"How did Goudan's mother die?" Chu Feng asked.
"In order to hand over enough poison to the Poison Clan, Goudan's mother had been cultivating poison even while she was pregnant with Goudan. The toxic energy must have seeped into her body, and she succumbed to the poison when giving birth to Goudan."
"Come to think of it, Goudan's ugliness may well be related to that as well. Sigh…" When the topic came up, Goudan's father grew melancholy. Clearly, the death of Goudan's mother was a wound he had never been able to forget.
"Does this sort of thing happen often in the village?" Chu Feng asked.
"It does. The people of the village deal with poisonous creatures all year round. Even though they are martial cultivators, their bodies are still frail. More than just Goudan's mother have died during childbirth."
"That said, no one else died quite as miserably as Goudan's mother did," Goudan's father added.
"Miserably? What do you mean?" Chu Feng asked.
"The toxic energy had corroded her entire body by the time she birthed Goudan. Even her corpse couldn't be preserved." As he reached this point, Goudan's father wore a bitter smile, but the rims of his eyes had already turned red.
Meanwhile, Chu Feng's heart grew heavier still. After this line of questioning, every sign pointed to Goudan's mother's death being a special case.
And that greatly increased the likelihood that Goudan was the very creature of gu poison transformed into human form.
"Goudan's father, if I were able to take Goudan away from here and bring him to the Martial God Continent, would you be willing to let me take him?"
"A divine being? Truly? You could take Goudan to the Martial God Continent?"
"If you can truly take Goudan to the Martial God Continent to broaden his horizons, I would be eternally grateful. There is nothing I can do to repay you in this lifetime, but I would willingly be your ox or horse in the next."
"Divine being, I kowtow to you in gratitude for your great kindness!" Upon hearing these words, Goudan's father was overcome with joy, crying with such emotion that he was about to drop to his knees before Chu Feng.
"Goudan's father, there is no need for this. Nothing has been decided yet, but if I am able to take Goudan out of here, I will certainly do so." Chu Feng helped Goudan's father back to his feet.
Yet his feelings were rather complicated. The reason Chu Feng wanted to take Goudan away was not solely for the boy's future.
In truth, a larger part of it was that Chu Feng suspected Goudan was very likely the gu poison creature itself. Taking Goudan away from here would make things safer for both the villagers and the Poison Clan.
However, Chu Feng could not be certain whether he would actually be able to take Goudan with him. Success did not depend on Chu Feng alone — it depended on the secret technique that Du Xiangyu had spoken of.
"Chu Feng." Suddenly, a voice rang out. Chu Feng looked toward its source and saw Du Wanwu standing in the sky, gazing down at him with a cold expression. "Lady Xiangyu is calling you."
"Understood." Chu Feng knew that a day had already passed, and surely Du Xiangyu had prepared the materials needed for the secret technique.
Sure enough, when Chu Feng returned to the palace of the Poison Clan, Du Xiangyu had everything ready.
"Young friend Chu Feng, this is the secret technique I mentioned. Take a careful look at it. With your mastery of barrier formation, setting it up should not be difficult. If you run into trouble, I can assist you."
As she spoke, Du Xiangyu produced a scroll along with a number of materials and poisons. The scroll recorded in detail the method for employing the secret technique.
To put it simply, this secret technique was essentially a barrier formation, combined with specially prepared materials and the art of utilizing poison — a composite formation.
However, when activated, it could indeed grant Du Wanwu the same hundred-poison-immune body that Chu Feng possessed in a short period of time. It was a remarkably profound technique — at the very least, Chu Feng had never encountered such a method before.
Of course, the reason this secret technique could achieve such an effect was in large part due to the specially concocted poisons and materials unique to the Poison Clan.