Exotic Gu

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Exotic Gu (异蛊)
Species/Race	Cultivated Gu insect; created by refining an exotic insect into Gu 3 7
Occupation/Role	A Gu Master cultivation medium that can grant its host distinct Gu arts 3
Status	Extant; individual specimens may be living, dead, or ownerless 13 167
First Appearance	Chapter 3

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Exotic Gu Egg	3 12	A refined female Exotic Gu can produce eggs. Eggs are implanted into hosts and must hatch through a dangerous bodily transformation.
First-grade Exotic Gu	52 157	A first-grade Exotic Gu must molt three times before it can become second-grade.
Second-grade Exotic Gu	157 167	Ownerless mature specimens cannot be actively wielded through implantation; they may instead seize a host's life force.
Fourth-grade Exotic Gu	283	A Gu Master's attempt to attain a Four-Life Body can coincide with an Exotic Gu transforming to fourth grade.
Seventh-grade Exotic Gu	497	The Chaos Insect matured into a mid-stage seventh-grade Exotic Gu after Gu Transformation and recognizing Liu Feng as its master.
Immortal-grade Exotic Gu	619	Liu Feng's Exotic Gu all reached immortal grade when he completed his Gu Immortal rebirth.

Nature and Classification

Gu are insects painstakingly cultivated by Gu Masters, unlike the innumerable ordinary insects of the world. An exotic insect becomes an Exotic Gu only after refinement by a Gu Master. 3 7

Gu are divided into seven categories:

1. Mortal Gu
2. Intermediate Gu
3. Exotic Gu
4. Soldier Gu
5. Savage Gu
6. Spirit Gu
7. King Gu 12

Exotic Gu differ greatly in form and function. Implanting different specimens grants different Gu arts, including direct combat techniques, sensory arts, illusions, movement, defense, and support abilities. 3 4

Gu Arts

Host-Granted Abilities

Once an Exotic Gu successfully hatches, its host can use its Gu arts rather than relying solely on conventional cultivation. 3

Exotic Gu	Documented Gu Arts and Effects
Cotton Spitter	Produces crystalline threads that can form nets, attack or defend, and slice through shrubs, earth, and stone. 3 4
Mountain God	Scouts activity within a range and can influence the minds of vegetation Spirit Monsters. 3
Evolution Pupil	Splits Compound Eyes; its hatched form grants expanded vision, motion tracking, and vision-scrambling effects. 7 18
Wooden Fish	Its Gu art can wither a victim's skin and produce fish-scale-like patterns; it can also disturb the mind. 81 106
Mirror Shadow	Blurs truth and falsehood through illusions and can interfere with an opponent's perception and control of Gu arts. 168 181

Bodily Transformation

An Exotic Gu transforms its host alongside its own growth. Each metamorphosis allows the Gu and body to adapt to one another, but also increases the burden on the host's physique, blood, and vitality. 63 172

• Raising multiple Exotic Gu is possible, but advancing both through repeated molts requires exceptional vitality. 63
• Exotic Gu frequently leave visible alterations, including changed hair, Compound Eyes, scales, unusual skin patterns, or more severe deformities. 13 72 200
• Replacing an implanted Exotic Gu damages the host and discards the time and resources spent raising it. 157

Cultivation and Lifecycle

Egg Implantation and Hatching

Exotic Gu Eggs are implanted into a host's body, commonly over the heart. Before hatching, the egg already begins merging with the host. 12

To survive hatching, a Gu Child must eliminate the Mortal Gu in their body and use them to nourish stronger Intermediate Gu. Those Intermediate Gu help the host withstand the ensuing transformation. 12

• Test implantation is highly lethal: Zhu Li estimated that only one or two of forty Gu Children might hatch an Exotic Gu and survive the final stage. 12
• Failed hatching can leave a host mummified, with ruined meridians, or permanently deformed. 13
• Spirit medicine can accelerate hatching by enriching the host's blood and vitality. 38

Nourishment and Molting

Exotic Gu require sustained nourishment to grow and molt.

• Dead Exotic Gu can be fed to a host's Gu insects as nourishment. 13
• Insect Crystals and captured Exotic Gu can provide enough resources for implanted Exotic Gu to molt. 82
• More advanced Exotic Gu demand increasingly greater amounts of blood, vitality, spiritual medicine, and other resources. 63 149

Ownerless and Dead Specimens

A fully grown Exotic Gu cannot be implanted like an egg. Insect Valley instead uses mature specimens to grow medicinal herbs, refine medicine, or feed other Gu. 13

• An ownerless mature Exotic Gu may forcibly drain the life force of an unsuitable host, leaving them mentally muddled. 167
• A dead or half-dead Exotic Gu can be temporarily sustained by a Gu art, but cannot serve as a proper living specimen. 167 169
• A male and female pair of ownerless Exotic Gu may potentially produce new Exotic Gu Eggs. 167

Insect Valley Use

Insect Valley refines captured exotic insects into Exotic Gu and uses their eggs in lethal implantation trials on Gu Children. 3 7 12

The valley's Inner Medicine Garden contains numerous Exotic Gu used as fertilizer for medicinal herbs. Liu Feng discovered that these specimens contained human skeletons and concluded that they were former Gu Masters transformed into Exotic Gu. 13 14

Two such transformed Gu Masters—Chen Chuanru and Wu Qiaoyun, the previous generation's Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister—remained conscious long enough to reveal Insect Valley's practices to Liu Feng before fully merging into insect bodies. 14