Ge Pu Shi shivered, and after a long while, forced a smile.
"My Lord, what calculations or purposes could I possibly have? And I certainly have no accomplices."
"It was just a woman, momentarily led astray by a moment of madness."
"Wu Lang..."
As Ge Pu Shi spoke, she turned to look at Wu Yuanwai with a dazed expression, speaking softly.
"Do you know, everything I did was for you, ah..."
"Ah?"
Wu Yuanwai was stunned to hear this: "I... how could I... you..."
He didn't know how to respond.
Ge Pu Shi lowered her head and sighed, then began to narrate her story.
In some storytellers' tales, a common plot often appears: an exotic young woman with extraordinary skills, while traveling the martial world, encounters a chivalrous young hero.
This exotic young woman, naive to worldly affairs and full of eccentric charm, bickers and banters with the young hero, traveling the martial world together, eliminating evil and upholding justice.
During this process, the two come to understand each other, eventually developing feelings, becoming partners, and creating a beautiful legend of the martial world.
But, what if the exotic young woman encountered at that time was not a young hero?
This is Ge Pu Shi's story.
Ge Pu Shi was born into the Ge Pu Shi family, one of the Twelve Sect Branches of the Miao Xinjiang, and inherited the art of Witchcraft passed down through generations since childhood.
The cultivation process of Witchcraft is quite cruel and painful.
Not only does one have to constantly make cuts on their body to feed the Gu worms with their own blood, but there are also many other restrictions.
For example, every now and then, one must release Gu to hunt living beings, otherwise, the Gu's ferocity will backlash upon oneself. Striking a human can ensure three years of health, striking a cow can ensure one year, and striking a tree can ensure three months.
If the Gu is not released, the Gu witch herself will fall ill. If the Gu is not released for three consecutive years, the Gu worms, lacking food, will harm the person cultivating them.
For example, the Gu altar where one cultivates Gu worms cannot be exposed to wind or light, otherwise, it will also be harmed, and so on.
If Ge Pu Shi had always stayed in the village and never encountered the outside world, then life would not have been difficult for her.
However, one day, a merchant from the Central Plains arrived in the village.
Ge Pu Shi was at a curious age then, so she pestered the merchant, asking him to tell her some stories.
The merchant then told some tales from the Central Plains.
The merchant originally thought he was just telling stories to humor a child, but he never expected that these very stories would give Ge Pu Shi a mistaken perception of the world outside the village. She thought the outside world was as beautiful as in the storybooks.
In comparison, life in the village became increasingly difficult to bear.
So, one night, on Ge Pu Shi's sixteenth birthday, she ran away.
She wanted to go to the martial world she had imagined.
But this martial world was not as beautiful as in the storybooks. A young woman like her, naive to worldly affairs, bewildered, and without kin, was simply like a piece of fat walking on the street.
Soon, her money was conned away, and she was even tied up, ready to be sold to a brothel.
Fortunately, she still had her Gu worms.
The first time she used Gu worms to kill, it was to kill the human traffickers who wanted to sell her.
The second time she killed, it was to kill the mountain bandits blocking her path.
The third time she killed, it was to kill the hooligans who wanted to swindle her money.
But from the fourth time onwards, she didn't know who she was killing, only that the person had money. And she, she desperately needed money.
However, she was still cautious, knowing that killing people could not be seen by others, so she always chose desolate wildernesses to commit murder, and thus was not wanted by the authorities.
In this way, she robbed money along the way, stumbling aimlessly until she reached Pingshan Garrison.
By then, she already knew that this martial world was not as the merchant had described. She had believed a false story, escaped from the village, and from then on, she could only continue to live aimlessly like this.
On her first day in Pingshan Garrison, she found an inn to eat and encountered Wu Yuanwai.
Wu Yuanwai found her appearance different from people of the Central Plains, possessing an exotic beauty that was remarkably unlike the women he usually saw. He fell in love at first sight and approached her to strike up a conversation.
At first, Ge Pu Shi was very wary and ignored Wu Yuanwai.
Wu Yuanwai, being immensely wealthy and well-regarded in Pingshan Garrison, had never encountered such an attitude. Instantly, he became even more attentive to Ge Pu Shi.
So he started throwing money around.
He invited Ge Pu Shi to drink the best wine, eat the finest pastries, listen to the most beautiful music, and wear the most exquisite clothes. Wu Yuanwai himself was constantly at her beck and call, flattering her meticulously.
Ge Pu Shi had grown up in the Miao Xinjiang village since childhood, and after entering the martial world, she had only experienced hardship. How could she withstand such an offensive?
Before long, she fell in love with Wu Yuanwai.
Wu Yuanwai told her at the time that he already had a legal wife at home, but that was a marriage arranged by his parents, and although he could only take her as a concubine, his heart only loved Ge Pu Shi.
Ge Pu Shi believed him again.
So she became Wu Yuanwai's concubine, and also began to learn the mannerisms of wealthy ladies, no longer cultivating Gu worms, and changing her original accent and habits.
She thought she was finally going to live the life from the stories.
But, how could temporary sweet talk be taken seriously?
Ge Pu Shi, having cultivated Gu arts since childhood, already had a deficiency in her vital energy and blood, making it difficult for her to conceive. After changing her demeanor, she even lost the very charm that had initially attracted Wu Yuanwai.
Thus, Wu Yuanwai naturally took another concubine, and then another.
Ge Pu Shi knew she had been deceived again.
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But she didn't want to end it. She herself couldn't quite explain whether it was because she loved Wu Yuanwai or because she couldn't bear to leave the comfortable life in Wu Mansion.
Finally, one day, she remembered that she still had a way.
"Love Gu."
Ge Pu Shi whispered, "I wanted to refine a Love Gu, so that Wu Lang would only love me forever."
"I began to secretly cultivate Gu, letting the Gu hunt livestock, and then I refined them."
"But who would have thought, that day the old guard damaged the corpse, and the Gu worm burrowed into his body."
"The Gu worm itself is poisonous, so he was already doomed to die. I thought, since a life had already been lost, then it shouldn't be wasted, so I used his corpse to refine the Gu worm."
"I never expected that the first time I used a human to refine Gu worms, the effect would be surprisingly good, much faster than the blood food I had accumulated secretly over three or four months."
When she was traveling the martial world, she had already taken many lives. In a moment of desperation, how could she care so much?
So it was the next one, the master. The next one, the coroner.
"Three lives, my Gu worm was just one step away. I had planned to let the Gu worm kill someone in Wu Mansion tonight, and then I would be able to refine the Love Gu."
"Then Wu Lang would only love me from now on, and I wouldn't have to use these troublesome Gu worms anymore."
"I never expected, just one step away. My Lord, you arrived."
"Alas, Wu Lang..." Ge Pu Shi raised her head, wiping the blood from her mouth with her finger, as if applying a touch of rouge.
"If only you hadn't deceived me."
Upon hearing this, Wu Yuanwai finally couldn't hold back. He fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly to Li Miao.
"My Lord, my Lord, please spare my wife's life! I will compensate the families of the three deceased, five hundred taels! Five hundred taels for each family!"
"Today's matter also has my fault, I am willing to be punished together! I only beg you to spare her life! Please!"
Ge Pu Shi saw Wu Yuanwai pleading for her, and at this moment, she too shed tears.
Li Miao finally finished listening to Ge Pu Shi's words. He had been standing silently, but seeing their actions, he scoffed disdainfully.
"Tsk."
Bang!!!
A palm strike landed squarely on Ge Pu Shi's chest. This time, he held nothing back.
Ge Pu Shi took the blow, her breastbone shattered, blood overflowing from her mouth and nose, her head tilted, and she became silent.
Wu Yuanwai, seeing this, could not help but turn pale with fright, falling to the ground, trembling.
"I thought it was some vicious plot, but I never expected to be filled with an earful of this nonsensical, tragic romance garbage story."
"You two talk about love, using other people's lives as gifts to feed Gu worms. Do you really think you're some kind of true lovers?"
Li Miao walked to Wu Yuanwai's side, grabbed his head with one hand, and stroked it back and forth.
"Five hundred taels... what a grand gesture."
"Three lives, she pays for one, leaving two. You said you want to be punished with her..."
"Then for the remaining two lives, will you also pay for one?"