Chapter 155: Natal Blood Butterfly

Gu Shan smiled grimly, "Little girl, you're just trying to bluff!"

A sharp jolt pierced through Yixiang's heart...

Gu Shan continued, "The natal blood butterfly is indeed supreme, but one must possess the matching cultivation realm to unleash its full combat power. Today, you are still not yet capable of truly mastering the natal blood butterfly. Hand it over to me!"

The moment his voice fell, that green centipede suddenly sliced straight through his left shoulder, emerging from his back.

The instant it entered, the centipede was roughly a foot long.

Yet by the time it burst out, it had shockingly expanded to two feet.

This was yet another supreme technique of the Miao witchcraft and gu path, known as: Blood Sacrifice of the Natal.

Through the blood sacrifice of the natal, all potential functions of the natal creature were explosively stimulated.

The two-foot centipede sprang up instantly, shooting straight toward Yixiang.

The butterfly perched on Yixiang's fingertips fluttered its wings and took flight, as a bizarre and fierce battle unfolded in the gloomy depths of the earth.

Gu Shan's natal gu had fused with nearly a century of his cultivation and was further enhanced by his blood sacrifice technique, pushing all its abilities to the maximum—and even surpassing its limits.

Compared to him, Yixiang's foundation in the gu path was far too shallow.

However, her natal gu possessed a vastly superior tier.

In an instant, the natal gu of both adversaries unleashed their respective unique strengths.

The green centipede was overwhelmingly ferocious, invulnerable to blades and spears, growing fiercer with every strike.

The blood-red butterfly was ethereal and graceful, shifting into countless forms. Though seemingly as light as a feather, whenever its wings brushed against the green centipede, the centipede's surface became mottled with scars. The very shell that Lin Xiaosu had failed to fracture even with all his might using a dagger was left riddled with wounds under the butterfly's wings.

Thus, it was evident that the butterfly's lightness and grace were merely illusions; its true lethality was likewise matchless.

Watching from the side, Lin Xiaosu couldn't help a deep surge of emotion.

Indeed, all roads lead to Rome.

When genetic modification reaches the pinnacle, when ancient martial arts reach the pinnacle, and when the path of witchcraft and gu reaches the pinnacle, they all achieve the same destination through different routes.

None of them were human anymore!

The battle escalated once more!

Gu Shan let out a roar, a sound that no longer resembled anything human...

From within his coffin, countless tiny green centipedes suddenly shot out.

These miniature centipedes were none-other than the corpse-birthing gu, the exact kind that had been implanted inside Yixiang's mother.

A single tiny centipede was already horrifying to behold—what concept was it when they numbered in the tens of millions?

In an instant, the tiny green centipedes poured forth like the surging tide of the Qiantang River.

"Elder Brother, fall back!" Yixiang shrieked.

Lin Xiaosu, however, did not retreat. His hand jerked upward as a streak of cold light left his grasp. The dagger swept across the tide of corpse-birthing gu, transforming into a stunning flying knife that accurately pierced the center of Gu Shan's brow.

This was the way an ancient martial arts expert dealt with a master of the gu path.

Instead of entangling oneself in the endless complexities of the gu path, one simply severed the source of the gu.

Once the host dies, the gu path naturally collapses!

His method was undoubtedly the most effective.

Yet, before Gu Shan, it failed...

The dagger plunged straight into Gu Shan's brow, burying itself up to the hilt. Yet, Gu Shan abruptly raised his head, his terrifying dead-fish eyes locking firmly onto Lin Xiaosu's position. Like an invisible summons, the crest of the green torrent surged even more fiercely, pressing straight toward Lin Xiaosu.

Damn it!

He still didn't die?

A dagger this long driven straight into his brow, and he still refused to die? And he grew even more crazed?

With a soft, piercing hiss, the blood-red butterfly streaked back through the air, bathed in a shimmering radiance of blood—partly beautiful, partly desolate, and infinitely breathtaking...

Thud, thud, thud...

Countless green corpse-birthing gu collided with this stream of crimson light, transforming into puffs of blue smoke like moths flying into a flame.

Gu Shan let out a thunderous roar.

The largest green centipede soared into the sky, its jaws gaping wide as it lunged to swallow the blood butterfly in mid-air.

Yixiang trembled violently, her complexion turning ashen white.

Her blood butterfly was indeed the supreme natal gu of the Miao territory, but alas, she had only succeeded in refining the blood butterfly for a mere year or so; she was simply no match for Gu Shan, who had walked this path for nearly a century.

Once the natal gu is shattered, the master either dies or is crippled for life!

At that very moment, a human figure flashed, and Lin Xiaosu materialized mid-air.

His hand shot upward to meet the charging green centipede.

Yixiang screamed, "No..."

Before the sound could fade, the green centipede flashed and vanished, burrowing directly into Lin Xiaosu's arm.

Splatter! Fresh blood sprayed from Lin Xiaosu's hand as the green centipede slid straight into his body like a long serpent.

In a heartbeat, Yixiang felt her heart leap out of her chest.

Such a vicious natal gu burrowing into anyone's flesh guaranteed certain death.

Elder Brother, you're doing this to save me!

You are using your life to save me!

I...

"Hahaha..." Gu Shan laughed wildly from inside the coffin, his laughter sounding like that of a grim reaper.

Suddenly, the laughter ceased abruptly.

Gu Shan fell backward, hitting the coffin with a loud thud, his head rolling far away.

The sweeping momentum of the green torrent rushing to devour Lin Xiaosu halted instantly.

The bodies of those corpse-birthing gu simultaneously jerked and stiffened.

The rapidly shifting scene suddenly lost all its motion.

Heaven and earth plunged into utter, deathly silence.

Yixiang rushed to Lin Xiaosu's side. The butterfly at her fingertips was still struggling to shield him from the surrounding corpse-birthing gu, but suddenly, all the corpse-birthing gu vanished. For a split second, Yixiang's heart stopped beating.

As someone versed in the gu path, she knew what this meant.

Gu Shan was dead!

Only then would all the gu worms he controlled perish along with him!

Yet how could Gu Shan possibly die?

He had already been dead to begin with; it was the gu that had kept him alive until now. In truth, he and his natal gu were one and the same—as long as the natal gu lived, he lived. The natal gu was his true self, and his true self was the natal gu. As long as the natal gu survived, Gu Shan would not die, not even if he lost his head.

So how could the natal gu die?

The natal gu was truly invulnerable to blades and spears!

And yet it had just burrowed directly into Lin Xiaosu's body!

Lin Xiaosu, who should have died without a shadow of a doubt, stood right where he was. Though his face was slightly contorted, he was alive and well.

Gu Shan, who should have achieved complete victory, had died without the slightest suspense.

What she could not comprehend, Gu Shan understood even less.

The only person in the world who understood was Lin Xiaosu himself.

When he pierced Gu Shan's brow with his dagger and Gu Shan failed to die, he knew that the rules of the gu path had been overturned right here.

To kill Gu Shan, destroying his physical body was useless.

The natal gu was his true vulnerability.

The natal gu was impervious to blades and weapons; conventional methods could never kill it—only unconventional means could.

Therefore, he had taken a calculated risk, drawing the natal gu into his spatial dimension and using the spatial turbulence to grind it to pieces.

The inner spatial realm was Lin Xiaosu's truly inhuman domain.

In the past, he had only used it to store everyday items like his mobile phone and keys to avoid losing things through carelessness; he had only used it in a high-end scenario once, which was to store the purple magic stone in Fusang.

Today marked its very first deployment in actual combat.

Because he was still unfamiliar with it, the initial step of pulling the gu inside had injured his hand.

However, in the end, he had successfully reeled the natal gu into his secret realm space. The spatial turbulence had pulverized it into fine dust, and at the exact moment of its pulverization, he had felt an anomaly from the silver fish inside his mind, as if it had caught a scent it found interesting...

None of these, however, were matters to be investigated right now.

Before him, Yixiang's body was swaying unsteadily.

Meanwhile, the wound on his right hand was already healing at a rapid pace.

Yixiang softly asked, "Elder Brother, how is your hand?"

"I'm fine!" Lin Xiaosu reached out and supported her. "Let's get out of here first!"

Supporting each other, they made their way forward through the tomb chamber littered with the carcasses of dead gu insects. Little Wutui, the tiny turtle, presumably sensing that its master was injured, no longer wanted to be carried. It jumped down, its brightly glowing little head shining with impossible luster, hopping ahead like a dog. Upon reaching the outer chamber, Lin Xiaosu took a deep breath and scooped Yixiang up in his arms.

With a push of his feet, he soared into the sky, bursting back out under the sunlight.

Little Wutui also leaped forward, defending the dignity of all turtles with a jump that would make dogs blush...

Beneath their feet lay the very same graveyard.

All around remained just as quiet.

The tombstone had returned to its original place, making the thrilling ordeal just moments ago feel like a mere illusion.

"Elder Brother, let me see your hand." Though her face remained pale, Yixiang's primary concern was still Lin Xiaosu.

Lin Xiaosu held out his hand. There were bloodstains on it, but with a gentle rub, the skin beneath was pristine and flawless. "Don't worry, I'm actually not hurt."

Yixiang stared at the hand in disbelief. "Just now, that natal gu... the natal gu burrowed right into your hand."

Lin Xiaosu smiled. "I have a hidden mechanism in my hand, powerful enough to crush that natal gu to pieces."

"You scared me to death!" Yixiang let out a long breath, a trace of color finally returning to her pale face.

"You're injured too. Get some rest, and I'll take you back!" Lin Xiaosu picked her up.

"I'm not really hurt, I just suffered some mental exhaustion. Controlling a natal gu puts the greatest strain on one's mental power..."

Carrying Yixiang in his arms, Lin Xiaosu tightly gripped the little turtle, Little Wutui.

Lin Xiaosu strode down the hillside, descending from the Corpse God Mountain in a few swift leaps and entering the territory of the Witch God Mountain.

No one knew that deep beneath the Corpse God Mountain, a battle surpassing human imagination had just taken place.

Nor would anyone care about the outcome of the fight.

Because among the two sides in this battle, the living were those who had always been alive, and the dead were those who had already been dead for fifty years...

Rather convoluted, isn't it?

The path of gu is precisely this winding and labyrinthine...

On the way back to the Miao village, Yixiang remained cradled in Lin Xiaosu's arms the entire time.

Yet upon reaching the village, her cheeks flushed red as she blew gently against Lin Xiaosu's ear, "Elder Brother, put me down..."

And so he put her down.

The two of them walked side by side back to her small courtyard, and Yixiang immediately set about boiling water.

She needed to wash up, and he needed to wash up as well.

Entering a tomb chamber surrounded by gu insects—even if those insects posed no threat to her, the same could not be said for him. Who could be sure a stray gu insect wasn't still lingering in his hair?

Even a single surviving one could spell serious trouble.

And even if they were all dead, it was still utterly repulsive, wasn't it?

Lin Xiaosu washed thoroughly, from head to toe.

When he finished, a set of Miao men's clothing was hanging on the outer door—clothes she had bought for her father back in the day, which he had never once gotten the chance to wear.

Wearing this outfit, which he had never tried on in his entire life, Lin Xiaosu strolled around the courtyard.

Yixiang had slipped into her room to wash up as well.

After pacing around a couple of times, Lin Xiaosu approached a certain room. Through the crack in the door, he caught sight of a bed inside. Someone lay upon it—her mother.

A cat sat by the threshold—Little Hu.

As he drew closer, the fur on Little Hu's neck slowly bristled, its gaze turning sharp and wary.

"Hey!" Lin Xiaosu greeted it.

Little Hu stared back at him with icy eyes.