Mind-Losing Gu (End) [Revised]

The clan leader narrowed her eyes mockingly at Chu Qingjiu's weakened state.

To her, Chu Qingjiu was nothing more than a dying man, beautiful on the outside but rotten within. There was nothing to fear.

She slowly lowered her gaze to Qi Wu, who knelt before her, and her lips curved into a teasing smile.

Qi Wu looked utterly wretched. Sweat had soaked his black hair, plastering it stickily against the sides of his face. His hands braced against the ground, his back arched high as he endured the pain.

A buzzing roar filled his ears. Only when he suddenly heard the clan leader mention Chu Qingjiu did he force himself to lift his head, revealing a face taut with suppressed agony.

By now, his consciousness was on the verge of slipping away. Sheer will was all that kept him going.

The clan leader bent slightly and tipped Qi Wu's chin up with a fingertip, forcing him to meet her eyes.

He had bitten through his lips, drawing beads of blood. Enough time had passed for the blood to dry, leaving winding trails around his mouth that made him look especially pitiful.

His beautiful amber eyes brimmed with shimmering tears. His pupils, unfocused with pain, looked all the more lovely, and the clan leader could not help reaching out to caress those beautiful eyes.

"You like him, so I'll put on his skin and be with you," the clan leader murmured softly.

"No..."

The other players were already reeling from the sheer amount of information. First, Qi Wu had inexplicably begun suffering, and then Chu Qingjiu had appeared, coughing up blood.

Now the clan leader had made the outrageous declaration that she wanted to be with Qi Wu.

It felt as though the whole world had gone mad.

"Bring that sickly wretch over here. I want to put on my new skin."

A Xue and A Dong obediently went to Chu Qingjiu's side. Their faces were as dry and shriveled as tree bark, nothing like their daytime beauty.

They each seized one of Chu Qingjiu's arms and hauled him over to the clan leader.

Surprisingly, Chu Qingjiu did not struggle. He seemed to be in great pain as well, his beautiful violet eyes growing hazy beneath tightly knitted brows. The sight stirred pity.

"What a beautiful face... what a captivating expression..."

The clan leader looked at Chu Qingjiu's face without making any attempt to conceal her delight. She traced its contours over and over, as though inspecting merchandise.

"Don't touch him!"

Qi Wu bit through the tip of his tongue. The blood stimulated his taste buds, helping him rally his senses.

He reached out and clutched the hem of the clan leader's skirt, pleading, "Use my skin... don't hurt him..."

The clan leader looked at Qi Wu in surprise, astonished that he would abase himself like this for Chu Qingjiu. Just moments ago, he had stubbornly refused to bow to her even in the face of death, yet now he had become so humble. How interesting.

"Now you're making me look like the villain tearing two lovers apart."

The clan leader burst into laughter, abandoning all decorum. She turned to Chu Qingjiu again and teased, "Sickly wretch, he's willing to die for you. Could you do the same?"

Chu Qingjiu raised his eyes. A bottomless chill lay within those violet irises, making the clan leader shudder for no apparent reason.

"Neither of us will die," he answered coldly.

The clan leader laughed. She thought this sickly wretch truly did not know what was good for him. He had nothing but a beautiful skin, yet he was so arrogant. Utterly foolish.

Suddenly, Chu Qingjiu turned his head and spat out blood again. Everyone who saw it was horrified, especially the players huddled in the corner, who all thought he would bleed to death in the next moment.

Yet Chu Qingjiu slowly curled his lips into an inscrutable smile.

The wooden puppet hidden against his chest suddenly shifted, curling into the same posture as Qi Wu. The pain Chu Qingjiu felt was easing.

It worked.

Qi Wu was his.

Forever and ever, he would belong to him alone.

The clan leader stared uncomprehendingly at Chu Qingjiu's curved lips, then instinctively looked toward Qi Wu, only to find that he had lowered his head like a puppet under someone's control.

An inexplicable sense of danger rose in her heart. She instinctively stepped back, only for A Xue to grab her arm.

"?!"

Chu Qingjiu wiped away the blood and looked at the clan leader impassively. Soul Puppet Threads shot from his fingertips and pierced her heart.

The clan leader's eyes widened, her scarlet irises filled with astonishment. She clearly had not expected this sickly wretch to possess such power.

But she soon began to laugh.

"Hahahaha! You can't kill me, because I'm not human."

"I know."

Chu Qingjiu tilted his head slightly. The clan leader's crazed face was reflected in his deep violet eyes, making him look especially innocent.

The Puppet Threads roamed through the clan leader's gu-infested human skin until they finally found the one unique gu insect.

It was the gu's true body, the source of everything.

"Found you."

The Puppet Threads pierced that gu insect. Before the clan leader could say anything else, every gu insect within that skin stopped moving at once.

With so many gu insects dead, the human skin quickly went limp. In the end, it collapsed onto the ground like a flatbread, leaving only that astonished face exposed.

The clan leader was dead.

[Quest: Kill the Gu Ghost Woman hiding among the Miao women - completed]

[Instance "Xiangxi: Heart-Losing Gu" cleared. Leaving the instance in thirty seconds]

Chu Qingjiu crouched down and cradled Qi Wu's lowered head in both hands. Gazing into those lifeless amber eyes, he whispered softly:

"Qi Wu, my puppet."

Qi Wu was now under his control, so he could not perceive the outside world and appeared as lifeless as a puppet.

He had also made Qi Wu lower his head to keep him from seeing the Puppet Threads.

This way, Qi Wu would belong to him forever.

Wu Zhong and the others had no idea how the clan leader had died, but they all knew Chu Qingjiu had killed her, because he was the only one capable of acting.

"Little Chu is actually this powerful."

Only Zhang Shan, who was closest to Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu, could see the slender Puppet Thread extending from Chu Qingjiu's fingertip from where he stood.

Puppets... and Puppet Threads...

He narrowed his long, slender eyes, deep in thought.