This Venerable One Really Didn’t Abandon My Familiar

his forehead to test Feng Ci’s temperature.
He said: “Your fever went down.” 

And he sounded rather smug about it.

Only he could come up with such… a unique method to reduce fevers.

Feng Ci ground his teeth softly, unable to figure out where this little snake learned such a terrible trick.

Soon afterwards, Feng Ci felt a slight vibration from the flying ship and figured that it had finally taken off. 

Not long after that, Xiao Que’s voice could be heard outside the door again: “City Master.”

Pei QianYue: “Come in.”

Xiao Que pushed the door open and entered.

“This disciple has already sent Lin-Shixiong and the other disciples off the flying ship.
According to your instructions, City Master, they are heading to Broken Sword Manor to conduct investigations.” Xiao Que said. 

Feng Ci finally knew what Pei QianYue had instructed outside a moment ago.

Now, there was nothing wrong with what he did.
Broken Sword Manor has already made all the preparations.
There was no worry of accidentally revealing the truth.
Sending LangFeng City disciples over to investigate and then spreading the news of the sect’s ‘destruction’ this way made it easier to convince others.

 

It’s only that… for Pei QianYue to order everyone on the flying ship, besides Xiao Que, to head to Broken Sword Manor at this critical junction, it more or less indicated that he had sent them away deliberately.

Feng Ci found it rather intriguing, but didn’t say anything. 

Pei QianYue said: “Come here.”

Saying this, he picked up one of Feng Ci’s wrist and put it on a small table next to the soft couch.

Xiao Que stepped forth to check his pulse.

But the more he checked Feng Ci’s pulse, the graver his expression became. 

Pei QianYue asked: “Can he still be treated?”

Xiao Que released Feng Ci’s wrist and said with a sigh: “Due to excessive and forceful exertion of spiritual powers, the Saint Sovereign had pretty much damaged all of the meridians inside this body.
The damaged meridians can be reconnected, so restoration is not an issue, but……”

Pei QianYue: “Speak frankly.”

Xiao Que fell silent for a moment and said: “Even if they’re healed, he won’t be able to use any spiritual powers or Sword Arts rashly lest risking his life.” 

In fact, if that battle in Broken Sword Manor lasted a little while longer, Feng Ci’s current physical body probably would have collapsed completely already.

So Feng Ci didn’t feel very surprised or strange to hear Xiao Que’s words.

Feng Ci frowned: “So the only choice I have is to find a new physical body?”

If finding a physical body were that easy, Feng Ci would have done it already. 

Right now, it wasn’t as simple as when he was traveling through the other worlds.
If it was traveling in another world, there were so many mortals everywhere.
With some patience, he’d eventually find a body that matched his soul sooner or later.

But right now, what he needed was not only a body that matched his soul.

He still had things he must complete.
He required a body that possessed cultivation and spiritual roots; it can’t be too low in level, and it needed to withstand the might of his spiritual powers.

Thinking about it from this perspective, it’s actually rather serendipitous that he was able to use Lu JingMing’s body for so long. 

Lu JingMing’s appearance…… Was it purely a coincidence?

Why so opportune? He had just returned to this world and this orphan from the TianXuan Sect coincidentally arrived in LingWu Mountain right at the same time.

 

In the past, he didn’t know that the Heavenly Principles had instigated this matter.
Also at that time, there were no clues that pointed in this direction, so Feng Ci didn’t think too much about it.

But now that he knew everything, the perfect timing of Lu JingMing’s appearance became much more thought-provoking. 

Feng Ci pondered for a moment.
Then he suddenly heard Pei QianYue say: “Actually, it shouldn’t be completely hopeless.
Am I right, Xiao Que?”

Stunned briefly, Xiao Que’s expression turned somewhat strange.

He didn’t reply.

Feng Ci blinked and asked with a smile: “What riddle are you guys saying?” 

“It’s nothing.” Pei QianYue said: “It’s just that if Xiao Que is without a plan, we just need to find someone with higher medical expertise.”

Feng Ci asked: “There’s such a person?”

The Shaman Valley’s first manuals on medicine were originally inherited from Feng Ci.

However back then, Feng Ci had only transcribed the knowledge instilled in his head by the Heavenly Principles and passed them down to the later generations.
As for himself personally, he didn’t actually learn the Art of Healing very well and only had some superficial understanding of the subject. 

Yet despite this, he was still able to tell that Xiao Que’s medicinal skills were already considered top-notch.

At first he was even questioning, why would such a talented individual leave the Shaman Valley to become an ordinary disciple in LangFeng City.

“Yes.” The one who answered him was Xiao Que.

Xiao Que lowered his head slightly and said with an emotionless expression: “The current Master of Shaman Valley is extremely skilled in medicine.
He has the ability to bring life back to the dead and regrow flesh on white bones.
If it’s him…… he should be able to save you, Saint Sovereign.” 

That sounded about right.

The Shaman Valley specialized in medicine and poison.
Even Xiao Que, who had left the sect a long time ago, possessed such superb medical skills; the Master of Shaman Valley naturally should be even more impressive.

However……

What’s going on with Xiao Que’s tone? 

Feng Ci chuckled: “Does the Master of Shaman Valley eat human flesh or something, to make you so afraid of him?”

Xiao Que: “No, that’s not the case.”

 

It was actually Pei QianYue who explained: “The Master of Shaman Valley is named Xiao Guo.”

Xiao Guo.
Xiao Que. 

Feng Ci blinked and realized something.
He looked towards Xiao Que: “You guys are……”

Xiao Que said quietly: “The Master of Shaman Valley, Xiao Guo, is my elder brother.”

Amongst the Six Sects, the Shaman Valley was the most unique.
During the establishment of the Immortal Alliance, the Shaman Valley was also the last of the Six Sects to agree to join.

The reason was because their original founder had been expelled from the Central Plains by the cultivation world. 

When the founder of Shaman Valley received his legacy from Grandmaster QianQiu, he originally should have practiced medicine to serve the common people and save lives.
Yet that founder had a crooked heart and loved to play around with all sorts of poison.
Over time, he transformed from a sage healer to a master at creating poison.

To test the effects of his poison, that person even kidnapped others to test his poison and refine drugs.
Within a short period of time, he amassed a huge following in the Central Plains.

During those days, not too long after Grandmaster QianQiu left the world, the establishment of the Shaman Cult was the biggest scourge that threatened the safety of the cultivation world in the Central Plains.

In the end, of course, he was expelled to the Southern borders, LingNan, by the combined forces of his fellow sect brothers. 

The Shaman Cult that formed originally slowly transformed into Shaman Valley.

3000 years later, Shaman Valley has long stopped committing crimes and evil.
However, the descendants still didn’t have a very favorable impression of Central Plains.
In addition, the Southern region of LingNan has a humid climate that’s best suited for the habitation of various snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
They were extremely helpful in the study of medicine and poison.

Thus, in the past 3000 years, the Shaman Valley has never planned to return to the Central Plains.

Other than this, the Shaman Valley had another unique practice. 

And this was: To prevent the sacred texts of Shaman Valley from spreading to outsiders, the core medicinal secrets that were been passed down for generations within the Shaman Valley has always been given to only one person per generation.

“…… Every once in a while, the Shaman Valley would select talented children in the tribes to groom as successors.
When the kids are all grown and receive their hair crown, the valley holds a competition.
Only the winner can inherit the position of Valley Master.”

Xiao Que said: “I was the youngest child amongst the participants that year.
My elder brother and I entered the final stage together, but in the end, I lost to him.”

Feng Ci frowned: “Shaman Valley expelled you because you lost the competition?” 

Xiao Que fell silent.

Pei QianYue said: “The consequence of losing the competition… is not expulsion.”

 

Feng Ci observed Xiao Que’s expression and slowly understood: “The consequence of defeat…… is death?”

Xiao Que nodded softly. 

“That competition was a death match.
The winner is the only sole survivor of the competition.”

Feng Ci still didn’t understand: “Then why are you……”

“Perhaps Elder Brother had changed the poison he gave me into a fake poison at the last moment.” Xiao Que squeezed his eyes closed and said quietly: “When I woke up, I had already left Shaman Valley.”

So it was like that. 

No wonder Xiao Que was so skilled in medicine, yet had no choice but to leave Shaman Valley.

Feng Ci said: “But doesn’t this mean your elder brother treats you pretty well?”

Xiao Que wanted to speak but hesitated.
He stopped replying.

After he calmed down somewhat, he bowed towards the two of them: “If City Master has decided to head to Shaman Valley, this disciple will change the flying ship’s route now.” 

Pei QianYue nodded: “Go ahead.”

Feng Ci finally realized: “So you had already made plans from the start.
If Xiao-Shixiong couldn’t treat me, we’d immediately change route to Shaman Valley?”

No wonder he had sent away all the other disciples before departing.

Pei QianYue helped Feng Ci lay back down on the soft couch and acknowledged it with a quiet ‘En’. 

Feng Ci had nothing else to say.

He was maneuvered to lay on Pei QianYue’s leg.
Those slightly cold hands gently stroked through his long hair and then squeezed his face.
Feng Ci couldn’t move very well right now and had no choice but to allow Pei QianYue to play however he desired.

Xiao Que originally wanted to leave.
Seeing these two people’s affectionate and sticky interactions and posture, he halted again.

Thinking about something unknown, his ears turned slightly red. 

Pei QianYue said without even looking up: “Is there something else?”

Xiao Que: “……Yes.”

 

Pei QianYue played with Feng Ci’s hair and said concisely: “Speak.”

Xiao Que flushed red from the tip of his ears to his neck, but the ethics of a doctor made him unable to sit idle and do nothing. 

He took a deep breath and said boldly: “The Saint Sovereign’s body is heavily injured at the moment.
He can’t withstand…… withstand that kind of activity.
I hope the City Master will exercise more restraint in the future.
Even if you really want to do something, you shouldn’t use the physical body directly.
It’s best to interact via soul exchange.”

Pei QianYue: “……”

Feng Ci: “?”

What exchange???