Chapter 2262: The Miao Frontier Youth's Fierce Love 25

The crowd crossed the monument at the edge of Broken Dragon Cliff and entered the forbidden land.

The three ancient seal characters 'Spirit Butterfly Valley' on the monument shone with dew, while spiderweb-like dark red patterns crawled along its edges, like dried blood seeping into the stone cracks.

Stay close.

The elder's bronze staff jabbed into the crack, startling several green-eyed mountain sparrows.

The crowd went around the monument, and before them a scattered stone array unfolded.

Seven mottled stone pillars were arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper, their shafts carved with strange totems.

Serpents coiled around them, and there were outlines of kneeling human figures; strangest of all, each pillar's top was hollowed into a bowl, holding rainwater accumulated over who knows how many years, with a film of iridescent oil floating on the surface.

A San bumped into the nearest pillar while carrying the offering basket, and several dried insect shells rattled down.

"Watch out!" the elder suddenly pulled him back, revealing a three‑inch centipede darting from the shadow at the pillar's base, its many legs gleaming with a metallic blue‑green sheen.

"The creatures in this valley are ten times more dangerous than the poisonous insects behind the mountain." The elder's bronze staff lifted a clump of seemingly ordinary fern, whose leaf undersides were covered in barbs—"a single leaf could paralyze the whole village for three days."

Jin Chen looked over with great interest, eager to try.

Nan Yixiong traced the grooves on the pillar; his fingertip felt a faint vibration, as if something were moving deep within the stone.

As the mist thickened, a round altar loomed faintly ahead.

Nine bronze lamps on the altar ignited without wind, their flames an eerie indigo.

Jin Chen's purple gauze ceremonial robe brushed the lamps, and the flames all turned toward him in unison, as if paying homage.

We've arrived.

Dew clung to the elder's silver beard as his bronze staff pointed to the vine‑shrouded altar; "Holy Son, please follow us."

Jin Chen glanced back at Nan Yixiong, winked, and said, "Don't wander off; wait for me."

Nan Yixiong replied softly, watching Jin Chen go with the elder's party to prepare at the altar, then turned his gaze back to the pillar.

His fingertip traced the uneven patterns. On the cold rock, serpentine totems and star charts intertwined, flickering in and out of the thin mist.

"A San, what's carved on this wall?" Nan Yixiong asked, his finger measuring a depression shaped like a gu worm.

A San set down the offering basket, leaned in, and squinted: "The elder said these are old matters left by our ancestors."

His rough fingertip traced a few simple symbols: "I can't really read them either; they probably record harvest rites."

Nan Yixiong's gaze lingered on a complex pattern on the wall; its flow resembled the life‑substituting gu mark on Jin Chen's chest by seventy percent.

He felt he had seen a similar recording method somewhere before.

He silently pulled a small camera from his medicine pouch and recorded the pattern.

"Doctor Nan, are you interested in these old stones?" A San scratched his head, "If you ask me, you'd be better off looking over there."

He pointed toward the altar: "The young master is about to begin today's blessing."

Nan Yixiong slipped the thumb‑sized camera back into his lap, glanced over, and saw Jin Que standing on the opposite side of the pillar, likewise lost in thought as he brushed over the patterns and similar written symbols.

In a few breaths, their eyes met.

Nan Yixiong's eyes were calm, filled with icy scrutiny that made anyone who glanced at them feel uneasy.

The two stood apart on the mottled stone wall, neither speaking first.

A San sensed something, covered his ears, and silently stepped back, not daring to hear a word.

"Doctor Nan, you have refined tastes." Jin Que's fingertip rubbed the gu mark on his wrist, his voice cool as morning dew, "The carvings in Spirit Butterfly Valley are more interesting than medical texts."

"No trouble at all." Nan Yixiong said flatly.

Jin Que suddenly chuckled, his pale finger pressing against his heart: "I know you're here to find a way to dispel the gu, but have you ever considered……

He paused, the indigo gu mark faintly visible beneath his clothing: "When the gu is removed, will A Chen's pain be worse than having his heart torn out?

Laughter from Jin Chen drifted from the altar; Nan Yixiong's gaze softened as he looked over: "I won't let him put himself in danger.

"Back then he trusted his grandfather, which is why he received this life‑substituting gu." Jin Que tapped the pillar, producing a faint sound, unsure whether it was self‑mockery or pain.

"Now that you trust him, must he endure the agony of having his bones scraped and his heart gouged out?

Nan Yixiong looked toward the altar; Jin Chen was bent over lighting incense candles, murmuring in Miao, a language he couldn't understand.

"At least I mean well by him, and he willingly accepts it." Nan Yixiong said, a curve appearing on his lips.

Jin Que: "……

Jin Que's fingertips tightened, then slowly relaxed: "Doctor Nan, you truly have won his heart.

The mist thinned, and the markings on the stone wall grew clear in the morning light.

Nan Yixiong gave the strange patterns one last look, then turned and walked toward the altar.

Jin Que watched Nan Yixiong's retreating figure as he headed for the altar, blood‑tinged phlegm mixing with a low sigh in his throat: "Foolish outsider, without the gu worms, your bodhisattva heart… how long can it protect A Chen?

——

In the afternoon, Jin Chen and Nan Yixiong went deep into the Shan Lin of Spirit Butterfly Valley to search for poisonous insects that could be used to dispel the gu.

According to the village's ancient records, it is a black‑shelled beetle that breeds in toxic miasma, hiding so well that finding it is no simple task.

Meanwhile, A San kept the elders occupied down the mountain, preventing them from growing suspicious.

The scales of the red snake gu scraped against dead branches, producing a rustling sound.

Jin Chen's fingers clamped tightly around Nan Yixiong's wrist, his palm sweating yet he did not loosen his grip.

The forest light grew dimmer, and rotting leaves underfoot emitted faint cracking noises.

Walk more slowly.

Jin Chen suddenly grabbed Nan Yixiong, pushed aside the hanging vines ahead, and said, "The spiderwebs here aren't right.

A faint jingle from the silver bell on Jin Chen's wrist made the red snake gu instantly coil into a defensive circle.

He bent down to inspect; the hem of his purple gauze robe brushed the damp moss, and he frowned: "Someone has been here.

His words cut off abruptly.

The red snake gu darted into the thick ferns, its tail tip wrapping around a half‑piece of gray cloth.

Nan Yixing pushed aside the weeds, and a tattered corpse‑handler's robe suddenly appeared before his eyes.

"Is this… a corpse‑handler's shroud?" Nan Yixing crouched, his gaze falling on the coin‑shaped pattern on the fabric.

Those patterns were covered in mold, giving off an eerie sheen in the dim light.

Jin Chen suddenly tightened his fingers, "Probably not; there's a hint of snake‑slough powder on it."

"Only a corpse‑nurturer would use this formula."

A single character's difference means more than just a difference in profession.

If they encounter a corpse‑nurturer here, it shows the corpse‑eating worms are not far away, and the black‑shell beetles feed on those worms.

It seems the location Zero Egg gave is correct.

"【That's it!】 Ling Gun Gun nodded."

The Red Serpent Gu suddenly hissed a warning, its tail pointing to a pit not far away.

Nan Yixing stepped forward slowly, pushed aside the covering leaves, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

Half a corpse, entwined with blood‑vines, lay still there; beneath the rotting cloth, a spider‑web‑like pattern could be faintly seen.

"It's a living corpse gu." Jin Chen crouched, found a twig and lightly touched the corpse's chest; inside, numerous worms crawled with a soft rustling.

Suddenly a chilly wind swept through the forest, blowing the shroud across the ground.

Jin Chen immediately rose, shielded Nan Yixing behind him, and gazed at the figure appearing in the corner.