Blood Gu Technique

As the bone-cleaving knife sliced into the withered inner thigh, the sharp blade was abruptly halted by something hard.

Song Wen initially assumed he had struck hard ice again, but upon closer inspection, he discovered a foreign object lodged deep within the shriveled flesh.

It was this object that had obstructed his blade.

Looking closer, he noticed a faint scar on the thigh. Because the corpse's skin was so heavily wrinkled, Song Wen had failed to notice it earlier.

Following the contour of the object, Song Wen slowly peeled back the skin, finally bringing it into the open.

Blood Gu Technique!

A manual about the size of two palms, bound in Demon Beast skin, lay before Song Wen's eyes.

Song Wen slowly stretched his limbs and rolled his neck, acting as though he were simply loosening up after a long period of dissection.

In reality, he was seizing the opportunity to scan his surroundings.

He confirmed that there was no one else present. Yuan Cheng was still inside his cave and had not emerged.

In other words, no one else knew of the Blood Gu Technique's existence.

Without changing his expression, Song Wen slipped the Blood Gu Technique into his Storage Bag.

Having secured the Blood Gu Technique, Song Wen could not help but feel a surge of secret elation. This manual was likely the old woman's primary cultivation method.

Moreover, Song Wen suspected this old woman was a Foundation Establishment expert. A technique that a cultivator of her caliber had to conceal so carefully was certainly no ordinary street stall good; it had to be deeply valuable.

After steadying his breathing, Song Wen resumed dissecting the corpse.

Fortunately, the dissection process did not spawn any of the dangers Song Wen had feared. The dismemberment went smoothly. Aside from the shockingly sparse amount of blood in the old woman's body, there were no anomalies. This held true until Song Wen pried open her chest cavity.

A mass of thoroughly riddled and perforated internal organs greeted his eyes.

Her organs looked as if they had been gnawed upon by countless tiny insects. Since there was still unmelted hard ice clinging to the body, this meant her internal organs had been devoured into this state while she was still alive.

Song Wen simply could not imagine what kind of agonizing torment the old woman had endured before her death.

"Could this be the price of cultivating Gu techniques?"

A chill ran through Song Wen's heart. Those tiny, dense holes bored through her viscera made his skin crawl.

After a brief rest, Song Wen suppressed his nausea and continued the dissection.

When he extracted the mangled heart, three eggs the size of rice grains slid out from the holes in the tissue.

The eggs were milky white, with an extremely thin, transparent membrane encasing a tiny white worm within.

"These must be Gu insect eggs!"

After double-checking that he was truly alone, Song Wen, almost as if possessed by ghosts, retrieved a jade bottle and stored the three eggs inside.

He then sliced open the heart and found five more identical eggs. He collected all of them into the jade bottle before tucking it securely into his robes.

Song Wen was utterly horrified by the gruesome state of the old woman's innards, yet his pragmatic instincts whispered otherwise. If he could successfully cultivate these Gu insects, he would gain another lethal trump card, increasing his odds of surviving in this cannibalistic world.

It took Song Wen nearly an hour to fully dismember the corpse.

The entire process yielded no further dangers, nor did he find any more insect eggs.

When Song Wen finally handed over the Storage Bag containing the processed parts, Yuan Cheng spoke.

"Did the dissection go smoothly? No dangers occurred, I hope?"

Song Wen sneered inwardly. He knew full well that Yuan Cheng must have recognized the old woman as a Gu Master, yet the man had deliberately withheld any warning about the dormant Gu insects that might be lurking within the corpse.

It was common knowledge that Gu Masters hid Gu insects throughout their bodies. In combat, even after a Gu Master drew their last breath, one could never lower their guard.

Countless cultivators, ignorant of the true terror of Gu Masters, had foolishly thrown their lives away by carelessly searching a corpse, only to be struck down by a dying Gu Master's hidden parasites.

While dissecting the body, Song Wen had pieced together the reasons behind the old woman's bizarre condition.

She had likely been a Foundation Establishment Gu Master who suffered a defeat and was subsequently killed.

The victor, fearing the hidden Gu insects, had used ice-element techniques to freeze her entire corpse solid.

As time dragged on, that solid ice had slowly begun to melt.

Yuan Cheng had feared that thawing might awaken dormant Gu insects, prompting him to force Song Wen to process the corpse immediately.

Furthermore, with only the two of them in the Corpse Dismemberment Cave, any reviving Gu insects would undoubtedly target Song Wen first. Yuan Cheng's own cave possessed Formation protections, and he was stationed far enough from the dissection platform to easily activate those wards if things went awry.

In short, even if the Gu insects revived, only Song Wen would die, minimizing the losses among the Corpse Dismemberers.

Mask your thoughts, never show your hand!

Suppressing his resentment, Song Wen pasted a perfectly bewildered expression onto his face and replied.

"There were no dangers at all. It's just that the ice crystals clinging to the body were far too tough. Dismembering it was quite a struggle, which is why it took me so long."

Yuan Cheng nodded. Taking the Storage Bag, he casually tossed five Spirit Stones into Song Wen's hands.

He then offered a smooth explanation to the seemingly confused young man.

"This female corpse was an extra assignment. Consider these five Spirit Stones compensation for your hard work."

Hearing this, Song Wen nodded and accepted the stones.

He knew exactly what these five Spirit Stones were: blood money for risking his life.

Had any other Corpse Dismemberer received this sudden windfall, they would have been weeping with gratitude. But Song Wen had no desire to earn this particular sum.

Although the dissection had gone off without a hitch and netted him a Gu cultivation manual, he truly despised taking such blind risks. He was already siphoning essence blood from the Corpse Dismemberment Cave to earn Spirit Stones perfectly undetected; he didn't need to put his neck on the chopping block for a mere five stones.

Regardless of his inner reluctance, at least Yuan Cheng hadn't skimmed his hazard pay. Song Wen bowed respectfully and expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yuan Cheng."

Yuan Cheng waved him off. "Go on. And remember, keep this matter to yourself."

...

Upon returning to his own cave dwelling, Song Wen immediately took out the Blood Gu Technique.

He needed to identify exactly what kind of Gu he had extracted from the heart.

He had to discover the correct methods for nurturing and controlling them. Otherwise, if he let them hatch and grow unchecked, they might very well turn around and devour their master.

The Blood Gu Technique recorded the breeding and nurturing methods for dozens of different Gu insects. Scattered between the lines of text were numerous tiny annotations-likely the old woman's personal insights into Gu cultivation.

Through these notes, Song Wen soon discovered the origin of the eight eggs.

This species was called the Beetle Gu, a rather common variety. Its combat power was low and its temperament fairly docile, which sharply contrasted with the general perception of Gu insects as vicious, lethal parasites. However, this breed possessed its own unique merits.

The Beetle Gu was microscopic in size. An adult was barely half the size of a grain of rice. In flight, it was utterly silent and practically undetectable, making it an exceptional tool for scouting and gathering intelligence.

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