“You…”
Qu Yun’s chest heaved with fury, her body trembling with rage.
She truly wanted to turn and leave, but considering that she would need to rely on Qu Qirong for the upcoming merchant route competition, she forcibly suppressed her anger.
“Mother, why bother getting angry with her? Just endure her for a while!”
“Once this merchant route competition is over, we can come back to collect the interest!”
Qu Yun narrowed his eyes and glanced sinisterly at the mature, voluptuous figure seated in the place of honor, transmitting his voice secretly.
The mere thought that such a peerless beauty would one day become his personal plaything made his heart burn with desire.
As for now, he could let her flaunt the majesty of the Sect Master’s wife a few more times!
“I understand perfectly well. I don’t need you to remind me!” Qu Yun transmitted back, then said coldly, “Then I shall return and await arrangements. I hope your strategy, Madam, is as forceful as your words just now.”
“Otherwise, if we lose this merchant route competition, the Clan Leader will be displeased, and neither of us will escape blame!”
With that, she flicked her sleeve and turned to leave, taking Qu Yun with her.
Seeing this, Qing’er’s face filled with indignation: “Madam, they…”
“It’s nothing. The clan sent these two here, and I have already guessed Father’s intentions.”
“It is nothing more than to wring every last drop of value from me after this merchant route competition ends, then prepare to discard me!”
Qu Qirong’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, as if she were recounting a matter that had nothing to do with her.
Though she was the Sect Leader’s wife, the title was hollow.
When she first agreed to the clan’s arrangement to participate in the merchant route competition and sought to control the family’s industries, she had already foreseen that this day would come.
Qing’er looked puzzled: “If that’s the case, why did Madam agree to it?”
“Because only when they make the first move, can I harden my heart and personally sever—those loathsome ties of blood affection!”
As the icy words fell, Qu Qirong had already left the main hall.
Only Qing’er remained frozen in place, a look of seeming understanding yet confusion on her face.
In the small courtyard, Deng Tianyu was savoring fragrant tea while examining a brocade box in his hands, its surface engraved with cryptic array patterns.
Just then, a delicate and refined fragrance drifted over.
“Tianyu, what does that brocade box contain?”
“I’m not sure either.” Deng Tianyu shook his head, handing the object over. “This brocade box was given to me by Shizun to pass on to you.”
This box had been entrusted to him by Shizun Ning Wan just before her seclusion, with instructions to deliver it to Qu Qirong.
Since he hadn’t opened it, he naturally had no idea what was inside.
Qu Qirong accepted the brocade box, fixed her gaze on him, and instead asked an unrelated question:
“Tianyu, do you know why I helped Sect Master Ning search for those extraordinarily rare Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasures?”
Deng Tianyu pondered for a moment before speaking: “Aunt Rong made a deal with Shizun?”
Back then, he and Qu Qirong hadn’t yet acknowledged each other; their relationship hadn’t reached that level. Aunt Rong had no reason at all to help Shizun Ning Wan.
Even now, putting aside their personal relationship, the bond between Ning Wan and Qu Qirong was merely that of business partners.
Therefore, Deng Tianyu had suspected from the start that the trusting relationship between Shizun and Aunt Rong was built upon a prior transaction.
“Merchants pursue profit—that is the way of business.” Qu Qirong looked at him appreciatively and continued: “The item in this brocade box is the reward I requested for helping Sect Master Ning find supreme Yang spirit treasures.”
“However, this item is neither Spirit Stones nor some heavenly treasure, but a living creature.”
Deng Tianyu was surprised: “What kind of living creature?”
Qu Qirong raised her slender hand and opened the brocade box: “Tianyu, take a look. Do you recognize this?”
In his line of sight, there was a barrier of flowing black and white Yin-Yang fish, with no dazzling radiance or rich medicinal fragrance.
Within the barrier was imprisoned a pure white, round-bodied insect with eight legs.
Combined with its strange appearance, he reached a conclusion: “This is a Gu bug?”
Meeting his gaze, Qu Qirong explained:
“That’s right. This Gu is called the Heart-Controlling Gu!”
“As the name suggests, once this Gu is implanted in a cultivator’s body, they can be controlled.”
“And the one before us is not just a Heart-Controlling Gu, but the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother!”
“Heart-Controlling Gu Mother?” Deng Tianyu looked confused. “What does Aunt Rong want with this Heart-Controlling Gu Mother?”
Qu Qirong’s expression was calm as she said flatly, “Because there is one inside my body as well!”
“Who implanted it?” Deng Tianyu’s brow furrowed, his expression turning extremely cold, murderous intent gathering in his eyes.
That a Heart-Controlling Gu had been planted inside Aunt Rong meant, without a doubt, that someone wanted to control her.
At this realization, a fierce malevolence surged in Deng Tianyu’s heart.
Although he and Qu Qirong hadn’t acknowledged each other for long, he could feel that she genuinely treated him as family.
Reciprocating that sincerity, coupled with her relationship with his Mother Consort, Deng Tianyu also regarded her as family.
Now, for someone to use such vicious means against Aunt Rong—he not only felt the urge to kill, but his heart also ached for her.
Qu Qirong’s life was already miserable enough, given her special physique and the cold indifference of her family!
Apparently, besides all that, she had even been implanted with a Heart-Controlling Gu!
Qu Qirong felt a warm current flow through her heart and asked softly, “Tianyu, do you feel sorry for me?”
“Aunt Rong, who exactly planted the Heart-Controlling Gu inside you?”
“Is there a way to remove it?” Deng Tianyu asked with concern.
Qu Qirong’s beautiful eyes were gentle as she slowly began: “I once told you that my special physique was the reason the clan chose me to marry into the Mysterious Spirit Sect line.”
“There’s another point I haven’t told you, Tianyu. The Tongbao Merchant Guild had a second objective.”
Deng Tianyu frowned: “What objective?”
“On our wedding night, while the Spirit Treasure Sect Leader would be absorbing my Spirit Nurturing energy, they planned to use my body to transfer the Heart-Controlling Gu into him!”
“In this way, they could control that Sect Leader belonging to the Mysterious Spirit Sect line and simultaneously control the entire Spirit Treasure Sect!”
Though Qu Qirong spoke with utter calm, as if no ripple could stir, Deng Tianyu sensed an inexplicable sorrow within her words.
Her own blood kin, not only coldly and heartlessly pushing her into a pit of fire, but also planning such a vicious act through that sacrifice.
What kind of despair must that have been for a woman like her?
Sensing Qu Qirong’s silent desolation, Deng Tianyu quietly grasped her delicate hand, hoping to offer her some warmth.
Having released the secret buried in her heart for many years, Qu Qirong felt both physically and mentally relaxed as she continued: “Tianyu, do you know who masterminded all of this?”
“It was my father—the current Clan Leader of the Tongbao Merchant Guild!”
Deng Tianyu was momentarily stunned!
Without a doubt, he could deduce from this that it was her own father who had implanted the Heart-Controlling Gu in Aunt Rong.
Even a vicious tiger does not eat its cubs, showing just how cold and heartless to the bone this Clan Leader truly was.
Perhaps, in his eyes, neither familial affection nor anything else held value beyond being bargaining chips for profit.
Deng Tianyu’s face darkened: “Is such a man even worthy of being called a father?”
