Chapter 532

Xue Tong was completely stunned.

Tuan Tuan poked her little head out from behind him, climbed onto the stool, flung the lid wide open, leaned over the wooden box peering inside, and happily shouted: "Wow! This worm is really pretty!"

Xue Tong's mouth twitched.

Pretty?

A Gu Worm, white and plump, and this is called pretty?

It has not a bit of menace, okay?

Tuan Tuan rested her chin, somewhat worried: "But you've grown so big, how am I supposed to feed you? I only have a little bit of blood."

She thought: "How about this, what do you like to eat?"

The worm lifted its head and let out a soft chirp: "Eng——"

Xue Tong dazedly asked: "It... what did it say?"

Tuan Tuan glanced at him: "It said it doesn't know either."

Xue Tong: "..."

Tuan Tuan slid off the stool, strode out with her short legs toward the tent exterior: "Master, I'll go get it something to eat!"

"Let's feed it more, see what it likes to eat!"

Xue Tong nodded dumbly, his mind not yet caught up, and Tuan Tuan had already disappeared.

Not long after, she returned carrying a pile of things.

Xue Tong looked, and his face turned green.

Carrots, vegetable leaves, bun chunks, jerky, and half a piece of pastry.

"Where did you get all this from?"

"From the kitchen!" Tuan Tuan laid the items out one by one on the table.

She picked up a carrot, reached into the wooden box: "Little worm, try this?"

The worm turned its head, not even glancing.

"Oh, you don't like this, how about this?" Tuan Tuan picked up a vegetable leaf and reached in again.

The worm remained utterly still.

Bun chunks, pastry... the worm still had no reaction at all.

Tuan Tuan picked up the last piece of jerky, reached in: "This is the last one!"

The worm moved its head, came over to sniff, opened its mouth and took a bite.

Xue Tong's eyes widened instantly.

The worm swallowed what was in its mouth and kept eating bite after bite.

Tuan Tuan happily clapped her little hands: "Master, look! It likes jerky!"

Xue Tong watched the white, plump worm nibble jerky bite by bite, utterly speechless.

He had raised Gu worms his whole life, and this was the first time he saw a Gu worm eating human food jerky.

Tuan Tuan propped her chin, watching eagerly: "You're so fat and white, from now on I'll call you Xiao Feifei, okay?"

The worm stopped eating, lifted its head to look at her: "Eng——"

Tuan Tuan burst into happy laughter: "Master, it agreed! It likes this name!"

Xue Tong opened his mouth.

Is this still a Gu Worm?

Which Gu Worm is picky? Which Gu Worm has a name? This is practically a pet!

Tuan Tuan asked the full Xiao Feifei: "Xiao Feifei, are you listening to me now?"

The worm lowered its head and let out a submissive low sound.

Tuan Tuan's eyes crinkled into crescents: "Great!"

"Then tell your mother, the person who raised you is a scoundrel; previously he made you act against my mother, now just go back and that'll do!"

Xiao Feifei seemed to understand, began crawling in the wooden box, faster and faster, more urgent.

Finally it stopped, lowered its head, looking however you look, dejected.

Tuan Tuan tilted her head, watched it a while, reached out her little hand, wanting to touch it.

"No way!" Xue Tong grabbed her.

Tuan Tuan turned to look at him: "Master, Xiao Feifei won't hurt me, don't worry."

She raised her other hand, slipped it into the box, and lightly placed it on Xiao Feifei's white, plump head.

Xiao Feifei rubbed against Tuan Tuan's fingertip, then let out a soft chirp.

Tuan Tuan gently stroked it: "Xiao Feifei, you're still small, try again, okay?"

She pulled her hand back from Xue Tong's grip, put her finger in her mouth, lightly bit it open, and let a drop of fresh blood fall into the wooden box.

"Come, I'll feed you another drop! Go!"

Xiao Feifei crawled over, lowered its head, and licked that drop of blood clean.

The next moment, a soft white glow spread from Xiao Feifei's body.

Xue Tong rubbed his eyes.

"What did I see?" he murmured, "Has my old eyes gone dim?"

How can the worm emit light?

Xiao Feifei scurried quickly in the wooden box, the white light on its body growing brighter.

After a moment, it stopped, a pair of jet-black bright little eyes fixedly gazing at Tuan Tuan.

Tuan Tuan smiled: "Xiao Feifei," she said softly, "you're awesome!"

That night, Jingcheng.

Cheng Jing opened that lacquer-black wooden box; the blood-red Gu Worm lay still at the bottom.

He reached out and lightly touched the Gu Worm's back: "Looks like a new host has been found, not bad."

The Gu Worm clung to his finger, utterly obedient, not moving at all.

Cheng Jing satisfiedly withdrew his hand, turned to leave: "I'll go get you some blood food you love, so you can feast."

Before his words finished.

His hand had not yet been fully withdrawn from the box when his palm suddenly itched.

Cheng Jing lowered his head; the blood-red Gu Worm, unknown when, had crawled up his palm onto his wrist.

He paled in shock, shook his hand hard: "Get off."

The Gu Worm paid no heed, instead crawling faster, leaping from his wrist up his arm.

Cheng Jing raised his other hand and slapped down hard.

"Get off!"

With a crisp "pa" sound, a red patch appeared on his arm.

But the Gu Worm nimbly dodged his slap, racing up his arm at astonishing speed.

Cheng Jing panicked completely.

He kept slapping and scratching with both hands, his nails gouging bloody tracks across his skin.

The Gu Worm paid no heed; in moments it had reached his shoulder.

"Someone! Someone!"

Cheng Jing shouted hoarsely, reaching out to grab.

His fingertips barely touched the Gu Worm's tail, but it darted away, crawling up his neck to his cheek.

Cheng Jing's hairs stood on end all over, and he frantically slapped his face with both hands.

"Get down! Get lost!"

The Gu Worm sped across his face, dodging every slap, finally stopping beside his ear.

Cheng Jing's pupils suddenly contracted.

No!

The next moment, the Gu Worm burrowed inside.

"Ah——!"

A bloodcurdling scream exploded inside the room.

The servants outside rushed in.

"Sir! Sir, what's wrong?"

Several people reached out, trying to help Cheng Jing, who had collapsed rolling on the ground, to his feet.

Cheng Jing trembled all over, one hand digging hard at the ear the Gu Worm had crawled into, a trickle of blood flowing from the ear.

"Gu Worm! My Gu Worm!" his voice trembling, "It burrowed into my ear!"

The servants stared at each other, faces full of fear.

One shouted: "Quick! Go call Sect Master Liu!"

"Yes!" one person sprinted off.

Soon, Liu Guiyan ran in.

As soon as she entered, she saw Cheng Jing slumped on the ground, spiritless, eyes vacant.

She lunged over, kneeling beside him, cupping his face: "Cheng Lang! Cheng Lang, what's wrong?"

Cheng Jing slowly lifted his head to look at her, his eyes full of terror and bewilderment.

"Guiyan, I've been infested! I've been infested by my own Gu Worm! Still that female one!"

Liu Guiyan sucked in a breath of cold air.

She sprang to her feet, shouting at the several dazed servants: "What are you standing there for! Hurry and get blood food! Get what it loves to eat!"

"Yes! Yes!"

The servants scrambled out, crawling and running.

Cheng Jing struggled to sit up, staggered to the bedside, and felt out a needle box from under the pillow.

"My head hurts so much! It's killing me!"

He shouted while gripping the needle with trembling fingers, gritting his teeth as he drove the Silver Needle into his own crown.

One needle, two needles, three needles……

Liu Guiyan watched from the side, her heart as if cut by a knife.

She knew Cheng Jing was sealing off the Gu Worm's exit, forcing it out.

A bowl of blood food was brought in.

Liu Guiyan took it, knelt beside the bed, and brought the bowl to Cheng Jing's ear.

"Cheng Lang, let it smell it; it will come out when it smells the scent, don't rush."

Cheng Jing tilted his head, ear aimed at the bowl's rim.

The room fell silent; the Gu Worm showed no movement.

Cheng Jing's face grew paler still.

He reached out, snatched the bowl, and smashed it hard to the ground.

"Change it!"

Another bowl was brought up, but still there was no reaction.

Cheng Jing's head felt like it would split open, he clutched his head violently: "Ah——!"

He rolled wildly on the ground, his hands gripping his hair tightly, veins bulging.

Liu Guiyan lunged forward to hug him, but he shoved her away with an elbow.

She fell to a sitting position on the ground, looking at Cheng Jing rolling all over, her eyes blood-red, her whole body trembling.

"What should we do," she murmured, "what should we do! How can we pull it out!"

She crawled over, grabbed his wrist, and tears dropped one by one onto his trembling hand.

"Blood food is useless against the mother gu!" Cheng Jing trembled as he spoke: "Quick! Go find the silk-guiding lure! Have everyone search for it!"

"Ah——! My head hurts so much!"

At the same moment, an old man with white hair and beard sat before Teng Qingxing's bed, staring at the bronze mirror in front of him.

He stared at the mirror surface and laughed: "Interesting."

Teng Qingxing, wrapped head to toe in white cloth, weakly asked: "Master, what's wrong?"

The old man slowly said: "That child has raised a gu."

Teng Qingxing stared: "A gu? She can raise a gu?"

"This is no ordinary gu; I have studied the way of gu worms for decades, yet I have never seen such a gu worm—you losing to her is not unjust."

Teng Qingxing's teeth clenched as he said: "Master! Please grant me vengeance!"