Venerated Venomous Consort

A bit different?

Ha!

Does he think she cares?

The creases near Gu Xijiu’s lips were drawn into deeper lines. “Thank you! I will gladly do your bidding, but so long as you fulfill my conditions.”

“You’re the first one who dares to speak of conditions with me. Aren’t you afraid of my wrath?”

“No, you have told me before that I’m a bit different here, haven’t you?”

“Real clever! You finally know how to take things to your advantage. What conditions do you demand? Speak up.”

“Revoke Long Siye’s punishment to the Distant Fire Land, and I will perform your task wonderfully,” Gu Xijiu stated her condition.

Huang Tu’s eyes lit up. “And what if I disagree?”

Gu Xijiu did not falter. “I will still perform the task entrusted to me, but as this type of challenge is a first to me, I can’t assure that I won’t make any mistakes and can only do it within my abilities.”

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“No, I’m just speaking the truth. If you agree to my condition, I will perform the task as though my life depended on it.”

“Within my abilities” and “as though my life depended on it”. These two phrases could produce a massive difference in the final result.

Huang Tu looked at her for a moment. “I can grant him a one-day deduction from his punishment, but you are to succeed in this mission without mistake, or his punishment would be doubled!”

Although a one-day deduction from Long Siye’s punishment was not what Gu Xijiu had wanted, it was not too bad either.

One must know that to spend a mere minute in the Distant Fire Land is an experience of unmitigated agony.

When Huang Tu turned his back, Gu Xijiu asked, “My Lord has shifted a lot of tasks that were supposed to be conducted by Celestial Master Zuo to me. Do you not want that identity anymore?”

Huang Tu paused for a while. He remarked lightly, “I’ve grown sick of that identity,” and left.

The house restored its former quietude. Gu Xijiu closed her eyes and sat for a while, laughing lightly.

Grown sick of that identity… So he could just throw it away without any sentiments?

Indeed, Di Fuyi was just one of his many incarnations. He has already lived for so many years and taken so many identities, how could “Di Fuyi” be the only identity he has thrown away?

Of course, whatever Di Fuyi had experienced or felt would be cast away along with his identity without any attachments. A god is indeed a god. Without any emotions or heart, he is more detached from the world than Buddha.

She shook her head. She should not be thinking about these things anymore. She took out the booklet used for testing the heaven’s gift disciples and focused on studying its content.

She would succeed! For her friends! For those, she wished to protect

The twentieth day of the first month.

The sky was clear with a light breeze. A good day for the veneration of the dead and groundbreaking.

The Open Heaven Stage had opened again after an interim of five years.

The last time it was opened was ten years ago, which was for Yun Qingluo, and the time before that was for Gu Xijiu.

The interval between the two openings was not long; the memories of the tests remained fresh in the memories of many of the citizens of the Feixing Kingdom and became a subject of conversation when it came to their minds. Now that the news of the reopening of the Open Heaven Stage had spread to the country, the citizens were brimming with elation!

When they heard that the host for the test this time would be the Celestial Master Gu Xijiu, their excitement was augmented to a pure effervescence!

Early in the morning, the citizens both old and young flocked to the Open Heaven Stage. Before the event had begun, the open space below the stage was already pullulating with people; the hawkers took advantage of this occasion to sell confectionery and snacks. It was much more bustling than the time when Gu Xijiu was being tested.

The person who was being tested this time was a black-shirted young man from the Zhaoyang Kingdom named Huo Qifang.

He had stayed in the posthouse after arriving in the Feixing Kingdom. He had thought that he would be tested on the fifteenth of the first month and did not expect to wait for a whole extra five days.