Horse King was not unaware of Gu Qingfeng's mysterious power, nor was he ignorant of Gu Qingfeng's unfathomable depths.
He knew.
In the year or so he had followed Gu Qingfeng, he had witnessed many methods that seemed both incredible and incomprehensible to him.
Yet even so.
Witnessing Gu Qingfeng enlighten the minds of the nine Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers with a mere snap of his fingers still left him shocked beyond belief.
He had always heard that the minds of Spirit Beasts were usually gradually enlightened through taming and rearing, a process that required a very long time—perhaps a hundred years, a thousand years, even ten thousand years or more, depending on the Spirit Beast's bloodline.
Even with human intervention, it only served as a guiding role. As for enlightening a Spirit Beast's mind, while Horse King had heard of it, he had only heard of it in passing. Moreover, the enlightenment he had heard of was because those Spirit Beasts' minds were already mature, needing only a suitable opportunity to awaken.
He had never heard of anyone who could enlighten a Spirit Beast's mind in the blink of an eye.
What left Horse King even more dumbfounded was that Gu Qingfeng had not only enlightened the minds of the nine Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers, but had also bestowed upon them the tiger's courage befitting the king of beasts, granted them the tiger's majesty befitting the king of beasts, and finally, given them an extra dose of the kingly aura befitting the king of beasts!
Tiger's courage? Tiger's majesty?
Could such things even be bestowed?
If enlightening a Spirit Beast's mind was something he had at least heard of, then bestowing tiger's courage and majesty was utterly unheard of for Horse King.
He didn't know what kind of concept Gu Qingfeng's bestowed tiger's courage and majesty represented.
He only knew that when the nine Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers let out a roar, majestic and domineering, it shook his very soul, making it tremble violently, as if he had heard the true roar of the king of beasts, filling him with immense terror.
"Let's go!"
Gu Qingfeng snapped his fingers, and the nine Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers let out roars as they charged forward at full speed.
After running for about half an hour, Gu Qingfeng discovered two or three corpses in the marshland. These corpses were all torn apart, missing arms or legs, clearly shredded by the powerful force of a demonic beast. Even the Immortal Armor on their bodies and the Immortal Weapons and treasures in their hands were broken.
Moving further ahead, they found another corpse.
This one was relatively intact, not missing arms or legs, but the Immortal Armor and flying sword on the body were also broken, with blood trickling from the mouth.
Gu Qingfeng took a closer look. Well, well, this person, though on the brink of death, was still alive, only their Immortal Energy was depleted, having fallen into a coma.
To be honest.
Gu Qingfeng was no saintly believer, nor did he have a habit of rescuing the dying and healing the wounded.
He never had since childhood.
Of course.
Occasionally, on a whim or when in a good mood, he was willing to play the role of a benevolent soul who rescued the dying.
Jumping down from the grand carriage, he walked over and turned the person over—it was actually a woman.
"Heavens!
This...
Isn't this..." Looking at this woman who had fallen unconscious due to depleted Immortal Energy, Horse King was utterly shocked, exclaiming, "Isn't this the Purple-Green Immortal from Yunhua Cave?"
"The Purple-Green Immortal from Yunhua Cave?"
Gu Qingfeng asked, "What, you know her?"
"The Purple-Green Immortal is quite famous in our Twin-Pole Heavenly Domain. I've seen her a few times, so I recognize her. She's an Immortal Being enfeoffed by the Nine Heavens, and she's a Seven-Yao Great Sun Golden Immortal! How could she be in such a sorry state? Could it be that..." Horse King had previously guessed that this place must be the territory of some powerful demonic beast.
Otherwise, the area of several hundred li around wouldn't be so deathly silent, devoid of anything.
Now, having encountered several torn corpses on the road, he was even more certain of this.
And now, running into the unconscious Purple-Green Immortal truly frightened him.
One must know, the Purple-Green Immortal was no ordinary Seven-Yao Great Sun Golden Immortal. Being enfeoffed as an Immortal Being by the Nine Heavens meant she had ascended to the Nine Heavens, drunk from the Immortal River, received the grace of light, possessed an exceptionally pure body and Immortal Energy. Not only was her strength formidable, but she also possessed a bloodline of light—a destiny that could be called uniquely endowed and peerless.
If even a Nine Heavens-enfeoffed Seven-Yao Great Sun Golden Immortal like the Purple-Green Immortal was no match for that demonic beast, Horse King truly couldn't imagine how terrifying that demonic beast must be.
Gu Qingfeng stood up, tilted his head back to take a swig of wine, and sprayed it onto the Purple-Green Immortal.
Almost instantly, the Purple-Green Immortal jolted awake, springing to her feet. She first observed her surroundings, and upon finding no danger, she then looked at Gu Qingfeng and Horse King opposite her, eyeing them cautiously as she asked in surprise and doubt, "Who are you?"
"Passersby!"
Gu Qingfeng replied with a smile while taking another drink.
"Passersby?"
The Purple-Green Immortal looked suspiciously at Horse King, then at Gu Qingfeng. She knew very well how dangerous the depths of this marshland were. Even a Five-Yao Unity Great Nature Golden Immortal entering here would likely face a brush with death. So how could these two be here now—one merely a One-Yao Great White Golden Immortal, and the other even more unbelievable, with not a trace of cultivation aura about him, not even an Immortal, not even a cultivator, just a mortal?
"This junior Ma Hou pays respects to the Purple-Green Immortal."
Perhaps sensing the Purple-Green Immortal's confusion, Horse King pointed at Gu Qingfeng and introduced, "This is the Great Lord. We are not bad people, truly just passing by. Seeing you unconscious, the Great Lord took action to save you."
Great Lord?
The Great Desolate had thousands upon thousands of Great Lords, but he had never heard of a mortal Great Lord.
The Purple-Green Immortal felt utterly baffled. Under normal circumstances, she might have had the mood to investigate what was going on, but now she had urgent matters to attend to. Weakly, she clasped her fists in gratitude, "Thank you both for saving me. Such great kindness need not be spoken; I will surely visit to express my thanks in the future. For now, I must bid farewell."
With that.
The Purple-Green Immortal prepared to circulate her Immortal Energy and fly away, but as soon as she tried to circulate it, she spat out a mouthful of blood with a "wah" sound and collapsed to the ground.
"Big sister, you're not only severely injured, but your Immortal Energy is also depleted. Forcing its circulation will only worsen your injuries."
"My senior sister...
she may be in mortal danger now. I must find her as soon as possible."
Ignoring her own injuries, the Purple-Green Immortal took out a white jade bottle, poured out all the Immortal Pills inside, and swallowed them.
Although Gu Qingfeng didn't see what kind of Immortal Pills these were, he guessed they were probably pills to replenish Immortal Energy and vitality. He knew very well that given the Purple-Green Immortal's current injuries, she needed to stabilize her condition first. At this moment, her Immortal Energy was particularly fragile; not only could she not circulate it, but even refining the Immortal Pills to replenish vitality was dangerous.
Sure enough.
When the Purple-Green Immortal tried to refine the Immortal Pills to replenish her vitality, she spat out another mouthful of blood with a "wah." This time, her injuries worsened. Originally severely wounded, she was now in critical condition, unable even to speak.
"It seems that senior sister of yours is no ordinary importance to you."
Gu Qingfeng motioned for Horse King to carry the Purple-Green Immortal onto the grand carriage, saying, "Let's go, we'll head further ahead and take a look. Might as well see if we can play the hero and save the beauty once more."