At dawn in the Servants' Storage Shed.
Light leaked through the dirty window of the shed, falling on Gu Fan's face who was already awake as his glowing green eyes stared at the ceiling.
Gu Fan was burning up.
The Ancient Venom Physique he awakened in the dungeon gave him the chance to run away from the dungeon, but maybe it was his first time using it, or it was still too powerful for his 2nd Stage Body Tempering realm body, but it came with a heavy price.
It felt like his body was boiling with excess Yang Qi. Without a cultivation technique to refine it, with the meridians blocked, the energy pooled in his dantian was radiating intense heat.
Veins began to bulge along his neck, forming a network of veins on his face as well. His skin was tightening, his breath was turning hot in shallow rasps. He had to vent all that excess yang energy somehow.
And maybe the Gods of this New world didn't want him suffer any longer.
Creak!
The squeaky wooden door of his shed opened. And the smell of the flavoured Chicken soup drifted to her nose followed by the expensive jasmine perfume.
'Oh! She bought me the poisoned soup after all,' Gu Fan could not help but grin.
But to his surprise, when he saw the silhouette in front of him, it was not who he expected.
[DING!]
[Target: Madam Li]
[Cultivation: 3rd Stage of Origin Realm]
[Status: Highly Stressed / Sexually Frustrated / Yin Deficiency]
[Note: Husband (Clan Patriarch) has not touched her for 25 years because she wouldn't let him. Target has received no Yang nourishment.]
Madam Li stepped inside.
Madam Li or to be more precise Li Hua was the second wife of the current Gu Clan Patriarch, and the current Matriarch.
She was fifty-five years old, but her curvaceous body and flawless skin made her look no more than twenty-five.
She wore a deep neck purple robe that clung to her curves, as the cloth strained against a chest that defied gravity.
Her ink black hair was pinned up with elaborate gold ornaments, exposing a long, elegant neck.
She was unmistakably beautiful, but her eyes were cold, her lips pursed in dissatisfaction.
And right now as she walked in, she carried a delicate wooden tray holding a steaming jade bowl of soup and fresh buns.
She walked towards the straw bed as her cold eyes narrowed into a dangerous slit when she saw the empty bed.
"Escaped?" she muttered, her voice dripping with ice, "That useless steward couldn't even bind a crippled trash properly."
But then she paused, as the senses of the 3rd Stage of the Origin Realm flared up. She caught the faint sound of heavy, scorching breaths emanating from the shadows. She turned around with a slow, elegant grace, her dark eyes locking onto the corner of the shed.
Gu Fan was already standing there. His skin was flushed red, thick veins bulging on his neck, and his body radiated waves of unnatural heat.
Yet, despite his agonizing state she was in and the terrifying cultivation gap between them, he did not cower or tremble in fear.
He stood perfectly calm as his glowing green eyes met her cold gaze without a shred of fear.
"I haven't gone anywhere, Matriarch," Gu Fan said smoothly, his voice hoarse from the heat.
Madam Li evaluated him, her expression a mask of noble indifference, "You are surprisingly composed my dear stepson, Gu Fan."
[Warning: Host, the chicken soup is spiked with Seven Vipers Venom.]
"Poisoned chicken soup?" Gu Fan sniffed the air, a dark chuckle escaping his lips, "Seven Vipers Venom. A nice upgrade from the Heart-Rotting Poison."
"But why would the esteemed Matriarch stoop so low as to deliver it personally?"
Madam Li's expression remained perfectly poised, though her eyes hardened.
"You can even tell the poison I have used?" Madam Li raised an eyebrow, "You are smarter than what everyone says."
"But this is useless."
"You see your second brother's patience is thin, and his methods are… you can say clumsy," she said, her voice like smooth silk.
"He was using an expandable maid to poison you with that Heart-Rotting Poison, though potent can be traced if your father… How should I say this… had a change of heart."
"I simply came to ensure the task was completed cleanly, without leaving a mess for the Patriarch to discover. It is a mother's duty to protect her son from his own oversights."
"How thorough of you, Stepmother," Gu Fan nodded, appreciating her, "You are a good mother, Madam Li. A very good mother."
"Since you are aware of your fate," Madam Li continued, setting the wooden tray down on a nearby barrel with refined grace. She raised her delicate, jade-like hand. A concentrated swirl of lethal, icy blue Qi gathered at her fingertips, "I have changed my mind. I won't make it painful for you and grant you a swift, painless end."
Gu Fan didn't move, it was useless to do so. With his 2nd Stage Body Tempering cultivation, dodging an Origin Realm expert was impossible.
"Mother... Mother, please. Let us not be so hasty," Gu Fan said, his voice eerily calm despite the sweltering heat radiating from his body.
Madam Li's hand paused an inch from his chest, as her beautiful, cold eyes narrowed, "Begging for your life now? How unsightly."
"I am not begging, mother. I just have a final wish," Gu Fan smiled faintly.
"I may be the illegitimate son everyone looks down upon, the trash of the Gu Clan... but in name, you are still my mother."
"Can we not share one cup of tea before you send me on my way? Just for the sake of what little relationship we have?"
Madam Li's eyes opened wide slightly in surprise, as she looked him up from top to bottom.
The crippled boy who usually cowered in her presence was speaking with a strange confidence. A flicker of pity crossed her elegant features. It was a pathetic final request, but granting it would show her magnanimity as the Matriarch.
"Very well," she withdrew her hand, the icy Qi dissipating into the air. "Make it quick. I have no desire to linger in this filth."