Qi Buyan slightly tilted his head, his neck fully exposed to He Sui’an. She leaned over him, biting into his skin like a person finding an oasis in the desert, her teeth piercing his flesh.
Unlike others infected by the Yin Corpse Gu.
There were no larvae of the Yin Corpse Gu hatched inside He Sui’an’s body. Although the bite was infectious, there were no traces of larvae in her saliva or blood due to the close connection between the mother and child Gu.
Moreover, He Sui’an still retained her consciousness. Despite knowing she shouldn’t bite, she couldn’t resist, driven by the child Gu within her, making her unable to resist the allure of flesh and blood.
Qi Buyan’s neck was wounded by He Sui’an’s bite.
The warm blood fell like petals on white paper, landing on He Sui’an’s lips. The blood should have smelled unpleasant, but to her, it carried the aroma of food.
This is likely why those driven mad by the Gu resort to cannibalism.
What should she do?
She wanted to bite deeper.
Would she become one of the maddened, uncontrollably harming others?
Seeing the blood pouring from Qi Buyan’s neck, He Sui’an’s eyes reddened. She made muffled, apologetic sounds while still biting him.
Qi Buyan never pushed He Sui’an away.
It was as if he was feeding the girl infected with the Yin Corpse Gu with his own body.
Only Qi Buyan knew that the moment she bit his neck, a strange tingling sensation spread through his body like molten lava, quickly reaching every part of him.
It was a peculiar feeling.
Qi Buyan looked at He Sui’an’s pale side face, playing with her hair casually, as if he wasn’t the one being bitten.
After an unknown amount of time, He Sui’an gradually returned to normal. Her biting force weakened, and she eventually lay motionless on Qi Buyan, like someone who had done something wrong and didn’t know how to face it.
No, she couldn’t avoid this.
He Sui’an told herself she couldn’t escape.
With blood still on her lips, looking like a cat caught stealing food, she raised her red eyes to look at Qi Buyan and gently touched his neck with her fingers. “I’m sorry.”
Qi Buyan didn’t mind and ignored the wound she caused. His fingers pressed against the corner of her eye, as if deep in thought.
“Your eyes…” he began, but didn’t finish.
He Sui’an understood.
The eyes of those driven mad by the Yin Corpse Gu turn red. Although the Gu inside her was a child Gu, different from others, her eyes should still change color and turn red.
Once the people of Fengling Town saw He Sui’an’s red eyes, they would quickly eliminate her, regardless of whether her madness differed in form or timing from others, and regardless of whether she retained her consciousness.
No one wanted to leave a potential threat behind.
Especially not one that could plunge Fengling Town into danger again.
He Sui’an didn’t want to die.
She also didn’t want to hurt anyone.
“Tell me, is there no way to remove the Yin Corpse Gu from my body?” He Sui’an clung to a shred of hope, wanting a negative answer from Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan’s response hit her hard: “It can’t be removed.”
She deflated like a punctured balloon.
He Sui’an suddenly jumped off Qi Buyan and, like a headless chicken, paced around the room in a panic, clutching her head. “I almost forgot, I bit you. Does that mean you’ll also…”
Qi Buyan touched the wound on his neck, his voice tinged with amusement: “I won’t be affected. The Yin Corpse Gu poison doesn’t work on me.”
“Huh?” He Sui’an was stunned.
She asked, “Because you are a Gu master?”
Qi Buyan didn’t answer her question directly but smiled and said, “Actually, there is another way to remove the Yin Corpse Gu from your body.”
He Sui’an, who had lost all hope, suddenly brightened up: “Really?”
“Really.”
She quickly asked, “What should I do?”
Qi Buyan’s eyes curved: “Enter the King Yan’s Tomb, find the mother Gu of the Yin Corpse Gu. The child Gu will automatically crawl out of your body when it encounters the mother Gu.”
“I can also use you to sense the connection between the child Gu and the mother Gu to find the mother Gu.”
He continued, “One of my purposes for entering the King Yan’s Tomb is to find the mother Gu of the Yin Corpse Gu. So, having the child Gu in you isn’t all bad. You don’t need to feel guilty for biting me.”
He Sui’an partially understood.
As long as the Gu could be removed.
Qi Buyan said, “Consider it your reward for guiding me. Alright?”
After a long while, she guiltily wiped the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth, smearing her sleeve with a bright red, and whispered a soft “alright.”
Since learning that the Yin Corpse Gu could still be removed, He Sui’an relaxed considerably. After a moment, she ran to look in the mirror, fretting over what to do about her noticeably different-colored eyes.
He Sui’an figured she had three options.
– One option was to let the people of Fengling Town see her blood-red eyes, which would likely result in either her imprisonment or death.
– The second option was to cover her eyes with a silk band to hide the blood-red color. If anyone asked, she could say her eyes were injured and temporarily sensitive to light. She planned to keep this up until the day they entered the tomb.
– The third option was to stay in her room and avoid seeing anyone.
After thinking it over, she realized the third option wasn’t viable.
The authorities would be conducting frequent room searches over the next few days, and she couldn’t avoid being seen.
Unlike ordinary madmen, He Sui’an experienced intermittent episodes of biting people. As long as she wasn’t in a frenzy, she appeared normal.
Even if someone suspected her hidden eyes, they wouldn’t be able to definitively conclude she was infected with the Gu. If it came to it and they demanded she remove the band, Qi Buyan would have a way to handle it.
He Sui’an decisively chose the second option.
Even with this choice, she planned to minimize her outings. In her room, she would remove the band and read.
Meals were delivered by the inn’s servant, with Qi Buyan collecting them. After lunch, He Sui’an continued to read, engrossed in the content.
In early spring, there was often a light drizzle, the humidity lingering, and the temperature remaining cool.
Qi Buyan slept by the window.
When the weather was colder, he tended to sleep more.
She was used to this.
After reading for a while, He Sui’an checked Qi Buyan’s neck wound to ensure it hadn’t worsened. He slept quietly, his features soft and gentle.
The Gu insects and snakes curled up in the corner, ignoring her. They seemed to know she was afraid of them.
After confirming the wound was fine, she quietly returned to her place and resumed reading.
By the end of the day, He Sui’an had finished two books.
Tired, she wanted to rest. Leaving the room required covering her eyes, which made seeing difficult, so she decided to rest her head on the table.
An hour later.
A knock came at the door: “Guest, I’m here to deliver your dinner.”
He Sui’an glanced at the window. Qi Buyan was still asleep and didn’t wake when called, so she asked the servant to leave the food outside the door, saying she’d get it later.
With her eyes covered, she aimed to minimize appearances before others. The later they noticed her oddity, the better.
The servant didn’t suspect much.
There could be many reasons for the inconvenience of opening the door, including something as simple as changing clothes.
He Sui’an pressed herself against the edge of the door, listening to the servant’s footsteps gradually fade away. After a moment, she opened the door slightly, peeked out, and quickly bent down to pick up the tray of food.
“He Sui’an!”
Shen Jianhe unexpectedly opened his door.
He Sui’an, hearing him, quickly lowered her head and started retreating into her room with the food. Just as she was about to close the door, Shen Jianhe swiftly blocked it with his foot.
Seeing He Sui’an facing him with her head down, not even showing her face, Shen Jianhe was puzzled. “Why are you acting like you’ve seen a ghost? Do I look that scary right now?”
“Please remove your foot.”
He Sui’an didn’t answer directly, still looking at the ground.
They had only recently met and agreed to enter the tomb together, but people are unpredictable. Who knew what Shen Jianhe would do if he discovered she had the Yin Corpse Gu and had gone mad?
Shen Jianhe clicked his tongue, lacking any sense of seniority, teasing her, “Did you ruin your face? No way, let me see.”
“Senior!”
He Sui’an suddenly called out to him.
Shen Jianhe paused for a few seconds. “Uh, I am your senior, but I’m not that old, and I’m not deaf. You can speak softly, I can hear you.”
“Senior, I’m sorry.” With that, He Sui’an stepped on Shen Jianhe’s foot, causing him to reflexively pull it back in pain. She then quickly closed the door with a bang.
A gust of wind swept past, making Shen Jianhe feel as cold as a winter frost.
He stood alone in the hallway.
Hopping on one foot, holding the one she had stepped on, he looked at the closed door and sighed deeply. He felt truly humiliated as a senior—first being scared half to death by a snake, and now having his foot stepped on by a junior.
What had he done to deserve this?
He must not have paid respects to his ancestors before leaving.
Inside, He Sui’an ignored the commotion outside, set down the food, and patted her chest, relieved that the danger had passed.
If Qi Buyan didn’t wake up soon, the food would get cold. She went over to call him again, but when he didn’t wake, she reached out to touch him. The previously lazy insects and snakes quickly crawled over, on guard.
He Sui’an didn’t dare touch Qi Buyan any further, knowing a bite from them would be extremely painful.
She withdrew her hand.
The insects and snakes stayed still.
Hmph. He Sui’an was a bit angry but quickly let it go. She wasn’t trying to hurt Qi Buyan, so why were they so protective? On second thought, she understood and wasn’t upset anymore.
She had really hurt Qi Buyan.
Just today, she had bitten him.
He Sui’an wasn’t sure if the insects and snakes could understand her, but she tried to explain herself to them: “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“What wasn’t on purpose?” Qi Buyan had woken up, his vision gradually clearing. The first thing he saw was He Sui’an trying to talk to the Gu insects.
He Sui’an didn’t like lying.
So she avoided the question and picked up the bamboo chopsticks. “Let’s eat.”
Qi Buyan left the window and sat across from He Sui’an. She pushed a bowl of rice and a plate of meat towards him.
Having lived with Qi Buyan for a while, He Sui’an had learned his preferences, just as he had learned hers. Some things didn’t need special attention; they became known through everyday interactions.
Though she was very hungry, He Sui’an didn’t have much appetite for the food in front of her.
The same had happened with the previous meal.
She had forced herself to eat.
She insisted on eating to appear normal, but in reality, He Sui’an had an urge to consume Qi Buyan.
This desire wasn’t romantic but literal. She involuntarily swallowed and quickly stuffed a few bites of rice into her mouth to suppress her craving.
“You saw someone just now?”
Qi Buyan seemed not to notice her odd behavior, taking a bite of rice as he asked.
He Sui’an, having stuffed too much rice into her mouth, nearly choked. Unable to swallow it all at once, she looked at him with her cheeks puffed out.
“Mmm mmm mmm.”
Realizing she couldn’t speak, she shut her mouth.
“I saw Senior, but he didn’t see my eyes.” He Sui’an swallowed the food. “However, I can hide it from him for now, but I won’t be able to once we enter the tomb.”
Qi Buyan was unfazed: “We’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
He Sui’an understood his point. Worrying about something that hadn’t happened yet was pointless. Her gaze fell on his wound, and she quickly looked away as if scalded, suddenly saying, “It must still hurt a lot.”
