Chapter Forty-Eight: Curing the Gu
Zuichunshan Restaurant.
Under the pale moonlight, Mu Lian toyed with the wrist-splitting dagger in her hand, carefully examining the pale, wiry chest of the man before her, as if trying to see through the skin and flesh to the bone structure beneath. Suddenly, the woman's wrist twitched slightly, the thin, sharp blade, still glowing from the candlelight, flipped between her fingertips, and the sharp point plunged fiercely into the man's chest.
"Ugh..." The unconscious man let out a short, painful groan, showing signs of waking up. Mu Lian's expression remained unchanged, but her movements were as swift as lightning, instantly slicing several thin but shallow gashes into the man's chest.
"Wherever the hand touches, wherever the shoulder leans, wherever the foot steps, wherever the knee bends, with a swift, precise movement, the knife flashes, perfectly in tune." The rhythm and skill of the knife were comparable to that of a master butcher dissecting an ox. It should be known that since Mu Lian entered the Court of Judicial Review, he had dissected hundreds, if not thousands, of corpses, and was intimately familiar with the anatomy of men, developing an uncanny eye. Even blindfolded, he wouldn't make a mistake. Before long, a strange, blood-red pattern appeared on the man's originally pale body, causing Meng Yuan, who was watching, to gasp in shock: "My lord, what is this…?"
Mu Lian didn't even raise her head: "Take the Gu..."
Outside the main room, the footsteps of black-clad guards shouting as they searched for someone gradually approached. Mu Lian remained unmoved. After making the forty-ninth cut, she pricked her fingertip with a golden needle, dripped blood into it, and then used the end of a black jade hairpin to outline and spread the shape of the Big Dipper constellation she had previously created, using her blood to draw the design.
At the door, black-clad guards, having received the news, began ramming the door. Meng Yuan and Mu Lian exchanged a glance, tightened their grip on the hidden weapon, and darted to the side of the door. Mu Lian didn't even look, but used the tip of her knife to flick back the large, blood-red spider, ordering it to suck the bloodstains soaked into the man's chest.
With a loud bang, the door to the main room was flung open by layers of black-clad guards. Meng Yuan dodged with lightning speed, her wrist flicking as a hidden weapon struck the first guard who rushed in squarely, instantly eliciting cries of agony.
"Someone, hurry and save His Highness the Crown Prince..." The leader, wearing a black iron mask, spoke coldly as he swung his sword at Meng Yuan with the force of wind and thunder.
"Save us? We're the ones who should save you!" Meng Yuan thought to herself, but her hands never stopped moving. She twirled her long sword, creating layers of sword flowers, and blocked the guards in front of her.
Inside, Mu Lian pierced her other fingertip with a golden needle again, taking seven drops of blood and placing them on the previously pinned subcutaneous creature. The blood dripped down the incision on the man's chest, circling around the creature in the shape of a five-pointed star.
"You wicked scoundrel, so fierce..." Forced back by the ruthless leader's blade, Meng Yuan hastily retreated. The next second, butterfly-shaped caltrops shot out from behind her in three directions, avoiding Meng Yuan and aiming directly at the leader. The ruthless leader was startled and hurriedly spun around to dodge, only to be forced back to the doorway by Meng Yuan's follow-up sword strike.
We adults are amazing; we can multitask! Meng Yuan glanced back at Mu Lian and winked, signaling her to continue, assuring her she could control herself.
Beneath the silver mask, a faint smile played on the woman's lips. Her hands, however, moved swiftly, the golden needles flashing like flowers. In a flash, accompanied by a muffled groan of pain from the slowly awakening Li Peixuan, the creature beneath his skin was swiftly pulled out by the woman's black jade hairpin.
"How ugly!" Mu Lian frowned, soaked the struggling mother Gu in fragrant liquid, and disdainfully tossed it into a specially made sandalwood box. This mother Gu couldn't die yet, otherwise the Gu poison on the soldiers would be difficult to cure.
Below, Lee Bae-hyun, who was just waking up, felt excruciating pain all over his body. He tried to open his eyes to see the culprit's appearance, but all he saw was a silver mask that gleamed coldly in the candlelight and moonlight.
"You, you are..."
"Shh..." After tossing aside an outer garment and a medicine bottle, Mu Lian and Meng Yuan climbed out the window. Outside, they could see signal sparks burning in the distance, indicating that A Zhe and Feng Wu Niang had been rescued.
A cool night breeze drifted in through the window, causing his outer garment to fall onto the man. Li Peixuan awkwardly covered his bare chest with his hand, gazing intently in the direction the woman had disappeared. He knew; he knew who that person was.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, how are you?" The voice of the accompanying guard rang in his ears. Closing his eyes, Li Peixuan silently sensed that, apart from the physical pain, the deep ache in his chest seemed to have disappeared. It seemed that the woman earlier was indeed not trying to harm him, but rather to heal him.
The man waved his hand and said indifferently, "It's nothing..." After feeding the Gu worms with his own body for a year, this little pain is nothing.
In truth, few in Kyoto knew that Li Peixuan was not the legitimate son of Prince Ruyang, but rather the son of a concubine. That year, the eight-year-old heir apparent, who was rightfully entitled to inherit the throne, tragically drowned. Prince Ruyang, grieving, was also worried that the lack of a successor would hinder his bid for the throne. At this critical moment, the seven-year-old Li Peixuan bravely stepped forward, comforting Prince Ruyang in his childish voice, saying he could serve their father in place of his elder brother, which brightened Prince Ruyang's eyes.
Afterwards, the Prince of Ruyang used this substitution trick. He publicly announced that his legitimate son was ill and recuperating, and sent trusted advisors to teach his illegitimate son various aristocratic etiquette. Meanwhile, the originally deceased heir was buried under the illegitimate son's name. This angered the Princess of Ruyang, who fell ill and soon followed the heir in death. However, before her death, she still sent someone to poison Li Peixuan's mother. All of this, the Prince of Ruyang turned a blind eye to.
Young Li Peixuan suddenly lost his beloved elder brother, birth mother, and stepmother, and his personality changed drastically overnight. His former liveliness vanished, replaced by a premature maturity, and a growing cunning and calculating nature settled within him. He knew that in the Ruyang Prince's mansion, only by being valuable enough could he protect everything he had earned, and only then could he repay his birth mother for sacrificing her life to pave the way for him. Therefore, letting the mother gu suck some of his blood and bone was nothing; he could bear it!
I had only heard Liu, the advisor, say that extracting Gu requires the blood of a virgin born in the Yin year and Yin month as a guide, and also requires the assistance of poison. The method of extracting Gu is even more difficult. I never expected that Lord Mu would be so proficient in this art. It is truly unexpected.
Slowly opening his eyes, a layer of dark light gradually gathered in the man's long, narrow phoenix eyes. Combined with his disheveled hair and the blood-stained chest beneath his white shirt, it conveyed a sense of brokenness. After a moment, the man gently traced each bloodstain on his chest with his fingertips, a faint smile playing on his lips. In the past twenty-odd years, apart from his birth mother, no one had ever helped him selflessly, and his acts of kindness towards others had always been calculated.
Therefore, this Judge Mu is indeed quite interesting.
Outside the window, the moonlight was as clear and bright as water. Li Peixuan, accompanied by his guards, gracefully departed Zuichun Mountain. Looking back, the young master was strikingly handsome and elegant.
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