Chapter 563 — The Fat Tiger's Supremacy

"It's Fat Dragon!

And Senior Brother Tiger and the rest! They've come looking for me! " Shen Mu hurried over, refining the antidote even as he ran.

From far off he saw Long Qilin swaying on his feet, then suddenly foam at the mouth, his body going stiff, four hooves in the air, sprawled on his back and utterly still. Shen Mu shot toward them at flying speed; while he was still a hundred zhang from Long Qilin and the Black Tiger God, the antidote was already done. He flicked his fingers in rapid succession, the vital-essence furnace burst open, and pellet after pellet of antidote flew into Long Qilin's mouth.

Shen Mu came howling in, his hand techniques shifting through a thousand transformations; in the blink of an eye he had cast countless seal-arts, as though he had grown a thousand arms, circling Long Qilin at speed, striking one after another upon the fallen fat body, dissolving the medicine's power swiftly so it would not harm his flesh. "He seems to have gotten even fatter. . . " Shen Mu's palm landed on Long Qilin, and he felt the rebound of all that fat, which made it hard for his technique of dissolving the medicine to work.

He wondered inwardly: "The pills I left him weren't all that many.

How did he eat himself this fat? Could I have wronged him? Is he really the sort of constitution that gains flesh even from drinking water? " Sang Hua, Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, Snow Fox, and the others were standing nearby. When they saw Shen Mu charging over, they were startled at first and were about to fend off the newcomer; only when they recognized Shen Mu did their hearts lift, and they waited quietly for him to purge the poison from Long Qilin.

Shen Mu's vital essence steamed; slapping and striking, he finally dissolved the antidote's power and sent it through every part of Long Qilin's body. Only then did he breathe easy, pull out a sweat cloth, and wipe the perspiration from his brow. "Good thing the poison refined this time wasn't anything too formidable. .

. " At his feet, Long Qilin stared wide-eyed, gazing at him with resentment, wearing the look of one who has lost all will to live. Shen Mu smiled and consoled him: "It's fine, it's fine, nothing serious.

In a little while you'll be able to stand.

Only your sense of smell and taste will be off for a time; in a day or two they'll be as good as new. Xiangzi, don't eat him, he isn't dead. . . really, not dead! Even if he were dead, you're not allowed to eat him. Spit him out.

.

. How did you all get here? " Xiangzi spat out the stiff Long Qilin with great reluctance. Snow Fox, controlling a whirlwind, sent Shen Mu's two stinking shoes far away, then leaped onto the head of the fallen Long Qilin and laughed: "After you disappeared, the Axe Venerable notified Imperial Preceptor Jingping. The Imperial Preceptor said you were in no danger and wouldn't die so easily, but he still sent word to the Heavenly Sage Cult. So the Holy Maiden Xiang brought us here.

" The girl could never pronounce "axe" and "tiger" properly; her words came out slurred.

The Black Tiger God sized Shen Mu up, then pried open his eyes and peered inside. Seeing that he was unharmed, he finally set his mind at ease and said: "We slipped into the demon clans' territory. The Princess and the Holy Maiden kept trying to sense your primal spirit, but never got any response from you. Worried that they might disturb you, they stopped using the Three Primal Spirits Convergence Art to contact you. We searched and inquired all along the way, originally meaning to head for the Land of Ominousness. But before we reached it, we ran into a great many demons rushing east, saying you had gone there. So we tracked them the whole way. Long Qilin is rather familiar with you and can smell your scent, which is how we managed to follow you here. At last we've found you. " Shen Mu mused: "When you were trying to reach me, I must have been inside the Land of Ominousness. It's a very strange place, so I never sensed the Holy Maiden's or Sister Xiu's primal spirit calls.

You went deep into demon territory — did you not run into any danger? " Ling Yuxiu lifted Long Qilin and set him on Xiangzi's back, saying: "Sister Sang Hua is remarkable. This time we owe it to her that we avoided the demons' strongholds. Besides, those demons were all tracking you, and there were rumors that you had badly wounded Vajra.

Many demon gods gathered there to guard Vajra, lest someone seize the moment and kill him. " Shen Mu couldn't help laughing: "These demon rumors make me out to be far too terrifying. Vajra was actually wounded by a curse; it has nothing to do with me. He was indeed hurt, but by now he should be fine. " Sang Hua looked this way and that, and seeing many demons hurrying toward them, said in alarm: "The Tiger Venerable was slaughtering freely just now; I fear it will draw demon gods. This is no place to linger.

Once we're away from here, we can talk in detail! Tiger Venerable, you're big and will draw the demon gods' attention — we'll have to trouble you a bit more. " Hearing this, the Black Tiger God hastily shrank, becoming a small tiger about a chi tall. The girls exchanged glances, each gave him a pat, all quite pleased — and the Black Tiger God noticed nothing at all.

Shen Mu thought to himself: "Could it be that this is how Senior Brother Tiger has been muddling his way deep into demon territory all along? " They ran east, and Xiangzi promptly stretched its legs and followed. The Black Tiger God caught up with Shen Mu and looked up at him, curious: "What's this about Vajra being wounded by a curse? That rumor can't be false. That fellow is a true demon, an overlord among the demon clans — how could a curse wound him?

" Shen Mu said: "It's the jade pendant on my chest.

A curse is hidden inside it. As for the details, I don't know them.

The Woodcutter Sage Master knows a little, but he never told me. " Before long, Long Qilin could finally move again, though his limbs were still weak and he couldn't get up.

Aggrieved, he said: "Cult Master, I'm hungry.

. . " Shen Mu said hastily: "If you eat spirit pills now, it will upset your stomach and bowels. I'm afraid you'll throw them up.

" Long Qilin fell silent. After a moment he spoke again: "Cult Master, little dragon gave up his own safety to enter demon territory to find you, and you poisoned me. .

. " Shen Mu blinked and said no more.

"Still hungry," said Long Qilin. Helpless, Shen Mu took out some spirit herbs to compound a Fire-Phase Divine Essence Pill.

Long Qilin said: "I like Crimson Fire Spirit Pills. I don't like the taste of Fire-Phase Divine Essence Pills.

" Shen Mu's brow twitched.

Suppressing his anger, he set the prepared herbs aside and made up the ingredients for a Crimson Fire Spirit Pill.

When he had refined the Crimson Fire Spirit Pill, Long Qilin opened his mouth and waited for Shen Mu to feed him. Veins bulged on Shen Mu's forehead. He tossed in two pills.

Long Qilin chewed them up and said suspiciously: "The flavor's a bit off. Not very tasty.

.

. " Shen Mu explained: "The poison damaged the nerves that govern your sense of taste and smell, so things will taste a little different from before.

" "Cult Master, give me the pills and I'll eat them once my taste comes back. " Shen Mu handed over the Crimson Fire Spirit Pills he had refined.

Long Qilin hid them in Xiangzi and said weakly: "I'm still hungry.

I'd like to try the Fire-Phase Divine Essence Pill. Maybe it won't be so hard to swallow now. " Shen Mu took out the herbs he had just prepared and refined a furnace of Fire-Phase Divine Essence Pills. Long Qilin tasted two and said suspiciously: "The flavor seems a bit better.

Not so hard to eat. Cult Master, could you refine two more furnaces? " Shen Mu finally exploded: "Eat that much and you'll burst! Look how fat you are now — Xiangzi can barely carry you!