Killing People, Selling Corpses, Raiding Homes

The person in the lead glanced at Su Jie and Peng Shiwen, who was already a corpse on the ground. He took out a roster, found the page with portraits of Su Jie and Peng Shiwen, and said indifferently, "Su Jie, you've murdered a fellow disciple. You know the rules, right?"

"I understand. I'll be responsible for paying Peng Shiwen's monthly dues to Master."

Su Jie answered immediately. The higher-ups of Ghost Ridge Palace didn't care about fights between outer disciples. After all, such disciples were just expendable resources in their eyes. As long as the monthly dues were paid, everything else was negotiable.

This was also why outer disciples rarely killed each other; they mainly focused on robbing.

Even if they killed someone, they would destroy the body and conceal the evidence in a place where no one could see it. Otherwise, if the monthly dues piled up, killing someone meant you had to pay their dues as well, which was too high a price.

"Are you selling the body? A corpse at the third level of the Spirit Nurturing Realm. I'll give you thirty Blood Marrow Crystals."

Another enforcement team member spoke up, asking for Peng Shiwen's corpse on the ground.

The corpses of cultivators contained Spiritual Energy and were precious resources for Devilish Cultivators.

As for buying and selling the corpses of fellow disciples, it wasn't a big deal for Devilish Cultivators. They only valued strength, not benevolence or morality.

"Yes, I'll sell it."

Su Jie didn't hesitate. He could make back some of the money he lost from Peng Shiwen's unpaid monthly dues with this.

"You're very good."

The enforcement officer smiled, patted Su Jie's shoulder, handed him thirty Blood Marrow Crystals, and then dragged the corpse away without looking back.

Weighing the money bag filled with Blood Marrow Crystals in his hand, Su Jie felt a surge of emotion.

The living Peng Shiwen couldn't obtain twenty Blood Marrow Crystals, yet his corpse was sold for thirty after death. It was truly a great irony.

Shaking his head to dispel the slight sadness in his mind, Su Jie turned and went to the adjacent stone cave, which was Peng Shiwen's room, intending to thoroughly ransack it.

If he didn't search it, others would. It was better to get something than let others have it.

The room, with its basic layout, also had simple furniture and a meditation cushion. Perhaps because he had lost all his possessions gambling last time, Su Jie didn't find a single Blood Marrow Crystal in his room, only a few low-grade Gu worms.

"Huh? What's this?"

Suddenly, Su Jie made an unexpected discovery under a meditation cushion.

A thin sheet of gold paper, covered in writing.

Secret Manual of the Gu Master - Wild Path Technique for Controlling Worms

Su Jie's eyes lit up when he saw the title of the scripture on the gold paper. It was actually about cultivation techniques.

He then looked at the author below and saw a line of small text.

'This scripture is only for inner disciples to read.'

Seeing this line, Su Jie was stunned. It was actually a scripture for inner disciples.

There wasn't much text on the scripture, just over ten thousand characters in total. Su Jie examined it carefully and quickly understood what it was about.

Just like the scripture's name, it taught how to master refined techniques for controlling Gu worms, including commanding them, releasing them, and using Gu poisons, all of which Su Jie had previously overlooked and not mastered.

"Where did Peng Shiwen get this good thing? Did he steal it from some inner disciple?"

Su Jie muttered, thinking of Peng Shiwen's uncanny lock-picking skills. It wasn't impossible.

He tucked the scripture, "Wild Path Technique for Controlling Worms," into his clothes. Regardless of how Peng Shiwen obtained it, this treasure now belonged to Su Jie.

After searching Peng Shiwen's room again and confirming there was nothing else, Su Jie returned to his own room. He eagerly sat on his meditation cushion and took out the still-warm scripture, "Wild Path Technique for Controlling Worms."

This scripture was very easy to understand, focusing on the micro-management of Gu worms. Even with Su Jie's talent, it wasn't difficult to learn.

An hour later, having gained some insights, Su Jie caught a dragonfly, dripped a drop of his blood into it, and infused it with his Spiritual Energy.

In an instant, the struggling dragonfly became still, its small eyes staring blankly at Su Jie.

"Heart and soul connected, knowledge breaks through the path!"

With a soft chant and a hand seal, Su Jie's vision shifted. He saw the ceiling, the walls, and almost the entire stone cave.

Su Jie's vision was now shared with the dragonfly's. Everything the dragonfly saw was transmitted to Su Jie in real-time.

The dragonfly's eyes had a special compound structure, allowing it to see objects within almost a 360-degree range, giving it an extremely wide field of vision.

Coupled with the dragonfly's small size, making it difficult to detect, and its high speed and hovering ability, it was a very useful reconnaissance insect.

Buzz!

Under Su Jie's command, the dragonfly quickly flew up, darting around the room, and accurately responding to any of Su Jie's commands.

In the past, Su Jie found it very difficult to finely control ordinary insects. Insects had too small a brain capacity to understand many of Su Jie's commands, let alone share vision.

Now, with the secret technique for controlling worms, he could control ordinary insects anytime and anywhere. Coupled with vision sharing, reconnaissance alone had achieved a qualitative leap.

"Not bad, not bad. With reconnaissance insects, I'll have a significant advantage in scouting. Traveling back and forth with the ancient mirror will also be safer."

Su Jie nodded with satisfaction. The ancient mirror's dimensional travel was his greatest secret, and he couldn't be too careful.

Su Jie then beckoned the Thousand-Hand Centipede over. He placed his right hand on its head carapace and poured in more than half of his Spiritual Energy.

Hiss!

The next moment, the Thousand-Hand Centipede stood on its hind legs, its speed and strength greatly increased. It lunged forward like a black whirlwind, leaving a basin-sized pit on the stone cave wall with its bites.

The pale, human-like hands beneath its abdomen stretched out like boneless snakes, suddenly elongating by a considerable length. Half the stone cave was filled with afterimages of these hands, a terrifying sight.

This is a secret technique of the Gu worm control method, the same one Peng Shiwen used to strengthen the golden toad before.

This technique can maximize the use of the host's Spiritual Energy to activate the Gu worm's combat instincts, making it more ferocious and powerful. Afterward, the Gu worm will be listless for several days, making it the best choice for a desperate fight.

"No wonder the inner disciples are so strong. Their starting point is so much higher than ours."

Su Jie sighed inwardly. Fortunately, he had mastered the low-grade first refinement Thousand-Hand Centipede and could travel between worlds, using resources from Blue Star to catch up.

Take today's battle for example. Without the ancient mirror's ability to travel between worlds, he would still be at the second layer of Spirit Infusion, with no means to contend with Peng Shiwen. Su Jie would have died today.

"I still have to rely on you!"

He patted the ancient mirror, and Su Jie thought of what Old Daoist Qiu had mentioned today.

Peng Shiwen was nothing compared to the Strange Ghosts, which were truly terrifying. Ordinary outer disciples would be slaughtered by the Strange Ghosts in a one-on-one fight.

"In ten days, we still have to patrol the mountains and fight the Strange Ghosts. Trouble is brewing! I must quickly enhance my strength and obtain more resources from Blue Star to accelerate my cultivation progress."

He let out a long sigh and looked at an axe placed in the corner. It seemed he would have to be a lumberjack again for a while.