Black-bellied Beetle Gu

Two days later.

Cave Residence Bing-97.

Eight tiny Beetle Gu buzzed about the cave residence, stretched their wings as Song Wen released them to get some air.

Inside the Gu Cauldron, nine milky-white larvae sprawled across the leaves of Azure Spirit Grass, feeding greedily.

Though Song Wen now nurtured these Gu worms within his own fleshly body, it did not mean they had to remain inside him at all times.

Mundane matters like feeding the larvae and adults could still be managed outside the body with the help of the Gu Cauldron.

Suddenly, Song Wen's mind stirred.

He sensed that two of the remaining three insect eggs nested within his body had begun to hatch.

Two larvae with distinctive black dots on their backs broke through their shells and crawled out.

Song Wen was delighted. The experiment was a success; using the Black-bellied Beetle Gu for breeding yielded a far higher probability of producing these black-dotted larvae.

To prevent another violent backlash, Song Wen had already used the methods of the Blood Gu Technique to completely refine the Gu worms while they were still mere eggs.

For reasons unknown, the final egg failed to hatch, turning into a dead embryo.

Song Wen drew the dead egg and the two black-dotted larvae out of his body and dropped them into the Gu Cauldron.

The dead egg immediately became nourishment for the active larvae.

At the same time, he ruthlessly crushed the nine ordinary larvae, feeding them straight to the black-dotted ones.

Now that the superior black-dotted larvae had successfully hatched, there was no longer any need to waste resources cultivating ordinary Beetle Gu.

Watching the newly hatched larvae gorge themselves inside the Gu Cauldron, Song Wen knew he would have to venture out to purchase more Azure Spirit Grass.

Before leaving, however, he carefully disguised himself.

First, he suppressed his aura down to the first layer of Qi Condensation. Then, he circulated the Corpse King Blood Refining Art to turn his complexion a deathly, iron-gray hue, making it look as though his cultivation had gone awry, leaving his body ridden with uncontrollable, leaking corpse qi.

Finally, he threw on a heavy black cloak that shrouded him from head to toe.

To any onlooker, Song Wen now cut the figure of a reckless Novice who, refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit, had forcibly absorbed too much corpse qi during training. His flesh appeared overwhelmed by death energy and severely lacking in vitality-a wretched soul on the verge of collapse.

He looked desperate, unhinged, and liable to explode into madness at the slightest provocation.

Once prepared, Song Wen left his cave residence and headed straight for the market.

He visited four different shops in turn, selling off his accumulated store of eight bottles of refined blood to net a total of 1,100 Spirit Stones.

For a cultivator of his current realm, such a vast sum of Spirit Stones was undoubtedly a massive fortune.

Next came the task of buying the spirit grass needed for his Beetle Gu and the resources required for his own cultivation.

He chose not to buy the Azure Spirit Grass from Chen Yi this time. Purchasing such large quantities from the same merchant repeatedly would inevitably arouse suspicion.

Even if Chen Yi harbored no ill intentions toward him, Song Wen could not afford to be careless.

In this treacherous cultivation world, the only person Song Wen trusted was himself.

One must always maintain a guarded heart!

He located a major spirit medicine pavilion instead, purchasing a bulk order of Azure Spirit Grass and Purple Moon Flowers.

Purple Moon Flowers served as food for the adult insects; sustained feeding would gradually enhance a Beetle Gu's strength.

Depending on their species, Gu worms craved vastly different foods.

Some grew stronger by devouring rare ores, others gorged on human corpses or the carcasses of Demon Beasts, and some preferred to inhale foul, turbid gasses.

In comparison, the Beetle Gu's appetite for clean spirit grass was quite rare among its kind. Compared to the repulsive, stomach-churning diets of other insects, the Beetle Gu could be considered a remarkably clean stream in the Gu world.

Purple Moon Flowers were a first-tier, Middle Grade spirit medicine and relatively cheap, costing about one Spirit Stone for two or three blossoms.

Yet, after feeding them Purple Moon Flowers for over a month, Song Wen discovered that while the seven ordinary Beetle Gu had gained varying degrees of strength, the cultivation of his primary Black-bellied Beetle Gu had not budged at all.

Furthermore, while a single Purple Moon Flower was economical enough to sustain all seven ordinary Beetle Gu for an entire day, the Black-bellied Beetle Gu required at least four flowers daily.

Burning through nearly two Spirit Stones a day, the Black-bellied Beetle Gu's daily consumption had already eclipsed the resources Song Wen used for his own cultivation.

Seeing its cultivation completely stagnant despite the heavy cost, Song Wen had to suspect that Purple Moon Flowers were simply not the ideal food for the Black-bellied Beetle Gu.

According to the records in the Blood Gu Technique, the Purple Moon Flower was only meant for ordinary adult Beetle Gu. As for the Black-bellied Beetle Gu-which seemed to be an intermediate form bridging the Beetle Gu and the Holy Armor Gu-the manual made no mention of it whatsoever, leaving its optimal diet a complete mystery.

However, the ideal food for a true Holy Armor Gu was an ore known as Silver Brilliant Stone, a second-tier material.

Song Wen had asked around; a thumb-sized piece of Silver Brilliant Stone retailed for roughly fifty Spirit Stones, an exorbitant price. Then again, since the Holy Armor Gu was a second-tier Gu worm comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, such high demands were only natural.

Song Wen had initially hoped to save some funds by testing the Purple Moon Flowers, but it was clear now that he had no choice but to purchase the Silver Brilliant Stone.

After buying the Silver Brilliant Stone, a supply of corpse sha qi, as well as a batch of Qi Gathering Pills and Inedia Pills, Song Wen walked into a cultivator's gambling den.

To prevent cultivators from using powerful spiritual power to cheat, these dens were reinforced with various restriction arrays capable of suppressing divine sense, affecting even Foundation Establishment experts.

Song Wen cut across the main hall of the gambling den and slipped directly into the latrine in the backyard.

Unless a Qi Condensation cultivator constantly sustained themselves on Inedia Pills, they still needed to eat, so the presence of a latrine in the cultivator world was not unusual.

Once inside, Song Wen completely shed his disguise. He revoked the Corpse King Blood Refining Art and used a basic 'Disguise Technique' he had picked up from a street stall to alter his features, transforming himself into a burly, bearded man before exiting the establishment.

In the cultivation world, identifying someone relied not only on facial features and build, but primarily on the unique aura a cultivator radiated.

While one could alter their face and stature by manipulating spiritual power, changing one's underlying aura was far more difficult. The common aura-concealment techniques available in the world could only dampen or amplify the strength of an aura, not alter the intrinsic traits of the spiritual power itself.

Consequently, mundane disguise techniques were generally unpopular among cultivators.

For Song Wen, however, altering the specific traits of his spiritual power aura happened to be the easiest thing in the world.

He drifted through the market for several more rounds, thoroughly verifying that no one was tailing him before finally slipping back into his cave residence.

His cultivation was weak, yet he carried a massive fortune in Spirit Stones; he had to be exceptionally cautious.

...

With the introduction of the Silver Brilliant Stone, the growth of the Black-bellied Beetle Gu became far more stable. However, the second-tier ore was clearly a bit too advanced for it, making it difficult to digest.

The Black-bellied Beetle Gu could only consume about one-twentieth of a stone at a time, requiring two to three days of rest to fully process the mineral before its next feeding. During these intervals, it nibbled on Purple Moon Flowers as a supplement.

After thirty days, the Silver Brilliant Stone had shrunk by more than half, and the Black-bellied Beetle Gu's aura had grown noticeably more potent.

By this time, the two black-dotted larvae had also successfully matured into adults. To Song Wen's immense excitement, both turned out to be females, allowing him to initiate the next phase of his breeding program.

He paired the three Black-bellied Beetle Gu to mate, hoping to yield an even higher probability of black-dotted larvae, or perhaps mutate an even stronger strain of Beetle Gu-maybe even a true Holy Armor Gu.

With the colony stable, Song Wen settled back into his strict routine, dividing his days between dissecting corpses and steadily advancing his cultivation.

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