Seeing the strange look on Liu Feng's face, and the prejudice against Spirit Monsters in his eyes, the Ape Spirit shouted angrily, "So Spirit Monsters can't cultivate Buddhism? All living beings can become Buddhas."
Liu Feng gave a cold, noncommittal smile and ignored the Ape Spirit.
After learning from the scripture that the Diamond Demon-Subduing Sutra was a Buddhist cultivation method, he grew interested.
He let the Intermediate Gu absorb the two monsters' essence and blood, then draw on what they fed back to him.
With his attention freed, he carefully studied the illustrations and writing on the silk.
The illustrations depicted the fist art "Seventeen Diamond Forms," followed by the "Three Demon-Subduing Seal Techniques."
Liu Feng set those aside for the moment and looked at the content at the bottom: the guidance technique for beginning the method, along with a brief introduction to its path.
"Deep, then stored; stored, then extended; extended, then lowered; lowered, then settled; settled, then firm; firm, then sprouting; sprouting, then growing."
"Growing, then giving life; life brings forth the Buddha Root; Buddha power is the Tathagata; with a single thought, flowers bloom..."
Liu Feng understood Qi Refining and had refined Poison Qi, much like a Daoist's True Qi.
After reading the guidance technique, he turned to the brief introduction and began to understand.
So this path cultivated Buddha power, which was also a kind of Qi, much like a Daoist refining Qi.
The two paths shared common ground, but this method did not cultivate the flesh; it cultivated only the bones.
Without meridians to rely on, it could not circulate True Qi, so it used Buddha power instead.
"Replacing Qi with Buddha power and relying only on the bones... This isn't like the orthodox path!"
"The Ape Spirit's earlier attacks were as fierce as a martial artist's... So that's why. Becoming a Buddha through the bones is a newly opened path, combining the essence of martial artists and Daoists..."
The Diamond Demon-Subduing Sutra contained both the fist art "Seventeen Diamond Forms" and the Buddhist technique "Three Demon-Subduing Seal Techniques."
That did not necessarily make it powerful. Even Liu Feng, an outsider, could tell that compared with martial artists, this method lacked the painstaking tempering of their flesh, skin, and meridians.
With Buddha power bolstering the bones, they could withstand a martial artist's physique without losing out in explosive strength.
But in terms of endurance, the bones alone were likely a step behind a martial artist's body, leaving Buddhist techniques to make up the difference.
"According to this method, to begin, one must first sense Buddha power, then use it to grow a Buddha Root in the bones. Once the first White Bone Buddha Lotus blooms, one has reached the First Buddha Root Realm."
Thinking of the Buddha Light on his spine, Liu Feng felt a surge of anticipation.
The guidance technique in the Diamond Demon-Subduing Sutra only went as far as the Second Buddha Root, when the second White Bone Buddha Lotus bloomed.
In other words, this method could cultivate at most to the second major realm. He would have to seek another cultivation method beyond that.
Still, for Liu Feng, who had only just stepped onto the path of cultivation, this Buddhist method was more than enough.
Without hesitation, he let the Intermediate Gu and the Soldier Gu "Split-Tooth" feed themselves while focusing his mind on his own bones.
If he reached the First Buddha Root Realm, he would shore up some of his weaknesses, so he would no longer be as he had been before—his eyes quick, but his body slow.
"Once I master this method, I won't fear martial artists or Gu Masters like Third Senior Brother. It's worth taking a few days to focus on this!"
While Liu Feng immersed himself in the beginnings of Buddhist cultivation, outside the stone cave,
the siblings Su Jing and Su Anjie had waited for a long time with no result. When neither the Black Wolf Spirit nor the Ape Spirit came out, they both sensed something was wrong.
They did not dare barge into the cave, afraid that Liu Feng, blood-mad from killing, would cut them both down as well.
Before, Liu Feng had been a Gu Child and had only taken one of their arms. Now he was a Gu Master. Even if he really killed them both, they feared there would be little anyone could do about it.
"Would that Liu really dare to kill them? They were brought back by Second Senior Brother."
"Who knows? Let's go for now. We'll talk after Second Senior Brother returns from the Valley Master." The siblings were uneasy. After one last look at the cave entrance, they left unwillingly.
The Gu Children and Gu Servants nearby also began drifting away in twos and threes.
They were all talking about Liu Feng's Gu techniques and the two monsters' ferocity.
It was the first time any of them had seen Spirit Monsters in action. They had been truly savage, swift, and keen. If ordinary folk came across them in the mountains, they would end up as blood food.
"We only need to wait quietly a few more days. The Valley Master will surely summon those who hatched Exotic Gu."
"Fourteen of us left the Medicine Garden. Five became Gu Servants, and two are already dead."
"Liu Xing and Liu Feng have both become Gu Masters. Now we just have to see what happens to the remaining five."...
Ma Kun and the other four kept their faces covered. Wherever they went, the Gu Children scattered like birds and beasts, terrified of provoking the five monsters.
Meanwhile, Leng Qiuyue and Li Xiang'er walked together.
Not far ahead of the two girls, the Big-Headed Gu Child wore a friendly smile. Whenever he looked at Leng Qiuyue, his face broke into a fawning grin.
Liu Feng's appearance as he burst out of the poisonous fog earlier had thoroughly frightened the Gu Child who led them.
Whether it was one of the two Spirit Monsters or Liu Feng, if any one of the three so much as touched him, his life would be over.
"Who would've thought Brother Liu Feng was so powerful! Sister Qiuyue, you're lucky." Li Xiang'er tugged at Leng Qiuyue, envy written all over her pretty face.
"Ah, why didn't Brother Liu take a liking to me? I'm clearly better at serving people than you..."
Leng Qiuyue blushed at such blunt words and chided her, "It's better to rely on yourself than on anyone else. Let's focus on finding our sense of Qi first."
After the two girls returned to their respective lodgings, they, like the other Gu Children, acclimated to the Gu inside them and tried to find their sense of Qi.
But after what had happened during the day, none of the Gu Children could find peace.
First came the terrible state Ma Kun and the others were in, then Liu Feng's battle with the Spirit Monsters. Both weighed heavily on their minds.
With living examples right before them, it seemed the new batch of Gu Children had only three possible fates: die horribly, become Gu Servants, or stand out and become Gu Masters.
Yet even if they became Gu Masters, they still had to meet the Valley Master, as those five monsters had said. Perhaps only one would survive; at most, two.
The night passed, and the rain that had continued for days finally stopped.
At daybreak, orders from Third Senior Brother Zhu Li came down.
The Gu Children gathering herbs, raising Gu, and preparing medicinal mud were all summoned and set to work, yet they had no idea why Insect Valley was making such a huge move!
At that moment, Third Senior Brother Zhu Li stood beside a cave entrance beneath the mountainside on the eastern side of Insect Valley.
The Gu Children in charge of raising Gu arrived, pushing wooden carts loaded with dead Gu.
Cart after cart of Gu corpses, like fertilizer, was dumped into an opening beneath the mountainside and poured down into the cave.
Beside Zhu Li stood a scholarly-looking young man: Second Senior Brother Shen Yushu. He murmured, "The Medicine Slave Master is waking this time won't be ordinary. If nothing goes wrong, it should be a second-grade Medicine Slave."
At his words, Zhu Li's expression turned solemn. The grades of Soldier Gu and Medicine Slaves corresponded to the realms of Gu Masters. A second-grade Medicine Slave was as powerful as a Second-Life Gu Master.
In the entire Medicine Valley, apart from the Valley Master, there was no other Second-Life Gu Master.
For the sake of the Eldest Senior Brother, who was being hunted by the White Sun Sect, their master was actually going to awaken a second-grade Medicine Slave. The senior and junior brothers would most likely have to accompany it.
Perhaps the soon-to-be-born "Fourth Junior Brother" would go with them this time, too.
There was no other reason: the Medicine Slave's mind was muddled. Neither living nor dead, it needed someone to guide it and serve as its "eyes."
And a Gu Master who had planted the Exotic Gu "Evolution Pupil" was clearly better suited to the task than a Gu Master who had planted "Ox Eater," "Cotton Spitter," or "Mountain God."
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