Chapter 418: Didn't You Say Curses Were Ineffective Against You?

"By the way, I also have a question for you, Valley Master."

"Speak."

"Now that Old Meng's curse makes him reviled by women, will it affect you?"

Valley Master Shuang's expression soured, sensing that Lu Yang was questioning her authority. "I hadn’t encountered the Meng boy's curse before, which led to that initial error and allowed him to escape for half a day. However, I have now diagnosed him through pulse-conduction via thread and completely mastered his condition. Under my treatment plan, the curse has already withered to a point where it is utterly ineffective against me."

Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief; that was well and good.

"Valley Master Shuang said that toad skin, dried centipedes, five-poison insect powder... must all be consumed. Eating them raw makes it more efficient."

Lu Yang used the Valley Master’s authority to command Meng Jingzhou.

Meng Jingzhou unfastened the tangled white threads, and upon seeing the assortment of bizarre and grotesque medicinal ingredients, his face turned entirely green. Was this stuff even meant for human consumption?

"Are you certain eating them raw is more efficient?"

"I didn't say it; Valley Master Shuang did."

Left with no alternative, Meng Jingzhou strictly followed the physician's orders. His scalp tingling and suppressing the urge to gag, he swallowed them down one by one. Though clearly dead matter, once inside his belly they seemed to spring to life, churning violently within his stomach.

Zhao Po watched from the side in silence, wondering if this was how the two geniuses of the Pointy-Sword Sect competed—by plotting against and sabotaging one another.

"We also need to apply needles and draw blood." Lu Yang produced the Seven-Star Silver Needles borrowed from Valley Master Shuang. The silver needles were clearly an extraordinary magical treasure; without Lu Yang even needing to infuse them with spiritual energy, a single prick into Meng Jingzhou's arm effortlessly pierced right through his defenses.

One had to remember that Meng Jingzhou was a body cultivator whose physical defense was absurdly formidable. Lu Yang couldn't guarantee he could breach it himself within a short span of time.

"Hiss—could you give a warning before you jab me!" Meng Jingzhou bared his teeth and grimaced in agony; he hadn’t felt this kind of pain in a very long time.

Had a proper physician administered the needles, the bloodletting would have been painless, leaving the patient completely unaware of the puncture.

Unfortunately, Lu Yang was no proper physician; he wasn’t a physician at all.

"Fairy, do you know how to administer needles?" Lu Yang remembered there was still a theoretical golden finger residing within his spiritual space.

"As for bloodletting? I’m quite familiar with that. Fiend-beast meat carries a gamey stench precisely because the blood isn't properly drained. If you use my method to let blood, I guarantee not a single drop will remain."

Lu Yang decided that Meng Jingzhou really didn't need to pay with his life for this.

Lu Yang withdrew the silver needle, and Meng Jingzhou's blood gushed outward like a fountain. The silver needle seemed to carry an effect that impeded natural recovery; Meng Jingzhou's proud self-healing ability was completely useless, leaving him to wait slowly for the wound to close on its own.

The blood flowing from the wound dripped onto the ground. This was the blood of a great Golden Core cultivator, teeming with immensely precious spiritual energy—and moreover, the blood of a pure bachelor Golden Core cultivator, pure and supreme in its Yang nature, surpassing the potency of many pure Yang herbs.

As if sensing intuitively how precious this blood was, various insects swarmed forward to feast upon Meng Jingzhou's blood, feeling instantly invigorated afterward.

What these insects did not know was that, from this day forward, they would never see a female insect again.

Yet at this moment, no one was aware of this fact—Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou didn't know, and the insects themselves didn't know either.

As the wound healed, Lu Yang pricked him again, withdrew the needle, let blood, and let it heal. After repeating this cycle three times, Meng Jingzhou felt the lingering sense of unease shrouding his heart lighten slightly, and joy crept onto his face.

"It actually works!"

Though it hadn't been fully dissolved, resolving even a portion of it was still progress, and a massive step forward at that.

As expected, coming to the Desolate Province was the correct choice; it was far more reliable than consulting the sect elders.

Calculating that the time was ripe, Valley Master Shuang stepped out of the Valley of Seven Emotions and finally set eyes on Meng Jingzhou.

"So you are the Meng family boy?"

The moment Meng Jingzhou beheld Valley Master Shuang, he knew that the easing of his inner unease had been no illusion; his curse really had been partially undone.

"Greetings, Valley Master. I am Meng Jingzhou of the Meng family, a disciple of the Pointy-Sword Sect."

Valley Master Shuang gave a cold snort. "As expected of a Meng."

Sensing that something was amiss, Lu Yang hastily stepped forward, cupping his hands in respect. "Many thanks to Valley Master Shuang for treating my companion. May I ask what our next step should be to completely cure Old Meng's curse?"

Valley Master Shuang’s expression turned displeased. "I shouldn't have treated you just now. That old scoundrel Buyu crossed me, and you Meng family people are no better. Get lost, all of you!"

Lu Yang: "..."

Whatever happened to the curse being ineffective against you?

Valley Master, can you be just a bit more reliable?

Since things had reached this point, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou couldn't very well harden their expressions and press for the next step, so they had no choice but to depart from the Valley of Seven Emotions first.

Inside the carriage, Zhao Po was the first to break the silence, suggesting, "How about we head to our Corpse-Driving Sect first? The elders and the Sect Master are familiar with the Desolate Province and know many top-tier curse masters and eccentric experts. Perhaps they will have a way."

"That’s all we can do."

The three men, one corpse, and one horse journeyed onward. As they approached a city to rest, they caught the sound of a clamorous commotion nearby.

"Everyone, everyone! I am Qingluo, the Sect Master of the Yuntai Sect. Having just succeeded to the position of Sect Master, according to the regulations of our sect, any female who becomes Sect Master must select a husband through a martial arts matchmaking contest!"

"To this end, I have set up an arena here. Anyone may challenge me. Whosoever can defeat me shall be my ideal husband!"

Qingluo was just sixteen, pure and beautiful, with watery, large eyes that carried a pristine grace. Her unyielding demeanor made her all the more endearing.

Qingluo had spread the word long ago that she would choose a husband through a martial arts match, so most people in the vicinity were well aware of it and had come specifically to win her hand.

Yet there were also those who knew nothing of the matter—such as Lu Yang's trio.

"The Yuntai Sect... I’ve never heard of this sect. Brother Zhao, do you know of it?"

Zhao Po wracked his brain before finally unearthing information about the Yuntai Sect from a dusty corner of his memory.

"The Yuntai Sect is a tiny sect, practically an unranked faction. Its influence is limited to a single city—or perhaps even smaller than that. The highest cultivation within the sect might only be at the Golden Core stage. The Yuntai Sect is most famous for an ancestral rule: if the Sect Master is female, she must choose a man stronger than herself to be her husband. This should be the situation before us."

Small sects like the Yuntai Sect were countless and as numerous as ox hairs within the Great Xia Dynasty.

Granted, the individuals Lu Yang usually encountered were easily at the Golden Core or Soul Formation stages, with enemies starting at the Unity stage and capping at Immortals.

But that was only because Lu Yang was a disciple of the Pointy-Sword Sect, interacting at too elevated a tier.

What was the Pointy-Sword Sect? It was the foremost of the Five Great Immortal Gates, gathering the peerless geniuses of the entire continent. Anyone walking out of that sect could forge a massive reputation for themselves in the Central Continent.

In reality, most cultivators struggled their entire lives just to establish their Foundation, and the Golden Core was a goal far beyond their reach. It was precisely because of this that Golden Core clans and Golden Core sects existed.

Meng Jingzhou's eyes lit up upon seeing Qingluo, his heart stirring slightly as he felt that his luck in love was finally arriving.