Chapter 154: The Living Ancestor of Miao Sorcery and Gu Poison

Lin Xiaosu set her down. Although Yixiang’s legs were still a bit weak, she managed to take a few steps forward, right up to the tombstones.

The tombstones here were unlike those found anywhere else.

Ordinarily, tombstones stood upright, but the ones here were laid flat upon the ground.

Some might wonder: if tombstones are laid flat on the ground, wouldn't they eventually be swallowed by the soil and lost forever? Yet, this very layout held the true mystery of the place.

For the ones buried here belonged to the Gu family lineage.

The Gu family had dabbled in forbidden gu arts, sparking chaos in the Gu-masters' realm of Miaojiang. All eight major sects had suffered together, and the gu of the Gu family had become an absolute taboo.

The ancestors of other clans required their descendants to remember them.

These ones, however, required their descendants to forget.

With their tombstones buried beneath the earth, bringing a permanent end to their era, it was in harmony with the way of gu, the way of humanity, and the way of heaven...

"Are you saying... the forbidden gu master you mentioned, Gu Shan, is buried right here?" A mysterious gleam flickered in Lin Xiaosu's eyes.

"Yes!" Yixiang replied.

"And his grave... could it be that one right there?" Lin Xiaosu pointed toward the tombstone in the very center. It bore no inscriptions and, covered by a layer of soil, looked almost like an ordinary floor tile.

"Yes," Yixiang said. "This graveyard follows the traditional burial customs of the Gu-Miao people: surrounding mountains bow toward a chief peak, and the chief peak belongs exclusively to Gu Shan, not to his disciples."

"It all adds up!" Lin Xiaosu let out a soft breath. "That gu insect crawled down right through here!"

Yixiang trembled from head to toe.

The Corpse-Gu belonged to the lineage of corpse-gu arts.

And corpse-gu was the exclusive signature technique of Gu Shan, a taboo figure from fifty years ago, a technique theoretically extinct by now.

Should it appear once more, there could only be one explanation: someone in Corpse-God Mountain was secretly practicing this forbidden art.

Yet now, an even hundredfold more terrifying possibility had emerged.

For this gu insect had not returned to the residential settlements of Corpse-God Mountain; instead, it had burrowed straight into a grave.

And that grave happened to be Gu Shan's.

Could it be...

Could it be that Gu Shan was not actually dead?

For anyone else to rise from the dead was an utter impossibility.

What about Gu Shan?

Who could say with absolute certainty that he couldn't?

He had even dug his wife, who had been dead for three years, out of the earth to cook for him, do his laundry, and warm his bed—leaving aside the bed-warming part, as a corpse's body could hardly retain warmth...

Was it really so impossible for him to resurrect himself?

For a fleeting moment, a chill crept up Yixiang's spine.

Gu Shan was the very person who had played a game of gu arts against her great-grandfather.

If he was still alive, he was, without a shadow of a doubt, a living ancestor of Miaojiang.

Though she possessed considerable talent in the way of gu, facing an ancestral figure of such magnitude...

"Elder Brother!" Yixiang grabbed Lin Xiaosu's hand. Her fingers were rather cold.

"Things have come to this; the arrow is already nocked on the bow, and we have no choice but to fire!" Lin Xiaosu said. "I know what you're worried about. All I can say is, we will strike together as one!"

Yixiang slowly nodded. "Very well!"

Lin Xiaosu reached down and grabbed the tombstone beneath his feet.

With a heave, the stone flipped over.

Beneath it was a void!

A pitch-black tunnel opening led straight down into the earth.

Lin Xiaosu reached out and wrapped an arm around Yixiang's slender waist.

Yixiang tightly clutched her little turtle.

With a sudden swoosh, the bright daylight vanished, replaced by a gloomy and eerie subterranean tomb.

Yixiang’s heart was beating rapidly. Although she was a legendary figure in the way of gu, her gu were always used to save lives; she had never once engaged in a duel of gu arts against another person.

Before her lay a tomb; she couldn't even clearly discern her surroundings, able only to feel that the man holding her possessed a body of immense warmth.

Lin Xiaosu let out a soft breath. "There are bugs all around here... It's a bit unsettling..."

Bugs?

Yixiang shuddered, lifting her gaze to stare at the cave wall before them.

The wall was damp, covered in numerous pale, damp patches. But at this moment, those patches were moving. Were those patches at all? They were clearly insects!

White insects, about half an inch long, densely packed everywhere.

"Corpse-insects!" Yixiang cried out softly.

Corpse-insects?

Lin Xiaosu felt a sudden chill run down his spine...

He had never seen a corpse-insect before, but they were recorded in the reference materials.

These corpse-insects were a form of gu sorcery, the most venomous of all; a single bite from one meant certain death!

How many tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of corpse-insects were gathered here?

With a single step, they had walked right into the very nest of the corpse-insects.

He wasn't afraid of formidable enemies, but so many tiny bugs, writhing and twisting their bodies like some grotesque dance, were simply sickening to look at...

And soon, it was no longer just sickening; it became terrifying!

The corpse-insects on the cave wall suddenly arched their bodies...

"They're attacking!" Lin Xiaosu reached out, grabbed Yixiang, and prepared to leap straight up to retreat the way they came.

Yixiang said, "Elder Brother, don't worry!"

Her hand suddenly shot forward!

The moment her hand extended, a faint rustling sound echoed across the surrounding cave walls as countless corpse-insects sprang up, shooting toward Lin Xiaosu and Yixiang.

It was like a sudden, violent downpour inside a sealed cavern.

Just as Lin Xiaosu estimated things were about to become quite troublesome, the little turtle in Yixiang's hand suddenly began to glow all over.

A hazy white radiance tore through the darkness of the cave...

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

Countless corpse-insects plunged into the halo of white light, only to instantly stiffen the moment they crossed it, dropping lifelessly to the ground.

Not only corpse-insects, but also a large number of long, green worms—the very same guide-gu that had led them here: the Corpse-Gu.

Lin Xiaosu’s eyes widened as he stared in astonishment at the turtle.

"Little Wu possesses the power to transform death into life and can radiate the breath of vitality from its body. This vitality is the nemesis of the corpse-insects, which represent death," Yixiang explained.

"Let's go!"

The two of them proceeded along a dim underground passage, pressing ever onward.

Unlike before, Yixiang now held a lantern in her hand—a turtle-lamp.

The turtle's radiance grew increasingly brilliant, until eventually, the dark and sunless subterranean depths were illuminated as brightly as a spacious parlor. The surrounding corpse-insects, green corpse-gu, and countless other bizarre, unheard-of exotic bugs, the moment they were touched by this white light, fell one after another, turning rigid the instant they hit the ground.

It wasn't just the brightness of the light; when Lin Xiaosu took a breath, the air was filled with the fragrance of vitality, completely devoid of the dead, stagnant aura of the underworld. This breath, too, emanated from the turtle.

This turtle...

How could one even put it into words?

Right now, however, was not the time for investigation, for a coffin had appeared before them.

The coffin was entirely blood-red. Under the white light of the turtle, it looked as though fresh blood was melting across its surface, creating a scene of utmost terror and horror.

Suddenly, a slight sound came from inside the coffin, and an old man abruptly bolted upright.

A gloomy tomb.

A blood-red coffin.

Amidst boundless silence, an old man resembling a ghost suddenly sat up...

Had an ordinary person witnessed this sight, they undoubtedly would have let out a piercing scream and bolted away. But the newcomers were clearly exceptions; Lin Xiaosu's Heavenly Eye locked firmly onto the old man.

The old man’s face was extremely emaciated, his skin devoid of the slightest trace of blood, and his eyes dull, seemingly lacking pupils altogether. If he remained still, he would be indistinguishable from a corpse whose eyes refused to close in death.

Yet, subtle expressions flickered across the old man's face, slowly shifting beneath the light of the turtle-lamp.

"A divine artifact of life and death transformation! To think such a divine artifact exists in this world..." The old man's voice was hoarse, yet tinged with a hint of agitation.

"You are Gu Shan!" Yixiang said in a deep voice.

The old man's pupil-less eyes shifted away from the turtle and landed on Yixiang's face. "And who might you be?"

By answering with a question instead of a denial, he had tacitly admitted his identity as Gu Shan.

"The Witch-God lineage! Yixiang!"

Gu Shan's two eyes suddenly transformed into bottomless abysses of ancient valleys, and his voice seemed to rise from the netherworld, laden with endless chill. "So you are Yixiang!"

Yixiang was slightly startled. "You know of me?"

Lin Xiaosu answered before she could. "Of course he knows you. When he and Chu Tiankuo hatched that brilliant scheme, their original intent included the eradication of the current generation's heir to the Witch-God lineage. How could he not know the representative figure of the present-day Witch-God succession?"

Driving a wedge between Lin Xiaosu and Yixiang had been the core of their strategy.

It was a foolproof plan.

For no matter how events ultimately unfolded, as the masterminds, they would stand to gain, because both Lin Xiaosu and Yixiang were individuals they needed to eliminate.

Lin Xiaosu had to be eliminated because Chu Tiankuo could not withstand his investigation.

Yixiang had to be eliminated because her grandfather was Gu Shan's greatest enemy.

Furthermore, with Yixiang's death, the most orthodox lineage of Witch-God Mountain would be severed, thus avenging the bloody feud of Gu Shan's sect being destroyed and his disciples killed half a century ago.

Gu Shan let out a gloomy, chilling laugh. "Indeed! Fifty years ago, the Witch-God lineage represented by your grandfather, Yi Kun, united the seven shamanic schools of Miaojiang to jointly wipe out the heritage of my Corpse-God Mountain. How could I let it rest? Today, the two of you have blundered right before me—you are simply delivering meat to the chopping block! Go to hell!"

As his voice fell, two blood-red serpents suddenly lashed out from inside the coffin.

They shot toward Lin Xiaosu and Yixiang.

Lin Xiaosu took a step forward.

Slash!

A flash of cold light cut through the air, and two snake heads tumbled simultaneously to the ground.

Gu Shan let out a furious roar. "This is not the way of gu!"

"Gu Shan! The times have changed," Lin Xiaosu said flatly.

Gu Shan stared at him coldly. "The times have changed, but your ignorance must be corrected as well... True-Life Gu!"

Yixiang's expression changed drastically.

With a swift hiss, a green centipede projected from Gu Shan's mouth, shooting toward Lin Xiaosu like an arrow.

Its speed was as fast as lightning.

Its attack was so treacherous it subverted all conventional forms of combat.

Quick as Lin Xiaosu's reactions were, he raised his dagger and swept it through the void, striking squarely at the centipede's head. Yet, upon impact, it sounded like the clashing of gold and iron. The green centipede suddenly twisted, coiled around the blade, and flared open its hundreds of needle-sharp, jellyfish-like tentacles, enveloping Lin Xiaosu's wrist...

At that very moment, a gorgeous radiance suddenly bloomed within the cavern.

The brilliance originated from between Yixiang's brows.

Between her eyebrows, the phantom image of a blood-red butterfly materialized.

The crimson projection flickered, detached itself from her brow, transformed into a tangible butterfly, and shot toward the green centipede.

The moment the butterfly collided with the centipede on Lin Xiaosu's dagger, the centipede shuddered as if struck by lightning. Its tentacles retracted, and it retreated hastily, landing atop the coffin with its head raised high, like an enraged king cobra.

The butterfly fluttered gracefully back, coming to rest upon Yixiang's fingertip.

Gu Shan stared at the butterfly on Yixiang's fingertip, a look of mingled shock and uncertainty crossing his face. "The Witch-God Gu: Blood Butterfly! Even your grandfather failed to cultivate it—you actually managed to?"

Yixiang stepped forward, shielding Lin Xiaosu behind her. "Gu Shan, you are also a man of the gu lineage. Naturally, you know the rule that a clash of True-Life Gu means one of us must die. You should also know that the Witch-God Blood Butterfly is the supreme True-Life Gu of all Miaojiang. Your True-Life Gu stands no chance against my Blood Butterfly. Once your True-Life Gu is shattered, you will not escape death either. Better to withdraw your True-Life Gu and surrender now; you might still salvage a shred of life!"

In this moment, she appeared infinitely sanctified, infinitely beautiful.

She was none other than the most breathtaking butterfly, finally emerging from its cocoon.