A Few Poor Children

Luo Mu flicked his sleeves, and the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes and five White Jade Ants transformed into a streak of light, returning to his Spirit Beast Bag. The three Octagonal Spikes on his person, however, did the exact opposite; instead of returning to the bag, they crawled toward the woman's corpse.

This was the very same corpse that the White Jade Ants had been too afraid to consume moments before.

After a short while, the Octagonal Spikes reached the woman's remains. Luo Mu felt their excitement through his connection to them, and to his disbelief, the creatures he had always assumed to be herbivores bared sharp fangs and began to tear into the flesh.

An hour later, the woman's corpse had changed. Having died from a potent poison, her body had been a sickly, dark green, but now that color had vanished, and her skin had returned to a normal hue.

The toxins within her body had been completely sucked out by the three Octagonal Spikes in that brief span of time, serving as their meal.

This sight left Luo Mu both shocked and delighted!

Luo Mu then issued a command to the three Octagonal Spikes. Upon receiving his order, the creatures wiggled their bodies and headed toward the other corpses. Despite their caterpillar-like appearance and method of movement, they were surprisingly fast, and within moments, the three little fellows were already upon another body.

Without exception, every trace of poison contained within the corpses was absorbed by the Octagonal Spikes, leaving nothing behind.

In the time that followed, Luo Mu watched with his own eyes as the Octagonal Spikes devoured every bit of deadly poison from all the corpses before them. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the toxins within the three little creatures had increased significantly—the effect was far superior to that of a first-grade top-tier poisonous herb!

Watching the Octagonal Spikes crawl across his palm and feeling their inner excitement, a smile spread across Luo Mu's face as a bold idea took root in his mind.

He raised his other hand, bit his index finger until it bled, and let a drop of fresh blood fall onto the palm where the three Octagonal Spikes rested.

As the blood hit, the three creatures went wild, scrambling over one another to feast on Luo Mu's blood. He felt an unprecedented level of excitement radiating from them!

Luo Mu's expression remained calm, as if everything were exactly as he had expected.

In the blink of an eye, the three Octagonal Spikes had wiped the blood clean, and they continued to hop about in his palm, still hungry and conveying their excitement to him.

Seeing all this, Luo Mu smiled slightly and began to carefully examine the Octagonal Spikes to see how they reacted after consuming his blood.

A short while later, he finished his inspection. Their outward appearance hadn't changed in the slightest, but the toxins within their bodies had grown substantially in that short time.

Before they had consumed the blood, Luo Mu had already checked their toxicity levels; now, there was a clear difference.

"It seems I'll be able to save quite a lot on poisonous herbs in the future! The daily savings will certainly add up to a significant amount," Luo Mu said with a beaming smile as he put the three Octagonal Spikes away.

At the same time, he opened his right hand wide. Pale green spirit power flickered across his five fingers, manifesting as five small flames. With a gentle flick, he sent the flames toward the corpses...

After disposing of the bodies and carefully checking to ensure no traces were left behind, he headed toward his cave.

On the way, Luo Mu continued to think about the Octagonal Spikes.

The White Jade Ants had initially refused to eat the woman's corpse because it contained traces of his own Poison Spirit Power. The "Insect Control Technique" only stated that White Jade Ants would eat anything, but it never mentioned that they avoided poisonous food—a fact Luo Mu had only discovered today.

It seemed that the information in the manual couldn't be trusted entirely and should only be used as a reference. This confirmed the old saying: seeing is believing, and what one hears—or reads in books—is not always the truth.

The White Jade Ants wouldn't touch the poisonous corpses, but the Octagonal Spikes were different. Sharing similar traits with Luo Mu, they actually craved the most poisonous substances, and the more toxic the food, the greater the benefit to their bodies.

What frustrated Luo Mu was that the "Insect Control Technique" also failed to mention that Octagonal Spikes were omnivorous. He had always fed them poisonous herbs and had never let them consume poisonous meat.

Only today did he realize that these seemingly ordinary caterpillars possessed fangs just like carnivorous spirit beasts! They weren't vegetarians at all!

Furthermore, he discovered that his own Poison Spirit Power was beneficial to them, far surpassing the effects of ordinary poisonous herbs. His blood, in particular, was a potent tonic for them!

Luo Mu was overjoyed. Being stingy, he had always felt the Octagonal Spikes were just competing with him for resources, and since they hadn't provided any surprises beyond their innate ability to find herbs, he hadn't seen much use for them.

If they hadn't been the first spirit insects he had raised since stepping into the world of cultivation, he might have abandoned them to save on herbs. Fortunately, they had been foraging for themselves for the past year, only needing him to feed them when they returned empty-handed, which had saved him a small fortune.

Despite that, he had still harbored resentment, feeling he was getting the short end of the stick.

Things were different now. With today's discovery, Luo Mu had a plan. From now on, he intended to feed them his own Poison Spirit Power and blood. This would not only rapidly increase their strength but also save him a significant amount on herbs.

Blood could be regenerated, and Poison Spirit Power could be recovered; the impact on him was negligible. After calculating, he concluded it was a very profitable trade.

With this clever plan in mind, the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Before he knew it, he had returned to his cave with a wide smile on his face.

Once inside, the smile vanished, and his expression returned to its usual calm. He sat cross-legged and entered a state of meditation. The previous battle, with its frequent use of the Phantom Movement Technique, had exhausted his Poison Spirit Power and left his body injured. Upon returning to the Stone Chamber, he didn't even have time to look at the Storage Bags he had acquired before he began to regulate his breath.

After half a day, Luo Mu slowly opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed through them, and after exhaling a breath of stale air, his complexion regained its healthy glow. It seemed he had recovered almost completely.

"Such a miraculous movement technique, yet I cannot use it at will because my physical strength is insufficient. How frustrating," Luo Mu sighed, his face filled with helplessness.

At the same time, a sudden urge to cultivate body-refining techniques and primary cultivation methods stirred within him.

In the world of cultivation, magical artifacts were the primary means for low-level cultivators to defend themselves and attack. They were simple to use and possessed many wondrous properties, making them highly favored.

However, cultivation techniques were just as important as artifacts—perhaps even more so! A good technique provided astonishing attack or defensive power, and its quality determined a cultivator's future path. The more profound the technique, the further it could lead a practitioner on the road of cultivation.

Furthermore, techniques were essential for breaking through bottlenecks. Simply put, they allowed a cultivator to maximize the use of the spirit power in their dantian. Without one, a cultivator was no different from Luo Mu: possessing spirit power in the dantian but having no idea how to channel or utilize it in combat.

Aside from the most basic method of injecting spirit power into an artifact, Luo Mu truly didn't know how to use the Poison Spirit Power within him.

Thinking of cultivation techniques made his blood boil. But as of now, aside from the Phantom Movement Technique, he knew nothing else. The "Insect Control Technique" detailed secret arts for controlling insects, techniques for raising them, and descriptions of various species. While incredibly precious, it wasn't a cultivation technique; at best, it was a rare secret art.

If he could master a suitable cultivation technique, his combat effectiveness would surely multiply, giving him a massive advantage in battle!

"Sigh!" Luo Mu shook his head. Thinking about techniques was still too far off, and he felt a slight sense of disappointment.

As a mere Rogue Cultivator, there were only three ways to obtain such techniques. The first was to join a cultivation family or sect, where one could earn a decent technique through meritorious service.

The second possibility was to purchase one with spirit stones. However, no one would ever sell a good technique, and even if they did, the price would be astronomical—far beyond what someone in Luo Mu's position could afford. The cheap techniques on the market were mostly basic Five Elements methods, which were of little use.

The third possibility was to stumble upon one by pure luck. But such "pie in the sky" events rarely happened, and even if a cultivator did encounter one, it was only because they possessed great fortune and incredible luck.

In Luo Mu's view, the third option was unreliable, and he lacked the wealth for the second. The only viable path, and the one most suited to his current situation, was the first.

"Join a sect..." Luo Mu muttered, his brows furrowed in thought as his right hand reached into his robes.

He pulled out the Storage Bags he had taken from the Jinxiu Academy students one by one. With his divine sense, he began to inspect his ill-gotten gains.

There were many people this time, but the harvest was not particularly satisfying. Perhaps because they were all students and their families didn't have deep foundations, the contents of the Storage Bags left Luo Mu deeply disappointed.