Translator: CKtalon
Gu Lou’s abdomen swelled up as he rolled over and vomited.
Zhou Wen saw that Gu Lou had vomited quite a number of white objects. A careful look made him almost vomit as well. Gu Lou had vomited out maggots that squirmed on the ground.
Gu Lou kept vomiting more and more maggots. The few of them felt their scalps tingle, worried that they would end up like Gu Lou.
After vomiting for a while, Gu Lou spat out the centipede-like worm as well. His swollen abdomen shrank and he looked much better. His face remained ghastly pale.
“Master Gu, what’s wrong with Gu Lou?” Li Mobai asked.
They had paid attention to their surroundings just now and hadn’t discovered any problems. The sudden incident with Gu Lou made them equally uneasy.
“Don’t worry. It’s not a problem with the Flowers of Life. He was poisoned by a Gu and I killed it.” Gu Shanshui extended his hand and the centipede-like bug flew into his hand. Something dropped from its claws.
It was a worm the size of a rice grain. Ordinary people couldn’t tell that it was a worm.
“This is a relatively common Rice Gu. Although it’s only at the Legendary stage, it’s easy to mistakenly eat it when mixed with rice grains. After entering the body, it can quickly reproduce and destroy the body from the inside. It’s very difficult for outsiders to understand.”
Gu Shanshui paused for a moment before continuing, “The Rice Gu isn’t fast, and its offensive strength isn’t very strong. It’s very difficult for it to enter the body directly. It would have been mixed into the bamboo rice that Gu Lou brought. It was only after he ate that the Rice Gu invaded his body.”
With that said, Gu Shanshui got Gu Lou and Gu He to check the things they had brought. Indeed, in their bamboo rice, they found some Rice Gu. They also found a Gu that was thinner than a strand of hair in the kettle.
Gu Shanshui told them that it was also a Legendary Gu named Bone Drilling Worm. It could easily take a person’s life when it invaded their bodies. It burrowed into bone cavities and reproduced in large numbers. It would gnaw on the bones until all the bones were eaten.
Zhou Wen heaved a sigh of relief. The few of them hadn’t eaten the bamboo rice or drank any water. Now, they had even less desire for eating or drinking.
The few of them handed their things to Gu Shanshui for inspection. Thankfully, their food and water were fine.
“From the looks of it, someone did this before we set off. Master Gu, do you know who did it?” Li Mobai asked.
Gu Shanshui shook his head and said, “Members of our Gu family probably wouldn’t do such a thing because they know that these Gu won’t succeed against me.”
Li Mobai fell into deep thought. If it wasn’t someone from the Gu family, it was possible that it wasn’t targeted at Gu Shanshui and company. There were a myriad of possibilities, making it difficult to guess.
“Master Gu, is there any way to guard against these Gu?” Butterfly asked.
After all, she was a woman. She was extremely disgusted when she saw Gu Lou vomiting maggots. She would rather die than vomit.
“There are countless Gu in the South District. It’s easy to defend against one or a few, but to defend against all of them, one can only rely on one’s experience and judgment. However, if you have a legendary divine item that can restrain all Gu, then no Gu will dare approach you.” As Gu Shanshui spoke, he glanced at the chick on Zhou Wen’s shoulder.
“What kind of divine item is that?” Butterfly asked.
“The most famous one is the Mythical Ice Silkworm Gu. If you have an Ice Silkworm Gu with you, basically no Gu will dare approach you. Even if they dare approach you, they will be discovered by the Ice Silkworm Gu and be directly killed. Most Mythical Gu have similar effects, but that’s provided that you can tame them,” Gu Shanshui said.
“Can’t we just kill it and have it drop a Companion Beast?” Butterfly said.
“It works for some, but not all,” Gu Shanshui said ambiguously.
“Why?” Butterfly was puzzled.
“This is because living Gu have experienced many battles. They have very strong instincts, experience, and a certain level of intelligence. They also have territorial awareness. However, when it comes to Companion Beasts, their intelligence might not necessarily be up to standard. They also don’t have combat experience or territorial awareness. Most of them need their owners to control them in order to unleash their might. They are much weaker when it comes to taking precautions. Furthermore, Mythical Gu might not drop Companion Beasts. The chances of taming them are higher,” said Gu Shanshui.
“Master Gu, do you have a Mythical Gu on you? Let it out for us to broaden our horizons,” Butterfly said.
“If I had one, I wouldn’t need to request Mr. Zhou to help me capture the Corpse Bug. There are many people in the South District who rear Gu, but there are very few who have Mythical Gu. Furthermore, most of them should be in the Dugu family.” Gu Shanshui seemed to be in a good mood as he continued, “If Mr. Zhou can help me catch the Corpse Bug this time, I will have a Mythical Gu. In the future, the Gu family will be considered a top faction in the South District.”
They continued after Gu Shanshui checked everyone’s belongings and didn’t find any more Gu.
The Flower River under the moon was so beautiful that it made one’s heart tremble. A breeze blew and the flowers swayed like ripples in a river.
Gu Shanshui sniffed hard and suddenly stopped. He made a gesture for everyone to stop before looking at the distant Flower River.
Zhou Wen and company stopped and looked in the direction of his gaze. They saw a huge sea of flowers ahead, but they didn’t discover anything.
However, the wind became stronger. Not long after, they saw some lights dancing above the distant Flower River.
Zhou Wen’s Truth Listener was extremely powerful, so he quickly saw what it was.
It wasn’t a light at all, but a crystal-like butterfly. The butterfly’s body was transparent, and there were many patterns on its wings. The patterns emitted an icy-blue cold glow, making it look even more dazzling.
When the icy-blue butterfly flapped its wings, it triggered a strong wind that caused ripples through the Flower River.
“That’s... Nether Butterfly...” When Gu Lou saw that it was a butterfly, his originally pale face drained of whatever color it had.
Gu He wasn’t any better. His expression was ugly.
“No wonder none of the people who entered the Flower River survived. There’s actually a Nether Butterfly here...” Gu Shanshui said with a heavy expression.
Although Zhou Wen didn’t know what the Nether Butterfly was, he could tell from its Essence Energy fluctuations that it was definitely a Mythical dimensional creature.
“The legendary netherworld envoy, the Nether Butterfly that guides souls into the Underworld?” Li Mobai had clearly heard of the Nether Butterfly as he stared at the butterfly and frowned.
Gu Shanshui whispered, “In the past, I’ve only heard of people encountering the Nether Butterfly. However, it’s in a mysterious dimensional zone that humans are almost unable to reach. I never expected Flower River to have a Nether Butterfly. We sure are down on our luck.”