Chapter 237: Too Beautiful to Be Human
The National Preceptor had gone to meet the ruler of Southern Yun Kingdom and was not in the main hall at the moment. Excluding Gong Da and Gong Qi, who had accompanied him, the remaining sixteen disciples were all present, staring intently at these Gu testers.
“Second Senior Brother, Sir said twenty-five would be enough. Why did you choose twenty-six?” one of them asked in confusion.
Second Senior Brother replied coolly, “This kid insisted on following us. There was nothing we could do.”
“This one’s not bad—strong and sturdy. You’re not allowed to snatch him from me!” said Gong Eighteen, the last disciple to enter the sect, laughing as he pointed at a burly man.
Gong Seventeen chuckled. “Eighteen, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Sometimes the ones who look strong can’t even survive the first dose of Gu poison.”
They spoke without the slightest restraint. Nan Xun glanced at the Gu testers beside her and saw fear on some faces, bodies going limp; a few had already begun to regret coming.
She was distracted when Gong Seventeen suddenly grabbed her and pulled her over, saying smugly, “Bet you this one who volunteered himself will actually be the most resistant to poison.”
As he spoke, Gong Seventeen froze. “Kid, your hands are so soft—squishy, really comfortable to pinch.”
Nan Xun really wanted to punch him, but she held back and instead grinned foolishly. “Big brother, you don’t mind that I stink? You’re so nice.”
Hearing that, Gong Seventeen immediately shoved her away. The other disciples burst out laughing.
Gong Seventeen glared at Nan Xun and ordered a servant, “Old Zhao, take him to bathe at once. Then give him my old robe with the holes in it. This kid smells awful—he’ll offend Sir later.”
At the word “bathe,” Nan Xun’s heart jumped. She blurted out, “Brother Seventeen, I don’t want to bathe. Let’s talk about it after I see the National Preceptor!”
Hearing that overly familiar form of address, Gong Seventeen froze, then flew into a rage. “Bah! A lowly beggar dares call me Brother Seventeen? Believe it or not, I’ll smash your mouth!”
Gong Eighteen mocked him mercilessly. “Seventeen, looks like this kid really likes you. Why don’t you take him in as your little brother?”
Nan Xun said to Little Eight, “See? When they were parading earlier, they were totally putting on an act. Look how ugly their true faces are now.”
Little Eight: “……”
Whether Nan Xun wanted to or not, she was dragged off by the servant Old Zhao to bathe.
Fortunately, Old Zhao simply tossed her into the bath and let her wash on her own; he didn’t watch.
Thinking that she wouldn’t be able to hide her female body anyway, Nan Xun just washed herself clean and then put on Gong Seventeen’s white short robe with two holes in it.
She was about to tie up her hair when she suddenly sensed something wrong.
Why had all the sounds vanished in an instant?
Nan Xun tiptoed to the door, poked a tiny hole in the paper window, and prepared to peek through it.
But just as she braced her hands against the door and window to look outside, the tightly shut door flew open with a bang—without any wind. Losing her support, she pitched forward and fell flat on her face—hard.
Nan Xun jerked her head up, and the moment she did, she met a pair of indifferent, rippleless eyes.
What kind of eyes were those? At first glance, they seemed to gather the essence of heaven and earth—profound and utterly mesmerizing. But at the second glance, they became ethereal and empty. Above was the vast blue sky and white clouds; behind him were his disciples and several Gu testers lying prone on the ground. Yet within those eyes, there was nothing—an empty expanse, dead silent, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
And now, those dead-calm eyes were staring straight at her.
Nan Xun lay on the ground looking at him, while everyone else was looking at her.
Because of the fall, the woman’s jet-black hair spilled loose like a dark waterfall, cascading down to the floor. And when she lay there, the oversized robe revealed her beautiful collarbones in fleeting glimpses—enough to make one… spurt blood.
Gong Seventeen’s eyes widened. He pointed at her with a trembling finger and stammered, “Y-you—you—you… you’re actually a… woman!”
After the shock, Gong Seventeen suddenly remembered something and turned pale with terror. He dropped to his knees with a thud. “Sir, please forgive me! Seventeen didn’t know she was a woman. When I brought her back, she reeked of sour stench, her face was pitch-black, and she was wearing loose men’s clothing. Disciple—disciple…”
He tried to explain and explain, but in the end could only resign himself to saying, “Seventeen knows his fault.”
Nan Xun heard none of it. Only after the man slightly shifted his gaze did she finally break free from that state where all her attention seemed to have been seized.
Those eyes were like a sealed prison. Once you looked into them, you were locked inside, suffocating to death.
Nan Xun panted, and her half-revealed collarbones rose and fell with her breathing.
Once she managed to free herself, she could finally look elsewhere—and the first thing she looked at was, naturally, the man’s face.
After seeing it, Nan Xun swallowed hard and said to Little Eight, “Darling, is this really a human? He’s so beautiful he looks like a piece of human skin. Could he be some blood-sucking demon from the deep mountains in disguise?”
Damn—he was truly beautiful. So beautiful that word-poor Nan Xun couldn’t describe it. In short, the kind of beauty that made people want to kneel and worship.
Dressed in white, he carried the air of an immortal—no, a deity of the Nine Heavens. His ink-black hair fell all the way to his lower back, like the finest silk.
This man could stand anywhere casually and it would be a painting—an actual painting!
Little Eight swallowed too. “He’s even more beautiful up close. But don’t worry—definitely not a demon. He’s a real person.”
While one human and one beast were marveling inwardly, a disciple standing behind the beauty suddenly shouted at Nan Xun, “Insolent! How dare you stare directly at the National Preceptor!”
Nan Xun ignored him completely and kept staring, her watery, seductive eyes fixed on the beauty.
“Bold demoness! Who sent you? Speak the truth at once!” the disciple raged, nearly wanting to poison her with Gu.
Nan Xun shot him a sideways glance and snorted unhappily. “None of your business. The National Preceptor himself hasn’t said anything.”
That disciple: “You—how dare you!”
Seeing the beautiful man glance at her again, Nan Xun immediately scrambled up and kowtowed properly. “Sir, my name is Li Yunduo. I wish to become Sir’s Gu tester.”
The moment those words left her mouth, the entire hall fell silent.
Even the disciple who had just scolded her changed expression.
Although many Gu testers had been recruited this time, they were all meant for the disciples to test Gu poisons on. The Gu poisons refined by disciples were nowhere near even one-thousandth of the National Preceptor’s power.
And this woman who had sneaked in actually said she wanted to be the National Preceptor’s Gu tester?
That was truly… being tired of living.
