The Eve of the Gu Battle

On the Eve of the Gu Duel

I picked up Green Nest-Head and tossed it back into the bamboo tube. "Chen Junfeng, this is Miao territory. Divine Gu insects roam here. Your Five-Colored Demon Moth was only a modified poisonous insect. Losing to my Green Nest-Head is nothing to be ashamed of."

Ma Shi's eyes lit up. "I've never seen a divine Gu insect like that. What exactly is its origin? And why is it called something like Green Nest-Head?"

Green Nest-Head was only a nickname I had made up at random. Its true identity was the Gu King Insect. It was just a Gu King Insect that had not been fully cultivated yet, one that needed to keep eating Gu insects, eating all kinds of poisonous insects.

Ma Shi could not even properly control the Seven-Colored Gu, so how would he know about the Gu King Insect?

I helped Guo Ni sit down on the long bench and said, "Patriarch Ma, have I tempted you again? This Green Nest-Head—do you want to snatch it away?"

Ma Shi's eyelids twitched. His face darkened as he said, "Xiao Kunlun, it wasn't easy for my son to finally have a wife, and now you've ruined it. As a Han, you trespassed into my Qingya Village without permission. Put these two matters together, and I won't let you off."

The matter of Guo Ni had already been pinned on me.

I no longer wanted to make excuses. I raised my head and looked at Ma Shi. "Then what do you want? I, Xiao Kunlun, will accompany you to the end. If you send a hundred men in here with long knives, I have nothing to say. I can only fight you with my life."

Guo Ni picked up a wine bowl, bent over, and struck it against the ground. She picked up half a shard and gripped it tightly in her hand.

Ma Shi said, "Invite the god! Duel Gu!"

I could not help frowning.

Guo Ni, who had recovered a little, said, "If someone breaks the rules of Gu keepers, they either give their life to the Gu insects or accept the Gu keeper's challenge. That is what 'invite the god' and 'duel Gu' means. The 'god' usually refers to a Gu keeper's Gu Spirit. Dueling Gu means Gu insects fighting each other."

Guo Ni paused, then asked, "Xiao Kunlun, do you have your own Gu Spirit?"

With Guo Ni's explanation, I understood.

Ma Shi wanted to duel Gu insects with me. Unfortunately, my Gu Spirit, the Blood Infant, had chased the Paper Doll in Chiyou Valley and then vanished without a trace. Otherwise, I could have asked the Blood Infant for help.

I said, "I originally had a Gu Spirit, but we parted ways on the road to Qingya Village."

Ma Bianlang bared his teeth and cursed, "At your young age, how could you have a Gu Spirit? If you want to brag, at least draft your lies first."

"Ma Bianlang, there are many things I can do." I looked at Ma Bianlang provocatively. "For example, I can enter the Corpse-Raising Cave, but you can't. That is the difference."

Ma Bianlang clenched his teeth, his eyes shooting poisonous light. "I'll make you regret that in a moment."

Chen Junfeng stood beside Ma Shi, both eyes glaring viciously at Guo Ni. Guo Ni did not meet his gaze. After being savagely beaten by Chen Junfeng, that shallow fake father-daughter relationship could no longer be maintained.

I cupped my fists toward Ma Shi and said, "Patriarch Ma, since we are dueling Gu, I, Xiao Kunlun, will accompany you to the end. I have no Gu Spirit to invite. I'll just use Gu insects."

Guo Ni's face was deathly pale. She cried softly, "Xiao Kunlun, you'll die."

Ma Shi said loudly, "Good. Those are the words I wanted."

I glanced at Guo Ni, then said to Ma Shi, "Patriarch Ma, by seniority, you are a generation above me. If you duel Gu with me, wouldn't that be the big bullying the small? Although your good son Ma Bianlang is older, his seniority is equal to mine. He should be the one to duel Gu with me."

This was what I was thinking: Ma Shi was Ma Bianlang's old man, after all, so his Gu arts had to be more refined than Ma Bianlang's. What I had learned from Xiao Tianxing could not deal with Ma Shi, but handling Ma Bianlang should not be too difficult.

Guo Ni cried softly again, "Ma Bianlang is a little stronger than his father."

The guards around the ancestral hall all changed expression.

My heart lurched in shock, but spoken words were like spilled water; what was overturned could not be gathered again. It was already too late to change my words.

Ma Shi and Ma Bianlang burst into laughter at the same time.

"Xiao Kunlun, you really are clever only to be ruined by your own cleverness. You want to duel Gu with me, Ma Bianlang? Your death date has arrived." Ma Bianlang's whole person grew excited, the gloom from before swept clean away.

"That's right. If I take action, it would be an elder bullying a junior. Let my son Bianlang duel Gu with you. Once the Gu duel begins, life and death will be decided by Heaven." Ma Shi's face also showed some excitement.

The dining table was cleared, and the benches were moved aside. Ma Shi and Ma Bianlang sent people to fetch clean water, then carefully washed their hands. The two of them walked together to the shrine in the ancestral hall, burned incense before the spirit tablets, knelt, and kowtowed. The entire process was filled with a sense of ritual.

Cold sweat also began to seep from my palms. This was my first time dueling Gu. Every step was full of danger, but the curiosity in the depths of my heart also stimulated me intensely. My heart pounded wildly.

Guo Ni asked softly, "Xiao Kunlun, among the Gu insects you're carrying, which one are you best at using? Green Nest-Head just swallowed the Seven-Colored Demon Moth, so for the moment, it temporarily can't be put to use. As for the other two, choose one carefully."

I thought for a while, then shook my head and said, "To tell you the truth, I'm not familiar with any of the Gu insects I'm carrying, much less best at using any one of them. But a Gu duel is just a comparison of whose Gu insect is stronger."

Guo Ni was completely stunned. Then she said remorsefully, "Xiao Kunlun, I've harmed you. I've harmed you. Admit defeat..."

At this point, I absolutely would not admit defeat. I said, "Miss Guo. If I didn't bring back the Seven-Colored Gu, my friend would be in danger. But now that I brought the Seven-Colored Gu back, I've ruined your lifelong happiness. The only way now is to win the Gu duel against them. Only then is there a chance to live."

Guo Ni lowered her head and said nothing.

"Great ancestors of Qingya Village, in order to defend the reputation of Qingya Village, today I, Ma Bianlang, will duel Gu with the Han Xiao Kunlun. I ask the ancestors to grant me protection." Ma Bianlang's emotions were sincere, his head knocking against the ground with thuds.

Ma Shi stood to the side and turned down the oil lamp on the shrine a little.

"Bianlang, invite out the Gu insects." Ma Shi's expression was extremely solemn, and the eyes of the Qingya Village people inside the ancestral hall were also filled with reverence.

Ma Bianlang stood up and walked to the shrine, circling around to the side. The Vine Snake emerged from his hand and crawled along the shrine into it. There came a series of clicking sounds, and the mechanism beside the spirit tablets opened, revealing a hidden compartment.

I was standing rather far away, so I could not see what was inside the hidden compartment. But I guessed that powerful Gu insects were definitely hidden in there.

Qingya Village used the Seven-Colored Gu to guard the village, but it definitely had more than just the Seven-Colored Gu. There had to be other Gu insects worthy of being brought out.

Ma Bianlang groped around inside the hidden compartment a few times. His face changed drastically, and he shouted, "Father, all seven jars are empty. There isn't a single Gu insect inside." Cold sweat rolled down Ma Bianlang's forehead.

I was stunned at first, then faintly understood: last night, Green Nest-Head had jumped out of the bamboo tube and run up onto the shrine. Only after quite a while had it turned back. The seven Gu insects in the hidden compartment of the shrine had all become insects in Green Nest-Head's belly.

I forcibly held back my laughter. Ma Bianlang had no Gu insects, so what would he use to duel Gu? Even if he invited out his Gu Spirit, there was no way to continue the duel. Victory and defeat were self-evident.

I had thought it was nine deaths and one life, but unexpectedly, it was foolproof.

Beautiful work, Green Nest-Head, I praised inwardly.

Ma Shi said in shock, "What did you say?"

Ma Shi hurried to Ma Bianlang's side and brought out the seven jars hidden on the shrine one by one, smashing them all over the floor with a clatter. Aside from murky water and some Sha Qi, there were no Gu insects at all.

Not even a dead one.

Ma Shi and Ma Bianlang stared at each other, wide-eyed, unable to get a word out for a long while.

"Still want to continue?" I asked. "Looks like not only did your Seven-Colored Gu run off, even the seven Gu insects hidden in the shrine ran away too. Without Gu insects, what are you going to use to fight a Gu battle?"

"Dad, we can only invite it out," Ma Bianlang said to Ma Shi, as if he had made an enormous resolve. "Otherwise, Qingya Village's reputation will be completely ruined at the hands of this cunning Han. From now on, Qingya Village won't be able to gain a foothold in the Miao Borderlands."

Ma Shi hesitated for a moment and said, "But... but you still haven't fully mastered the method to control it. Once it goes out of control and the Gu insects turn on you, your life will be in danger too. The things that have happened these past few days are far too strange. It isn't suitable to invite it out."

Ma Bianlang said dejectedly, "Then we've lost! Dad, I'm not afraid. I'm willing to gamble with my life."