Chapter 240: Night Trial of Gu
Little Eight grew a little anxious. “It’s been several days already. You still haven’t had a proper face-to-face conversation with him. Why is this big boss so impervious to everything?”
Nan Xun, on the other hand, remained quite calm. “He’s an old man who’s seen the rise and fall of the world. Do you really expect him to feel an instant connection with a little girl like me? We need to take it slow. You can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry. If I act too eager from the start, it’ll only make him dislike me. Once he gradually gets used to my presence, then I’ll have taken the first step.”
Every day, without fail, Nan Xun would place tea at the inner hall door at a fixed time, then bring meals at set hours and set them on the purple-gold carved wooden table in the outer hall. For several days in a row, the person inside never touched anything she brought.
Until a week later—one pot of tea Nan Xun delivered finally showed signs of having been used.
She was a little excited.
She thought that from then on, the big boss would drink her tea and eat her food. But after that one time, everything went back to the way it was before. He didn’t touch them again.
Nan Xun’s mood rose and fell like waves, leaving her thoroughly unhappy.
There was no soft bed here, no fluffy animal-skin mats. The big boss also wore a perpetually lifeless expression, like someone owed him two hundred and fifty coins. Life was practically growing mold.
Nan Xun spread bedding on the floor of the outer hall. After letting out a long sigh, she fell asleep on the hard floor.
She was always a heavy sleeper, but even so, while sleeping deeply, she felt a sudden chill wrap around her, making her shiver.
After struggling for a while, she finally pried open her sticky eyelids and sat up groggily.
The next second, every trace of sleep vanished.
Damn—three steps away from her stood a white figure. The tall silhouette blocked the moonlight streaming through the window, plunging the outer hall into darkness.
Startled, her breathing grew heavy. The tall white figure, who had been standing with his back to her, moved slightly and turned to the side.
Moonlight poured in through the window, outlining a flawless profile: a high nose bridge, long lashes drooping lazily over half-lidded eyes, and thin yet vividly red lips.
He wore a white robe casually, the collar wide open to reveal a large expanse of chest. Bathed in moonlight, his skin seemed to glow with a faint halo.
The man glanced at Nan Xun, then calmly withdrew his gaze.
Facing the nearly full moon outside the window, he tilted his head slightly upward. His thin lips moved faintly, as if sighing. “The full moon is here.”
Nan Xun stared blankly at him talking to himself, guessing that to him she might as well be air—or perhaps, in his eyes, she had always been nothing more than an inanimate object.
She felt she had accidentally glimpsed the truth.
Should she just lie back down and keep sleeping, or wait until the big boss returned to the inner hall before sleeping again?
Nan Xun yawned and slowly lay back down on the floor.
Before long, she heard very light footsteps. The big boss returned to the inner hall.
But not long after, he came out again.
This time, he stood directly in front of Nan Xun. His dead, silent gaze fell on her face, his voice still flat and emotionless. “Girl, come test the gu poison.”
Nan Xun: !
She snapped her eyes open. Sure enough, when he emerged from the inner hall this time, he was holding a delicate silver gu container.
She knew exactly what was inside.
“Little Eight, you remember what I told you, right?” Nan Xun hurriedly asked.
“Of course! I’ll block 90% of the pain so you don’t act too fake and give yourself away!”
The man beside her stood straight as bamboo. He bent slightly, those usually indifferent eyes lingering on Nan Xun for a rare, long moment.
“Girl, stretch out your arm,” he said. The corners of his red, thin lips even curved slightly upward.
In the quiet night, that single sentence seemed wrapped in a layer of sweetness, creating an illusion of gentleness.
Nan Xun, however, was terrified.
Damn, that smile was truly breathtaking—but even more chilling!
After a brief pause, Nan Xun obediently rolled up her wide sleeve, revealing a small section of her arm, slender and white like jade.
Then, before she could even blink, she saw a tiny gu insect burrow into her wrist, piercing straight into flesh and blood—fast as lightning.
The next instant, Nan Xun’s eyes flew wide open, nearly popping out of their sockets.
Damn, it hurts—really hurts!
Even with 90% of the pain blocked by Little Eight, the remaining 10% was enough to torment her to the point of wanting to knock herself unconscious.
Nan Xun suddenly understood why Li Yunduo in her original world had stabbed herself to death. Just 10% of the pain had her curled up like a dog, fingers clawing hard at the floor. At 100%, she would absolutely have been tortured to death!
She could feel the gu insect gnawing at her internal organs, one small bite at a time, unhurried and methodical.
At one point, Nan Xun almost recklessly wanted to use witchcraft to force the insect out of her body.
It hurt too much.
She didn’t know how long the agony lasted. By the time the big boss withdrew the heart-devouring gu, Nan Xun felt like she had already lost half her life.
The man merely glanced at her indifferently, then took his gu container and returned to his room. As he left, he seemed to murmur, “Still not working.”
Nan Xun whimpered, “That really almost hurt me to death just now.”
Little Eight quickly comforted her. “Don’t be scared, my dear. He won’t play you to death. You’ve got me—so long as you’ve got one breath left, I can pull you back!”
Nan Xun: …
The next four days were like a nightmare for Nan Xun.
That ethereal, almost god-like national preceptor big boss made her test gu poison every night, torturing her to the brink of death over and over again. She nearly lunged at him to bite him to death!
Finally, on the fifth day, the big boss stopped tormenting her.
That night, he didn’t come out at all.
Nan Xun looked out the window and realized it was a full moon again.
She didn’t sleep well, constantly worried that the heartless big boss might suddenly appear at any moment.
Half asleep, she heard suppressed, pained gasps from the inner hall.
Nan Xun jolted awake.
“Little Eight, what’s wrong with the big boss?”
Little Eight fell silent for a moment. “Nothing much. Just his old ailment acting up. He won’t die.”
Nan Xun nodded and closed her eyes again.
“Most people would rush in out of curiosity. Why are you different?” Little Eight asked in disbelief.
Nan Xun yawned. “I’m sleepy. I want to sleep. Anyway, the big boss won’t die.”
Little Eight: …
Damn it. It should’ve known.
It had even been hesitating over how to explain things, preparing a whole speech to stop her from peeking—only for this to happen.
The next morning, Nan Xun wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt that the national preceptor big boss glanced at her a few extra times.
