Chapter 10: Reader Is In Trouble

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Reader Is In Trouble

After going to his room, Sui Sui soaked himself in a hot bath, washing away the dust and exhaustion from the day’s outing.

After changing into a fresh set of clothes, he threw himself onto the soft bed with a satisfied sigh.

Today was really exhausting. Between wandering around the market and everything that had happened at the mysterious mirror shop, his mind was already a mess. Not to mention, this was probably the longest he had walked in both his current life and his previous one combined.

The room gradually fell silent.

Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a pale glow across the floor while the rest of the room remained shrouded in darkness.

The moment his head touched the pillow, an overwhelming wave of drowsiness washed over him.

Before long, he drifted into sleep.

However, after quite some time had passed, just as Sui Sui was in the middle of a pleasant dream, a loud bang suddenly echoed from outside his room.

The sound jolted him awake.

Still half asleep, Sui Sui sat up and glanced around the room, his eyes sweeping over every corner in search of the source of the noise. Everything was exactly as he had left it before going to bed.

"...Was it just a dream?"

He rubbed his eyes, ready to lie back down.

Bang!

Another loud thud echoed through the corridor.

This time, Sui Sui was certain he hadn’t imagined it. The drowsiness instantly vanished from his face as he became alert. He got out of bed, hesitating for a moment.

Should he go outside...

Or stay inside?

He was the only one in the room, while the servants accompanying him were resting elsewhere. If he really encountered danger, there was little he could do on his own.

Fortunately, Bai Suichen had rented the entire floor for their group. His brother’s room was just next to his, and Yizhou’s room was just a few rooms across the corridor. If something had truly happened, they should have noticed it by now.

Thinking this, Sui Sui quietly walked to the door.

Creak...

The sound of the wooden door opening seemed unusually loud in the dead silence. A head of snow-white hair cautiously peeked out.

The corridor was empty.

Gone was the lively atmosphere from earlier. The corridor that was once brightly lit earlier was now shrouded in dimness, with only a few lanterns casting faint shadows along the walls.

Sui Sui stepped outside and hurried to Bai Suichen’s room.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Brother are you there?"

No one answered. He frowned and knocked three more times.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Still nothing. A trace of unease slowly crept into Sui Sui’s heart. He immediately went to one of the servants’ rooms nearby and knocked again.

Silence. Not a single response came from within. It was as if everyone on this floor had vanished. The surroundings were so quiet that Sui Sui could hear his own breathing.

An inexplicable sense of oppression settled over him, making the corridor feel strangely isolated from the rest of the world.

Instinctively, he took a step back.

Just as he was about to retreat to the safety of his own room, his eyes caught something unusual. Across the corridor, another room stood with its door slightly open.

If he remembered correctly...That should be Yizhou’s room.

After hesitating for only a moment, Sui Sui walked toward it. At a time like this, having someone else around was far better than facing whatever was happening alone, maybe he could also cultivate brotherly feelings with the protagonist

—

Inside Xingwang Hotel, the corridor had become eerily silent.

Heavy breathing echoed through the darkness.

A burly man with a long scar running across his left eye leaned heavily against the wall, one hand clutching the deep wound on his shoulder as blood continuously seeped through his fingers. His face was pale as he cursed under his breath.

He had made a terrible mistake.

That black-robed cultivator wasn’t some easy prey.

He was a complete lunatic.

A demonic cultivator.

Earlier, the four of them had confidently followed him into the inn, believing it would be an easy robbery. Yet in the blink of an eye, his companions had all fallen beneath the other’s sword. Out of the entire group only he remained alive.

Who said that he was merely a golden core cultivator, this power was clearly higher, maybe a Nascent soul level or even higher, otherwise how could their group who consisted of three peak golden core and one early nascent soul cultivator fall for easily

What frightened him even more was the inn itself.

Despite the fierce battle that had taken place moments ago, not a single guest had opened their door to investigate. It was as if the entire Xingwang Hotel had fallen under some kind of spell.

Even when they tried to escape, every exit seemed to be blocked by an invisible force.

They had been trapped from the very beginning.

The scar-faced man forced himself to calm down, suppressing his aura as much as possible.

Tap...

Tap...

Footsteps echoed down the corridor.

He held his breath.

When the footsteps gradually faded into the distance, he finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"...I’m alive..."

However, before he could finish celebrating, black smoke suddenly erupted from the darkness like countless living tentacles. They wrapped tightly around his limbs, immobilizing him completely. In the next instant, the writhing tendrils transformed into razor-sharp blades, stabbing through his chest, abdomen, and limbs in one swift motion.

The scar-faced man’s eyes widened in horror.

"...How..."

He slowly lowered his head before looking at the person standing before him.

Yizhou’s expression remained indifferent. There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his eyes, as though taking a life was no different from crushing an ant beneath his foot.

Without saying a word, he took out a small jade bottle.

Inside, a Gu insect writhed excitedly.

Yizhou uncorked the bottle and placed the tiny worm onto the dying man’s wound. The Gu immediately burrowed into the flesh .The scar-faced man could only watch helplessly as the Gu greedily devoured his blood and essence.

His body rapidly withered and moments later, the corpse collapsed onto the floor with a dull thud.

A plump crimson Gu slowly crawled out from one of the man’s eye sockets before obediently wriggling back toward its master.

Yizhou calmly returned it to the jade bottle. He glanced at the now noticeably fatter Gu and nodded with satisfaction.

It seems that after eating four high level cultivators, his Gu worms have already entered a mature state. The harvest tonight wasn’t bad.

In fact, he had noticed the group tailing him the moment he left the black market. He simply chose not to evade them and deliberately didn’t conceal his whereabouts.

Since he had begun cultivating Gu arts, he would inevitably need living sacrifices to nourish his Gu. These people had delivered themselves to his doorstep. Only a fool would refuse such a convenient opportunity.

After cleaning up the traces of the battle, Yizhou returned to his room. Just as he reached the doorway, his footsteps came to a halt.

Someone was inside.

His gaze landed on the white-haired youth standing with his back toward him.

It was Sui Sui.

A hint of surprise flashed through Yizhou’s eyes before quickly disappearing.

Interesting...

Really interesting.

He had already set up a sleeping formation throughout Xingwang Hotel.

Anyone below his cultivation level should have fallen into a deep sleep, unable to awaken unless he deliberately exempted them, just as he had done with those thieves.

After cultivating within that mysterious space for a long time, although his cultivation remained at the Golden Core Realm, his true combat strength was already comparable to that of a Peak Nascent Soul cultivator. Among those of the same realm, only a handful could rival him.

After all, for countless cultivators, reaching the Golden Core Realm was already an almost unattainable achievement. Those with mediocre talent often spent their entire lives unable to advance beyond it, while many others never even broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, remaining stuck at Qi Refining until the day they died.

Yet at such a young age, he not only stood at the Golden Core Realm but possessed the strength of a Peak Nascent Soul cultivator, making him undoubtedly worthy of being called a once-in-a-hundred-thousand-years genius.

Because of that, he had already confirmed earlier that none of the people stronger than him should have been staying at this inn.

Yet somehow...

This little fool had bypassed his formation.

A faint crimson light flickered across Yizhou’s eyes.

Without making a sound, he stepped into the room.

—

When Sui Sui entered the room, it was a sharp contrast to the dim corridor outside. Every lamp had been lit, bathing the room in a warm glow. Just like his own room, the furnishings were simple—a large bed, a wooden table, a window overlooking the street, and a folding screen concealing the bathing area.

The bed curtains were drawn shut, making it difficult to see what was inside. Even so, Sui Sui could vaguely make out the silhouette of someone lying on the bed.

Thinking it was Yizhou, he quietly let out a sigh of relief.

"Brother Yizhou, excuse me for coming in." Sui Sui lowered his voice, afraid of disturbing the person resting on the bed. "I noticed your door was open, so I came in to check. I hope you don’t mind."

The room remained silent. Receiving no response, Sui Sui raised his voice a little.

"Brother Yizhou, are you awake?" Still, there was no answer. A trace of confusion rose in Sui Sui’s heart.

Could he have fallen into a deep sleep just like everyone else?

But then... why was his door left open?

Could someone have entered with ill intentions?

He immediately dismissed the thought.

But this is the protagonist.

At this point in the story, there shouldn’t be anyone who bears him enough hatred to do something like this...

Unable to suppress his curiosity any longer, Sui Sui slowly walked toward the bed, intending to wake the other person.

Just then, a cool breeze drifted in through the open window. The bed curtains fluttered gently. The figure beneath them was revealed.

Sui Sui stopped in his tracks. His knees instantly went weak and he dropped to the floor, a wave of sudden nausea churned in his stomach as he dry heaved.

Lying on the bed....was a dried corpse. Its skin clung tightly to its bones, as though every drop of blood and every piece of flesh had been stripped away.

Looking at the horrifying sight before him, Sui Sui’s mind immediately recalled something that had once been mentioned in the novel.

After being betrayed in his previous life, Yizhou had grown so distrustful of people that he eventually chose to cultivate one of the most sinister Gu in existence—the Heart Gu.

This was also one of his favourite spells to use in the novel. In Yizhou’s eyes, promises could be broken, and loyalty could change. Only someone bound by the Heart Gu could never betray him.

The Heart Gu came in a pair, consisting of a male Gu and a female Gu.

The female Gu remained with the caster, while the male Gu was implanted into another person’s heart. Once the Gu successfully matured, the host carrying the male Gu would become bound to the caster for life.

If the caster died, the host would die alongside them. However, if the host died, the caster would remain completely unharmed. More importantly, the host could never harbor thoughts of betraying the caster.

The moment even the slightest malicious intent was born in their heart, the male Gu would awaken. It would first feed on the host’s blood before slowly devouring their flesh and internal organs until nothing remained.

There was no escaping it. Naturally, such a terrifying Gu Spell was extremely difficult to refine. Before it could mature, the Heart Gu had to be nourished with the blood and flesh of living people.

The novel had vividly described the appearance of those sacrifices. Their blood would be drained dry from the inside. Their flesh would be completely consumed.

Even their eyes would become nourishment for the Gu. By the end, nothing remained except a shriveled corpse wrapped in skin.

The corpse lying before him...

...looked exactly as it had been described in.

Sui Sui’s heartbeat quickened.

Why...?

How...?

Who did this?

His thoughts became a tangled mess.

Could it be...?

No.

That shouldn’t be possible.

According to his previous conjectures, Yizhou should still be in his first life. He shouldn’t have begun refining the Heart Gu yet.

But... If it wasn’t him... Who else could it be?

The coincidence was simply too great.

And if...If it really was Yizhou...

Then Sui Sui was in trouble.

Suppressing the trembling in his legs, Sui Sui immediately turned around, intending to leave before Yizhou returned.

However, the moment he turned, he walked straight into a broad chest. Sui Sui’s body stiffened. Slowly raising his head, he met a pair of dark eyes. Yizhou looked down at him, the corners of his lips carrying a faint, unreadable smile.