Chapter 119: Blood Parasites Formed, Jade Maiden Core Established

As blood parasites rooted in the lineage, these are the most sinister of all gu, and their ingredients are naturally extraordinary; besides these core materials, the bottom of the pot also sank with numerous other ingredients from Huaxia’s Shennongjia, Miaojiang, and Southeast Asia.

Fortunately, this gu art was invented during the Ming and Qing dynasties, not ancient enough for its ingredients to be completely lost—otherwise, even the Cano family’s wealth could not procure them.

Controlling the flames, Louis watched as translucent, hair-thin semi-finished parasites wriggled up from the pot’s bottom and drilled into the placenta, at last beginning his final step: slicing his wrist to let his own blood flow into the pot.

The timing must be precise; otherwise, the blood poured in would lack the effect of submission and instead be treated as just another spiritual ingredient—like the witch’s blood or the flesh of the flesh-eating demon.

Seeing this, Louis halted the flames and waited silently for the final result.

On the two placenta samples, the translucent threads gradually turned crimson, one after another sinking back into the blood pot, curling up, drawing in surrounding blood, coagulating, scabbing over, and finally becoming round, blood-red gu pearls, three to four millimeters in diameter.

These gu pearls floated atop the blood; as more and more formed, the blood in both pots began rapidly lightening, losing its original stench of blood.

When all ceased, the entire surface was densely covered with blood-red gu pearls.

Yet Louis’s expression grew strange.

Because the two pots produced slightly different blood gu.

The pot without witch’s blood yielded the normal gu pearls described in tradition—thumb-sized.

The pot with witch’s blood produced the ones before him: three to four millimeters, only half the size of the standard blood gu pearls.

And their quantities differed too: the normal gu pearls floated only in the teens, while the mutated ones numbered in the hundreds.

The disparity in quantity was absurd.

“Experiments demand courage,” Louis comforted himself.

He immediately began testing the effects of both blood gu.

Professionals: drug dealers and human traffickers reappeared.

Quickly, through the enthusiastic contributions of these professionals, Louis understood the difference between the two gu pearls.

The original gu pearls remained rooted in the bloodline, poisoning three generations; with a single thought, the afflicted could be made to wish for death, every bone in their body aching.

The smaller gu pearls lost the three-generation poisoning effect but gained another function: rooted in the brain, they could be pre-programmed with certain prohibitions; should the afflicted attempt to violate them, the parasite would activate automatically—likewise, the caster could still induce agony, splitting headaches, even direct brain death.

Compared to the original, the new blood gu, though lacking the generational poisoning, felt far more flexible and was far more numerous.

Of course, such parasites had their flaws.

The original blood gu feared neither fire nor water, adapted well, could be stored in blood-soaked garments for years—even decades—and took effect upon ingestion.

The new blood gu was fragile, lasting only three or four years at most, and required a wound cut into the neck to be absorbed directly.

Its concealment and convenience were drastically reduced!

The two blood gu each had strengths and weaknesses: one was stealthy, venomous, and ideal for targeting those who wished for descendants.

The other was suited for mass deployment, exceptionally effective for controlling subordinates—perfect for Louis right now, even more suitable than the original blood gu for this place.

A case of adapting to local conditions.

“Looks like the security issue with prison and underground base personnel can be resolved.”

Louis bottled up all the gu pearls, cleaned the scene, and stepped out of the cave.

Headed home.

Passing Xiang Jiali’s house, he saw all windows and doors tightly sealed.

He shook his head, ignored it, and returned straight home.

He grabbed a cola, warmed the steak, sprinkled seasoning to enhance the aroma, and ate until his mouth dripped grease.

With his Qi cultivation advancing, his appetite grew larger—he now ate four or five meals a day, not small frequent portions, but large, heavy meals.

Yet he showed no sign of gaining weight, leaving Emma and Mary envious enough to spur them to train harder.

Indeed, they were still upstairs cultivating now.

Knock knock knock.

He knocked on the door.

Emma, dressed only in pajamas, dashed over, opened the door, and expertly took the massive axe steak from Louis’s hand.

While eating, she chattered about school gossip.

Of course, the focus was on Yulunka’s gossip.

She said Yulunka was now the student council’s grade representative; due to Kristina’s mistake, she’d been severely reprimanded by the principal, and a new election was likely coming soon.

Yulunka seemed determined to win.

And the murder case—the police found nothing, so they pinned it on some fringe cult; after all, that smiling symbol looked similar enough.

“Yulunka’s so capable, maybe she’ll become president someday, heh,” Emma muttered sarcastically.

Louis said nothing, chewing a piece of steak, lost in thought.

He’d once treated those around him casually, but since obtaining the visualization chart, he’d developed other ideas.

These people were born as his core team—if he ever built a power base, they were his natural confidants, too valuable to waste.

And each had unique talents—wasting them would be sheer folly!

Yulunka, for instance, was perfect for politics—perhaps she could become a politician, gaining more official influence.

Emma had decent talent—she could be his personal attendant, yes, and primary cultivation partner.

Mary the cutie would become a master alchemist, and publicly, a math prodigy, moving freely in academic circles.

Maria, with her innate talent as a soul-devouring ghost-eater and her absolute devotion to him, could be cultivated into his right-hand and left-hand in the occult realm.

Madison, of course—her witch talent was immense; for a pauper like Louis, she was a treasure trove, impossible to abandon.

Five people, each with their own use.

But still not enough—medicine, capital, the underworld…

Suitable candidates would appear eventually.

Should he plant the gu in Emma now?

Louis hesitated for an instant.

After a moment of silence, Louis interrupted Emma’s chatter and handed the choice to her.

Emma froze, then, without emotional outburst, mimicked Louis’s chin-stroking gesture: “If you plant the gu in me, will you give me more?”

“Depends.”

“Fine, then do it. Honestly, after all this time, I thought we’d have a bit more trust—but you’re exactly the same as before. Tsk. Of course you are, bastard.” Emma cursed, yet as she did, her lips curled into an unexpected smile.

Louis smiled too, planting the new blood gu into Emma.

Emma shook her head. “That’s it? I feel nothing.”

Louis didn’t stop—he began probing her acupoints. Emma frowned but didn’t resist, only said: “Are you in heat? I don’t mind it’s you, but aren’t we a bit too young?”

“David would probably kill you if he found out.”

Thinking of this, Emma’s lips curled into a mischievous grin, and she began pulling off her clothes.

Louis quickly grabbed her wrist. “I’ll teach you a Jade Maiden Art first—it enhances charm and cultivation. Do it after you’ve mastered it.”

“Hah! Bastard, you finally admitted it!” Emma didn’t react with excitement over the new art; instead, she seized his slip and launched into a scolding.

Louis didn’t argue—he was right; what was there to dispute?

Still, Emma’s personality had changed a lot.

Looks like my training over the years paid off~

After some banter, Emma began listening seriously to Louis’s instruction.

The Jade Maiden Art was a dark technique, but its methods varied: some used beautiful women to extract corpse oil, a brutal shortcut; others took virgin heart’s blood through demonic paths; still others followed the orthodox furnace-and-cauldron cultivation path…

Louis taught her the orthodox furnace-and-cauldron path, which better accumulated Primordial Yin—though charm rose slowly, it carried no side effects.

It also slightly accelerated her Qi cultivation.

But Louis’s teaching ability was poor, and Emma wasn’t a genius in comprehension—so in the end, he had to strip her down and demonstrate it step by step.

…

He taught Emma the Jade Maiden Art and planted the gu.

Louis then found Yulunka.

When he found her, Yulunka was wearing glasses, scribbling furiously at her desk; leaning over, he saw she’d written many suggestions on student governance.

Seeing Louis, Yulunka removed her glasses, flicked her golden hair back behind her ears, and looked at him: “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Compared to Emma, Yulunka was more mature—naturally, due to age—but in thinking style, the two differed greatly.

Louis thus leaned slightly toward Emma, yet in truth, Yulunka’s help was no less valuable than Emma’s—perhaps even more effortless.

Just as with Emma, Louis didn’t hide anything—he told her about the blood gu.

But Yulunka’s reaction, like Emma’s, exceeded his expectations.

Instinctively, Yulunka reached to adjust her glasses—only to find nothing there. After putting them back on, her gaze sharpened: “Excellent.”

“Louis, have you checked whether modern instruments can detect this? If not, it’s perfect!”

“And what’s the control range? How flexible are the prohibitions? Could someone exploit loopholes in the wording?”

(End of Chapter)