Chapter 161

Chapter 161

The night watchman looked up and saw that, at some point, a woman’s figure had appeared beside him.

She did not look very old, yet faced with this horrifying, terrifying “monster,” she showed not the slightest fear. She even took two steps forward, with every intention of fighting it.

“Miss, you… be careful!”

He had no idea whether she was truly capable, but in a matter of life and death like this, the night watchman could only leave those words behind before fleeing in a panic.

Xia Ximo looked at the waiter before her, who had already become something neither human nor ghost. Her cold gaze swept over him from head to toe, and she immediately spotted the “suspicious point.”

Seeing that he was about to pounce at her, she raised her wrist slightly and moved her fingers, freezing him in place an arm’s length away.

Once he was close, she could examine him clearly.

The decay had begun on the surface, but the root of it was obviously inside.

From within the Soul-Ferrying Lantern, Wuyou cried out, “Mogu, that thing… it’s already crawled up to his throat.”

“I know.”

Xia Ximo narrowed her eyes and was just about to use her soul power to force the thing out when footsteps sounded behind her.

Ren Fengjue had not expected that in the time it took him to say one sentence to Yan Zhengchu, Xia Ximo would vanish without a trace.

Now, seeing her standing face-to-face with the corpse-transformed waiter, he was startled all over again.

He quickened his pace toward her, only for his foot to step on something.

Looking down, he found it was a wooden fine-toothed comb.

Though its teeth were already rotten, he still recognized it.

It was the very comb Xia Ximo had personally picked out from his hand last night…

Ren Fengjue lost focus for a brief instant, but he still rushed to Xia Ximo first and drew the long sword at his waist, pointing it at the corpse opposite them.

Xia Ximo glanced at the sword in his hand and suddenly had an idea. She immediately reached out, covered the back of his hand with her own, and, borrowing his strength, drove the sword tip into the waiter’s throat before flicking it upward at an angle.

The sequence of movements flowed as smoothly as running water. By the time Ren Fengjue reacted, a gash had already split open the front of the waiter’s throat, and a beetle, dark bluish-black from head to toe, dropped out of it.

Ren Fengjue was slightly shocked. The insect was only the size of a marble, and after it fell to the ground, it stopped moving entirely.

Looking again at the waiter’s body, it was like a house that had lost its supports. It instantly collapsed to the ground, its flesh and skin withering away until, in the blink of an eye, it had become an empty skeleton wrapped in human skin.

Xia Ximo let go of Ren Fengjue’s hand and was just about to walk over to the beetle when Yan Zhengchu’s voice rang out behind them. “Don’t touch it yet!”

After checking on Shopkeeper Wang’s condition at Yunjian Inn, Daoist Yan had run all the way over.

Only when he saw that the two of them were safe and sound did he let out a slight breath of relief. He took the empty bottle that had previously held the ashes from his cloth bag and stuffed the insect inside. Only then did he explain, “It’s Corpse Worms…”

Yan Zhengchu sighed again, then continued, “There is definitely an ill-intentioned occultist at the foot of Mount Yunhe…”

Ren Fengjue asked, “What are Corpse Worms?”

Yan Zhengchu glanced at him and explained, “In truth, it’s a type of gu insect.”

“However, this sort of insect can only be refined by using a corpse as the gu vessel. That is why it is also called Corpse Gu.”

“Among occultists, there is a kind known as ‘corpse drivers.’ They deal specifically with corpses and use a ‘corpse-controlling art’ to help the bodies of those who died far from home return to their native soil.”

“And the earliest form of that ‘corpse-controlling art’ used Corpse Gu…”

“It was recorded in my grandmaster’s Demon-Slaying Notes. It said that these Corpse Worms can consume essence blood. Once a person’s three drops of essence blood have been eaten, there is no chance they will survive.”

“That is also why the inn waiter died in such a short amount of time, and why even his soul vanished without a trace. In truth, both were eaten by those Corpse Worms…”

“But the notes also mentioned that these insects either inhabit corpses or are kept in a cold, yin place. Once they leave their host, they immediately stiffen. Why they would appear in Yu Lang’s guest room, I truly do not know. It is deeply suspicious…”

Ren Fengjue glanced at the corpse on the ground and immediately thought of what had happened in Tu Family Village. “In other words, the deaths of those villagers in Tu Family Village are connected to this as well?”
Yan Zhengchu nodded. “Looking at it that way, there has to be a connection.”

“Right. How are things at Miss Qiao’s home? Did you learn anything?”

At the mention of Miss Qiao, Yan Zhengchu sighed again.

“When I hurried over just now, the house was empty. There wasn’t a soul in sight. But in the soil of the back courtyard, I found two dried corpses that had been drained of blood.”

“They were probably her parents.”

Ren Fengjue’s expression turned grave. “Dried corpses?”

Yan Zhengchu nodded. “I suspect the Mother Gu of this Corpse Gu was once kept in Miss Qiao’s home.”

Xia Ximo, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked, “If we kill the Mother Gu, will that resolve this?”

“Yes.”

Yan Zhengchu went on, “Once Corpse Worms enter a person’s body, that person is difficult to save. They live and die with the Mother Gu. If the Mother Gu dies, these Corpse Worms will naturally die as well.”

“Besides that, these worms are like ghosts. They fear things of pure yang. If we use items with strong yang energy, they can drive them away.”

Seeing that Xia Ximo had no further questions, he added, “If I’m not mistaken, the Mother Gu should be hidden inside a corpse, and it needs to be fed fresh human blood every day. That would explain the two dried corpses…”

“If the Mother Gu was originally hidden in Miss Qiao’s home, then she can’t have gotten far while carrying a corpse with her…”

Ren Fengjue thought for a moment, understanding settling in his mind, then asked him, “What about the innkeeper?”

Yan Zhengchu pointed at the corpse on the ground and frowned. “That waiter bit his back to pieces. It won’t kill him, but he’s in bad shape.”

Now that they had a general understanding of the situation, Ren Fengjue also had a plan for dealing with it.

After a brief moment of thought, he instructed, “Daoist Yan, you’re familiar with the town. Hurry and find a physician to treat the innkeeper first.”

“Also, work with the town yamen to issue a prescription for driving out the Corpse Worms. It can’t be too complicated. Ideally, it should use things most townspeople already have at home…”

Yan Zhengchu understood his meaning at once and immediately agreed. “I’ll see to it right away.”

He turned to leave, but then glanced back at the corpse on the ground. “Then this body…”

Ren Fengjue said, “In a while, I’ll invite the town official here to handle it.”

First, he wanted the town official, Li Cheng, to see the corpse with his own eyes and understand the severity of the matter.

Second, they could use this chance to confirm whether the scene at the entrance of Tu Family Village that day had been the same…

And third, they certainly could not wait until dawn to search for Miss Qiao. A delay would only invite more trouble. They had to gather people and set out at once.

Ren Fengjue was thinking through these matters and was about to turn away to handle them when he heard Xia Ximo remind him, “The sword.”

The sword?

He looked down, only then realizing that his hand was still hanging at his side, gripping the sword.

In the haze and confusion just now, he had only known that she had let go, yet he himself had forgotten…

Xia Ximo took a handkerchief from her pouch and handed it to him. “The sword is dirty. Wipe it clean.”

Ren Fengjue was caught off guard again. “Thank you…”

As she watched him wipe the longsword clean and return it to its sheath, Xia Ximo somehow felt that this scene was one she had seen many times before, somewhere in her blurred memories…

Ren Fengjue also remembered to ask, “Miss Xia, do you know how to use a sword?”

She paused. A trace of bewilderment seemed to pass across her face before she answered calmly, “I forgot.”

He was tactful enough not to ask further. But when he turned his head, he saw the comb that had been “abandoned” on the ground.

Noticing his body stiffen slightly, Xia Ximo followed his gaze and looked over.

Sensing that he cared about the object, she instinctively explained, “It was urgent just now, so I threw it without thinking…”

Ren Fengjue immediately said, “It’s all right. Another day… I’ll give you another one.”