Chapter 74: Purging the Pill Poison
"What are you two doing here?"
Hu Hai struggled to open his eyes, his gaze landing on Chu Feifei and Gu Mo. But when he saw Gu Mo dressed in an outer sect disciple's robe, he almost thought his weakness was making him hallucinate.
"If we hadn't come, would you have just died here?" Chu Feifei snapped, clearly irritated. "The task of testing pills is so dangerous, and you still took it? Are you stupid?"
"I couldn't resist the temptation to grow stronger," Hu Hai replied in a low voice. He had received a bottle of cultivation-enhancing pills from Yao Shifeng. After taking them, he felt a noticeable boost in his cultivation—an experience he had never had before.
But the pills ran out quickly, and his cultivation speed returned to its normal pace. Having tasted rapid advancement, Hu Hai found it hard to accept this slow progress again. However, as a mere labor disciple, he couldn't afford more of those pills.
In the end, Hu Hai chose to take on pill-testing tasks. These tasks offered generous rewards, and the pills being tested also contained considerable spiritual power.
Relying on the spiritual power of these test pills, Hu Hai successfully broke through to the second level of Qi Refining. Encouraged, he started accepting pill-testing tasks even more frequently, and his cultivation advanced rapidly, fueled by the potent energy of the pills.
But when he reached the third level of Qi Refining, before he could even celebrate his breakthrough, the residual toxins from all those test pills suddenly erupted as his cultivation level rose.
To put it bluntly, Hu Hai had become a man entirely consumed by pill poison.
"Do you want to live?"
After examining Hu Hai's condition, Gu Mo realized there was no easy solution. The pill poison had seeped into Hu Hai's meridians and bone marrow. The only method Gu Mo could think of was using a perfected-level Cleansing Technique to purge it. Whether it would be effective, though, was another question.
"I want to live."
Hu Hai's eyes dropped, filled with despair. He knew that even if he survived, he would probably be crippled. But as long as he could cling to life, even if barely, he wanted to live.
"If you want to live, then grit your teeth and endure it."
With a stern command, Gu Mo unleashed a super-enhanced perfected-level Cleansing Technique. He didn't bother testing for the optimal frequency—his only goal was to purge the poison with the highest intensity possible without killing Hu Hai in the process.
This was the only way to flush out the pill poison from Hu Hai's body. Of course, the intense Cleansing Technique would be excruciatingly painful, but if Hu Hai wanted to survive, he had no choice but to endure it.
"AHHH!"
As the super-enhanced Cleansing Technique took effect, Hu Hai let out a gut-wrenching scream of pain. However, he could also feel the pill poison being gradually expelled from his body. Seeing this glimmer of hope, his survival instincts kicked in, and he gritted his teeth to withstand the agony.
It was no exaggeration to say that Hu Hai at this moment was like a piece of fabric stained black, being scrubbed violently against a washboard by Gu Mo's brute force.
Naturally, this rough treatment caused some damage to the "fabric." Whenever the strain became too much, Gu Mo would cast a Minor Rejuvenation Technique to repair the damage.
An hour later, Gu Mo finally ceased the Cleansing Technique. The perfected-level technique had been quite effective—it had completely purged the pill poison from Hu Hai's muscles, bones, and flesh. However, Gu Mo was powerless to deal with the contaminated spiritual energy within Hu Hai.
The Cleansing Technique only worked on the physical body and couldn't purify spiritual energy. But at least Hu Hai's life had been saved.
"Rest well."
Gu Mo left behind two jin of Spirit Water Rice and, after giving a brief instruction, turned to leave.
"Th-thank you!"
Hu Hai's weak voice trailed after him.
"Gu Mo, what was that technique you just used...?" Chu Feifei caught up with Gu Mo, her eyes filled with confusion and curiosity. She had trained the Cleansing Technique to the proficient level and could tell that what Gu Mo used was indeed the Cleansing Technique. But she didn't recall it being capable of purging pill poison.
"It was the Cleansing Technique, can't you tell?" Gu Mo chuckled.
"Of course I know it's the Cleansing Technique, but yours seemed... different." Chu Feifei rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, that's what the perfected-level Cleansing Technique looks like. You'll understand once you reach that level," Gu Mo said with a shrug. It wasn't exactly a secret in the Spirit Herb Hall that he had mastered the perfected-level Cleansing Technique.
However, since Chu Feifei was a labor disciple from the Formation Peak, her access to information was limited. Naturally, she wasn't aware of the rumors circulating about Gu Mo in the Spirit Herb Hall.
"Perfected-level?!"
Chu Feifei stared at Gu Mo in disbelief. She had poured so much effort into barely reaching the proficient level of the Cleansing Technique. As for the mastery level, she had no idea when—or if—she'd ever achieve it.
Yet here was Gu Mo, casually claiming he had already reached the perfected level. How could Chu Feifei not be shocked? Mastery was the highest level an ordinary cultivator could hope to achieve, while perfected-level was a realm reserved for prodigies.
"Senior Sister Chu, there you are! We need to head back."
Just as Chu Feifei was still reeling from the shock of Gu Mo's perfected-level Cleansing Technique, a younger labor disciple from the Formation Peak ran over. The formation maintenance at the Pill Peak had been completed, and the Formation Peak team was preparing to return.
"Ah, right!"
Snapping out of her daze, Chu Feifei quickly bid Gu Mo farewell and left with the younger disciple.
"Senior Sister Chu, was that outer sect senior you know?" the younger disciple asked curiously as they walked away.
For labor disciples like them, knowing an outer sect senior was definitely something to boast about in front of other sisters.
"Mhm."
Chu Feifei nodded absentmindedly, her mind still fixated on the fact that Gu Mo had mastered the perfected-level Cleansing Technique.
"Senior Sister Chu, can you introduce me to him sometime? I don't mind being the junior," the younger disciple said eagerly.
"Let's go!"
Chu Feifei shot her an annoyed glance. The girl had decent talent—otherwise, she wouldn't have been brought along to help with the formation maintenance. But she was a bit of a flirt, always hoping to latch onto a powerful senior brother to save herself years of hard work.
---
A month later.
Gu Mo received a transmission talisman from Hu Hai, inviting him to meet at their old gathering spot in the market. Gu Mo didn't refuse. This might be the last time they'd meet. While it wasn't impossible to see each other again in the future, the chances were slim.
When he arrived at the familiar private room, Hu Hai, Wu Jinfeng, and Chu Feifei were already there. As soon as Wu Jinfeng saw Gu Mo enter, he instinctively stood up. It was clear he had learned that Gu Mo had become an outer sect disciple.
Wu Jinfeng hadn't expected this at all. In their small group, Gu Mo had always been the least talented, yet now he was the one who had made it into the outer sect. This left Wu Jinfeng feeling awkward. He had always been cozying up to Yao Shifeng and hadn't paid much attention to Gu Mo. So, while they were part of the same group, his relationship with Gu Mo was quite distant.
Now, trying to curry favor felt pointless—it clearly wouldn't have the same effect as when Gu Mo was just a labor disciple.
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