“Why don’t we forget our bet? It was just a joke to begin with,” Li Xuan said to Worm Dugu.
“What joke? I, Worm Dugu, am a man of my word. If I can’t capture the Ice Silkworm Gu King for you, I’ll be your disciple,” Worm Dugu said angrily.
Li Xuan said with a smile, “I’ve seen your abilities. If there was only one Ice Silkworm Gu King, you would definitely be able to capture it. But now, there are two. This is unexpected. Just count ourselves even. No one is losing to anyone. Isn’t that fair?”
“No, a man’s word is worth its weight in gold. If I can’t capture the Ice Silkworm Worm, I’ll acknowledge you as my master. I won’t go back on my word.” With that said, Worm Dugu turned to Zhou Wen and said, “If Li Xuan is my master, Zhou Wen, you will be my uncle-master. It’s not too much for an uncle-master to teach me some skills, right?”
Zhou Wen looked at Worm Dugu with his mouth agape. He found it unbelievable that this fellow was from the Dugu family—one of the six hero families. He was too shameless.
“Nice, was this your plan from the beginning?” Li Xuan was taken aback when he heard that. Only then did he realize that he had been fooled.
Worm Dugu chuckled and said, “My motto as a human is to be pragmatic. So what if I acknowledge you as my master? You still need me to teach you how to rear Gu. On the surface, you are my master, but in reality, I’m still your master. It’s just a title. It doesn’t matter. If Zhou Wen can teach me how to rear a phoenix, don’t mention me calling him uncle-master, I can even call him grandmaster.”
Zhou Wen and Li Xuan were dumbfounded. This was the first time they had seen someone like Worm Dugu. It was an eye-opener.
“I really don’t know how to rear a phoenix. This silly bird insisted on following me. I usually don’t care about it. It eats whatever it gets. I can’t teach you,” Zhou Wen said.
Worm Dugu immediately shook his head and said, “No, no. I’ve long read about the phoenix’s habits and eating habits in ancient books. If I had a phoenix divine bird, I would know how to feed it myself. You don’t have to teach me.”
“Then what can you learn from me? Don’t tell me you want me to help you find another phoenix? I don’t have that ability,” Zhou Wen said, puzzled.
“I know how to feed one, but I don’t have a phoenix. I just want to learn from you. How can I make a phoenix be willing to follow me?” Worm Dugu said.
“I already said that this silly bird is naturally willing to follow me. There aren’t any tricks involved. Perhaps it’s because of my relatively good character,” Zhou Wen said.
“Old Zhou is right. Back when the three of us encountered the chick, only Old Zhou was chosen,” Li Xuan added.
“Everything in this world follows cause and effect. It’s impossible for there to be no cause. If there’s no cause, it means that you haven’t discovered the cause. It might be because the Essence Energy Art you cultivate is rather special, or it might be because you have a hidden special physique. It might also be because something on you attracted it. In short, there must be a reason. That’s the reason I need to know.”
Worm Dugu wasn’t serious for long before he said to Zhou Wen with a cheeky smile, “Anyway, it’s highly likely that I won’t be able to catch an Ice Silkworm this time. In the future, you will be my Uncle-Master Zhou. If you like teaching, teach. If you don’t like teaching, let me follow by your side while I self-study…”
Zhou Wen didn’t wish to speak to Worm Dugu again. He turned to Li Xuan and said, “I’ll help you capture the Ice Silkworm Gu King tomorrow. However, after capturing it, lend it to me for two days.”
“Lend? How?” Worm Dugu curled his lips and said, “Gu can’t be transferred once it recognizes its owner. How can you return it after borrowing it?”
“I don’t want the Ice Silkworm Gu King to recognize me as its master. I just need to borrow it to do something. I’ll return it to you when I’m done,” Zhou Wen said.
“No problem at all. You can even take it, much less borrow it,” Li Xuan said with a smile.
Worm Dugu was a little displeased when he heard that. “If you want to use the phoenix to capture the Ice Silkworm Gu King, I advise you not to go. Although the phoenix is powerful, it’s only a baby. The Ice Silkworm Gu King won’t be afraid of it. If you aren’t careful, you might even kill the phoenix. That would be a huge loss.”
“We’ll see how to do it when we are there tomorrow.” Zhou Wen also knew that it wouldn’t be easy to capture the Ice Silkworm Gu King. However, the Xiao family was going to capture it tomorrow. This was the opportunity he wanted.
He wanted to snatch the Ice Silkworm Gu King from the Xiao family before using it to exchange for Gu Lady.
Offering an exchange of two Ice Silkworm Gu Kings for a Kuman Nee which might kill Xiao Tianfang, Xiao Tianfang would definitely do so as long as he wasn’t a fool.
After all, he had already planned on wiping out Gu Lady’s spiritual consciousness. When that happened, Kuman Nee’s ability would be greatly reduced. She would probably be inferior to an Ice Silkworm. With such a comparison, anyone would know what to choose.
“Alright, I’ll see how you capture the Ice Silkworm Gu King tomorrow. If you can capture it, I, Worm Dugu, will immediately acknowledge the two of you as master and uncle-master,” said Worm Dugu. Clearly, he wasn’t optimistic about Zhou Wen’s chances.
“Forget it. There’s no sense of accomplishment being your master,” Li Xuan said.
“You can’t say that. You might not feel a sense of accomplishment now, but if you were to travel in the South District and meet someone from the Dugu family and say that you are Worm Dugu’s master, how awesome would that be? You wouldn’t have a feeling of zero accomplishment,” Worm Dugu said with a smile.
Zhou Wen and Li Xuan looked at him in contempt. With his personality, it was unknown how many masters and uncle-masters he had acknowledged outside. It would be odd if the Dugu family was willing to take that into account.
The next day before dawn, Zhou Wen woke up Li Xuan and Worm Dugu and got them to lead him to the place where the Ice Silkworm Gu Kings were.
He had heard Xiao Tianfang and Xiao Liuqi’s conversation and knew that the Xiao family was going at this time. If he went late, the Xiao family might have already succeeded.
It wasn’t good to go early either. If they captured the Ice Silkworm Gu King before the Xiao family arrived, the Xiao family wouldn’t know that the Ice Silkworm Gu Kings were in Zhou Wen’s hands.
Although Worm Dugu was somewhat puzzled as to why Zhou Wen had to go so early, he still took the two of them to Yin Wind Ridge.
When they arrived, they realized that someone was already fighting the Ice Silkworm Gu Kings. The two people spearheading the attack were none other than Xiao Liuqi and Xiao Tianfang.
In front of Xiao Tianfang was an ice-blue silkworm the size of a football. Wherever it crawled, the ground was immediately covered in frost. It was obvious how low the temperature was.
It’s no wonder Worm Dugu said that the chick probably can’t restrain the Ice Silkworm. With such ice-elemental powers, the chick’s phoenix flames will definitely be much less effective against it, Zhou Wen thought.
Xiao Liuqi noticed Zhou Wen and company. When he saw Worm Dugu, his expression changed slightly. Clearly, he was afraid that Worm Dugu would snatch the Ice Silkworm Gu Kings.