Chapter 26: Excruciating Pain

Deep in the night, all was silent.

Gu Mo, exhausted in both body and mind, closed his eyes slightly and lay lazily upon the bed. The soft touch completely enveloped his battered frame.

Words could not describe how comfortable it felt!

Right now, Gu Mo would not have traded this sensation for anything in the world, no matter how precious.

Suddenly, with a squeak, the bedroom door swung open. Entering his field of vision, the silly King of Hell maiden, dressed in a traditional Xiufen dress, stood in the doorway radiating anger.

With a sly, mischievous roll of her eyes, the silly King of Hell waved her hand and gently pulled the door shut behind her.

As soon as the door was closed, her dark eyebrows knitted together in a fierce stare as she said coldly,

"Kneel!"

At these words, Gu Mo, who had been curled up on the bed resting with his eyes closed, felt his soul tighten and his stalwart frame shudder. He opened his eyes and scrambled out of bed as swiftly as a soldier in morning drill.

Thud—

Clad in nothing but a pair of Psyduck boxer shorts, Gu Mo dropped obediently to his knees on the floor in the blink of an eye. He certainly did not want the King of Hell pinching his neck again!

For a moment, the atmosphere inside the room seemed frozen, so quiet that one could hear the sounds of breathing and heartbeats.

No matter how arrogant Gu Mo was in front of others, he was just as humble once the bedroom door was closed!

Were all married men really this cowardly?

Every clever woman would leave her husband with plenty of face.

If there were conflicts, they could be discussed at home behind closed doors, right?

It seemed Gu Mo’s household discipline was truly strict!

Hahaha...

Kneeling on the floor, Gu Mo had a sudden shift in thought, raised his eyes, and asked softly,

"Wife~ what happened?"

Hearing this, the silly King of Hell flicked a hand, and the stool beside the bed floated directly in front of her. Then, she sat down lightly upon it, crossing her legs with a majestic and imposing air.

In an instant, the bearing of a monarch was displayed in full!

Through the eye-catching slit of her Xiufen dress, her pure white, flawless thighs were naturally revealed.

Flesh flickered in and out of view, maximizing the extreme temptation instantly!

Seeing this, Gu Mo’s blood boiled and his heart skipped a beat!

Yet the next second, Gu Mo blushed and fixed his gaze on the concrete floor, while a chilling voice echoed in his ears.

"Is the husband planning to give up his cultivation?"

Hearing this, Gu Mo lowered his head deeply and whispered with a grievance-laden tone,

"I've been too busy recently and wanted to give myself a holiday, to rest for a day."

As soon as he said this, King of Hell Jiang Jingxue let out a cold snort, though she felt immensely smug inside.

*Finally, I've found an excuse to beat you up!*

In a flash, the silly King of Hell raised her delicate little fist and delivered a resounding flick to Gu Mo's forehead!

Despite the dull thud, Gu Mo felt not the slightest bit of pain.

Seeing that Gu Mo remained unfazed, acting as though it neither hurt nor tickled him, the wicked fire in the silly King of Hell's heart burned even more fiercely.

"You... you... you don't even have a reaction? Do you look down on me?"

Amidst her stammering interrogation, Gu Mo reached up to rub his head in utter bewilderment, only to look down and spot the dense, shocking array of wounds covering his legs.

"Damn it, these wounds haven't healed at all!"

In fact, while washing up earlier, Gu Mo had already been scared into a cold sweat by these wounds. Had he delayed a moment longer, those red-headed centipedes would have eaten him down to the bones!

Yet, paralyzed by exhaustion and feeling not an ounce of pain at the time, Gu Mo had simply not given the injuries a second thought.

After all, for several consecutive days, he had not enjoyed a single good night's sleep. He simply lacked the spare energy to apply medicine and bandage them!

Besides, being a man—if it didn't hurt, why bother with a few scratches?

If he were to cry and howl over a grazed layer of skin, wouldn't that make him a sissy?

...

Now, under the bright lights and upon closer inspection, Gu Mo's legs were covered in wounds of varying sizes. Fresh blood was oozing from every laceration, making them look like a sugarcane chewed up at random.

They even gave the eerie impression of a sandy beach pitted by ten thousand raindrops!

When Gu Mo saw these injuries again, his whole mind went completely blank and petrified.

"Damn it~ why didn't I feel much pain?"

Having muttered this much, Gu Mo began to guess with rising curiosity.

"Could it be the handiwork of those red-headed centipedes? Am I poisoned?"

Just as he said this, the sound of a gurgling rumble echoed out.

Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost, having also rested for a moment, poked its adorably foolish head out from the bedding.

Seeing this, both Gu Mo and the silly King of Hell turned their heads in curiosity.

No sooner had the pitch-black little creature appeared than it let out a heavy yawn, stuck out its long tongue glistening with crystal-clear saliva, and flashed the Arabic numeral "3."

Clearly, the gluttonous ghost had overheard Gu Mo's questions earlier.

Seeing that this damned fur ball was trying to shake him down yet again, Gu Mo let out a disdainful scoff.

"Maoqiu, taking advantage of someone's vulnerability is wrong. You're just a pet, you know! How can the master and servant be inverted?"

With that, Gu Mo paused and asked skeptically, "Even if you're going to extort me, you at least need to give a reason!"

Hearing this, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost let out a few gurgling noises, as if in protest.

A second later, however, the gluttonous ghost wiggled its round body, opened its mouth, and pressed it against Gu Mo's wounds. A massive amount of anesthetic toxin was sucked clean away by Maoqiu in one go!

Instantly, Gu Mo felt like a ripened persimmon, sensing the blood within his veins flowing at an accelerated pace.

Then, with a single gurgle, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost stared at Gu Mo with eyes resembling a starry river.

Its restless tongue began to count down in Arabic numerals.

5...4...3...2...

His mind entirely blank, Gu Mo furrowed his brows tightly, completely unable to grasp what the little creature was trying to convey.

Even if Maoqiu wanted to demand a snack as a bribe, it wouldn't count backward, would it?

Could these numbers be a countdown?

As Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost straightened its tongue and flashed the Arabic numeral "1"—

In the flash of an eye, a pain akin to ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart struck Gu Mo's shocking wounds directly. The agony was simply unbearable, penetrating straight to his marrow.

It was not merely his flesh and skin; even his nerves and soul were shaken!

In the span of a blink, Gu Mo's entire body trembled violently, veins bulging on his forehead, not to mention the beads of sweat the size of soybeans erupting like spring bamboo shoots!

Under the soul-piercing agony, Gu Mo could only clench his fists with a reddened face and grit his back teeth to endure it through sheer willpower!

Hearing a gurgling sound, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost proved remarkably thoughtful, rolling a village-white cotton cloth out from its mouth and stuffing it firmly between Gu Mo's teeth.

Crunch, crunch, crunch~

Enduring the excruciating pain and breaking out in a cold sweat, Gu Mo clamped down on the white cotton cloth so hard he nearly bit clean through it!

Seeing this, the silly King of Hell flicked her wrist, injecting a portion of bone-chilling ghost qi directly into Gu Mo's body.

Blessed by this freezing power, Gu Mo finally managed to barely resist the agony.

To think that old bastard Xia Haitang could be so insidious and vicious.

If Xiao Yulou hadn't thrown over that pair of water-stained cloth shoes and played the fool, Gu Mo would certainly have died a more miserable death than a ghost!

Yet, things having reached this point, complaining was entirely futile.

If he didn't endure this suffering, what else could he do?

There was no medicine for regret sold in this world! Time could not flow backward!

The only reason Gu Mo hadn't been completely poisoned to death by the red-headed centipedes was thanks to his strange, unusual constitution. After all, this fellow had been bitten by zombies twice.

If he could survive incomparably chilling corpse poison, the venom of mere snakes and insects was basically nothing to worry about!

Instantly, Gu Mo's mind began racing with all sorts of bizarre thoughts to distract his attention.

*Mild spicy, clear broth, mandarin duck hotpot; chopped scallions, coriander, sesame paste;*

*Vermicelli, wide noodles, little fried dough sticks; bean curd skin, gluten, fish tofu;*

*Fat mutton, tripe, fresh beef tripe; garland chrysanthemum, lotus root slices, lettuce leaves;*

*Damn it, why am I getting hungry!*

...

After an unknown length of time, Gu Mo, completely drained and panting like an ox, was nearly carried away by the soul-piercing agony!

A massive puddle of sweat had pooled beneath him. If the bath towel spirit were here right now, Gu Mo wouldn't even need a sauna!

With a complexion as pale as wax, Gu Mo finally relaxed his jaw, and the white cotton cloth, nearly bitten through, dropped to the floor.

Seeing that Gu Mo had pulled through, the silly King of Hell asked with genuine concern,

"Husband, how do you feel?"

Drenched in sweat, Gu Mo squeezed out a bitter, ugly smile and said,

"That was really damn invigorating!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Gu Mo reached out with a trembling hand and unfolded the sweat- and saliva-soaked piece of white cotton cloth.

The thin quadrilateral shape and the trademark label on it left Gu Mo utterly bewildered.

A hysterical, blistering curse immediately escaped his lips.

"Maoqiu, damn your grandpa! You actually stuffed a pair of underwear into my mouth!"

Hearing this, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost let out a couple of uncomprehending squeaks. The gurgling sounds seemed to carry a hint of petty revenge.

Fortunately, though, this pair of underwear was clean!

After all, Gu Mo and Xiao Yulou had more than once stuffed various strange items into the gluttonous ghost's mouth.

Divine artifacts of the Underworld~ spare clothes and props~ massive chunks of corpses or garbage~

In short, a dazzling array, too numerous to count.

Then again, Maoqiu the gluttonous ghost didn't seem to care about such things anyway. Within the alternate space inside its maw, there were already several towering mountains of garbage. Naturally, that bloody lake and the corpses of various monsters also emanated a ghostly aura!

After cursing for a while, Gu Mo was helped back onto the bed by the silly King of Hell.

After drinking a few sips of hot water and wiping his body down with a towel, Gu Mo's complexion finally recovered somewhat.

Watching the silly King of Hell bustle about busily, Gu Mo felt a pang of guilt. Yet he had a nagging sensation that he had forgotten something important.

Amidst his brief train of thought, two crucial matters floated to the surface of his mind. An urgent query immediately left his lips.

"Wife~ Wife, stop for a second!"

Hearing this, Jiang Jingxue looked at Gu Mo very obediently and asked,

"Why is my husband so panicked?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Mo swallowed hard before asking softly,

"Wife, that tattered piece of rag Brother Xiao and I brought back from the Well of Gods and Demons—what is it used for? That bizarre rag was even stored inside an even more bizarre wooden box!"

Hearing this, Jiang Jingxue was equally baffled.

Suddenly, with a thud!

The obedient gluttonous ghost widened its maw and spat out that bizarre wooden box.

No matter what, Gu Mo found himself completely baffled at times.

What on earth was Maoqiu's bodily structure?

Inside that cavernous maw, one could only see a vast alternate space; there was not a trace of stomach or intestines responsible for digesting food.

Furthermore, how on earth did Maoqiu manage to retrieve these items with its tongue so precisely?

A multitude of questions surged forth like a tsunami.

When Jiang Jingxue saw the bizarre wooden box, she was equally perplexed.

As the box was opened, that unassuming tattered rag appeared before the three of them.

Upon laying eyes on the rag, the silly King of Hell drew in a sharp breath of air and gasped in shock,

"Could this... could this be the next Underworld divine artifact—the Crimson Flame Heavenly Silk?"

...

(End of Chapter)

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