Chapter 348: The Ancient Gu Xianniang

Xu Yuan's pupils suddenly dilated, then quickly returned to normal.

In these past few months, Lord Xu has also made considerable progress in his cunning.

He immediately realized that the "Gu Gu Xianniang" mentioned by Gao Guanzi was likely some kind of evil spirit.

"Is it unsafe here at night?" Xu Yuan frowned. "If it's unsafe, why did you bring this official here?"

For Xu Yuan to spend the night in the mountains, his last resort was to don the mud mask, find any spot to curl up in, and muddle through.

Gao Guanzi hurriedly said, "It's very safe. That Gu Gu Xianniang doesn't come every night."

He scratched his head and said with a bitter smile, "This story starts with the Qidou Village of years past. That village... was brave and warlike; only they dared to live so close to Guanghuo Street.

The mountain runners of their village had no 'hats'—that's our mountain way of saying that as long as one works hard, one's skill can keep rising. Unlike us two; by the standards of the outside world, we are probably capped at sixth or fifth tier and cannot rise further.

It is said that the mountain runners of their village carved these stone niches into the sheer cliffs to increase their skills.

He spends half the year living in these stone niches. Each niche is a form of trial.

This is the safest one.

The others, such as the Sword Wall Niche and the Star-Stripping Niche, are exceptionally dangerous."

Bai Laoyan continued, "The Gu Gu Xianniang is a kind of mountain snake-yin. They transform into beautiful women to enter dreams, creating various scenes of joy within the dream.

Once they lure a person into addiction, that person will sleep forever, their perception of real-world dangers greatly diminished.

At that moment, the Gu Gu Xianniang's snake body will appear and swallow the person into its belly.

However, the Gu Gu Xianniang is actually very timid; they always fear that what they swallow is too large and will burst their own bodies.

Therefore, before swallowing a person, they straighten their bodies to compare their length with that of the person they wish to eat.

If their body is longer, it means swallowing them is no problem, and they will begin to swallow the person."

Xu Yuan nodded. So that was how they measured length.

This official thought...

Sigh, this official thought exactly that; there was no other misunderstanding.

Gao Guanzi added, "As for this Shen Niang Niche, as long as the huge stone at the entrance is blocked, no other evil spirits can enter.

We only need to guard against that Gu Gu Xianniang.

The three of us can take turns keeping watch tonight... How about I take the first half of the night and Bai Laoyan the second half?

My lord, just rest well."

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "No, let us all take turns resting together."

Bai Laoyan nodded: "The Gu Gu Xianniang cannot be seen. Its sign of measuring a person's length is that the person, while asleep in a dream, suddenly has their body straightened. That means the Gu Gu Xianniang is comparing lengths—when my lord is on watch, if you see the two of us suddenly lying straight, you must wake us immediately.

As soon as a person wakes, the Gu Gu Xianniang will automatically retreat."

Xu Yuan nodded: "Good."

The stone niche was indeed cramped; there was no way to prepare dinner, so everyone could only eat some dry rations.

Mountain runners' dry rations... Xu Yuan didn't even want to look, focusing only on eating his own.

While eating, Xu Yuan thought of those few people just now.

"What exactly did those people come to Pig-Call Rock to do?"

Both mountain runners shook their heads; they truly could not guess.

Xu Yuan could not help but think of Qidou Village again; that claw mark had finally turned into a lake!

It meant the claw mark was both huge and deep.

Truly, who knows what evil spirit destroyed that village back then!

Perhaps it was no less than Master Ruan Tian or the Canal Dragon King?

How did they offend such a being?

After finishing the dry rations, Gao Guanzi said, "My lord, rest first. Bai Laoyan takes the first watch, I take the second."

"Good." Xu Yuan agreed, then lay down holding Da Fu.

This "Shen Niang Niche" was carved straight out of a sheer cliff; the stone cave for entry and exit was only half a person's height.

Inside was a small chamber.

Not even seven feet square.

Gao Guanzi stacked three square stones at the cave entrance to block the entry.

Da Fu, however, started fussing with Xu Yuan, disliking being held.

Last night, because the wolf-skin mat was comfortable, he had barely squeezed in with Fan Zhezi.

Now it was just a hard stone slab; who would want to sleep with you?

Da Fu wriggled out of Xu Yuan's arms, stumbled over to the stone cave outside, lay down, and fell asleep in a daze very quickly.

Xu Yuan first took out the folded note from his embrace and glanced at it.

The flood dragon replied:

Tomorrow morning, seven li west of Pig-Call Rock, meet at Fengling.

Xu Yuan then put away the note and lay down to sleep peacefully.

Gao Guanzi also slept, while Bai Laoyan took the first watch.

When everyone slept, they all curled up their bodies.

Only after they were all asleep did Bai Laoyan take off his glasses and wipe them.

His eyeballs glowed with a ghostly green light in the darkness, like a wolf's.

After wiping his glasses, he took off his firewood knife and carefully wiped the blade.

Bai Laoyan was very alert.

Spending the night in the mountains was a common matter for them.

If they needed to stay up all night, they could go several days and nights without sleep.

Various strange sounds from the mountains outside filtered in through the stone cracks.

Bai Laoyan, bored with idleness, cocked an ear to listen closely, distinguishing which evil spirits made those sounds.

When he spent the night in the mountains, this was how he passed the time.

Listening and listening, Bai Laoyan lowered his head and fell asleep there, wrapped in his feathered cloak!

Both veteran mountain runners made the same mistake: they had never before spent a night inside the Divine Lady Shrine.

Their knowledge of Qidou Village, the Divine Lady Shrine, and such places came from their elders.

And the elders had heard it from even earlier ancestors.

No one had ever spent a night here.

This place was too close to Guanghuo Street; they came here rarely to begin with, let alone stayed overnight.

The trial the Divine Lady Shrine posed for the Qidou Village mountain runners lay chiefly within the dream realm.

Thus, Gu Xianiang possessed another ability: she could follow the stone cracks and first exhale a mouthful of "Sleep Qi."

Inside the stone shrine, all three slept very deeply.

Gao Guanzi, who normally slept lightly, fell into a dead sleep under the influence of the "Sleep Qi."

Moments later, something seemed to crawl in, and slight ripples arose in the air.

Dafu slept inside the stone cave.

That thing passed by Dafu first—somehow, as if startled, the ripples in the air suddenly surged violently.

Then everything calmed down.

After waiting quite a while and finding no reaction from Dafu, that thing cautiously went around him.

There were three people in the stone shrine.

Gu Xianiang selected one without difficulty—Xu Yuan.

The day had not yet passed; the effect of Xu Yuan's tortoise-shell divination still held, and today was extremely auspicious.

In his sleep, a happy smile appeared on Lord Xu's face.

Then his body shifted, and he smoothly straightened out.

But immediately after, a rope silently crawled out.

Beneath Lord Xu, it began to lengthen.

The rope seemed to be one with Lord Xu.

The invisible Gu Xianiang strained to extend herself as far as possible.

Yet that rope was even longer than she was.

Gu Xianiang, unwilling to yield, stretched out a bit further.

The rope extended accordingly, yet it was still longer than her.

Gu Xianiang stretched her body straight with all her might, pulling hard with both head and tail.

But the rope effortlessly surpassed her length.

Gu Xianiang tried once more—then compared herself with the rope again, only to collapse in despair upon discovering she was still a bit shorter!

(End of this chapter)