I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 331 Waiting for the rabbit
“Okay.” Tongniang cooperated very well, recalling as she spoke, “The abbot’s surname is Jiang, his given name is Yao, he is from Yuecheng, he is twenty-four years old, and he is the last disciple of the previous generation of Miao witches. He is skilled in Gu and poison.”

She grew up in Moon City and had never left it. She came out this time to avenge her master and kill the person who murdered him.

Chu Liuzheng raised his eyes and asked, "Is her enemy named Yin Lanci?"

"Xiaoyu even told you this?" Tongniang looked surprised, and nodded under Chu Liuzheng's gaze. "Yes, the abbot's enemy is named Yin Lanci."

She said, "Yin Lanci was originally her senior sister. She disappeared after leaving Yuecheng when she came of age. Later, she returned to Yuecheng but seized the Netherworld Gu and personally killed the master who raised her. After that..."

Her voice suddenly stopped, she stared at Chu Liuzheng, a strange smile slowly curving her lips, her eyes flashing with venom: "Prepare to die!"

One breath, two breaths, three breaths.

Nothing happened.

The joy on Tongniang's face faded, and she stared in astonishment. Why was this woman alright?
"Are you looking at this?" Chu Liuzheng carefully picked up a small, blue-shelled insect from beside his feet with a handkerchief and waved it in front of Tong Niang. "I forgot to tell you, we have a divine doctor in our team who knows a thing or two about Gu worms. I happen to have some medicine powder on me that can suppress Gu worms."

Tongniang: "..."

[Oh dear, thank goodness I found out that Tongniang knows witchcraft, so I specifically asked Doctor Feng for some medicinal powder to sprinkle on myself, otherwise I would have been in big trouble.]

Chu Liuzheng trembled with fear, but calmly used a teacup to cover the Gu worm, and looked up at Tongniang:
"Let me guess, when you were fighting those two young men, you didn't use Gu. Was it because the Shadow Moon Gu on Abbot Jiang was dormant, affecting the offspring Gu on your body? You forcibly controlled the Gu worms to kill me just now, and you suffered a severe backlash, didn't you?"

"How do you know about the Shadow Moon Gu?" Tong Niang's chest heaved with blood and qi. She slowly swallowed the metallic taste in her throat and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't even mention Ping Yu, that kid knew nothing about it."

"Just a guess," Chu Liuzheng said with a smile. "I'm usually pretty good at guessing."

This reason sounded rather perfunctory, and Tongniang naturally wouldn't believe it.

She stared at Chu Liuzheng, scrutinizing him intently.

The Shadow Moon Gu is a secret passed down through generations of the Jiang clan, and it is also the foundation upon which the Jiang clan stands. It will not be known to outsiders. Could this woman also be a member of the Jiang clan?

However, she had never seen this woman in the more than thirty years she had been with the Jiang family.

Her eyes were full of suspicion as she asked in a deep voice, "Who exactly are you?"

"Instead of worrying about who I am, you should think about how to save your young lady," Chu Liuzheng said. "Today is a full moon. If I throw Abbot Jiang into the mountains, guess what will happen?"

“You…” Tongniang’s expression tightened, “What else do you know?”

"Guess," Chu Liuzheng blinked, "whether or not to save them is entirely up to you."

Tongniang sneered: "If you really want to kill Miss, why are you wasting your breath talking to me? You're just threatening me with Miss's life."

"Yes, I am threatening you." Chu Liuzheng reached out, her slender white fingertips slowly smoothing out the wrinkles on her skirt. Her voice was soft and slow. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I can ask Master Jiang properly when she is tormented by the backlash of the Gu worms and is wishing for death. I think she will be more willing to tell me then."

Upon hearing the words "Gu worm backlash," Tong Niang's heart skipped a beat.

The woman opposite her wasn't bluffing; she genuinely knew the truth.

Who exactly is this woman?

"I almost forgot, I can also send someone to invite Bao'er over as a guest." Chu Liuzheng turned to her and smiled. "You haven't seen your son for three years, you must miss him a lot, right?"

"Miss, Bao'er..." Tongniang closed her eyes, her shoulders slumped slightly, and finally relented, "What do you want to know?" [Oh my goodness! I finally pried her mouth open; I was exhausted from pretending.]

Chu Liuzheng secretly exhaled and asked, "Is what you just said true?"

Tong Niang nodded: "If you don't believe me, you can send someone to Yuecheng to investigate. The matter of Yin Lanci killing his master has caused a great stir, and everyone in Yuecheng knows about it."

With the system at his disposal, Chu Liuzheng naturally knew that she hadn't lied.

"Go on, Yin Lanci seized the Netherworld Gu, killed his master, and then what happened?"

“She escaped.” Tongniang’s eyes flashed with hatred. “Miss searched for her almost all over Dasheng, but couldn’t find a trace of her.”

[Tsk, it would be strange if they could find her. While Junior Sister was searching for her, Yin Lanci had already changed her identity and married the Fifth Prince, becoming his consort. By the time Junior Sister found the capital, Yin Lanci had already fled to Jiangnan, a classic case of missed opportunities.]

Chu Liuzheng asked, "Don't you people who use Gu have special methods for finding people? It didn't work?"

“Of course it was used, but Yin Lanci has the Netherworld Gu on her body,” Tongniang said. “The Netherworld Gu is naturally able to conceal the host’s aura, making it impossible for other Gu worms to sense it. Although the Shadow Moon Gu on Miss’s body is an exception, it cannot be too far away. The only time Miss sensed the aura of the Netherworld Gu was in this Dragon Mouth Town.”

"So Master Jiang built Taoran Temple here to wait for the rabbit to run into the tree stump?"

Tongniang nodded.

Chu Liuzheng remained silent.

[How could anyone use such a stupid method? What if Yin Lanci comes once and then never comes again? Wouldn't all that waiting have been for nothing?]

Seeing the strange look in her eyes, Tongniang didn't want her young lady to be treated like a fool, so she quickly added, "There are other reasons why the young lady has been staying in Longkou Town."

Chu Liuzheng said, "Digging up graves and corpses to feed Gu worms?"

Tong Niang's eyes flickered slightly: "...This is just one of them."

"Oh." Chu Liuzheng nodded. "What about the others?"

Tongniang instinctively wanted to tell a lie, but looking at the pair of clear, almond-shaped eyes opposite her, which clearly had no intimidating power and even revealed a bit of innocence, she inexplicably felt that her lie would be seen through.

Seeing that she was just staring at him without saying a word, Chu Liuzheng raised his hand and waved it in front of her eyes: "Hey! Are you making up a lie now?"

When her thoughts were guessed, Tongniang's expression became slightly unnatural for a moment.

Chu Liuzheng: "..."

No, I was just asking casually, are you really making up a lie?

She cleared her throat and urged, "Speak quickly, or you'll face the consequences if you lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you." Tongniang licked her dry lips and tentatively asked, "Before we talk, can I meet my young lady first?"

"So you're going to collude on your story, right?" Chu Liuzheng looked at her. "Are you going to talk or not? If you don't, I'll—"

"I'll talk!" Tongniang interrupted, not wanting to hear Chu Liuzheng's threats any longer. "Miss discovered that Yin Lanci had people in Longkou Town and was certain that Yin Lanci would come back to Longkou Town, which is why she has been staying here. In order to lure Yin Lanci here as soon as possible, she wrote a lot of stories about Yin Lanci, hoping to provoke him and make him come to her on his own initiative."

Chu Liuzheng asked curiously, "Why did your young lady include the emperor in her poem about Yin Lan? Aren't you afraid of attracting the attention of the government officials?"