Witch God Abyss (Lily) - Chapter 9

Zhao Beijin left.

The fragrant powder issue was resolved, but the gu insects remained.

Shen Yuan opened another scroll.

“According to this record, when I first checked, the insects in the princesses should have been at four sevens. Another seven days passed, and Jingtan, the Reclusive One, received the message but made no move. It seems they’re harmless? In two more sevens, it’ll be exactly seven sevens, forty-nine days, and the insects will be fully mature.”

A female officer lifted the main hall’s gauze curtain, standing outside the screen.

“Academic Officer Lin, His Majesty sent someone to ask how to treat this illness?”

“No need for treatment.”

“How should I report back?”

“Report truthfully.”

The officer hesitated, “This…”

Emperor Shuo Xuan, Long Qianshan, after meeting ministers in Chenglin Hall, heard the servant’s report and said, “Summon Academic Officer Lin.”

Shen Yuan entered Chenglin Hall, knelt, and bowed.

Emperor Shuo Xuan asked, “Academic Officer Lin, the female officer said the three princesses’ illness hasn’t been cured, and it’s worsened over these seven days?”

Shen Yuan replied, “Reporting to Your Majesty, I checked today. It’s fine. In seven more days, they’ll recover.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan asked, “No treatment needed?”

Shen Yuan said, “May I report to Your Majesty alone?”

“Everyone, leave,” Emperor Shuo Xuan dismissed those around him.

“Your Majesty, did the National Master tell you about the gu insects Jingtan brought to the palace?”

“He did. Wen Li said he resolved it.”

“It’s resolved. That’s why the three girls have the same symptoms.”

“What do you mean?”

“Princess Jin was also afflicted by gu. If it were a dangerous insect, Jingtan would have demanded to enter the palace to treat her. But the message was sent seven days ago, and Jingtan made no response, so the gu must be harmless.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan grew angry.

“Absurd. Are you gambling with the three princesses’ well-being?”

“Your Majesty, do you trust my master?”

Emperor Shuo Xuan pondered. Wen Li never harmed anyone, and his healing skills were exceptional, almost like “reviving the dead, fleshing out bones.”

Shen Yuan added, “I’ve seen the insect. It’s a minor trick, harmless to life or health, just causing chest pain for a few days. It won’t leave scars.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan sighed, “Your tendency to go with the flow… truly…”

Seven days later.

The red marks on the three girls’ chests grew larger, the skin stretched shiny, with something dark wriggling inside.

After Shen Yuan examined each, she only said, “Wear soft undergarments, move less, eat lightly. In seven more days, they’ll recover.”

The three girls endured another seven days.

At dawn, Shen Yuan had three female officers from the Imperial Observatory, each holding a translucent yellow glass cup, wait at the princesses’ doors.

She also had the imperial physicians prepare the best wound salve.

Shen Yuan took her master’s black iron dagger and the salve, leading the officers to each princess’s quarters.

In less than a quarter hour, Shen Yuan and the officers, carrying the glass cups, waited in Chenglin Hall for an audience.

Emperor Shuo Xuan looked at the contents of the cups, puzzled.

Shen Yuan pointed to the first cup.

“This is from Princess Jin.”

Inside, a white fleshy ball-like thing jumped.

Shen Yuan pierced the white membrane with the dagger, revealing a white snake, smaller than an earthworm, eyes unopened, but its shimmering white scales gleamed like pearls, beautiful.

Shen Yuan held the second glass cup.

“This is from Princess Zhou.”

A blue moth rested at the cup’s rim, its wings fully spread, larger than the rim, with a broken blue shell inside.

The third cup held a glossy green, round stone.

Emperor Shuo Xuan asked, “What’s this?”

“A seed.”

“What kind of seed?”

Shen Yuan poked it with the dagger.

“I can’t tell. I’ll take it back and plant it. When it sprouts, I’ll know.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan said, “This came from Princess Duan?”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on?”

Shen Yuan explained from the beginning.

“These gu insects fear exposure. They’re harmless, but if revealed, they change unpredictably. So, I had to make Your Majesty wait until they were removed from the hosts before speaking.”

Jingtan’s gu insects started a year ago.

The late emperor’s legitimate son, Duan Qingxuan, trained in a Taoist temple as a child and was called “Holy Lord” after ascending.

Emperor Long Qianshan, a devout Taoist, saw Taoist temples flourish everywhere.

Noble families and wealthy gentry began funding temples, but their children couldn’t truly train there, so they chose child acolytes with compatible birth charts to train in their stead.

Zhao Beijin’s mother, Duan Zeyu, funded the Wind Sect, building temples, erecting statues, and donating heavily yearly.

Unlike the Divine Sect in Wubei or the Wood Clan in Yudong, the Wind Sect’s roots were in Miaojing Mountain near Zhongdu Hengjing.

Jingtan’s disciple, Fu Fengli, was the acolyte with a birth chart matching Zhao Beijin’s.

Emperor Shuo Xuan heard the Wind Sect had divine beasts—phoenixes and qilins.

It was said qilins could choose wise rulers, so he summoned Jingtan to inquire.

Jingtan said, “Reporting to Your Majesty, I dare not conceal anything.

Qilins are auspicious beasts, merely mounts for ascended ones.

Mounts obey their masters.

Some sects or cultivators with ulterior motives use ‘qilins choose wise rulers’ as a pretext, but it’s human manipulation.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan said, “Wen Li also said human hearts are hard to fathom. You’re an upright person, holding a qilin but not using it for improper ambitions.”

After returning to her temple, Jingtan kept thinking about it.

In Miaojing Temple’s library, she found a scroll and brought it to the Imperial Observatory to see National Master Wen Li.

Imperial Observatory, main hall.

Wen Li said, “Since you came to see me, have you thought of another way to ‘choose a wise ruler’?”

Jingtan said, “This scroll records a gu insect from southwest Chu that can test hearts. If the National Master agrees, I’m willing to make the trip.”

Wen Li asked, “Oh? How does it test?”

“Plant the gu in the heart, nourished by heart’s bl00d. After seven sevens, forty-nine days, if it hatches a benevolent insect, the heart is good; if a toxic insect, the heart is evil.”

Jingtan went to the southwest and brought back the gu insects.

Wen Li asked, “You tested it yourself?”

“I did.”

“What did your gu hatch?”

“Nothing.”

Jingtan took a pearl-colored orb from her sleeve.

Wen Li asked, “This is?”

“Empty.”

“So, it doesn’t always hatch a living thing?”

“It depends on the heart.”

Wen Li nodded. “In a few years, you’ll reach the stage of feathered seclusion, right?”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations, Reclusive One.”

“I dare not. The final seclusion is perilous, not guaranteed…”

“It’ll go smoothly,” Wen Li interrupted.

“I’ll report the gu insects to His Majesty truthfully. Once the other two princesses arrive in Zhongdu, His Majesty will decide after meeting them.”

“Yes.”

At the time, Emperor Shuo Xuan neither approved nor opposed the gu insects, worried about the princesses’ lives but not objecting.

Now, in Chenglin Hall.

Emperor Shuo Xuan asked Shen Yuan, kneeling below, “So the three princesses are unharmed?”

“I personally made half-inch cuts to remove the mature cocoons. Wound salve has been applied.”

“What do these three results mean?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, that’s for the National Master to interpret. I dare not speak rashly.”

Before leaving, Wen Li told the Emperor, “My disciple is clever but grew up wild in Wubei with Bujian Tian, a bit unruly, unfit for palace duties. If she errs, please forgive her.”

Emperor Shuo Xuan was quite pleased with Academic Officer Lin and asked, “What reward do you want?”

Shen Yuan bowed. “Your Majesty, may I have these three hatched gu insects?”

“You may.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Shen Yuan took the small snake, moth, and unknown green orb back to Princess Demao’s Mansion.

She immediately burned a talisman.

When Wen Li appeared, his face was reluctant.

“I’ve been gone less than a month…”

He saw the items in the glass cups on the desk.

“So, they hatched successfully.”

Shen Yuan said, “His Majesty gave them to me.”

“Gave them to you? For what?”

“To raise them. They’re so cute.”

The pearl-colored snake lay still at the cup’s bottom.

The blue moth rested quietly with spread wings at the rim.

Wen Li looked and said, “Raise them? Do you know what they eat?”

“What?”

“Human hearts.”

“What?” Shen Yuan stepped back.

“Have you read all the scrolls I left?”

“I did.” Shen Yuan recalled, “The scrolls didn’t mention feeding these gu insects.”

“Because no one feeds them. Once removed from the host, they’re killed immediately.”

“But they’re so cute.”

“Cute? They’re still now because they’re weak from leaving their hosts. Are you planning to kill someone now and then to feed them hearts?”

“What about this seed? It doesn’t need hearts, right?” Shen Yuan argued.

“It needs regular human bl00d to water it. And we don’t know what demon it’ll grow into.”

“Eww…”

Wen Li extended his hand.

“Where’s the dagger I left you? Give it here.”

Shen Yuan pulled the black iron dagger from her waist and handed it to her master.

Before she could retract her hand, Wen Li grabbed her wrist, drew the dagger, and cut her fingertip.

“Ouch, Master, that hurts!”

Wen Li held her finger over the cup, letting bl00d drip down the rim.

The moment the bl00d touched the snake, it writhed rapidly at the cup’s bottom, its scales seeming to open, absorbing the bl00d.

Soon, the pearl-colored snake turned bl00d-red, doubling in size.

Wen Li thought it would scare Shen Yuan, but she watched with fascination.

Shen Yuan, intrigued, stretched her finger toward the moth.

“I thought it was a blue butterfly, not a moth.”

She smeared bl00d on the rim and sealed her wound.

The glossy blue moth, as if smelling the bl00d, moved its fuzzy antennae, turned to the bl00d, and quickly drank it dry.

Unbeknownst to them, the first step of gu insects recognizing a master was drinking their bl00d.

Shen Yuan had unintentionally completed this for two insects.

Wen Li said, “See? This is what makes gu insects truly terrifying. If not killed, as they grow, they’ll seek their original hosts to reattach and feed.”

Shen Yuan said, “Interesting. Anyway, I brought them back, so I’m responsible.”

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Isn’t Master here?”

Wen Li raised his hand to flick her.

Shen Yuan dodged.

“Oh, His Majesty asked how to interpret these cute things—are they good or evil?”

Wen Li asked, “What did you say?”

“I said I don’t know and to wait for you.”

“Oh? Why not say?”

“One mouth, two sides—say what you want. For example, this snake: you could say Princess Jin has a venomous heart, or she could transform into a dragon.”

Wen Li nodded.

“The moth?”

“Breaking the cocoon to become a butterfly or binding oneself in it…”

Before Wen Li could ask, Shen Yuan continued, “The seed’s even harder to say—maybe a towering tree, maybe a clinging vine.”

Wen Li was pleased with her answers.

Though Shen Yuan grew up wild in Wubei with Bujian Tian, she was like a treasure basin, absorbing all the skills and knowledge they taught her.

Wen Li said, “Jingtan still hasn’t figured it out. Her sect’s ‘qilin chooses a wise ruler’ is human manipulation. So too are these gu insects, interpreted by people.”

Shen Yuan asked, “Master, I don’t get it. What was that pearl-like thing from Jingtan?”

“Obsession.”

“Obsession?”

“A pearl’s core in a clam is a grain of sand. The core of a pearl in a human heart is obsession.”

“So, what’s her obsession? Isn’t she about to enter seclusion?”

“That’s her obsession. For cultivators, the final seclusion is perilous, often failing at the last step.”