Capítulo 723: Chapter 707: Bone-attaching Sore

Qin Liuxi followed Wuyang all the way to the outermost and darkest edge of the village, where they saw an ancient wooden hut. In front of the hut, a grandma wearing traditional village attire stood. She wore a silver collar around her neck and a floral cloth wrapped around her head, her figure extremely short and her face gloomy.

This is Gu Po, true to her name—sullen, solitary, and with a harsh countenance.

Wuyang greeted Gu Po in the local dialect and explained their purpose, Gu Po’s small eyes looking at Qin Liuxi with some astonishment.

It was only when they reached the front of the house that Qin Liuxi clearly saw the face of Gu Po, full of crevices and scars that appeared rather fierce, likely to frighten children into tears.

The scars were probably caused by poisonous insects.

Qin Liuxi was not afraid, merely greeting her.

Gu Po looked her up and down and asked in stiff vernacular, “Can you cure my granddaughter?”

Qin Liuxi replied, “It’s hard to say. If it’s possible, I will help you. If not, forgive my lack of expertise. I need to see the child’s condition first.”

Gu Po hummed, turned, and entered the house.

Qin Liuxi observed the front of the house and saw some poisonous insects strung up under the eaves of the wooden house, and some more hiding in the crevices.

“It’s okay, as long as you don’t disturb anything, they won’t attack people. They’re all raised by Gu Po,” Wuyang followed her gaze and said reassuringly, “Let’s go inside and have a look.”

Following him inside, Qin Liuxi heard the faint cries of a child.

The wooden house was divided into two rooms; one was the master bedroom, the other locked, and its contents unknown, which Qin Liuxi did not pry into.

She saw Gu Po carrying a child out, the child dressed in black and red clothes, with sparse, dry and yellow hair, a sallow face without much complexion, distressed and crying loudly, but the cry was thin, weak, and feeble-sounding.

Qin Liuxi stepped forward, noticed something was off; the child’s true appearance seemed covered by something else.

She reached out her hand, Gu Po retreated slightly back defensively, her eyes darkly fixated on her.

Qin Liuxi said, “Her cries are hoarse, I just want to calm her down and have a look.”

Then, Gu Po handed the child over.

Qin Liuxi’s hand touched the child’s forehead, a wisp of Spiritual Energy entered the spiritual platform, calming her, stopping her cries, and her eyes wandered, looking at Qin Liuxi.

Gu Po, somewhat surprised, directly placed the child into Qin Liuxi’s arms.

Little Ya immediately cracked a smile.

“It seems this child likes you,” Wuyang remarked with a laugh beside her.

Qin Liuxi said, “She is a bit strange.”

Gu Po’s face immediately showed tension, and she asked dryly, “What’s wrong?”

This child, with a bone age of just over one year old, was frail, yellow-faced, and weak, indicated by a condition that was typically life-threatening.

Qin Liuxi placed her fingers on the child’s wrist, feeling a slow and weak pulse, even the heartbeat was extremely slow, with both qi and blood deficient, and her spleen and stomach cold. Moreover, it was now early summer in May, yet her hands and feet were ice cold, the coldness penetrating deep into the bone marrow.

Such cold constitution, for a little girl, would be disadvantageous as she grew up; not to mention the pain during menstruation, pregnancy would also be much more difficult.

However, to Qin Liuxi, these were not major issues. What made her feel strange was the child’s spirit energy, which seemed utterly listless, as if her vital energy was draining.

Qin Liuxi checked the pulse with both hands, carefully looking at the child’s face, said, “I need to see her undressed.”

Seeing Qin Liuxi’s serious expression, Gu Po’s heart tightened, without saying a word, she stripped the child bare.

Qin Liuxi examined her meticulously, from head to toe, not missing even the soles of her feet, but didn’t notice anything. She then turned her over.

From the neck downward, arriving at the scapula, her gaze deepened, studying the right scapula as her hand reached towards it.

Tweet.

Wuyang was startled, “What was that sound?”

Gu Po also looked over nervously.

But Qin Liuxi was intently observing the yin energy emanating from the subtly twitching object within the scapula.

Little Ya began to cry again, her little hand reaching back to scratch.

Qin Liuxi asked, “Does she always do this? Crying and stretching her hand backwards.”

Gu Po nodded, indeed it was so; whenever she cried, her hand would reach backwards as if trying to grab something.

“What is that?” Wuyang saw the shadow at the scapula and was startled as well.

Qin Liuxi explained, “Have you heard of the Bone-attaching Sore?”

Wuyang was puzzled, “Isn’t that a type of ulcer?”

Though Bone-attaching Sore generally describes an adversarial and repulsive evil root that is hard to remove, its literal meaning is a poisonous ulcer on the bone.

“You mean Little Ya has a poisonous ulcer on her bone?” Wuyang exclaimed in shock.

It was completely unnoticeable.

“One could put it that way, but ultimately, there is a yin soul ensconced within the ulcer, vying for Little Ya’s vital energy,” Qin Liuxi explained while staring at the dormant yin soul.

Wuyang and Gu Po were both shocked. One a witch and the other a gu manipulator, they were accustomed to the unpredictable affairs of gods and ghosts, but they hadn’t noticed a yin soul attached to Little Ya’s bones.

“Wuyang located at the scapula, if Little Ya is always lying down, naturally you wouldn’t notice,” Qin Liuxi said. “Little Ya must have been a preterm underweight newborn, causing her innate deficiency. Coupled with the yin soul seizing her vital energy, her physique grows even weaker. Furthermore, Gu Po, since you found her in the snowy fields, the cold has weakened her further, making it even harder to detect this.”

Wuyang furrowed his brows, “How could such a thing exist in Little Ya, is it trying to perform a demonic possession?”

“It’s not impossible.”

Gu Po’s face instantly turned stern, making her look even more sinister and harsh as she walked away. Soon, she returned with a box.

Qin Liuxi looked over, feeling a deep wariness about the contents of the box.

Wuyang’s hairs stood on end and asked, “Gu Po, what is this?”

“Soul-devouring Gu. I want it to devour this filthy yin soul,” Gu Po said coldly as she opened the box, revealing a chopstick-sized bug that was completely black and eerily cold.

The yin energy was overwhelming.

Little Ya grew restless and cried.

Qin Liuxi held Gu Po’s hand, closed the box, and said, “No need for now. This gu is malevolent and although it can devour a yin soul, Little Ya might not be able to withstand it.”

“Just a drop of blood to establish ownership, and it won’t harm her. It will also protect her as her Life Soul Gu in the future,” Gu Po stated coldly.

“I understand your words, but given her weak condition, even if the yin soul is removed, she will need a long time to recuperate. How can she have sufficient vital energy to keep the Soul-devouring Gu satiated? What if it retaliates when it can’t get enough vital energy?”

Gu Po stiffened, subconsciously looking at the frail Little Ya, a trace of unwillingness flashing across her eyes.