Translator: DragonRider
Very soon, a thin transparent worm crawled out of Yuwen Tong’s wound. At the sight of the Gu worm, Ling Zhang immediately held his breath, not daring move an inch, allowing his cut to continue bleeding.
Xie Shi, however, raised his hand with the intention to stick a silver needle into the worm to kill it.
Ling Zhang grabbed Xie Shi’s arm with his other hand. “Wait. We can’t kill it yet.”
They couldn’t kill it yet? Why? Once again Xie Shi was astonished. He would be a terrible physician if he still hadn’t realized there was something out of the ordinary about this matter. “What are you trying to do, Your Highness?”
“I’ll explain later. Just do as I say, or else all our efforts will come to nought. Do not bandage my wound unless I tell you to,” said Ling Zhang.
Xie Shi didn’t dare do anything rash, but he was still somewhat anxious. Of course he was not worried about the possibility of Ling Zhang harming Yuwen Tong, because Ling Zhang was the last person who had a reason to do something like that. However, what did concern him was that Ling Zhang might risk harming himself. How was he supposed to justify himself to Yuwen Tong if something happened to Ling Zhang?
The thin transparent worm was crawling towards the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist so quickly as though it smelled something extremely tempting.
The sight of this made Xie Shi’s flesh creep. “You want it to burrow into your body? No, you must not do that! Sire would never agree!”
Looking at the worm with icy eyes, Ling Zhang said, “Calm down. I know what I’m doing. I never joke about my own life.”
Xie Shi found himself unable to watch it happen and do nothing. As the worm reached the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist, he raised his needle and was just about to stab it to death when Ling Zhang rapidly immobilized him by hitting a couple of acupoints of Xie Shi’s with his finger.
“Your Highness! You must not do this!”
“Shh!”
Ling Zhang gestured for him to keep quiet, watching the worm burrow its way into the cut in his wrist. What with the tingling, itching sensation of numbness in that instant, a thin layer of fine beads of sweat broke out over his back, but he still stayed quite motionless, because he knew that the Mother Worm was still in there, and in no circumstances should he let anything happen to the Child Worm. He must endure the pain and allow the Child Worm to go deeper into his body.
Xie Shi was so anxious his face was beaded with perspiration. However, he was unable to unblock the acupoints hit by Ling Zhang with his internal energy no matter how hard he tried. Right at the time when his anxiety began to blind him, he suddenly heard Ling Zhang say, “Here it is.”
Xie Shi was astonished. Only then did he notice that there was actually something else wriggling beneath Yuwen Tong’s skin around the cut in his chest. After a few moments, a bigger, also transparent worm came emerging from the wound. He was astounded to such an extent that he seemed to forget why he had been anxious all this time. “Wh–What’s going on?”
Ling Zhang unblocked Xie Shi’s acupoints and hissed, “Kill it. Hurry!”
No sooner had Xie Shi regained his ability to move than he impaled the Gu worm on his needle, put it into a porcelain bowl containing a highly corrosive substance and with that the worm instantly started writhing madly. Before long, its whole body was dissolved completely.
With a muffled groan, Ling Zhang’s face suddenly changed, droplets of sweat instantaneously welling up on his forehead. Presumably having sensed the death of the Mother Worm, the Child Worm which had wormed its way into his body began to gnaw his flesh frantically. The pain that had spread all over his body in a flash caught Ling Zhang flat-footed. It was an agony the likes of which he had never experienced before, and which felt as though someone were scratching his insides with a knife.
“Your Highness!” Xie Shi was taken aback.
Ling Zhang shook his head at Xie Shi, produced a pill and put it into his mouth. The pill melted as it went down his throat. Soon the pill took effect, its active ingredient beginning to permeate his whole body. The activity of the Gu worm mauling his insides seemed to be dampened, his pain deadened somewhat.
It was his grandfather who had given the pill to him. The pill was meant to help him make a breakthrough in his cultivation of internal energy. It could enhance the Force of Blood in him, making it easier for him to reach the seventh layer. He was not ready to make a breakthrough yet, but the pill served another purpose. The idea had come to him in a flash of inspiration and he had decided to give it a shot. It surprised him that it was really working. Not daring take any more risks, he hastened to sit cross-legged, preparing to circulate his Chi. Meanwhile, he said to Xie Shi, “Dress our cuts.”
It was only then that Xie Shi came to himself as though waking up from a dream. He quickly applied some styptic drug to that rather ghastly wound of Ling Zhang’s before scrupulously bandaging it, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly as if having something to say.
“I’ll answer your questions after I finish my Chi circulation,” said Ling Zhang.
Xie Shi pressed his lips together and inclined his head. After dressing Ling Zhang’s cut, he hastened to bandage Yuwen Tong’s.
“There’s no Gu worm in Sire’s body now, right?” said Xie Shi. It had come as a great surprise to him that there had been two worms inside Yuwen Tong’s body.
“No. There were two worms in total. They’re a kind of Mother-Child Dyadic Gu,” replied Ling Zhang, closing his eyes as Xie Shi finished bandaging the cut in Yuwen Tong’s chest.
Seeing this, Xie Shi didn’t dare ask any more questions. However, at the thought that there was still a Gu worm in Ling Zhang’s body, he wrinkled his brow in worry, at a loss what to do.
As Ling Zhang’s Chi started circulating, his pain gradually eased. He speculated that Mr. Mu probably didn’t know the Child Worm would react so violently to the death of the Mother Worm either, but no matter what, he could relax safe in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong’s body had now been rid of Gu worms.
Gradually, Ling Zhang entered a state of meditation.
Silence reigned over the main tent.
Meanwhile, in a room in Jifang City, the countenance of the old gray-robed man, who was sitting beside Chen Jing as his savior having a meeting about the plan for defending the city, abruptly changed. After a few moments, his face turned purple and with that he spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Master?!” Chen Jing was startled.
The old gray-robed man, after spitting out a mouthful of blood, seemed to be weakened so dramatically as though half of his life had been taken away from him, as though he had aged over ten years in the blink of an eye. It was such a frightening sight everybody in the room had a look of surprise and incredulity on his face, wondering what had just happened to him.
The old gray-robed man, after spitting out the remaining blood in his mouth, panted for a moment and then said in a resentful tone, “My Affection Gu died.”
The Affection Gu died? Everybody in the room was baffled as to what the old man meant, everybody except Chen Jing, the only one aware of the truth, whose face registered alarm at the words. “How did that happen? Didn’t you say that nobody knows how to get rid of that worm?”
The old gray-robed man flicked him a flinty glance and said, “Clearly there’s still someone who does. Now that the Gu worms have been eliminated from Yuwen Tong’s body, you’ll have to give up that plan of yours. Also, it surely has come to their knowledge that the death of my Gu worm has inflicted harm on me. I have to start closed-door cultivation to nurse my injury, and I won’t be able to offer you any help before a full recovery, but Your Lordship may rest assured I won’t let them get away with this. Sooner or later I’ll have them pay for their actions, previous ones and recent ones!”
Chen Jing had a somewhat sulky expression on his face, but he still had someone support the old gray-robed man back to his room to nurse his injury.
“Your Lordship, what did he mean by the Gu worms in Yuwen Tong’s body?” someone asked.
Chen Jing said through clenched teeth, “Previously I had that old man put some Gu worms into Yuwen Tong’s body, and I’ve been waiting for Yuwen Tong to make nooses for his own neck. I want Yuwen Tong to suffer greatly before he dies a miserable death, because that’s the only way I could have closure. Originally Yuwen Tong would surely die in a month, but it never crossed my mind he had at his service someone capable of extracting that kind of rare Gu worms!”
“What? So we missed such a good opportunity?”
After being informed of what had happened, everybody else in the room felt indignant, cursing that old man for not having used another kind of Gu which could take Yuwen Tong’s life sooner.
Chen Jing made no other remarks, but the look on his face was quite ugly. It was him who had decided that Yuwen Tong should die a torturous death, and that old man had agreed with him. Both of them wanted to see Yuwen Tong suffer, feeling it the only way to get their revenge. Of course, the most important reason was that it wasn’t easy for any of those deadly Gu worms to get close to Yuwen Tong. An Affection Gu worm, transparent and non-poisonous and light, could adhere to the target’s clothes without them noticing, and, when stimulated by the target’s body heat, it exuviated and transformed before burrowing its way into the target’s body. The process was more complicated than that of any other Gu worm, but it was very difficult to detect. Also, it was the only Gu worm that could escape Yuwen Tong’s notice. However, now none of it mattered any more. The worms had been eliminated from Yuwen Tong’s body. How were they supposed to stop Yuwen Tong? This feeling became particularly strong when Chen Jing realized that Yuwen Tong had now been provoked.
Would they really be able to hold Jifang City?
Chen Jing, who had fought Yuwen Tong so many times, was aware that the odds were heavily against him, which was why he began to feel regretful. Had he known beforehand things would come to this, he would definitely have chosen to use a Gu worm capable of killing Yuwen Tong on contact and have that relative of his, who had been from a lesser branch of the Chen family, try his best to approach Yuwen Tong to get the job done. However, none of these thoughts of Chen Jing’s would make any difference. It was already too late.
Besides, if he had done that, Yao Yi and other bodyguards, all of whom had been forewarned, would by no means have allowed the envoy any chances to get close to Yuwen Tong.
…
Ling Zhang kept circulating his Chi for nearly four hours before the Child Worm of the Affection Gu, presumably affected by the Force of Blood inside Ling Zhang, finally stopped moving.
He opened his eyes and saw that Xie Shi was still standing guard on the side. Then he twisted his head aside and found that Yuwen Tong was still lying in bed. He made a hasty attempt to rise with the intention to check Yuwen Tong’s wound but felt a sharp throbbing in the chest when he was halfway to his feet. He abruptly gasped, feeling as though he were stabbed. The pain was excrutiating and unexpected.
“Your Highness!” Xie Shi hurried over and helped him to his feet.
Ling Zhang’s face was somewhat pallid. It was a few moments before the throbbing in his chest subsided. It seemed that just now that intense mood swing of his had stimulated the worm, but the worm quieted down again after only a short while.
“It’s okay. The pain lasted only a brief moment.” Ling Zhang straightened himself and exhaled deeply.
Xie Shi also heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Ling Zhang relax, but with that he furrowed his brow and asked, “But how do we lure out the worm in your body?”
Ling Zhang said, “Mr. Mu will be here in a couple of days. He has a way to entice the worm from my body. I’m just using my blood to temporarily keeping the worm at bay. Don’t worry. This is a Child Worm. It’s not as vicious as the Mother Worm. It causes only occasional, momentary pain, which is nothing compared with what Sire suffered when the two worms were inside him.”
Xie Shi, fairly skeptical, felt Ling Zhang’s pulse. It was not until he checked that Ling Zhang’s pulse was steady and even that he believed Ling Zhang.
“How long has it been?”
“Four hours.”
Looking at Yuwen Tong lying in bed, Ling Zhang said, “He’ll wake up soon. Be careful not to let it slip.”
An awkward expression appeared on Xie Shi’s face. He would be violating his duty and disloyal if he concealed the truth from Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang said, “All you have to do is not to mention it on your own initiative. In a few days, Mr. Mu will arrive and eliminate the worm from my body, and then this matter will be settled. There’s no need to worry him. We’ll soon depart for Jifang City. Taking that city is of vital importance, and we can’t afford to let him be distracted by anything.”
Xie Shi gave an involuntary shudder as he met Ling Zhang’s eyes. Eventually, he said through gritted teeth, “Yes, Your Highness.”
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