Su Zhuyi walked back to the riverside, bent down, and used the broken sword in her hand to poke around in the riverside mud twice, picking out a dragon scale the size of a bowl.
The demon flood dragon just now was an azure flood dragon, over ten zhang long, with no horns on its head, still far from transforming into a true dragon. The scales it shed were azure in the center with brown spots, and the edges curled up like a rolled blade. They appeared poisonous. Such a poisonous flood dragon had been soaking in the river, yet the river water had not been poisonous before. It seemed the demon flood dragon’s poison had been sealed. From this perspective, it must indeed have been raised by cultivators from the Miao Gu Village. No wonder the Four Great Sects couldn’t take the dragon away back then, and instead let the Miao Gu Village cultivators capture it.
In her previous life, Su Zhuyi had stayed in the Southern Border for a very long time. This place was chaotic but rich in spiritual energy, with abundant resources in the mountains and even secret realms appearing. It was excellent for cultivation and treasure hunting. But she had never entered the Miao Gu Village. However, she had once provoked a man from the Miao Gu Village. That man had helped her several times, and perhaps seeing that she had no true feelings, he told her one day that he was going home, then disappeared without a trace. She couldn’t even remember his name now—it was quite tongue-twisting anyway. But at the time, he had explained some parasite poisons to her, and Su Zhuyi was studious, so she remembered this aspect deeply. Later, she had read some texts about parasite poisons and gained some understanding of Miao Border parasite poisons. Now she used her sword to flip the scale twice, getting some idea in her heart. Covering her hand with spiritual energy, she planned to pick up the scale.
Just as she bent down to pick it up, she heard a soft voice say, “Don’t touch it.”
Su Qingxun poked her head out from behind the rock, her body leaning forward slightly, and her two large white rabbits were almost bouncing out of her neckline. She was now looking at her nervously, saying, “That flood dragon scale seems poisonous.”
Those large, round eyes seemed to contain tears, like two clear springs, looking extremely pitiful.
She was different now. When had Su Qingxun ever had such expressions and postures in her memory? Back then, she might have learned from that ice block Qin Jianglan, usually wrapping herself up tightly with a cold and reserved appearance, somewhat similar to Luo Ying. So people even called her Little Luo Ying then.
Su Zhuyi ignored her and picked up the flood dragon scale. She planned to go back and study it to see what kind of poison it was. When dealing with it later, it would be simpler. If it poisoned those villagers, she could detoxify them and be more respected.
Su Qingxun bit her lip slightly, her expression somewhat aggrieved. After a moment of silence, she said again, “Thank you just now, young master, for not pointing out my hiding place.”
Only then did Su Zhuyi turn to look at her, her gaze falling on her chest. She snorted lightly through her nose and said, “Improper and immoral.”
She saw her freeze, her expression embarrassed as she hid behind the rock. Su Zhuyi picked up two more flood dragon scales from the river, then used the earth-shrinking technique and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Su Zhuyi entered the mountains, found a deserted place, and set up an array barrier. Then she placed the flood dragon scales in the medicinal cauldron she had obtained earlier. This was taken from the Suyue Sect originally. She had thought it wouldn’t be useful, but unexpectedly it came in handy so quickly.
Although the demon flood dragon’s scales had fallen off and were damaged, they were still very hard. Su Zhuyi used the broken sword to crush the flood dragon scales, carefully searching with her divine consciousness. Sure enough, she found some small white dots inside. Those were the parasite insects from the Miao Gu Village. This demon flood dragon was also unlucky—it seemed to have been captured by the Miao Gu Village people to use as a parasite mother, allowing many parasite insects to parasitize in its body and survive by sucking its blood and flesh. That’s why it looked so pained earlier.
Now these parasite insects were still eggs. When the parasites matured, its pain would intensify, and then those parasites would kill each other until only one remained. By then, this flood dragon would probably have its dragon marrow sucked dry, and its spiritual energy and cultivation would all fuse into the parasite insect. The parasite raised at that time would at least have Golden Core stage cultivation or above.
Su Zhuyi placed the broken sword in the pill cauldron, then used spiritual energy to suspend the cauldron in the air and cast a fire technique.
She used gentle fire to slowly simmer, supplemented with spirit stones, and drew talismans with her blood. Soon she hatched those small white dot parasite insects. After seeing the parasites, her eyelids twitched. She hadn’t expected that these parasites were the legendary love parasites.
If infected with this parasite, one would be completely devoted to the person who cast it, unto death. The love parasites raised through this flood dragon, if they broke through Golden Core directly to Nascent Soul stage cultivation, even the Qin Jianglan of her previous life would be affected. She wondered who the parasite raiser wanted to give the parasites to?
Suddenly, the face of that Miao Gu Village man flashed in her mind. Su Zhuyi originally couldn’t remember his appearance or name, but now she suddenly recalled. He was called Miaoshe Shiqi, not tall, very delicate-looking, with skin so pale it seemed sickly. He looked like the boy next door, but actually had very cruel methods. Those who died by his hand all suffered the agony of ten thousand insects devouring their hearts.
She could remember him because of something he said when leaving.
“You don’t love me. I want to give you a love parasite.”
Su Zhuyi had specifically researched love parasites afterward and was relieved to learn they had disappeared long ago. Now seeing parasite insects identical to the patterns drawn in the jade slip, she felt her scalp tingle. Red insects, four-legged, with patterns on their backs that looked like the famous love flowers of the cultivation world when observed. Their bellies had a pearl-white dot like a teardrop—love parasites. Looking at the love parasites crawling chaotically in the pill cauldron, Su Zhuyi spun the broken sword and used sword energy to kill all the parasites, leaving a layer of red liquid flowing on the inner wall of the cauldron, looking quite disgusting. She intensified the fire technique, burned the liquid dry, and finally, only some azure-brown powder remained—the product of the demon flood dragon scale powder after being dried.
Love parasites were poisonous, but the poison on the demon flood dragon wasn’t from the love parasites. After recognizing them, she went to the local cultivation market to buy herbs, and also gathered some spiritual medicine in the mountains, combining them to refine some detoxifying pills. By the time she finished all this work, three days had passed.
The demon flood dragon’s appearance in the world stirred up bloody storms. Many cultivators who went to slay the dragon never returned, and over a hundred ordinary mortals had died. When it was hungry, it would go out to eat people, but it wouldn’t kill everyone. Each time it ate about ten people, the demon flood dragon would fly away, and no village or city massacres had occurred. Logically, such a demon flood dragon should eat spirit stones, spiritual energy, and pills to cultivate. Why was it obsessed with eating people? Could it be to raise those parasites? Or did it need resentful energy? Or did it simply enjoy tormenting young lives?
Although she didn’t know the reason, her actions were beneficial for Su Zhuyi’s future image-building.
Su Zhuyi felt she should make her appearance.
She had originally worn black robes, but now changed to white, with a jade crown binding her hair, truly elegant and graceful with an immortal’s bearing.
On this day, the demon flood dragon flew to a mortal village to feed again. The villagers below hid in cellars inside their houses, and the entire village was deathly silent. The demon flood dragon flew over the village, emitting low roars. Its eyes swept over the village, the fierce light in its pupils seeming substantial, like sharp knives splitting the houses in the village in half and directly exposing the people hiding in the cellars.
Su Zhuyi originally felt nothing—in the past, she had been the object that made those people terrified.
But when the people in the cellars were exposed, she saw a strong-built man holding a steel fork, thrusting it toward the flood dragon in the sky. However, before he could reach the flood dragon, his body was torn into pieces. Those fragments of flesh splattered, covering the village woman he was shielding behind him. The demon flood dragon’s purpose was to eat people, so naturally, it didn’t want to shatter everyone. It extended its claws and directly tore the woman in half, grabbing the child she had been desperately protecting beneath her.
When Su Zhuyi arrived, she just saw the demon flood dragon’s claw tear open the woman and grab out the girl child from beneath her. The girl child held a scroll in her hands, raising high a portrait of Luo Ying, as if trying to intimidate the demon flood dragon with the painting.
Luo Ying had never come out all these years because she was too severely injured. She was so weak she seemed transparent, as if she didn’t belong to this period of history, this time, but was forcibly left behind, her figure ready to dissipate at any moment.
If Luo Ying were still healthy, upon hearing of the demon flood dragon’s appearance, she would rush over immediately to save people. That’s why Luo Ying had always been remembered, passed down from generation to generation. Even many years after her death, people still hung her portrait to pray for blessings.
Su Zhuyi immediately struck with her sword.
The sword light split Luo Ying’s portrait in half and also split open the flood dragon’s claw. The demon flood dragon let out a long hiss, turned around, and charged directly at Su Zhuyi. Its massive form, when turning, swept its tail and directly knocked down a row of surrounding houses…
Su Zhuyi realized at this moment that saving people was far more difficult than killing them. Because killers acted without restraint, while saviors had to worry about many lives.
“Evil beast! How dare you cause trouble in the mortal world! With me, Qin Jianglan, here, I absolutely will not allow you to continue harming people and bringing disaster to the human world.” She even stuttered a bit, saying this, really not being used to it. After all, she used to be the one being scolded, and she usually said things like, “Is that so? Then let’s see if you have the ability. Meddling in others’ affairs—you’ll die miserably.”
“Roar!” The demon flood dragon bellowed and spat black poisonous mist from its mouth. Su Zhuyi was prepared and wasn’t affected, but she discovered that when the poisonous gas fell, the mortals hiding in the cellars below couldn’t withstand it either. Since she had come to save people, she naturally couldn’t let these people all be poisoned to death. She immediately flipped her wrist, creating wind from her sleeve to blow away the poisonous mist and scattering a layer of light fog.
Then she used the Shadowless and Traceless footwork. The next moment, her body was directly standing on the demon flood dragon’s head, raising her sword to stab downward.
The demon flood dragon hadn’t expected this cultivator to be so troublesome. It hadn’t even deployed a spiritual energy barrier just now, yet he had gotten close. It roared angrily, its body swaying violently, the sound rolling like spring thunder exploding. Su Zhuyi’s heart jumped—fortunately, she had just covered the village below with a spiritual energy barrier, otherwise, these villagers would have been directly killed by its dragon roar.
Saving people was truly troublesome, having to consider everything!