Chapter 350: Chapter 314: Water Gu

Now only some laborers are still living in Sancha River Pass, and the city is filled with empty courtyards and houses.

The streets are in chaos, with laborers pushing carts to deliver supplies to various city walls, repairing the walls. Inside the city, many are also cleaning up the corpses left after the heavy rain.

“General Zhang, what do you plan to do with these bodies?”

Walking on the road, Sang Que asked Zhang the Fourth.

Zhang the Fourth replied gruffly, “Under normal circumstances, we should dig a pit to burn them all together, then cover them with lime, but now we are short on supplies and manpower, not enough firewood, and resources like kerosene need to be saved for defending the city. There are still five or six hundred bodies in the pit north of the city that I haven’t had time to burn, and it’s really troubling me.”

“How about I help you deal with them?” Sang Que said.

Zhang the Fourth’s eyes brightened but quickly became vigilant, “What do you want to do?”

Sang Que understood what worried Zhang the Fourth. She glanced at Xia Chan, who was clutching her stomach, “I do collect these corpses for nurturing bodies. She is Captain He’s sworn sister, and we are here to assist Captain He.”

Zhang the Fourth glanced at Xia Chan. This kind of Evil People with distinctive hair couldn’t be disguised. After some deliberation, he nodded, “I’ll have someone take you to the body pit outside the city later.”

Zhang the Fourth escorted Xia Chan and Sang Que to the gate of an empty courtyard, arranged for someone else to take them to rest, and went off to attend to other duties.

Sang Que and Xia Chan had just rested for a short while in the courtyard when someone brought over a freshly slaughtered sheep, intending to roast it in the yard, along with a basket of dry biscuits and some clean water.

The laborers outside moving corpses were all looking gaunt, giving the impression of food scarcity in the city. However, it seemed possibly only the laborers were short of food.

Sang Que sighed, called to the two young soldiers who brought the food, and asked them to take the basket of biscuits out to share with the people outside, as much as they could.

Xia Chan needed flesh and blood food, and didn’t require the sheep to be roasted. With her hair wrapped around it, Xia Chan devoured the whole sheep in no time, leaving no trace.

“Sister, Little Chan is still hungry…”

Sang Que consoled, “Just bear with it for now.”

Xia Chan nodded obediently, neither crying nor making a fuss.

Qiao Ling, upon entering the city, didn’t even take a break and directly had herself taken to the Wounded Soldier Camp to start treating the wounded soldiers, also calling for Xia Chan to help.

Normally, Xia Chan didn’t enjoy spending time with Qiao Ling because Qiao Ling always ordered her around, made her carry many things, and never gave her good food.

But this time, Xia Chan didn’t hesitate at all, running hungry to Qiao Ling’s side.

Sang Que, being the ’guard’, naturally had to follow along.

In the large courtyard and the surrounding rooms, there were low wails. Here, having a broken arm or leg was considered a light injury; the severe cases were those injuries and illnesses that couldn’t be treated by ordinary means.

Especially within the Qianshou Army, there were Gu Masters, causing many soldiers to suffer greatly from Gu afflictions.

“Xia Chan, you handle those with broken bones first. I’ll categorize those afflicted by Gu by type. Once you’re done there, come over to help me immediately.”

Wearing the mask of a Bell Doctor, Qiao Ling guided those in the courtyard with pleading eyes looking at her, and even the doctors voluntarily followed her instructions.

Qiao Ling even used Xuan Yu, letting it roam among the soldiers afflicted by Gu, emitting cries. If a soldier reacted to Xuan Yu’s cries, such as convulsions or instinctively trying to flee, these soldiers likely had a Snake Gu.

That Snake Gu feared cats was something Sang Que had learned during a confrontation with Cheng Ge in Tianliang City.

Sang Que stayed by Xia Chan’s side, watching as Xia Chan approached the soldiers with broken bones.

“You all don’t need to be afraid. Little Chan is not a bad person. Little Chan will help set your bones. It might seem a bit scary, but it will only take a moment, and it won’t hurt, Little Chan promises!”

The soldiers huddled on the straw mats, and hearing Little Chan’s words, some obediently closed their eyes while others, nervous and fearful, kept them wide open to see what would happen.

Xia Chan couldn’t concern herself with that many details. Her hair began to grow from behind her, quickly encircling the surrounding people. Some people cried out in fear, others struggled to try to run.

“Don’t move!” Xia Chan shouted anxiously.

Sang Que’s eyes turned sharp as black mist billowed on the ground, pulling all the wounded soldiers into the Ghost Realm. Anyone who struggled to flee was immediately bound securely by the red thread in Sang Que’s Ghost Realm.

Xia Chan gave Sang Que a silly grin, then continued to manipulate her hair to invade the bodies of those injured soldiers.

Xia Chan’s hair was sharp and resilient, capable of piercing through a normal person’s bones and sewing the broken bones together. After Xia Chan’s hair left her body, it would generally vanish into smoke after about seven to fourteen days.

By that time, the bones stitched together by her hair would have mostly healed. With proper subsequent fixation, the outcome was much better than Qiao Ling’s normal bone-setting methods.

Back outside of Wangshan City, Qiao Ling had witnessed Xia Chan using her hair to invade others’ bodies to assist in bone setting, though Xia Chan did not understand human anatomy very well, her methods were a bit crude, often causing a lot of pain.

At that time, Qiao Ling felt Xia Chan was born to practice medicine, and using her hair’s unique traits in medical treatments achieved twice the result with half the effort.

However, Qiao Ling didn’t know this method was initially taught to Xia Chan by Sang Que, teaching Xia Chan to use her hair to invade bodies for invisible killing.

Qiao Ling saw Xia Chan’s potential in this area and had always encouraged Xia Chan to learn medicine, hoping Xia Chan could help more people in the future.

Moreover, Xia Chan’s hair is also excellent for suture, even more efficient than Qiao Ling.

This time, under the suppression of Sang Que’s Ghost Realm, all soldiers ’obediently’ accepted Xia Chan’s ’Bone Setting Technique.’

Hoo—

Xia Chan let out a long breath, sneaking a peek at Sang Que, proudly puffing out her chest, “Sister, isn’t Little Chan amazing?”

Sang Que nodded, “Little Chan is even more amazing than Sister imagined!”

Xia Chan gave a shy smile; Sang Que was truly gratified, feeling that the timid little girl from Black Mountain Village had now fully grown up, being both her battle partner and the strongest support.

“Little Chan!”

Qiao Ling called for Xia Chan from the large room on the other side of the courtyard. When Sang Que and Xia Chan arrived, they saw a room full of ash-faced, skeletal-limbed people with swollen bellies.

They lay on the ground wailing, their stomachs protruding like little mountains, with something moving inside, stretching their skin all over with spider-like blood vessels.

Qiao Ling patrolled inside the room, inspecting their conditions, accompanied by a doctor with a goatee.

“They are all afflicted by ’Water Gu’, which results in these symptoms. Eventually, their bellies will burst open, causing death.”

Qiao Ling glanced at Xia Chan and Sang Que and instructed the doctor beside her, “Preventing Water Gu is not difficult. Take a handful of red beans, a handful of white cogongrass roots, cook them together. Each should have a bowl of this soup once a day for seven consecutive days, and for the next 49 days, the Water Gu will not infest. Does the city have these ingredients?”

The goateed doctor nodded, “Yes, we should be able to manage for a while. I’ll have someone prepare the soup immediately.”

After the goateed doctor left, Qiao Ling said to Xia Chan and Sang Que, “The Gu in these people is deeply rooted. I need to draw all the Gu from them into my own body. Little Chan, in a moment please seal the entire room.”

Xia Chan furrowed her brow, her stomach growling in hunger, looking pitiful as she pouted.

Sang Que squeezed Xia Chan’s hand, “I’ll help you. Just let me know what needs attention.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep