TGCFNM -Chapter 164 Miss Guo

The martial artists watched Chu Ling curiously, then glanced at the cave entrance sealed with cloth, wondering what kind of medicine could possibly smoke someone out.

Fu Qingyu couldn’t help asking, “My lord, the stone steps go downward—we don’t know how large the space is below, nor whether there are deeper chambers inside. Will this fumigation really work?”

Chu Ling looked at Su He, signaling for him to explain.

Su He looked at Fu Qingyu and answered seriously, “It will.”

Fu Qingyu smiled helplessly. “All right, then.”

Bai Su slipped through the white cloth and into the artificial rockery. A figure soon rushed out from the thick fog. She quickly retreated to Chu Ling’s side and reported, “A woman.”

Chu Ling called out, “Zhang Dong, move aside.”

Zhang Dong immediately dodged away.

The next moment, a woman dressed in a bridal gown came coughing out of the cave, tears shimmering in her eyes, pitiful at first glance. Her sleeve had been torn open, revealing skin as pale as snow. Barefoot, she curled in on herself as she stopped, looking around in panic at the crowd surrounding her, her gaze darting everywhere.

Chu Ling quickly motioned for everyone to step back.

The woman lowered her hands, her lips crimson, and staggered forward. She grabbed Fu Qingyu’s sleeve. “Young master, save me.”

Qingtong, seemingly out of nowhere, picked up a tree branch and struck at her. “Let go! I said let go!”

The blow left a red welt on the back of the woman’s hand, but she clutched the sleeve desperately, refusing to release it. She only looked at Fu Qingyu pitifully, tears streaming down without end.

Fu Qingyu lowered his eyes to look at her.

She raised hers in pleading.

It seemed to last only a brief instant. A trace of fear flickered through the woman’s eyes as she tried to retreat—but it was already too late.

Fu Qingyu seized her wrist and lifted her entirely off the ground. “No wonder my lord was so nervous,” he said coolly. “So you were using a human to nurture gu.”

Chu Ling swallowed dryly and poked Wan Sanjin.

Wan Sanjin lowered his voice. “When Qingyu is truly angry, he becomes like this.”

Suddenly, the woman let out a sharp scream. After wrenching free, her hands curled into claw-like shapes as she lunged viciously at Fu Qingyu. The skin that had been pale as snow was now covered in black vein-like lines that had appeared at some point—spreading from her bare feet up her calves, along her arms, creeping up her neck, until they covered her cheeks.

From within the folding fan in Fu Qingyu’s hand, a sharp blade slid out. With a light, effortless motion, he slashed across her, drawing a string of blood beads tinged red and black.

“If my guess is correct, Fort Master Guo is probably already dead,” Fu Qingyu said, glancing at Chu Ling before making another swift cut, deftly blocking the woman.

Wan Sanjin exclaimed in shock, “So this woman is Miss Guo!”

The gathered martial artists thought: Who else could it be?!

Among the young women of the Guo family, who else could she possibly be besides Miss Guo?

Chu Ling glanced at the lingering smoke inside the rockery and casually selected a few people. “Form teams and go down to check. Be careful. Confirm whether Fort Master Guo is truly dead.”

“Yes.”

“Zhang Dong, go fetch some wine,” Chu Ling added. She then enlisted several martial artists to help gather dry wood and straw.

Seeing that his young master was unharmed, Qingtong also went to help.

“Sir, are we going to burn her?” Cao Tong asked.

Chu Ling glanced at Miss Guo. “Can’t bear to?”

Cao Tong hurriedly waved his hands. “It’s not that I can’t bear to. I’m asking—why burn her? Wouldn’t killing her be enough? Why does she have to be burned?”

Looking at Miss Guo’s current state, Chu Ling explained to everyone, “This kind of parasite is called a Blood Gu. It is planted in the wife from the moment she becomes pregnant, which is why the wife dies in childbirth. For all these years, Fort Master Gu wasn’t raising a daughter—he was raising a Gu worm. Once the Gu completes the wedding night after marriage, it can break free.”

Yan Sheng shuddered. “And then?”

Chu Ling’s voice turned heavy. “Then the one who possesses the Blood Gu can become the Gu King, commanding all other Gu worms. In other words, one person alone could rival a thousand troops. Even a grandmaster of the martial world couldn’t endure being devoured by ten thousand insects.”

Bai Su looked at the furious, struggling woman, her face frosted with cold. “Gu Tieyun did the same thing as Bai Zhuoxing—using his wife to give birth to children implanted with Blood Gu, raising them, and ultimately using them as nourishment for himself.”

Wan Sanjin poked Chu Ling. “Then why burn her?”

Chu Ling stared at the restrained Miss Gu and said gravely, “Rather than Miss Gu, she is the Blood Gu itself. She can no longer be regarded as human. If we simply kill her, her corpse will be stolen and used to feed other Gu worms. It’s better to burn her—clean and complete, so she may enter the cycle of reincarnation.”

Wan Sanjin sucked in a sharp breath. “What kind of father could commit such a heartless atrocity?”

“That’s why her father was killed,” said a martial artist who had hurried out. “His death was miserable—no one knows how he was killed.”

Fu Qingyu flicked his fan lightly, slicing Miss Gu’s neck, then struck her with a swift chop.

Miss Gu let out a shrill, agonized scream as her eyes slowly turned crimson.

“Sir, it’s about time,” Fu Qingyu called.

Chu Ling leapt forward, stuffed a pill into the woman’s mouth, lifted her chin, and forced her to swallow.

The red in Miss Gu’s eyes began to fade. Her limbs went weak and she collapsed to the ground. The black lines crawling across her body slowly receded. She herself was already at the end of her strength.

“Awake?” Chu Ling asked, crouching down.

Miss Gu smiled at Chu Ling. “When I first broke free, I should have seized you.”

Chu Ling shook her head in mock fear. “Better not. I cherish the fair and protect the delicate. If I had fallen for your tricks, wouldn’t that have been disastrous?”

“This medicine—it dissolves the Gu worm, doesn’t it?” Blood began to trickle from Miss Gu’s lips.

Chu Ling let out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Hahaha… hahaha…” Miss Gu laughed uncontrollably, but as she laughed, she began to cry. With tear-filled eyes she looked at Chu Ling. “I feel like I’m not myself. I’m just a puppet under control. Every day I was forced to drink human blood. I’ve had enough—enough!”

“I wanted to escape. I planned it all. Step by step I lured him into my trap. I used his trust to kill him. I was free—but now I’m about to die.”

“Why? Why won’t you let me live? Why?”

Miss Gu clutched tightly at Chu Ling’s hand as blood began to flow from her seven orifices.

Chu Ling gently stroked her hair. “The Blood Gu has grown too strong. And you, as its vessel, have already begun to crack… My medicine can only free you temporarily from its control. It cannot save your life.”

“I’m sorry. It’s too late.”

Miss Gu released her grip and slowly looked at her pale hands glowing in the sunlight. She murmured softly, “He never let me go outside. Always so cautious. So this is the first time—the first time I’ve seen such beautiful sunlight…”

As her final word drifted lightly into the wind, Miss Gu slowly fell.

Chu Ling sighed softly, lifted her in his arms, and carried her step by step into the cave. Gently closing her eyes, he whispered, “In your next life, may you live an ordinary and happy life, smooth and untroubled.”