Faced with Wu Li's claims, Meng Lu had nowhere to verify them.
The High Priest was still in seclusion and would not emerge for some time, so it was truly difficult to confirm whether Wu Li had left the mountain under the High Priest's orders. However, Meng Lu figured he wouldn't dare lie; otherwise, the High Priest had plenty of methods to punish him.
Yet, an unspeakable jealousy festered in Meng Lu's heart.
The people of the Wugu Tribe were forbidden from leaving Mount Chi for their entire lives, but Wu Li could.
He is just a dog being let out for a walk, Meng Lu could only comfort himself this way. He then hurled a barrage of vicious curses at him. However, he could no longer beat and torment this bastard at will like they did when they were children, terrified of suffering a backlash from the poisonous Gu parasites residing in his body.
Utterly disgruntled, Meng Lu turned his hostility toward Chai Xiaomi, who was struggling to carry the luggage nearby.
The young woman only reached Wu Li's shoulders. She had a bundle hanging from each arm—a large one on the left and a small one on the right. She was clearly using every ounce of her strength, her face flushed red, glaring furiously at Wu Li.
"I packed the luggage, so naturally, you should carry it. Even if you glare until your eyes pop out, it won't change the fact that you still haven't repaid the favor of me carrying you that night. A drop of kindness should be repaid with a fountain of gratitude."
Remembering how Wu Li had patted her head and said those words, bossing her around so naturally and using grand principles to silence her, Chai Xiaomi felt utterly speechless. No wonder he had been so "merciful" as to help her pack the bundles; he had been setting her up for this all along.
Chai Xiaomi's cheeks were puffed out in anger, just as bulging as the bundles resting in the crooks of her arms. Her attention was entirely on Wu Li, completely oblivious to the gaze Meng Lu was casting her way.
Because the system was undergoing maintenance, after losing Youtiao's simultaneous translation, she could no longer understand the Miao language.
She had no idea what they were babbling about, but she could guess with her toes that nothing good could come out of those dogs' mouths. Otherwise, why would Wu Li's eyes look so terrifying right now, as if he were about to murder someone?
Indifference was Wu Li's usual attitude toward his tribesmen.
This often made Meng Lu feel that Wu Li didn't take them seriously at all, looking at them as if they were a swarm of jumping ants, full of a superior's disdain.
But at this moment, he actually fought back.
The dog raised by the High Priest was actually biting back, much to everyone's surprise.
"Repeat what you just said." The youth's ice-cold voice dragged out exceptionally slowly.
Meng Lu chuckled, feeling the smugness of having caught Wu Li's weakness. "So I was right after all. You call her a human medicine vessel to make it sound nice, but what? Are you angry from embarrassment now that you've been exposed?"
As soon as he said this, the few people behind him burst into laughter, their malicious and obscene gazes falling upon Chai Xiaomi.
Leaving everything else aside, this young girl's figure and appearance were on par with the princess known as the number one beauty in Liangya Prefecture.
When they first saw her, she was covered in dirt, but upon closer inspection later, she had bright white teeth and clear eyes. Her large, black grape-like eyes looked more radiant the longer one stared. Her skin was crystal clear like premium porcelain, and her slender waist was so delicate it could be held in one hand. Who knew what it would feel like to touch? It must be incredibly smooth and tender.
Thinking of this, Meng Lu licked his lips and repeated his previous words, his language becoming even more unbearable to hear: "I see it's just a male dog in heat who picked up a female dog to relieve his boredom! It's just that this bitch doesn't look very smart. Why don't you give her to me to play with for a few days while you're out? I'll train her well for you! Urgh—"
Before he could finish his sentence, his throat choked.
He grabbed his own neck with both hands. It felt as if something was wriggling in his windpipe, then darting into his brain.
Immediately after, an eyeball rolled out without any warning!
He actually caught it subconsciously with his raised hand.
The bloody eyeball lay in his palm, still connected by veins and sinews, staring straight back at him. Meng Lu was horrified by the gaze of that eyeball, his hand trembling uncontrollably.
"Urgh— Urgh—" Meng Lu opened his mouth, wanting to scream, but his throat felt as if it were being choked by an invisible hand, only able to let out broken gasps.
The few people behind him were also terrified by this sudden scene, their mouths wide open in shock, no one making a sound.
"Ahhh!"
But someone screamed very loudly.
Chai Xiaomi dropped her bundles and dove headfirst into Wu Li's embrace.
"His, his, his... why did his eyeball fall out?!"
The fact that the scene was too bloody was secondary; the main issue was how utterly sudden it was. They were just talking, and then it just rolled right out of his eye socket, leaving no time to prepare. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, burying her entire face in Wu Li's chest.
The youth's deep voice came from above her head:
"Are you satisfied?"
Chai Xiaomi froze for a moment, lifting her eyes to meet the youth's lowered face. The corners of his eyes were slightly raised, and his tone actually carried a hint of asking for credit.
"Huh?" She was bewildered. "What?"
She didn't advocate for blood and violence, after all.
Seeing Chai Xiaomi blink blankly twice, her eyes filled with confusion.
Wu Li finally realized that she hadn't understood what Meng Lu had just said. Earlier, she clearly seemed to understand the Miao language, but now her expression was completely clueless.
That made sense. With her temper, if she had understood, she would have been jumping mad by now.
Strangely enough, facing her clear, flawless pupils, he actually secretly rejoiced that she hadn't understood those filthy words.
He had suffered through the most despicable words and vile humiliations, and had long grown accustomed to them. But she must have never heard such things; otherwise, why would she always get angry and bicker with him over the most trivial little pranks?
"Satisfied with what, Wu Li?!" Chai Xiaomi shrank her neck, catching a glimpse of Meng Lu's hollow, bleeding eye socket from the corner of her eye, her hair standing on end. "I don't like watching such bloody and violent things at all. Did he say something that made you unhappy?"
Upon seeing the triumphant amusement at the corners of Wu Li's eyes, Chai Xiaomi guessed who the instigator was.
When these people caused trouble earlier, hadn't his emotions always been quite stable?
So stable that she felt a bit frustrated with him, wishing she could remind him, hey, aren't you the villain? Hurry up and strike back fiercely!
The young girl's clear eyes were always as bright and translucent as moonlight, so even the slightest hint of subtle disgust was particularly obvious, and somewhat... offensive to the eye.
She wasn't satisfied.
What was she disgusted by?
Wu Li's gaze suddenly turned cold. He remembered—she hated everything dirty.
And he himself was the very embodiment of "filth."
He was the product of the Holy Maiden being defiled, an unspeakable disgrace within the tribe, a vessel for raising Gu parasites. He was like a monster that couldn't die, his flesh cycling between rotting and healing, his mind silently twisting in the long, sunless passage of time.
He gradually fell in love with the stench of rot and blood, fell in love with playing the weakling in front of his tribesmen, and fell in love with feigning an innocent expression after a slaughter.
Every year, people went missing deep in Mount Chi. Rumors in the tribe said it was the work of evil spirits.
No one knew that the "evil spirit" was none other than him.
Chi Lie was the only exception. At that time, acting on a sudden playful urge just to scare her, he had been impulsive and forgotten that the man was the High Priest's nephew. He had no choice but to break his own ribs and stage the whole thing.
He liked and enjoyed torturing people with witchcraft and Gu, obsessed with admiring how their faces twisted in fear. Those secret, exhilarating moments were among the very few pleasures in his dark and dreary life.
No one in the Gu Tribe had known about any of this.
Now, it was completely exposed.
He had been impulsive again.
Wu Li lowered his eyes, looking at his pale fingers. A faint numbness still lingered at his fingertips from driving the Gu worms.
"Wu Li!" Behind Meng Lu, someone finally snapped out of their shock, their voice trembling. "When did you... secretly learn such sinister Gu arts?"
"Three months ago, Uncle Aji's corpse was recovered from the bottom of the cliff at the back of the mountain, his eyes brutally gouged out... Last month, Sister Qing mysteriously disappeared while washing clothes by the stream, and three days later she was found in the hollow of an ancient tree, her eyes also completely destroyed..."
His voice shook violently, every word seemingly squeezed out of his throat with immense difficulty:
"Could it be that all of those were your doing!?"
In their eyes, Wu Li was a walking venomous Gu. Countless poisonous creatures had been cultivated in his flesh and blood, and any careless contact would trigger a deadly backlash. Over the years, the tribespeople avoided him like the plague, loathing his half-breed bloodline while fearing the danger lurking within his body.
Yet they never knew that his own ability to manipulate Gu arts had reached such astonishing heights, likely second only to the High Priest and the Clan Leader.
