Finding a way

Everything went as Meng Huai had expected. Over the next few days, people kept dying. All of them had been involved in this affair—the so-called people who deserved to die.

Meng Huai carefully examined every corpse, but still found nothing. The method his opponent used was little different from gu techniques, except that there were no insects.

That was precisely the biggest headache. He could defend against insects, but without them, defense was out of the question. How could he guard against something he could not even see?

Deeply frustrated, Meng Huai could only drown his sorrows in drink. After so many years as a Gu Master, he had never expected to find himself stumped like this.

Yun Zimo looked at the corpses on her tablet. She did this every day, forcing herself to get used to it all. As a Gu Master's woman, it would be embarrassing if she got scared to death one day.

Meng Huai set his glass aside and said with a chuckle, "Aren't you afraid of having nightmares, looking at these things every day? Don't keep clinging to me at night."

Seeing that Meng Huai was teasing her, Yun Zimo immediately bared her teeth and brandished her hands before throwing herself onto him. She wrapped both arms around his neck and kept blowing into his ear.

The inside of Meng Huai's ear tickled, so when she blew again, he tilted his head aside. Her breath swept past his nose.

His eyes suddenly lit up. He hugged Yun Zimo tightly and said, "You're my treasure! I've figured out how to counter the Wormless Gu."

Yun Zimo stared at Meng Huai with her beautiful eyes wide open, unable to understand what his discovery had to do with her.

Meng Huai blew a breath at Yun Zimo and asked, "What do you feel?"

Yun Zimo looked disgusted. "Your breath reeks of booze. Unless you brush your teeth three times tonight, you're not touching me."

Meng Huai looked helpless. "Who asked you about that? I'm asking what you feel when I blow at you."

Yun Zimo smiled casually. "What else could I feel? A little breeze."

Then it struck her, and she said incredulously, "You mean..."

Meng Huai nodded. "Exactly what you're thinking. I was approaching it the wrong way before. I kept thinking about how to counter the method behind the Wormless Gu, but overlooked the nature of the technique itself.

"Do you remember what I told you? The Wormless Gu uses vital essence as a catalyst to draw on the qi between heaven and earth and use it in place of gu insects. Put simply, it's still a stream of qi.

"And that qi has to stay concentrated. It absolutely cannot disperse, or it becomes useless. That means an attack with the Wormless Gu isn't entirely without a trace.

"It's the same principle as blowing air. As long as qi moves through the air, it has to create a current, forming a breeze. That breeze is the trace."

Yun Zimo had just thought of that herself. As long as there was a trace to follow, they could defend against it, and their opponent's attacks would no longer be so frightening.

She blinked and said, "If that's how it works, the Wormless Gu has another fatal weakness."

Meng Huai paused, then looked at her curiously, wondering what weakness she had found.

Yun Zimo said with a grin, "When I watched you fight before, those insects were alive. They could turn wherever they wanted in midair, so their paths were especially hard to predict.

"But if the Wormless Gu is only a stream of qi, it's inanimate, just like a bullet. No matter how skilled the person firing the gun is, the bullet can only travel in a straight line. Have you ever seen anyone's bullets turn in midair?"

Meng Huai thought it over and realized she was right. In theory, if someone knew another person was shooting at him and reacted fast enough, he could dodge the bullet.

Since a bullet could not turn and only traveled in a straight line, he would be fine as long as his reactions were fast enough and his body could keep up, allowing him to move out of its path.

The same principle applied to the Wormless Gu. If he could sense his opponent's attack, he could dodge in advance. No matter how powerful it was, it was useless if it could not hit him.

Meng Huai pulled Yun Zimo into his arms and kissed her passionately in delight. She struggled for a moment, then began to enjoy it.

They parted a little later, and Meng Huai said joyfully, "You really are my greatest help. You've just solved a problem that's plagued Gu Masters all this time."

Yun Zimo rested her head on his shoulder and said with a smile, "Your wife is naturally beautiful and brilliantly clever. What's a little thing like this to me?"

Meng Huai smiled and nodded. Now that the problem troubling him had been solved, the next step was focused training. After all, sensing the breeze stirred up by a stream of qi would not be easy.

Besides, he had little time left. The seven days they had agreed on were nearly up. He would have to make do and train as much as he could.

The next day, Meng Huai went to the Chang Corporation and brought Chang Yanping to Zhao Zhen's base to train with him. Often, relying on oneself was better than asking others for help. Being able to dodge on his own would give Chang Yanping another safeguard for his life.

The training was excruciating. Pellets fired from air guns left both men bruised all over, without a single unmarked patch.

Still, it did produce results. Their bodies' sensitivity was at least several times better than before. Besides, how could the Wormless Gu possibly travel faster than an air gun pellet?

At last, the appointed time arrived. Meng Huai said to Chang Yanping, "Whether you survive today depends on your luck. Come up to the rooftop with me."

Chang Yanping said miserably, "Why go to the rooftop? Wouldn't we be safer in the office?"

Meng Huai glared at him. "Why all the pointless questions? Just do what I say. The rooftop has plenty of room, and no one will interrupt us. It'll be easier to fight there.

"The office is too small to move freely. If you sense an attack but find you have nowhere to dodge, won't you feel like crying?"

Chang Yanping thought it over and realized he was right. If their opponent wanted him dead, hiding anywhere would be useless. He might as well choose a suitable place and put up a proper fight.

The two arrived on the rooftop. Looking around, Meng Huai said, "When you're fighting for your life like this, the braver you are, the better your chances of survival. It's just like war. The people most afraid of dying are often the first to die."

Meng Huai suddenly frowned, grabbed Chang Yanping, and retreated several steps. A muffled thud came from the ground where they had just been standing.

Meng Huai looked in the opposite direction and, sure enough, saw the man in black standing atop the elevator housing, draped in a black cloak.

The man in black said in a hoarse voice, "It seems you really did prepare. You actually managed to dodge that."

Meng Huai said nonchalantly, "That was just a casual greeting from you. If I couldn't even dodge it, I'd hardly be doing you justice."

As he spoke, Meng Huai stepped forward and faced his opponent across the rooftop.