Long ago, Zhao Changhe had already come to understand that gu insects were not tied to cultivation levels. In other words, they bypassed the entire cultivation system. Whether it was an ordinary person without a shred of internal energy or a top-tier demon god at the third layer of the Profound Control Realm, if they were afflicted with the Heart-Bonding Gu, the effect was the same. It was irresistible.0

This thing was, at its core, a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao’s will.0

So then, could one break free of it? Cultivation, no matter how powerful, did not offer a straightforward answer. This was not a problem that sheer cultivation could resolve. However, that was not to say it was completely irrelevant. After all, stronger cultivation did grant sharper focus and greater clarity of mind, which could prove useful.0

Sisi’s own cultivation, at least, was sufficient for that level of detached concentration, and that should be enough.0

The real question now was how they were supposed to proceed.0

No matter how Zhao Changhe turned his inner sight upon himself, he could not locate the gu. It had long since melted into his body, indistinguishable from the nutrients he absorbed daily. It was no longer separate, no longer a foreign entity. Even the Wang Clan’s Heavenly Sea-Suppressing Art, which he had quietly practiced for just such emergencies, could not purge what he could no longer identify as foreign.0

And yet, his heart throbbed as if some alien force was invading it, as if it were about to rupture from within.0

Zhao Changhe did not buy it; he did not believe that something could have infiltrated him so completely and yet leave no trace. Heaven’s will is unfathomable, my ass. Call it what you like. Strip away the mystical layers, and it’s all just patterns within the world’s logic. If something can exert an influence, then it has to exist.0

The truth was simple: the thing was intangible, without physical form. But deciphering illusion and reality was...0