Black Journey to the West: The Imposter Star Lord

Chapter 48: The Instructions for the Corrupting Ointment

"A ceremonial gathering at a magnificent pavilion?"

Gu Su looked up at Cao Xing and asked, "Who told you that?"

Cao Xing, munching on a chicken foot, said, "I heard about it when I was traveling the martial arts world. Judging by the timeline, it's around the middle of next month. I'm planning to go check it out."

Gu Su snorted coldly upon hearing this: "With your level of cultivation, you dare to join in that kind of fun? Aren't you afraid of selling your ass clean and being squeezed dry?"

"Uncle-Master, I'm terrified of being poor."

Cao Xing lowered his head and pointed to the bottles of Spirit Essence Pills outside the door: "All the money I've had lately has gone into buying Spirit Essence Pills. I haven't dared to spend a single penny recklessly. Without money, forget about cultivating immortality; a person's life is worse than a dog's. Besides this life, what else do I have to risk?"

Cao Xing looked up at Gu Su, his eyes already brimming with tears: "Uncle-Master, I really want to improve."

"Sigh~~"

Gu Su looked at Cao Xing in front of her and was momentarily dazed. In that daze, she seemed to see her own reflection in that face. Finally, she let out a long sigh: "Fine, from today onwards, I will teach you how to make the Corruption Elixir."

"what?"

Cao Xing looked up at Gu Su, who said, "This stuff sells quite well at the Qionglou Incense Gathering. You should brew some and take it with you. If you're lucky, you might get a good price."

As soon as Gu Su finished speaking, she suddenly felt a weight on her thigh and saw that Cao Xing had already hugged her thigh.

"Thank you, Uncle-Master. You're so kind to me."

Gu Su's lips twitched a few times, then she kicked Cao Xing away. She glanced at the water stain on her thigh with disgust, then glared at Cao Xing fiercely: "Wash the pot clean tonight and wait for me."

After saying that, Gu Su turned and left. Cao Xing slowly got up, glanced at his hands, and said, "Hey... they feel really good."

That night, Cao Xing continued to work hard, huffing and puffing.

Under the firelight, Cao Xing's muscles, glistening with sweat, outlined slender, well-defined lines.

After he used his Yin virtue to raise the Crimson Blood True Understanding Profound Skill to the seventh level, even the originally heavy bellows seemed to become lighter.

Gu Su stared at the slowly forming medicinal soup in the iron pot, her gaze occasionally sweeping over Cao Xing. She thought to herself, "How come this kid is so healthy? No wonder even Jin Yuan's Rakshasa Thousand Maidens Painting couldn't do anything to him."

Gu Su stared at the heaving muscles on Cao Xing's chest, and couldn't help but imagine images of demon women entangled with Cao Xing. As she thought about it, Gu Su became somewhat lost in thought.

It wasn't until she smelled a burnt odor that Gu Su suddenly came to her senses. When she looked at the rotten spirit paste in the soup pot, she saw that black foam had already appeared. Her expression changed.

Oh no, it's overturned!

Gu Su immediately lost face. She glanced furtively at Cao Xing, who was still working hard, and became increasingly annoyed. She picked up a ladle and hit Cao Xing on the head: "Why is the fire so big? It's all burnt."

"ah??"

Cao Xing looked up blankly, thinking, "No, you didn't tell me to use a small fire, did you?" But seeing Gu Su's dark face, Cao Xing didn't dare to say anything or ask.

Gu Su shoved the soup spoon into Cao Xing's arms: "Pour it out, we'll continue tomorrow."

After saying that, Gu Su pushed open the door without looking back and left quickly.

"How inexplicable!" Cao Xing scratched his head and put on his clothes.

Cao Xing walked out of the door. It was already 11:45 AM, and 1:00 AM was not far away. Cao Xing walked straight towards the corpse-dissolving pit.

"Brother Cao is here!"

"Senior Brother Cao, when are you taking me away? I really don't want to stay in this godforsaken place anymore."

"Brother Cao, my home is a bit far away. I don't need you to take me home, but could you please build me a small wooden boat so I can drift downstream and go back by myself?"

As soon as Cao Xing stepped into the corpse-dissolving pit, a large number of vengeful spirits surged towards him, looking at him with fawning expressions, as if he were returning to his own home.

Cao Xing greeted the wandering spirits with a smile and walked all the way to the entrance of the Corpse Dissolving Cave.

Upon closer inspection, he saw a shadowy figure waiting for him at the door.

Cao Xing's eyes gleamed, his gaze piercing through the shadows, instantly recognizing the face within: a goatee, triangular eyes, and a thin, pointed face.

"Huh!"

Cao Xing's spying immediately caused a strange expression to appear on the man's face, and he frowned: "Fellow Daoist, have you seen enough?"

Cao Xing did not look away, but calmly replied, "Sorry, it's a passive ability, I can't take it back. Perhaps it would be better for you to show your true face, senior."

"snort!"

The man snorted coldly, but still managed to dispel the gloom that had enveloped him. He looked Cao Xing up and down with a forced smile and said, "Fellow Daoist's cultivation is not high, but your skills are quite impressive. It's laughable that Gu Su misjudged you."

"Are you threatening me?" Cao Xing raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, don't misunderstand, it's just a sincere compliment." The man grinned, raised his hand in a bow, and said, "This humble Taoist priest is pleased to greet you."

"You're too kind, senior." Cao Xing nodded slightly.

After exchanging pleasantries, Cao Xing got straight to the point: "I can take you away, but as you've seen, I don't yet have the ability to enter the Corpse Transformation Cave. If you want to save me, we'll have to wait until I reach the Golden Core stage. You can wait that long, can't you?"

"Golden Core?"

Cheng Xing sneered, "We can wait, but I'm afraid Gu Su won't let you live that long. I'm not afraid to tell you, do you know what's below the Corpse Dissolving Cave?"

Seeing Cao Xing shake his head, Cheng Xing narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice, saying, "An immortal!"

Fairy!

Cao Xing was somewhat surprised, but quickly calmed down and looked at Cheng Xing with a cold smile: "Since you enjoy making up stories so much, then I'm afraid I won't keep you company. It's getting dark, and I need to go back to sleep early."

After saying that, Cao Xing was about to leave.

Chengxing was taken aback. He thought that revealing this would shock the young man, but instead, the other man turned and left. He quickly said, "Wait! I'm not lying to you. It really is an immortal, the corpse of an immortal, suppressed down there. We're not lying to you. Gu Su has been trying to release him all these years. If you don't listen to us, you'll be the first to die!"

However, Cao Xing did not stop, but waved his hand indifferently: "Let's talk about it when I get back from the Qionglou Xianghui."

"Sister, is what that guy said true?"

After returning to his room, Cao Xing asked Bixia in a low voice.

This time, Bixia fell silent. After a long while, she finally said, "It seems true, but maybe it's false."

"I understand!"

Cao Xing immediately understood. He told the truth, downplayed the important points, and even said that ten sentences were true. But if you ignored some small details, the nature of the matter would change drastically.

This kind of tactic was extremely rare within the system in the past.

Cao Xing didn't believe a word of Cheng Xing's words. Gu Su had ill intentions towards him, and they might not really want to escape as simply as they thought.

Even the county magistrate of Gaoche Town, a small town, had the intention to exploit people's greed for money, hoping to take the silver away and leave him an opportunity for revenge. How much more so for these old ghosts who have been trapped here for who knows how many years.

There are age restrictions for participating in the conversion ceremony. These old ghosts obviously cannot be ordinary disciples. They may be beginner disciples or even true disciples. Every one of these people is a shrewd person.

In Cao Xing's view, the more these old ghosts described Gu Su as terrifying, the more wary they should be of them.

Making enemies and winning over allies—this was a tactic that a certain country had already exhausted before its rebirth.

The results proved it right: once you actually believed this guy's nonsense, the first thing he did was cut you.

As for the immortal corpses inside the Corpse-Dissolving Cave, hmph! They can't escape anyway, so I'll just drag them out and deal with them after I've completely disintegrated them.

Cao Xing had already made up his mind: let them fight their battles, and he would fight his own. He was confident that he could control them eventually.

The next morning, Gu Su arrived very early.

"Uncle-Master, you've arrived quite early today," Cao Xing greeted him with a grin.

Gu Su rolled her eyes at Cao Xing. After returning home last night, she felt uneasy. She had never failed in refining the Corruption Elixir for so many years, and when she tried to give some pointers to others, it backfired.

How could she concentrate on her cultivation?

So I came here early this morning specifically to make another batch of Fuling paste.

"I inquired about it for you last night. Our Shangfang Temple will also be participating in this year's Qionglou Incense Festival. You can take a dragon boat to Qiongshan early the day after tomorrow. I've already registered you, but you'll have to pay the boat fare yourself."

"Thank you, Uncle-Master. You're so kind." Cao Xing grinned and was about to walk forward when Gu Su glared at him: "What are you still standing there for? Go and start a fire to prepare the medicine."

After saying that, she led Cao Xing inside. The medicine that had been ruined last night had already been thrown away by Cao Xing, and the iron pot had been thoroughly cleaned. Gu Su inspected it and nodded in satisfaction.

But... I always feel like something's missing?

In no time at all, Cao Xing had already lit the fire and started rolling up his sleeves and pumping the bellows.

Gu Su glanced at him, noticing his thick clothes, and suddenly raised an eyebrow: "Wait!"

Cao Xing raised his head.

Gu Su pointed to his clothes: "Take off your clothes, so you don't go out all dirty and embarrass the Shangfang Temple."

"Oh!" Cao Xing glanced at his clothes and laughed, "Uncle-Master is so thoughtful."

As he spoke, Cao Xing took off his clothes, revealing a muscular physique.

Feeling the masculine energy emanating from him, Gu Su lay on the soft couch beside the pot, let out a long breath, and watched Cao Xing's muscles undulate as he pushed the bellows. She felt her blocked Dao heart relax considerably.