Ye Shaoyang felt a bad premonition when he heard the name, so he asked, âWhatâs a human blood Gu?â
âWhere are you? Iâll tell you when I see you.â
âTell Jingru that Iâm at the place she drove me to last time. Ask her to send you here; she knows where it is.â
After the call, Ye Shaoyang asked Xiao Ma to wait beside the road, just in case. Then, not long after, Xiao Ma came up with Zhou Jingru and Tan Xiaohui. Zhou Jingru grew emotional when she saw Ye Shaoyang, she asked him many questions, until she felt certain that he was fine. On the other hand, Tan Xiaohui bit her finger and used her blood to draw a strange symbol on Ye Shaoyangâs palm. Then she pressed her thumb against the symbol and chanted a string of words that no one understood. Ye Shaoyang guessed it was the Miao language.
As soon as her chant began, Ye Shaoyang felt something inside him slowly moved out. He looked down at his palm and saw beads of black blood exit from the strange symbol. After a while, Tan Xiaohui took her thumb off his palm. Then, she pulled out a few strands of Ye Shaoyangâs hair. She used his hair to dip some of the black blood on his palm and started to chant again. Finally, she opened up her hand, and the hair swiftly ignited into a blue flame. As the hair burned away, smoke began to rise. The smoke gathered above them and slowly formed into a butterfly-like image.
Even though Ye Shaoyang did not understand the meaning behind this, he knew that the butterfly was one of the totems of the Miao people. Other than the butterfly, there was also the maple tree and the bull. All three were significant symbols to them.
Then, Tan Xiaohui waved her hand to disperse the butterfly-shaped smoke. She frowned and told Ye Shaoyang in a grave tone, âIt is definitely a human blood GuâŠ.â
Everyone remained silent, as they looked intently at Tan Xiaohui. Ye Shaoyang nodded his head as a gesture for her to please continue. Tan Xiaohui let out a sigh and said, âThe human blood Gu is a very evil being. A Miaojiang Gu witch would use their own blood to feed one of the Gu. Then, the Gu would form a human blood poison. Once this Gu is introduced into a host, the Gu will immediately release its human blood poison. It will consume the hostâs blood and grow until it becomes an awakened Gu. By then...the host will definitely die.â
Then, a very strange look dawned on Tan Xiaohuiâs face, âBut this art is very hard to master. If the creator is not careful, the Gu might use the human blood poison against its creator and kill them. That being said, maybe only a person from our great family has the ability to create such a creature.â
Ye Shaoyang felt shocked, âNo way...immediately after I save you, people from your family comes to implant a Gu in me?â
Tan Xiaohui shook her head, âI donât know. Our family only has a few members left. Plus, this evil craft is already banned in our family, so I probably wouldnât know the identity of this witch.â
Ye Shaoyang believed in her words, but something or someone must have planned this behind the scenes. How could it be possible that right after Ye Shaoyang saved a white witch of a big family, a black witch would come along and plant a Gu in him? The strange part was that he did not know any Miaojiang witches, and he had definitely not angered one. But now was not the time to solve this mystery, it was more important to try and save himself first. Ye Shaoyang looked at Tan Xiaohui and said, âThis human blood Gu, are there any methods to deal with it?â
Tan Xiaohui shook her head in despair, âI can cure all the Gu crafts of Miaojiang, except the human blood Gu. The witch used their own blood to cultivate this Gu, so the only way to cure the poison is to use that witchâs blood. I can only suppress and delay the poison.â
Ye Shaoyang shrugged and thought, Well, I guess thatâs it then. How can someone that intends to kill me give me their blood to cure me? Not only that, how can I even try to find this person if they hide wellâŠ.
As he thought about it, he suddenly asked, âHow can you suppress the poison? And for how long?â
Tan Xiaohui did not answer him. Instead, she went up to grab both of his hands and said, âEveryone look.â
Everyone in the room came close and looked at the spot that Tan Xiaohui pointed toward. They saw a vein filled with black blood beside an artery. It slowly crept toward his body. Right now, it was an inch long.
âThis, whatâs going on!?â Zhou Jingru held one of his hands and exclaimed.
âThatâs the human blood poison. It starts from the wrist and flows toward the heart. Once the streams of poison from both arms connect at the heart, the victim will instantly die.â
These words stunned Zhou Jingru; she was about to cry.
Ye Shaoyang quickly comforted her, âDonât cry. Iâm not dead yet. Letâs hear what little sister Hui has to say.â
Tan Xiaohui was about to inform him of her age, but she was not in the mood to say it, âThe streams of poison in your left and right arm will simultaneously flow toward your heart. They have to go through seven acupoints in your arm. Losing one acupoint also means a great deal of damage and pain to the victim. Originally, you would only have one month left to live but with the combination of my arctic silkwormâs blood and my...salivaâŠI can create a pill that can slow the poison down and extend your life to about two months.â
Zhou Jingru muttered in response, âOnly one month more? Whatâs the differenceâŠâ
âOf course, thereâs a difference,â Ye Shaoyang said, âNow, I have two months to look for that witch. So, if I find them, Iâll survive.â
âBut...what if that witch has hidden away? How would you look for them then?â
Ye Shaoyang shrugged his shoulders and said, âThen, I have no idea, but...Iâve never wronged any Miaojiang witch. This person must have some reason for doing this to me, they wouldnât use something so rare to poison me for no reason.â
Everyone felt slightly relieved when they heard his explanation.
Suddenly, Xiao Ma made a very ignorant comment, âCould it be Cheng Yu? Although Iâve never seen anything suspicious.â
Ye Shaoyang glanced at him and said, âHim? What skill can he have? Heâs probably just a tool that someone used, but we can investigate him. Maybe, he can give us some clues.â
So, Ye Shaoyang took out his cellphone and called Xie Yuqing. As soon as she picked up, she said, âLittle trickster, I was just about to call you. We have already established a homicide case for the events at Evergreen Villa, and Iâm in charge of it. So, what do you want to do next?â
âIâll tell you later, but I need your help now to find someone. I need their date of birth.â
Xie Yuqing felt shocked, âWho is this person?â
Ye Shaoyang told her Cheng Yuâs name. Xie Yuqing noted it and asked, âWhat did he do? Why do you need me to investigate him?â
âItâs hard to explain through the phone.â
âWell, you must give me a reason now. I canât just use our resources without any reason. I donât own the department, you know.â
Ye Shaoyang answered in a cold tone, âListen carefully. If I donât find this person, I might die.â
Xie Yuqing paused for quite some time. Suddenly, she emotionally exclaimed, âWhere are you? Iâll come over now!â
As they waited for Xie Yuqing to come over, Tan Xiaohui asked for a room so that she could produce the pill. Ye Shaoyang understood why. The Miaojiao witchcraft was a very secretive art; they would not usually want others to see their procedures. So, Ye Shaoyang asked Xiao Ma to bring her to the next room. After a five minute wait, Teng Xiaohui came out and passed a red bean like pill to Ye Shaoyang. Ye Shaoyang held it. Immediately, he felt a chill. Then, he asked, âSo, you used your arctic silkwormâs blood to make this?â
âThereâs only a minute amount of its blood. Itâs mainly my...saliva,â Tan Xiaohui reluctantly said as her face flushed red.
Ye Shaoyang paused for a bit. The saliva of a beauty; he did not think it was dirty or disgusting, but was this the legendary...indirect kiss? When he swallowed the pill, he immediately felt a cooling effect flow through his body. It was especially obvious around his arms. Ye Shaoyang looked at his arms and saw that the black blood has receded; he felt better.