and began mashing them into a pulp.
"Hmm, thanks..." Chen Wei said as he slowly walked towards the boar, deep in thought.
'Human beings are truly the most adaptable creatures...' These thoughts came to his mind as he observed Yu Lian's actions, which perhaps even she hadn't noticed were already contrasting with her earlier behavior.
It was simple to see when she volunteered to process the herbs for him immediately after he mentioned the need, without leaving it for Wang Mei to take the lead, which she would have done quickly. The reason for this was the most primitive human feeling: the instinct for survival.
She must have consciously or unconsciously realized the reality that alone in such a situation, she would have met a cruel death. Even while acting in the group, she was the most useless member due to her lack of experience, as evidenced by her dropping the herbs on the ground when she ran or when her spear throw failed to hinder the boar.
And in a desperate situation, the first to be sacrificed would be the weakest member of the group. Thus, driven by her primitive instincts in this situation, she clung tightly to the greatest utility she could offer the group, which was her knowledge of various mortal herbs.
'Well, at least that's what I imagine it to be, but who knows,' Chen Wei thought as he knelt beside the boar, with Feng Hua inspecting its body.
"It's always best to make sure!" Chen Wei placed his hand on the broken spear embedded deeply in the boar's neck.
"Are you?" Feng Hua looked confused at him, holding the spear in the animal's neck, moving it from side to side, and punching the boar's belly. He also poked its eyes, prodded its tusks, and pulled its fur like a mischievous child after finding a dead animal.
"Seeing if it has another Gu... one that only takes effect after the user has been dead for a while," Chen Wei spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"This is a juvenile Butcher Boar. For it to have a Gu is already bad luck; for it to have two and one being a post-death Gu is almost impossible," Feng Hua looked disapprovingly, believing Chen Wei was being overly cautious, almost paranoid.
"Maybe..." Chen Wei forcefully thrust his spear into the boar's testicles, causing a small explosion that sprayed disgusting yellow pus everywhere. "...but a maybe isn't enough; it's always better to be certain."
"What?! That's almost a one-in-a-thousand case...?" Feng Hua spoke in shock as she watched Chen Wei stand up to receive the herb pulp Yu Lian had prepared for him.
"Well, you should be aware that the heavens probably aren't on our side," Chen Wei said as he applied the Healing Freshness Leaves to his wound from the previous fight. "And this Testicular Pus Gu is a clear indicator of that."
Chen Wei didn't know this Gu exactly; he hadn't seen its form, only its effect. Thus, the name was his invention, but based on his knowledge of Gu, he knew it must be the type that increased in power every second the body was dead until it exploded with full force.
In fact, this type of Gu was quite common and one of the reasons why the bodies of Gu masters killed by enemies were always carefully checked before a formal burial. He even heard stories of when such a Gu exploded at a burial, killing a dozen unprepared Gu masters.
But now that he had destroyed it before it could strengthen, the explosion was weak, sending only some smelly yellow pus into the air. Although there were more sophisticated ways to deal with it than piercing the animal's testicles, all those methods either used Gu or took a lot of time, so he did it the brute way.
"This smells horrible... like a decomposing corpse!" Yu Lian said, covering her nose as she handed the herbs to Chen Wei.
"We're not going to eat it after this, are we?.... this pus could be poisonous or something," Yu Lian spoke with disgust but corrected herself to not seem like a fragile girl and appear to have a more logical reason for not wanting to eat the boar.
"What? We would never eat a Butcher Boar..." Wang Mei, who approached the two with a jealous look on her face due to Yu Lian's proximity to Chen Wei, spoke confusedly.
"Oh! Right, you never experienced the life of a Gu master in Longhua Shan Mountain nor had the education of an aristocratic family... well, butcher boars have rotten and inedible meat for us humans." Wang Mei picked some of the herbs and began applying them to Chen Wei's wounds to help him.
"In fact, in our three clans, one of the most common missions was to kill a certain number of them to receive rewards since they are a plague and, worst of all, can wipe out entire villages when they form a horde of females," Feng Hua explained to Yu Lian while now doing what Chen Wei was doing earlier, stabbing the boar in every imaginable spot.
"Then why was this one alone?" Yu Lian asked, confused, as she moved away from Chen Wei after receiving hostile looks from Wang Mei.
"This is a male; they are solitary. As she said, those that form bands are the females who need to protect their offspring, which are very fragile when young," Chen Wei finished explaining to her before placing his hand on Wang Mei's belly.
"Are you okay? Is the baby alright? ...I saw you holding your belly in pain, and I was worried," he whispered in her ear.
"I'm fine... the baby seems okay too. The pain has passed, but we need to find a Gu master midwife to check on the baby's condition..." Wang Mei said, feeling warmth in her heart with his hand gently caressing her and hearing his voice and seeing his eyes filled with endless concern.
"I know, that's my priority..." Chen Wei said simply, remembering how he kept part of his attention on Wang Mei the whole time.
"I'm finished; there's no part of this boar's body left unchecked..." Feng Hua said with a contemplative expression, pondering Chen Wei's words and whether he was referring to the heavens literally.
"Why are we even doing this if we can't eat it? Can't we just leave it here?" Yu Lian asked, confused by everyone's actions. "...It wouldn't be a problem if it exploded here, right?"
"It's not just because it can't be eaten that it's useless... this is a wild beast; its body can be used as Gu material," Chen Wei approached the boar and grabbed its hind legs to pull it. "...and most importantly, its blood is of great value to me!"
"Oh! That makes sense!" Yu Lian said, tapping her head as she remembered his status as a Blood Path Gu master.
"Besides, there's another use for its meat to help us obtain food," Chen Wei said as he began leading the way again, walking much slower than before because he was dragging the boar.
But unlike before, he wasn't heading north; instead, he was going east. None of the three girls following closely behind him questioned why, as it was obvious he was heading towards the loud sound of running water.
"So... your plan is to use its meat as fishing bait, I imagine?" Yu Lian asked apprehensively, worried that everyone's opinion of her might diminish if she continued to appear so uninformed, but there wasn't much she could do due to her lack of practical experience as a Gu master.
"Exactly. Although this will probably attract carnivorous fish, some of them have excellent meat and can be eaten raw," Chen Wei said, pulling the boar with some difficulty, though not too much since he was a strong young man and the boar hadn't yet reached adulthood before it died, so it wasn't too large.
"Besides, it'll be easier to fish them with our spears..." Feng Hua said, waving her spear in the air and receiving a nod of agreement from Chen Wei. "...well, at least when compared to hunting a land animal."
Thus, they continued their path through the steep forest passages at an even slower pace than before, but it didn't matter now since the large flowing river was much closer than the smoke source, and they could hear its sound growing louder with each moment.
After almost an hour, since the path they had to take wasn't the most direct and easy to traverse, and not only Wang Mei but also Chen Wei had to stop to rest occasionally and reapply more medicinal herbs that Yu Lian was gathering along the way to his wound.
In fact, all three offered to help him drag the boar or to take turns doing it, but he refused. Of course, it wasn't out of honor or a desire to prove his masculinity.
It was to create an even stronger image of someone strong, reliable, and with immense perseverance in the minds of Yu Lian and Feng Hua. He had been constantly doing this through his actions and words, and not just that but at every opportunity, he increased their dependence on him in some way. And he always walked ahead of them, unconsciously taking the position of leader in everyone's mind, which could make his life much easier in the future.
Of course, he wasn't a psychology expert, but he knew that the natural state of a human being, when in a dangerous situation, was to seek a leader or someone in a position of power to follow, as well as to form bonds with them to preserve their life or as a form of defense. That's why phenomena like Stockholm Syndrome were well-known in his original world.
Sure, he couldn't be certain that human psychology in this world worked the same since they didn't descend from Homo sapiens as in his world but were created by Ren Zu using Derivation Gu. Additionally, he knew from Kuang Luo To that most Variant-humans had all different ways of thinking that led most humans to consider them foolish.
But even so, he decided to act as if human psychology were the same because he couldn't prove otherwise, and even if he could, he wouldn't know what to do with that knowledge or how to act differently now.
"Well, we might also find Purple Creek Cherries; they can be eat--" Yu Lian was interrupted mid-sentence by Chen Wei suddenly stopping and raising his hand, indicating for her to be quiet.
"Look in the direction my spear points..." he whispered softly, not wanting to make much noise while pointing his spear to a spot ahead.
When their eyes followed the direction he pointed, they saw a campsite in a clearing beside the river, with various traps set up to catch fish, as well as apparently four medium-sized tents forming a temporary camp.
At that moment, the focus of the three girls' attention was on a frail-looking young man struggling to make a fire, his back turned to them.
"Take the boar and quietly and carefully retreat to a deeper part of the forest where you can't be seen but can still see me..." Chen Wei spoke softly, making it hard for them to hear due to the loud noise of the fast-running river.
"If someone attacks you and you need to, run with all your strength; if you can't, scream loud enough for me to hear over the river's noise," Chen Wei dropped the boar and changed his grip on the spear to make it look clumsy as if he didn't know how to handle it properly.
"Are you going to attack him?... Be careful!" Wang Mei said, worried, trying to keep her voice low.
"It's fine, even without Gu, no fisherman could beat me in a fight, not even several of them..." Chen Wei said, having realized for a while now why they hadn't encountered any traps in the forest.
Since the river seemed to flow north, it became even more evident that this group of possibly four fishermen were responsible for the fire, likely made at another camp like this one beside the river.
"And don't worry, I won't attack him head-on; I'll just put my years of acting practice to use..." Chen Wei said as he picked up dirt from the ground and smeared it on his body and face, also removing the herbs from his wound.
"...and after that, I'll kill him!" Chen Wei said enthusiastically, with a cheerful smile on his face as if he were talking about something mundane and ordinary.
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