The white wind blew, stirring up the sand on the ground and shaking the white grass.
Li Youfei, who was lying on it, didn't move at all, like a corpse.
His 50-foot-tall body emitted an unpleasant odor, which even the wind's blowing couldn't disperse. The stench could be detected from quite a distance away, making people nauseous.
From afar, one could see that many parts of his body had rotted to the bone.
His entire person was enveloped by the aura of death.
What caused such a change wasn't only the bizarre effect brought about by the white wind, but also the eruption of the Crimson Goddess' curse in his body. All of this affected his body and soul.
He was essentially on the verge of death, or more accurately, he had already stepped into the realm of the deceased, with only a lingering sense of unwillingness, desperately clinging to a wisp of life unwilling to fade away.
However, this struggle brought him even more pain and torture.
Xu Qing walked to Li Youfei's side. After taking a look at his injuries, he shook his head.
"He can't be saved."
Although Xu Qing had the curse-resolving pill, this pill could only neutralize the continued pain brought about by the curse before it completely erupted. It couldn't reduce the curse. In fact, its theoretical effect was to increase the amount of curses.
Hence, if the current Li Youfei consumed the curse-resolving pill, not only would it be ineffective, but the trace of life force that was forcefully hanging on would also be instantly drowned by the soaring curses.
Since he couldn't save him, Xu Qing retracted his gaze and summoned the shadow eye back, preparing to leave this place.
However, after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and looked at Li Youfei's corpse-like body, his eyes revealing a hint of contemplation.
"Something's not right."
"With the Crimson Goddess' curse, it shouldn't be possible for him to last for so long under this eruption. It's also impossible for him to have a trace of life left."
"This doesn't make sense."
Xu Qing felt some interest and returned to Li Youfei's side.
This time around, he observed even more carefully. A moment later, Xu Qing suddenly grabbed Li Youfei's body and sped into the distance.
After stepping out of the range of the green sand desert, Xu Qing opened a cave on a mountain peak 500 kilometers away and threw Li Youfei inside.
After that, he erased the traces in the surroundings and arrived beside Li Youfei, studying him carefully.
During this time, he would occasionally cut open the other party's rotting body, digging out some flesh and blood for observation.
A day later, Xu Qing's eyes gleamed. He found the reason and confirmed his guess.
"It's white wind…"
"The catalysis of the white wind caused the vitality of Li Youfei's body to continue to soar in a disorderly state. The goal of this power is to provide nutrients to those eggs and let them grow."
"However, it was also because of this that Li Youfei didn't die immediately after the curse in his body erupted."
"The power of the white wind resisted the curse to a certain extent. Although it's still inferior to the curse, it allowed Li Youfei to retain a trace of life."
Xu Qing was moved.
"To be able to resist the Crimson Goddess' curse, what exactly is white wind's origin?"
A strange glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. He squatted down and cut open Li Youfei's flesh bit by bit, taking out the sand eggs and the dandelions in his body one by one.
The process was very cruel and required him to cut open all the parts of his body. Some rotting flesh even turned into black water that flowed in the surroundings, emitting a stench.
However, Xu Qing was very patient. He was like an extremely focused craftsman who didn't care about the materials and continued carving carefully.
Under Xu Qing's efforts, Li Youfei's body was covered in countless wounds. There were some places that Xu Qing simply cut off with a slash and removed the flesh that had fused with the curse and white wind.
As the eggs were removed one by one, cutting off the source of life absorption, Li Youfei's body, catalyzed by the white wind, gained more strength to confront the curse's eruption.
Although it was still inferior to the curse, Li Youfei's life force still persisted under the eruption of the curse. It hadn't dissipated yet.
However, this wasn't of much use. According to Xu Qing's judgment, in three to five days at most, after the vitality in Li Youfei's body was exhausted, he would still be devoured by the curse.
However, this gave Xu Qing a lot of inspiration.
"Li Youfei is really lucky. With his current state, the curse-resolving pill might work."
Xu Qing thought about it and took out a curse-resolving pill, stuffing it into Li Youfei's mouth. After that, with a wave of his hand, hundreds of purple threads flew out and pierced Li Youfei's body.
The curse-resolving pill was just the beginning; Xu Qing intended to conduct an in-depth examination of Li Youfei. He would use his body's external materials and try to refine it according to the method of refining the curse-resolving pill.
"In any case, there's a high chance that he'll die. If he can really survive, I can use white wind as a direction in my future research."
Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. He studied and refined at the same time.
A day later, Xu Qing left with Li Youfei. He followed the direction pointed out by the lifeless parrot. When he rested on the way, he would continue to refine Li Youfei.
Under his research, the curse within Li Youfei began to ease. Although the number of curses increased, each time Li Youfei was about to succumb, Xu Qing would take some of the flesh that had been removed from Li Youfei and insert it into his wounds. These pieces of flesh would rapidly integrate, and Li Youfei's vitality would unexpectedly return.
Xu Qing was pleasantly surprised by this.
He felt that this was the experimental material he had dreamed of.
A month passed.
Xu Qing, who had already entered the western part of the Moon Worship Region, retracted all the purple threads after he finished refining Li Youfei in a valley on this night. He then took out the curse-resolving pill made from Li Youfei's flesh and blood and fed it to him.
This pill was different from ordinary curse-resolving pills. During this period of time, after Xu Qing studied Li Youfei, he had made a major improvement to the curse-resolving pill, and was only a little short of perfection.
"Since you're awake, don't pretend to be dead."
After feeding him the curse-resolving pill, Xu Qing calmly spoke.
Li Youfei's body trembled and he had no choice but to open his eyes. He looked at Xu Qing with horror and complicated emotions. He had actually woken up three days ago…
However, his fear of Xu Qing, especially after noticing that he was being studied, kept him from speaking out. He only watched Xu Qing feed him strange pills over these three days which actually reduced the curse's eruption in his body.
This scene shocked him incomparably. He wasn't stupid and was very experienced, so he quickly guessed what the medicinal pills he had eaten were.
This guess caused his mind to go blank and he didn't regain his senses for a long time.
In these three days, he clearly remembered that the other party had given him eight pills.
"Selling myself wouldn't be enough to buy a single one… What could his motive be in regards to me?" Over the past few days, Li Youfei had been tremblingly pondering the answer to this question.
Having his act of playing dead exposed by Xu Qing, Li Youfei instinctively spoke in a low voice to confirm his suspicions.
"Master, what you gave me was…"
"Curse-resolving pill," Xu Qing calmly said.
Even though he had guessed it, when Li Youfei heard the answer, his mind still rumbled as he asked with a trembling voice.
"Then… how many did I eat?"
"In the past month, there were about a hundred of them." Xu Qing calculated and looked at Li Youfei.
When Li Youfei heard this, his eyes widened and his Adam's apple moved a few times. He knew the value of the curse-resolving pill. It was a medicinal pill that even the Spirit Repository experts were crazy about, but he had eaten about a hundred…
He believed that this was true because he had eaten eight pills in three days.
If this matter were to be revealed, it would undoubtedly cause a storm in the outside world. For him, the feeling at this moment was as if he were a beggar, and one day, a wealthy man happened to pass by and, with a casual glance, handed him billions of spirit stones…
At this moment, he no longer wanted to consider why this happened, nor did he want to consider Xu Qing's motive. He stood up trembling and knelt down in front of Xu Qing.
"Master!"
"Whatever you plan to do with me, it doesn't matter. You… you've just given me way too much!"
Xu Qing glanced at Li Youfei and was about to speak when his expression froze. He then looked in the direction outside the valley.
This was the western depths of the Moon Worship Region. At that moment, the sky was dark and there was no light from any direction. Everything was shrouded in darkness, with only a vague view of the overgrown vegetation inside and outside the valley.
The night wind was slightly brisk, creating a rustling sound as it blew from outside. It also carried some noisy drumming and clamor from a distance.
It was as though many people were approaching from outside the valley.
A dark glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. Li Youfei also sensed it and hurriedly stood up from his kneeling position, looking loyal and protective of his master as he snatched the position of the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor flew out and swept his disdainful gaze across Li Youfei. After that, he stared at the entrance of the valley.
Very soon, the commotion grew intense. A group of figures walked over from outside the valley and were reflected in Xu Qing's eyes.
Those figures were quite peculiar, as they were clay figures dressed in robes, numbering over a hundred in total.
At the front, someone was pounding a gong, and in the rear, drums were being beaten. In the middle, several dozen clay figures were carrying a stone-made shrine.
Inside the shrine, there was an idol of a clay fox, dressed in a red robe with rouge applied to its face, remaining completely motionless, resembling an inanimate object.
Their appearance caused an eerie wind to blow in the surroundings, sweeping through the valley and stirring up the weeds and leaves on the ground.
However, they didn't seem to care about Xu Qing and Li Youfei. This group of clay figures walked past them without stopping.
Xu Qing's gaze swept over these clay figures. He had become accustomed to the strange and bizarre nature of this world, and there was nothing particularly surprising at the moment. He understood that these types of beings were typically bullies who cowered in the face of strength and didn't require much attention.
However, since he was blocking their path, there was no need to be overly dominant.
So, he remained calm, emanated his cultivation aura, took a few steps back, and opened up a path, allowing the group of clay figures to pass by.
When the shrine got closer and arrived in front of Xu Qing, the clay fox inside suddenly turned its head and looked at Xu Qing and Li Youfei.
The clay-made eyes exhibited ripples at that moment, transforming into gem-like orbs that emanated a crystalline brilliance. They had a captivating allure that seemed to captivate the soul.
Right after that, a seductive and languid feminine voice, with a hint of surprise, echoed from the mouth of the clay fox.
"Yang essence?"
"To think there's still a Nascent Soul with yang essence? And it's so pure, not a trace of being harvested!"
"It's rare…"
