Sacred Beetle Gu

The next day, early morning.

Song Wen disguised himself and headed to the market. He had run out of the spirit medicine for refining Blood Qi Pill and needed to buy some.

After collecting the necessary spirit medicine for fifty doses of Blood Qi Pill from several stalls, Song Wen removed his disguise and headed to the Small Courtyard in a secluded spot.

Walking on the busiest main street of the market, Song Wen suddenly noticed a ten-story building in front of him, with dragons and phoenixes carved on it, flying eaves and flowing red paint, and a magnificent and resplendent appearance.

Above the building hangs a huge plaque with five large characters written on it.

Blissful Union Spring Night Tower!

People came and went in a constant stream, but they were all male cultivators.

At the entrance, several tall and beautiful women, dressed in elegant and dignified uniforms, greeted and saw off guests with smiles on their faces.

With graying temples, Ai Kun, supported by two scantily clad girls of about seventeen or eighteen, walked shakily out of the building.

After seeing Ai Kun off to the main street, the two girls turned and walked back.

He walked along, muttering complaints.

"This old man, whose energy is severely depleted, still needs us two sisters to take care of him. He must be tired of living."

Looking at Ai Kun, who was walking with a shaky gait, Song Wen glanced up at the Spring Night Pavilion.

This is hardly a place for relaxation and leisure; it's practically a den of iniquity where people exploit each other's yang energy to replenish their yin energy.

Song Wen stepped forward and took Ai Kun's right hand.

"This is the brothel of the Blissful Union Sect that you've been longing for?"

When someone suddenly helped him up, Ai Kun was startled. After seeing that it was Song Wen, his face turned embarrassed. His current appearance was quite different from his usual boast of "sweeping away all obstacles".

Ai Kun looked back at the Blissful Union Spring Night Tower, his eyes filled with longing, and nodded.

"To have come all this way is to have lived a worthwhile life, and to have made the journey of cultivating immortality worthwhile."

"You'd better take it easy, old man. I'm afraid if you come a few more times, you'll have to crawl back."

"To die beneath the peony blossoms is to be a romantic ghost; you wouldn't understand its wonder. It's truly a place where bones soften and muscles melt, where one can savor the very essence."

You'd better save some money for your coffin.

Ai Kun chuckled and held up one finger.

"A Spirit Stone!"

Song Wen was somewhat surprised, because even ordinary brothels cost three Spirit Stones, but the Blissful Union Sect's brothels only charged one Spirit Stone.

"So cheap?"

Ai Kun said, "It is a bit too cheap. My vital energy is so severely depleted, and I only got one Spirit Stone."

Upon hearing this, Song Wen looked completely bewildered, as if he did not understand Ai Kun's meaning.

Perhaps sensing Song Wen's confusion, Ai Kun continued.

"One Spirit Stone will be paid to the guest."

Give me the money!

Song Wen's eyes widened as he looked back at the Blissful Union Spring Night Tower, and he was immediately filled with a sense of awe.

The Blissful Union Sect truly lives up to its reputation as a righteous sect; after providing some amusement and relaxation, they even gave us a Spirit Stone.

Is it compensation for the depletion of vital energy?

The demonic path also has its share of methods for replenishing yin by absorbing yang, but there's no such thing as paying for it; the demonic path always takes everything and squeezes out every last drop of value.

More than twenty days later.

The Black Armor Gu, which had been spinning a cocoon, emerged from its cocoon.

A sesame-seed-sized, jet-black Gu Worm, exactly as described in the <Blood Gu Art>, appeared before Song Wen's eyes.

Song Wen's face lit up with joy. He placed the Sacred Beetle Gu in his palm and examined it closely.

The aura of the Sacred Beetle Gu was extremely well-concealed; even with his Foundation Establishment Late Stage Divine Sense, it was difficult for him to perceive its existence.

However, relying on the slight soul connection with the Sacred Beetle Gu, Song Wen was able to clearly sense its location and strength.

The Sacred Beetle Gu is an Early Second Rank Gu Worm, with strength comparable to Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator.

The Sacred Beetle Gu lying on Song Wen's palm suddenly began to bar its teeth and become somewhat agitated and violent.

Song Wen smiled faintly, knowing that this was due to the Sacred Beetle Gu's recent advancement and the resulting lack of spiritual energy within its body.

He took out a Beast Brocade Pill and placed it in front of the Sacred Beetle Gu.

A blurry afterimage, gone in a flash!

The finger-sized Beast Brocade Pill vanished without a trace.

Song Wen immediately wondered if he was seeing things. He had just seen the Sacred Beetle Gu suddenly grow larger, turning into the size of an egg, and swallow the pill in one gulp.

The Sacred Beetle Gu can change size!

This is something that has never been recorded in the "Blood Gu Art".

Song Wen attempted to communicate with the Sacred Beetle Gu through mental means, hoping to make it grow larger again.

However, all they received was the response from the Gu Worm: "Hungry, eat Essence Blood."

Feeling rather helpless, Song Wen took out a jade bottle, tilted it, and a drop of his Essence Blood dripped down.

Again, a fleeting afterimage.

This time, Song Wen saw it very clearly.

The only part that grew larger was the tiny head of the Sacred Beetle Gu; its body remained unchanged.

The Essence Blood continued to drip. After consuming more than forty drops, almost half a bottle of Essence Blood, the Sacred Beetle Gu was finally satisfied. It flapped its wings, flew into Song Wen's mouth, and went into his internal organs to refine the pills and Essence Blood.

The Sacred Beetle Gu has just advanced, and its realm is not yet stable; it needs time to consolidate.

Seven days later, the Sacred Beetle Gu, whose aura had stabilized, crawled out of Song Wen's body and conveyed the message of 'hunger' to Song Wen.

Song Wen took out a Silver-Shining Stone and placed it in front of it. The Silver-Shining Stone was the best food for the Sacred Beetle Gu, as recorded in the <Blood Gu Art>.

The Sacred Beetle Gu, however, was somewhat displeased; it wanted the 'Beast Brocade Pill' it had eaten last time.

Song Wen raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the Beast Brocade Pill's effect on enhancing the Sacred Beetle Gu's strength was even greater than that of the Silver-Shining Stone.

However, he didn't have many Beast Brocade Pill left, only forty-five, which was definitely not enough for the Sacred Beetle Gu to consume over a long period.

Furthermore, the Beast Taming Sect controls the sale of all second-tier spirit beast pills, making it difficult for Song Wen to obtain the Beast Brocade Pill.

After feeding a Beast Brocade Pill to the Sacred Beetle Gu, Song Wen began preparations to have the Sacred Beetle Gu mate with the Black Armor Gu to breed new Gu Worm and see if he could directly cultivate the Sacred Beetle Gu.

Another half month passed, and after dozens of attempts, Song Wen discovered:

It seems that a species isolation has developed between the Sacred Beetle Gu and the Black Armor Gu. They cannot even mate, let alone reproduce the next generation of Gu Worm.

This made Song Wen realize that if he wanted to cultivate more Sacred Beetle Gu, he needed to evolve at least one female Sacred Beetle Gu to mate with the existing male Sacred Beetle Gu.

However, he only had two Silverhorn Grass left, not enough for the Black Armor Gu to evolve.

We need to get more Silverhorn Grass.

Song Wen stood up, left the secret room, and headed towards the market.

After spending most of the day visiting almost every Xiao Ling shop and stall in the market, I still couldn't find any Silverhorn Grass for sale.

This was completely unexpected by Song Wen.

Song Wen could understand that the Beast Taming Sect could control pills of the second rank and above, since they were products refined by the Beast Taming Sect.

Even a single spiritual herb can be controlled by the Beast Taming Sect.

Logically, even if the Beast Taming Sect controls the Silverhorn Grass cultivated by its own sect and prevents it from entering the market, how can the Beast Taming Sect control the Silverhorn Grass that grows naturally in the wild? If Rogue Cultivator collect it, they should take it to the market to trade.

Unwilling to give up, Song Wen made another trip to the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market, but still failed to buy Silverhorn Grass.

However, he learned from a shopkeeper in the Ghost Market that Silverhorn Grass was only found in the Beast Taming Sect.