The Black-armored Gu

Song Wen packed up his stall and spoke to the square-faced disciple who had not yet left.

"Senior Brother, farewell."

Without waiting for a response, he turned and headed for the exit of the market square.

The square-faced man stared at Song Wen's retreating back for a long moment, his eyes dark with unreadable thoughts.

A moment later, he set off in Song Wen's direction.

He trailed far behind, keeping his distance until he saw Song Wen leave the market square and head away from the sect. A flash of triumph gleamed in his eyes.

"Just as I expected, the brat was lying. If he were returning to report to Elder Shi Shou, he wouldn't be walking away from the sect."

Suddenly, the figure ahead accelerated, his speed far exceeding what a layer-four Qi Refining cultivator should possess.

"A Swift Movement Talisman? Has he noticed me?"

The square-faced man increased his pace as well, though he did not rush to close the distance, maintaining a gap of two to three hundred meters.

They were still too close to the sect. It was no place to strike.

Abruptly, a surge of bloody mist ignited around Song Wen. His speed exploded, surging until it nearly matched a layer-seven Qi Refining cultivator.

Far from alarmed, the square-faced man grinned with delight.

"The Blood Evasion Art! Did you think you were the only one who mastered it? Coincidentally, I have learned it as well. Let us see whose mastery is sharper and whose essence blood is deeper!"

The more desperate the youth seemed to escape, the more certain he felt that the brat had lied and was hiding something of tremendous value.

After a quarter of an hour, the chase brought them to the edge of a lake dozens of li away from the sect.

To the square-faced man's shock, Song Wen's speed suddenly surged again, vanishing into the darkness without a trace.

The square-faced man rushed to the spot where Song Wen had disappeared, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

"How could he vanish out of thin air?"

He paced back and forth, scrutinizing every inch of the surrounding terrain to find a clue.

Suddenly, a foot-long, jet-black iron awl shrouded in dense Corpse Qi shot straight at him!

"Hmph! Petty tricks!"

Though the dark iron awl was a mid-grade Magical Artifact, the ambusher was clearly lacking in cultivation, unable to unleash its true power.

In his mind, the square-faced man was certain the attacker was merely the layer-four Qi Refining brat who had been hiding.

With a flick of his left hand, he released a layer-five Qi Refining corpse puppet.

The puppet charged directly into the path of the Soul Piercing Awl.

The square-faced man's eyes locked onto a thicket of bushes fifty meters ahead. The awl had been fired from that very spot; the boy had to be hiding inside.

A pitch-black short blade materialized before him and shot toward the thicket like lightning.

Just as a cruel smile touched the square-faced man's lips, anticipating the sight of the boy coughing up blood, several tiny gray insects silently crawled up his pant legs.

"Ah!"

An excruciating tearing agony burst from his lower body, twisting his face into a mask of pure anguish.

Only then did he notice the small insects that had crept onto him.

They had already burrowed beneath his skin, wildly tearing at his flesh and organs from within.

Within a few breaths, the square-faced man collapsed to the ground, his breathing ceased.

Song Wen stepped out from the thicket, holding the dead man's short blade in his hand.

With its master dead and his spiritual energy severed, the blade's power had collapsed instantly, failing to pose any threat to Song Wen. The layer-five corpse puppet stood stiffly in place, frozen like a statue.

Song Wen walked over to the corpse and plunged his right hand into the chest of the square-faced man, who still held a lingering breath.

Although most of the man's flesh and blood had been devoured by the Beetle Gu, Song Wen still needed to consume his soul to prevent any ghost-path cultivators from capturing the residual spirit and viewing the man's final moments.

He stripped the storage bag and corpse-refining pouch from the body. With a flick of his wrist, a flame erupted from his palm and landed on the withered corpse, reducing it to a pile of ash in moments.

With a quick gesture, he cast a wind technique to scatter the ashes into the night.

He opened the storage bag, took out the four hundred Spirit Stones inside, and sneered beneath his breath, "Poor bastard."

Finding over fifty White Bone Bug corpses inside as well, Song Wen claimed them all.

He tossed the short blade back into the storage bag, leaving the rest of the contents untouched.

Using the dead man's corpse-refining pouch, he sealed away the corpse puppet.

After sweeping the area to ensure no traces were left behind, Song Wen cast the Blood Evasion Art and swiftly departed.

After traveling over ten li, he found a secluded spot and buried both the storage bag and the corpse-refining pouch deep underground.

Every cultivator's corpse puppet and Magical Artifacts carried distinct personal traits. Trying to sell them carried too high a risk of recognition. Burying them was the safest choice.

While a corpse puppet could be re-refined to alter its aura and appearance, a layer-five Qi Refining puppet was of little use to Song Wen now. Avoiding unnecessary trouble was always better than seeking it.

With everything settled, Song Wen turned and headed back toward the sect.

For the next ten days, Song Wen stayed inside his cave dwelling, cultivating continuously without stepping outside.

He made no attempt to inquire whether the square-faced man's sudden death had drawn the sect's attention or if the Law Enforcement Hall was investigating. He acted as though the man's demise had nothing to do with him.

During those ten days, Song Wen split his time between cultivating to raise his realm and trying to refine the layer-nine Qi Refining corpse puppet.

The refinement went slowly. The puppet's cultivation far exceeded his own, forcing him to erode its resistance bit by bit.

Meanwhile, the cocooned Black-bellied Beetle Gu showed no signs of movement. Song Wen held off on feeding the other Beetle Gu any more White Bone Bug crystals, preferring to wait for the result of the first mutation before making a decision.

Ten days passed in a flash, and Song Wen's routine returned to the cycle of working as a Corpse Dismemberer, cultivating, and raising Gu.

When he reappeared at the Corpse Dismemberment Cave after a month's absence, Yuan Cheng and many of the other Corpse Dismemberers were stunned.

Song Wen was one of the rare few who had suffered a mental breakdown and actually survived to return.

Yet, neither Yuan Cheng nor any of the others asked how he had resolved his mental affliction.

Only the stout, towering female Corpse Dismemberer walked over, looking him up and down with keen interest before whispering,

"Junior Brother Ji Yin, my cave dwelling is B-74. You are welcome to visit Senior Sister anytime."

With that, the two-and-a-half-meter-tall woman turned and walked away, swaying a waist several times broader than Song Wen's whole frame.

Suddenly, she glanced back over her shoulder with a playful smile.

"Remember, Junior Brother-B-74. Senior Sister will be waiting for you."

Song Wen stared at her departing back, falling into deep self-doubt. With his frail arms and thin legs, if he actually stepped into her cave dwelling, would he even have the strength left to crawl back out?

Fifteen days after cocooning, the Beetle Gu finally broke free.

The newly evolved Gu insect had not changed much in size, but its strength had surged to a terrifying layer-eight Qi Refining realm. Song Wen was overjoyed, though a faint hint of disappointment lingered-he had secretly hoped it might evolve directly into a Holy Armor Gu.

The new Gu insect's body had turned an inky black, while its head remained gray.

Perhaps once its head turns black as well, it will become a true Holy Armor Gu, Song Wen thought.

To distinguish it from the other Beetle Gu, Song Wen named it according to its appearance: the Black-armored Gu.

As soon as it emerged, the Black-armored Gu transmitted a sharp wave of hunger to his mind.

Song Wen immediately pulled out a Silver Brilliant Stone and forced several drops of essence blood from his body.

Only after consuming half a Silver Brilliant Stone and swallowing eight drops of essence blood did the Black-armored Gu finally satisfy its appetite.

Song Wen clicked his tongue in disbelief. A single meal cost half a Silver Brilliant Stone-worth twenty-five Spirit Stones-plus eight drops of essence blood. How could he possibly afford to feed it?

He could only hope that because it had just broken out of its cocoon, it simply required extra spiritual energy and blood vitalization for its first feeding.

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