Translator: CinderTL
Upon seeing Song Wen appear, Mu Tu hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist Feng, I can resolve your Gu troubles. I only ask that you show mercy and grant me a chance to be reborn through Body Seizing."
Before Song Wen could respond, Bi Xiaoyu's voice cut in, "Mu Tu, stop deluding yourself. You've witnessed such a profound secret—how could he possibly let you live?" Bi Xiaoyu spoke with undisguised disdain.
The "secret" Bi Xiaoyu referred to was clearly the Black Hole in Song Wen's Sea of Consciousness and the shadow void lurking nearby.
Song Wen's expression darkened, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips. "Fellow Daoist Bi, do you fancy yourself exceptionally clever?"
A mass of golden essence slowly coalesced before Song Wen. As the molten liquid churned, it radiated scorching heat, causing Mu Tu and Bi Xiaoyu's divine souls to writhe in agony, as if being roasted over a blazing fire.
"Fellow Daoist, wait!" Bi Xiaoyu's Adam's throat bobbed nervously, her face contorted in terror. "I can resolve your Gu troubles. Just grant me a swift end!"
With a wave of his hand, Song Wen dispersed the golden essence. He then proceeded to explain the Gu problem in detail to the two.
Mu Tu quickly interjected, "Fellow Daoist Feng, I wasn't lying earlier. Your Gu's innate foundation is indeed deficient. Forcing it to the fifth-tier has disrupted its soul. The only way to resolve this is to compensate for its inherent weakness."
"Oh?" Song Wen raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. "Can innate deficiencies really be remedied?"
In Song Wen's understanding, a Gu's innate deficiency was akin to a cultivator's poor spirit root aptitude. The fact that this could be corrected greatly intrigued him.
Mu Tu explained, "Unlike humans and demons, Gu can enhance their strength by devouring other Gu or poisonous insects. When they consume Gu of the same type, they can even improve their innate foundation."
"So, you're saying that feeding it Gu of the same type will resolve its violent tendencies?" Song Wen asked.
"Naturally. However, the higher the tier of the consumed Gu, the greater the benefit," Mu Tu replied.
"Heh!" Bi Xiaoyu sneered, cutting in. "Mu Tu, for someone who was once a disciple of the Gu Evolution Sect, your knowledge is surprisingly superficial."
Song Wen turned his gaze to Bi Xiaoyu and asked with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Bi, what are your insights on this matter?"
Bi Xiaoyu replied, "Devouring Gu of the same type can indeed strengthen a Gu's foundation. However, the number of Gu required for this process is astronomical. Moreover, even if we manage to marginally improve its foundation and restore its clarity of consciousness, its inherent limitations remain. Further advancement in its power would still be exceedingly difficult."
"According to your assessment, then," Song Wen said, "is this Gu no longer worth nurturing?"
"I advise you to abandon this Gu and seek another with a stronger foundation to cultivate," Bi Xiaoyu suggested.
Song Wen frowned slightly, his expression thoughtful, and refrained from further questioning.
Bi Xiaoyu's words carried weight.
Cultivating Gu is akin to nurturing disciples: investing time and resources in those with insufficient innate talent is ultimately a waste.
Yet Song Wen hesitated to abandon his Gu so easily. The Shadow King Gu possesses the unique ability to extend the range of his divine sense—a capability he had never encountered in any other Gu.
Just then, Bi Xiaoyu continued speaking.
"If Fellow Daoist truly can't bear to abandon your Gu, there is another method," Bi Xiaoyu said. "However, whether this method is feasible depends entirely on your own judgment."
"Tell me about it," Song Wen replied.
Bi Xiaoyu explained, "Mu Tu possesses a Gu Dao Treasure Canon called the Gu God Scripture. It describes a method to refine Gu into Natal Spirit Gu, binding them to a cultivator's life force and freeing them from the limitations of their innate foundation. However, both Natal Spirit Gu and natal magic treasures require constant nurturing with spiritual power. Attempting to refine both simultaneously would lead to spreading oneself too thin, limiting the potential of both."
Song Wen shook his head. This plan was clearly impractical.
Still, the Gu God Scripture sounded intriguing. He might peruse it in his spare time.
Mu Tu added, "Actually, there's another method. The Gu God Scripture also describes a formation called the Blood Refinement Gu Sacrifice Grand Formation. This formation can defy fate, forcibly elevating a Gu's innate foundation."
"If such a formation exists, why didn't you mention it sooner?" Song Wen's tone carried a hint of displeasure.
Bi Xiaoyu explained, "While this formation is profound, it's extremely difficult to set up and carries hidden dangers. It requires a cultivator's own blood essence to inscribe the formation patterns, and even more blood essence is needed throughout the process of reversing the Gu's fate. In my opinion, even a Great Ascension Stage cultivator might exhaust all their blood essence without successfully maintaining the formation's operation. None of our predecessors in the Gu Evolution Sect have ever managed to deploy this formation successfully."
Song Wen's eyes lit up slightly. This method seemed perfectly suited for him.
However, inscribing the formation patterns would be a troublesome task.
He was perfectly capable of manipulating pre-made formations, arranging formation flags, and operating array disks with ease. But personally inscribing the formation patterns? That would be asking too much.
To the uninitiated, the formation diagram resembled a reflection of the starry sky—a page filled with enigmatic lines and symbols, coiled like dragons and snakes, swirling like mist and clouds. They couldn't grasp even the slightest clue, let alone decipher its profound mysteries and harness its power for their own use.
"Where is the Gu God Scripture?" Song Wen asked.
Mu Tu said, "In my storage ring, there's a three-foot-tall gu cauldron. The Gu God Scripture is inside."
Outside, Song Wen retrieved Mu Tu's storage ring and probed it with his divine sense. He indeed found the gu cauldron.
As his divine sense delved into the cauldron, Song Wen immediately discovered a cultivation technique.
Though called a cultivation technique, it consisted of only a few hundred characters—the core principles of the Gu God Scripture. The remaining text and diagrams detailed various methods for cultivating gu insects, including the Natal Spirit Gu and the Blood Refinement Gu Sacrifice Grand Formation that Mu Tu and Bi Xiaoyu had mentioned earlier. It also covered a wide range of topics, such as rare and bizarre gu insects, their breeding, advancement, and mutation.
After skimming through the contents, Song Wen submerged his divine sense into his Sea of Consciousness and asked, "Earlier, you mentioned the Gu Evolution Sect. Is that your sect? Where is it located?"
Bi Xiaoyu replied, "The Gu Evolution Sect has already been destroyed. Mu Tu and I were its last two disciples, and now we've both died at your hands. From this day forward, the Gu Evolution Sect will cease to exist in this world."
"Destroyed?" Song Wen asked, surprised.
Bi Xiaoyu continued her explanation: "The Gu Evolution Sect was originally located in Crimson Cloud Province. However, after provoking a powerful enemy, our entire sect was annihilated. Only Mu Tu, myself, and one Body Integration Stage elder managed to escape and flee to the Southern Nether Continent to eke out a living. But the elder's divine soul had been severely damaged, and he perished shortly after we arrived."
(End of the Chapter)
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