Duoduo and the Emperor stared at each other.
Duoduo reached for the dagger in the Emperor’s hand.
“Grandfather, this gu worm has been able to stay inside your body for so long because it has already become attuned to your thoughts!”
“The moment you develop the intent to kill, it can sense it!”
As she spoke, Duoduo stared nervously at the spot where the lump had disappeared.
The Emperor felt a chill run down his spine after hearing her words.
“Then what?”
He could see how tense Duoduo was.
“Nina told me that when a gu worm senses danger, it will fight back…”
Duoduo lowered her voice.
“Fight back?” The Emperor didn’t believe her.
No matter how one looked at it, a gu worm was nothing more than an insect.
Could it really fight back?
What nonsense!
Although the Emperor thought this, Duoduo’s nervous expression still affected him.
He, too, began staring tensely at the spot where the lump had appeared.
Suddenly, the Emperor felt a sharp pain in his chest.
“Ugh!” He couldn’t help letting out a muffled groan.
Duoduo swiftly placed her fingers on the Emperor’s pulse.
The pulse beneath her fingertips pounded like a drumbeat, fast and erratic.
Every so often, it even seemed to stop.
Duoduo withdrew her hand and looked at Little Gold.
“Little Gold, can you calm it down?”
Little Gold arrogantly fluttered into the air and landed on Duoduo’s sleeve.
It shook its head and bobbed its body at Duoduo.
Duoduo gently stroked Little Gold’s wings.
“Good Little Gold, please help Grandfather!”
Little Gold covered its head with its wings, curled itself into a ball, and played ostrich.
When the Emperor saw an insect make such a gesture, astonishment flashed through his eyes.
“It’s because you bit Grandfather just now that he doesn’t trust you!”
“Calm that insect down first!”
“What if it gets angry and comes rushing out? You won’t be able to beat it!”
Little Gold immediately straightened up and shook its head vigorously at Duoduo.
From its expression, Duoduo could see that Little Gold was thoroughly indignant.
“Words are useless. You have to prove yourself through your actions!” Duoduo deliberately provoked it.
Little Gold fell for the ploy.
It flapped its wings and flew to the wound on the Emperor’s arm.
The Emperor tried to pull his hand back, but Duoduo held it firmly in place.
Shock flashed through the Emperor’s eyes.
Changle’s strength was far beyond what one would expect from a child.
Little Gold settled down on the wound.
Sure enough, the Emperor felt the tightness in his chest and the palpitations disappear.
Before long, another lump began moving beneath the skin of his arm.
The lump gradually traveled toward the spot where Little Gold was perched.
When it was only a hand’s breadth away from Little Gold, it stopped.
Little Gold lifted its head and stared at the wound.
An’an could actually see nervousness and anticipation in Little Gold’s expression.
Duoduo held her breath, not daring to make a sound.
The Emperor was also stunned by the bizarre scene before him.
At that moment, he finally believed Duoduo.
There really was a gu worm inside his body.
And it had been following him for a very long time.
The Emperor recalled that he had experienced that same familiar sensation of chest pain and palpitations in the past.
At the time, he had assumed he was simply overworked.
He hadn’t paid it any attention.
But now, the more he thought about it, the more horrified he became.
When had this gu worm entered his body?
And who had placed it there?
The moment the Emperor realized that someone had manipulated him without his knowledge, killing intent began leaking from his body.
The gu worm, which had stopped moving, suddenly vanished again.
Then the familiar tightness in his chest and heart palpitations returned.
The Emperor covered his chest and groaned.
Duoduo quickly pulled silver needles from her sleeve and swiftly inserted them into the Emperor’s body.
As the needles pierced his skin, the Emperor finally recovered his breath.
Clutching his chest, he drew in a deep breath.
Seeing that the Emperor’s complexion had returned to normal, Duoduo removed the needles.
The Emperor looked at his smooth arm, then at Little Gold, which was pretending to be dead on the back of Duoduo’s hand.
His feelings were tangled and complicated.
“You can communicate with it?” There was an indescribable note in the Emperor’s voice.
Duoduo put away the silver needles and nodded.
“Nina said it recognized me as its master, so naturally, it can sense my thoughts.”
The Emperor’s eyes flickered.
“Then can the gu worm inside My body also sense My thoughts?”
Duoduo tilted her little head.
After thinking for a moment, she shook it.
“It was controlled by someone else. It will only listen to its master.”
“It can merely sense your emotions.”
“To it, you are the one being controlled—not the one doing the controlling!”
The Emperor narrowed his eyes. Duoduo hurriedly pressed down on the back of his hand.
“Stay calm!”
“You don’t want to experience that awful feeling again, do you?”
“If it happens a few more times, your heart meridians will suffer severe damage!”
“When that happens, not even the greatest immortal in existence will be able to save your life!”
The Emperor hurriedly took several deep breaths, forcefully suppressing the emotions that had just risen within him.
Only after he had calmed himself did the Emperor try to control his thoughts and ask Duoduo in as level a voice as possible, “Changle, is there any way to get it out of Me?”
As the Son of Heaven, he had always been the one controlling other people’s lives.
He had never imagined that, in his old age, he would end up being controlled by an insect.
No—that wasn’t quite right.
He was being manipulated by someone hiding in the shadows.
The moment the Emperor thought of this, his emotions began to spiral again.
“Grandfather!”
Seeing this, Duoduo quickly raised her voice and called out.
The Emperor came back to himself and let out a long breath.
When Duoduo saw that he had regained control of his emotions, she withdrew her hand.
“Little Gold communicated with the gu worm in your body just now.”
“Little Gold says that the gu worm inside you is larger than it is.”
“And it has entered into a symbiotic relationship with you. For now, it has no intention of harming you.”
A chill flashed through the Emperor’s eyes.
“It has no intention of harming Me?”
“Then what was that agony just now?”
Duoduo blinked.
“That’s the information it gave Little Gold.”
The Emperor examined his arm. “Where is it hiding?”
Duoduo hesitated for a moment. “It’s in your bloodstream.”
The Emperor froze. Then he gave a cold, humorless smile.
“You mean it has already merged with Me?”
“Unless I die, I’ll never be free from its control!”
Duoduo didn’t answer immediately.
She remembered Nina’s warning.
She must never remove someone else’s gu curse lightly.
If she were possessed or attacked by the other person’s gu worm, the danger would be immense.
If this had happened before, Duoduo might have been willing to give it a try.
But after that heart-stopping ordeal, she was no longer willing.
Who knew what the Emperor would think after she removed the gu worm?
What if he decided that she had been the one to place it inside him in the first place?
Then she would never be able to shake off that accusation!
Besides, who exactly was the gu worm’s true master?
Would he simply stand by and watch her remove it?
The answer went without saying.
