The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 511- 513

Chapter 511: The Method of Eliminating Gu Worms

Mr. Mu’s reply arrived sooner than expected. It was delivered to Ling Zhang on the morning of the third day. At this time the army of the Great Wen had fully taken over the city they had captured a few days ago. Also, troops regroupment had finished, and all units were ready to resume their northward advance.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had not seen each other for two days. Both of them found the separation unbearably torturous, but Ling Zhang was aware that Yuwen Tong was deeper in misery than he was, because the very thought of him brought Yuwen Tong great pain.

The letter from Mr. Mu was virtually a lifesaver. Ling Zhang, almost bursting with eagerness, quickly opened the bamboo tube and tipped out the letter to read it.

In the letter, Mr. Mu made a very concise reply, saying that that kind of Gu worms were very rare, that the art of raising them had almost been lost to the world. They fed on the affections of their hosts. They had originally been used by Gu masters living in South Xinjiang to punish unfaithful lovers. With that kind of Gu worms inside their body, an unfaithful lover would suffer unendurable pain in the heart every time they thought of the one they had transferred their affections to; the more they missed their new lover, the greater the pain; in some cases, the pain could be severe enough to take the victim’s life.

In addition, the more often the victim missed their lover, the faster the Gu worms grew. Normally, they would stay in their hosts’ bodies for a month before mauling their hosts to death. The longer they lived in the hosts’ bodies, the harder it would be to extract them. Even in South Xinjiang, this kind of worms were very unpopular. In the last imperial dynasty, some people had been employed in raising them, but over time Gu masters with the expertise in raising them had dwindled, and hardly anybody had heard of this kind of worms in the past two centuries.

In the letter, Mr. Mu said that there was a way to lure the worms out, but he had to do it personally; however, given that the worms had been in Yuwen Tong’s body for several days, and that Yuwen Tong had deep affection for Ling Zhang, the worms had probably grown up already, and if they stayed in there for another few days, it would be very difficult to extract them, so Mr. Mu told Ling Zhang to use his blood to entice the worms from Yuwen Tong’s body.

Ling Zhang’s blood, apart from a deterrent to Gu worms, could also serve as a temptation to them. He could use his blood to lure the worms out, but there was a problem: the worms inside Yuwen Tong were a kind of Mother-Child Dyadic Gu. If the method worked, the Child Worm would be lured out first, and what with some kind of telepathic bond shared by the Child Worm and the Mother Worm, once the former sensed danger, the latter would start biting Yuwen Tong’s insides instead of coming out. Therefore, Ling Zhang would have to let the Child Worm enter his body after enticing it out of Yuwen Tong’s, and that was the only way to lure the Mother Worm out and kill it. As regards the Child Worm, the Force of Blood inside Ling Zhang would restrain it until Mr. Mu arrived and extracted it.

Mr. Mu also specially mentioned that there was also a kind of telepathic bond between the worms and their raiser, who would suffer harm at the death of the Mother Worm and thus came to know about it.

Ling Zhang let out a long sigh of relief at the knowledge that there was a way to lure the worms out. As regards whether or not letting the worm enter his body would put him in any danger, he didn’t really care. Besides, he had an advantage over Yuwen Tong – his blood could dampen the activity of the worm.

Having come to know about this method, Ling Zhang couldn’t wait to entice the worms from Yuwen Tong’s body.

When he had walked through the door, he came to a halt, thought for a moment, then returned inside, took something and walked out again before making towards Yuwen Tong’s tent.

Yuwen Tong had not been in a good mood over the last few days. His face further hardened when Ling Zhang, a few moments after a guard outside the tent announced his arrival, still hadn’t entered. Since when had Ling Zhang taken to having a guard announce his arrival before entering? But at the thought that maybe the reason why Ling Zhang had come here on his own initiative was because he had received a reply from Mr. Mu, Yuwen Tong couldn’t bring himself to be mad at Ling Zhang. He said to the officers who had come to his tent to have a meeting about breaking camp to depart, “I’m afraid I need some privacy. We’ll resume the meeting later.”

The officers took their leave. When exiting the tent, they caught sight of Ling Zhang waiting outside and hastened to pay their respects to him, baffled as to why the empress was waiting. The marriage between the imperial couple had always been strong. Seldom had the two of them stood on ceremony like this, and Ling Zhang had hardly waited for the emperor to give him permission to enter. When had Ling Zhang ever waited instead of directly going inside?

On top of that, in the past few days the atmosphere between the two of them had been fairly unusual. The emperor seemed to be in a bad mood, and the empress had scarcely left his tent.

The couple of generals couldn’t help but wonder whether the two of them had had a fight.

Ling Zhang, unaware that these people had started making speculations so soon, gave them a nod of acknowledgement and then continued waiting for Yuwen Tong to get ready and ask him to enter.

They hadn’t seen each other for two days, and Ling Zhang was very worried that a meeting like this might cause Yuwen Tong wide mood swings again.

“Get in here already. What are you standing there for?” Yuwen Tong’s voice came from inside the tent, sounding fairly unhappy.

Ling Zhang tightened his hold on what was in his hand and then entered the tent.

At the sight of him, Yuwen Tong’s hands balled tightly into fists, blue veins standing out on their backs. He didn’t say anything else, staring fixedly at Ling Zhang, a manifestly injured look in his eyes.

Ling Zhang also felt rather upset as he saw this, but this time around he was here to help rid Yuwen Tong’s body of the Gu worms, so delight soon took over. “I got a reply from Mr. Mu. There is a way to get rid of the worms.”

Astonished, Yuwen Tong sat bolt upright. “Really?”

Ling Zhang said, “Of course. Why else would I come here? The Gu worms will be extracted in a few moments and then you’ll be okay.”

Yuwen Tong felt a sense of relief which was followed by a sneaking suspicion. “What kind of Gu worms are they? How are you going to get rid of them? And where’s Mr. Mu’s letter?” he asked.

Ling Zhang said, “I left the letter in my tent. Mr. Mu says that the worms feed on people’s affections, that they’re very rare.”

Then he related to Yuwen Tong what Mr. Mu told him about the worms in the letter, but he skipped the explanation of Mother-Child Dyadic Gu for fear that Yuwen Tong would disagree if he told him he was going to lure one of the worms into his own body instead.

“It never crossed my mind my blood had a function of this kind. I would’ve spared you the pains you suffered in the past few days had I come to know about it sooner.”

Yuwen Tong was also surprised that the problem was so easy to settle, but he still knitted his brows as he heard that Ling Zhang had to use his own blood to entice the worms.

“Let’s go inside right now and get it over with,” added Ling Zhang immediately for fear of Yuwen Tong becoming suspicious.

“Wait a moment,” Yuwen Feng suddenly said.

Ling Zhang affected an air of puzzlement, secretly scared, wondering if Yuwen Tong had found out something.

“Get Xie Shi here and let him handle it. He dresses wounds quicker,” Yuwen Tong explained.

Ling Zhang inwardly let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. I forgot about him out of anxiety.”

Soon Xie Shi was summoned to the tent. Ling Zhang’s method of extracting the Gu worms came as a very pleasant surprise to him, but after a moment he asked in confusion, “Since the worms could be lured out by blood, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Your Highness’s blood, right? I’ll do it.”

Xie Shi and the others were unaware of the secret about Ling Zhang’s blood.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang knew about it, the former’s face faintly sulky. Yuwen Tong was rather unhappy about Ling Zhang having to use his own blood. At the thought that it was all because of the culprit who had put the Gu worms inside him, anger instantly rose inside him.

Ling Zhang shook his head and said to Xie Shi, “That won’t work. I can lure out the worms with my blood because I once consumed a kind of special medicinal herb appealing to Gu worms. You’ve never ingested anything like that, so your blood has no allure for the worms. It’s no big deal. I can handle it. All you have to do is dress our wounds as quick as you can after the job is done. It’ll be just a minor injury compared with the harm the worms could cause.”

Though still somewhat bewildered, Xie Shi, seeing that Yuwen Tong raised no objections, believed that the medicinal herb Ling Zhang had consumed must be very rare. Since neither of his masters showed any inclination to explain in detail, he didn’t persist with his questioning and just said, “All right. I’ll do what I can to help. I’m pretty good at this kind of stuff.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head in a bluff manner. “Okay.”

As Ling Zhang had been behaving very normally all along, Yuwen Tong didn’t suspect anything. After Xie Shi got the bandages and styptic vulneraries ready, they all went into the inner compartment.

“Lie down on the bed. I’ll give you a pill the same as the one you took the other day. We’ll start after you fall asleep,” Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong objected subconsciously, “What do I have to be asleep?”

With a serious look on his face, Ling Zhang explained, “Mr. Mu said we need to have the worms relax. If you stay awake, the worms would be active and might be unwilling to leave your body. Your body is now rather tense. What if the worms refuse to come out? Surely you don’t want us to bleed out?”

Yuwen Tong wrinkled his brow at the last remark of Ling Zhang’s. He didn’t want to be asleep, but there was too much truth in Ling Zhang’s words to ignore them. Most importantly, how could he bring himself to let Ling Zhang’s wound keep bleeding?

Xie Shi, listening on the side, became somewhat suspicious. If it was the active ingredient of some kind of herb that was supposed to lure the worms out, Ling Zhang could just put some of his blood in a container to do it. He didn’t really have to leave his wound bleeding during the whole process. However, the first half of Ling Zhang’s words made sense. The Gu worms would indeed be active if the emperor’s body was tense. It would be best if the emperor was put to sleep, because in that case the Gu worms would relax and stop being dependent on his body. As this thought crossed his mind, Xie Shi said, “His Highness has a point. You may rest assured that I’ll be cautious, Sire.”

Yuwen Tong was not an unreasonable person. Though reluctant, he still took the pill Ling Zhang gave him and lay down on the bed in the knowledge that him being asleep would make it easier for them to lure out the worms.

Before long, he drifted off.

Ling Zhang tentatively called Yuwen Tong’s name and then felt Yuwen Tong’s pulse. Having checked that Yuwen Tong had indeed fallen asleep, he undid Yuwen Tong’s robes, revealing his chest.

Then he rolled up his sleeve, leaving his white-skinned wrist showing.

“Do it.”

Xie Shi nodded, carefully produced a sharp, thin dagger, disinfected it with a kind of decoction, lightly cut Yuwen Tong’s chest and then Ling Zhang’s wrist.

Blood flowed from the cuts.

As Ling Zhang’s blood trickled to Yuwen Tong’s chest, the tip of Xie Shi’s nose twitched. He was not sure whether it was an illusion or not, but it struck him that Ling Zhang’s blood did seem to give off a kind of unusual smell. It was some kind of indescribable aroma which almost disguised the foul smell of blood.

“Allow me to bandage that cut for you first, Your Highness,” offered Xie Shi hastily as he saw that Ling Zhang had lost a considerable amount of blood.

Ling Zhang, however, was still eyeing Yuwen Tong’s wound unblinkingly, his face quite tense. “No,” he said.

Xie Shi was amazed. Why?

Right at this moment, something started wriggling beneath the skin around Yuwen Tong’s cut. Xie Shi, whose attention was instantly arrested, watched with bated breath.

Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up. It really worked! Mr. Mu was definitely worthy of his reputation as a miracle-working physician!

Chapter 512: The Death of the Mother Worm

Very soon, a thin transparent worm crawled out of Yuwen Tong’s wound. At the sight of the Gu worm, Ling Zhang immediately held his breath, not daring move an inch, allowing his cut to continue bleeding.

Xie Shi, however, raised his hand with the intention to stick a silver needle into the worm to kill it.

Ling Zhang grabbed Xie Shi’s arm with his other hand. “Wait. We can’t kill it yet.”

They couldn’t kill it yet? Why? Once again Xie Shi was astonished. He would be a terrible physician if he still hadn’t realized there was something out of the ordinary about this matter. “What are you trying to do, Your Highness?”

“I’ll explain later. Just do as I say, or else all our efforts will come to nought. Do not bandage my wound unless I tell you to,” said Ling Zhang.

Xie Shi didn’t dare do anything rash, but he was still somewhat anxious. Of course he was not worried about the possibility of Ling Zhang harming Yuwen Tong, because Ling Zhang was the last person who had a reason to do something like that. However, what did concern him was that Ling Zhang might risk harming himself. How was he supposed to justify himself to Yuwen Tong if something happened to Ling Zhang?

The thin transparent worm was crawling towards the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist so quickly as though it smelled something extremely tempting.

The sight of this made Xie Shi’s flesh creep. “You want it to burrow into your body? No, you must not do that! Sire would never agree!”

Looking at the worm with icy eyes, Ling Zhang said, “Calm down. I know what I’m doing. I never joke about my own life.”

Xie Shi found himself unable to watch it happen and do nothing. As the worm reached the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist, he raised his needle and was just about to stab it to death when Ling Zhang rapidly immobilized him by hitting a couple of acupoints of Xie Shi’s with his finger.

“Your Highness! You must not do this!”

“Shh!”

Ling Zhang gestured for him to keep quiet, watching the worm burrow its way into the cut in his wrist. What with the tingling, itching sensation of numbness in that instant, a thin layer of fine beads of sweat broke out over his back, but he still stayed quite motionless, because he knew that the Mother Worm was still in there, and in no circumstances should he let anything happen to the Child Worm. He must endure the pain and allow the Child Worm to go deeper into his body.

Xie Shi was so anxious his face was beaded with perspiration. However, he was unable to unblock the acupoints hit by Ling Zhang with his internal energy no matter how hard he tried. Right at the time when his anxiety began to blind him, he suddenly heard Ling Zhang say, “Here it is.”

Xie Shi was astonished. Only then did he notice that there was actually something else wriggling beneath Yuwen Tong’s skin around the cut in his chest. After a few moments, a bigger, also transparent worm came emerging from the wound. He was astounded to such an extent that he seemed to forget why he had been anxious all this time. “Wh–What’s going on?”

Ling Zhang unblocked Xie Shi’s acupoints and hissed, “Kill it. Hurry!”

No sooner had Xie Shi regained his ability to move than he impaled the Gu worm on his needle, put it into a porcelain bowl containing a highly corrosive substance and with that the worm instantly started writhing madly. Before long, its whole body was dissolved completely.

With a muffled groan, Ling Zhang’s face suddenly changed, droplets of sweat instantaneously welling up on his forehead. Presumably having sensed the death of the Mother Worm, the Child Worm which had wormed its way into his body began to gnaw his flesh frantically. The pain that had spread all over his body in a flash caught Ling Zhang flat-footed. It was an agony the likes of which he had never experienced before, and which felt as though someone were scratching his insides with a knife.

“Your Highness!” Xie Shi was taken aback.

Ling Zhang shook his head at Xie Shi, produced a pill and put it into his mouth. The pill melted as it went down his throat. Soon the pill took effect, its active ingredient beginning to permeate his whole body. The activity of the Gu worm mauling his insides seemed to be dampened, his pain deadened somewhat.

It was his grandfather who had given the pill to him. The pill was meant to help him make a breakthrough in his cultivation of internal energy. It could enhance the Force of Blood in him, making it easier for him to reach the seventh layer. He was not ready to make a breakthrough yet, but the pill served another purpose. The idea had come to him in a flash of inspiration and he had decided to give it a shot. It surprised him that it was really working. Not daring take any more risks, he hastened to sit cross-legged, preparing to circulate his Chi. Meanwhile, he said to Xie Shi, “Dress our cuts.”

It was only then that Xie Shi came to himself as though waking up from a dream. He quickly applied some styptic drug to that rather ghastly wound of Ling Zhang’s before scrupulously bandaging it, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly as if having something to say.

“I’ll answer your questions after I finish my Chi circulation,” said Ling Zhang.

Xie Shi pressed his lips together and inclined his head. After dressing Ling Zhang’s cut, he hastened to bandage Yuwen Tong’s.

“There’s no Gu worm in Sire’s body now, right?” said Xie Shi. It had come as a great surprise to him that there had been two worms inside Yuwen Tong’s body.

“No. There were two worms in total. They’re a kind of Mother-Child Dyadic Gu,” replied Ling Zhang, closing his eyes as Xie Shi finished bandaging the cut in Yuwen Tong’s chest.

Seeing this, Xie Shi didn’t dare ask any more questions. However, at the thought that there was still a Gu worm in Ling Zhang’s body, he wrinkled his brow in worry, at a loss what to do.

As Ling Zhang’s Chi started circulating, his pain gradually eased. He speculated that Mr. Mu probably didn’t know the Child Worm would react so violently to the death of the Mother Worm either, but no matter what, he could relax safe in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong’s body had now been rid of Gu worms.

Gradually, Ling Zhang entered a state of meditation.

Silence reigned over the main tent.

Meanwhile, in a room in Jifang City, the countenance of the old gray-robed man, who was sitting beside Chen Jing as his savior having a meeting about the plan for defending the city, abruptly changed. After a few moments, his face turned purple and with that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Master?!” Chen Jing was startled.

The old gray-robed man, after spitting out a mouthful of blood, seemed to be weakened so dramatically as though half of his life had been taken away from him, as though he had aged over ten years in the blink of an eye. It was such a frightening sight everybody in the room had a look of surprise and incredulity on his face, wondering what had just happened to him.

The old gray-robed man, after spitting out the remaining blood in his mouth, panted for a moment and then said in a resentful tone, “My Affection Gu died.”

The Affection Gu died? Everybody in the room was baffled as to what the old man meant, everybody except Chen Jing, the only one aware of the truth, whose face registered alarm at the words. “How did that happen? Didn’t you say that nobody knows how to get rid of that worm?”

The old gray-robed man flicked him a flinty glance and said, “Clearly there’s still someone who does. Now that the Gu worms have been eliminated from Yuwen Tong’s body, you’ll have to give up that plan of yours. Also, it surely has come to their knowledge that the death of my Gu worm has inflicted harm on me. I have to start closed-door cultivation to nurse my injury, and I won’t be able to offer you any help before a full recovery, but Your Lordship may rest assured I won’t let them get away with this. Sooner or later I’ll have them pay for their actions, previous ones and recent ones!”

Chen Jing had a somewhat sulky expression on his face, but he still had someone support the old gray-robed man back to his room to nurse his injury.

“Your Lordship, what did he mean by the Gu worms in Yuwen Tong’s body?” someone asked.

Chen Jing said through clenched teeth, “Previously I had that old man put some Gu worms into Yuwen Tong’s body, and I’ve been waiting for Yuwen Tong to make nooses for his own neck. I want Yuwen Tong to suffer greatly before he dies a miserable death, because that’s the only way I could have closure. Originally Yuwen Tong would surely die in a month, but it never crossed my mind he had at his service someone capable of extracting that kind of rare Gu worms!”

“What? So we missed such a good opportunity?”

After being informed of what had happened, everybody else in the room felt indignant, cursing that old man for not having used another kind of Gu which could take Yuwen Tong’s life sooner.

Chen Jing made no other remarks, but the look on his face was quite ugly. It was him who had decided that Yuwen Tong should die a torturous death, and that old man had agreed with him. Both of them wanted to see Yuwen Tong suffer, feeling it the only way to get their revenge. Of course, the most important reason was that it wasn’t easy for any of those deadly Gu worms to get close to Yuwen Tong. An Affection Gu worm, transparent and non-poisonous and light, could adhere to the target’s clothes without them noticing, and, when stimulated by the target’s body heat, it exuviated and transformed before burrowing its way into the target’s body. The process was more complicated than that of any other Gu worm, but it was very difficult to detect. Also, it was the only Gu worm that could escape Yuwen Tong’s notice. However, now none of it mattered any more. The worms had been eliminated from Yuwen Tong’s body. How were they supposed to stop Yuwen Tong? This feeling became particularly strong when Chen Jing realized that Yuwen Tong had now been provoked.

Would they really be able to hold Jifang City?

Chen Jing, who had fought Yuwen Tong so many times, was aware that the odds were heavily against him, which was why he began to feel regretful. Had he known beforehand things would come to this, he would definitely have chosen to use a Gu worm capable of killing Yuwen Tong on contact and have that relative of his, who had been from a lesser branch of the Chen family, try his best to approach Yuwen Tong to get the job done. However, none of these thoughts of Chen Jing’s would make any difference. It was already too late.

Besides, if he had done that, Yao Yi and other bodyguards, all of whom had been forewarned, would by no means have allowed the envoy any chances to get close to Yuwen Tong.

…

Ling Zhang kept circulating his Chi for nearly four hours before the Child Worm of the Affection Gu, presumably affected by the Force of Blood inside Ling Zhang, finally stopped moving.

He opened his eyes and saw that Xie Shi was still standing guard on the side. Then he twisted his head aside and found that Yuwen Tong was still lying in bed. He made a hasty attempt to rise with the intention to check Yuwen Tong’s wound but felt a sharp throbbing in the chest when he was halfway to his feet. He abruptly gasped, feeling as though he were stabbed. The pain was excrutiating and unexpected.

“Your Highness!” Xie Shi hurried over and helped him to his feet.

Ling Zhang’s face was somewhat pallid. It was a few moments before the throbbing in his chest subsided. It seemed that just now that intense mood swing of his had stimulated the worm, but the worm quieted down again after only a short while.

“It’s okay. The pain lasted only a brief moment.” Ling Zhang straightened himself and exhaled deeply.

Xie Shi also heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Ling Zhang relax, but with that he furrowed his brow and asked, “But how do we lure out the worm in your body?”

Ling Zhang said, “Mr. Mu will be here in a couple of days. He has a way to entice the worm from my body. I’m just using my blood to temporarily keeping the worm at bay. Don’t worry. This is a Child Worm. It’s not as vicious as the Mother Worm. It causes only occasional, momentary pain, which is nothing compared with what Sire suffered when the two worms were inside him.”

Xie Shi, fairly skeptical, felt Ling Zhang’s pulse. It was not until he checked that Ling Zhang’s pulse was steady and even that he believed Ling Zhang.

“How long has it been?”

“Four hours.”

Looking at Yuwen Tong lying in bed, Ling Zhang said, “He’ll wake up soon. Be careful not to let it slip.”

An awkward expression appeared on Xie Shi’s face. He would be violating his duty and disloyal if he concealed the truth from Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang said, “All you have to do is not to mention it on your own initiative. In a few days, Mr. Mu will arrive and eliminate the worm from my body, and then this matter will be settled. There’s no need to worry him. We’ll soon depart for Jifang City. Taking that city is of vital importance, and we can’t afford to let him be distracted by anything.”

Xie Shi gave an involuntary shudder as he met Ling Zhang’s eyes. Eventually, he said through gritted teeth, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Chapter 513: It’s Okay Now

Ling Zhang was at Yuwen Tong’s bedside when the latter came around. He watched as Yuwen Tong’s eyes opened.

“How do you feel? We’ve just eliminated the Gu worms from your body. Are you experiencing any discomfort?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.

Yuwen Tong found his chest much more relaxed now. All the annoying pains gone, he felt fully at ease. “I’m okay now.”

Also, thanks to that deep sleep, he got a second wind.

“I’m glad to hear that,” smiled Ling Zhang, feeling a great sense of relief.

Yuwen Tong’s eyes rested on Ling Zhang’s face. “You don’t look very well,” he observed.

The look in his eyes turned apprehensive as he caught sight of Ling Zhang’s bandaged wrist, which he then took and stroked twice.

“It’s just a minor injury. It’ll heal in a couple of days,” said Ling Zhang nonchalantly.

Ling Zhang’s wrist was bandaged. Though unable to see the wound, Yuwen Tong could tell from Ling Zhang’s awful complexion that the wound was nasty. He was filled with mingled heartache and guilt. Ling Zhang had written him a letter and forewarned him, but he had still fallen victim to his snaky enemy.

As Ling Zhang saw Yuwen Tong silently looking at his wrist, he withdrew his hand for fear of Yuwen Tong overthinking it. “I’m really okay. The cut is only superficial. I’ll be fine after it heals. It’s you yourself that you should be worried about. Those Gu worms were so weird. It never crossed my mind that such bizarre Gu worms existed in this world. Also, the way they attack is almost impossible to defend against. Fortunately Mr. Mu said that this kind of Gu worms are very difficult to raise and the art of raising them is almost lost to the world. Otherwise they might bring unimaginable disasters.”

Yuwen Tong’s eyes turned wintry at the mention of Gu worms and their raisers. “It’s high time we rid South Xinjiang of those evil creatures and people.”

There had been two occasions when they had been in trouble owing to the craft of raising and using Gu originated from South Xinjiang. Gu masters from that area who refused to toe the line could be really bothersome. Ling Zhang also felt that they needed to do something to bring those people in South Xinjiang to heel, that they couldn’t turn a blind eye to the situation there, or else more and more people would fall prey to Gu worms. However, they would have to wait until the three countries were unified to be able to spare the time to rid South Xinjiang of the scourge of Gu worms.

“Where are the worms?” asked Yuwen Tong.

“Dissolved,” replied Ling Zhang. It was a fact that Xie Shi had dissolved the Mother Worm in a highly corrosive substance named Bone-Dissolving Solution, so he was not lying to Yuwen Tong. “It was an ugly creature. You don’t want to see it. But from now on you need to carry with you a pouch of medicine to keep Gu worms away from you, so that this kind of thing won’t happen again.”

Though Ling Zhang had put it this way, he was actually rather uncertain, because a Gu worm of that kind, when in its larval stage, was tiny and transparent, and it burrowed its way into the target’s clothes on contact, and then, under the influence of the target’s body heat, it exuviated, changed into another form and then wormed its way into the target’s body. A Gu worm of that kind was very difficult to defend against.

“When Mr. Mu arrives, I’ve got to have him tell me how to prevent this kind of worms from approaching. Otherwise I would never have complete peace of mind unless the Gu masters in South Xinjiang are wiped out,” Ling Zhang continued.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked his face. “Let’s just put it down to experience. I’m going to stop those Gu masters from doing more evil.”

Ling Zhang twisted his head aside, rubbing his cheek against Yuwen Tong’s palm. The next moment he felt a throbbing in the chest. It seemed that that Gu worm was making trouble again, but thanks to the deadening effect of Ling Zhang’s blood on it, the pain in his chest, though continuous, was sufferable and not causing any intense bodily responses, so his countenance remained unchanged, and Yuwen Tong, stroking his cheek, didn’t perceive anything out of the ordinary.

“Before you take action on those Gu masters in South Xinjiang, make sure you figure out a way to deter all Gu worms from approaching. Don’t rush into anything.”

“Okay.”

As Yuwen Tong was now rid of the Gu worms, the only thing he wanted to do was hold Ling Zhang, stroke him and kiss him, but what with the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist and the one in his own chest, he couldn’t do anything more than that, so he just took Ling Zhang in his arms and kept kissing him.

“We can’t make out in the next few days. Keeping me from touching you – those worms did find my Achilles heel,” said Yuwen Tong, continuing pecking Ling Zhang’s lips while edging away from Ling Zhang who was now panting for kissing.

Ling Zhang lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Yuwen Tong’s shoulder, chuckling, concealing the pained momentary look on his face. Though unable to cause him serious harm, that Child Worm inside him was giving him a tingling sensation, which was quite annoying.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked the back side of Ling Zhang’s head. After holding Ling Zhang for a long moment, he said, “We’ll march straight north to the Wan capital after taking Jifang City. Once their capital falls, it won’t be long before we gain control of the whole Wan Kingdom. All I want to do is subjugate this country as quick as possible and then take you somewhere secluded to spend some time alone with you.”

Ling Zhang looked up at him, a gentle look in his eyes. Yuwen Tong falling victim to Gu worms had scared him, which was why he also wanted very much to do as what Yuwen Tong had just said, but they were past the point of no return. After annexing the Wan Kingdom, they must press ahead and take the Luohai Kingdom as soon as possible. They couldn’t afford to allow the Luohai Kingdom the opportunity to end its civil strife and get its second wind, which meant that he and Yuwen Tong wouldn’t be able to fulfill this wish of theirs anytime soon.

But he didn’t contradict Yuwen Tong. Instead, he said, “That sounds good. I heard that the scenery in the northern part of this country is pretty good. We may go and check it out.”

“Yeah,” said Yuwen Tong, hugging him tight and pressing a kiss on his cheek. Then he failed to restrain himself, kissed the tip of Ling Zhang’s nose, wrapped his lips around Ling Zhang’s and eventually parted Ling Zhang’s teeth.

…

It had been quite some time since the last time they had cuddled and locked lips, so the kiss lasted a long moment.

Xie Shi waiting outside was torn between delight at his two masters’ extrication from the ordeal and apprehension about Ling Zhang’s condition. The Child Worm was still inside Ling Zhang. Although Ling Zhang had said that it was no big deal, Xie Shi knew it would always be a threat as long as it was in Ling Zhang’s body. Though it was not as vicious as the Mother Worm, the pain it caused when gnawing Ling Zhang’s flesh was no doubt excrutiating.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, I prepared an herbal meal which helps enrich the blood and Chi. You haven’t eaten for hours. Please come and have some.” Xie Shi cleverly used food to distract the attention of his two masters in the inner compartment.

Unsurprisingly, Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang soon walked out. Neither of them had eaten anything in the past few hours, so they naturally felt hungry at the sight of the tonic congee on the table.

Yuwen Tong took a look at the two bowls of tonic congee and found that they were different. The congee in front of him was mainly for enriching the blood and Chi, but Ling Zhang’s was mainly for relieving uneasiness of mind. His eyebrows contracted slightly in spite of himself. “His Highness’ face is pale from loss of blood. Why are you giving him nerve-soothing tonic congee?”

Xie Shi’s heart gave a horrible jolt and with that he said, “His Highness–”

“I haven’t been sleeping well in the past few days either, so I had Xie Shi make me some nerve-soothing tonic congee. I need to go and get some sleep after finishing this congee, so I won’t be able to stay here keeping you company while you deal with military affairs,” explained Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong still had a slight frown on his face. “Don’t go back to that tent. Just sleep here.”

Xie Shi looked at Ling Zhang, appearing somewhat nervous. Ling Zhang, however, remained composed. One of the changes that being an empress for all these years had brought to him was that he had learned how to conceal his feelings, and sometimes even Yuwen Tong couldn’t tell what he was thinking about. “Your tent is not quiet enough. I’d like to sleep in my own tent.”

“I’ll have them stay in another tent,” said Yuwen Tong. He was okay now. How could they still sleep apart?

“You have maps, the sand table and everything else you need in this tent. This is the best place for consultations. If you move to another place, there would be a lot of inconveniences. Besides, the main tent is a symbol, and it’s of great importance to the cohesion of the army. You didn’t meet any of the officers or soldiers when the worms were inside you. It’s been such a long time, and I’m afraid they’ve begun to worry. What you should do is have them come here to meet you, not tell them to go somewhere else,” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong’s eyes slowly raked Ling Zhang’s countenance. Ling Zhang’s words did make sense, but there wasn’t really any necessity for him to do that. All those serving him knew exactly what kind of person he was, and there weren’t that many rigid rules. Besides, speaking of the cohesion of the army, he himself was the ultimate guarantee of the troops’ morale. The main tent was just a place for consultations. It was not as important as Ling Zhang had said it was. Ling Zhang was never a rigid person. Why was he …

Yuwen Tong withdrew his eyes and, slurping his tonic congee, said, “Okay, then, you may catch up on your sleep during the day, but I want you to come back to this tent at night. Tomorrow we’ll break camp. When we encamp again outside Jifang City, I’ll tell them not to specially pitch a tent for you, and I’ll put these things in another tent.”

Ling Zhang paused briefly. Knowing that Yuwen Tong would become suspicious if he kept objecting, he replied, “All right.”

Unfortunately for him, that almost unnoticeable pause of his didn’t escape Yuwen Tong’s notice. Yuwen Tong lowered his eyes, the look in them growing unreadable.

After finishing the tonic congee, Yuwen Tong took Ling Zhang’s hand and carefully examined it to check that the cut hadn’t reopened.

“How could the wound have reopened if I never used this hand?” said Ling Zhang resignedly.

The herbal meal Xie Shi had made him was congee, and he had eaten it with a spoon. His injured wrist had been in his lap from start to finish. He had hardly moved it, so it was impossible for the wound to reopen.

Yuwen Tong, however, was scrupulous about it, determined not to let go before confirming everything was fine. He felt Ling Zhang’s pulse throbbing as his fingers moved back and forth on the inside of Ling Zhang’s wrist in a very gentle way.

After a while, he finished examining it and suddenly said, “By the way, where’s that letter Mr. Mu wrote you? I’d like to read it to find out the details. Those things brought me so many sufferings, but I still don’t know what made them special.”

Ling Zhang felt faintly alarmed, but he affected an air of regret and said, “None of the others know about the Gu worms. I was worried there might be a leak which would cause the morale to drop, so I burned it while you were asleep. Actually Mr. Mu didn’t give many details. I’ve told you everything he said in the letter.”

The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes flickered. “I guess I’ll have to wait until Mr. Mu arrives to ask him.”

Seeing that Yuwen Tong didn’t persist with his questioning, Ling Zhang was secretly relieved. Yuwen Tong, who knew him very well, could tell what he was feeling from a mere change in the look in his eyes or his breathing. The sight of the brief unnoticeable relief on Ling Zhang’s face sent his mind racing. Ling Zhang was keeping something back from him, presumably something concerning the Gu worms.

While Ling Zhang was not paying attention, Yuwen Tong’s eyes quietly swept over Xie Shi’s face.

On sensing the gaze, Xie Shi raised his head and met Yuwen Tong’s flinty eyes, cold sweat instantly breaking out over his back.