Chapter 117

The Fifth Prince realized he had been tricked by Xue Jin'an almost as soon as he rushed into the courtyard. He was furious and embarrassed, and stared at the open palace door with unbearable rage, chewing the name Xue Jin'an over and over again until his teeth were grinding.

However, ultimately, he was outmatched. No matter how angry the Fifth Prince was, it was useless. He couldn't win a fight, and his sarcastic remarks would only provoke him further. What else could he do? He could only process his emotions on his own. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time he'd lost to Xue Jin'an; it was just that this time it was a bit more humiliating, which he could get used to…

Habit my ass!

The Fifth Prince stood in the empty courtyard, taking deep breaths to suppress his emotions. However, his mind kept replaying the humiliating scene of being tricked by Xue Jin'an in the palace. He had been so frightened by a casual remark that he had run out... It was so embarrassing!!

The Fifth Prince's face flushed red instantly. Unable to bear the image of his own stupidity in his mind, he covered his head, squatted on the ground, and screamed silently for a while.

"No, I can't stay here any longer." As long as he stayed here, he would keep thinking about how humiliated he had just been. The Fifth Prince knew that he should go back immediately, so he tried to get information out of Xue Jin'an by subtle means. He knew that Xue Jin'an must have discovered something, which was why he was behaving so strangely.

However, he didn't want to face Xue Jin'an at all right now; he just wanted to find a place to completely erase this damned memory from his mind.

The fifth prince hesitated for a moment, but finally followed his heart and chose to leave temporarily.

Anyway, given Xue Jin'an's guarded attitude towards thieves, he definitely wouldn't let him know too much useful information. And even if he did manage to get some useful information out of Xue Jin'an, he would never report it to his superiors. If those people came to his door asking him questions, he wouldn't tell them much of the truth.

The Fifth Prince knew very well that the organization accepted him only because they thought he was useful, and once his usefulness diminished or disappeared, he would be immediately replaced by someone else and die without a burial place, just like Xiao Shu.

The Fifth Prince despised Xiao Shu more than anything in his life, and naturally, he never wanted to become like her. He would never be like his foolish mother, obediently offering herself up only to be discarded like trash after her value had been exploited. In this world, only he, Xue Junjue, would betray and hurt others; he would never allow anyone to have the opportunity to betray and hurt him.

After making up his mind, the Fifth Prince didn't waste any time. He got up and ran away without saying a word. To be honest, he did say a word, but the kicks were all concentrated on his feet, hitting Batu Na in the face and kicking the lying Batu Na so hard that he rolled over and was now lying face down.

If Xue Jin'an saw this scene, he would definitely say: As expected of the Fifth Prince, not only is he cheeky, but he's also cheeky.

The arrogant Fifth Prince just left Batu Na like that. Before leaving, he thought for a moment and casually drew a few words on the ground with a twig for Xue Jin'an, telling him to kill Batu Na as soon as possible.

"I'm quite kind too." The Fifth Prince looked at the words on the ground, slightly curled the corners of his lips, muttered something, and then really left.

Xue Jin'an sensed the Fifth Prince leaving outside, but he didn't take it seriously. Instead, he tried other games in the hall and found no other information. Only then did he come out to deal with Batu's matter, and that's when he saw this sentence.

—The Gu master has awakened; the problem cannot be solved without achieving the goal. It's best to make plans as soon as possible.

The Fifth Prince's use of "awaken" did not mean waking up in the literal sense, but rather that Batu, the Gu master, had been controlled.

This seemingly well-intentioned reminder from the Fifth Prince actually concealed a trap. Xue Jin'an almost immediately figured out the answer: the Fifth Prince, or someone behind him, also wanted to instigate a war between Daqi and Rongdi.

While pondering, Xue Jin'an gave Batu Na, who was regaining some consciousness, a little more, causing him to faint again.

Although the Fifth Prince's message was somewhat provocative, its underlying meaning wasn't entirely wrong. Batu Na had lost his rationality and would only want to kill him once he woke up. Gu people have no thoughts, and it's impossible to get any information out of them before finding a way to remove or suppress the Gu. It's better to just leave him unconscious like this.

As for dispelling the curse, Xue Jin'an knew nothing about such things and could only ask Zhou Yushu to come and take a look.

Xue Jin'an attended the event without anyone by his side. However, he was not alone; none of the attendants were accompanied by their usual servants. Instead, they all used the people from Qian Yuan Palace. This was a request made by the person in charge of the banquet from the Ministry of Revenue.

That's why Xue Jin'an found the banquet boring and planned to return to Zhaoyang Palace early, but unexpectedly Batu appeared out of nowhere.

Although he was alone, Xue Jin'an had great confidence in his men. Even if he didn't send out a message, the fact that Zhaoyang Palace hadn't seen him return for a long time meant they would definitely take action.

And that was indeed the case. Moreover, the action was much faster than Xue Jin'an had anticipated. This was because Fu Lu had planted people in the Imperial Hospital, so Fu Lu was always the first to receive news of any disturbances in the Imperial Hospital, especially those related to Xue Jin'an.

The main news Fu Lu received was that Xue Jin'an had beaten the Rongdi envoy into the Imperial Hospital during a competition at the banquet. As for Batu's plan to kill Xue Jin'an, he knew nothing about it; he only knew that Batu had run away from the Imperial Hospital.

It wasn't that his people weren't attentive; rather, the people in the Imperial Hospital didn't actually know why Batu Na had suddenly woken up and run off to do anything. However, the person who delivered the message was quite clever and sensed something was amiss. The Seventh Prince had just offended the Rongdi people and might face retaliation, so he noted down the information and, taking advantage of the chaos in the Imperial Hospital searching for Batu Na, sneaked away and sent the message to Zhaoyang Palace.

When Fulu received the news, it was just as Batu Na found Xue Jin'an and the two were fighting.

Shouquan's expression turned very bad upon hearing the news. He said, "Brother Fulu, my eyelids are twitching wildly. I'm afraid something bad is about to happen. We'd better hurry and find our master."

Lingzhi also felt it would be better to bring the Seventh Prince back, and was already preparing to have Fuling set off to find him.

Fu Lu was the calmest among them. He closed his eyes and pondered. When Fu Lingren had already climbed over the wall, he called him back. "If Master's martial arts can defeat those Rongdi people once, he can certainly defeat them a second time. I think the most urgent thing is to inform Uncle first. If it is really detrimental to Master, I'm afraid there is another secret behind it."

"Moreover, now is the time to host envoys from various countries. If we do anything rashly, we may put our master in a difficult position. My uncle knows better than us and will handle things better." Fu Lu tried his best to maintain a dignified and calm demeanor, suppressing the roaring and struggling emotions in his heart. His reason was taut like a string, teetering on the edge of breaking.

"Don't hesitate. Every second you hesitate, the more dangerous it becomes for our master," Fu Lu said finally.

Everyone panicked, gritted their teeth, nodded, and followed his instructions.

Fuling found Xiyun and relayed the message to her. Xiyun lived up to expectations and soon entered Qianyuan Palace to deliver the message to Zhou Yushu. When Chu Wenjing heard that Batu had run away, he also felt that there was more to the story than met the eye.

Zhou Yushu quickly made an excuse that he couldn't hold his liquor and left early. However, he did not go to see Xue Jin'an. Instead, he returned to his residence, quickly changed his clothes, and even changed his face despite the pain. Only then did he follow Xi Yun's route to enter the palace again.

As soon as Zhou Yushu entered the palace, he heard the news that Batu had secretly made a move against Xue Jin'an.

After all, Batu's actions were so impressive that it would be hard not to know about them. Zhou Yushu was a smart man, and he thought about the news more deeply. For example, it was quite unusual that Batu, a Rongdi person, could attack a prince in the palace without alerting the Imperial Guards. By the time the Imperial Guards arrived, it would be too late.

Zhou Yushu immediately guessed that someone in the royal family was cooperating with the Rongdi.

There were far too many people who wanted to get rid of Xue Jin'an. His status as a legitimate prince was enough to make people envious. Moreover, Zhou Yushu's main focus was the imperial court, and he didn't know much about the power struggles among the princes. He didn't know which family had made the move, so he could only suppress his hatred for the time being and prepare to go find Xue Jin'an.

Before Zhou Yushu could deduce Xue Jin'an's whereabouts from the existing clues, he received a message from Fu Lu indicating that Xue Jin'an was in the abandoned palace.

Fu Lu's people are spread throughout the entire harem, mainly Shou Quan's fellow townsmen. After all, Fu Lu took over Shou Quan's network of fellow townsmen and built such a huge intelligence organization. However, the people he recruited were all insignificant figures, without power or status, and no one cared about them. They could be killed at any time. But it was precisely because of them that they were scattered everywhere and could hear and see many things that others did not know.

Xue Jin'an used the shady map to travel very discreetly, but the palace was full of people, and someone would inevitably spot his trail. Even if they didn't know what was going to happen next, they could still make some guesses.

Soon, Zhou Yushu found Xue Jin'an and saw him knock Batu Na unconscious again as Batu Na struggled to wake up.

Zhou Yushu: "..."

The worry and tension in his heart completely dissipated. Zhou Yushu even wanted to light a candle for the Rongdi people. His feelings were similar to those of the court officials before him. In short, he thought: Why did you provoke them? What was the point!

However, Zhou Yushu soon forgot about all that and heard from Xue Jin'an that Batu was a Gu practitioner.

“Impossible!” Zhou Yushu retorted almost immediately. “Gu people are raised from childhood and fed with Gu worms. It’s impossible for them to still maintain human reason.”

Being a Gu master is a major taboo, a truly evil and crooked method of harming people. This is because Gu masters are raised using the same methods as feeding Gu worms, and the raising of Gu worms all begins with killing each other. The Gu master must kill Gu worms, and according to the Nine-Nine Mystery Number, a Gu master must kill at least nine of his own kind, and at most eighty-one.

In addition, Gu people are all fed with various poisons. In order to become weapons that can be pointed at and used to strike, their brains are also destroyed. Whether it is brainwashing or internal force invasion and sweeping, Gu people raised in this way cannot and should not retain rationality.

Zhou Yushu checked Batu's pulse, pricked his finger to examine his blood, and then deliberately woke Batu up to show his bloodshot eyes and his obsession with Xue Jin'an. After a few moves, he was knocked unconscious again.

Zhou Yushu's expression was grim. He took a deep breath and said, "This is rather difficult. This is a secret technique from the Southern Frontier."

Southern Xinjiang, located south of the Tianshan Mountains, is a very isolated region. It adheres to religious sectarianism, is extremely xenophobic, and still lives a primitive, slash-and-burn lifestyle. The name Southern Xinjiang shouldn't be widely known, yet it produced a renowned figure in the martial arts world: Zhang Jinghua, the Holy Son of a Divine Sect.

“Zhang Jinghua’s martial arts skills can only be described as second-rate, but he is an absolute genius in medicine, poison and Gu. He was born at the age of twenty-something and already had the reputation of being a divine doctor who could heal the living without Gu.” Zhou Yushu frowned slightly when he mentioned him. “Zhang Jinghua had no concept of good or evil. This Gu technique was a secret method he developed in the southern border region. It was once popular among the Miao people in Lingnan and caused the Gu people’s chaos. As a result, only one in ten of the Miao people in Lingnan survived.”

This was the first time Xue Jin'an had heard stories from the martial arts world, and he listened with great interest.

Seeing his expression, Zhou Yushu couldn't help but say more: "I met him when I was in Dianzhou years ago. I learned some experience in raising Gu worms from him and successfully developed the Soul Separation Gu."

"It's just that our philosophies don't align. When I learned that the Soul-Separating Gu needed to reside in a human body, suck the heart's blood, and emerge from its cocoon to mature, I gave up on letting it mature. Instead, I fed it various poisons to increase its toxicity, compensating for its immaturity. Zhang Jinghua couldn't understand my actions, thinking that I couldn't personally harm people. So he went and grabbed someone, saying that if he personally placed the Soul-Separating Gu into a person's body, it wouldn't be me harming them..."

Zhou Yushu's brow twitched slightly when the matter was mentioned, clearly indicating that he still couldn't accept Zhang Jinghua's behavior. He said, "In short, we parted on bad terms in the end."

"Three years ago, my elder sister had an accident. I wanted to enter the court to investigate under the identity of Chu Wenjing. I searched for many methods of disguise, but found that none of them could completely change my appearance. I thought that Zhang Jinghua had always liked to study some strange poison formulas and Gu insects, so I went to the Southern Frontier. Although I obtained a Gu that could change my appearance, as well as the matching bone-moving method, I did not meet Zhang Jinghua. Instead, I was taught by the new holy son of the Divine Sect. It is said that the other party is Zhang Jinghua's disciple."

"I've inquired about Zhang Jinghua. He's been traveling around searching for interesting Gu worms, and there's been no news of him for a long time. However, it's rumored that he has a closed-door disciple who is a natural genius in this field. But there's not much news from the Southern Border Divine Sect either. When I asked, they only confirmed that there was indeed such a closed-door disciple, but they didn't know his name."

Xue Jin'an grasped the key point: "Have you ever done that?"

Zhou Yushu nodded and said, "They said that Zhang Jinghua expelled this disciple from the sect after only a few months of taking him in, because he was eccentric and treated human life like dirt."

Xue Jin'an felt that this reason was a bit too strange, after all, Zhang Jinghua himself was not a person who could clearly distinguish between good and evil.

Zhou Yushu also saw through his thoughts and nodded in agreement, "I also think there must be some hidden reasons, but I am not familiar with Southern Xinjiang. They are already more than kind to teach me the Bone Moving Technique. If they don't want to talk about it, I won't ask too much to avoid annoying them."

The only connection between him and Zhang Jinghua was the Soul-Separating Gu. Three years ago, when he went to the outer realms, he passed through the border and, thinking of his friend who was powerless but insisted on coming to the border to suffer, he left the Soul-Separating Gu with him for self-defense.

Based on Zhou Yushu's words, Xue Jin'an constructed a rough character model of Zhang Jinghua in his mind. He suddenly fell into deep thought and asked, "Does dying from bleeding from all seven orifices and heart failure fit Zhang Jinghua's aesthetics of murder?"

Zhou Yushu was taken aback.

The bleeding from all seven orifices and death from heart failure were the fatal effects of the Gu worms in the bodies of Crown Prince Zhang, the Tenth Prince, and the Fifth Prince.