Chapter 155: Golden Shadow Talisman and Corpse Soul Gu Worms

Come out.

In a certain dense forest, Yunhe looked at the quiet woods and said.

Wuu!!

Hearing his voice, sure enough, beneath a large tree, after a twist, the small fox's snow‑white, fur‑exploded figure appeared, running up as if seeking credit.

Its three fluffy tails spread, revealing that under the wrapping of heavy demonic power, a gold stone the size of two fists continuously emitted lightning; upon contacting the fox's demonic power it made a 'hissing' sound, seeming hard to sustain.

Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence!

This big?

Although he had expected it, upon truly seeing these two fist‑sized pieces of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, Yunhe still couldn't help showing surprise.

This piece, plus the five various‑sized Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence he had previously gathered, is already enough to forge a magic treasure.

Moreover, it is a magic treasure made entirely of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence as the main material!

You should know.

With the fox's current cultivation base, using demonic power to wrap and support this unrefined piece of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence is already somewhat hard to maintain; if other materials were added to forge an implement, even without refinement its power would not be weak, right?

"Well done." Yunhe sincerely praised.

He took that piece of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence from the fox's tail.

Wuu——

Hearing that, the fox opened its mouth and gave a satisfied, simple‑minded chuckle twice.

Immediately afterwards it realized and hurriedly said that this gold stone is mysteriously linked to the earlier Thunder Horn Mystic Crystal Crocodile; we must leave quickly, or else it might catch up.

As for that, Yunhe naturally knows it even better.

Like the poison flood dragon in the previous secret realm, this Thunder Horn Mystic Crystal Crocodile also possesses a special sense for what it guards.

This is both because of the bond formed over long coexistence between demon beasts and objects, and because as the demon beast's cultivation base grows, its spiritual awareness increases; sometimes a beast's perception surpasses that of a cultivator.

In fact, even Yunhe now has an unseen connection to Huanhu Dao, where he has long lived.

If another demon beast were to rashly enter Huanhu Dao, he might possibly sense it.

Just as many demon beasts can instantly detect when another demon beast invades their territory.

Don't worry.

Yunhe flipped his paw, and that piece of Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence vanished from sight.

As for that, the fox wasn't surprised either, after all Yunhe's storage bag is no secret to it.

Unbeknownst to him, storing the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence in a storage bag is useless in this case; he directly transmitted the stone to the hand of his Cultivator Body.

Naturally, perhaps because the Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence is too large, after the transmission he felt a wave of mental fatigue.

One turtle and one fox headed back toward Huanhu Dao.

"What a pity—although the second exploration of the Abyssal Gulch yielded a decent harvest, obtaining so much Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence, yet we still couldn't find the imagined high‑level demon beast bones, the "Cut Immortal Strategy," and thus cannot forge it."

"Perhaps we can start from the Cultivator Body side. In terms of resources, the Demon Beast Body side is certainly richer, and much richer, but its resources are mostly random—what you get depends entirely on luck. If we talk about finding a specific item, the Cultivator Body side has a higher probability due to better resource utilization."

Returned to Huanhu Dao.

Yunhe ordered his subordinates to go on alert; he could not completely rule out the possibility of the Thunder Horn Mystic Crystal Crocodile coming to attack.

He then returned to his own cave abode.

Besides cultivation, he began to silently recall and comprehend the techniques he possessed.

Whether they belong to the Cultivator Body or the Demon Beast Body.

Although the techniques cultivated by demon beasts and cultivators differ greatly, the Great Dao reaches the same goal by different paths; drawing analogies is also a form of inspiration.

The world of cultivation.

Upper Cloud Realm, near Hornfield Island.

"Cloud Beast, it's a Cloud Beast!"

"Quick! Quickly tear open the Immortal Master's Immortal Talisman!"

A fishing boat sailing on the Cloud Sea was violently rocking, as if it might capsize at any moment.

Behind the boat, a huge cloud beast resembling a fish opened its blood‑filled maw bristling with sharp teeth, poised to crush the fishing boat.

On the wooden boat's gunwale, the dark‑skinned fishermen looked tense but not panicked, especially the Fish Boss, who steadfastly held the rail with a solemn expression.

He had already torn off the Immortal Talisman left by the Immortal Master; soon the Immortal Master would act to deal with this seemingly ferocious cloud beast.

Buzz——

The dense buzzing of bee wings transmitted.

"Here they come! Here they come! These are the Immortal Master's Immortal Bees!"

"How fast! Isn't there still a considerable distance to Hornfield Island?"

"This is the prowess of our Immortal Master: within a hundred‑li radius of Hornfield Island's Cloud Sea region, as soon as the Immortal Talisman left by the Immortal Master is torn, the Immortal Master's bee swarm will arrive immediately, and all the cloud beasts—"

Before the speaker finished, a great mass of scarlet‑gold spirit bees coalesced into a double‑colored cloud; merely sweeping past the cloud beast, the beast vanished completely.

Watching the swiftly departing colored cloud, the mortals on the gunwale knelt one by one, continuously kowtowing in gratitude.

Since the Immortal Master arrived at Hornfield Island, the lives of the island's residents have been getting better and better.

Aside from favorable weather, the main point is that they no longer need to worry about the cloud beast's harassment and can go out to fish with peace of mind.

With ample catches, their days naturally improved.

Even.

Because of the Immortal Master's arrival, some merchant caravans coming to Hornfield Island to purchase goods also showed increased respect, even raising the price they paid for fish.

At this very moment, the Immortal Master whom the Hornfield Island residents sincerely grateful for stands before his cave abode, basking in sunlight while sipping spiritual liquid from a small‑mouth crimson wine gourd.

"When in closed‑door cultivation, time flies."

In the blink of an eye, he has already resided in Hornfield Island for three years.

Three years' time, to him now, is merely a moment, and far from enough to let him cultivate to the perfection of Foundation Establishment.

The reason he left seclusion is also because there are some matters that need to be handled.

The first matter.

During these three years, he continuously explored and deeply studied the spirit patterns emanating from the Gold Shadow Six-Winged Bee's body, eventually achieving some success; he successfully drew a talisman pattern, and after multiple attempts, finally produced a spirit talisman.

Moreover, it is a third-stage spirit talisman!

The main materials are talisman paper made from the leather of a second-stage late metal-type demon beast, and the blood of a second-stage late metal-type demon beast, plus some fine powder ground from other spiritual plants.

As for this spirit talisman, Yunhe named it the 'Gold Shadow Talisman'!

With a flip of his palm, the Gold Shadow Talisman fell into his hand.

"Whether it's truly a third-stage spirit talisman, we'll know after a test."

He infused his magical power into the spirit talisman, then slapped it onto himself.

The next moment.

Surging spiritual power spread out; under Yunhe's gaze, two shadows nearly identical to him appeared at his sides.

As for this, he was not surprised at all.

Because when he figured out this 'Gold Shadow' talisman pattern, he had already roughly guessed its function.

What pleased him somewhat was that the two appearing shadows were almost substantive; whether in expression or gaze, they were no different from himself.

Most importantly, they could not be distinguished by divine sense!

Being able to confuse divine sense means that these two shadows can serve the following purpose.

Whether in magical combat or while fleeing, they can confuse opponents and shift the target's gaze.

Just the fact that divine sense cannot differentiate them means this talisman definitely reaches the third-stage level!

This also means that Yunhe's talisman dao level has finally barely entered the third-stage lower-grade talisman master realm.

"Interesting, this 'Gold Shadow' is merely a part extracted from the spirit patterns on the Gold Shadow Six-Winged Bee's body; I don't know what discoveries other spirit patterns might bring."

Through understanding and learning the spirit patterns of the Gold Shadow Six-Winged Bee, perhaps it could also help him interpret the 'Dragon Scale Pattern'.

After testing the 'Gold Shadow Talisman,' the second matter follows.

Yunhe came to the corpse-refining chamber of his cave dwelling.

Under his command, the Heavenly Capital Corpse lying still on the ground rose to its feet.

After locking gazes with the Heavenly Capital Corpse's dull, lifeless eyes for a moment, a glint appeared in Yunhe's pupils.

He suddenly let out a low shout.

Immediately after, he formed hand seals with both hands.

From his wrist crawled out a strange, oddly gray creature resembling a bizarre worm.

Corpse Soul Gu!

More accurately, this is actually the appearance formed by many Corpse Soul Gu gathered together, Corpse Soul Gu worm!

As Yunhe lightly shook his wrist, the creature, with dozens of fine hair-like legs and a body somewhat like a centipede, leapt onto the Heavenly Capital Corpse and quickly moved to its back.

A strange scene appeared.

The Corpse Soul Gu worm seemed to possess, gradually merging from the position of the Heavenly Capital Corpse's spine.

Moreover, its fine hair-like legs, especially those from the head, slowly merged with the Heavenly Capital Corpse's spine and meridians.

And at the instant the Corpse Soul Gu worm merged with the Heavenly Capital Corpse, the corpse's dull eyes suddenly flashed with vigor.

Although it still looks somewhat uncoordinated, as the merging time continues, the Heavenly Capital Corpse becomes more like a living being rather than a refined corpse.

Or put more accurately, it now resembles a corpse cultivator.

"With corpse control method, corpse gu, and Corpse Soul Gu working together, this Heavenly Capital Corpse can almost be considered my avatar."

Yunhe muttered a laugh.

After three years of cultivation, the Corpse Soul Gu, this extremely difficult-to-cultivate gu worm, has finally taken initial shape.

Back then, he fortuitously obtained three Corpse Soul Gu worms; after a long period of trial and exploration, consuming a considerable cost, he barely managed to cultivate one into a mother gu, while the other two perished in his attempts.

But the result was still good.

The Corpse Soul Gu not only makes the Heavenly Capital Corpse look alive, but also gives Yunhe more means to deal with souls and ghosts.

Without exaggeration, the Corpse Soul Gu is absolutely the bane of ghosts.

Moreover, after the Heavenly Capital Corpse combined with the Corpse Soul Gu, Yunhe's expression became slightly strange.

"I feel we can use the Heavenly Capital Corpse to fox-borrow the tiger's might."

"But we need to wait for the Corpse Soul Gu to grow a bit longer; ideally we can cultivate more offspring gu, letting the Corpse Soul Gu worm and the Heavenly Capital Corpse harmonize better. That way, even cultivators whose divine sense is somewhat stronger than mine, as long as they are not at Late Jie Dan Stage, would likely be unable to see through its corpse-refining identity."

But before that, he needs to go out for a trip.

The grand exchange gathering held every five years on Horned Flood Dragon Island is about to begin.

His goals for this outing are clear, totaling three.

First, corpses of high-level demon beasts; second, Golden Core spiritual items or elixirs that increase the chances of Golden Core formation.

Third, for refining his natal magic treasure, he considers using 'Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence' as the main material; it's not simply a matter of melting them together and then shaping them into an instrument.

"Heavenly Thunder Gold Essence' is both thunder and metal; metal governs slaughter, while thunder also represents slaughter and destruction."

To fully exert the effects of both, he needs to carefully plan the refining process and the auxiliary materials to be added; this is not a minor project and requires early planning.

———

PS: Today's 1.1w, ask for monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)