Chapter 159: Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu
"Your Majesty, let me first check your pulse."
Cang Wanhe's appearance gave Yun Che a rather terrifying premonition, but he did not dare to be conclusive. He stepped forward a few paces, arriving in front of Cang Wanhe, and pressed two fingers of his right hand onto his pulse, then closed his eyes.
Lan Xueruo immediately held her breath. Cang Wanhe also did not speak again; his somewhat turbid eyes silently examined the man his daughter had chosen. But deep down, he had no expectations that this young man could help with his condition. He might have extraordinary medical skills, but he was ultimately too young. Medical expertise was not something learned, but required years of accumulation and sedimentation.
Yun Che did not take his pulse for too long. After about ten breaths, he said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I will now circulate my profound force through your internal organs. Please do not resist."
"Alright, go ahead. I said you are someone brought by Yue'er, and I trust you absolutely." Cang Wanhe nodded.
Thereupon, Yun Che released a small amount of his profound force, allowing it to flow into Cang Wanhe's five viscera and six bowels. It did not last long either; he withdrew his profound force, opened his eyes, and his expression turned complex.
"How is it?" Lan Xueruo quickly asked. Although Yun Che's examination had taken less than a minute in total, and anyone would think that a seventeen-year-old boy spending such a short time examining could hardly see anything about a "illness" that even Gu Qiuhong was helpless against. But as a young woman who had given her heart, she had a blind trust in her man. Even as the Princess Cangyue, Lan Xueruo could not escape such girlish mentality.
Yun Che was silent for a moment, then asked, "Your Majesty, is there a scar that isn't too long on your chest? If so, was it left about three years ago?"
Cang Wanhe thought for a moment, then nodded, surprise showing in his eyes: "That's right, I do have a scar on my chest, about an inch long, and indeed left three years ago... How did you know I have this scar?"
Seeing Cang Wanhe nod, Yun Che's expression turned somewhat grim.
Yun Che's expression made Lan Xueruo immediately uneasy. She asked nervously, "Junior Brother Yun, what exactly is my Imperial Father's condition? Did you see something?"
"Huff..." Yun Che let out a long breath and said heavily, "Your Majesty's ailment is indeed not a sickness, nor is it poisoning. But it is also not what that Gu Qiuhong said about damaged life pulse... Instead, you have been inflicted with a Gu!"
"Ah? Gu?" Lan Xueruo's lips parted wide, her face full of surprise.
"Oh? What leads you to that conclusion?" Cang Wanhe, however, was very calm. Clearly, he did not believe Yun Che's words. It wasn't distrust of Yun Che, but rather he trusted Gu Qiuhong more. For the past three years, his body had been stabilized under Gu Qiuhong's treatment. Moreover, one was the renowned first divine doctor of Cang Feng, and the other was a seventeen-year-old youth. Anyone would find it hard to believe the youth's words over the century-old fame of the first divine doctor.
Yun Che frowned and said, "This Gu is called the 'Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu.' It is planted into a person's body in the form of a Gu seed, relying on the host's heart blood to grow. After maturation, it resides near the heart's meridians and lives on the host's primal energy. This Gu is very small, but the primal energy it needs to grow is enormous—nearly half of the host's primal energy will be devoured by it. The reason Your Majesty has been extremely weak and aging rapidly these past few years is that exactly half of your primal energy has been consumed by this 'Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu.'"
Cang Wanhe's expression remained very calm. He showed a hint of doubt and said, "If what you say is true, and such a formidable Gu has been planted in my body, Gu Qiuhong's medical skills are unparalleled in ancient and modern times—he couldn't have failed to detect it. If it were just one examination, perhaps it could be overlooked, but over these three years, Gu Qiuhong has treated me dozens of times. It's impossible he missed it every time. Yun Che, could there be a mistake?"
"No!" Yun Che shook his head without hesitation. "Absolutely not. I know Your Majesty is skeptical, so please allow me to prove it... Permit me to cut open the scar on your chest, and I will make that Gu appear before Your Majesty's eyes."
Cang Wanhe's brows furrowed deeply. His imperial body was extremely noble; how could he allow a mere youth to cut open his body? Before he could speak, Lan Xueruo had already said, "Imperial Father, I believe Junior Brother Yun's words, and even more so, I believe in his character. He would never do anything to harm Imperial Father. Your Majesty's condition has shown no improvement, and even Master Gu has no solution. Even if Junior Brother Yun cannot bring a turn for the better, at least it won't do any harm."
Cutting a wound on an emperor was no trivial matter. But Lan Xueruo still did not hesitate to persuade Cang Wanhe. On one hand, she hoped for a turning point; on the other, it was a deep trust in Yun Che. At her words, Cang Wanhe swallowed the words he was about to speak and slowly nodded. "Alright... If this wound ends up being cut for nothing, there's no need to be nervous or blame yourself."
Yun Che nodded and said nothing more. He pulled aside the clothes on Cang Wanhe's chest, and indeed saw a scar about an inch long on his heart area. It had been a long time, so the scar had become very light, but it was still clearly visible.
Yun Che extended his finger, profound force surging to his fingertip. Just as he was about to cut into Cang Wanhe's heart area, his movement paused slightly, because in that instant, he felt a profound force aura firmly locking onto him. This profound force aura was very well concealed, and ordinary people would hardly detect it. But Yun Che's perception was extremely sharp, and he could sense that this profound force aura had an incredibly terrifying foundation, at least at the Heavenly Xuan Realm!
After a moment of surprise, Yun Che immediately calmed down. Of course, the emperor would have experts around him. He stopped hesitating and swiftly cut down with his finger, making a shallow wound at the location of the scar, and a few drops of blood seeped out. Immediately after, Yun Che's profound force surged in, and after a few breaths, a strange scene appeared before Cang Wanhe and Lan Xueruo's eyes.
A small insect only as big as a fingernail, a bloody red one, actually drilled out from within the wound. This red insect had no head, no eyes, no mouth—like a miniaturized leech. As it crawled out, its small body continued to twitch, but it never detached from the wound.
"Ah!!" Lan Xueruo let out a soft cry. This was the first time she had seen such a terrifying Gu worm, and it was inside her Imperial Father's body.
Cang Wanhe's entire body stiffened, and his eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the tiny red insect. He had never seen such a thing, and his heart was shaken to the core.
"Your Majesty, this is the Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu." Yun Che withdrew his profound force, and the red insect slowly burrowed back into the wound and disappeared. "This insect is what has been secretly consuming your primal energy all along. The most terrifying part of it is that it shares a life with the host. Your Majesty's life is bound to this Gu. If Your Majesty dies, the Gu will die. Conversely, if it dies, Your Majesty will also die!"
"Ah!!" Lan Xueruo's beautiful eyes widened, and her gaze trembled violently.
"Wh... what? There is actually such a sinister thing in this world!" Cang Wanhe was also full of terror.
Yun Che continued, "And it needs to feed on Your Majesty's primal energy to survive. Once it leaves Your Majesty's body, it will immediately perish. Moreover, it only ever has one host in its lifetime. Even if it were transferred into another host immediately after leaving, it would be useless. Therefore, this Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu cannot be removed from Your Majesty's body, but must be carefully 'nourished.' We can only helplessly let it constantly devour your primal energy and absolutely must not let it die."
Yun Che paused, then said heavily, "Senior Sister Xueruo, Your Majesty, what I am about to say will be somewhat cruel. Gu worms generally do not live very long. As far as I know, the lifespan of the Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu is five years. And it has already been inside Your Majesty's body for more than three years. In another two years, this Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu will die. That means... Your Majesty's lifespan is at most just two more years."
"How can this be... how can this be..." Lan Xueruo covered her lips and sobbed uncontrollably.
Cang Wanhe panted heavily. The Gu hidden inside his body, along with Yun Che's words, had completely thrown his mind into chaos, even instilling fear. He said in a low voice, "Who... who could have planted this sinister Gu in me! I must find them and cut them into a thousand pieces!!"
Yun Che looked directly at Cang Wanhe and said, "If Your Majesty wants to know who planted the Gu, it can actually be determined right now."
Cang Wanhe's body trembled, and he immediately said, "Yun Che, do you know who planted it?"
"I do not, but Your Majesty definitely does," Yun Che said calmly. "This 'Soul-Eating Life-Sharing Gu' can only be planted into a person's body in the form of a Gu seed, and it must be immersed in the host's heart blood to grow. A person's heart blood resides in the heart area. Therefore, to plant this Gu into a person's body, one must cut a wound in the heart area and directly place the Gu seed through the wound. Gu seeds that enter through food or drink will never grow, and those planted through blood in other parts are also ineffective. Your Majesty only needs to recall who cut that scar on your heart three years ago, and you will know who planted the Gu."
As Yun Che said these words, both Cang Wanhe and Lan Xueruo froze.
"No... impossible! It can't be Master Gu who planted the Gu! Master Gu has been diligently treating my Imperial Father all these years and has always had a good relationship with the imperial family. It can't be him! He has no reason to harm my Imperial Father!" Lan Xueruo's face was full of horror... She knew who had cut the wound on her Imperial Father's heart three years ago. It was the Medical Saint, Gu Qiuhong. That time, Cang Wanhe had caught a severe cold, and Gu Qiuhong claimed the cold was too heavy and needed to release some cold blood from the heart...
But she had deeply respected, revered, and been grateful to this Medical Saint since childhood. For a moment, she could not connect him with such a sinister culprit who planted Gu.