After being nourished by Qin Jianglan’s spiritual energy and being gently rubbed and caressed all over, Su Zhuyi felt that the wound on her waist was much better.

Her face was also a bit red—not the deliberately feigned shyness from before, but a strange reaction. With her thick skin, would she feel shy? Even she wouldn’t believe it if she said it out loud.

That hand finished rubbing her waist wound and moved to her arm, traveling up along her arm. Her clothes were tattered, and that ice-cold palm pressed against her wrist and moved upward, finally resting lightly on her shoulder.

The fabric on her shoulder had long been damaged, providing no coverage. The external wound had already healed, appearing white and smooth, like touching silk satin.

Su Zhuyi chuckled twice in her heart, licked her dry, cracked lips with her tongue, and smiled: “What, so impatient?”

One of her hands was twisted behind her back by him, and her movable hand was pressed down at the shoulder by his other hand. Even so, she still lightly tugged at his sleeve with her fingers: “But I still have things to do.”

Qin Jianglan’s fall into demonic cultivation was distinctive—he didn’t have towering resentment and murderous aura, but his body carried an aura of death. He was also cold, but cold in a completely different way from Qinghe.

His was the coldness of dead things, like the deathly silent True Spirit Realm within the Liuguang Mirror.

Su Zhuyi knew he had liked her before and should still like her now, right? But having fallen into demonic cultivation, whether he liked her and whether he was willing to do things for her were two different matters. Just like before on the Wangtian Tree, he had liked her then too, but wouldn’t agree to her requests or let her leave.

She found Qin Jianglan’s thoughts even more unfathomable now. Falling into demonic cultivation was different from being a demonic cultivator. Those who fell into demonic cultivation had unstable emotions and were easily influenced by resentment and murderous aura, becoming weapons of pure slaughter without consciousness. But if he didn’t have this murderous and bloody aura, would he directly become a dead thing? Or was he already a dead thing now?

Su Zhuyi felt she couldn’t completely understand Qin Jianglan’s current state.

She had said several sentences already, and he still hadn’t made a sound.

Su Zhuyi’s gaze moved away from his face and caught sight of the mirror floating beside him. In the mirror, she saw herself disheveled, face covered in blood, eyes swollen. Her expression immediately changed. She had always thought herself beautiful, and even in distress and dejection, her appearance wouldn’t be diminished, but…

She was overthinking it.

Just as she was about to tidy up her appearance, she heard him say: “Do you know about Qing Gu?”

“Of course. Those afflicted with the curse will fall in love with the one who cast it.” She sneered, “Why are you looking at me like that? I never put a curse on you.”

I wouldn’t need to use a curse!

“You’ve been afflicted with Qing Gu. Forgot?” Qin Jianglan didn’t hide anything. He gazed intently at Su Zhuyi and asked.

Su Zhuyi was stunned. “How is that possible! I’m very knowledgeable about curse insects, especially Qing Gu. I absolutely wouldn’t be cursed without knowing it.” In her previous life, because of what Miaoshe Shiqi had said at the end, she had searched everywhere for information about Qing Gu and understood it very thoroughly. That demon flood dragon Miaoshe Shiqi did have Qing Gu on him, but it was just insect eggs, still small white dots. For them to grow enough to control someone of her late Golden Core cultivation, they would need at least ten more years of nurturing. Could it be that besides Miaoshe Shiqi, someone else had also successfully raised Qing Gu?

Moreover, the key issue was—I haven’t fallen in love with anyone! She knew Qin Jianglan liked her, so she only said this in her heart.

I only love myself, she thought.

“What if it’s insect eggs?” Qin Jianglan’s hand pressed on her shoulder, gently kneading a few times. Only then did Su Zhuyi feel a bit of warmth in his palm.

“Insect eggs?”

“For Qing Gu to mature, first the mother insect must be powerful—if the mother insect is strong, the eggs will be stronger too. But Qing Gu feeds on emotion, specifically on humans’ intense emotions as food. So, to let a Qing Gu mature, the cursed person must also be very emotional. If they’re insect eggs, the person must also be extremely weak for the eggs to find an opportunity.” Su Zhuyi smiled, “Do you think I fit that description?”

Qin Jianglan released the hand that had been restraining her arm, then gently covered her eyes with his palm, asking in a soft, gentle voice: “Why did you cry?”

Qin Jianglan’s voice was usually calm and emotionless, but that gentle tone made Su Zhuyi somewhat bewildered, as if a pure white feather had fallen into the heart of a lake, creating extremely faint ripples.

Threads of coolness flowed into her eyes, like a gentle breeze passing by, ice and snow lightly applied, making her uncomfortable eyes feel much better.

Why did she cry?

Because of sadness, because of despair?

“Because I exhausted all my strength trying to preserve their lives, trying to defy destiny, but it was still useless. Luo Ying still died, Qinghe will still disappear together with the Longquan Sword…” That palm covered her eyes. Her face was small, and half of it was covered. His obstruction prevented her from seeing the outside world, leaving no light before her eyes, placing her in a silent, soundless darkness. In her ears, there was only her calm, hoarse voice: “I thought I had done a lot, but the truth is, I accomplished nothing…”

“You have deep feelings for them.”

“No, I just wanted to use them to fight against destiny. I was reborn, and the Heavenly Dao wants to erase me, too. And I want to change this situation.” Su Zhuyi said slowly.

She had only lost her emotions, not her memories.

She remembered that she had once wanted to save Qin Jianglan, to rescue him, and firmly refused to let Qin Chuan replace him.

But she couldn’t figure out why she had done all that. Whether Qin Jianglan lived or died, remembered or forgot—was it that important to her?

Su Zhuyi felt that everything she had done before was foolish and inexplicable, yet she vaguely felt that she had liked Qin Jianglan at that time, just that she didn’t like him now.

She was somewhat confused, yet subconsciously felt this was natural.

It wasn’t normal for her to risk her life loving someone—it was like being cursed.

She still remembered everything else, only forgetting that she had been afflicted with Qing Gu. That Qing Gu had also disappeared within her body upon maturation, turning into a teardrop and vanishing without a trace. The blood-red thin line on her wrist and that enchanting flower were both gone, as if they had never existed.

“What if you were afflicted with Qing Gu?”

“You mean me?” Su Zhuyi was slightly stunned. “The one who cast the curse must activate the insect for the cursed person to be controlled.”

Qin Jianglan’s gaze was cold and deep. He didn’t understand curse insects as well as Su Zhuyi—he only knew a little about Qing Gu.

Kill Miaoshe Shiqi and never give him a chance to activate the cursed insect.

“However, even if the cursed insect is never activated, the cursed person won’t fall in love with anyone else. When they meet the one who cursed them, they’ll still fall in love at first sight.” Since Qin Jianglan kept bringing up Qing Gu, could she have been cursed?

“Of course, if one’s cultivation is far superior to that cursed insect, it doesn’t matter.” She shrugged. “Though Qing Gu is disgusting, its practicality is quite good. But this kind of curse is most vicious for those with love and affection in their hearts—for others, it’s not that terrifying. There aren’t many who cultivate this type of curse insect, so for nearly a thousand years, no Qing Gu has appeared in the world.”

With that kind of effort, raising other powerful curse insects would be much better. Going through all that trouble just to make someone love only oneself—Su Zhuyi thought those who raised Qing Gu had something wrong with their brains.

Miaoshe Shiqi…

So she had never really liked Miaoshe Shiqi, though the main reason was that he wouldn’t teach her to raise curse insects.

“What if the one who cast the curse is killed?”

Su Zhuyi glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “After asking so much, can you help me with a small favor later?”

“I’ll go find Qinghe.” Qin Jianglan looked at her steadily and said directly without waiting for her to speak.

Very good, very understanding.

“Then, regardless of whether the cursed insect has been activated, the cursed person will despair completely and commit suicide. Of course, if one’s cultivation is far superior to both the one who cast the curse and the grade of the matured curse insect at that time, this can still be resisted.” Seeing him agree so readily while asking so carefully, Su Zhuyi felt a bit uneasy.

So, although Qing Gu existed, it wasn’t suitable for use when the target was much stronger than oneself.

Otherwise, in her previous life, at least ten thousand female cultivators would have tried every means to obtain Qing Gu to use on Qin Jianglan.

Although the Miao Gu Village didn’t emerge from seclusion, those powerful cultivators who wanted to seek curses could still find ways. Didn’t that woman surnamed Hua from Yunxiao Sect go seek Beauty Gu? As long as one could pay the price, they could obtain the desired curse insects. Even lost ones might not be impossible to obtain.

In her previous life, there were quite a few female cultivators who had been infatuated with Qin Jianglan.

The question was—had she been afflicted with Qing Gu?

…

Hearing Su Zhuyi’s explanation, Qin Jianglan’s lips curved slightly, and the pressure in his heart lessened considerably.

Very good—he would never let Miaoshe Shiqi appear before her.

He would urge her to heal her injuries and cultivate properly. When her cultivation far exceeded Miaoshe Shiqi and that matured curse insect, she wouldn’t be affected by that curse insect anymore. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what grade that matured curse insect that had disappeared within her body was.

“Qin Jianglan…” After Qin Jianglan released his hand, Su Zhuyi immediately turned around and threw herself directly into his embrace, pressing her face against his chest, her fingers drawing circles on his chest. “Qinghe took away Master’s remains. I’m afraid he’s thought of a way to perish together with the Longquan Sword.”

“I’ll take you to find him.”

“You know where he is?”

Qin Jianglan slightly raised his head, gazing into the distance.

How could he not know? That Longquan Sword’s resentment reached the sky—he could see the black mist in the distance that covered even the sky.

“I know.”

“I’ll take you there.”

Su Zhuyi breathed a slight sigh of relief. She was a bit puzzled—when the Liuguang Mirror had been in her body before, any slight movement would cause lightning and thunder in the sky because she was someone brought back by the Liuguang Mirror, a person from outside the Heavenly Dao. Qin Jianglan should also belong to someone outside the Heavenly Dao, so why, when they emerged, only a single bolt of lightning appeared, and he had directly split it apart?

He was indeed very powerful—he had been the world’s number one back then.

Could it be that now he was close to the God Transformation stage? With cultivation far exceeding hers, she couldn’t sense it at all.

While pondering, her feet suddenly left the ground.

Qin Jianglan had lifted her in a princess carry!

He was taking her there, not carrying her on sword flight, but carrying her like this?

“The Songfeng Sword is still a bit disobedient.” Qin Jianglan lowered his head and explained.

Songfeng Sword: “…”