People at the bottom of the river
Behind the young man in a smoky purple robe was a river that ran through the village, its rushing waters creating ripples.
The water surface shimmered under the clear sky; it was hard to imagine that such a crystal-clear river existed in the oppressive and dull village.
The wind in early May was a bit warm, blowing against the hibiscus earrings by Sui Zhixu's ears. The large patches of withered lotus leaves on her sleeves were quite jarring to Xi Yushao.
But his face was full of smiles. "My wife, it's been a long time."
"He's here?"
Jiang Li was very dissatisfied. She disliked the barely suppressed greed in Xi Yushao's eyes and stood sideways in front of Sui Zhixu.
"According to the report from Tianque Tower, this is indeed the case."
He handled Jiang Li's dissatisfaction with ease, as if this were not a dilapidated village but a chessboard.
He tilted his head and chatted with Sui Zhixu with practiced ease, like a lion staring intently at its prey, his gaze never straying from Sui Zhixu for even a moment.
Jiang Li: "Stop talking nonsense and get to work."
As Xu Zhixu impatiently tapped the hilt of her sword, she walked past Xi Yushao. She hated his gaze and wanted to gouge it out.
This rambling is really annoying.
All she wants now is to find Jiang Yun.
Knowing that Xu ignored him, Xi Yushao turned to Jiang Li, who was guarding her side, and asked, "Why did Madam Jiang come?"
Sui Zhixu: "Mind your own business."
"Oh? Perhaps I can guess, will you return to Miao territory with Lady Jiang in exchange for resolving the calamity in Jingzhou?"
A smile played on his lips as he casually lifted Xu's eyelids, revealing a captivating allure. Her charming and seductive demeanor was indeed similar to her father's, but compared to him, this man was far more cold-blooded and malicious.
"What a boring trick. Why don't you go to the gambling den and guess the dice? You could make a fortune that way. Instead of standing in front of me saying meaningless things that annoy me. Or do you want to become a member of the Zao Village community?"
As soon as Xu drew his sword, the blade trembled, and the sharp tip sliced through his neck.
"Get out of my way!"
Blood flowed down the sword, and Xi Yushao noticed it, his obsession and madness becoming even more pronounced.
Seeing that he didn't understand, she kicked him, sending him flying into a jujube tree by the roadside, her expression indifferent.
Blood from the sword tip flowed onto the ground. As Zhixu stepped forward, Chu Jiu quickly stepped aside because of Jiang Li behind her.
The village was eerily quiet. Despite the commotion, no one went out. The wooden planks on the houses were rickety, and the roadside was overgrown with weeds. It looked completely deserted.
"Ah Ling, wait for me." Jiang Li stepped forward and grabbed Sui Zhixu's hand.
“I assure you that his presence here has nothing to do with me. I sent him to find Jiang Yun, but I didn’t know that Jiang Yun was in Zao Village right now.”
As Xu's gaze swept across the area, he saw a well at the village entrance, and another well every few dozen steps further in.
She stopped and turned to ask her, "Which well?"
"It's not that I don't trust you, he's just annoyed and doesn't want to deal with it. It's better to resolve things here quickly."
Jiang Li's mood brightened, and the fish on her skirt swayed accordingly.
"I'll go take a look."
Xu agreed, but it seemed they hadn't found Jiang Yun yet. The village wasn't big; where was he?
Where are the villagers now?
"Is the village deserted?"
Chu Jiu paused for a moment before realizing she was being spoken to, and replied seriously, "In the innermost part, they seem to be performing some kind of mysterious ritual. My lady, it's best not to go; most of them are infected with Gu worms."
After thanking her for her kind reminder, Xu Zhixu noticed that the people sent by the Sui family had disappeared without a trace. When she saw the old woman buying jasmine, she had some guesses in her mind.
She got up and jumped, heading towards the center of the village. The outer perimeter of the village was dilapidated, but the situation improved significantly as she went further in.
As soon as Xu spotted a figure, he quickly hid in the corner and peeked out with his eyes.
In his field of vision, villagers, with their backs to Sui Zhixu, circled around the upstream of the river, heads bowed, pushing people into the deep pool.
They moved too quickly, without uttering a word; in the silence, only the wife's cries for help and the sound of the waves crashing could be heard.
Suddenly, a group of people turned around, their faces covered with black spots and festering skin that exposed the bone, their eyes deep and sunken in the middle of their faces.
Su Zhixu immediately looked away; they had all been poisoned.
She took out a tinderbox from her bosom. The village had confirmed that if a person was killed directly, the Gu worms would find a new host, while if a person was burned to death, the Gu worms would also die.
Before leaving, she prepared a tinderbox, as the Gu worms were afraid of fire, and she also had a way to escape in case of emergency.
She found a torch on the spot, lit it, and turned to try to save the seemingly normal woman.
As soon as I peeked out, I met a pair of familiar eyes, and a crisp bell rang in my ear.
Suddenly everything went black before her eyes, and she fell to her knees. The torch landed on the haystack and burst into flames.
Su Zhixu bit her tongue hard, the taste of blood filling her mouth. Her vision cleared slightly, and she leaped away from the spot, rushing towards the riverbank.
In her hazy state of consciousness, she realized she was temporarily safe. Her arm fell into the river, and the withered lotus leaves on her sleeve floated on the water.
The last image in her mind was of those eyes, and she was certain it was Jiang Yun.
The crowd did not notice the unconscious Sui Zhixu, but the young woman struggling in the water did notice her, but unfortunately she was trapped herself and helpless.
Suddenly, a pale arm lifted her out of the water.
"Run!" A hoarse voice rang in her ears, mixed with the sudden sound of bells ringing in the air.
"Don't become their food."
She looked toward the shore in confusion and saw the villagers removing their disguises, revealing their festering, black-spotted faces.
She was so frightened that she suddenly lost all strength and was supported entirely by pale arms in the water.
"Wasn't that normal just now?"
Her voice trembled as she looked around; she had no other choice but to go up or down.
The problem is, she can't swim!
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been thrown into the water and been struggling in there.
The skin on the face of the person closest to her began to peel off, and the dark, spotted skin, stained with strands of flesh and blood, fell into the lake and drifted toward her.
"Don't come any closer! Am I going to die as soon as I enter the martial arts world?"
"Are we going to be eaten by them again?"
"People can die, but this is just too pathetic."
Unable to bear it any longer, she tried to move her arms downwards, but her pale arms had disappeared without a trace, as if she had been the only person in the water from beginning to end.
She took two steps and was surprised to find that the villagers did not seem to have any intention of arresting or chasing her.
She paddled two more steps, and the bell rang again in her ears. This time she could hear the source of the sound—behind the crowd on the shore!
She paddled quickly, praying to all the gods and Buddhas in her heart.
"Heaven and Earth, I have never done anything evil in my life. I even took pity on the old woman by the roadside and bought half of her jasmine flower string. May you bless me to swim across!"
"Buddha, if I can survive this time, I will definitely donate money to your temple in the future!"
"May the Queen Mother of the West show her power!"
...
She muttered to herself as she frantically swung her arms forward, finally reaching the shore far from the crowd.
She hurriedly touched her face, feeling that her arms were numb. She didn't care about that and climbed up with both hands and feet.
She ran to Sui Zhixu's side, scooped him up, and her gaze lingered between his thumb and Sui Zhixu's philtrum. She turned her head back, steeled her heart, and pinched Sui Zhixu's philtrum hard.
In her hazy consciousness, she sensed the pain and involuntarily let out a groan.
"Cough cough—"
"Are you alright? My name is Wushan Yue. I'm new to the martial world and accidentally wandered into this place. My lady, do you know where this place is, and how all this happened here..."
"A strange person..."
With her help, Sui Zhixu got up. She shook her head, trying to figure out why she had fainted. Her mind gradually cleared.
That's right, it's Jiang Yun's eyes!
"This is Zao Village in Jingzhou..." Sui Zhixu briefly introduced the situation here and asked, "How did she get here?"
Wu Shanyue scratched the back of her head. "I don't know how I got here. I only remember buying a jasmine bracelet from an old woman by the roadside at the foot of the mountain. I saw that the old woman was quite old and was carrying such a heavy basket on her back, so I bought half a basket. I don't know what happened after that. When I woke up, they were about to throw me into the lake."
As Xu slowly rose, Wu Shanyue carefully helped her up, and she whispered her thanks.
She was right. Even though she noticed something was off about the old woman selling flowers the first time, she found herself drawn to her.
Fortunately, Jiang Li called her name at the time, which was a deliberate test. After regaining her senses, she turned the tables on him.
Before leaving, Xu glanced at her basket, which was full of snakes and insects.
According to the Book of Gu, the Gu that causes hallucinations and loss of mind is the Bewitching Gu.
The people sent by Wushan Yue and the Sui family one after another fell into her endless schemes.
She was only fortunate that Jiang Li was by her side, preventing her from being completely infected.
Does Jiang Yun's eye have a similar appearance?
It is not yet known that the two times Sui Zhixu experienced blackouts were because of this aunt and nephew.
Seeing Jiang Yun about to leave, she called out loudly, "Jiang Yun!"
"Is my wife with her savior?"
Jiang Yun raised an eyebrow and turned to look at them.
“Jiang Li is outside, as is Jin Ling from Tianque Tower. I know you don’t want to go back to Miao territory. If you help me remove the curse, I can help you leave.”
"Oh?" Jiang Yun's eyebrows and eyes are similar to Jiang Li's, but they have completely opposite temperaments. The aunt is cold, charming and alluring, while the nephew has gentle eyebrows and eyes and is more like a jade-faced scholar.
Wu Shanyue's gaze shifted to the villagers lying haphazardly on the ground, and she murmured, "Our benefactor is truly amazing."
"Jiang Li is very angry with you, and she's coming soon."
As Xu heard footsteps approaching from afar, one footstep stood out against the other, which was very light and particularly well-organized.
Along the way, she had become familiar with Jiang Li's pace.
"Uncuring you is a piece of cake for you, this deal is a good one."
"Tell me what kind of Gu it is."
She said, "Jiang Li's love potion."
—
As Xu leaned against the wall and slumped to the ground, Jiang Li rushed over in alarm. She glanced at the villagers lying haphazardly on the ground and ran to Xu's side to take her pulse.
"My lady! How are you? Did they run into you?"
Sui Zhixu lazily looked up and said, "I'm fine. I saw Jiang Yun; he saved me."
In a sense, yes.
Jiang Li withdrew her hand, relieved. "Thank goodness you're alright. It's good that Jiang Yun was useful."
"Why did you run inside without a word? I turned around and you were gone. I promised you I would handle this properly. Don't you even trust me now? Ah Ling, I'm your Ah Niang."
"..."
A-niang, in the Miao language, means "mother".
A flicker of surprise crossed her dark eyes, but only for a moment. She calmly replied, "Jiang Yun saved me, and then he left. Are you going to go after him?"
“I don’t care about him right now. He can go wherever he wants. He’s just disobeying his parents’ orders and doesn’t want to get married.”
Jiang Li put her arm around Sui Zhixu and said, "As long as you're alright, he won't die out there."
Jiang Yun, hiding in a house not far away: "..."
He chose to close his eyes, while Wushan Yue beside him blinked her bright, sparkling eyes at him, her gaze intense.
My benefactor is amazing!
Sui Zhixu rested his chin on Jiang Li's shoulder, his gaze falling on the fallen villagers. The scene was bizarre and grotesque; their faces looked like fragments of flesh and blood mixed together, with clearly visible white bones and blank, unfocused eyes.
Are they even alive?
"I'll go check on them; there might still be survivors."
Su Zhixu lowered his head, realizing that he had said it unintentionally.
"Go check the bottom of the river; there might be people there."
Suddenly, Xi Yushao spoke up, his words ambiguous, "Sui Niangzi is truly kind."
"Why are you so cold to me?"
Sui Zhixu felt an itch in her hands. "Haven't you had enough of being beaten? Or do you think I don't know what you did to Cui Wan?"
Xi Yushao pretended to be confused, "What is it? We are just friends, like General Chu and the head of the Sui family."
She couldn't hold back and slapped him across the face.
Xi Yushao turned his head and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Very refreshing!"
"If you want to continue, you can. I really enjoy it."
Sui Zhixu took two steps back, his eyes filled with excitement and agitation, seemingly not lying.
She blinked. What's going on?
For the first time, she felt overwhelmed and her eyes trembled. The light reflected from the Five Emperor Coins on Chu Jiu's neck behind Xi Yushao shone into her eyes, and she closed them completely.
"This is truly incomprehensible!"
“My wife, why do you have to fall for Fan Lingzhang? He’s old. Why not choose someone younger? If you choose me, the Jingzhou matter can be resolved immediately, and you won’t have to go back to Miao territory.”
She closed her eyes to rest, ignoring his words. To avoid hearing them, she quickly recalled the fragments in her mind. The bright eyes and passionate tone she had just met when she woke up were those of a young woman who had just entered the world of martial arts.
It was because of these moments, one after another, that she endured it day after day.
She received layer upon layer of love, making her unwilling to let go.
Now that we've convinced Jiang Yun, the next step is to go back to the Sui family!
She had promised Xiao Furong she would go back. She adjusted the hibiscus jade pendant behind her ear and smiled.
In the shadows, Xi Yushao's eyes grew even more frantic as he stared intently at the jade pendant in her hand. If he could, he would wish for Fan Lingzhang to disappear immediately.
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