Lang Jiuchuan would never underestimate any Gu practitioner. They had hundreds upon hundreds of venomous insects to scheme with, making it nearly impossible to guard against them — especially someone capable of refining Corpse-Rotting Gu. This kind of sinister Gu required using an innocent little girl as a container for nurturing the insects, which was more than enough proof that this woman had absolutely no moral bottom line. Human lives meant less than weeds to her — less, even, than the insects she kept.

So when she learned this woman would be coming, Lang Jiuchuan had made thorough preparations. From the moment she stepped into the courtyard, she had already entered the formation. To find the Gate of Life, one would first have to destroy the Fuwu guarding it.

And from the moment the little witch entered the room, Lang Jiuchuan had not relaxed for even a fraction of a second. Sure enough, when the other party began questioning her with an air of innocent grievance, the Scarlet Serpent Gu coiled around her body slithered over without a sound, trying to seize the initiative and catch her off guard in a single strike.

What a pity. The little witch had schemes, but Lang Jiuchuan was no naive rabbit herself — she had a few hundred tricks up her own sleeve. Knowing this little witch-girl carried poison all over her body, she had used talisman arts to form a protective membrane around herself, to prevent the other party from flinging some cluster of bug eggs at her.

Look at that — her caution had been well-placed. Hadn’t a serpent Gu come just as expected?

The Scarlet Serpent Gu was red all over, crimson as blood, small as a chain link. A single light bite would send its venom surging through the meridians into every limb and bone, scorching through the body like raging flames. The heart would grow numb, yet death would not come immediately — instead, blisters would begin erupting from around the waist, spreading in rings like an ordinary snake girdling the torso, bringing not only itching but pain and searing heat. And after that, scales like snakeskin would begin to grow, the small blood blisters emitting a fishy, putrid snake-stench that would make a person wish for death.

The room had no lamp, yet Lang Jiuchuan’s eyes saw without the slightest obstruction. Standing within the formation she herself had laid, her five senses were extraordinarily acute — she didn’t merely see the Scarlet Serpent Gu; she smelled it too.

The little witch still wanted to feign innocence and muddle her mind?

Then they would both dispense with the rules of fair play!

The instant the Scarlet Serpent Gu drew close, Lang Jiuchuan’s hand shot out with startling speed and pinched it at its vital point — the seven-inch mark. When it twisted its head to bite at her hand, her intention stirred, and a savage force more scorching than the Scarlet Serpent Gu itself blazed out from her palm.

The overwhelming intimidating force caused that insufferably arrogant Scarlet Serpent Gu to instantly go limp as a length of chain, dangling as she swung it up and down — utterly without the strength to resist.

At the same time, she flicked a hand seal at the little witch — with the Dao as her intention — and sent a slap spinning across her face.

Commonly known as: no need to pick an auspicious day to beat you.

By the time the little witch came to her senses, the small paper figure Lang Jiuchuan had prepared in advance grabbed hold of her, animated by her intent. When her mind moved, the paper figure began clawing at the witch’s legs.

This clawing was no ordinary tickling — the Dao intent transformed into fierce killing energy that raked into the meridians of her legs, sending searing, bone-deep pain through her.

Lang Jiuchuan had previously been drained of strength; it wasn’t that she lacked any counter-attacking ability at all. But the other party was a Gu practitioner, and in the use of Gu, she was far less specialized than her opponent. So her only recourse was to set up several more moves in advance.

Draw a formation as a prison. Fuwu suppresses the formation as a precaution. Paper figures serve as assistants. One ring linked to the next, encircling and strangling her.

Underhanded?

Lang Jiuchuan privately considered this to be simply not fighting an unprepared battle. When there was no time, one had no choice but to brute-force it. When there was time, one naturally chose the easier way to fight.

She swung the Scarlet Serpent Gu and came to stand before the Spirit Witch, then snapped her fingers. Poof.

A candleflame ignited.

The two faced each other.

The Spirit Witch saw the brightest, most dazzling, most vivid pair of eyes she had ever encountered. They were beautiful enough to stir in her a fierce, almost compulsive urge to destroy them. Yet at the same time, they shone so brilliantly that they made her feel ashamed of herself — as though all scheming and cunning lay utterly exposed beneath their gaze, with nowhere to hide.

She detested those eyes.

The Spirit Witch dared not admit it, but “detested” was not quite the word. It would be more accurate to say she was afraid.

She was afraid.

Lang Jiuchuan, meanwhile, took stock of the Spirit Witch. This person seemed to be very fond of red — a full red dress, all her accessories red as well. Twin buns tied with red silk ribbons. Small bells dangling from her earlobes, also red. Red bracelets on her wrists. At her waist hung a red ceramic jar, along with a sleeve pouch.

Lang Jiuchuan’s ears were exceptionally sharp. She heard a faint rustling from inside the ceramic jar and knew it must contain the Spirit Witch’s Gu insects.

Setting aside the few red welts from where her face had been smacked and swollen, this person was actually quite delicately pretty — she appeared to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old. Yet her bone structure was utterly inconsistent with her apparent age.

“An old witch masquerading as a little girl, using such a harmless appearance to deceive people,” Lang Jiuchuan said. “What a pity — no matter how exquisite the shell, it cannot conceal the vicious, twisted heart beneath. To use a girl of only a few years as a Gu-nurturing vessel — how did you dare?”

The Spirit Witch replied in a coquettish, saccharine tone: “What do you know? The younger they are, the greater their resentment when they die. Once the Corpse-Rotting Gu devours the soul at the peak of that resentment, its power grows even stronger.”

Lang Jiuchuan’s gaze turned cold. Her voice was sweet as honey-soaked silk, but the words that came from her lips were like knives barbed with hooked thorns — venomous through and through.

Snap.

Lang Jiuchuan applied force with her hand and broke the Scarlet Flame Gu in two. Simultaneously, flames leapt from her palm and burned the serpent’s body clean away. She clicked her tongue: “My apologies — I used a little too much force.”

So then, reveal your techniques. Bring out your life-bonded Gu — that’s the only way I can properly kill you!

Indeed, every Gu practitioner would refine a life-bonded Gu — one that was equivalent to a second life, bound to the practitioner in fate and shared in suffering. If the life-bonded Gu perished, the Gu practitioner would not be far behind.

“Ah, my little crimson one! Demoness! You ruined my plans, killed my little crimson one, and you hit me — you deserve to die!” The Spirit Witch’s fingertips brushed the ceramic jar at her waist.

In an instant, a wisp of red smoke shot out and flew straight for Lang Jiuchuan’s face.

The red smoke condensed in midair into a small golden-red serpent. In the candlelight, it was both more beautiful and more terrifying than the Scarlet Flame Gu — golden-red all over, with two heads. One eye was gold, the other red. Its forked tongue darted out sharp as an arrow, keen and ice-cold.

“Golden Scale, devour her soul — your power will surely grow boundless.” The Spirit Witch stared at Lang Jiuchuan with greedy eyes. She could sense that this detestable wretch’s soul must be extraordinarily sweet and fragrant, for it carried the golden light of karmic virtue — just like her master, Gu Granny.

If Golden Scale swallowed her, its power would become limitless, beyond anyone’s ability to challenge!

Gu Granny had made her life-bonded Golden Scale what it was. So this person — let her simply become the catalyst to elevate the Golden Scale to sovereignty.

“Is a Golden Scale some creature meant to languish in a pond? Nonsense!” Lang Jiuchuan gave a cold laugh and flung a thunderous force talisman at the Golden Scale: “Vajra Thunder — Kill!”

Boom!

The thunder talisman detonated. The Golden Scale let out a sharp shriek like a newborn’s wail, then coiled and undulated in a dragon-like twist, its body suddenly swelling to enormous size. Its tail coiled around the Spirit Witch, pinning her helpless on the ground, while its upper body reared upright, one serpent head opening its enormous maw to lunge at Lang Jiuchuan.

But this was only a feint.

Its gaping mouth shot out its forked tongue, and the venom transformed into red smoke, spraying at Lang Jiuchuan.

Sizzle. Sizzle. Sizzle.

The mist fell upon the wall, which began corroding with a hissing sound. What a domineering poison — even the wall itself could fall victim.

“My turn!” Lang Jiuchuan appeared behind the serpent’s head — she didn’t know quite when — her jade-bone talisman brush transformed into a blade, which she brought slashing horizontally across the serpent’s head: “Divine Authority Descends from Heaven — Sever Evil!”