An Rugu asked, “Is it only possible to use it to manipulate people’s hearts?”
If so, why did the Wei family die young generation after generation?
Old Master Wang curled the corners of his mouth, a mysterious smile on his face. “To cause someone to die of heartbreak, to not live past forty, isn’t that also manipulating people’s hearts?”
Wei Mingyan’s face drained of all color.
These gu worms controlled the heart, could manipulate people’s minds, touched the nervous system, and could of course cause people to die.
“Didn’t these gu worms already disappear from the world? Why are they reappearing now?”
Old Master Wang paused for a while, then said, “That miscellaneous book said they are extinct, but who can say for sure? Perhaps the living conditions were too harsh at the time, causing them to fall into a deep slumber.
“I once visited a Miao village and had a relationship with the chief of the gu clan. The chief said that there were records of the worm-bird heart gu in their village, and they were quite detailed. Maybe someone later revived this particular gu worms.”
Some insects, when faced with harsh conditions, would leave behind cocoons designed to withstand the adverse environment. When conditions improve, these sleeping lives would revive from the darkness.
Seeing that this Old Master Wang seemed to know a lot about the Miao village, Wei Mingyan became extremely curious and couldn’t help but ask, “I heard that my great-grandfather offended someone. Did he offend this clan of gu practitioners?”
Old Master Wang nodded thoughtfully. “That’s possible. When I visited that village, I heard the villagers say that there were very few outsiders in their village, only a handful. Many years ago, a Han1 Chinese man came to the village and fell in love with the old clan chief’s beautiful daughter.
“The people in the village regarded this as a good match, but the Han man only regarded it as a romantic encounter and left shortly after.
“They told me that if it were them, they would definitely use gu witchcraft on him to prevent this unfaithful man from ever leaving.”
Wei Mingyan gasped, feeling as if he had stumbled upon the truth.
“Was that person… my great-grandfather?”
“What did your great-grandfather look like?”
“…He has a large mole on his chin.”
As if remembering something, Old Master Wang tapped his chin. “Was it here?”
When Wei Mingyan saw the location he pointed to, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his worldview collapsed and was rebuilt very differently.
It turned out that his great-grandfather went to the Miao village and offended a Miao woman, which resulted in him being cursed with a worm-bird heart gu.
His grandfather died young and didn’t even leave this clue behind, otherwise they might have cracked the worm-bird heart gu witchcraft long ago.
The early deaths of four generations was simply because his great-grandfather had wronged someone.
He was overwhelmed with mixed feelings, his mind was in turmoil, and he felt that fate was utterly ridiculous.
He wasn’t one to wallow in self-pity. After a period of grief, he composed himself, bowed respectfully to Old Master Wang, and said, “Master, I am entrusting this matter to you.”
In any case, it was good that there was hope, which was still a blessing in disguise.
His father said that he had found a solution; he had probably gone to the clan of gu practitioners, but unfortunately never returned. After these gu worms have been removed from his system, he would go to that village to collect his father’s remains.
“It’s alright,” said Old Master Wang, who was naturally very helpful and had a kind and gentle appearance that made people feel very at ease.
Wei Mingyan felt fortunate to have come to the Celestial Master’s Mansion and met this noble person. “Then I thank my benefactor very much.”
Celestial Master Zhang sat on the chair next to them, his eyes slightly wide open.
He had met this Wei great-grandfather back then; he was indeed handsome and dashing. The large mole on his chin did not detract from his good looks at all. On the contrary, it added to his charm, making him very similar in temperament to Wei Mingyan now.
He never expected that, three or four generations later, he would still be able to get his hands on gossip about that person!
The person didn’t look like a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes2, but he never expected him to be a scumbag—and a very bold one at that, daring to betray a Miao woman.
An Rugu’s brow twitched, a faint sense of crisis rising in her heart, and she felt that something was not right.
How did this Old Master Wang know so much, in such detail?
Suddenly, a scream came from the seats next to them, and countless people looked in that direction.
A middle-aged man threw his teacup on the ground with a cracking sound, splashing tea everywhere. He exclaimed in terror, “Don’t drink it! The tea is poisoned!”
Everyone: “???”
Those who were sipping their tea were so startled that they almost dropped their teacups, trembling as they placed them on the table, their faces filled with disbelief.
“What? The tea at the Celestial Masters Mansion is poisoned?”
“With so many of us here, who would dare to harm us?”
The middle-aged man stretched out his right hand—the jade pendant on his right hand was already broken in two. “Jade can ward off disasters. Someone truly wants to harm us.”
Everyone was shocked and quickly checked on their condition.
Just as everyone was panicking, someone suddenly vomited, spewing out a pool of sticky, yellowish-green liquid that looked extremely disgusting.
“Oh no!” Celestial Master Zhang thought to himself that something was wrong; someone actually dared to make trouble in the Celestial Masters Mansion.
Because of today’s grand gathering, the entire Celestial Masters Mansion has been placed under strict supervision. Even the tea and other ingested items were heavily scrutinized.
Yet despite such rigorous security measures, they were still infiltrated…
He quickly looked at his young apprentice Liang Weiping and said, “Quick, call all those who know how to detoxify poisons.”
“I’ll go right now.” The young apprentice immediately turned around and left.
Celestial Master Zhang was very anxious, pacing back and forth, looking at his old friend, “I always thought you were most proficient in curses, and your knowledge of gu witchcraft were just average. I never expected you to have secretly studied gu techniques behind my back.
“Can you tell if it’s gu grubs that are behind this?”
Hearing this, Wei Mingyan, who was standing nearby, felt a little strange. He had also walked over to the afflicted person’s side.
The man was vomiting and had diarrhea, which seemed like symptoms of poisoning.
What did this have to do with gu grubs? He thought that Celestial Master Zhang was overthinking things.
As an internist, Wei Mingyan bent down and carefully examined the patient’s symptoms, trying to find the cause of the illness.
I Livestream Divination to the World translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
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FOOTNOTES:
- Han is, by far, the largest Chinese ethnic group. They represent over 90% of mainland population and close to 98% for Taiwan. At 19% of the total global population, they are the largest ethnic group in the world. ↩︎
- ‘a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes’ is the stereotypical look of a scoundrel or fraudster—someone untrustworthy. ↩︎
WHITE MOONLIGHT TRANSLATIONS 
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