The Family Head of This Generation (Girls' Love) - Chapter 13

“Eldest Princess, after I lure the demon beast away, use this jade bottle to dig up the Dragon Saliva Grass. Do not damage the roots; the essence of the Dragon Saliva Grass is all in the roots.” Zhao Ziyan said seriously, looking at Feng Qinyue’s face.

“I’ll go lure it away! I am not an alchemist and have never harvested herbs. If I damage the herb, it would be a loss,” Feng Qinyue shook her head, not agreeing to Zhao Ziyan’s suggestion. Zhao Ziyan was only in the Transcendence Realm, so how could she be a match for an intelligent demon beast?

“Alright, wait for me to set up a formation,” Zhao Ziyan did not decline and agreed directly.

Zhao Ziyan took out an exquisite white jade bottle from her embrace, unscrewed the stopper, and slowly sprinkled the white powder inside the jade bottle towards the wind. Her slender, pale fingers formed a not-so-complicated wind control spell, and a light breeze swirled in as Zhao Ziyan softly chanted and cast the spell.

“Cover your nose and mouth, and eat this pill.” Zhao Ziyan handed the emerald green pill to Feng Qinyue and Zhao Wenxiu. Only when she saw them swallow the pill without hesitation did she breathe a sigh of relief.

“Ziyan, what did you give Auntie to eat? It was icy cold and almost froze my bones!” Zhao Wenxiu shivered, her tone full of complaint.

“It’s a good thing, of course. Auntie, would I harm you? Try circulating your energy; is it very different from usual?” Zhao Ziyan rolled her eyes at her aunt. This old woman was becoming more and more a tsundere. Look at the Eldest Princess; she also ate it, and she didn’t complain much.

“Ziyan, it seems like the zhenyuan flowing in my body is a notch faster than usual, and my brain is no longer cloudy. Ziyan, my divine sense can now extend to five hundred meters, and my spiritual cultivation has increased fivefold!” Zhao Wenxiu woke up from circulating her energy, her eyes sparkling with surprise.

“Don’t even think about it. You can only eat one in your lifetime; eating more is useless. If I hadn’t wanted you to lure the demon beast away, I wouldn’t have been willing to give the Spirit God Pill to a crude woman who doesn’t know its value,” Zhao Ziyan was still casting the wind control spell. Seeing the fervor in Zhao Wenxiu’s eyes, she knew what she was planning. Before she could speak, Zhao Ziyan directly extinguished the idea in her heart.

“A Yan, thank you,” the Eldest Princess said gratefully, gently gazing at the busy Zhao Ziyan, her eyes almost overflowing with tenderness.

The gentle voice coming from the Eldest Princess’s mouth made Zhao Wenxiu, who was sulking by herself, feel a bit uncomfortable. Zhao Wenxiu looked at the gentle-acting Eldest Princess with disdain and curled her lips in contempt. However, her silly niece fell for this gentle and fragile act. She had heard of the Eldest Princess’s cold and unfeeling reputation in the Southern Frontier, but now the Eldest Princess looked so gentle, without a trace of the rumored coldness. Hmph! Act, just keep acting!

“Eldest Princess, you are very different from the rumors!” Zhao Wenxiu said provocatively.

“Gu Saint is also very different from the rumors,” Feng Qinyue immediately retorted.

“Eldest Princess, the rumors say you are cold and unfeeling. Now it seems the rumors were quite wrong. The Eldest Princess is clearly a gentle and kind woman. Those who ruin the Eldest Princess’s reputation should all be sent to jail! Oh dear! Thinking of the Eldest Princess’s gentle nature, you probably can’t do such a thing,” Zhao Wenxiu charmingly held Zhao Ziyan’s arm, secretly delighted when she saw Feng Qinyue’s expression change. Let you act, hmph!

“Gu Saint misunderstood Qinyue. Qinyue has long heard of the Gu Saint’s great name! The rumors say the Gu Saint is the unreachable Four Saints, but now in Qinyue’s eyes, the Gu Saint is very approachable,” Feng Qinyue concealed the slight sourness in her heart. Seeing Zhao Ziyan’s expression of helplessness towards both herself and Zhao Wenxiu, the smile at the corner of her mouth became even gentler.

…

“Alright, stop arguing. Wait for another quarter of an hour for the Soft Bone Powder to take effect. Eldest Princess, you will lure the demon beast away to prevent a fight that could damage the herb.”

Zhao Ziyan interrupted the veiled conflict between the two women. Both were powerful women with noble status and authority, and both had proud temperaments. If she let them continue arguing, they would definitely fight to the death.

Zhao Wenxiu wouldn’t yield to the Eldest Princess at all. Although Zhao Ziyan knew the Eldest Princess was approaching her with an unknown motive, since the Eldest Princess hadn’t said anything, she also pretended not to know. But Zhao Wenxiu, that tsundere woman, just found the Eldest Princess unbearable in every way. If it weren’t for her mediation, the two would have already started fighting.

“Hmph, Zhao Ziyan, whose side are you on!” Zhao Wenxiu snorted coldly, and her fair, tender little foot fiercely kicked Zhao Ziyan’s calf.

“Auntie…” Zhao Ziyan squatted down, rubbed her leg, and looked at Zhao Wenxiu, whose IQ seemed to have regressed to eighteen, with exasperation. Her aunt used to be such a cold and vicious woman, but now, she was becoming more and more like a little woman. If this continued, someone might come to the Zhao family to propose marriage next year. She must marry off Zhao Wenxiu as soon as possible, so she wouldn’t constantly plot for her beautiful mother.

“Roar—Roar—”

“Shh! The demon beast is coming out.” Zhao Ziyan covered Zhao Wenxiu’s mouth before she could open it and pulled her into a dark corner where the demon beast couldn’t see them.

“It’s a Through-Arm Ape Monkey, a seventh-grade demon beast, a Demon King level. The Haotian Secret Realm actually has a seventh-grade demon beast. No wonder the Dragon Saliva Grass has grown for nearly three thousand years and no one has harvested it. I originally thought the people entering the Haotian Secret Realm didn’t recognize the Dragon Saliva Grass, but now I know the Dragon Saliva Grass has a Demon King guardian.” Zhao Ziyan squinted, carefully examining the Through-Arm Ape Monkey’s mountain-like body crawling out from underground.

“Eldest Princess, please lure it away. You don’t need to engage it directly. It has been poisoned with Soft Bone Powder. Although its cultivation is still at the Demon King level, its speed has dropped fivefold, and its demon power is chaotic. As long as you are careful, the Through-Arm Ape Monkey cannot harm you. After I dig up the Dragon Saliva Grass, we will kill the King together.”

Zhao Ziyan spoke confidently to the Eldest Princess, who had approached her at some point. Soft Bone Powder was the fourth-ranked of the top ten poisons in the cultivation world. A little powder could immobilize an Integration-stage cultivator. Although the Demon King was formidable, once poisoned with Soft Bone Powder, the Demon King was like a fish out of water, not far from death.

“Eldest Princess, be careful.” Even though she knew Feng Qinyue was not in danger, Zhao Ziyan still carefully instructed her.

“Mhm.”

The corner of Feng Qinyue’s mouth slightly lifted, and she smiled sweetly at Zhao Ziyan. Zhao Ziyan’s concern for her was especially gratifying.

Watching Feng Qinyue grip her long sword and attack the demon beast with mysterious footwork, her white clothes billowing, her waist-length black hair neatly tied up with a hairpin. As her sleeves flew, Zhao Ziyan felt as if she saw a king dominating the world. Zhao Ziyan, who was attracted by this other side of the Eldest Princess, stood there in a daze. It turned out the Eldest Princess also looked quite good when she smiled. Although not as domineering and not as gentle and elegant as her mother’s smile, it had its own unique flavor.

Seeing the Eldest Princess wound the Through-Arm Ape Monkey with one sword strike and lead it away into the distance, Zhao Ziyan calmly took out the jade shovel specially used for digging herbs from her space. She carefully dug up the Dragon Saliva Grass and placed it into a prepared jade bottle for future alchemy use.

“Auntie, it’s done. Now it’s your turn to put in the effort. A Tribulation Crossing Pill is not that easy to get.” Zhao Ziyan signaled Zhao Wenxiu that it was time to act. When she was harvesting the Dragon Saliva Grass, she noticed a trace of spiritual energy overflowing from the Through-Arm Ape Monkey’s nest. That spiritual energy was very restrained, as if covered by something. If the Through-Arm Ape Monkey hadn’t crawled out of its nest, Zhao Ziyan wouldn’t have discovered that trace of spiritual energy.

“Two pills,” Zhao Wenxiu snorted coldly and glanced at Zhao Ziyan. It was her fault for staring at Feng Qinyue in fascination just now!

“Shameless, only two pills,” Zhao Ziyan gritted her teeth and agreed to her aunt’s shameless demand.

…

“Silver Phoenix Gu, go.”

Zhao Wenxiu chanted the Wǔ language silently, commanding a black Gu worm about the size of a fingernail to drill into the wound of the Through-Arm Ape King. Seeing the black Gu worm successfully drill into the Through-Arm Ape Monkey’s body, Zhao Wenxiu, who was mentally connected to the Silver Phoenix Gu, was delighted. As long as it absorbed the essence bl00d of this Demon King, the Silver Phoenix Gu could successfully advance to a Gu King. The Silver Phoenix Gu was cultivated by her personally and had been with her since childhood. Although not as powerful as the Nine-Winged Golden Cicada left by her master, the Silver Phoenix Gu could communicate with her mentally, while the Nine-Winged Golden Cicada, although powerful, could only be commanded and could not attack according to her intended strategy.

Zhao Ziyan saw that after the Gu worm drilled into the Through-Arm Ape Monkey’s body, the Through-Arm Ape Monkey roared and fell to the ground. At first, its strong, powerful ape arms could still smash its body repeatedly, causing it to bleed profusely. But then, smashing its body seemed to no longer alleviate the pain. The Through-Arm Ape Monkey’s sharp claws tore its body open, and its fingers scratched and clawed inside its body again and again. Its intestines and internal organs slowly flowed out of its body. The dense bloody smell rushed into Zhao Ziyan’s nose and mouth. Its mountain-like body gradually withered. The miserable howls that began echoing for a hundred miles around subsided after a quarter of an hour, leaving only whimpering sounds smaller than a kitten’s. Only when Zhao Ziyan and Feng Qinyue saw that the Through-Arm Ape Monkey could no longer wail or move did they slowly walk up to it. Seeing the Through-Arm Ape Monkey covered in black Gu worms, Zhao Ziyan and Feng Qinyue exchanged glances, both turning pale. Those black Gu worms had hatched inside the Through-Arm Ape Monkey, and the larvae were slowly devouring the Through-Arm Ape Monkey completely.

“Hahaha, it’s really going to evolve! You two step back!” Zhao Wenxiu pulled Zhao Ziyan away, her voice full of excitement. She had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Unfortunately, the Silver Phoenix Gu was an ancient Gu worm, and its advancement was difficult, ten times harder than the evolution of an ordinary Gu worm. To cultivate this Silver Phoenix Gu, she had almost used up all her savings and even ventured to the Demon Realm to let the Silver Phoenix Gu absorb the essence bl00d of the Demon Race. Now it had finally evolved. A Gu King comparable to a Gu Saint—her self-preservation ability had increased significantly.

If it were just an ordinary Demon King, the Silver Phoenix Gu might not advance even after devouring ten or more. Luckily, this Through-Arm Ape King had immense life energy in its body, and its essence was comparable to a Demon God. After devouring it, there was only a ten percent chance of evolution. But the poison Zhao Ziyan obtained from somewhere, when absorbed by the Silver Phoenix Gu, increased the probability of evolution to fifty percent. She really had to thank Zhao Ziyan for the successful evolution into a Gu King. Her niece was truly her lucky star. Just a few days of getting along with her saved her nearly ten years of effort.

Zhao Wenxiu continued to chant the Wǔ language silently, completely disregarding the pale faces of Zhao Ziyan and Feng Qinyue. Zhao Ziyan was purely disgusted, while Feng Qinyue was deeply wary of the Gu worm’s strange attack. No wonder the rumor said, “The Gu Saint does not die, the Southern Frontier does not perish.” Feng Qinyue always thought the rumor was exaggerated, but now she knew how wrong she was. A seventh-grade Demon King was completely devoured by that black Gu in less than a quarter of an hour. If that black Gu worm entered a human body, wouldn’t death be inevitable?