Chapter 70: What is a “gu”?

Of course, I didn’t show any discomfort on my face. After listening to Ling Ruxue’s explanation, I asked, “Then why do you come here every five years?”

Ling Ruxue said, “It is the duty of the sorceress of each village to come here once every five years. If the great witch of Boqie came here to supervise, it would be too undignified and too provocative. I am the next sorceress, so I have to come here every five years starting at the age of five.

“Do all the girls have to marry someone from this village?” This question made me feel a little uneasy. If it’s a tradition, what should I do?

Ling Ruxue shook her head and said, “This kind of marriage has a flavor of sacrifice and restriction in it, because it has always been the case that the Bai Miao women marry the Hei Miao men, and the Hei Miao women will not marry into the Bai Miao village. But you also know that the Hei and Bai Miao have deep-seated grudges, so who would willingly marry over? The sage once said that through marriage, things will change, so this is also a kind of strategy.”

I understand what the wise man meant. The two people in a marriage are close, and their thoughts will influence each other to some extent. Marriage has the power to change a nation, but it takes a long time to accumulate and an absolute social environment advantage.

Obviously, the Bai Miao villages don’t have that kind of advantage. At least when the Hei Miao leave the village, they don’t see a society dominated by the Bai Miao, but one with many Han Chinese. Such a marriage only gives the Bai Miao village a little more security. After all, many of the families in the Hei Miao village are Bai Miao women.

“So the sacrifice is the girl?” My heart felt as if it was blocked by something.

“No, we don’t. Every five years, our girls come to the village to check whether the population has exceeded the limit and whether the nearby village of Heiyan Miao has expanded. In addition, they come here with restrictions to put pressure on Heiyan Miao. This is a tacit agreement between the two sides, and there is nothing wrong with it. But since I came to the village at the age of 15, Bu Zhou…” Ling Ruoxue gathered her hair and looked a little depressed. She said softly, “Anyway, the Bai Miao villages are all disadvantaged, and some sacrifices cannot be avoided if we don’t want them.”

I felt a bit bitter inside. I understood what Ling Ruxue was implying. The Black Smoke Miao village was forced to stay here. From a realistic point of view, this force of suppression seems to be getting weaker and weaker. Once it can’t be suppressed, the first to suffer will be the several Bai Miao villages. Compared to the interests of the village, what is a girl of the tribe? What about a marriage?

Moreover, Ling Ruxue’s partner is Bu Zhou, the son of the chief of the Black Rock Miao tribe. This marriage has enormous significance, and it is simply not something that Ling Ruxue can resist.

Thinking about this, I suddenly felt powerless. I am just an outsider. What reason do I have to interfere in the affairs of someone else’s village? What’s more, this village may be involved in something that has already involved the country. It’s already good enough for a small person like me to protect myself in this disaster.

“Then why do you insist on staying?” I asked in a muffled voice.

Ling Ruxue did not answer my question directly, but said, “From the Ming Dynasty to the present, no authority has ever taken the hidden dangers of this village lightly. Do you know who is the main person in charge of restricting this village today?”

“Who?” I asked.

“The few people under your master’s command are due to meet every five years this winter. The Great Shaman stopped coming here because he didn’t want anything to happen to you. Neither the Black Rock Miao Village nor the restraining forces are people we can offend, but I don’t understand why he changed his mind and let you come. However, he asked me to follow you, and I think that means to protect you until someone comes to save you.” Ling Ruxue said this, and then said in a strange voice, “I don’t know what’s going on in the Black Rock Miao Village. They clearly know that your master is a restrainer, so why would they dare to target you?”

My master is a restrainer?! I was very surprised. Just as Ling Ruxue said, why would they target me?

Just as I was thinking, Ling Ruxue said, “There are many secrets in this village. Just a few decades ago, someone broke into this village. He…”

But just as Ling Ruxue was about to finish, the strange sound of insects began to sound again. Ling Ruxue’s face suddenly turned pale, and she covered her stomach with her hand, and even her body became stiff.

I watched all this and was already certain that Ling Ruxue’s abdominal pain was related to the strange sound of insects. I was almost unable to control my heartache and couldn’t help but ask, “How can I help you?”

Ling Ruxue smiled sadly and said in a broken voice, “It’s… it’s this strange sound that makes my… my life-giving worm… uneasy, and it makes me… have an attack. Let me… lean on… you.”

Afterwards, Ling Ruxue leaned on my shoulder. Only at times like this did her pale face show the kind of feminine weakness that made people feel sorry for her.

Similarly, she grabbed my sleeve, and her knuckles were white from the force of her grip. I didn’t hesitate to hold her hand with my own, hoping that my warmth would give her some comfort. As before, I almost didn’t hesitate to say the same thing: “It’s okay, I’m here.”

“Mmm,” Ling Ruxue replied in a barely audible voice, then closed her eyes and silently endured the pain. I, on the other hand, stared out into the dark night, thinking only of one thing: no matter how dark the night, there will always be a dawn.Taoist priest

Yesterday afternoon, Ling and I talked for so long that we forgot the time, so by nightfall, I had personally witnessed her seizure. But after going through a ‘trial by ordeal’ together, Ling and I’s relationship had undoubtedly taken a step forward.

But the further manifestation was that she would greet me in a calm tone and answer some of my questions. Apart from that, we didn’t have any extra words.

I have always been curious about the art of bewitchment in the Miao region, and I wanted to know what a life-form bewitchment was, but after learning the truth, I was shocked.

Ling Ruoxue told me that the basic categories of gus are: insects, powders, creams, liquids, medicines, and spirits.

Not everyone can raise a life-form, and those who do are people who have reached a certain level in the art of raising life-forms. The best life-form is a spirit, and the worst is a worm. But the worms here are not ordinary worms, they are spirit worms.

Ling Ruxue didn’t tell me the details, because it would take too long to explain. She just told me that her own personal gong was a spirit insect, but she was extremely afraid of the sound of insects that would ring out at night in the village, and it would make her feel restless and irritable.

The reason I was shocked was because the so-called “original life-giver” was actually kept in the body. This was too incredible. Whether I was a Taoist or not, I had first come into contact with the civilized world, and it was hard for me to imagine all this.

Facing my shocked expression, Ling Ruxue told me very calmly, “The life-form parasite is driven by the will of the host, and it is also a companion that will accompany the host for life. It is normal for it to live in the body! The Bai Miao people will swallow some special pills to feed the life-form parasite when they are short of blood. They only need to supply a small amount of blood every year, but the Hei Miao people will generally choose to let the life-form parasite find its own food, that is, to devour the blood of others. In other words, this is why the Bai Miao have always been weaker than the Hei Miao. How can a long-term undernourished spirit be expected to compete with a spirit that has been well fed? Unless the spirit is of a much higher rank.

I had never heard of such secrets, and I was shocked. I could understand the term “spirit insect,” which refers to insects with higher intelligence than ordinary insects, but what is “spirit”?

I was about to ask, but the chief shaman of the Black Smoke Village had already arrived.

He didn’t pay much attention to Ling Ruxue’s presence, and didn’t even avoid Ling Ruxue during the blood extraction process. On the contrary, Ling Ruxue looked at the process, and a flash of pity flashed in her eyes. But what can you do if you can’t bear it? In the face of absolute power, people have no choice but to submit.

After the blood was taken, the witch doctor did not rush to leave, but patted me on the shoulder and said, “I will give you some tonic. Stay here and you will be relieved at a certain time.”

After saying that, he left. This sounded like a reassuring statement. It seemed that my blood pleased him, and he was afraid that something would go wrong with my mobile blood bank.

After the witch doctor left, two Miao people came in to guard me as usual. I guess they were afraid that I would get too friendly with the Miao people guarding me. Anyway, the Miao people who came to guard me every day were different. This time, there were two new people.

But one of them, as soon as he entered the room, began to wink at me. When I looked at him, my heart suddenly began to beat faster.