As Qin Xuan and Leng Qian argued about who should go to the Ten Thousand Mountains, Qin Xuan's phone rang. He pulled it out and saw it was an unknown number.
Their eyes lit up, they exchanged a glance, and immediately answered the call.
"Master Qin, I'm back."
Both of them were delighted. Qin Xuan quickly asked,
"Miao Shi, did you get the Spring of Nature?"
"Master Qin, let's talk when we meet..."
Without an answer, Qin Xuan's heart sank again.
Given Qin Lin's life was at stake, Qin Xuan dared not be careless. He asked Leng Qian to stay home and take care of Qin Lin, while he met Miao Shi at an agreed-upon location and left.
They had arranged to meet at a teahouse.
By the time Qin Xuan arrived, Miao Shi had already been waiting for a long time.
Qin Xuan sat down opposite Miao Shi and got straight to the point.
"Did you get the Spring of Nature?"
Miao Shi shook his head bitterly.
"I had already obtained it, but..."
That night, Miao Shi had filled the porcelain bottle with the Spring of Nature, but the chieftain of the Miao tribe happened to be on Mount Wu Qi.
He happened to discover Miao Shi stealing the spring water.
The outcome was as expected. Miao Shi was disciplined and was originally to be taken to the Ten Thousand Gu Bottomless Pit of the Miao Gu tribe for punishment.
However, the chieftain of the Miao Gu tribe let him off and asked him why he stole the Spring of Nature.
Facing the coercion of the chieftain of the Miao Gu tribe, Miao Shi dared not lie.
He could only recount how he had poisoned Qin Xuan's friend with ač (gu), and how he had offended Qin Xuan, all over again.
After listening, the chieftain of the Miao Gu tribe personally intervened to dispel the surge of Qi energy that Qin Xuan had planted within Miao Shi.
Who knew that it could not be dispelled at all and almost killed Miao Shi.
After that, he let Miao Shi return.
"Alas, the chieftain said that if you want the Spring of Nature, you should personally go to the Ten Thousand Mountains to find her, and..." At this point, Miao Shi glanced at Qin Xuan guiltily and continued,
"And have you remove the surge of Qi energy from my body, otherwise she will not give you the Spring of Nature."
Miao Shi had conveyed the earlier part verbatim, while the last sentence was something he added himself.
After listening to Miao Shi's words, Qin Xuan's brow furrowed deeply.
Qin Lin's condition was already dire.
It would take at least several days to travel to the Ten Thousand Mountains, and Qin Xuan was worried that Qin Lin would not be able to hold on for that long.
Miao Shi carefully glanced at Qin Xuan, afraid that he would fly into a rage and he would lose his life. He continued,
"Actually, you could find a senior or higher-ranked witch doctor from our Miao Gu tribe. Although there might be some side effects, it would at least save her life. When I returned to the tribe, I seemed to have heard that there were other witch doctors in Jiangbei..."
Qin Xuan shook his head. The Miao Shi before him probably didn't know that he had killed two of their witch doctors. Therefore, asking other witch doctors to cure Qin Lin's poisoning was out of the question.
Besides, they were not as cowardly as Miao Shi.
Moreover, although witch doctors could cure poisoning, there would be side effects. Qin Xuan did not want Qin Lin to suffer any adverse symptoms, so he was determined to obtain the Spring of Nature.
"Forget it," Qin Xuan said after a moment's thought.
"Is there any way to suppress the Soul Devouring Gu worm?"
"Suppress it?" Miao Shi fell into contemplation.
The Soul Devouring Gu was a high-level Gu technique of the Miao Gu tribe.
Even high-level witch doctors could not fully raise it.
Its cultivation and refinement were even comparable to some major Gu techniques.
The Soul Devouring Gu fed on the host's vital blood. If there was no vital blood, or if the host died, it would detach itself from the host...
"I've got it!" Miao Shi suddenly remembered something.
"You can use the Turtle Breath Gu! The Soul Devouring Gu feeds on the host's vital blood, corroding their life force. But if it senses that the host has no life force left, after five days, it will choose to break out of the body!"