"Damn it!" Chen Jiazhang stood up. "Could it be the Lian Clan? They left the Crimson Armor Gu inside me back then. I thought it was dead all these years ago! Quick, wake Chen Yu up! We have to get out of here! If we can't escape, we'll have to fight!"
Zard said, "But he's sleeping soundly."
"What time is it and you're still sleeping!" Chen Jiazhang walked over and shook Huanyu awake: "Wake up, don't sleep."
At this moment, Huan Yu opened his eyes and looked at Zard with surprise: "Brother Zard, how many days have passed?"
Chen Jiazhang: "?"
He sensed that something was wrong.
Zard counted on his fingers for a while, then said seriously, "Several days... Oh right, this is a letter from your brother."
He took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Xiaoyu. Chen Jiazhang was startled: "What's wrong with this child?"
Zard explained, "They have two souls inside them. Just think of them as having schizophrenia. Each personality will appear alternately. The one you know is Da Yu, and the one you see now is Xiao Yu."
Then, Zard patiently instructed Xiaoyu, "Xiaoyu, this is an old man."
Chen Jiazhang: "?"
Xiaoyu was confused: "What?"
Zard explained, "Your brother specifically told you to call him 'old geezer,' otherwise he'll be unhappy."
Chen Jiazhang said irritably, "Why did you specifically tell me this?! Is there even one normal person among you? And stop chatting at a time like this, don't you have any sense of crisis?"
But by the time he said that, it was too late.
But then they saw seven golden corpses blocking seven directions in the woods, forming a Big Dipper formation that firmly locked Chen Jiazhang and his two companions inside.
Chen Jiazhang jumped up and down in anger: "I told you we shouldn't have gone to the wilderness settlement, but you insisted on going!"
At this moment, a woman in her late twenties emerged from the woods, accompanied by more than a dozen Lian women.
They wore navy blue dresses and were adorned with gold and silver jewelry.
The woman calmly looked at Chen Jiazhang: "Chen Jiazhang, right? If it weren't for the Crimson Armor Gu, I almost wouldn't have recognized who you are."
Chen Jiazhang asked in confusion, "You are...?"
The woman sneered, "My name is Lianxin. Do you remember who I am now? I was only 5 years old when you abandoned my mother and me."
Zard and Xiaoyu were both stunned.
They initially thought it was a story of enemies chasing after a man, but it turned out to be a tale of a heartless man being punished by his daughter. This twist was too sudden!
Zard looked at Chen Jiazhang: "You're clearly in the wrong. We're not helping you."
Chen Jiazhang retorted irritably, "What do you know!"
Lianxin calmly asked, "Why do you want to leave us?"
Facing his daughter, Chen Jiazhang's tone softened: "I am a knight, destined to roam the world. Your mother insisted that I eat some kind of Red Heart Gu and stay in your village. How could that be possible? I tried to persuade her to fly away with me, but she refused."
"Since you don't want to stay in the village, why do you still want to be friends with my mother?" Lianxin asked.
Chen Jiazhang said speechlessly, "How can you blame me? When I traveled to your village, you were having a bonfire party. I was dragged into drinking a lot of strong liquor without even realizing it, and then your mother carried me home..."
Zard exclaimed in surprise, "Did Qidian tell me to say this?!"
Chen Jiazhang glared at him: "Get out of here."
Among the Lian people, bonfire parties are held every now and then, where they sing, dance, and drink.
Both men and women can find their lovers at the party; the lover will be called A-zhu, and the woman will be called A-xia.
Lian women each have their own separate homes, while the men live together.
If a man isn't chosen, he'll have to return alone to his place and practice his dancing and singing skills diligently...
That night, Chen Jiazhang was the one chosen, but the key point is that when he entered the village, he didn't know that the custom there was like this. He was drunk and unconsciously carried into the house.
Fortunately, Lianxin's mother hadn't yet cultivated the Crimson Heart Gu at that time, otherwise she would have fed it to her that very night.
Lianxin said, "Isn't life in the village good? My mother is so good to you. You like to drink, so she brews wine for you. You said you like her to wear white, so she sewed white clothes for herself. She has done so much for you, just wanting you to stay with her in Xiuzhuzhou. Is she wrong?"
Chen Jiazhang said bitterly, "But I can't stay there forever."
Lianxin said, "As long as you consume the Crimson Heart Gu, you can become the head of the village and even cultivate corpses."
The Lian Clan's golden corpses are divided into three categories: gold, silver, and bronze. Bronze corpses are equivalent to C-level gene warriors, silver corpses are equivalent to B-level gene warriors, and golden corpses have A-level combat power.
In the Lian tribe, men's status is at two extremes.
Before a man consumes the Crimson Heart Gu, he will change his mind and betray his partner, so men who haven't consumed the Crimson Heart Gu have a very low status in the village.
However, once a man has consumed the Crimson Heart Gu, he can gain the same status as a woman if he is unable to betray her. He can also practice corpse cultivation like a woman and master the Lian Clan's cultivation tradition.
Chen Jiazhang sighed, "I don't care whether I can master the Lian Clan's heritage or not. Knights need freedom."
"Don't you have any feelings for my mother?" Lianxin asked.
Chen Jiazhang said, "There are feelings involved, but she didn't explain it clearly to me back then! Besides, after I consumed the Crimson Heart Gu, I was destined to live and die with your mother. Her lifespan is about 120 years, and mine is 251 years. I can't live and die with her..."
Among the Lian tribe women, one said to Lianxin, "Chieftain, don't talk to him so much. After he left, the old chieftain cried every day, and it took him a few years to slowly get over his grief. Let's capture him and take him back. Also... that fair-skinned young man next to him is quite nice."
Zard pulled Xiaoyu behind him and exclaimed, "No, no, Xiaoyu is still a six-year-old child!"
Lianxin looked at Xiaoyu with a puzzled expression: "Is this six years old? Your six-year-old looks like this?!"
“This is a bit complicated to explain,” Zard said. “He was 27 years old yesterday, and today he’s 6. But it doesn’t matter. In seven or eight days, he’ll be 27 again, and then you can feed him the Crimson Heart Gu.”
Lianxin: "???"
What kind of nonsense is this!
Zard's words must have confused the Lian tribe members. Lianxin, the tribe leader, thought that the young man in front of her was just playing with them.
At this moment, Zard asked, "You guys keep talking about the Crimson Heart Gu, it sounds really scary. What does the Crimson Heart Gu actually look like?"
Lianxin thought for a moment, then took out a small box made of chicken-wing wood from her bosom. When she opened it, she saw a tiny red ladybug sleeping peacefully inside: "This is my clan's Crimson Heart Gu... Eh?"
Lianxin only felt a blur before her eyes, and Zard rushed over, snatched the box, and ran away with a chuckle.
Everyone present was stunned.
No one expected that this guy would actually snatch up the Crimson Heart Gu, which no one else wanted to eat.
The seven golden corpses moved simultaneously, forming a seven-star formation in the forest, trapping Zard inside.
Not only the Golden Corpse, but even Chen Jiazhang got anxious this time and actually joined forces with the Lian Clan to capture Zard, who was running all over the forest!
However, this guy was too agile. He turned left and right and circled around several times, and no one could catch him.
Seeing Zard running while pinching out the Crimson Heart Gu and stuffing it into his mouth, everyone panicked and rushed to tackle him to the ground.
Chen Jiazhang sat on Zard and pried open his mouth, saying, "Open your mouth, spit it out!"
Zard opened his mouth and said cheerfully, "I swallowed it!"
Lianxin, standing not far away, was dumbfounded...
That was the Crimson Heart Gu she had nurtured with her own blood and sweat!
Chapter 773, The New Patriarch, Zard
Chen Jiazhang stared at Zard on the ground, his face beaming with smug satisfaction, and began to tremble with rage: "You better spit it out!"
Although he fled Xiuzhou, Lianxin was still his real daughter.
He also spent five years with Lianxin, watching her grow from a tiny little girl into a lovely five-year-old.
The scene of the other person calling him "Dad" and snuggling into his arms is still vivid in my mind.
As a result, my precious daughter has now had her Red Heart Gu stolen by a lunatic.
Enraged, the old knight actually reached out and tried to shove Zard's throat. Zard yelled, "What are you doing... Ugh!"
Xiaoyu was terrified. He pulled Chen Jiazhang aside and said, "Don't bully Brother Zard!"
The Lian Clan has always had a bad reputation. Their unique skills of corpse driving and using Gu poison seem like evil and heretical practices, and people avoid the Lian Clan's Red Heart Gu poison like the plague.
But now, someone actually didn't avoid it and took the initiative to snatch the Crimson Heart Gu and eat it.
Lianxin stood there, stunned, and said, "There's no need to hit him anymore, it's too late..."
Once the Crimson Heart Gu is ingested, it will transform into a ball of energy and be forever bound to the host's life, with no chance of recovery. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to remove it by trying to force it out through the throat...
She felt a strange emotion rising in her heart.
Nine days later, the Crimson Heart Gu will completely merge with Zard, and at that time...
In recent years, it has been common for the Lian people to abduct outstanding men to be their wives, but they never expected that after hunting geese all day long, they would end up having their eyes pecked out by the geese...
No, this isn't just pecking at the eyes, it's stabbing the heart!
Most importantly, within the Lian tribe, once a man has consumed the Crimson Heart Gu, he becomes equal in status to a woman.
If the clan leader's man eats the Crimson Heart Gu, then he becomes the deputy clan leader.
This rule used to be universal, and it didn't matter who came.
But now everyone is a bit confused: can the man who stole the Crimson Heart Gu and ate it be included in this rule?
Chen Jiazhang stood up and looked at Lianxin: "Xiaobao, are you alright?"
Xiao Bao is Lian Xin's nickname.
"You're not allowed to call me Xiaobao!" Lianxin retorted coldly, her brows furrowed. "I don't have a father like you who abandoned his wife and daughter. You can't call me Xiaobao!"
At this moment, a female member of the Lian clan asked in a low voice, "Clan leader, why don't we kill that fool now? The Crimson Heart Gu hasn't fully fused with him yet. Even if we kill him, at most it will severely injure you, not cause you to die together."
Zard was being beaten to the ground by Chen Jiazhang, but he didn't cry out in pain. He just smiled foolishly at Lianxin from time to time: "My name is Zard, my real name is Zheng Xiang. You are very beautiful."
Lianxin looked at Zard's sincere expression, but suddenly her face turned cold: "You scoundrel, take him away! Back to Xiuzhuzhou, let Mother decide how to deal with them!"
Now, Chen Jiazhang was a little flustered. He had a romantic debt to repay, and it was one thing to feel sorry for his daughter, but being taken back to pay off that debt was another matter entirely.
Lianxin continued coldly, "Back then, you lied to me and my mother, saying you were going to the forest to catch rabbits for me. Twenty-three years have passed since then. When we get back to the village, let's see how you explain this to my mother."
Chen Jiazhang was heartbroken: "Daughter, don't worry about what's going on between your mother and me."
"no!"