Chapter 418: Substitution Gu! Xiao Ran! Bronze Figurine, Barbarian Head!

“Daoist Master Li, what in the world are these things?” Head Constable Wang asked, staring at the squirming insects in horror.

“They look like

Gu

, a kind of witchcraft insect popular in the southern borderlands,” Li Yanchu said, frowning.

“Gu?” Head Constable Wang repeated, surprised.

“That’s right.” Li Yanchu nodded slightly. “These creatures possess very peculiar powers. The southern tribes cultivate many kinds of Gu worms. Judging by the way these three people died, this should be a

Substitution Gu

.”

Head Constable Wang looked utterly confused and turned to Li Yanchu for clarification.

Li explained, “A

Substitution Gu

is planted within a host. When the master suffers a mortal wound, the injury is transferred to the host instead.”

“Mother of...! That’s vicious!” Head Constable Wang exclaimed.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“It seems someone in Wei City is secretly practicing these heterodox southern arts,” Li Yanchu said gravely. “These three must have been innocent victims, collateral damage in a fight between cultivators.”

Head Constable Wang sighed heavily, anger flashing in his eyes.

“These demonic heretics treat human lives like weeds! Looks like Wei City’s peace is about to be shattered again!” Then, as though realizing something, he frowned deeply. “That fiend surely didn’t just plant three Substitution Gu... which means there could be

more victims

yet to come!”

Though not a cultivator, Head Constable Wang’s reasoning was sound.

He looked worried. Who knew what else that Gu practitioner might do? If he kept dueling others using those abominable arts, how many more innocent people might die?

“I can track him down and kill him,” Li Yanchu said coldly, eyes flashing.

Head Constable Wang’s face brightened. “That would be the best possible outcome!”

Ordinary people could only search blindly and wait for clues. But Li Yanchu was different. He immediately cast a tracking spell, and three faint trails of qi rose from the insects, floating into his palm.

He concentrated briefly, then said to Head Constable Wang, “I’ve found the fiend’s trail. I’ll go now.”

Head Constable Wang blinked, stunned. That was... fast.

Before he could even react, Li Yanchu’s figure blurred, and in the next instant, he had vanished from the county

yamen

altogether.

***

Outside Wei City...

In a small forest, a round-faced young girl sat on the ground, looking disheveled. Her chest rose and fell heavily, forming a breathtaking curve.

She looked seventeen or eighteen at most; she had bright eyes, white teeth, and her gaze was clear and pure as spring water. But now her breathing was weak, and beads of sweat the size of beans rolled constantly from her forehead. It was obvious she was in terrible pain.

Her arm, once fair, smooth and delicate as carved jade, was now swollen and pitch black. She took a pill from her robes and swallowed it, tilting her head back. A hint of color returned to her face, but the dark miasma still coiled stubbornly around her arm.

Drops of blood occasionally fell from her fingertips, hitting the ground with a sharp

sizzle

, releasing wisps of white smoke. Where the blood landed, grass and leaves withered instantly; the venom was clearly deadly.

She exhaled softly in relief, but the next moment, her expression changed sharply. She drew her sword from her waist, her cold gaze fixed on a large tree nearby.

“Come out,” she said icily. “You people from Mount Youming are basically vermin crawling out of the gutter!”

At her words, two figures stepped out of the shadows: a young man in black and an elderly man with a seemingly kind face.

The youth’s eyes gleamed with a beastlike, predatory chill that sent shivers down one’s spine. When his gaze fell upon the beautiful girl before him with exquisite features and a striking figure, a smug look of satisfaction crossed his face, like a hunter who’d cornered his prey.

“Xiao Ran[1],” he sneered, “hand over the token, and accompany your lord for some dual cultivation. I promise you’ll feel pleasure beyond the mortal world.”

“Shameless

!

” the girl spat back furiously. “You’ll die a wretched death for your filth!”

The man, Ji Bochang[2], regarded her calmly and smiled coldly.

He was Mount Youming’s roaming enforcer, a cultivator who had reached the pinnacle of the Yin Spirit Realm three years ago. When Mount Taoyuan[3]’s Blissful Land emerged, it attracted countless prodigies and veteran masters. If he could seize the token in Xiao Ran’s hand, his chance of obtaining immortal fortune would multiply; there was no way he’d let her escape.

This small city of Wei City? As long as the major sects’ geniuses and true masters stayed out of it, no one else here was even qualified to threaten him.

When

Jade Altar’s Blissful Land

opened before, he had been in seclusion refining a divine art and missed his chance. Some upstart had risen to fame instead. This time, Ji Bochang vowed that he would claim

both

the woman and the token!

“No wonder you’re said to be one of Daoism’s famed beauties,” he sneered. “You really do live up to your reputation.”

His smile made the skin crawl.

In the Kingdom of Qian, the Daoist sects flourished, and many of their young priestesses were known for both their beauty and talent. Among them, Xiao Ran was one of the most renowned.

At his words, her face turned frosty. Her sword quivered, scattering cold blossoms of light, and a blue lotus bloomed from her blade, its petals slicing toward Ji Bochang like flowing ice.

Ji Bochang raised a hand, and from his sleeve flew a bronze figurine. It smashed through the azure sword qi, then lunged straight toward Xiao Ran.

Clang!

Her sword struck the bronze figurine with a shrill clash of metal, and sparks flew in every direction.

Many notches appeared along her blade; that strange bronze puppet was the sort of thing even a Yellow-Turban Strongman[4] could be torn apart by, yet it was incredibly hard and brutally effective.

A buzzing shroud of black mist engulfed Xiao Ran. Looking closer, it was made of countless bright, winged insects. It was Gu witchcraft from the southern border, poisonous gu filled with vicious venom!

The dark miasma on her arm was the result of stings from those venomous wasps, which gummed up the flow of her inner power.

“Yellow-Turban Strongman, exorcize!” Xiao Ran barked.

A yellow talisman shot from the pouch at her waist and, in midair, transformed into a burly Strongman. It was a Daoist spell used to summon divine spirits. Flames instantly flared across the Yellow Turban Strongman’s body, blocking the surge of black mist.

Still, terrifying insects kept breaking through the Strongman’s fiery exterior, riddling its body with pits and wounds. Some of the bugs were utterly fearless of such spirit-fire.

Bang! Bang!

Xiao Ran’s head grew increasingly heavy and dazed, the poison in her arm continuing to spread toward her heart. She could only rely on her inner spiritual power to forcefully hold it back.

Suddenly, her face went pale. A dense, malignant aura rose from Ji Bochang, emanating from the severed head he held.

The head was dressed in foreign fashion, eyes tightly shut. It lunged at Xiao Ran; sword-qi exploded from her blade and stabbed forward. At the same moment, the Yellow-Turban Strongman swung a fist.

Clang!

The severed head actually clamped down on her sword and snapped it in two.

Surprise flashed across Xiao Ran’s eyes. Such abominable sorcery! Had she not been confronted by this old man, a master of southern Gu, she would never have fallen into such a state.

Three powerful sword techniques she launched had all been forcibly intercepted by the old man, draining enormous amounts of her inner power; the insect stings left her using no more than thirty percent of her skill.

The bronze figurine sank its teeth into the Strongman’s neck; no matter how it struggled, it could not shake it off.

The old man, whose appearance hardly matched any southern tribesman, smiled with unsettling warmth.

“Young Master Ji, rest easy. Even if this woman dies, I have ways to make her seem vividly alive.”

The kindly-looking elder was, in truth, a virtuoso of Gu arts, skilled in corpse-gu and heart-gu alike.

1. The surname Xiao (萧) is the 20th most common Chinese surname in the world. It is said to be the 30th most common in China. It evokes a sense of calm and cool refinement, often associated with autumn wind or a soft, melancholic grace. The name Ran (苒) means the gentle passage of time, suggesting something fleeting yet deeply memorable, like sunlight fading across old walls or blossoms falling in silence.

To me, the name paints the image of a woman who is serene and introspective, graceful yet distant, someone whose presence lingers softly, much like a whisper of wind through leaves or a memory that refuses to fade. ☜

2. The surname Ji (姬) is one of the oldest in China, tracing back to the royal lineage of the Zhou dynasty, and thus evokes heritage, refinement, and a certain innate dignity. The given name Bochang (伯长) combines Bo (伯), which can mean “eldest” or “a noble title,” and Chang (长), meaning “long-lasting” or “enduring.”

To me, Ji Bochang sounds like the name of a man born into prestige, someone with composure, vision, and a sense of duty that comes with noble roots. It has an air of authority without arrogance, the quiet assurance of one who inherits both responsibility and wisdom.

Of crouse, the Ji Bochang here is quite the opposite of that, lol. ☜

3. “Taoyuan” can refer to the Peach Blossom Spring, the idyllic land described in Tao Yuanming’s

The Peach Blossom Spring

. It is often used as a metaphor for a hidden paradise, utopia, or immortal realm untouched by the troubles of the mortal world. ☜

4. The Yellow Turban Strongmen (also known as Golden-Armored Warriors) are divine generals and celestial enforcers in Daoist mythology, known for their immense strength and their role in subduing demons and protecting the Dao. Most are said to reside hidden within the magical treasures of immortals and act under the command of higher-ranking deities. Their exact number is unknown, as the quantity each immortal can summon depends on their individual level of cultivation and power. This figure most commonly appears in the Ming dynasty mythological novel

Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi)

. ☜