Chapter 135 Gu Poison
Su Luoxue gently withdrew her hand, turned her head away, and said in a voice still hoarse from crying, "...You should go back and rest first."
Yuwen Che immediately gripped her hand, looked up at her, and said with unease in his eyes, "Okay, let's go back together."
He feared she would have to stay in that cold, warm room.
Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, Su Luoxue finally softened and didn't break free, letting him lead her slowly back to her bedchamber.
Meanwhile, inside the secret chamber of the Shadow Pavilion.
Bai Xiao irritably flipped through a pile of old files when the shadow guard he had sent to investigate appeared behind him like a ghost and knelt on one knee.
"Chief, we have the results."
Bai Xiao suddenly turned around: "Speak!"
The shadow guard's voice was deep: "Based on the pulse characteristics and your description of His Majesty's recent symptoms, we consulted ancient books and inquired with our spies from the Southern Frontier. Our preliminary judgment is that the poison His Majesty has been afflicted with is not an ordinary poison, but rather a kind of... Gu."
Bai Xiao's pupils contracted, almost thinking he had misheard: "What did you say? Gu poison? What is that? How could such a thing exist within the Great Zhou territory?!" In his memory, it was a wicked thing from the wild and desolate southwestern border region.
The shadow guard continued, "This Gu is called Heart-Eating Gu. It is extremely insidious and secretive. It lies dormant in the body, slowly eroding the mind, amplifying negative emotions, and eventually causing the person to fall into mania and madness, unable to control themselves. Judging from His Majesty's symptoms, the time since he was poisoned... is probably not short."
Bai Xiao's heart sank. No wonder Yuwen Che had been acting increasingly strangely lately, even going so far as to attack Su Luoxue! He asked urgently, "How do we resolve this?"
The shadow guard paused, lowered his head even further, and said in a hoarse voice, "Reporting to the leader, this curse... has no cure."
"What?!" Bai Xiao grabbed the shadow guard by the collar, his eyes wide with rage. "Say that again? There's no cure?!"
Despite being choked and struggling to breathe, the shadow guard insisted, "Ancient records and our intelligence confirm that... there is indeed no antidote. The only solution is... to exchange one's life for another."
Bai Xiao froze, then slowly released his grip: "A life for a life?"
“Yes.” The shadow guard gasped for breath, then added with difficulty, “We must find a person of the opposite sex who has had intimate contact with the afflicted person, who will willingly ingest another Soul-Guiding Gu connected to them, and then… through the method of Yin-Yang union, introduce the Heart-Eating Gu from His Majesty’s body into their own. This process is extremely dangerous; the person who draws the Gu… will undoubtedly die, and in a gruesome manner. Only then can His Majesty… be cured.”
The sealed room fell into a deathly silence.
Bai Xiao staggered a step and leaned against the cold wall, feeling a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
A person of the opposite sex with whom you had intimate contact? Willingly ingesting another poison? Trading one's life for another?
How harsh and cruel these conditions are!
Yuwen Che's harem had long been cleaned up by him. Besides Su Luoxue, who else was there?
Are we to tell Yuwen Che that if he wants to live, he has to exchange Su Luoxue's life for his?
Or should he tell Su Luoxue that if A-Che wants to save you, you have to die?
What kind of fucking idiot solution is this?!
Bai Xiao slammed his fist against the wall, blood instantly seeping from his knuckles, but he felt no pain, only boundless anger and coldness.
"Who else knows about this?" he asked in a hoarse voice.
"Apart from my subordinates and the two senior officials in charge of consulting ancient books, no one else knows. I have ordered them to keep quiet."
“Well done.” Bai Xiao took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “This matter must not be known to anyone else, especially His Majesty and the Empress! Investigate! Find out the source of this poison at all costs! Who, how, and when administered the poison to His Majesty! Also, go to Nanzhao! Go find it! I don’t believe there is only one cure!”
"Yes!" The shadow guard acknowledged the order and quickly disappeared.
Inside the secret room, Bai Xiao was alone, looking at his bleeding hand with an extremely grim expression.
Heart-Eating Gu... A life for a life...
Yuwen Che, you're really in deep trouble this time. And Su Luoxue… the woman Yuwen Che values more than his own life… if she knew… what would she choose?
Bai Xiao dared not think any further.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
