Blood Refining Golden Silkworm Succeeds

In the comfortable, cozy, and elegantly furnished Mingxuan.

Chen Dengming, who had just spent a wave of lifespan and consumed six years of it to enhance his spiritual qi affinity, felt somewhat weak.

Taking advantage of the break time, he sipped the goji berry fragrant tea served by Xu Wei and concentrated to view his current panel status in meditation.

Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator [Chen Dengming]

Lifespan: 102/188

Spirit Root: Gold, Wood (Medium-grade 10/100)

Martial Arts: Chen Family Martial Arts General Outline (Perfection 99/100)

Dao Techniques: Gu Refining Chapter (Proficient 43/100), Three Yuan Spirit Gathering Technique (Second Layer 97/200), Life-Damaging Seedling Pulling Technique (First Layer 3.3/100), Great Fireball Technique (Proficient 3/100), Artifact Control Technique (Initiate 19/100), Golden Spear Technique (Initiate 21/100)

Unfortunately, time is simply not enough. With twelve double-hours in a day, practicing the Three Yuan Spirit Gathering Technique twelve times a day takes six double-hours. Eating, drinking, excreting, plus Gu refining and resting take another double-hour. I only have five double-hours left for cultivation.

Although in a spiritual land like the Luo Family, his spiritual qi recovery speed was very fast, coupled with the fact that he was willing to spend spirit stones to restore spiritual qi, cultivating three Dao techniques for five double-hours every day was still stretched to the limit. He wished he could split himself into four or five pieces to divide and conquer his cultivation.

Looking at his current cultivation results, Chen Dengming felt both happy and regretful that time was insufficient and an individual's energy was limited.

Therefore, whenever he saw Xu Wei not cultivating, he would feel it was a great pity, wishing Xu Wei could act as his avatar and help him cultivate.

However, driven by him, Xu Wei had indeed practiced diligently for a long time lately.

According to her, she was about to break through to the Qi Refining First Layer.

As for Chen Dengming, his improvement was even greater, as he could be considered to have fully utilized the "treasure land" resources during this period.

In the Luo Family courtyard where he was located, the concentration of spiritual qi was three times that in the city of the Rogue Cultivator Gathering Place, and about four times that in the wild.

Coupled with daily consumption of the Pure Spirit Pill to enhance spiritual qi affinity, his cultivation speed was even more astonishing. In just forty-three days, he had broken through a realm, and also cultivated the progress of the Qi Refining Second Layer to nearly halfway.

After his strength realm broke through to the second layer, his lifespan increased by another fifteen years, and his lifespan limit reached a whopping 188 years.

The pity was that Dao techniques such as the Great Fireball Technique, the Artifact Control Technique, and the Golden Spear Technique were all roughly on par in level with the Three Yuan Spirit Gathering Technique.

Therefore, neither learning them nor making a breakthrough increased his lifespan.

The only thing that surprised him was that perhaps because the Golden Spear Technique was a metal-attribute Dao technique, cultivating it with his Medium-grade Gold Wood Spirit Root was much faster than practicing the Great Fireball Technique, and it consumed much less spiritual qi.

Therefore, during this period, he had mainly focused his energy on this Dao technique, practicing the fireball technique secondarily, and gradually cultivated this Dao technique to a decent realm.

This also reflected the importance of "companions" in "companions, financial resources, land, and companions in cultivation."

A companion could be a teacher, a friend, or other partners.

If he had a master to guide him early on, he could have avoided many detours.

The most important thing now is still to consider upgrading the medium-grade spirit root to the level of a high-grade one. With my current medium-grade spirit root affinity of 10, wanting to upgrade to the affinity of a high-grade spirit root requires consuming at least one hundred and thirty-five years of lifespan.

This...

Chen Dengming shook his head slightly and blew on the goji berries in his cup.

The extent to which this technique improves spirit root varies from person to person, roughly between a fifty percent and one hundred and twenty percent increase. Based on my initial trial run from the first layer to the second layer, I can increase four points of spiritual qi affinity for every six years of lifespan consumed. After fully cultivating the second layer, I can increase one hundred and twenty points of spiritual qi affinity, which is the maximum possible improvement and already good fortune.

Chen Dengming frowned and pondered for a moment, opened his eyes, shook his head, and walked out of Mingxuan.

For the time being, he did not have that many lives to spend.

After all, he only had eighty-six years left to live right now. The consumption of 135 years of lifespan was truly too high, so he could only slowly consume it little by little in the future to improve.

He had already made up his mind and began to practice the first-rank second-level Wood Escape Technique.

The Wood Escape Technique was higher in level than the Great Fireball Technique and others.

If it did not conflict with the Life-Damaging Seedling Pulling Technique, his lifespan would continue to increase after learning the Wood Escape Technique, which could bring him more sense of security.

But now, the Golden Silkworm Gu was also about to be successfully refined, and the time he could stay in the Luo Family was not much left either.

Even if the refining failed, he might have to pack up and roll out that very day, and perhaps even suffer severe punishment.

By then, when the wall fell everyone would push it, and his cooperative relationship with Xu Ning, the master of the Golden Character Workshop, would definitely change.

The Gathering Place would have no place for him to stand.

In a world of the law of the jungle like the Cultivation World, only by being constantly strong and outstanding would the people around you be kind and smiling.

Once you fell into destitution and misery, even a stray dog on the roadside would bare its teeth at you.

Xu Wei obviously understood this truth very well, either. These past few days she had been especially nervous, sleeping almost only two out of the twelve double-hours a day, while spending most of the other time guarding beside the field in the courtyard to closely monitor the state of the Golden Silkworm Gu.

She even built a small shed for herself in the courtyard, eating and living right there every day.

Whenever Chen Dengming tried to dissuade her, this female would smile to indicate she understood, and then relapse into her old ways, making it hard to persuade her.

This actually made Chen Dengming feel deeply moved.

He originally wanted to pull this female up, but as a result, Xu Wei was so dedicated now that she had lost a circle of weight over forty days, and the sickly paleness on her pretty face became even more obvious, as if she feared the Golden Silkworm Gu refining would fail and he would suffer punishment, which made Chen Dengming, who was dedicated to cultivation, feel quite ashamed.

Compared to Xu Wei, he, the refiner of the Golden Silkworm Gu, had actually spent much less energy on the Golden Silkworm Gu.

However, by the current time node, Chen Dengming had increasingly clearly felt the bloodline connection and telepathic resonance with the Golden Silkworm Gu. The aura of this Gu worm about to be born was obviously growing stronger and stronger, representing that the possibility of his Gu refining failure was getting smaller and smaller.

Six days later.

Inside the triple-paved courtyard.

"Rise!"

Chen Dengming stepped forward, spiritual might erupting from his body, his clothes fluttering, and he formed a hand seal pointing at the Golden Silkworm Gu inside the incense burner on the ground.

Instantly, that Golden Silkworm Gu seemed to wake up from a dormant state, opening its golden vertical pupils. Suddenly, the golden carapace on its back, patterned with blood-colored lines, split open, and six thin-as-cicada-wings flying wings popped out.

With a buzzing flash!

The Golden Silkworm Gu instantly turned into a golden thread in mid-air and vanished.

The very next moment, it flew in front of Chen Dengming.

Its lightning-fast speed was even more than twice that of the Blood Centipede Gu.

Chen Dengming curiously looked at the Golden Silkworm Gu before him, which looked like a combination of a cicada and a silkworm, a look of joy appearing on his face.

Just this rapid flying speed was much faster than low-grade magical instruments, and the terrifying degree of the Golden Silkworm Gu made him extremely satisfied.

However, the most terrifying thing about the Golden Silkworm Gu was not its speed, but its poison and its invulnerable body, against which ordinary low- and medium-grade magical instruments might not even cause much damage.

"It is said that the Golden Silkworm Gu poison is formless and colorless, and those poisoned feel as though ten thousand worms are biting and gnawing all over their bodies, suffering excruciating pain, unable to live and unable to die. Is this true?"

At this moment, Xi'er's voice came from the side.

Chen Dengming's vital energy stirred, and he immediately turned his head to look, seeing Xi'er and another graceful and moving figure—the eldest young lady of the Luo Family, Lüo Bing.

The Golden Silkworm Gu was successfully refined, and this eldest young lady, with whom he had a brief interaction in the past, finally consented to come out and see him once.

"This junior greets Luo Immortal... Immortal Master!"

Chen Dengming immediately bowed in salute, almost referring to her as the Immortal Master by his former term of address.

"Immortal Master?"

Xi'er covered her mouth and smiled, secretly glancing at Lüo Bing's delicate and exquisite profile on the side, giggling.

Chen Dengming cupped his fists at Xi'er and said, "The poison of the Golden Silkworm Gu is indeed formless and colorless, and it is also very powerful. It can cause a person to suffer from twisting abdominal pain, swelling like an urn, and eventually die miserably.

As for how it specifically affects cultivators, this is the first time your humble servant has refined it, so I do not know. However, the Golden Silkworm Gu is reputed to be invulnerable to blades and spears, impervious to water and fire, and its mouthful of sharp teeth is comparable to magical instruments. Ordinary spirit shield protection is practically non-existent against it.

The only pity is that this creature is refined through blood and frequently requires feeding on the blood of spiritual objects, which is indeed quite troublesome to raise."

Speaking to the end, Chen Dengming's expression carried a hint of regret, feeling somewhat troubled.

Now he had a treasure, but he could barely afford to raise it.

The Blood Centipede Gu was alright; it wasn't picky when it came to feeding, just having a feast occasionally would do, and when there was nothing to eat it would curl up in his ear without rebelling.

The Golden Silkworm Gu, however, was notorious for its large appetite, and if it had nothing to eat it would become very irritable. If he dared to starve it, this Gu would dare to rebel.

"Oh?"

Xi'er was surprised, directly ignoring Chen Dengming's last sentence. Looking at the Golden Silkworm Gu with eager anticipation, she formed a hand seal and said, "Well then, I will cast the Spirit Shield Technique right now, and you just let this little bug try. If what you said is untrue, hmph—"

With those words finished, spiritual might was released from her body, and a spiritual light protective shield condensed almost instantly.

She has reached the Proficient level in the Spirit Shield Technique...

Chen Dengming raised an eyebrow, but didn't care.

The Blood Centipede Gu had once bitten through the protective barrier of the Spirit Shield Technique in a single bite, let alone the Golden Silkworm Gu. I'm afraid only defensive magical instruments could withstand it.

With a thought in his mind, the Golden Silkworm Gu suddenly opened its sharp tooth-tongue, which resembled spiral gears, and flashed its wings.

Swish!—

Clap!

Almost after a flash of golden light, the spirit shield that had just condensed outside Xi'er's body shattered like a dream bubble, impossibly fast.

"Ah!—"

Xi'er was startled and retreated almost by reflex, while a protective magical instrument flashing with spiritual light appeared just in time, colliding with a clang against the blindingly fast Golden Silkworm Gu, producing a melodious ringing bell soundwave and knocking it flying away.

Yet in merely a split second, the Golden Silkworm Gu sprang back up from the ground, only shaking its head and brain as if slightly dizzy, and slowly flew to Chen Dengming's side, completely unharmed.

Seeing this scene, Xu Wei was already dumbfounded with astonishment, and Lüo Bing's aloof, delicate, and pretty face could not help but move as well.

(There will be updates in the morning during the day!)