Part 2
Mrs. Shi, lying on the floor, simultaneously let out a scream as if her body were being crushed bit by bit. All the pores on her body seeped blood, as if another layer of red paint had been brushed onto her already red body, soaking the skin until it was oily and bright. Within moments, a pool of blood had accumulated on the floor.
Her bones also made cracking and snapping sounds as she struggled.
Unable to endure this pain, Mrs. Shi threw her head back and let out a long howl. A bloody, gaping mouth was revealed on her chalk-white face, filled with sharp white teeth.
Jiang Si pulled out the small booklet Old Man Jiang had left. It must have been fate, for with a casual flip, he found the cure for this kind of Gu poison.
After scanning the page, Jiang Si pulled a stack of relatively clean tissues from the coffee table, rolled them up, and stuffed them into her mouth.
He whispered, “Pardon me.”
He pulled out a blade and cut wounds into Mrs. Shi’s Yintang acupoint and the Daling acupoints on both palms. The blood in her body had been almost entirely sucked dry by the Gu insects occupying her brain; at this moment, almost not a single drop of blood could flow out.
Jiang Si could only press along the blood vessels. With a slight application of force, Mrs. Shi felt the pain of every vein and bone being crushed and burst. She bit down on the tissues in her mouth, nearly going mad.
“Dan zhu kou shen, tu hui chu fen. Yong wo zhi xue, qu xie wei zhen.”
Jiang Si memorized the incantation he had just read, his hands firmly controlling her constantly resisting hands, his gaze locked on the wound at her Yintang.
Finally, after a drop of pale red blood was forced out, he truly breathed a sigh of relief.
“The qi in her body can finally gather,” Jiang Si said. “The mother body is dead, so the Gu insects in her body have also died. Now that the qi has gathered, it’s only a matter of time before the Gu insects are forced out. Her body returning to normal is just a question of time.”
“She’s quite lucky. I’ve truly never seen someone survive after being consumed to this extent by Gu insects.” The messenger gave a sinister laugh. “If she had died, I could have taken the opportunity to get a bit of revenge. Now she’s getting off easy.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it.” Jiang Si found a blanket to drape over her and helped her back to the bedroom bed. He looked toward the Huanghuali wood table, his eyes deep. “It was all her father’s love for his daughter. By a strange twist of fate, it saved her life.”
“This Huanghuali wood is at least several hundred years old. It absorbed the essence of heaven and earth and developed its own spiritual energy long ago. By being placed near Mrs. Shi, it gave her protective luck over time, allowing her to survive this disaster.”
“And Shi Danxing?”
“Shi Danxing had long since separated from his first wife, living with his lover instead.”
These were the details Shi Danxing had confessed himself. One could only say that everything was predestined in the dark; the Heavenly Dao would not favor anyone unfairly.
Jiang Si closed the door and left the Shi house.
In a certain entertainment club in Rong City.
Cheerful music echoed in the private room. Multi-colored lights slowly swept over the face of the man on the sofa, illuminating his dark eyes. In the shadows, the bridge of his nose rose sharply from his flat face—a large, towering hooked nose that was completely out of place with his other features, looking as if it had been transplanted from someone else’s face.
His legs were crossed in a relaxed manner as he leisurely listened to the song from the automatic karaoke machine.
Sun Yu knelt on the floor with his head bowed, reporting the events at the hospital.
“You say Shi Danxing is dying?” The man chuckled. “Which means he’s still alive?”
“Yes.” Sun Yu stared in a daze at the man’s shiny leather shoes.
“Useless.” The moment the word was spoken, Sun Yu felt his heart contract sharply. A pain like a knife cut off his breathing; he could only inhale, not exhale.
He clutched his chest and collapsed to the floor, begging for mercy. His forehead was pressed against the leather shoes, and he panted rapidly, his breath filled with the scent of the cowhide.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”
“Get out!” The man kicked him in the face, knocking him aside, annoyed that he was dirtying his shoes.
He said with disgust, “I told you to poison Shi Danxing with Gu, but he’s perfectly fine and lived for another half a month. You said you could take the chance to eliminate someone from the Celestial Master Association, but what about now? Has a single person died?”
“Useless. Baka!”
“I’m sorry! It’s my fault.” Sun Yu pinched his palms, feeling the pain of his life being held in another’s hand and trampled upon. He gritted his teeth and said, “Please give me one more chance.”
“Today is the last day. If Shi Danxing is still alive, you’ll go to your death with him tomorrow.”
…
Sun Yu retreated from the private room. Once outside, the wind blew, and he felt a wave of coldness. It turned out his clothes were already soaked through with cold sweat.
He leaned against the wall, giving a cold smile after a long while.
What was the difference between this and a dog waiting to be slaughtered?
He changed his clothes, dressed himself back into an orderly, elite style, and returned to the hospital.
He pushed open the ward door and met Jiang Si’s smiling eyes, as if the young man had been waiting there all along.
“Mr. Sun, you’ve finally come.” Jiang Si greeted him with a smile.
“I have some good news for you. Mr. Shi is out of danger. I believe he’ll wake up before long.”
“You—” Sun Yu was about to show a joyful smile when he saw Jiang Si playing with a yellow talisman, folding it back and forth like an innocent child. His expression changed instantly, and his smile froze on his face.
“Since you’re here, we should have a good talk about this talisman and the figurine you sent.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sun Yu said immediately. “What figurine? I’ve never even heard of it.”
Jiang Si stared down at the talisman, his fingers flexibly folding it into the profile of a human face. He held it up before him and said nonchalantly, “You should know that in this world, whatever has been done will inevitably leave a trace.”
“If you look for people, people will betray you; if you look for ghosts, ghosts can also betray you. It just so happens that in my case, whether it’s people or ghosts, I have ways to find out what I want to know.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sun Yu tightened his grip on his palm and denied it again.
This time he wanted to turn and leave the ward, but pushing the door open, he ran into a wall of a man. Looking up, he found a tall man he had never seen before.
The man’s cold gaze indicated that he was intentionally blocking the way.
Sun Yu turned back in anger and questioned Jiang Si, “Boss Jiang, this is a hospital ward. What exactly do you want?!”
Jiang Si shook the yellow paper man in his hand. “Have a look. Does it look familiar? Doesn’t it look a lot like Shi Danxing’s lover, that ‘soulmate’ he named himself? I didn’t fold it wrong, did I?”
“Mr. Sun, you and Mr. Shi have known each other for at least ten years, right? You’ve long since understood what kind of people he likes. It shouldn’t have been hard for you to train a woman according to his preferences and send her to him.”
“Let me guess why you wanted to give him a woman. Do you like him?”
Sun Yu’s face turned green with disgust. He blurted out, “You’re the one who likes men!”
Jiang Si wasn’t annoyed at all. “Then why did you want to get his child? Since it wasn’t for the person, then it was to take a life.”
“You wanted to make the Infant Head Gu.”
Translator’s Note:
That was quite the reveal! The description of Mrs. Shi’s condition is really gruesome—she literally lost her skin! The incantation Jiang Si used translates to: “Dan zhu kou shen” (Cinnabar lips of the god), “tu hui chu fen” (Spitting out the murky to clear the air), “yong wo zhi xue” (Using my blood), “qu xie wei zhen” (To dispel evil and protect the truth). Sun Yu is definitely in hot water now. Also, “Baka” is a Japanese word for “fool”—looks like we have some foreign influence here!
Recommended Reads
