Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

100. The Guqin Master’s Rage

Translator: Flying Lines

“Fine.” The Guqin Master nodded. He now felt that he needed to see the Sharp Sword too. The Guqin Master especially wanted to meet the person who removed the Death Gu…

At this time, Xiao Luoxuan was still full of confidence. He believed the Sharp Sword, who was nurtured for so many years, would definitely be loyal and would never betray him. However, what Xiao Luoxuan couldn’t have predicted was that, after he contacted the Sharp Sword secretly to come to see him, a reply never came from the Sharp Sword.

Under normal circumstances, as long as Xiao Luoxuan summoned a man of sacrifice, all men of sacrifice must find a time to present themselves within three days. Naturally, Su Jie wasn’t an exception. But three whole days passed, and Su Jie still didn’t go to Prince Qin’s residence as the secret message requested.

“Did something happen to the Sharp Sword?” Xiao Luoxuan was slightly panicked. He forced himself to calm down and strained to put on a smile in front of the Guqin Master.

“Uncle, are there side-effects of removing the Death Gu?” Xiao Luoxuan asked.

There was an uneasy feeling hidden inside the Guqin Master’s heart. This was because the Sharp Sword was always on time. Once a summon was received, he would use any method he could think of to come to see Xiao Luoxuan as quickly as possible. But since they heard nothing from him, it was either because the Sharp Sword was in a dangerous situation, or because… the Sharp Sword chose to betray them.

“After removing the Death Gu, one’s body would be weak for a while. There may be residual poison inside the body, but as long as medicine is ingested, everything will return to normal after the residual poison is removed,” the Guqin Master said lightly.

Hearing this, Xiao Luoxuan breathed out a sigh of relief. He said, “The reason he isn’t here to see us could be because of his weakened body. That’s why he couldn’t hurry here.”

“You’re pretty good at finding excuses for him,” the Guqin Master harrumphed coldly.

Xiao Luoxuan pursed his lips but didn’t speak again.

The Guqin Master breathed out a long sigh and said, “The Sharp Sword has always liked you… It’s already obvious that there is some problem since he isn’t here to see you this time. It looks like the thing I’ve always feared the most has happened.”

“No, that can’t be. The Sharp Sword’s loyalty towards me has already become a type of belief and religion to him. Also, it hasn’t been that long since he approached Xiao Shengnian…” Xiao Luoxuan’s emotions were unstable, but his voice became lower and lower. In the end, it died down into speechlessness.

“The Sharp Sword must die. Something that we don’t know about must have happened to the Sharp Sword’s body. The only person who could remove the Death Gu… could be my old friend.”

The Guqin Master gritted as he said ‘old friend’, looking extremely murderous.

“No! Uncle, the Sharp Sword cannot die!” Xiao Luoxuan immediately said in objection.

“SLAP——”

The Guqin Master slapped Xiao Luoxuan’s face.

“Xiao Luoxuan, you need to wake up. If the person who removed the Sharp Sword’s Death Gu really is him, then there is a big chance he is aiming for me. That person will become our biggest enemy,” The Guqin Master said angrily.

“Who is that person?” Xiao Luoxuan said, furious after being slapped, but he forced himself to calm down.

Hearing this, the Guqin’s Master’s expression became strained. He turned away from Xiao Luoxuan and sank into his thoughts for a while.

Xiao Luoxuan also didn’t say anything. He only waited quietly for the Guqin Master to speak again.

Finally, the Guqin Master spat out with a dry voice, “That person is my teacher.”

Teacher?

Xiao Luoxuan’s eyes widened. He never knew his uncle even had a teacher.

How come uncle never mentioned this?

“I’m tired. You should leave.” The Guqin Master didn’t want to dwell any longer on this subject. His voice carried a few traces of exhaustion as if he had aged a lot in an instant.

Xiao Luoxuan was eager to ask more, but he stopped himself. In the end, he chose to leave silently.

The Guqin Master remained stood like this for a long time. Then, bitter laughter bubbled from his throat.

“Teacher, oh, teacher. We haven’t met for so many years, but, as always, I’m still afraid of you… Even if there are groups of men of sacrifice by my side, even if my Busha Pavilion becomes famous all over the world…”

The Guqin Master’s name was Hu Qin. His Gu insect methodology was passed down through his family, but because he nurtured a large amount of Death Gu and ruthlessly used them to control his relatives, the Hu family decided to execute the Guqin Master. However, the Guqin Master had secretly garnered some power, and he tried his best to escape the control of his family. He fled with his sister. Even though the siblings encountered many dangerous situations together, the Guqin Master managed to avoid danger by relying on his own Gu insect techniques up until the Guqin Master met someone one day: Zhou Zaiyue.

At that time, State Yanling’s empire had just become someone else’s, and Zhou Zaiyue chose to leave Yanling to find the missing royal orphans. After Hu Qin met Zhou Zaiyue, he was extremely impressed with Zhou Zaiyue’s medical skills and begged to become Zhou Zaiyue’s disciple shamelessly.

However, Zhou Zaiyue had a lofty vision and so, naturally, he was selective when accepting disciples. Despite Hu Qin’s persistent personality, he was someone who believed in ‘the ends justify the means’ and also had dark thoughts. In the end, Zhou Zaiyue refused to accept him as a disciple and didn’t teach Hu Qin anything, but Hu Qin always referred to Zhou Zaiyue as his teacher. Not to mention, when Zhou Zaiyue refused to accept him as a disciple, hatred festered within the Guqin Master. Thus, he stole Zhou Zaiyue’s book which detailed his study of the poisonous Gu, and left sneakily. After that, he never heard of Zhou Zaiyue’s name or saw him again.

And now, these repressed memories were once again awakened. Hints of melancholy formed in the Guqin Master’s heart. He lowered his head, looked at the faint grey line on his palm, and a cold glint flashed through his eyes. “Teacher… Even though you removed the Death Gu from the Sharp Sword, I won’t admit defeat like this. No matter what your aim is, the person who wins, in the end, will surely be me!”