PD -Chapter 103 Saint Child Gu Ladle

As the opening of the cave grew smaller and smaller, it was about to be completely sealed off by the winding vines… and the vine-like tendrils above had already reached our necks, trying to wrap around us.

“Within the Three Realms and beyond, only the Dao is supreme. Golden light covers my body!”

As I chanted the incantation, golden light erupted from my body, instantly enveloping all of us. The vine tendrils could no longer penetrate the protective barrier formed by the Golden Light Spell.

“Go! Break out!” I gritted my teeth and ran to the front. Using the Golden Light Spell, I formed a nearly solid circular shield in front of me and charged toward the wall ahead.

Boom!

Under the force of my charge, the circular shield smashed directly into the vine-blocked exit. In fact, because of the Golden Light Spell, I didn’t feel any pain at all. The vines on the wall were instantly shattered by the impact—broken like bones and tendons—leaves and vine fragments exploded outward like debris from a blast. The opening appeared once again.

“Move!” I shouted without hesitation and was the first to rush out of the cave. I immediately realized that the entire wall was beginning to shake from the impact I had just made. This dilapidated building, now missing a supporting wall, could collapse at any moment.

The others followed closely behind me. The moment the last person, Liu Xiaopeng, climbed out—

Boom!!!

A thunderous crash rang out behind us.

Bricks and concrete collapsed all at once. When we turned back, the entire building… like a stack of blocks, crashed to the ground and turned into ruins. The vines and the giant earthworms were buried beneath the rubble.

We stood at a distance, watching the dust settle. In the ashes, I fell into thought.

After a moment, I stepped forward, formed hand seals, and began chanting the Pure Heaven and Earth Purification Spell:

“Heaven and earth are natural; filth disperses. Within the cavern’s mystery, brilliance returns to the Great Primordial…”

A magic formation appeared in the void before me. With a wave of my hand, it turned into a green beam of light that shot toward the ruins.

But in an instant, the green light vanished—without stirring even the slightest ripple.

I frowned. “Why is this happening?”

“The Purification Spell… it can’t cleanse this place?” Liu Xiaopeng noticed the problem and came over, equally shocked.

“What purification spell? What are you two talking about?” Fan Bin walked over in confusion. “What just happened in there… I felt like all the plants inside suddenly came alive?”

I hesitated for a moment and looked at the strange skull in my hand. “It should be because of this thing.”

“Whether it’s this thing suppressing this place… or this place protecting it,” I said thoughtfully.

“In any case… we should leave.”

I raised my head and looked back the way we came. Even though the danger had passed, I still felt this was not a place to stay.

We returned the same way and soon got back to the car. Li Zi drove Fan Bin home first, and then we returned to the hotel.

All the way, I kept studying the skull in my hands. From its size, it didn’t belong to an adult.

The skull was a dark black color, as if it had been preserved for a very long time—its inner bone structure had also turned black.

But what was most strange was that both eye sockets were sealed shut. The bone plates used to seal them seemed to have been taken from the back of the skull, leaving a large opening at the back of the head.

I sat in the passenger seat, turning it over and over in my hands. When I held it upside down, it suddenly felt like a container—like a teapot or ladle.

The protruding jaw and chin looked like a handle, while the hollowed skull cavity seemed perfect for holding liquid. With the eye sockets sealed, it was completely airtight…

And the opening at the back of the head looked like a spout—designed for pouring liquids out.

I was stunned. Could someone really use a skull as a ladle to drink water?

We soon returned to the hotel. I placed the eerie skull ladle on the cabinet, staring at it with no trace of sleepiness. I opened my computer and began searching for any information related to it.

I took a photo of the skull with my phone and used image search engines. After a long filtering process, I found a picture extremely similar to the one in front of me.

I clicked it and followed the link to a website. Inside was a very long academic paper…

In it was a skull photo almost identical to the one I had, labeled underneath: “Saint Child Gu Ladle.”

My heart jolted.

Only then did I remember: this small county lies in the Xiangxi region of Hunan. Xiangxi is famous for its sorcery and Gu (poison-bug) arts—its strangeness is said to be even more sinister than Western witchcraft.

The character “Gu” (蛊) is composed of “insect” over “vessel,” meaning a container. As the name suggests, Gu sorcery involves raising poisonous insects inside vessels and controlling them through curses.

And the skull ladle in my hand was a highly advanced Gu-rearing vessel.

The paper was written by a scholar studying Xiangxi folk traditions. Combining archaeological findings from the region, he gave a detailed analysis of Xiangxi Gu culture.

According to it, the skull I found was called the Saint Child Gu Ladle, made from the skullcap of a so-called Gu “saint child,” used as a special vessel for cultivating Gu insects.

But the so-called “Gu saint child” was not what people might imagine.

It was not a divine, revered being living in comfort.

It was, in fact, itself a vessel for raising Gu.

Legend says that among all Gu insects, the most terrifying is the “internal Gu”—raising Gu inside the human body, feeding them with flesh and blood.

The child chosen as the vessel was called the Gu Saint Child.

Not just any child could be chosen. They had to be exceptionally healthy, with a natural resistance to poison. After weaning, they would be continuously fed parasitic Gu insects. As they grew older, increasingly toxic insects would be introduced.

Most Gu Saint Children only lived one to two years. Even the strongest among them rarely survived to consciousness…

Because the Gu practitioners feared that once they became aware, they might learn to control the insects within their bodies, they would kill them before they developed intelligence—using their corpses as continued breeding material.

Due to the massive accumulation of toxins, even their bones turned black…

Especially their skulls. When made into vessels, the toxicity of Gu insects increased dramatically, and their maturation speed accelerated.

But Gu Saint Children were extremely rare. They were only recorded in the Gu Classic of Xiangxi tradition. Some evil practitioners attempted to recreate them later, but all failed… As a result, even among the most prestigious Gu families in Xiangxi, the Saint Child Gu Ladle is regarded as a sacred treasure.

Reading all this, I felt my hair stand on end. The cruelty of Xiangxi Gu arts was far beyond anything I had imagined.

Thinking back to how I had kept touching this black skull all the way here, I suddenly felt a chill crawl up my spine.

Don’t tell me… I’ve been poisoned by this thing?