Chapter 417: Plum Blossoms Open Before a Hundred Flowers

Crash! The water bottle hit the floor and shattered. It felt as though silver needles were being forced into my veins, piercing pain erupting from every part of my body.

My eyes bulged and my veins swelled, turning a bruised, dark blue. Something seemed to be swimming beneath my skin. With the exception of my Kidney Aperture, almost all my internal organs erupted in a tearing agony at the exact same time.

I barely managed to stand, refusing to collapse in front of Profound Truth Dao. The veins in my neck strained, and my lips turned purple. Only now did I realize the agony Wang Yu had endured.

If I, a grown adult, could barely handle it, this was simply too cruel for a child.

"To think you can still stand. Not bad, you have some guts," Lu Chen said, somewhat surprised. He took a jade knife from his Daoist robes and held it out. "Use this knife to slit your wrist and let your blood drain. It might save that child's life."

Taking the jade knife, I gritted my teeth and picked Wang Yu up. Right now, he looked like an abused, dying stray cat.

"Bear with it for a bit. I'll get you out of here." My right hand trembled as I gripped the jade knife, aimed it at my wrist, and sliced open a vein.

My blood was already murky, but letting it flow actually made me feel a bit better. "Wang Yu, don't be afraid."

Pale-faced, I grabbed Wang Yu's arm, made a shallow cut on his wrist, and pressed my own against it. "Lu Chen, will this save Wang Yu's life?"

"Take off your shirt. I need to see the blood flow backward to be sure." Lu Chen sat in place without moving. Whenever any splashing blood threatened to land on him, it was immediately blocked by his Yin energy.

"As you wish!" I tore off my shirt in one motion. My chest and back were exposed, revealing hideous, crisscrossing scars. Some of the wounds hadn't even fully healed to this day.

"Covered in scars? Are you really just an ordinary person?" A trace of suspicion appeared in Lu Chen's eyes before he gently shook his head. "When a thin black line appears on your chest over your heart, that will prove the Child Gu and Mother Gu have begun to merge. Once the line disappears and the gu poison burrows into your heart and lungs, we can basically confirm the child has no gu left in him and is temporarily out of danger."

From start to finish, Lu Chen never once mentioned whether I would survive. It seemed that with this Heart-Slaying Dao Inquiry, no matter the outcome, the subject would inevitably suffer severe harm.

It felt like toxic fire was burning inside my body. Every meridian trembled. I bit my lip until it bled, and about a dozen seconds later, the first black line appeared on my chest.

Beneath my skin, it looked as though a black snake were winding its way toward my heart. I let out a muffled groan and looked at Wang Yu in my arms. His complexion had actually improved a little.

"The Mother-Child Gu merging, burrowing into the lungs and swallowing the heart. It's exactly as described in the ancient texts." Lu Chen nodded. "Gao Jian, you must answer my following questions truthfully. If you lie or experience intense emotional fluctuations, it will stimulate the gu insects in your body and drive them into a frenzy. If even a single gu insect burrows into your Heart Aperture, not even a deity can save you."

"Ask." Just speaking that single word made my vocal cords vibrate, sending a stabbing pain through that entire cluster of muscles.

"First question. My junior brother was ordered to come to Xinhu High School to retrieve the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman. Why did you forcefully interfere?" Beside him, Lu Jin froze. He had never expected his senior brother to ask about this. Was there really a need to harp on such things at a time like this? Wouldn't it be better to just directly ask if I had stolen the Profound Truth Dao Method?

"This talisman was originally obtained by a girl who could enter dreams. Lu Jin captured her using the exact same despicable and shameless methods you're using right now, forcing her to hand it over."

"Treasures belong to the virtuous! Even if that girl got the Divine Talisman, it would only attract more people to covet it. She could have lost her life over it. She should be thanking me for saving her instead!" Lu Jin knew I couldn't lie under the Heart-Slaying Dao Inquiry. Afraid his senior brother would turn on him, he hurriedly spoke up.

Saying that much was already my limit. The agonizing pain made it impossible for me to utter another word in rebuttal.

Fortunately, Lu Chen wasn't a fool who couldn't tell right from wrong. He stared intently at the black line on my chest, which hadn't shown any strange changes. "The Mother-Child Gu is stable. It seems you're telling the truth."

He didn't move to punish Lu Jin; instead, he continued asking, "Second question. What exactly happened that day at Century New Garden? Lu Jin was heavily injured and left near death. Were you the attacker?"

"No." Driven into a corner and tortured by pain, I actually calmed down. "The one who beat Lu Jin into a critical state was a man named Lu Xing, a Fate Usurper's disciple. I just happened to arrive in time. You could even say I was the one who saved this ungrateful wretch."

"A Fate Usurper?" Lu Chen's tone shifted, and it took him a few seconds to regain his composure.

Beside him, Lu Jin's expression turned exceedingly ugly upon hearing my words. First he was inexplicably beaten half to death, and then he was saved by someone he viewed as a mere mortal. This brought him deep humiliation, but he quickly brushed it off. "Keep making things up. You won't live much longer anyway."

Lu Chen ignored Lu Jin and continued asking, "The final question. Tell me, did you or did you not steal the Profound Truth Dao Method? I want a detailed answer for this one. Do not omit a single detail."

'Is it finally here?' I shifted my gaze. The physical pain was only one aspect of it; what really worried me was this final question.

If I admitted to learning the Profound Truth Dao Method, it would play right into Lu Jin's hands. At the same time, Lu Chen would continue pressing me on where I learned the mental cultivation techniques. That way, I would have no choice but to sell out the Underworld Live Show.

Selling out the Underworld Live Show would mean breaking my contract. The Underworld Live Show's methods were likely far more terrifying than Profound Truth Dao's. When the time came, I probably wouldn't even be able to die if I wanted to.

If I flatly denied learning the Profound Truth Dao Method, the other party might refuse to let it go, but I still had a hidden card I hadn't played yet. I reckoned I could still carve out a slim chance of survival.

On one hand, a fate worse than death; on the other, a situation of nine deaths and one life. Choosing between the two wasn't difficult.

"I have never learned the Profound Truth Dao Method. Everything was a fabricated excuse by Lu Jin just so he could murder me!" After I shouted this, my eyes turned bloodshot, and my heartbeat violently accelerated. The black lines on my chest surged forward at a drastically increased speed. However, only about a third of a second later, the lines not only slowed down but also showed faint signs of fading. The pain in my body also lessened somewhat.

'What's going on?' My right hand, which was holding Wang Yu, felt a bit wet. I caught a glimpse of it from the corner of my eye: the plum blossom-shaped wound on my wrist had cracked open, continuously leaking black blood.

'The Plum Blossom Gu!'

Plum blossoms open before a hundred flowers, standing alone as spring in the world! The overbearing nature of the Plum Blossom Gu ranked it at the absolute pinnacle of all gu poisons!

Without batting an eye, I pressed my hand tightly against Wang Yu's coat, preventing the heavy flow of toxic blood from being discovered by Lu Chen. The pained look on my face remained completely unchanged. I had long since mastered the art of managing my expressions.

The black lines on my chest, representing the Mother-Child Gu Poison, didn't undergo any major changes. In the eyes of Lu Chen and Lu Jin, I hadn't lied.

"How is this possible?! Something must be wrong with this Mother-Child Gu Poison. The Heart-Slaying Dao Inquiry hasn't been used in many years; it's inevitable that mistakes will happen." Unwilling to believe it, Lu Jin tried to step forward, but a sudden surge of Yin energy forced him back. He looked in shock at Lu Chen, who was controlling the Yin energy.

"Senior Brother, what are you doing?"

"Silence! Haven't you embarrassed us enough?" Lu Chen's voice was stern, completely abandoning his earlier calm and aloof demeanor. "You are our master's youngest disciple. I had half a mind to favor you, to trust you, and I even indulged your use of the Heart-Slaying Dao Inquiry. Now, I clearly understand the entire sequence of events. If it weren't for the sect's orders, I would apprehend you right this instant."

"Senior Brother, he is definitely deceiving you! This Gao Jian is full of cunning tricks. I swear it on our master! I swear it on the Three Pure Ancestors!" Lu Jin grew frantic. Before coming here, he had imagined countless scenarios, but the scene unfolding before him was something he couldn't have predicted even if he racked his brains.

"Shut up!" Lu Chen's face clouded over. His gaze shifted back and forth between me and Lu Jin before he finally let out a sigh. "The Heart-Slaying Dao Inquiry is irreversible. Once it begins, one party is bound to be harmed by the gu creatures. This poison has no cure. Speak. Do you have any final wishes? My Profound Truth Dao will exhaust the entire sect's power to fulfill them for you."

He directed these words at me. I could hear the sincerity in his voice. Truth be told, Lu Chen and I originally had no grudges between us.

"A wish?" I squeezed out a look of deep resentment and pointed at Lu Jin. "If you really want me to respect your sect, then have this man pay for my life with his right now!"

"Choose another. No matter what, Lu Jin is still a disciple of my Profound Truth Dao."

"So the disciples of your Profound Truth Dao are people, but the people you hurt aren't?" Becoming agitated, I coughed up a mouthful of black blood. To an outsider, I looked wretched and on the verge of death.

But in reality, it was just a mouthful of stagnant blood. Expelled by the Plum Blossom Gu, the majority of the Mother-Child Gu had already flowed out through the plum blossom-shaped wound.