Nan Shiying was slightly taken aback.
The poison elder's eyes flickered with residual malevolence.
"I long ago rebelled against Miao Jiang. My kin and tribe suffered heavy losses. Even if any Gu masters survived to this day, they are no longer related to me."
"This Gu cultivation manual is now useless. I... I don't know if it was for solace or some psychological comfort, but I kept this book until today. Here, to you. Honestly, I don't know if this choice is correct. But my time is running out. Feng Luan... whether this name is real or not doesn't matter, who you are doesn't matter either. But, if you've heard some things, then hear them to the end!"
"Gouzi, he's a medicinal person."
"Actually, that's not entirely accurate. He's only half a medicinal person. A few years ago, I left Yaowang Valley and traveled around. To say I traveled is actually to say I was unwilling. Unwilling to let my lifelong medical and poisoning skills be buried with me in the coffin. So, before I die, I wanted to find a successor."
"Meeting Gouzi was an accident."
Linjiang had abundant water, making travel difficult, so he took the waterway. He hadn't been on land for a long time. The poison elder was feeling peckish. One night, he secretly snuck onto a large ship that seemed to be a merchant vessel. He had originally just wanted to find some good food, but unexpectedly, through a twist of fate, he discovered Gouzi, who was soaking in a medicinal vat.
"That method..."
For some reason, the poison elder's voice trembled: "It was so similar to the method my Yin clan of Miao Jiang raised their mother Gu, but it was used on a human."
"At that time, Gouzi's entire skin was peeling off his flesh, his eyes were so swollen he couldn't open them, his tongue was coated, and his speech was slurred. But I still managed to understand what he was saying between his mumbles. He said: Let me die, let me die!"
Recalling the scene that day, the poison elder felt as if he was seeing himself being tormented by the mother Gu, his younger self.
"I rescued him. When we got off the ship, we were discovered, and I've been pursued relentlessly ever since."
Nan Shiying listened to this past account, with only one lingering question: "Can't you return to Yaowang Valley?"
"Yes, I can't!" The poison elder gave a bitter smile. "Some of the herbs Gouzi was soaked in can only be found in Yaowang Valley."
Nan Shiying nodded: "So that's how it is!"
She now understood what had happened to the poison elder and Gouzi. The trouble she had previously resisted now seemed insignificant. When there are things you cannot resist, there is no need to be timid or to flee and complain. You just have to bear it.
"What about the jade pendant?"
Therefore, Nan Shiying proactively brought up the jade pendant that the poison elder had always wanted to give her, but which she had always refused.
"This one? This is the jade pendant of an elder of Yaowang Valley."
The poison elder took out the jade pendant from his怀, stroked the patterns on it, and smiled. "Besides the Valley Master, Yaowang Valley also has six great elders... My talent was good, and after entering Yaowang Valley, I was taken as a personal disciple by the previous Valley Master. After my master passed away, my senior brother succeeded him, and my other senior brother and I were given the positions of elders."
"Actually, Yaowang Valley..."
The poison elder's voice faltered, and he hesitated as he spoke his long-buried suspicion: "My master was still quite hale and hearty back then, but for some unknown reason, he passed away suddenly. However, as those of us who study medicine and poison often test drugs on ourselves to develop new medicines or poisons, I didn't think too deeply about it at the time. But when I discovered Gouzi, I suddenly realized that perhaps Yaowang Valley... I once suspected my master had faked his death, but I prefer to believe he was murdered."
"But regardless of which situation it was, I have no intention of investigating this matter further."
The poison elder turned his head and looked at Nan Shiying: "Do you know what it means, these questions you've asked, these things I've told you?"
Nan Shiying shrugged noncommittally. She didn't answer, but instead extended her hand to the poison elder: "Alright, why are you still clutching the jade pendant? Give it to me!"
"You know yourself..."
"Enough, old man. You were desperately trying to give it to me before, and now that I want it, you're being hesitant. Do you think that if I don't take this jade pendant, I can pretend I heard nothing today?" She interrupted the poison elder irritably.
The poison elder looked at Nan Shiying and suddenly burst into laughter, a hearty, seemingly cathartic laughter. He threw the jade pendant to Nan Shiying as he laughed, "I have a successor before I die. Heaven has not been unkind to me, not unkind!"
Nan Shiying caught the jade pendant, casually put it into her embrace, and then naturally knelt on the ground: "Master above, please accept your disciple's bow."
"Good, good!"
The poison elder smiled and helped Nan Shiying up. For decades, he had never been as joyful as he was today. He poked his head out and yelled towards Gouzi at the top of his lungs: "Gouzi, go get half a jin of wine. Old man is happy today, let's have a drink."
Gouzi looked at the poison elder, whose eyes were squinted in happiness, and grumbled as he went to Ya Dan to ask for a string of copper coins. The poison elder glared at him: "What are you being stingy for? Take some silver fragments and buy me some good wine."
Before Gouzi could say anything, Ya Dan took back the copper coins, took out a piece of silver from the money box, glanced at Feng Luan, and took out another piece, instructing Gouzi: "Since Brother Luan is here, buy some meat for drinking too."
Gouzi: "..."
These ungrateful wretches!
After Nan Shiying stood up, she said to the poison elder, "Master, since you've told me about your own affairs, why don't you listen to mine?"
The poison elder nodded noncommittally: "Alright, I'd like to hear what kind of identity my chosen disciple has."
"I'm actually a woman."
The poison elder smiled knowingly: "I knew that long ago."
"I don't actually have the surname Feng, I have the surname Nan. My name is Nan Shiying."
Hearing Nan Shiying admit that her surname was not Feng, the poison elder still maintained his knowing and smug expression. But when Nan Shiying said the latter half, the smugness on the poison elder's face completely froze.
"No, you said who you are?"
Nan Shiying?
Nan Chaoyin, the illegitimate daughter of Prime Minister Nan of Linyuan, the official wife of Ji Jinmo, the Prince Regent of Linyuan?
Nan Shiying blinked, smiled, and revealed a row of gleaming white teeth: "Master, are you hard of hearing? I said I'm Nan Shiying."
"Crack~"
The poison elder seemed to hear a cracking sound.
Oh, it was himself cracking.
He suddenly jumped up, pointed his finger at Nan Shiying's nose, stammering 'you you you' but couldn't utter a coherent word. After a long while, he finally managed to blurt out, "Nan Shiying, Nan Shiying, the wife of Ji Jinmo, the Prince Regent Nan Shiying??"
Nan Shiying nodded, squinted, and smiled: "Yes, yes, yes, it's the Nan Shiying you mentioned not long ago, 'Ji Jinmo's only flaw is marrying a Wangfei like Nan Shiying'."
The poison elder: "..."
How long ago was that, and you're still holding a grudge!!!