CHAPTER 1328: CHAPTER 1328: ASTONISHMENT

Perhaps the venom of those insects is the reason why people become vegetative.

"Hmm!" Jin Zijin responded softly, then added, "Yu Jizi probably wants to use this method to devour Jin Ziyuan’s soul, so he can replace it with his own."

After speaking, he took out the booklet from the cave earlier and flipped to a page for Gu Youyou to see.

It was a series of drawings. The first showed a person lying on a stone platform, covered with pitch-black insects crawling all over them. The person was writhing in agony.

The second image depicted the person completely stripped of their soul. Their eyes remained open, yet they seemed to see nothing. On the ground, a shattered shadow was being torn apart by a swarm of black insects.

Jin Zijin explained, "This shattered shadow represents the soul of the person on the sacrificial altar."

Gu Youyou felt a chill creep through her.

The third drawing showed several people washing the person on the altar meticulously, cleansing their body and painting it with intricate runes.

The fourth image illustrated a figure in a long robe releasing more insects onto the floor. These insects were noticeably larger than the ones that had consumed the soul.

Jin Zijin said he hadn’t yet identified the type of Poisonous Insects these were.

Moving on, the fifth image showed the robed figure lying on the ground, with all the insects swarming around them, lifting them up.

No, to be precise, it wasn’t the physical body being lifted but a translucent figure.

According to their interpretation, it had to be the soul of the robed figure.

The Poisonous Insects carried the robed figure’s soul, step by step, towards the altar, placing it upon the prepared body on the platform.

Then, a miracle occurred. The soul of the robed figure began to merge with the body on the altar, and that body began to stand.

As they stepped down from the altar, their shadow seemed not entirely aligned with their body, parts of it spilling outward.

Then, countless insects swarmed in again, pressing the misaligned portions of the shadow back into the body.

After viewing the entire set of drawings, Gu Youyou marveled that this was like reading a horror novel come to life.

Setting aside the matter of whether such an outlandish thing could be real, just the sheer cruelty of this method showed how depraved Yu Jizi truly was.

...

Gu Youyou and Searcy were both preparing to enter the palace. Each had packed a large chest, merely waiting for palace emissaries to summon them.

Four hours passed, and as dusk approached, the gatekeeper finally arrived in haste.

"A message from the Princely Heir says people from the palace are arriving shortly. Be ready."

Oh, everything was already prepared.

Gu Youyou called out to Searcy, and the two sat in the courtyard pretending to know nothing, quietly sipping tea and chatting.

The palace emissary who arrived was a palace maiden in her forties. She conveyed the Nanzhao Emperor’s decree, inviting Jin Zijin and his wife to the palace for a discussion. No mention was made of treating the Empress Dowager.

Gu Youyou immediately grasped the Emperor’s intentions.

Without an official edict summoning them specifically to treat the Empress Dowager, she wouldn’t get the impact she hoped for. She was disappointed, but she could only tell Searcy to bring along the case and follow along.

The Nanzhao Emperor’s intentions were clear—they could treat the ailment, but earning any credit for it wouldn’t come easily.

As the ruler of Nanzhao Country, even if he trusted in medical skills, he was far too cunning to blatantly undermine centuries-old witchcraft traditions with medicine alone. Such a move would very well jeopardize his throne.

"Let’s go. One step at a time," Gu Youyou sighed.

In the Nanzhao Imperial Palace, the witch doctors had already been dismissed. As twilight descended, Gu Youyou and Jin Zijin appeared in formal attire, as though attending a banquet hosted by the Emperor.