Chapter 47: You Are the Seventh
Typically, in the past, it was usually women who learned Gu techniques rather than men. While men were capable of learning it, Gu was considered an extremely yin and cold evil creature, and men who practiced it often had short lives. As a result, the Miao family generally prohibited the teaching of the Gu technique to men.
The Gu Master, who learned the Gu technique through stealing and self-study, had exceptional talent. However, his unfortunate fate as a male meant that as his Gu technique grew stronger, his lifespan decreased. To survive, he had to constantly seek out something of extreme yin to nourish his body.
Agreeing to Jiang Chen’s request to come and kill Gao Jian was also a last resort. Buying extremely yin ghostly creatures from the market requires a lot of money, which is difficult to come by in the remote Miao region.
Everything was for the sake of survival. However, on that day, the centipede Gu he had been nurturing unexpectedly discovered a girl born under the yin sign.
This kind of girl was born to be suitable for practicing Gu technique, and if she had been placed among the Gu clan, she would undoubtedly have been chosen as the holy woman of the clan.
“Never mind that she was born under the yin sign, but her body is filled with such heavy yin energy. Is she a living ghost or a living person who has been to the underworld? If I can stay by her side for a long time, the yin and evil energy of my Gu may get neutralized or even get transferd to her.”
After a great effort, the Gu Master managed to get the centipede Gu back into the pottery jar and slept soundly that night.
The next morning, I was awakened by Xiao Feng, who was still fast asleep. “Is there a fire?” I jumped out of bed and opened my eyes to see Xiao Feng kneeling beside her pallet with a strange expression on her face. It was like seeing a cockroach but not being able to kill it.
I followed her gaze to the other side of the pallet, where the Gu Master, wrapped in a bed sheet, had already awakened. He had a stiff smile on his face, and his eagle-like eyes were fixed on Xiao Feng. He looked like he wanted to swallow her whole.
“Oh my god, could this old bastard have fallen for Xiao Feng? With such a big age difference, how shameless!” After getting dressed, I walked up to the Gu Master and asked, “It’s already morning, why haven’t you left yet?”
“No rush. I quite get along with the girl in your shop and want to give her an opportunity,” the Gu Master replied calmly and steadily.
“What opportunity?”
“I want to take her as my disciple and pass on the Miaojiang Gu technique,” he said, scheming to stay by Xiao Feng’s side under the guise of being her master and transfer the yin and evil energy of the gu to her.
“Are you out of your mind?” When I woke up, the Gu Master’s thinking had made a huge leap, and I didn’t quite understand what was going on. So I turned around and asked Xiao Feng for her opinion, and the girl decisively shook her head and refused.
“As you can see, Xiao Feng is not interested in learning Gu techniques from you. It’s getting late, so please leave. This is not a shelter for the disabled, so you should return where you came from.”
The Gu Master’s face turned pale and green as he said, “Young lady, think carefully. With my extensive knowledge of Gu techniques, I can easily poison several strong men with just a touch of my finger. These techniques can also help maintain youth and prevent aging, in addition to being lethal weapons.”
“I don’t want to learn, and I don’t like fighting,” she replied.
“It seems that I haven’t made myself clear. Gu techniques are vast and profound. Besides being used to kill enemies, they can also be used for beauty and youth preservation, and even to control someone’s mind, making them love you unconditionally.”
“I won’t learn, I trust Gao Jian,”
“You…” the Gu Master was left speechless, his lips turning purple as he struggled to respond. I tidied up the bed sheets and kicked the Gu Master lightly. “Come on, old man, that’s enough for today. I still have work to do. Don’t lay around here like a dead fish.”
“Okay, how about this? I swear on my life that if that girl lends me something, I will never harm you again. In fact, I’ll even help you with something else unconditionally,” the Gu Master said sincerely. His words piqued my curiosity.
“Ask Xiao Fengfor something? What do you want to borrow?” After hesitating for a while, the Gu Master mustered up the courage to say, “The girl’s Heavenly Sunflower..”
“Heavenly Sunflower has been used in medicine since ancient times. It’s a Yin ingredient that is particularly favored by women, and the Tiaxin Holy Maiden’s Heavenly Sunflower is an invaluable treasure,” the Gu Master explained. Xiao Feng still looked confused and shook my arm, asking, “What is a Heavenly Sunflower?”
“If you don’t know, you can search for it online later. I’ll go to the kitchen to get something,” I replied.
“I really want it. If you lend it to me, I promise to do two things for you. No, three things, okay?” the Gu Master pleaded. I didn’t say anything and went straight to the kitchen, holding a knife. “You old pervert! If you don’t leave today, I’ll chop you up alive!”
“Don’t be impulsive! How about five things? Let’s negotiate!” the Gu Master shouted.
I chased the gu master out of the small shop, but he continued knocking on the roll-up door from outside, saying, “Please reconsider?”
At noon, Xiao Feng was preparing to go out and buy groceries when she ran into the Gu Master, who was squatting outside the door. He was wearing a tattered black robe and holding a pancake with an egg in his hand. He didn’t look like a wise man at all.
“Little girl, it’s fate that we can meet in this vast sea of people. Let’s be master and disciple…” The Gu Master kept babbling and insisting on accompanying Xiao Feng to the market, which even tested her normally good temper.
“Please don’t follow me anymore!” Xiao Feng finally had enough.
“I just don’t want you to miss out on such opportunity,” the Gu Master replied.
“If you keep following me, I’ll call the police!” Avoiding the Gu Master, Xiao Feng chose narrow paths to walk on. The deserted alleyway was quiet and a bit scary. The sound of a fallen bottle could shock anyone. Suddenly, Xiao Feng felt a tap on her shoulder from behind.
“Why are you following me again? I told you, I don’t like bugs and don’t want to learn witchcraft from you…”
“Learn witchcraft? Big brother won’t teach you how to play witchcraft. Big brother has something more fun to teach you!” The voice was off, and Xiao Feng quickly turned around to see a man with a scorpion tattoo, “It’s you guys! The thugs I met at the night market after that day!”
“Who are you calling thugs? Did we do anything to you?” The tattooed man smiled slyly and was about to grab Xiao Feng.
However, right then, the Gu Master, dressed in a black robe, walked into the alleyway and said, “You’re looking for death! How dare you lay a hand on someone I have taken a liking to.”
“You’ve taken a liking to? What else can an old geezer like you do besides just looking?” taunted the thug.
The Gu Master gave a cold smile and said, “Your sentence has twenty-one words. I’ll torture you for twenty-one days before letting you die. Centipede Gu!”
Just as he was about to start chanting a spell, he was hit with a strong force to the back of his head. He tried to get a good look at the person behind him, but his head felt heavy and he eventually passed out.
“Take that woman away and leave this place immediately,” said the man wearing a duckbill cap, who had attacked the Gu Master from behind. Half of his face was handsome and fair-skinned, while the other half looked like it had been burned, with scars covering his face.
“Let go of me! Let go!” Xiao Feng struggled as the man with the duckbill cap walked up to her with a smile on his face. “Little sister, long time no see. I heard you’re doing well these days, aren’t you?”
“Little sister?” Xiao Feng’s expression suddenly changed, as if she had thought of something terribly frightening. She slowly lifted her head, looked at the eerie face under the duckbill cap, and screamed.
“Lu Xing!”
“Silence her and take her away!”
In a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of Jiangcheng, Xiao Feng was tied up and thrown onto a shabby sofa. Her brother, Lu Xing, sat beside her playing with a short knife, occasionally gesturing towards her face.
“The corpse that was hidden in the Peace of Mind Inn was found, and Mom and Dad were taken away by the police. I became a wanted criminal too.”
He grabbed Xiao Feng’s hair and pressed the blade against her neck, ignoring her painful screams. “But you, enjoying your life with your little lover, have forgotten that you were born with a lowly fate, haven’t you?”
After speaking, Lu Xing held the knife to Xiao Feng’s neck, “You can’t escape. Your fate is predetermined, and you cannot escape it. But don’t worry; I won’t kill you now. You are the seventh. Before you, I have to kill another person.”
Lu Xing picked up the newspaper from the ground, and the headline featured the news of the police’s successful investigation of the hidden corpse case in the peace of mind inn. The article was accompanied by two pictures: one of the inn and the other of the captain of the criminal investigation team of the city branch, Tie Ningxiang.
“Stars of fortune and misfortune! I’ve been searching for ten years, and I never thought I would find it here in Jiangcheng!” Lu Xing laughed wholeheartedly. The few young men around him all lowered their heads. They looked so obedient that they seemed to be controlled by some external force, as if they were puppets.
“This time we’ve gathered all eight auspicious stars: the Red Luan, the Yuan Chen, the Disaster Star, the Death God, the Heavenly Doctor, the Nobleman, the Star General, and the Ten Evils. Now we just need to wait for the appropriate time of Mourning Clothes, Funeral Guests, and Death’s Door, then we can cheat fate and completely reshape our destiny!”