PFC Chapter 576
Chapter 576
"Investigate the Southern Frontier caravans that have entered and left the capital in the last three months." Dongfang Wan'er threw the letter into the bronze crane incense burner, watching the ashes swirl into an eerie vortex in the night wind. She suddenly remembered that half a month ago at the Imperial Hospital, a palace servant had brought spices from the Western Regions as tribute, and the fragrance seemed to be mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible, fishy smell of Gu insects.
Seven days later, late at night, the two followed clues to Cangwu Valley on the outskirts of the capital. Moonlight was fragmented by jagged rocks, and faint rustling sounds came from beneath the decaying leaves. Suddenly, Yingyi's soft sword was drawn, its cold light severing the spider silk hanging in mid-air. The silk thread had an eerie, ghostly blue hue, corroding fine holes at the tip of the sword.
The stone door to the underground palace deep in the valley was covered in moss, and the door knocker was actually two twisted human bones. Dongfang Wan'er inserted the tiger tally she had found in the Prime Minister's mansion into the groove. When the mechanism was activated, it made a muffled sound of gears meshing, and a stench of decay wafted out. The wall lamps on both sides of the underground palace passage automatically lit up, and the eerie green flames illuminated the dense runes on the walls—these were fragments of the long-lost "Ten Thousand Gu Scripture," and the gu insect totems drawn in cinnabar seemed to struggle to break free from the stone wall in the firelight.
"Watch out!" Shadow One's warning came a fraction of a second too late. Dozens of crimson "vines" suddenly drooped from above—living blood leech gu. Dongfang Wan'er spun around and swung her sword, blood mist splattering wherever the blade swept across, yet the severed wounds instantly regenerated. The soft tinkling of bells came from all directions, and twelve black-robed gu masters appeared, their necks wrapped in silver rings, each ring strung with the remains of different gu worms.
The battle erupted in the cramped underground palace. Shadow One's soft sword danced like silver light, only to be entangled by a golden-winged centipede gu, its venomous fangs gnawing with a piercing sound. Dongfang Wan'er flung out a specially crafted realgar rope, only to see the gu masters' palms ignite with eerie blue flames, instantly reducing the realgar to ash. As she narrowly dodged an oncoming volcanic bee, she suddenly caught sight of the jade pendant at the lead gu master's waist—the very token bestowed by the late emperor upon the Western Regions' vassal king.
"So there are foreign forces involved!" Yingyi used his dagger to deflect the attacking Heart-Eating Gu, his clothes already corroded with large scorch marks. Suddenly, the dome of the underground palace began to peel away, revealing a map of the dynasty drawn on it. Each prefecture was marked with a small blood-red flag, and a Gu-worm-shaped iron nail was prominently nailed to the location of the capital.
In the heat of battle, Dongfang Wan'er's hairpin accidentally fell off, revealing the tattoo bestowed upon her by the late emperor behind her ear. Upon seeing the tattoo, the Gu Masters' attacks suddenly faltered. Seizing this fleeting opening, she and Ying Yi, back to back, unleashed a combined attack, their sword energy cleaving through the dome of the underground palace. Amidst the flying debris, the two spurred their horses out of the valley, the sinister laughter of the Gu Masters echoing behind them: "Just wait, the true Blood Moon is about to arrive..."
On the return journey, Dongfang Wan'er stroked the tattered scroll she had snatched from the underground palace. Under the moonlight, a line of small characters appeared on the yellowed pages: "A blood moon hangs in the sky, a hundred poisons emerge, a time for dynastic change..." She and Yingyi exchanged a glance, seeing the same solemnity in each other's eyes. The outline of the capital city was already faintly visible in the distance, and the drumbeats on the city walls seemed to carry the rumble of impending storm.
As dusk settled, the majestic city walls of the capital were tinged with a dark purple. Dongfang Wan'er galloped along Zhuque Avenue, her hooves pounding the setting sun on the bluestone slabs, her cloak billowing behind her like a burning flame. The copper nails before the palace gate gleamed coldly in the twilight. She dismounted, tossing the reins to a guard, her jade boots clicking crisply on the white marble steps.
"Summon Miss Dongfang to an audience!" The eunuch's shrill voice shattered the silence of the hall. The emperor leaned back on his dragon throne, his bright yellow robes reflecting the gilded palace lanterns overhead. Dongfang Wan'er knelt on the cool floor tiles, recounting the eerie scenes deep within the underground palace: the writhing worms on the stone walls, the strange talismans on the altar, and the eerily glowing "The Scripture of Ten Thousand Gu." As she spoke, the emperor's knuckles, gripping the throne, gradually turned white. A teacup on the table was knocked over, and the scalding tea trickled dark red across the golden bricks.
"Investigate thoroughly!" The emperor abruptly rose, his crown tassels swaying violently. "Whoever is involved, bring them to justice!" Thunder roared outside the palace, and large raindrops pounded on the glazed tiles, as if foreshadowing an impending storm. As Dongfang Wan'er kowtowed, she glimpsed the dragon pattern on the jade pendant at the emperor's waist, which twisted in the candlelight like a coiled venomous snake.
In the days that followed, the capital seemed shrouded in an invisible black net. In the alleyways where the morning mist hadn't yet dissipated, people would often collapse, their faces turning blue and purple, blood streaming from their seven orifices, dead; in the deep courtyards, the cries of children mingled with the hissing of poisonous insects. The fortune-telling stalls on the streets were crowded with terrified people. The fortune teller would spread out his yellowed divination slips and hoarsely say, "A blood moon appears; a demon is born."
Dongfang Wan'er and Ying Yi traversed the streets and alleys of the capital. They searched every corner of Medicine King Valley's medicine huts, thoroughly examined the ancient books in the Scripture Pavilion, and even infiltrated the mysterious Miao Jiang Merchant Guild. In the study late at night, the candlelight flickered. Dongfang Wan'er stared at the strange runes on the tattered pages of the "Ten Thousand Gu Scripture," oblivious to the red marks on her fingertips from the candle wax. Ying Yi silently wiped the soft sword at his waist, his furrowed brows reflected on the blade.
The secret letter arrived on a stormy afternoon. The handwriting was messy, yet it exuded an undeniable sense of oppression. Dongfang Wan'er stroked the vermilion mark on the envelope, a cold smile playing on her lips. She carefully chose her night clothes, concealed poisoned silver needles in her sleeves, and quietly slipped out of the city with Ying Yi under the cover of night.
The dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city swayed precariously in the wind and rain, spiderwebs trembling under the eaves. As Dongfang Wan'er stepped across the threshold, dozens of eerie green lanterns suddenly lit up around her. Gu masters slowly emerged from behind beams and pillars, their Gu worms shimmering beneath their skin, the air thick with a nauseatingly sweet, metallic scent. The leading advisor removed his straw hat, revealing a face covered in scars from Gu worm bites, and grinned menacingly, "Miss Dongfang, how have you been?"
The battle was about to begin. The Gu worms swarmed in like a black cloud, and Yingyi's sword flashed in a sharp arc, severing the wings of several worms. Dongfang Wan'er's silver needles shot out like meteors, but were all blocked by the Gu net thrown by her advisor. The sounds of rain, Gu worms chirping, and clashing weapons mingled together. Dongfang Wan'er's clothes were gradually stained red with blood, yet she maintained a calm gaze.
Just as their strength was about to be exhausted, the sound of horses' hooves grew louder. The black armor of the Imperial Guards gleamed coldly in the moonlight, and the leading general raised the tiger tally high, shouting, "By order of the Emperor, apprehend the rebels!" It turned out that Dongfang Wan'er had already set a trap in the secret letter, deliberately turning the tables on them. The advisor's face turned deathly pale instantly. He frantically drove his Gu worms to fight back, but they were turned into bloody corpses under the rain of arrows from the Imperial Guards.
As the last Gu Master fell, Dongfang Wan'er gazed at the pale dawn breaking on the horizon, yet felt no joy of victory. In the western sky, a dark red moon was slowly rising, the air thick with a chilling aura. She gripped the jade pendant at her waist, a keepsake left to her by her father on his deathbed, which now felt slightly warm in her hand. The real challenge, perhaps, had only just begun.
At midnight, thick, blood-red moonlight poured down from the sky, staining the eaves and brackets of the capital city a dark red. Dongfang Wan'er stood on the terrace of the Prince's mansion, gazing at the blood-red moon suspended among the clouds. Suddenly, the tattered pages of the *Ten Thousand Gu Scripture* in her palm burned intensely—the edges of the ancient book, seized three days earlier from a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city, were now showing eerie vermilion patterns, as if countless Gu worms were crawling across the paper. In the distance came the terrified cries of the night watchman, accompanied by the incessant barking of dogs; the entire city trembled slightly under the blood-red moonlight.
Inside the palace, the ambergris incense burned brightly in the gilded incense burner, yet it couldn't mask the heavy atmosphere in the hall. The emperor, his dragon robes disheveled, gripped the secret report with a trembling hand: "The northern border defenses are in dire straits! The army of Gu worms has breached Yanmen Pass!" The civil and military officials erupted in uproar. The white-haired Minister of Rites stepped forward, trembling: "Your Majesty! This is an omen of divine retribution! We must immediately prepare sacrificial offerings of cattle and sheep to apologize to the evil gods beyond the borders!" The military generals, however, drew their swords and glared angrily: "Outrageous! Our dynasty's 100,000 iron cavalry—are we to bow down to a swarm of insects?"
Dongfang Wan'er emerged slowly from the shadows, her dark, fitted clothing stained with unwashed blood. She unfurled a sheepskin map and laid it out on the dragon table. "My lords," she said, "this blood moon is not a celestial anomaly." Her fingertip traced a valley on the map. "Three days ago, during the siege of the Gu Master, I discovered a star chart in his camp. The direction from which the blood moon rose was precisely that forbidden area known as 'Netherworld Valley.'" She paused, then took a glass bottle from her sleeve. Inside, a semi-transparent Gu worm coiled, gleaming an eerie blue in the blood moonlight. "These Gu worms are drawn by the power of the blood moon. If we cut off the source, we will surely defeat the enemy."
Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted outside the city. Dongfang Wan'er flung open the palace doors, only to see, under the blood-red moonlight, a swarm of dark, swarming Gu worms surged across the moat like a tidal wave. The arrows fired by the defending soldiers struck the swarm, but only produced a piercing buzz; the Gu worms formed blood-red shields, instantly corroding the arrows into molten iron. Even more terrifying, those soldiers devoured by the Gu worms slowly rose in the moonlight, their pupils turning crimson, and turned to raise their weapons against their comrades.
"Activate the Xuan Tie mechanism!" Dongfang Wan'er leaped onto the city wall, the bronze bell at her waist ringing clear and melodiously with her movement. Three hundred and sixty crossbows hidden on the wall simultaneously activated, arrows coated with specially made realgar gunpowder shooting through the air, exploding into large plumes of poisonous mist amidst the swarm of Gu worms. Ying Yi followed closely behind, his longsword flashing with silver light; wherever the blade pointed, the Gu worms that touched it died instantly. However, the number of Gu worms was simply too great; the corpses piled higher and higher beneath the city wall, gradually forming a writhing mountain of flesh.
In the midst of the fierce battle, Dongfang Wan'er suddenly noticed something amiss. Each time the blood moon passed through a gap in the clouds, the swarm of Gu worms would emit high-pitched shrieks, their attacks becoming even more frenzied. She pulled open her sleeve, revealing an old scar on her arm that throbbed faintly in the moonlight—a mark left from the Gu worm bites she had suffered in the underground palace. "So that's it!" she suddenly turned to Yingyi, "The blood moon isn't an omen, it's a magical artifact! We must find the one controlling it!"
That night, the two changed into their night clothes and stealthily made their way along the path where the blood moon was at its brightest. At the entrance to the Netherworld Valley, ancient cypress trees twisted like ghostly claws, their trunks entwined with scarlet vines, each leaf gleaming with an eerie sheen. Dongfang Wan'er applied cinnabar to her brow and whispered an incantation. Suddenly, the vines parted automatically, revealing a bottomless valley. Ying Yi gripped his sword hilt tightly; the runes on the blade glowed faintly under the blood moon: "Miss, this aura... is a hundred times more dangerous than the last time in the underground palace."
Dongfang Wan'er gazed at the churning blood mist in the valley and took out half of a jade pendant from her bosom. This jade pendant, given to her by her father before his death, was now resonating with the blood moon, burning hot in her palm. She took a deep breath and stepped into the mist: "No matter who is behind this, tonight is the time for reckoning." The crimson light of the blood moon pierced through the clouds, casting long shadows of the two figures that gradually merged into the darkness.
The mist in the Netherworld Valley surged and churned as if alive. Fine droplets of water clung to Dongfang Wan'er's eyelashes, and in a daze, she saw countless pale human faces floating within the mist. Suddenly, the decaying leaves beneath her feet rustled eerily. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she abruptly pulled Ying Yi into the air—where they had just stood, the bluish-gray ground surged like boiling asphalt, and dozens of black pythons as thick as buckets burst from the earth. Their scales were tinged with a dark purple like corpse spots, and their tongues flickered as they spewed out dark green poisonous mist. Wherever they went, the rocks hissed and emitted blue smoke.
Shadow One's soft sword flashed like a silver snake emerging from its hole, severing the tail of the first attacking python. Hot, pungent black blood splattered onto the rock wall, instantly corroding it into honeycomb-like holes. Dongfang Wan'er touched the python's head with her toes, and silver needles rained down from her sleeve. But as the black python writhes, beetles the size of fingernails crawl out from between its scales, devouring all the needles. Suddenly, a nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell filled the air, and a low chanting sound surged from all directions, like the whimpers of countless people choking in their throats.
"Watch out! It's Heart-Eating Ants!" Before Dongfang Wan'er could finish speaking, spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the ground, and tens of thousands of crimson ants surged forth like a tide. These ants were completely transparent, with dark red liquid flowing through their bodies. Wherever they went, even hard granite was gnawed into dust. Ying Yi spun around and unleashed a sword curtain. Wherever the sword energy reached, the ant swarm was shredded into pieces, but more ants immediately filled the gap. Dongfang Wan'er bit her fingertip, and a drop of blood dripped onto a fragment of the "Ten Thousand Gu Scripture." The ancient runes suddenly burst forth with a ghostly blue light, forming a semi-transparent barrier. The ants crashed into the light barrier, making a series of exploding sounds, and the air was instantly filled with the smell of burning.
The light from the tattered pages was visibly dimming. Dongfang Wan'er, watching the wound on her palm gradually dry, knew she couldn't fight for long. She tore off a piece of her clothing and wrapped it around her arm, giving Yingyi a wink: "Charge!" Back to back, the two of them shot through the swarm of Gu worms like arrows. As the last glimmer of light faded, they finally broke through the ant colony, and an ancient altar suddenly appeared before them.
The altar was constructed of piled bones, with a three-zhang-tall blood-red crystal pillar at its center, its shaft carved with distorted human faces in relief. A barefoot man in black robes stood atop the altar, his wide sleeves billowing even without wind. His waving hands were bound with scarlet chains; with each swing, the blood moon in the sky trembled, and more crimson light flowed through the chains into the crystal pillar. As the man in black robes slowly turned, Dongfang Wan'er gasped—on his face, Gu worms were continuously emerging from his eye sockets, nostrils, and corners of his mouth, piecing together a bizarre, ambiguous smile.