Blood Gu Art

When the Bone-Slicing Knife cut into the inner side of the shriveled thigh, its sharp edge was suddenly blocked by something.

Song Wen initially thought he had struck solid ice again. But upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was actually something foreign inside the wrinkled thigh.

It was this foreign object that had stopped the blade.

Looking carefully, there was also a faint knife scar on the thigh. The corpse's skin was too heavily wrinkled, so Song Wen had not noticed it earlier.

Song Wen slowly cut open the skin along the edge of the object, finally revealing it.

Blood Gu Art!

A cultivation manual the size of two palms, made from demon beast hide, appeared before Song Wen.

Song Wen slowly stretched his limbs and moved his neck, as though he were loosening up after dissecting corpses for too long.

Yet he took the opportunity to survey his surroundings.

He was certain there was no one nearby. Yuan Cheng was still inside his cave and had not come out.

In other words, no one knew of the existence of Blood Gu Art.

Without showing any reaction, Song Wen placed Blood Gu Art into his storage pouch.

Having obtained Blood Gu Art, Song Wen could not help feeling excited and secretly delighted. This cultivation manual should have been the old woman's primary cultivation method.

Moreover, Song Wen guessed that the old woman had most likely been a Foundation Establishment Realm expert. A cultivation manual that even she had needed to conceal so cautiously could not possibly be some commonplace goods. It had to possess something precious.

After calming himself slightly, Song Wen continued dissecting the corpse.

Fortunately, none of the abnormalities Song Wen feared occurred during the dissection. The corpse came apart smoothly. Aside from the astonishingly small amount of blood in the old woman's body, there was neither danger nor anything unusual—until Song Wen opened her chest cavity.

Her organs, riddled with holes, appeared before Song Wen.

The old woman's internal organs looked as though they had been gnawed by countless tiny insects. Yet there was still ice that had not fully melted on her body, which meant her organs had been gnawed into this state while she was still alive.

Song Wen could hardly imagine what kind of agony the old woman had endured in life.

"Could it be because she cultivated Gu arts?"

Song Wen felt a chill run through him. The tiny holes across the organs made his entire body uneasy, sending shivers down his spine.

After resting for a moment, Song Wen overcame his discomfort and continued dissecting the corpse.

When he removed the ruined heart, three rice-grain-sized insect eggs actually slid out through the holes in it.

The eggs were milky white, with an extremely thin transparent membrane enclosing a tiny white worm.

"These insect eggs should be Gu Worm eggs!"

After confirming once more that no one was around, Song Wen seemed possessed as he took out a jade vial and collected the three eggs.

He then cut open the heart and found another five identical insect eggs. He placed them all into the jade vial, then tucked it into the clothes over his chest.

Song Wen found the miserable state of the old woman's internal organs terrifying beyond measure, but deep down, he instinctively believed that if he could raise these Gu Worms, he would gain another means to face enemies—another chance to survive in this dangerous world.

Song Wen spent nearly half an hour before finally completely dissecting the old woman's corpse.

No danger occurred throughout the process, nor did he find any more insect eggs.

When Song Wen handed over the storage pouch, Yuan Cheng said,

"Did the dissection go smoothly? Nothing dangerous happened, right?"

Song Wen understood that Yuan Cheng likely knew the old woman had been a Gu Master, yet had not warned him that Gu Worms might appear on the corpse during the dissection.

It was common knowledge that Gu Masters hid Gu Worms throughout their bodies. Even after killing a Gu Master, one could not lower one's guard.

Quite a few cultivators who did not understand the terror of Gu Masters had carelessly searched their bodies after killing them, only to be injured by the Gu Worms within and throw away their lives in vain.

During the dissection, Song Wen had also roughly figured out the various abnormalities of the old woman's corpse.

The old woman should have been a Foundation Establishment Realm Gu Master. She had lost a battle and been killed.

The person who killed her feared that Gu Worms were hidden within her corpse, so they had frozen it with an ice-element spell.

As time passed, the solid ice gradually began to melt.

Yuan Cheng worried that Gu Worms might revive as the ice melted, so he had made Song Wen work overtime to dissect the corpse.

Furthermore, Song Wen and Yuan Cheng were currently the only two people in the entire Corpse Dissection Cave. If an accident occurred, the Gu Worms would certainly attack Song Wen first. Yuan Cheng's cave was protected by an array, and it was far enough from the Dissection Platform that he had ample time to activate it.

In other words, even if Gu Worms revived, only Song Wen would be killed. This would greatly reduce the losses among the corpse dissectors.

He kept his thoughts hidden behind a calm face.

Though indignant inside, Song Wen wore a bewildered expression as he said,

"There was no danger at all. It was just that the ice crystals on the corpse were somewhat too hard, making it difficult to dissect. It took a little longer."

Yuan Cheng nodded, accepted the storage pouch, and casually handed Song Wen five spirit stones.

At the same time, he explained to the puzzled Song Wen,

"This female corpse was an extra job. These five spirit stones are your compensation for the trouble."

Upon hearing this, Song Wen nodded and accepted the spirit stones.

He knew these five spirit stones were payment for risking his life.

If another corpse dissector received these five spirit stones, they would surely be overflowing with gratitude. But Song Wen had no desire to earn such extra spirit stones.

Although nothing had gone wrong during this dissection, and he had even obtained a Gu cultivation manual, he truly did not want to take such risks. He could now secretly steal vital blood from the Corpse Dissection Cave and earn spirit stones without anyone noticing. There was no need for him to risk his life for spirit stones.

Though unwilling, Yuan Cheng had at least not withheld the spirit stones Song Wen was owed. Song Wen still thanked him respectfully.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yuan Cheng."

Yuan Cheng said, "Go. Remember, there is no need to mention this matter to anyone else."

Upon returning to his cave dwelling, Song Wen immediately took out Blood Gu Art.

He needed to find out what kind of Gu Worms the eight insect eggs he had collected would become.

He had to find the correct methods to raise and control them. Otherwise, if he allowed them to hatch and grow freely, they might very well turn on him.

Blood Gu Art recorded the cultivation and rearing methods for dozens of Gu Worms. Scattered among its lines were numerous small annotations, likely the old woman's own insights from raising Gu.

Song Wen also found the origin of the insect eggs within it.

This Gu was called the Beetle Gu, a fairly common type of Gu Worm. Its combat power was not high, and its temperament was quite gentle, utterly at odds with the sinister and vicious image people usually had of Gu Worms. However, it also had its own advantages.

This Gu was extremely small. An adult was only half the size of a grain of rice, flew without a sound, and was exceedingly difficult to notice. It was mostly used for scouting and exploring the way.