Seeing that the old lunatic had left, Aniu and Little Shitou shot out at the same time, frantically scrambling into the ruined temple.
"Yang Guo!"
"Yang Guo!"
The two rushed over to the side of the altar and looked up.
Yang Guo was still hanging upside down from the roof beam.
A tattered cloth belt was wrapped around his ankle. Hanging head-down, his hair drooped completely over his head, hiding his face entirely.
Little Shitou stared in dumbfounded awe.
The two hurriedly scrambled onto the altar, hands and feet moving all at once, to unhook Yang Guo from the beam.
Yang Guo sat on the ground, his hair a tangled mess.
Little Shitou stared for a long time before he couldn't help saying:
"Yang Guo, right now you..."
"...look a lot like that bird's nest behind the temple."
Yang Guo raised a hand and flicked him on the forehead.
Thwack!
Just as he lowered his hand,
he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly rolled up his right sleeve.
All three lowered their heads at the same time, completely stunned.
The dark bluish poison that had previously lingered on his forearm had actually receded.
Now, only a small section below his wrist remained, and its color was much lighter.
Around the wounds on his fingers, coagulated black blood still hung.
Aniu opened his eyes wide and said:
"It really went down!"
Little Shitou traced a finger along Yang Guo's forearm:
"Yesterday it was still up here!"
"Now there's only this little bit left!"
Yang Guo flexed his five fingers.
They were very numb, but he could move them, and making a fist was far smoother than before.
He pushed himself up from the ground, but just as his legs straightened out,
suddenly, the entire ruined temple before his eyes seemed to violently flip upside down.
Yang Guo's body wobbled, and he passed out.
Aniu quickly caught him:
"Yang Guo, how are you?"
Yang Guo had hung upside down for too long, causing the blood in his head to swell.
Combined with the direct palm strike he had taken from Ouyang Feng earlier, his blood and qi surged up all at once.
Little Shitou's face turned pale with fright:
"Why did he faint again!"
Aniu lightly patted Yang Guo's cheek:
"Wake up, Yang Guo!"
"Don't scare me!"
Yang Guo still showed no reaction whatsoever.
Aniu urgently shouted:
"Little Shitou!"
"Water!"
Little Shitou took off running.
He dashed to the corner, grabbed an earthenware jar, his hands trembling as he poured water.
Splash.
Half went into the bowl, and half spilled onto his pant legs.
Paying it no mind, he ran back carrying the broken bowl.
"Coming!"
Aniu propped Yang Guo up, letting him lean against his chest.
Little Shitou fed him water bit by bit, but the water trickled out from the corners of his mouth.
The rims of Little Shitou's eyes turned red:
"Yang Guo, wake up."
"You just celebrated your birthday today."
While lightly patting his cheek, Aniu rambled out of desperation:
"You can't..."
"...just die right after eating roast goose!"
Little Shitou sniffled and cried:
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have celebrated your birthday."
"Every time we eat something good, something bad happens."
...
Outside the ruined courtyard walls of the temple, two figures landed silently.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong had tracked their way to the ruined temple. Hearing noises inside, they walked over.
Guo Jing's eyes were sharp as lightning as he stepped through the entrance with a single stride.
Blown-apart rotten door panels, a greenstone Buddha statue shattered into scattered rubble, and palm prints covering the ground.
Even in the air, a lingering trace of Ouyang Feng's violent aura still floated.
Guo Jing quickly stepped forward and bent down to glance at the unconscious youth on the straw mat.
He spoke in a warm, gentle tone to Aniu and Little Shitou:
"Little brothers, there is no need to fear."
"We mean no harm."
"May I ask what happened to this young brother?"
Aniu answered tremblingly:
"Just now an old lunatic rushed in to steal our food."
"Not only did he hit him with a palm strike, but he also hung him upside down from the roof beam and messed with him. Now he's completely unconscious."
Guo Jing listened with knitted brows and let out a long sigh, his eyes filled with compassion:
"That Old Poison has gone completely mad. He won't even spare a begging child."
Guo Jing extended two fingers and lightly placed them on Yang Guo's pulse point.
Sending a thread of true qi to investigate, Guo Jing's thick eyebrows shot up sharply:
"How strange!"
"The Old Poison's Toad Stance palm force is immensely tyrannical; a strike on an ordinary grown man would snap tendons and break bones.
Yet inside this youth, aside from suffering some shock,
his internal organs were actually firmly protected by a balanced, warm, supreme Yang inner force, leaving him with only minor injuries!"
Guo Jing was astonished in his heart, but there was no time for careful thought right now.
His gaze fell upon Yang Guo's blackened palm.
The frigid, deathly aura congealed beneath the skin and flesh was strikingly vivid.
Guo Jing turned his head to look at Huang Rong behind him:
"Rong'er, this child has been poisoned. Fetch some detox pills."
Huang Rong stood by the door holding the Dog-Beating Staff, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed.
She vigilantly scanned the wind-swept wilderness outside the temple, terrified that Ouyang Feng might suddenly pop out to ambush them.
Hearing Guo Jing call out, Huang Rong stepped forward quickly, without taking a close look at the small face completely hidden beneath tangled hair.
She took out a warm, translucent mutton-fat jade porcelain bottle from her water-green embroidered pouch and handed it to Aniu:
"Little brother, here are detox pills."
"Feed him one pill every morning and evening, dissolved in warm water."
"Within seven days, the residual poison in his palm will naturally be completely drawn out."
With trembling hands, Aniu and Little Shitou took the cool, smooth jade bottle.
Just smelling the faint, exotic herbal fragrance wafting from the bottle's opening cleared away most of the muddiness in their heads.
The two fell to their knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly:
"Thank you, Great Hero! Thank you, Lady Hero! Thank you both for saving his life!"
Guo Jing raised both hands slightly, and a rich, gentle force steadily lifted the two up:
"Rise quickly. Helping those in emergency need in the jianghu does not warrant such grand courtesy."
Huang Rong also praised them in a soft voice:
"You're not very old,"
"yet you were able to stay by your companion's side all along."
"That is already rare indeed."
With that, Huang Rong flicked her sleeve:
"Brother Jing, that Old Poison only left here recently, and his aura is still present. Let's pursue him quickly!"
Guo Jing's face turned solemn. "Alright!"
The two immediately gathered their qi, turned around, and strode toward the dilapidated temple door.
Beside the straw mat.
Aniu knelt on the ground, frantically pulling out the stopper to pour out a fragrant, crimson pill.
He shuffled forward on his knees to Yang Guo and pried open Yang Guo's mouth with his rough fingers.
Wiping away the tears on his face, Aniu blurted out in a raspy, tearful voice:
"Yang Guo!!"
"Hurry and swallow the elixir!!"
"Once you take this pill... your poison will be cured!!"
The name "Yang Guo" was spoken with extreme weight, carrying the boundless panic inside Aniu's heart.
It echoed again and again through the ruined, empty temple.
At the threshold.
Guo Jing's right foot, clad in a thick-soled black boot, had already stepped half a foot out past the temple door into midair.
The instant those two words penetrated his ears,
Guo Jing was struck as if by a wild thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens straight onto his head!
His body suddenly froze, and his outstretched foot was pinned rigidly in place!
Rate on N.U.
