Xu Miaoniang trembled as she spoke, "As long as I remove the Heart-Devouring Gu?"
"Besides the Heart-Devouring Gu, there's also the Gu on Gu Qing. Additionally, the Gu worms on the Old Madam must also be removed. Furthermore, you need to confess what you've done to the Old Madam and accept whatever punishment she deems fit," Gu Sinian stated calmly.
"Can I not tell the Old Madam?" Xu Miaoniang pleaded.
Gu Sinian looked at her without speaking.
"The Old Madam treats me very well. I cannot bear to make her sad," Xu Miaoniang whispered.
"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it. You should have considered the possibility of exposure before you acted against the Old Madam!" Luo Wanqing scoffed. "Regardless of the Old Madam's attitude, these are the consequences you must bear."
"I..."
"Miss, no matter what your reasons are, whether they are justified or not, you must realize that what you did was harmful. If you harm others, do you expect the victims to generously forgive you? If someone treated me well, and I didn't show gratitude but instead attacked them, I would never forgive them. Therefore, what you need to do now is to swiftly remove the Gu, not make futile pleas here."
"What if I refuse to remove it?" Xu Miaoniang asked resentfully. "The Heart-Devouring Gu is different from other Gu worms. The mother Gu and the child Gu share life and death. As soon as the mother Gu dies, the child Gu cannot survive. Before it dies, it will first sever the host's heart meridian. Your medical skills are good, so you must know that once the heart meridian is severed, even the greatest physician cannot help."
Luo Wanqing sized up Xu Miaoniang and spoke unhurriedly, "As far as I know, the Heart-Devouring Gu is not easy to cultivate. It was nurtured with your heart's blood. If the mother Gu dies, you, the cultivator, will also suffer severe damage, possibly permanent. If you have the heart to do it, then I have nothing more to say. But I don't believe you went to all the trouble of planting the Gu on Gu Sinian just for mutual destruction, do you? Of course, if you have that kind of resolve, then it can only be said that he is unlucky."
A bitter feeling welled up in Xu Miaoniang's heart. It was just as Luo Wanqing said; she didn't have the courage. Moreover, she had been cultivating the Heart-Devouring Gu since she first learned how to do so. In her loneliest moments, they were her companions. How could she bear to part with them?
Xu Miaoniang pulled out her hairpin and made a slight cut on her wrist. Blood flowed out. Without any visible action from her, the bulge on Gu Sinian's neck instantly surged towards his brow. In the blink of an eye, the bulge disappeared.
Xu Miaoniang's face was pale, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead. Forcibly recalling the child Gu, while it wouldn't cause the fatal damage to her that killing the mother Gu would, it still caused harm to her body.
"Done."
"I'm very curious, how exactly do these Gu worms control people? They just look like rather strange insects!" Luo Wanqing watched intently. A small red worm had just emerged from Gu Sinian's brow and burrowed into the wound on Xu Miaoniang's wrist with extreme speed. What was even more astonishing was that there was no visible wound on Gu Sinian's brow, and the blood on Xu Miaoniang's wrist stopped flowing the moment the worm entered. Even the best hemostatic drugs today couldn't achieve such an effect!
"How can outsiders understand the mysteries of Gu worms?" Xu Miaoniang's breath was somewhat weak, and her voice lacked strength. "If you wish to learn, I can teach you."
Xu Miaoniang changed the subject and suddenly said.
Gu worm cultivation originated from the southern regions. Although it's not as widespread as the rumors suggest, where everyone can raise Gu, there are indeed many people who can cultivate them there, albeit with varying levels of skill. It is said that the most powerful Gu cultivators possess the ability to bring the dead back to life, which was very appealing to Luo Wanqing, who had always been dedicated to the study of medicine.