Chang Yuan didn’t know if Er Sheng had contracted the corpse poison. Her words seemed less about fearing transformation into a walking corpse and more about being afraid he would abandon her. He had heard the cultivators say that one only turned into a walking corpse after being bitten – Er Sheng had merely been splattered with brain matter. Could that cause transformation?
He closed his eyes to rest, waiting until Er Sheng’s breathing became steady and deep. Only then did he take her hand, examining it in the blue light filtering through the barrier outside the window. He discovered a black mass writhing beneath the skin of her palm, like a worm squirming under the surface.
This appearance matched stories Si Ming had told him about “gu” parasites.
He gently pressed the slightly raised area. The black mass trembled violently, and Er Sheng let out a muffled groan of discomfort.
It was indeed gu. Chang Yuan frowned. Er Sheng said she had blown up a walking corpse’s head, but even if she were infected, it should have been corpse poison. How did she contract gu instead?
Unless… there was no corpse poison at all, and these walking corpses were manufactured by the gu worms.
If these were gu worms, then there must be someone controlling them. This plague wasn’t a natural disaster, but rather human-made!
Lost in thought, Chang Yuan suddenly heard Er Sheng shout: “Who’s there!” He started, and Er Sheng’s eyes flew open as she sat up, looking around. “Who’s talking?”
“Er Sheng.” Chang Yuan reached out to hold her, but unexpectedly, Er Sheng displayed extraordinary strength, shoving him away and rolling off the bed.
Er Sheng scrambled to her feet, her face taking on an eerie blue tint in the barrier’s light. Her gaze was unfocused as she looked around the room, then suddenly burst out: “Come out! Don’t think you can bully this young lady just because I’m missing a tooth! My speech might whistle, but my fists are solid! Come out!”
Chang Yuan suddenly thought that when Er Sheng regained consciousness, the first thing he needed to tell her was that proper young ladies shouldn’t refer to themselves as “young ladies” – it made one sound old. If one must use such terms, one should call others “turtle descendants” instead.
Of course, Si Ming had told him this before.
Before Chang Yuan could dwell on this thought much longer, there came a loud knocking at the door. Before he could speak, Er Sheng shouted: “Finally showing yourself! Get in here!” She rushed to throw open the door. Outside stood several immortal masters, their eyes wide with shock.
“Damn it! No!” Er Sheng slammed the door violently. “Bastard! Come out! Stop it! Stop making noise!”
Many immortal masters had gathered at the door, all silent as cicadas in winter, watching Er Sheng pace back and forth in agitation, nearly overturning tables.
“What’s happening?”
A cool voice fell upon them as Ji Ling approached, wearing an outer robe. Seeing Er Sheng’s state, she frowned, then moved in a flash, striking precisely at Er Sheng’s neck. Er Sheng turned to face her, defiantly flaring her nostrils: “Flat-chest! I’m not afraid of you!” Then her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Even the night wind seemed to fall silent for a moment.
Ji Ling stared expressionlessly at Er Sheng on the ground, then swept her cold gaze over the crowd of people struggling to maintain straight faces: “What are you doing? Don’t want to sleep anymore?”
At these words, the crowd at the door dispersed immediately.
Ji Ling turned to ask Chang Yuan: “What happened?”
Chang Yuan shook his head: “We’ll ask her tomorrow when she wakes. It seems she heard something.”
Ji Ling nodded, grabbed Er Sheng’s collar to lift her, and said while walking out: “If you can’t watch her, I’ll keep an eye on her tonight.”
Chang Yuan considered for a moment and didn’t object, but just as Ji Ling was about to close the door, he softly said: “Children’s words are innocent. Er Sheng is just a bit too honest.”
Too honest… Closing the door, Ji Ling’s veins throbbed twice on her hand. Too honest…
You two… are truly perfectly matched.
After carrying Er Sheng back to her room, Ji Ling tied her to the bed, wrapping the demon-binding rope three full turns. She lay down beside Er Sheng, thought for a moment, then turned to her side and squeezed Er Sheng’s chest. After a few squeezes, she let out a contemptuous snort: “Just the same as mine.”
She had forgotten that Er Sheng wasn’t even fourteen yet…
When Er Sheng woke the next morning, she clearly had no memory of what she had done the night before. When she saw Ji Ling sleeping beside her and found herself bound with three loops of rope, her face went white: “Where’s Chang Yuan? Where is he? Immortal Lady, why am I tied up? Did Chang Yuan leave?”
Ji Ling rubbed her eyes, also waking up, and gave her a bland look: “Are you clear-headed now?” With these words, she lightly flicked the rope, and the demon-binding cord came undone.
Er Sheng rushed out without hesitation, heading straight for Chang Yuan’s room. Pushing open the door and seeing a bulging figure on the bed, she threw herself on it without thinking, nuzzling against the blanket and refusing to let go.
As soon as Chang Yuan saw Er Sheng, he told her what he had been pondering since yesterday. After listening, Er Sheng nodded solemnly, promising never to refer to herself as “young lady” again. Chang Yuan patted her head, looking very pleased.
This was the warm scene that greeted Ji Ling and the three immortal masters when they entered.
Disturbing such an intimate moment made the ascetic Daoists somewhat uncomfortable. After several polite coughs, they finally settled down to discuss important matters.
When Er Sheng heard about her actions from the previous night, she was stunned for a long while. She said, “I did hear someone calling me, constantly telling me to do things, but I thought I was dreaming. I remember seeing nothing but wild countryside…”
Ji Ling’s eyes flashed: “Who called you? What did they want you to do?”
“I don’t know who it was,” Er Sheng’s expression was confused. “It was a man’s voice, slightly hoarse. He kept telling me to go north, to the woods behind the village.”
“What village?”
“My village, to find a place called Return Dragon Valley in the woods.”
Chang Yuan started: “Return Dragon Valley?”
Er Sheng nodded: “He kept telling me to go there.”
Everyone was silent for a moment before Ji Ling suddenly said: “Ancient legends say Return Dragon Valley was a dragon’s burial ground, covered in immortality grass. Eating it could grant eternal life.”
Chang Yuan gave Ji Ling a bland look: “There’s nothing like that there.”
A nearby immortal master asked curiously: “Ancient legends can’t be verified. How can you be so sure there’s nothing there?”
Chang Yuan fell silent, and Ji Ling continued questioning: “Did anything happen yesterday that you haven’t told us about?”
Er Sheng looked back at Chang Yuan, and seeing him nod slightly, she extended her right hand to show Ji Ling: “Yesterday, before you arrived, I blew up a walking corpse’s head. Everything was fine at first, but in the afternoon these black things started growing.”
The four gathered around to examine Er Sheng’s hand carefully. One asked, “You blew up a walking corpse’s head?” seemingly in disbelief.
Their skepticism was understandable. Walking corpses were three times stronger than ordinary adult men – how could a young girl with no immortal cultivation defeat such monsters?
His tone annoyed Er Sheng, who quickly retorted: “Chang Yuan taught me magic! If there hadn’t been two attacking me at once, I would have been amazing!”
The man glanced at Chang Yuan, knowing he must be someone formidable, and stopped questioning further.
Ji Ling examined the hand carefully for a long time before finally frowning: “In all my years of cultivation, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The other two also expressed their puzzlement.
Finally, a voice came from the bed: “It’s a gu worm.”
The immortal masters were startled, then gathered around Er Sheng’s hand again for closer inspection: “So this is the gu worm mentioned in ancient immortal texts? It does look similar, but gu worms have become extremely rare in the world today. Only the King of Yue in the Southern Borderlands is said to still keep a few.”
Ji Ling looked for a while, then asked Chang Yuan: “How can you be sure?”
“Gu can disturb one’s mind and control one’s body. When touched by external objects, one can feel it squirming beneath the skin and flesh, causing pain and discomfort to the host.” An immortal master skeptically touched the black area on Er Sheng’s hand lightly, and sure enough, she immediately trembled. Chang Yuan continued, “Don’t touch it too much. To avoid being easily detected, gu worms usually burrow deep into the body, making them hard to notice. Er Sheng said she wasn’t bitten by the walking corpse, only blew up its head. Perhaps this Gu lived in the walking corpse’s brain and then burrowed into Er Sheng’s palm. I suspect this so-called plague isn’t a natural disaster at all, but deliberately caused by someone planting gu in people, controlling them, making them serve their purposes.”
These words shocked everyone.
Ji Ling was the first to recover: “Are you certain of this?”
“It’s just speculation,” Chang Yuan said. “Catch a walking corpse and open its skull to confirm.”
Ji Ling gave an immortal master a look, and he immediately understood, leaving at once. She then asked: “According to what you say, the gu worm should crawl deep into the host’s body as soon as it enters. Why is this one still under the skin?”
Chang Yuan shook his head, saying he didn’t know. But Er Sheng suddenly exclaimed: “I know, I know! It must be because I grew up eating insects! This Gu worm is just an insect, right? It must be afraid that while crawling to my brain, I’ll suck it up and eat it! Haha!”
Ji Ling and the other two immortal masters’ lips twitched slightly, but Chang Yuan nodded seriously: “I see.”
This made the other three feel even more helpless.
Er Sheng jumped up excitedly: “So that means since this worm stayed in my palm, once it’s removed I won’t turn into a walking corpse? If I don’t become a walking corpse, I won’t be killed! Then I can stay with Chang Yuan forever, haha!” After laughing for a while, Er Sheng stopped abruptly. “Wait, if I’m not turning into a walking corpse, why did I hear those voices?”
Chang Yuan explained: “When gu worms enter a body, the person behind this must give commands to the worms to control the ‘walking corpses.’ You can hear his voice probably because the gu worm is in your body, but you weren’t controlled likely because it didn’t crawl deep inside you.”
Er Sheng understood and felt anger rising: “This turtle descendant’s worm made me miserable all day. Just wait till I dig you out, crush you, and eat you.”
“You must not.” Ji Ling held Er Sheng back, her expression grave. “If this walking corpse problem is true as Master Chang Yuan describes, then the person behind this must have more terrifying ambitions. The words you heard, other walking corpses must have heard the same. We can deduce this person’s identity and ultimate goals from their commands, and plan our response accordingly.”
Er Sheng blinked in confusion: “What do you mean?”
Ji Ling also blinked at Er Sheng for a moment, finally releasing the sigh she’d been holding in her chest. She rubbed her temples, doubting her ability to communicate clearly for the first time: “That is… that is…”
“They want your help,” Chang Yuan translated, “to catch the person releasing the gu worms and eliminate the root of the problem.”
Er Sheng understood again, her eyes widening with excitement: “You want my help? Can I help the immortals kill the big villain? How can I help? Tell me.”
Ji Ling immediately said: “Sit quietly in the room and tell us everything you hear.”
“Okay, no problem. What else?”
“That’s all.” Ji Ling turned to instruct another immortal master: “Burn the talisman paper for requesting help from the Immortal Lord, inform him of our situation here.”
The man frowned reluctantly: “Is that appropriate? After all, we came down the mountain for training…”
“If we didn’t know there was someone behind this walking corpse crisis, I would never seek help. But… if I’m not mistaken, these walking corpses are seeking the legendary Return Dragon Valley for its immortality grass. If walking corpses eat such things and become truly immortal, what in this world could stand against them? And the person controlling these walking corpses would undoubtedly have an unstoppable army at their command. Think about it – with such a massive, powerful army, what could their ambitions be?”
The immortal master broke out in a cold sweat: “I’ll inform the Immortal Lord at once.”
After he left, Ji Ling turned to bow to Chang Yuan: “Thank you for telling us these clues. However, gu worms haven’t been seen in the world for hundreds of years. How does Master Chang Yuan know of such things?”
“A friend told me.” He looked at Er Sheng, who was now sitting upright in her chair, ears pricked to catch any surrounding sounds.
Si Ming, who governed the fate of all things, naturally understood the characteristics of everything. She had once laughingly told Chang Yuan that the fate of each arranged person must contain one or two peculiar things to make their life exciting. As a result, while Chang Yuan knew little of common knowledge, he understood quite a few strange and unusual things.
Ji Ling nodded without further questions. She instructed the remaining immortal master to stay with Er Sheng, record everything she said, and if the gu worm in her body acted up, extract and seal it. With that, she too left the room.