Qu Qirong’s indifferent gaze swept over the mother-child pair, Qu Yun and Qu Yun. Her red lips parted slightly: “They spoke disrespectfully. Slap their mouths!”
“Yes, Madam!” Ling’er responded. True essence condensed, and she directly slapped toward the two.
“Slap… Slap…”
Two muffled sounds rang out. Qu Yun and Qu Yun, struck by this true essence-empowered slap, were sent sprawling to the ground.
Qu Yun was already gravely wounded. Receiving this slap now, she spewed another mouthful of blood, her face instantly mangled beyond recognition.
As for Qu Yun, originally possessing a reasonably handsome face, it was now completely ruined. His right cheek was swollen, and several teeth had been knocked out.
“You’d better kill me… cough!”
“Otherwise, I will make you pay the price sooner or later!”
Qu Yun stared fixedly at Qu Qirong, her words dripping with thick venomous hatred.
His face twisted hideously, Qu Yun spat out the blood in his mouth: “You promiscuous… lowly wretch!”
“Don’t think your affair with that lover boy is unknown… I saw with my own eyes that day you both entering and leaving the Chanting Moon Pavilion, acting intimately at the doorway…”
“Slap… Slap…”
Two more true essence palm imprints struck the faces of Qu Yun and Qu Yun.
This time, Ling’er held nothing back. As soon as she moved, it was several consecutive slaps.
For such vicious slander against the Madam, she could no longer suppress the fury in her heart.
Under the barrage of slaps, Qu Yun and Qu Yun’s auras had become extremely weak. Their speech was fragmented, punctuated with tremors.
Qu Qirong’s gaze did not linger on the two. Instead, she turned to the person beside her:
“Elder Xu, Elder Huang, many thanks for your assistance!”
“Otherwise, today’s situation might have been impossible to stabilize!”
“Madam is too serious!” Elder Huang shook his head and then added: “If there’s nothing else, we shall return to recuperate!”
Although neither he nor his Dao Companion had been injured in that great battle just now, they had expended considerable true essence to execute their Combined Attack Divine Ability.
Thus, he suggested returning to restore their strength.
Qu Qirong nodded: “Qing’er, you also go back and recuperate. On your way, escort the two elders to the Spirit Treasure Pavilion to retrieve some pills for restoring true essence.”
“Yes!” Qing’er responded respectfully and led the two elders away from the courtyard.
Now, only Qu Qirong, Deng Tianyu, Ling’er, and the four with sealed cultivations, including Qu Yun, remained in the courtyard.
A trace of coldness flickered in Qu Qirong’s beautiful eyes as she turned to Qu Yun: “Didn’t you want me to choose?”
“In fact, besides the two choices you mentioned, I have a third option.”
For some reason, hearing this statement, a feeling of extreme unease rose within Qu Yun.
Qu Qirong inquired: “Ling’er, how many Heart-Controlling Gu are there in total now? Has the Love Gu been successfully refined?”
Ling’er pondered for a moment, then said slowly: “Reporting to Madam, there are only seven Heart-Controlling Gu currently. One pair of Love Gu has been refined.”
Heart-Controlling Gu were birthed by the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother. As long as it was continuously fed, it could endlessly multiply.
Love Gu, on the other hand, was different. This type of Gu creature could also be considered a type of heart gu, but it was far more difficult to refine.
Naturally, with the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother on hand, one pair had still been successfully refined.
Compared to Heart-Controlling Gu, Love Gu not only possessed the controlling ability of the former but was even more specialized.
This Gu was divided into a male-female pair. Both had to be implanted into two separate individuals to exert their full effect.
The unique aspect of Love Gu was that the female Gu could be directly implanted into the body, but the male Gu had to be implanted through the method of Yin-Yang union.
This method was extremely difficult to detect, and once the male Gu was implanted, the person would, due to the influence of the female Gu, subtly fall in love with the host of the female Gu, even willing to abandon everything for them.
Qu Qirong stated calmly: “Ling’er, implant one Heart-Controlling Gu and one pair of Love Gu into Qu Yun.”
“Feed each of the others one Heart-Controlling Gu.”
“Yes, Madam!”
Ling’er picked up the small cloth pouch she carried. She first took out the well-fed, plump, white Heart-Controlling Gu Mother, then extracted four more eight-legged, snow-white ancient insects, and one pair of Gu insects marked with red patterns.
Obviously, this pair of Gu insects with red markings was the male-female Love Gu!
“The Heart-Controlling Gu Mother, and Love Gu!”
“Qu Qirong… what exactly are you planning…”
Qu Yun’s face paled dramatically. She seemed to guess something.
Her husband was a useless son-in-law she had long driven out of the family.
But she did have a lover. That man was Qu Qirong’s father, the very Clan Leader of the Tongbao Merchant Guild lineage.
This was also why she received the clan’s attention, even willing to allow her son to take control of Qu Qirong.
Now, with a pair of Love Gu and a Heart-Controlling Gu being implanted into her, the other party’s goal was glaringly obvious.
Clearly, Qu Qirong intended to use her to silently and unknowingly implant one Heart-Controlling Gu and the male Love Gu into the Clan Leader’s body.
In this way, a chain of control would be formed.
This Gu Clan maidservant would control her through the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother, and she, in turn, would control the Clan Leader through the female Love Gu.
As for why an additional Heart-Controlling Gu was needed, it was likely the other party feared one Love Gu might not be enough to control the profoundly cultivated Clan Leader, so they added one more.
What was this?
An eye for an eye?
Qu Qirong’s ruthless and heartless biological father had implanted a Heart-Controlling Gu and the Sleep-Sealing Curse Mark in her.
In return, the other party was now retaliating in kind—using her to implant a Heart-Controlling Gu and Love Gu in her father’s body!
Suddenly, Qu Yun blurted out in horror:
“No… what you’re plotting isn’t just revenge on your father. You want to control the entire Tongbao Merchant Guild lineage, even the entire Spirit Treasure Sect?”
“Since you wanted to control me, I shall let you experience the taste of being controlled too!”
Though Qu Qirong’s words were calm, they sent a chill straight into Qu Yun’s heart.
She had originally thought the other party simply wanted revenge on that merciless, cruel father.
But after connecting the dots, she finally understood!
Control the Clan Leader, and you control the entire Tongbao Merchant Guild lineage. Coupled with the current struggle for the position of Sect Leader, if the Tongbao Merchant Guild won, the Spirit Treasure Sect would inevitably be dominated by the Guild in the future.
So this was the other party’s third choice?
No wonder she hadn’t chosen to kill the four of them.
“Cough… you… are so vicious!”
As the Heart-Controlling Gu and the pair of Love Gu were implanted into her body, Qu Yun struggled madly, but she was utterly unable to resist.
“Stay away from me…”
Seeing Qu Yun’s abnormal state, Qu Yun grew increasingly terrified, even continuously backing away.
Gravely wounded as he was, plus having his cultivation sealed, how could he escape this fate of being controlled?
“Ah… You vicious, lowly wretch! May lightning strike you! May you die a horrible death!”
After leaving behind this final curse, Qu Yun also had a Heart-Controlling Gu implanted in him.
Following him, the same was done to the two severely wounded and unconscious King-Sealing Realm experts.
“Done, Madam!”
Having completed all of this, Ling’er still wore that cheerful, grinning expression, as if nothing had happened just now.
Qu Qirong instructed: “Let Qu Yun and the other three return. Have them do what they were supposed to do.”
Ling’er nodded. She reached out her hand and formed a profound and obscure seal, tapping it onto the head of the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother.
Instantly, the Heart-Controlling Gu Mother emitted a demonic sound. The four individuals shuddered simultaneously, a layer of grayish-white coloring flooding their eyes.
