Chapter 417: Heart-Eating Gu

Chen Zheng's face was filled with astonishment, and within that astonishment there was a hint of despair and confusion.

Only we understood why Dong Yumin attacked Chen Zheng, because she was controlled by the gu worms.

In the span of a breath, I and Pangzi had already arrived before Chen Zheng; Pangzi commanded the Five Thunder Flower Sigil in his hand, preparing to strike Dong Yumin.

"Don't move..." Chen Zheng suddenly grabbed Pangzi's hand tightly, anxiously saying: "Don't hurt Yumin."

"She's already a worm-fed corpse," Pangzi said with a mournful face, helplessly looking at Chen Zheng.

"I don't care if she's a living corpse or dead corpse; anyway, Yumin is still alive, you absolutely must not harm her!" Chen Zheng's tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation.

At the same moment, Dong Yumin moved, like a puppet, with no luster on her face. Yet the knife in her hand was unbelievably fast. Just as it was about to pierce Chen Zheng, I hurriedly stepped in front of him to block.

But at that critical moment, Dong Yumin's knife suddenly halted in midair. She seemed to hesitate, a flash of pain crossing her brow. Immediately, before anyone could react, Dong Yumin actually drove the sharp blade into her own chest.

"Yumin!" Chen Zheng roared madly, shoved Pangzi aside, rushed forward and caught Dong Yumin's falling body.

Dong Yumin's ashen face suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood; looking at Chen Zheng, she weakly said: "Zheng, hurry and leave, I'm in agony, I can't control myself... I... I don't want to hurt you, hurry and go."

Although Dong Yumin's complexion remained pallid, her eyes had regained a glimmer of clarity. Pangzi probed her forehead; after a moment, he involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air and slowly uttered three words: "Heart-Eating Gu."

Heart-Eating Gu, also known as Ten Thousand Ants Heart-Eating Gu, is refined from countless ant queens; it is also called Life-Continuing Heart-Eating Gu, because ants possess tenacious vitality, so this gu can prolong the life of one whose vitality is waning. But don't forget, after "life-continuing" come the two words "heart-eating"; this gu is implanted in the heart, and when it erupts, the heart suffers the agony of being devoured by ten thousand ants. Moreover, while devouring the heart, it also controls the person's consciousness,

I never imagined that Dong Yumin had been implanted with this gu, and to my surprise, she actually managed to break free from its control; at the critical moment, she reversed the blade aimed at Chen Zheng and drove it into her own chest.

"Hurry and go, Ah Zheng... hurry and go, don't trust him, absolutely not!" The Dong Yumin who had broken free of the gu worm's control, her gaze gradually turning bewildered, simply urged Chen Zheng to hurry and leave.

This does not mean Dong Yumin is still lucid; on the contrary, her condition now resembles that of an idiot. She can speak because of the obsession in her heart, and her love for Chen Zheng.

"Yumin..." Chen Zheng tightly embraced Dong Yumin, lowered his head onto her soft hair, and wept quietly.

Suddenly, Dong Yumin's body began to spasm involuntarily, and on her face appeared intersecting red veins; her eyes seemed to contract rapidly, gradually approaching the pupils of an ant.

This scene looked a bit eerie; even I couldn't help but retreat two steps. Chen Zheng was also afraid, but his fear stemmed from worry for Dong Yumin's safety. After Dong Yumin showed abnormality, Chen Zheng completely lost his composure, panicking like a seven-year-old child, frantically shaking her shoulders.

Pangzi frowned, said "move aside," picked up a silver needle, and prepared to prick Dong Yumin. But because Chen Zheng clung tightly to Dong Yumin, Pangzi couldn't accurately locate the acupoint. What's more laughable is that Chen Zheng held onto Dong Yumin as if fearing Pangzi would harm her, refusing to let go.

Finally, Pangzi shouted at Chen Zheng: "Let go, I'm saving her," and only then snatched the gu-toxin-afflicted Dong Yumin from the dazed Chen Zheng's hands.

After Chen Zheng let go, Pangzi picked up the silver needles and inserted them one after another into Dong Yumin's acupoints, scattered and numerous; even Pangzi couldn't count how many he had inserted. When the last needle was in, over a hundred silver needles in the moxibustion box were left none.

After Pangzi applied the needles, the red veins on Dong Yumin's face gradually faded, her pupils returned to normal, but soon she closed her eyes and fell into a coma.

"Pangzi, why didn't you completely eradicate the gu worms?" I wondered; with my eyesight, I could naturally see that Pangzi was using silver needles to suppress the gu worms anew in a part of Dong Yumin's body, preventing them from spreading.

But the Ghost Gate Needle Technique is specifically for hysteria and gu worms, isn't it? Why not just pull them out?

At this moment, Pangzi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, helplessly telling me: "The Heart-Eating Gu is implanted in the heart; it cannot be expelled at all—if we tried to drive it out, it would be like digging out her heart..."

Having said that, Pangzi grew somewhat gloomy, glanced at Chen Zheng, who stood tearfully guarding Dong Yumin's side, and silently closed his mouth.

"So that means there's nothing we can do!" I sighed gloomily.

Just as Pangzi opened his mouth, he glanced at Chen Zheng, then immediately changed his tone, hesitantly saying: "Perhaps there is a way after all; maybe the person who planted the gu has some method."

The one who administered the gu... must be that behind-the-scenes figure.

Holy shit, I forgot about the black-robed kid.

Just now I was focused on treating Dong Yumin's injuries, and I forgot that black-robed kid. When I turned around and searched the courtyard, his trace was already gone.

"We'll chase him... just now he took a palm strike from you, was injured, fell to the ground and sprained his foot; a person with a twisted ankle can't run far." Pangzi said in a low voice.

Having said that, he immediately headed toward the outside of Chen Zheng's ancestral home.

I followed behind Pangzi, walked out of Chen Zheng's ancestral home; as Pangzi said, the black-robed kid's foot was already sprained. When we chased out, far away we saw a staggering figure at the mouth of an alley. No need to discern—just seeing that silhouette told us it was him.

I pursued from behind; Pangzi went around to flank him. As he was about to escape the alley entrance, Pangzi descended from the sky, and together we blocked him from front and rear.

Upon seeing him, Pangzi said nothing, roared and charged forward. His fists fell like rain, dense and relentless, leaving him unable to respond, completely destroying his ability to control the worms. Then Pangzi struck him unconscious with a knife-hand and dragged him back to Chen Zheng's ancestral home.

"Pour water to wake him up..." Chen Zheng, standing guard by Dong Yumin's side with a grim face, stared at the black-robed kid's eyes filled with murderous intent.

Pangzi ran straight to the well to draw water, while I stripped off the black-robed kid's black robe.

After pulling off the kid's black robe, I recoiled several steps from his face. The black-robed kid's face had suffered severe burns; his facial flesh was almost entirely destroyed, hardly any intact piece remained; on his crown, lumpy masses of flesh clung together, oozing unburst blisters—truly eerie.

Pangzi, who had brought the water over, exclaimed "Holy shit!" and was also startled by his appearance. At that moment, Chen Zheng actually took the bucket from Pangzi and dumped the water onto the black-robed kid's face.

When the black-robed kid slowly woke up, seeing us three tightly surrounding him, eyes gleaming with ferocity, he let out a terrified shriek and stumbled backward in fear.

His scream made the white flesh on his face tremble, the grooves undulating like waves. Really can't tell whether he scared us or we scared him.

Before we could even speak, the kid gave Chen Zheng a resentful, poisonous glance; as his gaze swept over us, a flicker of panic flashed in his eyes.

"You... you can't kill me, otherwise my master won't let you off," he said, his whole body trembling, his voice to Chen Zheng shaking slightly.

Chen Zheng's reply was blunt: he stepped directly on the kid's foot with a crack, breaking his left leg. Ignoring the kid's painful wails, Chen Zheng coldly said: "You... serve no purpose. As long as the treasure remains in my hands, he will surely come looking for me."

In that instant, a sinister glint flashed in Chen Zheng's eyes; he clenched his fist and launched a barrage at the black-robed kid.

Although injured, the black-robed kid's reaction was not slow; he explosively tapped his potential, barely dodging Chen Zheng's domineering punch.

"Master, save me, save me!" he cried while retreating, panicked.

Suddenly, as he retreated, he let out a miserable shriek; blood poured from his eyes, nose, and all seven orifices. Clutching his head, he writhed on the ground in anguish.

"Not good, fall back!" I grabbed Chen Zheng, who was about to pursue, and pulled him back.

This scene, I know it all too well—Ou Yaofeng met the same fate when the worms inside him devoured him.

In our horrified gaze, his body fell like a stone, as if the sound of crumbling earthenware came; his skull slowly split open, and when his wails faded, a worm as thick as a bowl emerged from his head.

When I and Pangzi clearly identified the worm's species, we involuntarily sucked in a breath of cold air,

This gu king turned out to be the Centipede Gu King, a centipede!

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