"I have a question," Qiu Yunru announced, clearing his throat. "Why didn't you recognize me before my name?"
The demon crossed his arms, disgruntled at this interruption. "Recognize you? How am I supposed to recognize you when your face is covered in blood like that? Bah! If you washed up, maybe it'd be a little easier. And here I thought humans bathed more than demons!"
This made sense. Indeed, Qiu Yunru's face and neck had gotten splattered with blood over and over again on that cliff in Heixi Gorge. Much of it was Yan Wenqing's, and some of it was Li Chenyuan's. He swallowed down a lump in his throat. Better not to think about that right now. He couldn't afford to feel sick.
In the end, this was valuable information. As long as his face was obscured and he used a different name, no one in the Demon Realm should recognize him. With almost negative two thousand points, this was most definitely his best chance at survival.
Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit sick at this predicament anyways. Did the game really have to dock him so many points just because he wanted to save his own life?! Sure, he would have died otherwise, but cut a dying kid some slack!
"You're coming with me!" Impatiently, the demon grabbed Qiu Yunru's arm and yanked him up. Or, he attempted to yank him up.
At that moment, Qiu Yunru went limp, like a ragdoll. His arm slipped out of the demon's grip like a noodle, and the demon blinked. "Hey! Why are you so hard to carry all of a sudden?"
Qiu Yunru lay like a limp fish in the dirt. This was, after all, the best technique to avoid being dragged away: make yourself like a wet noodle, hard to carry and harder to hold onto!
The next time the irritated demon reached out towards him, Qiu Yunru spoke up:
"Sir, what's your name?"
The demon paused in the middle of trying to haul Qiu Yunru over his shoulder unsuccessfully. He growled. Why did this human keep talking? The more he talked, the longer this would take! Insufferable! Of course, he didn't at all consider that he could ignore this kid and not humor him. He glared down at Qiu Yunru. "My name? It's Mo."
"Just Mo?" Qiu Yunru asked. "No surname? Or is that your surname?"
"We don't get surnames," Mo grumbled. "It's just Mo. Will you shut up--!"
At that moment, Qiu Yunru stuffed something into his mouth.
What he had stuffed inside was a small, white mushroom, soft like marshmallow and pure as snow.
Mo the Demon's mouth was full of fangs, so naturally that mushroom was crushed immediately when he closed his mouth in surprise. The crushed bits mixed with his acidic saliva, and that mushroom was quickly dissolved into a paste that slid easily down his throat.
Mo dropped Qiu Yunru at once, clutching at his throat. His eyes bulged. What the hell had this human fed him?!
Qiu Yunru crawled backwards, feeling half-dead. He'd been dropped on his bad arm again. He didn't bother to look back; not because he didn't care about what was happening to that demon, but because he couldn't bring himself to.
The nature of Snowcap Mushrooms was simple enough. If a demon consumed so much as one-fourth of one, they'd be ill for the rest of their life. If they ate a full mushroom...
Well, their body would burn away from the mushroom's acid inside and out until nothing was left!
Leaving the screeching Mo behind him, Qiu Yunru dragged himself to the base of another Spiral Root Tree and collapsed there. With shaking hands, he reached out and tried to pull one more Snowcap Mushroom out of the dirt. However, his hands were too weak; he could only grab at it shakily.
You see, there was an important alchemical property that all cultivator alchemists knew well:
Anything that was poisonous to humans, was healing to demons. Likewise, anything that was deadly to demons, might save the life of a dying human!
Snowcaps were incredibly rare. They were never found in the Mortal Realm, and could only be found in sparse Spiral Root Tree forests in the Demon Realm, where humans rarely ever went. Thus, this life-saving material was almost never used in the alchemy of Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits. However, now that he was here...he just...needed to eat a little bit of it...
Desperate, Qiu Yunru pulled himself forward and bit the mushroom off the ground. He had to admit, he was a little embarrassed. He must look foolish. But foolishness was a small price to pay for life!
With a heavy jaw, he chewed and chewed, nearly choking on the soft flesh of the mushroom. It was cool and fluffy, with almost no taste at all. With effort, he swallowed.
Then, he collapsed as neatly as he possibly could at the base of the tree, folding his trembling hands over his stomach. If this didn't work, this would surely be where he died. He might at least try to look a little presentable if there was a chance he was going to rot here forever!
A sudden, blinding blue light filled his eyes.
Rare Item Ingested: Snowcap Mushroom x1! Near Death Status removed. +2,589 HP! Please continue to work hard.
Qiu Yunru sighed, unable to tell whether it was a sigh of relief or one of annoyance.
It seemed he was going to live after all. As for what he should do now...
Qiu Yunru turned over on the ground and rubbed his temples. What should he do now?!