Chapter 439: Gu Cultivation Pill

If there really is still one Heavenly Corpse Poison Worm inside the Heavenly Insect Sect, then Yunhe must be careful, careful, and careful again.

One Heavenly Corpse Poison Worm would throw the entire Eastern Border cultivation world into turmoil; whether it's the Abyss Clan rebellion or the Sea Clan rebellion, more or less its shadow can be seen.

Even the demon clan incidents in the Southern Frontier and Southern Border might have some relation to it.

This made Yunhe think that "perhaps everything major is related to it", and even made him feel that just relying on the Heavenly Corpse Poison Worm could possibly overturn the entire Eastern Border cultivation world.

If such an existence were not just one but two, then he would have to reassess the current Eastern Border cultivation world.

"Indeed, none."

Holding the storage bag of that Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse, he easily erased its imprint, infused his divine sense and swept it; after that Yunhe shook his head and found no treasure related to the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique".

He stood in the main hall of the Heavenly Insect Sect, looking at this hall that once should have been magnificent now in a state of utter decay, and a sigh inevitably rose in his heart.

Even just its current ruined appearance reveals its former towering grandeur, showing that the Heavenly Insect Sect truly deserved the title of "great sect".

The "Technique Pavilion" outside the main hall had already been checked by him when he first arrived here; it contained no information related to the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique".

"Roar!!!"

The brilliant golden light flashed and vanished, and the two Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Swords flew back to his side.

Feeling the immense power transmitted from the Monster-Subduing Armor, Yunhe's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Soon he felt a formation power obstructing his divine sense.

A bestial roar, like that of a wild beast, came from within the passage.

The benefits of continually practicing, studying, and comprehending the Twelve Heavenly Stars Great Formation gradually came to light.

Whoosh—

Boom!!

Unable to directly lock onto what he needed to find, plus the possible hidden danger, Yunhe also dared not act recklessly.

Breaking a Fourth Level mid-tier formation still poses some difficulty for Yunhe, but a formation that has existed for thousands of years or even longer, now in ruins, is not that hard for him.

Yet such a powerful sect silently vanished into the river of history.

A huge, dull roar suddenly exploded; the Monster-Subduing Armor trembled slightly, and that cauldron was also flung away.

Suddenly.

Moreover, it is an unattended formation.

Yunhe's figure flickered.

"The one who set up the formation is interesting, using both a bright and a dark formation linked together. If it weren't ruined, it might not be so easy to discover."

Yunhe's expression unchanged, obviously he had long been prepared; at the moment the ancient bronze cauldron flew out, he raised his palm and a small shield appeared.

Standing outside the formation, Yunhe's eyes flickered, as if countless stars were undergoing chaotic motion in his pupils.

"Master."

Like the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique", a sect's true transmission method would not be placed in an external "Technique Pavilion"; usually there is a dedicated elder guarding the transmission.

Even though it has been destroyed for so long, some formations remaining in the Heavenly Insect Sect still possess considerable power.

Earlier, when he swept with his divine sense, he discovered that within this true mountain gate area of the Heavenly Insect Sect, there are three places his divine sense cannot penetrate.

Boom—!!

Like a clap of thunder.

The hazy formation before him gradually became clear; amidst the gray-white mist, a narrow passage slowly opened.

The cultivators of the Heavenly Insect Sect seem to favor using ancient treasures; his first ancient treasure, that ancient bronze-colored brick, was obtained from the Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse refined by the sect's cultivators.

"Ancient treasure?"

"The path of cultivation: advance or retreat; no matter how glorious once was, once fallen, it ends as merely a handful of loess."

It feels like having solved a difficult problem set, then when solving a relatively easy one, the difficulty and angle seem completely different—an illusion.

Yunhe formed seals with both hands, mana surged from his body, and the light in his eyes grew ever brighter.

Soon.

He set aside his feelings.

At the moment the passage appeared, a palm-sized ancient bronze cauldron shot out at great speed.

The "Technique Pavilion" outside is likely for outer disciples, or non-core disciples, to seek cultivation methods.

Yunhe swept out his divine sense.

"We can only search bit by bit."

He went steadily and calmly toward the nearest place where his divine sense cannot enter.

Yunhe flicked his fingers, and two streams of light flew from his sleeves.

"Fourth Level mid-tier formation."

In Yunhe's sea of consciousness came the cheerful voice of the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword artifact spirit, "Gorgeous Colors".

A place that should have been a pavilion with terraces, water, birdsong, and fragrance, now littered with debris; a hazy formation flickers light and dark, guarding this place.

"That guy is so weak."

The formation's gray mist dissipated further, revealing the entity that attacked him—a Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse that has lost all movement.

However.

This is actually a Fourth Level early-stage Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse!

From its tattered clothing, this person was once a Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Insect Sect.

"Because you subdued it."

Yunhe said with a smile, then lifted his foot and walked toward that Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse.

Refining corpses, this kind of existence filled with corpse-killing qi, being restrained by heavenly thunder power, the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword naturally finds it easy to deal with.

Moreover, it is merely a Fourth Level early-stage Heavenly Capital Poison Worm corpse.

Speaking without exaggeration, given the current Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword's abilities and its possessed spiritual intelligence, even without Yunhe driving it, dealing with an early Yuan Ying Cultivator is no problem.

Even so, when facing a mid Yuan Ying Cultivator, the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword's Five Elements power and heavenly thunder power can still hold its own for a round or two.

This is the characteristic of a spiritual treasure.

Of course, more importantly.

This Heavenly Capital Gu Corpse merely has a body but no Yuan Ying, and the gap compared to a true early Yuan Ying Cultivator is still quite large.

"However, this ancient treasure is not bad; it can actually shake the Supporting Demon Armor, and its power exceeds that of a normal Fourth Level Mid magical treasure."

He raised his hand and sucked in, taking the bronze ancient cauldron into his hand.

The ancient treasure's function and use are singular, but its power is great; however, resources in the cultivation world are now scarce, and the methods for forging those high-power ancient treasures have gradually been lost because the materials cannot be gathered, and the forging techniques have also gradually ceased to be passed down.

At the same time, cultivators are the most adaptable beings; when resources are scarce, they study the art of forging, which is how the myriad varieties and multifunctional magical treasures of today came to be.

This ancient treasure's power is not bad; it can first make up for the lack of offensive means of the external incarnation.

"Well, it's not a bad gain."

However, what disappointed Yunhe somewhat was that he did not find a storage pouch on this refined corpse.

Moreover, this refined corpse, lacking a corpse-transformed Yuan Ying, is actually not very useful for him now.

"Better than nothing."

After putting it away, Yunhe then looked into the formation.

"An alchemy room?"

Inside the formation was actually an alchemy room, with a huge furnace cauldron placed within, except that there was a sizable notch on it, appearing as if it had been damaged.

"Was that person an alchemist of the Heavenly Insect Sect?"

Most cultivators of the Heavenly Insect Sect are insect controllers and gu controllers, but that does not mean such cultivators do not need to cultivate or need Elixir; in fact, their demand for Elixir is even greater than that of ordinary cultivators.

Because insect-controlling and gu-controlling cultivators must spend a large amount of time on spirit insects and gu insects, their own cultivation time is undoubtedly much less, so to guarantee cultivation progress they must rely on Elixir for maintenance.

Moreover.

Spirit insects and gu insects also require a large amount of Elixir assistance to grow faster.

This point is clearest to Yunhe, who is a gu controller and breeder.

"In that case."

Yunhe extended his divine sense.

"As expected."

His eyes lit up.

Soon, inside the broken great alchemy furnace, he found a prescription engraved upon it.

Nurture Gu Elixir!

Initially, in the Cang Demon Mountain secret realm, the Heavenly Corpse Gu invited Yunhe to cooperate, proposing as conditions the method for gu insects to advance and the use of the 'Black Crystal Divine Herb'.

Although Yunhe at that time did not cooperate with the Heavenly Corpse Gu for that reason, afterward the Heavenly Corpse Gu still faithfully informed him of the advancement method.

That is, every alchemist of the Heavenly Insect Sect has a prescription engraved inside their alchemy furnace.

However, the script used for the engraving is unique to the Heavenly Insect Sect's gu corpses, requiring combination with gu insects and a special secret method to be read.

At that time Yunhe understood that the Heavenly Corpse Gu told him these things merely to lure him back into the Heavenly Insect Sect.

He was skeptical of this, so from the start he did not take it as his goal.

Yet he never expected that there actually was this 'Nurture Gu Elixir' prescription.

Nurture Gu Elixir, as the name suggests, is an Elixir specifically used to cultivate gu insects.

It can help gu insects break their own shackles; not only can it be used to break through strength levels, but with long-term use there is even a certain probability that gu insects can break their species shackles and thus metamorphose and even evolve.

"The method of using the Black Crystal Divine Herb is fine; now the Nurture Gu Elixir is also in hand."

All this indicates that what the Heavenly Corpse Gu said is not problematic.

But sometimes, falsehoods are three parts true and seven parts false, or even nine parts true and one part false; the fewer problems there seem to be in what the Heavenly Corpse Gu says, the more serious the hidden problem actually is.

Yunhe recorded the prescription, then extended his divine sense again.

Unfortunately.

After such a long time, the formation might perhaps still be preserved, but Elixir, spiritual materials, and spiritual plants cannot be stored that long.

After searching again and finding nothing, Yunhe withdrew.

He continued onward to the second place where his divine sense could not penetrate.

But this time, it let him suffer a bit.

Because this second place where his divine sense could not penetrate was actually the cultivation chambers of those former high-level cultivators of the Heavenly Insect Sect!

The moment the formation was undone, a large group of Heavenly Capital Gu Corpses rushed out, including not only third-level Heavenly Capital Gu Corpses comparable to Golden Core cultivators, but also three fourth-level Heavenly Capital Gu Corpses, and even one that had reached the Fourth Level Mid!

Facing such gu corpses, Yunhe could not hold back, and had to use the heavenly thunder power of the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword and the Five Elements Sword Formation to annihilate them all.

As a result, he failed to obtain even his final refined corpse.

However, he did obtain three ancient treasures of varying degrees of damage, which is barely acceptable.

"Whoosh——"

After adjusting his breath for a while, Yunhe arrived at the final place where his divine sense could not penetrate.

"According to what the Heavenly Corpse Gu said, this final place should have been the Heavenly Insect Sect's most important insect chamber and gu chamber originally."

As an insect-controlling and gu-controlling sect, the insect chamber and gu chamber can be said to be second only to the inheritance of techniques.

Even if it contains secret methods for nurturing spirit insects and gu insects, it could be more important than the inheritance of techniques.

And such a place.

Even back then, non-Yuan Ying cultivators of the Heavenly Insect Sect probably lacked the qualifications to enter.

This can be seen from the completeness of the formation preserved here.

Even with Yunhe's current formation Dao level, he cannot forcibly break in.

"This formation is connected to the Heaven Insect Sect's Mountain Guarding Grand Array, built upon a massive spirit vein; it could probably be considered a fifth‑level array."

Gazing at the heavy stone gate before him, Yunhe's expression grew solemn.

A fifth‑level array!

Even though the array has suffered some damage over time, it is not something a Yuan Ying Cultivator or a Fourth Level Array Master can easily enter.

According to the Heaven Corpse Insect, to enter here one must cultivate the Thousand Insects Myriad Bugs Technique and reach at least the Fourth Level.

And Yunhe has already cultivated the Thousand Insects Myriad Bugs Technique to Fourth Level perfection.

So he does not need to destroy the array to enter.

But he stood outside the stone gate, hesitating to approach.

At this moment, Yunhe felt conflicted.

On one hand, he wants to obtain the continuation of the Thousand Insects Myriad Bugs Technique, and it is likely that the interior of this stone gate is the last possible place where it could exist.

On the other hand, after entering this place he encountered many Heaven Capital Insect Corpses but did not meet a Heaven Corpse Insect; the latter is very likely also beyond this stone gate.

If it really is as he guessed, then there really are two Heaven Corpse Insects, and one of them is trapped behind this stone gate.

Then, if he opens it and cannot subdue the opponent, he will release the second one.

He cannot foresee what destruction two Heaven Corpse Insects might wreak upon the present Eastern Border cultivation world.

However, Yunhe actually also harbors some new speculations in his heart.

In the ruins, he encountered many Heaven Capital Insect Corpses, but most of them lacked consciousness—or rather, the Heaven Corpse Insect larvae controlling them lacked consciousness, acting only on instinct, which is very inconsistent with his understanding of Heaven Corpse Insects.

Back in the Cang Demon Mountain Secret Realm, he had also seen a Heaven Corpse Insect whose corpse was comparable to a late‑stage Yuan Ying cultivator's Heaven Capital Insect Corpse, which is very different from these Heaven Capital Insect Corpses.

This indicates that if two Heaven Corpse Insects truly exist, the one here may be in an abnormal state.

But just then, he suddenly felt his body tighten, his form becoming as heavy as Mount Tai, and at the same time a faint voice sounded in his ears.

"A junior of our sect? Since you've come, don't hem and haw—do you really want the Ancestor to invite you in?"

As soon as the voice fell, Yunhe's body was instantly suffused with an extremely thick black aura, and a tremendous force shoved him from behind.

Boom!!

Yunhe only felt a large cloud of dust suddenly rise, his vision abruptly changed, and he found himself in a stone chamber.

His heart suddenly startled, his surging mighty mana condensed into a five‑colored scale armor covering him, and as he opened his mouth, several five‑colored sword lights shot out, swirling rapidly around him.

And that voice sounded again.

"Huh? The Great Five Elements Sect's technique?"

(End of chapter)