The little girl squatted in front of a collection of bottles and jars, her small hands grabbing a few bugs, grinding herbs, and mixing them into some kind of poison, which she then fed to the bugs. Afterward, during the Gu refining process, she found that her success rate had indeed increased substantially, and she became even more relentlessly devoted to her diligent research.
Shen Qiuyang had been there for quite some time, but the little girl was so intensely focused on her Gu Refinement that she hadn’t noticed his presence at all. It wasn’t until later, when Shen Qiuyang looked up toward the cave’s entrance, that he saw the sun shining brightly and realized it was already noon.
"This isn’t good, you need to eat on time no matter how busy you are, otherwise, it’s harmful to your body."
"Ah, you’re here? When did you come?"
Shen Qiuyang: "..." I’ve been here for half the day, but you were too busy with Gu Refinement to notice me.
Shen Qiuyang hoped the little girl would put down the bottles and jars for a while, but though she hummed in agreement, she immediately turned her head back and dove into the major task of Gu Refinement.
Shen Qiuyang was speechless. She sighed and eventually set up pots and pans outside the cave to make a pot of soup.
After making lunch, she returned to the cave to pull out the little girl, whose eyes were shining brightly. The girl seemed to have been starving since last night, not having consumed a drop of water nor gotten any sleep.
At that moment, the little girl was disheveled, looking like a madwoman, but the only thing about her that were lively were her large eyes, babbling as if they could talk.
"Just wait for me, Xiao Hua is about to evolve! If nothing unexpected happens this time, will she transform from a flower butterfly into a black butterfly?"
Shen Qiuyang curved her lips and, with great patience and an extremely gentle voice, said, "Do you believe that if you don’t eat and keep starving, I will make a pot of butterfly soup later? I’ve never eaten a butterfly in my life. What do you think, do butterflies taste good?"
Suddenly feeling timid, what should she do?
In the end, under Shen Qiuyang’s firm persuasion, she rapidly gulped down a bowl of soup and immediately rushed back into the cave.
Shen Qiuyang once again realized that when the little girl was obsessed with Gu Refinement, her concentration was incredibly intense, and that in such cases, no matter how much Shen Qiuyang argued, it was to no avail.
After dark, Shen Qiuyang sighed and returned to her little wooden hut on the mountain.
In the following month, the situation remained the same.
Every day, Shen Qiuyang, like a nagging mother, would go to Dong Huiying’s cave and cook meals for the little girl.
At first, she managed to briefly divert the little girl’s attention, forcing her to pause her grand task of Gu Refinement, but as time went on, the little girl became completely consumed. Whenever Shen Qiuyang approached, she waved her little hand dismissively as if swatting away an annoying fly.
Gradually, Shen Qiuyang grew wiser. After cooking, she took the spoon and chopsticks, holding the bowl, and began to feed the little girl bite by bite.
On this day, it was getting dark.
Shen Qiuyang saw that the little girl was squatting in a corner, engrossed in studying the Gu refining technique. She hadn’t bathed in over a month, and she reeked, but was oblivious to it herself. Shen Qiuyang could keep an eye on her during the day, but what about at night?
She would go an entire night hungry, and even if meals were prepared for her, she wouldn’t remember to eat. What’s worse, there were few times when she would even take a break to rest, and the dark circles under her eyes were deepening. Her small frame had grown much thinner lately.
Shen Qiuyang suddenly spoke up, "Come with me."
"Huh?" She responded dumbly, holding a plump white worm in her small hand.