Chapter 68 The Intruder

The Gu worms that Long Buxi left for Cheng Ying were two brightly colored snakes, several equally brightly colored poisonous spiders, and a dozen black poisonous scorpions guarding her door.

The two snakes were about as thick as an arm, coiled on either side of the doorway like door gods, occasionally raising their heads and flicking their tongues, a sight that sent chills down one's spine.

A dozen or so scorpions crawled directly into her room, hiding under the bed and table; you couldn't see them at all unless you looked closely.

Several spiders hung from the doors and windows, and in a short time they spun a large spider web, as if to prevent Cheng Ying from going out, or as if to prevent outsiders from entering.

Cheng Ying strongly suspected that the Gu worms that Long Buxi had arranged were not there to protect her, but rather to monitor her, with the aim of preventing her from running away.

Cheng Ying's hands and feet hadn't healed yet, so she couldn't move them on her own and could only stay in the room, sitting by the window in a daze.

Long Buxi went out, saying he was going to the deep mountains to find medicinal herbs to treat her leg injury, and also to find a Gu worm that could heal her leg so that it could recover as soon as possible. He said he would be gone for about half a day and told her not to wander around. Before leaving, he also put some candied fruit that he had made himself on the table for her to eat as a snack.

Cheng Ying was bored, so she ate some candied fruit while gazing at the stilted houses across the river, hoping someone would come out and say a word to her.

But for some reason, whether it was the Miao people on the other side of the river or the Miao people passing by Long Buxi's stilted house, when they saw her sitting in front of the window of Long Buxi's stilted house, they all acted as if they didn't see her and left quickly. When she called to them, they seemed not to hear her and no one paid any attention to her.

Gradually, Cheng Ying felt sleepy and yawned repeatedly. Just as she was about to go back to bed, she saw a dark blue butterfly flying over from a distance. It flew to the window where she was, but got stuck in the spider web spun by the Gu insects and spiders. It frantically flapped its large dark blue wings, attracting spiders larger than the palm of its hand to quickly approach it.

Cheng Ying recognized the butterfly; it belonged to Long Buxi. When she got lost in the misty Zuowu Forest, it was Long Buxi who sent this butterfly to guide her. When she rested in town, it was also this butterfly that was watching over her.

How did it fly here? Could it be that Long Buxi was worried that she would sneak out and sent this butterfly to keep an eye on her?

That butterfly is so clumsy, flying in like that, isn't it afraid of being eaten by those spiders?

Cheng Ying sighed, unable to bear watching the beautiful butterfly being eaten by the spider. After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and took the butterfly off the spider web.

The moment she took the butterfly off her hand, it fluttered its wings and flew away, carrying a thin layer of fine powder that landed on her head. With each breath, Cheng Ying inhaled a significant amount of that powder.

Cheng Ying quickly realized something was wrong, because in addition to feeling dizzy, weak, and limp, she was also experiencing hallucinations.

Scenes kept replaying in her mind: her past life in the military, her comrades dying before her eyes, Wei Muchen imprisoning her in the basement and torturing her, and the deaths of her mother and sister...

She tried to shake off these unrealistic images from her mind, but she didn't even have the strength to pinch herself to stay awake. At that moment, she realized that there was something wrong with the butterfly. It wasn't Long Buxi's butterfly. Someone had specifically found a dark blue butterfly that resembled the Gu worm butterfly that Long Buxi had trained with, to deal with her.

But who would use a butterfly to deal with her?

The answer will be revealed soon.

In her dazed state, she heard someone coming upstairs. In her hazy state, she saw the scorpions, snakes, and other creatures in the house running towards the door to deal with the sudden intruder.

The other party was clearly prepared; they had used some kind of medicinal powder, and the Gu worms quickly wilted and became still.

In her dazed state, Cheng Ying saw Sai Lan's blurry figure walking towards her. She instinctively felt something was wrong and tried to escape, but she had no strength and fainted.

While gathering herbs in a remote mountain forest, Long Buxi seemed to sense something. In a moment of distraction, he lost his footing and fell off a cliff more than ten meters high.

"Squeak!" Long Buxi didn't utter a single panicked cry as he plummeted down the cliff at incredible speed. Instead, Alan, who was perched on his shoulder, flapped its wings rapidly, looking at him at eye level, and made anxious squeaking sounds.

"Bang—!" Long Buxi fell straight to the ground.

Fortunately, there was a patch of weeds at the bottom of the cliff, which cushioned his fall and prevented him from dying.

Even so, his leg was injured, and there were many bloody abrasions on his face, hands, and back.

Ignoring the pain, he quickly got up and limped towards the village, asking A-Lan, who was fluttering in his ear, "Are you sure the Gu worms left at home aren't reacting?"

"Squeak!" Alan nodded.

I can't contact them, I can't hear from them, something must have happened to them!

Long Buxi pursed her lips, carrying a basket full of herbs on her back. Without saying a word, she ran swiftly towards the village through the narrow mountain path, which was overgrown with weeds and almost impassable.

By the time he reached the village, more than two hours had passed.

He limped upstairs like a madman, ignoring the blood flowing from his legs and hands.

But when they reached the third floor and opened the door to Cheng Ying's room, it was empty.

Long Buxi's heart sank, as if a sharp blade had ripped out his heart. He felt both empty and suffocated by a dull pain.

He looked at the venomous snakes lying limp on the ground, stomped on their heads, and crushed their skulls, gritting his teeth as he said, "Useless!"

Alan flew around the room, raised its little head as if sniffing the room, and soon came close to Long Buxi's ear, chirping a few times.

"You smelled the scent of the Sailan Gu worms?" Long Buxi's dark eyes instantly filled with murderous intent. He threw down the basket on his back, took out a dagger, and rushed downstairs. "Alan, gather the nearby Gu worms and ask where Sailan is."

Alan squeaked and flew out of the window. After a while, it flew back and squeaked twice at Long Buxi with great guilt.

"You're saying those Gu worms don't know where Sailan is?" Long Buxi sneered. "They're all useless!"

Long Buxi came downstairs, stood by the roadside, took out a dagger, and slashed his left palm hard, blood gushing out like a spring.

He clenched his left hand expressionlessly, dripping blood drop by drop onto the two strings of silver ornaments he wore on his hands.

The silver bracelet-like jewelry, upon contact with blood, turned an eerie crimson, like a living river flowing along the openwork grooves of the bracelet to the four small bells strung on it, enveloping the bells from the inside out until each bell's intricately carved grooves were completely filled with blood, turning a deep crimson color. When the wind blew, the bells, which had previously remained silent no matter how much they were shaken, began to ring.

Long Buxi stood under the stilted building, stretching out her hands and shaking the blood-stained bells again and again.

"Ring ring—ring ring—"

The clear, melodious tinkling sound seemed to possess a silent magic, spreading throughout the entire village, and everyone heard the bells ring.

Many Miao people's expressions changed drastically, and they began to communicate in Miao language: "Did you hear the sound of the sacred bell?"

"I heard that. What happened that made the young clan leader use the divine bell?"

"I don't know. According to our village's rules, the future village chief can only use the divine bell to summon the village's Gu worms to prepare for war when the village is invaded by outsiders or when something major happens. What is Arno doing?"

"Who knew, he's a madman. He always does things his own way and doesn't consider others."

"Could it be because of that mailman? I saw Seran go to Arno's stilt house this morning when he wasn't around."

"Oh dear, that's terrible. Seren has always wanted to marry Arno, but Arno doesn't like her. Now she suddenly says she wants to marry that postman. With Seren's crazy personality, who knows what she might do to that postman."

"No wonder Arno had to use the divine bell; it seems that Seran angered him."

......

As the bells jingled, strange-looking insects, scorpions, centipedes, venomous snakes, and spiders emerged from the soil around the stilted houses, bamboo groves, grass, and roadsides. Numerous moths, birds, butterflies, and bees, along with other creatures, swarmed about, making various buzzing and chirping sounds, moving like a tide towards the village.

The scene of countless insects and birds swarming around was so bizarre, like the end of the world, that even the experienced Miao people were amazed and quickly closed their doors and windows to prevent the insects from crawling into their houses and causing unnecessary trouble.

The children were so frightened that they screamed and ran home without being told by the adults.

Blood was still dripping from Long Buxi's palm. The mysterious divine bell of Pucang Village had the ability to summon all the Gu worms in the village. To use this bell Gu technique, the Gu practitioner needed to continuously sacrifice their own blood to the bell in order to control all the Gu worms.

If the bleeding is stopped halfway through, and the practitioner's ability is not strong enough, the worms will be out of the practitioner's control and may even turn against the practitioner.

Therefore, once the bell rings, they will not give up until they achieve their goal.

Long Buxi's face was deathly pale from blood loss, and his body swayed precariously, yet he showed no sign of stopping, letting the blood drip from his wrist onto the bracelet, causing the bell to jingle incessantly: "Ding-a-ling—ding-a-ling—"

As if receiving a command, swarms of Gu worms, like well-trained soldiers, relentlessly searched for Sailan's whereabouts in the village.

Soon, the swarm of scorpions to the west stirred. Long Buxi looked towards the endless mountains to the west, her eyes darkening slightly, and said in a low voice, "Found it." She then walked towards the mountains to the west.

"Squeak squeak." Alan quickly flapped her wings and followed him to protect him.