"It's Bruno! And Black Tiger God and the others! They've come to find me!"
Quinn Shepherd rushed over, sprinting wildly as he refined the antidote. From a distance, he saw Bruno the Dragon-Qilin wobble, suddenly foam at the mouth, go stiff, and collapse on his back with all four hooves in the air, unmoving.
Quinn dashed forward at top speed. When he was still a hundred yards away from Bruno, Black Tiger God, and the others, the antidote was already finished. Quinn flicked his fingers, detonating his yuanqi furnace so that pellets of antidote shot straight into Bruno's mouth.
Quinn swooped in, his hands shifting through countless seals in a blink, as if he had sprouted a hundred arms. He circled Bruno at lightning speed, slapping and tapping the big lump on the ground to disperse the medicine, making sure it wouldn't harm his body.
"He seems to have gotten even fatter..."
Quinn pressed his palm to Bruno's body, feeling the rebound of all that fat, which made it hard for his detox technique to work. He wondered, "I didn't leave him that many pills, so how did he get so fat? Maybe I wronged him—maybe he really is the type who gains weight just by drinking water?"
Serena Yunxiang, Lynn Ling, Sabrina, Lina the Spirit Fox, and the others were nearby. Seeing Quinn rush over, they were startled at first and prepared to defend themselves, but when they recognized Quinn, their hearts leapt with joy and they quietly waited for him to detoxify Bruno.
Quinn's yuanqi surged as he slapped and tapped, finally dispersing the antidote throughout Bruno's body. He let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"Good thing this batch of poison wasn't too strong..."
Bruno stared up at him with wide, mournful eyes, looking utterly dejected. Quinn smiled and reassured him, "It's fine, it's fine, nothing serious. You'll be able to stand up in a bit. Your sense of taste and smell will be off for a day or two, but you'll recover. Chest, don't eat him, he's not dead yet... really not dead! Even if he dies, you're not allowed to eat him. Spit him out... How did you all get here?"
The taotie bone chest reluctantly spat out the stiff Bruno.
Lina the Spirit Fox whipped up a whirlwind to send Quinn's stinky shoes flying far away. She hopped onto Bruno's head and said with a smile, "After you disappeared, Black Tiger God reported to the Imperial Preceptor. The Imperial Preceptor said you were hard to kill, but still notified the Cult of the Heavenly Saint. Saintess Yunxiang led us here herself."
This little fox always mispronounces 'axe' and 'tiger.'
Black Tiger God inspected Quinn, pried open his eyes to check inside, and, seeing he was fine, finally relaxed. "We infiltrated demon territory. The princess and Saintess kept trying to sense your Primordial Spirit, but got no response, worried they'd disturb you, so they didn't use the Tri-Source Spirit Conference Art again. We searched everywhere, planning to head for the Doomlands. But before we got there, we heard many demons rushing east, saying you were there. We followed them, and Bruno tracked your scent, so we found you at last."
Quinn thought for a moment. "When you tried to contact me, I must've been inside the Doomlands. It's a bizarre place, so I didn't notice the Saintess or Lynn's Primordial Spirit sensing. Did you run into any danger in demon territory?"
Lynn Ling hoisted Bruno onto the chest and said, "Serena Yunxiang is amazing—thanks to her, we avoided the demon strongholds. Plus, all the demons were chasing you. There's a rumor that you seriously injured Furylo, so lots of demon gods are gathering to guard him, afraid someone will sneak in and finish him off."
Quinn chuckled. "That demon rumor makes me sound way too scary. Furylo was actually hurt by a curse, not by me. He is injured, but should be fine now."
Serena Yunxiang glanced around and saw many demons converging on their location. She quickly said, "Black Tiger God went on a rampage earlier, so demon gods are probably on their way. This place isn't safe—we should move! Black Tiger God, you're huge, so you'll attract attention. We'll need your help."
Black Tiger God immediately shrank down to a palm-sized little black tiger.
The girls exchanged glances, each taking a moment to pat him, all feeling rather pleased—Black Tiger God was completely oblivious.
Quinn wondered to himself, "Could it be that Black Tiger God managed to sneak so deep into demon territory just by doing this?"
They hurried east, and the taotie bone chest immediately sprouted legs to keep up with them.
Black Tiger God caught up to Quinn, looked up at him, and asked curiously, "How did Furylo get hurt by a curse? That rumor can't be fake—he's a True Demon, a sovereign among the demons. How could a curse injure him?"
Quinn replied, "It's the jade pendant on my chest. There's a curse hidden inside, but I don't know the details. The Woodcutter Sage knows more, but he hasn't told me."
After a while, Bruno finally managed to move again, but his limbs were still weak and he couldn't get up. He complained, "Cult Master, I'm hungry..."
Quinn quickly said, "If you eat spirit pills now, they'll upset your stomach. You'll probably just throw them up."
Bruno fell silent for a moment, then said, "Cult Master, I risked my life to find you in demon territory, and you poisoned me..."
Quinn blinked and said nothing.
"I'm still hungry," Bruno said.
Quinn sighed helplessly and pulled out some herbs to prepare Fire Essence Origin Pills. Bruno said, "I like Redfire Spirit Pills. I don't like the taste of Fire Essence Origin Pills."
Quinn raised an eyebrow, suppressed his irritation, set aside the prepared herbs, and got out ingredients for Redfire Spirit Pills instead.
He refined the Redfire Spirit Pills, and Bruno opened his mouth, waiting for Quinn to feed him.
Veins popped on Quinn's forehead as he tossed two pills in. Bruno chewed them up and said doubtfully, "The flavor's a bit off. Not as tasty as before..."
Quinn explained, "The poison damaged the nerves that control your taste and smell, so things taste different for now."
"Just give me the pills, Cult Master. I'll eat them when my taste comes back."
Quinn handed over the refined Redfire Spirit Pills, and Bruno stashed them inside the chest. Listlessly, he said, "I'm still hungry. Maybe I should try a Fire Essence Origin Pill—maybe it won't taste so bad now."
Quinn took out the previously prepared herbs and refined a batch of Fire Essence Origin Pills. Bruno tried two and said, "Actually, the flavor seems better—it's not so hard to eat now. Can you make two more batches, Cult Master?"
Quinn finally snapped, shouting, "If you eat so much, you'll burst! Look at how fat you are—the chest can barely carry you!"
Bruno looked utterly dejected and said weakly, "I've been poisoned. I don't know if I'll ever taste Redfire Spirit Pills again. My mother died early, and the Heavenly Demon Patriarch is gone too..."
Quinn's heart softened, so he refined two more batches and handed them over. Only then did Bruno stop complaining.
Quinn stole a glance and saw that Bruno hadn't actually eaten many of the pills—he was secretly opening a crack in the chest and stashing the extras inside for later.
"Just what has Bruno been through while I was gone?" Quinn wondered, puzzled.
Bruno quieted down, lying peacefully atop the chest. He took out a book, licked a brush, gripped it with his paw, and started writing carefully.
Quinn leaned in to look, but Bruno quickly shielded his writing. Quinn smiled with satisfaction. "Bruno's finally working hard. Lina, you should learn from him."
Lina the Spirit Fox was hugging her tail, licking her fur with her tongue. Hearing this, she replied seriously, "I've been studying reading and writing with Grandpa Blind lately. He says my learning has really improved."
Black Tiger God hopped onto the chest to watch Bruno write his book.
Bruno didn't dare slack off and let Black Tiger God sit between his front paws. Black Tiger God peered at the writing and chuckled, "Is this actually useful?"
"Of course it is!"
Bruno said seriously, "I've basically mastered the art of... uh, 'raising humans.' One day, this technique will shine!"
Black Tiger God shook his head. "You're scheming too much and not focusing on the right path. Like those Redfire Spirit Pills and Fire Essence Origin Pills—no need to eat them. Just cultivate your own techniques and powers; that's what really matters!"
"Have you ever eaten spirit pills, Black Tiger God?" Bruno asked.
Black Tiger God shook his head. "My master always said, only power cultivated by oneself is real power. He never gave me any spirit pills."
Bruno took out a Fire Essence Origin Pill. "Try this one."
Black Tiger God ate it and was amazed. "This tastes incredible! Way better than normal food!"
Bruno sneered, "Redfire Spirit Pills taste even better! Try one of those!"
Black Tiger God ate a Redfire Spirit Pill, and his whole body trembled—tears even welled up in his eyes.
Bruno sneered, "See? Now you know! You never learned my technique, so your master ended up taming you instead. If you practiced my 'How to Raise Your Human' art, you'd always eat well."
Black Tiger God looked at Quinn and smiled sheepishly. "Junior Brother, those Redfire Spirit Pills taste amazing. Can you refine a few batches for me?"
Quinn was surprised. "Senior Brother, you're already a god—do you really need these?"
"They're just so tasty—really refreshing!"
Quinn frowned deeply and patiently asked, "Senior Brother, what's the attribute of your demon yuanqi?"
"Metal and water," Black Tiger God replied.
Quinn thought for a moment, wrote out a pill recipe, and said, "This is the formula for Gold-Water Mixed-Origin Pill. It contains both metal and water qi, boosting your metal-water yuanqi. I've also used pharmacological generation and restraint to refine the flavor and make it tasty. Senior Brother, it's not ideal for me to keep refining pills for you—you're a god, so you should learn to do it yourself. I'll teach you how."
Black Tiger God was delighted and laughed, "Better to rely on yourself! If I learn to refine pills, I won't have to trouble you anymore!"
Quinn taught him how to refine Gold-Water Mixed-Origin Pills and gave him some herbs. Black Tiger God, clever as ever, quickly mastered the process and produced a batch that looked just right.
Before long, Black Tiger God came back for more herbs, and Quinn handed some over.
By the next day, Quinn had the vague impression that his godly Senior Brother was getting a bit chubby. He wondered if it was just his imagination.
But with the little Black Tiger lying next to Bruno, he didn't look fat at all—maybe it really was just Quinn's imagination.