New Gu

"Shopkeeper Xu, five pieces, five Blood Marrow Crystals. Look at the quality of these Poisonous Insects of mine; they're full of wild spirit and top-tier goods. Don't let the fact that they aren't graded fool you; even ordinary low-grade Gu worms couldn't beat them in a fight."

"Four. I can go up to four at most. We're both people who know our stuff; these ungraded Poisonous Insects are delicate and weak. This trip covers hundreds of miles, and it's a long road. If they drop dead halfway, I'll be the one taking a huge loss."

After quite a bit of haggling, even though Su Jie boasted about his Poisonous Insects to the heavens and sold them all to several small shops, the total he earned was a mere 25 Blood Marrow Crystals.

This was already the sum of what Su Jie had managed to scrape together over an entire month.

From this money, he still had to pay Old Daoist Qiu 10 Blood Marrow Crystals every month, not to mention his own cultivation expenses.

This was why Su Jie had lived a miserable, penny-pinching life ever since joining Ghost Ridge Palace.

He could only stare longingly at anything good he saw, unable to pull more than a few Blood Marrow Crystals from his pockets.

"Damn it, one day I'm going to buy out this entire Black Market."

Su Jie muttered to himself. On Blue Star, he had been a big spender, but back in the Tianyuan World, he was nothing but a pauper; the psychological gap was far from small.

Although Su Jie could bring resources from Blue Star to sell in the Black Market, he immediately dismissed the thought after considering the risks involved.

He didn't dare test the methods of the Ghost Ridge Palace Elders. Without the strength to hold onto vast wealth, one would only find a dead end in the cruel environment of demonic cultivation.

Once Su Jie finished his business, he headed to the center of the Black Market, the meeting spot he had agreed upon with Peng Shiwen.

Before he even got close, the faint sounds of wailing and sobbing made his skin crawl.

The street at the center of the Black Market was unique; what was bought and sold here were neither spiritual items and elixirs, nor magical artifacts and talismans, but living human beings.

Men, women, the old, and the young—ordinary people were packed into iron cages, their necks, hands, and feet bound by iron chains. Most of their faces were numb and rigid, devoid of even a shred of hope.

Many demonic cultivator disciples of Ghost Ridge Palace were picking and choosing in front of these cages, haggling with the stall owners.

How much for a sturdy man? How much for a woman? How much for a bundle of the elderly, weak, and disabled?

The feeling was just like buying sheep or cattle; people were treated like livestock waiting to be selected.

Demonic cultivators, demonic cultivators—they refined corpses, extracted souls, and performed blood sacrifices with living people.

Whether it was practicing demonic arts, forging demonic artifacts, or drawing demonic arrays, none of it could be done without one thing: living people.

Humans were the greatest resource needed by demonic cultivators, and they were indispensable.

Most of the people brought here by slave merchants, once taken back by Ghost Ridge Palace disciples, would end up serving as fodder for Gu worms.

This was done to cultivate the ferocity and cannibalistic nature of the Gu worms, which could accelerate their growth.

Su Jie came from a modern civilized society; he had been extremely shocked when he first saw this, but he had slowly grown accustomed to it.

He couldn't change others, but he himself had never purchased a human being from here.

"Brother Su, sorry to keep you waiting."

Just as he was watching, Peng Shiwen hurried over.

Su Jie noticed that his hands were empty.

"You didn't buy the medicine?"

Su Jie was surprised, then realized something and said speechlessly, "Did you go to Wancai Pavilion again?"

The so-called Wancai Pavilion was a casino, one specifically opened for cultivators, equipped with special gambling tools and restrictions to prevent cheating.

With many Ghost Ridge Palace Elders holding shares in it, no one dared to cause trouble.

This casino had been operating quite prosperously in the Black Market, and because of the pressure he was under, Peng Shiwen would occasionally go in to play a few hands.

"I couldn't help myself, thinking I could win more money to buy better medicine, but my luck was a bit off today. That... Brother Su, could you..."

Peng Shiwen rubbed his hands together, looking at Su Jie with some expectation.

"It's getting late, let's head back quickly. If we're late, Strange Ghosts will appear in the mountains, and it'll be a huge problem if we run into them, especially with your left leg injured."

Su Jie understood Peng Shiwen's hint, but he pretended not to.

What a joke; he was a pauper himself, so where would he find the money to help out? Besides, their relationship wasn't close enough for that.

Peng Shiwen looked dejected and gave a dry laugh. "Haha, you're right. Anyway, my injury isn't serious. Even without medicine, it just means I can't do strenuous exercise for a month. I'll just rest for a month, that's all."

"As long as you know what you're doing."

Su Jie nodded, and the two walked back along the original path, leaving the Black Market without another word.

The location of the Insect Valley.

The depths of this Insect Valley were shrouded in poisonous miasma, while the outskirts were crawling with poisonous creatures. It was the most important resource treasure trove of Ghost Ridge Palace and the main source of income for its disciples.

Bang!

As a black shadow lunged, several Silver-winged Golden Cicadas resting on the treetops quickly flapped their wings, trying to flee.

The next second, the black shadow closed in, and dozens of pale, eerie human hands descended, blocking the flight path of the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas.

These finger-sized Silver-winged Golden Cicadas were not to be trifled with; their speed surged, and like bullets fired with force, they streaked through the air in brilliant golden and silver rainbows, piercing through several of the pale hands.

Slap, slap, slap!

However, there were too many hands; they pressed down in layers, eventually restricting their movements and firmly grasping them.

Su Jie walked out from several dozen meters away and beckoned to the Thousand-Hand Centipede.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede climbed down from the large tree and handed over several Silver-winged Golden Cicadas. Su Jie examined the quality of these Silver-winged Golden Cicadas, nodded in satisfaction, and then bit his fingertip, dripping blood mixed with spiritual power onto the insects.

"Control!"

With a low shout, the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas, which had been struggling incessantly, gradually quieted down. Finally, they perched on Su Jie's fingertip, sucking his blood to memorize his scent.

"I've just about reached my current control limit."

Su Jie pondered to himself. Several days had passed since his trip to the Black Market, and during this time, he had been taking the Thousand-Hand Centipede into the Insect Valley for training.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede honed its combat skills through battle, while Su Jie took the opportunity to capture Poisonous Insects to sell.

For the Poisonous Insects that were suitable, Su Jie would keep them to refine into his own Gu worms, such as these unranked Silver-winged Golden Cicadas before him.

"Go!"

Under Su Jie's control, all five Silver-winged Golden Cicadas took flight, soaring at subsonic speeds and embedding themselves ten centimeters deep into the trees.

Shake, shake!

After breaking free, the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas wobbled and circled in the air a few times. Once they shook off their dizziness, they were controlled by Su Jie to fly again, their sharp cicada wings fluttering up and down, easily slicing through thinner tree branches.

Su Jie flicked his right sleeve, and dozens of massive Yin Fire Blood Bees flew into the sky simultaneously, the dense sound of their wings buzzing like a passing bomber.

They were much slower than the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas, but they could spray a thin line of fire from their tails, easily igniting the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground.

"The Silver-winged Golden Cicadas plus the Yin Fire Blood Bees—these two types of Gu worms will suffice."

Su Jie recalled the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas and Yin Fire Blood Bees from the sky. With his current strength at the third level of the Spirit Nurturing Realm, combined with the Thousand-Hand Centipede, the number of Gu worms he could control had reached its limit.

Moreover, more Gu worms were not necessarily better; one had to consider a suitable combat system.

Both the Yin Fire Blood Bees and the Silver-winged Golden Cicadas were relatively powerful varieties among unranked Gu worms.

The Yin Fire Blood Bees could fly and perform ranged attacks, acting like marksmen.

The Silver-winged Golden Cicadas were fast with swift, fierce attacks, much like assassins capable of killing in a single strike.

Adding the Low-grade First Refinement Thousand-Hand Centipede for close-quarters entanglement, a simple combat system was complete.

Su Jie did not intend to upgrade the Yin Fire Blood Bees and Silver-winged Golden Cicadas too much for now by feeding them large quantities of Poisonous Insects from Blue Star.

Unlike his natal Gu worm, the Thousand-Hand Centipede, Su Jie had to act within his means when controlling other Gu worms.

Higher-level Gu worms were often more ferocious and brutal; once one's strength was insufficient, or the master was injured, there was a risk of the Gu worms turning against them and attacking in retaliation.