The two gu insects danced and intertwined in the purple smoke, occasionally finding a place to rest with their wings flapping loudly.

Broken Sword: “…”

Both gu insects had considerable strength. Sword Ancestor was currently a broken sword with weak sword qi. While it could easily suppress flying swords, suppressing gu insects was much more difficult. It was also afraid the gu insects might return to Su Zhuyi’s body—that Netherworld Gu was invisible and formless, able to easily penetrate any defense. Su Zhuyi was so weak now that she couldn’t defend against it at all.

So sensing Su Zhuyi’s somewhat worried gaze, Sword Ancestor silently endured.

Broken Sword: “When we get out, soak me in a spirit spring and scatter lots of flower petals…”

This was the first time Su Zhuyi had heard Sword Ancestor say such a long sentence, leaving her somewhat flattered.

But she didn’t dare relax right now, still staring intently at every move of the gu insects and Miaoshe Shiqi.

Though an insect had flown out from her body, there wasn’t a single wound on her skin. After the Netherworld Gu left, her body was no longer as feverish and unbearable as before. Earlier, it had been like being poisoned with aphrodisiac powder—that feeling was uncomfortable. Not only was her body soft and weak, but her mind wasn’t clear either. Scenes of her time with Qin Jianglan kept floating before her eyes, which was extremely detrimental to her concentration. If Qin Jianglan hadn’t been in the Liuguang Mirror for her divine sense to caress for a while, she probably couldn’t have controlled herself by now.

Fortunately, now that the insect had flown out, those strange sensations disappeared with it.

Miaoshe Shiqi was still playing the ocarina to control the gu. Su Zhuyi locked onto him and the gu insects firmly with her divine sense, not relaxing in the slightest. After waiting a full hour, the white butterfly spread its wings in an embracing posture. Then the flesh gu from Miaoshe Shiqi’s body emerged again. The flesh gu had recovered considerably—though its surface was still somewhat pitted, it was incomparably better than when she’d last seen it. The flesh gu wrapped up both the Longevity Gu and Netherworld Gu, then gradually shrank until it became a small white dot before returning to Miaoshe Shiqi. It didn’t drill back into Miaoshe Shiqi’s body but instead landed on the ruby eye of the golden cicada in the center of his silver circlet.

After the flesh gu returned, Miaoshe Shiqi put down the ocarina and looked at Su Zhuyi: “Done.”

Su Zhuyi felt relieved.

The strand of divine sense she’d sent out was still clinging to Qin Jianglan reluctantly, but ultimately she hadn’t been affected by the two gu insects’ mating. Miaoshe Shiqi had played this move very smoothly—if her willpower had been weaker, she would have fallen for it and desperately clung to him seeking pleasure.

Even just skin contact or a couple of face-to-face kisses—Su Zhuyi didn’t dare think about it. With this type of gu master, his entire body could have gu. Not making skin contact was fine, but if there was truly intimate contact, there would be no way to defend against it. In her previous life, she’d been interested in learning gu techniques and treated Miaoshe Shiqi very well. The two had fought together through life and death in the Southern Border, and she’d often roasted meat to please him, looking at him with tender affection, yet she’d never dared have any skin contact with him.

Su Zhuyi would dress very seductively and beautifully in front of other people, but during those years with Miaoshe Shiqi in her previous life should have been when she dressed most conservatively, wrapping herself up tightly and not daring to expose anywhere except her face. The situation of wearing thin gauze and swaying around in front of Qin Jianglan had never occurred. So seducing him back then had been very tiring—she had to make him feel she liked him, yet didn’t dare expose her body. All her seduction relied on gazes and voice, looking at him with tender affection, calling out “Shiqi” in a slightly husky voice…

Her later ability to make men stare blankly with just a flirtatious glance was probably trained during that time…

Actually, she’d forgotten many things from before, but now, as contact brought them back to the surface, Su Zhuyi felt that she’d only been over a hundred years old then, still quite weak. Miaoshe Shiqi should have been one of her early sources of support.

She had ambition.

She was more afraid of death.

People who’d walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood particularly cherished life. Though she very much wanted to learn gu techniques, she still felt life was most important. She treated him well and acted as if she liked him very much. However, in the end, Miaoshe Shiqi said she didn’t love him, then he returned to Miaogu Stronghold and never came out again.

She’d learned some gu techniques from Miaoshe Shiqi and could use hand-held ocarinas to control gu, but Miaoshe Shiqi had never taught her Miaogu Stronghold’s secret gu-raising techniques. As a result, though Su Zhuyi later knew how to control and defend against gu, she never learned to raise gu. Gu insects used well were incredibly powerful, making them impossible to guard against, but unfortunately, she never learned to raise them. So in her previous life, she didn’t like this person deep down.

Because she felt she’d exhausted her efforts but hadn’t gotten what she wanted.

She didn’t like him now either.

Because he hadn’t killed Su Qingxun.

…The reason was just that simple.

“That sharkskin robe is meant for men to wear.” Miaoshe Shiqi looked at Su Zhuyi and said indifferently.

Does he want to steal the treasure?

Su Zhuyi grinned: “I can give it to my man to wear.”

“You have a dao companion?” He still held the stone ocarina in his hand, no expression on his face, but his fingers unconsciously applied two more degrees of pressure.

Su Zhuyi hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Hehe.” Miaoshe Shiqi laughed twice more. Though there was still a bonfire in front of him with warm, bright firelight, Su Zhuyi heard bone-chilling coldness in that voice. Her divine sense caught sight of his two fingers rubbing slightly. Su Zhuyi’s pupils contracted, and her heart tensed—she understood him very well. Su Zhuyi knew Miaoshe Shiqi wanted to kill someone.

She was currently seriously injured and hadn’t recovered, while Miaoshe Shiqi had gained one—no, counting the silver one, that was two gu insects. His strength had greatly increased. For her to escape now would be pure fantasy. Su Zhuyi’s eyes turned as she was about to speak: “Isn’t Shiqi my future dao companion?”

But Miaoshe Shiqi suddenly moved, making Su Zhuyi swallow her words. She felt somewhat uncertain, really unable to gauge his current mood, not daring to speak rashly anymore.

Miaoshe Shiqi glanced coldly at Su Zhuyi, then used a tree branch to poke at the bonfire in front of him. After poking a few times, he threw the branch into the fire, then said: “You should go.”

“While I haven’t changed my mind yet.”

…

Su Zhuyi immediately stood up, pulled out the Broken Sword, and left.

Miaoshe Shiqi showed a look of bewilderment, then lowered his eyelashes and suddenly smiled.

His skin was very pale, pale as if powdered, only gaining a trace of a living person’s aura under the firelight’s reflection. That smile was very deep, even bringing out dimples in his cheeks. A trace of blood also flowed down from beside his ear, swaying at the dimple before flowing down his chin and dripping onto the back of his hand that held the stone ocarina.

His Longevity Gu hadn’t reached molting time yet. But he’d just forcibly played the gu-controlling melody, using purple smoke to make the Longevity Gu mature into a butterfly for courtship, drawing the Netherworld Gu out from Su Zhuyi’s body. But when the Longevity Gu matured and molted, his cultivation would plummet. Having just scared her away was quite good.

Miaoshe Shiqi leaned against the cave’s stone platform. His complexion appeared somewhat weary, and the aura on his body gradually weakened. After a moment, his cultivation realm had already dropped to Golden Core. Originally, he had important matters to attend to, and the drop in cultivation was extremely disadvantageous to him. However, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he’d been possessed to save her.

After resting with closed eyes for a quarter hour, Miaoshe Shiqi flipped his hand, and pink powder fell from his sleeve. He rubbed it twice, producing a pink fragrance. Then a stone not far away was lifted, and a person slowly crawled out from underneath.

That was his favorite sitting spot from before. Underneath was a stone coffin he’d planned to use for containing a gu mother.

“Master.” Su Qingxun lowered her brows and bowed her head, standing beside Miaoshe Shiqi.

Su Qingxun’s hands had grown back. She only wore a belly band and white undergarments, her black hair flowing loose without any decorations. The skin exposed outside was as white as frost and snow, her black hair like brocade hanging at her waist. After crawling out from the stone coffin, guided by the fragrance, Su Qingxun knelt beside Miaoshe Shiqi, carefully using the silk in her hands to wipe his ear, then brought her lips to his ear and drew a gu insect into her own body.

She looked as if she’d lost consciousness, like a puppet.

When Miaoshe Shiqi didn’t give orders, she just sat there motionless. Though being invaded by gu insects was very painful, she didn’t make a sound, only furrowing her brow slightly with tears shimmering in her eyes.

After a long silence, Miaoshe Shiqi said: “Don’t call me master anymore.”

Su Qingxun’s eyelashes blinked like small fans fluttering, very much like the butterfly the Longevity Gu had transformed into earlier. The butterfly’s wing beats attracted all the Netherworld Gu from her body, merging with the Longevity Gu.

As she blinked, the tears filling her eyes finally rolled down. Miaoshe Shiqi looked at that crystal clear pearl and thought of the glowing pearl from before. He said, “Call me Shiqi.”

“Yes, Shiqi.”

…

Su Zhuyi left the cave and immediately departed Yunyin Mountain without a moment’s delay. Though she was afraid, she’d also considered gambling once—since she knew he had Longevity Gu, and molting would weaken him and cause his cultivation to plummet, now that the gu insect had molted, maybe he was just putting on a front and would soon be exposed. But Su Zhuyi’s target wasn’t Miaoshe Shiqi to begin with. She had crucial matters weighing on her heart and didn’t want to entangle with him anymore.

After transforming her appearance back to Qin Jianglan’s, Su Zhuyi rode flying treasures back to the Gujian Sect. She had many pills on her and was now taking them all at once to replenish spiritual energy and power the treasure’s flight, not stopping even when passing villages and strongholds.

She ran quickly but wasn’t reckless about it, flying forward carefully and cautiously all the way. Yet she encountered no pursuers. Could it be that Elder Hua from Yunxiao Sect was too busy with his troubles to bother with her?

Before crushing his escape talisman, Elder Hua had been bitten by the silk threads spat by that silver gu insect. She’d forgotten to ask what kind of gu that silver insect was.

Su Zhuyi had never encountered it before and had no idea what that silver gu was.

Miaogu Stronghold’s sacred gu was the golden cicada—could that gu insect be a silver cicada gu?

Anyway, it wasn’t her concern. Su Zhuyi shook her head—don’t think about these chaotic matters. The urgent priority was to go see Master and Senior Brother.

Originally, Su Zhuyi had no idea she’d been unconscious for seven days, and with Senior Brother not responding for so long, she was truly very worried! Please, please don’t let anything go wrong!