The Revolting Flesh Gu

Zhou Feng had also realized that the Three Gu Sect seemed to have directly dictated the way of life for disciples like them who had just entered the sect.

After joining the Three Gu Sect, they basically had no chance to interact with the outside world.

Even if they wanted to leave, they had no opportunity to do so.

Their living range was also restricted to the Gu Mountain Range.

And they could only obtain daily supplies from the sect.

Under such circumstances, aside from completing the sect's various tasks, they had no other choice at all.

The more he learned, the more Zhou Feng felt that the Three Gu Sect was raising all its disciples like pigs.

He even suspected that the so-called Inner Sect disciples were the same.

Ever since he had begun feeding the Flesh Gu, Zhou Feng had started scouting the area.

If he wanted to escape, the first thing he needed was at least a sufficient familiarity with the surrounding environment.

So aside from cultivating and feeding the Flesh Gu, he also set aside some time to familiarize himself with the surroundings.

The results of his scouting were quite surprising.

Other than the patrolling disciples on the first level, there were almost no restrictions outside.

The Gu Mountain Range was so vast, filled everywhere with weeds and poisonous insects. If someone really slipped into some mountain ravine—

Who would be able to find them?

But why had he never heard of anyone successfully leaving the Three Gu Sect?

After turning it over and over in his mind, Zhou Feng felt that the key lay in the Bloodthirsty Gu inside his body.

Whenever he began moving away from Gu Mountain, the Bloodthirsty Gu within him would grow somewhat restless.

Yet once he returned to Gu Mountain, the Bloodthirsty Gu would settle down again.

He guessed that the reason the Three Gu Sect could raise its disciples so freely without fearing that they harbored ill intentions—

The crucial point was these gu insects.

The Three Gu Sect claimed to have founded itself upon three kinds of gu insects, but in reality, its research into gu insects had already become extraordinarily thorough.

Take the Flesh Gu mentioned before. As long as it was fed a large amount of coarse fodder every day—

It could produce chunks of meat brimming with blood vitality.

Moreover, these Flesh Gu seemed to be divided into ranks. The highest-grade Flesh Gu had to be fed demon beast meat every day.

The meat they produced was also of the finest quality, greatly benefiting cultivation.

What method could he use to break the gu insect planted inside him by a sect that understood gu insects so thoroughly?

This question gave Zhou Feng an enormous headache.

Using gu insects to control its disciples was the result of more than a dozen generations of research by the sect.

He was only one person. How could he compare?

If he relied on his own intelligence alone, he felt there was little hope.

After all, he was no peerless genius of extraordinary talent.

It seemed his final hope still had to rest on the Skill Panel.

As he pondered how to break this deadlock, he continued on his way.

Before long, he arrived at the place where the Flesh Gu was fed.

It was an extremely dark mountain cave, with quite a few Outer Sect disciples at the ninth level of Body Tempering stationed outside.

At the deepest part, an Inner Sect disciple was stationed there to prevent the Flesh Gu from going berserk.

Caves like this did not even have names, only designations.

The cave where he worked was designated No. 23. In other words, the Three Gu Sect had at least twenty-three such caves.

And this was only the lowest-grade Flesh Gu. It was difficult to imagine just how deep the Three Gu Sect's foundations truly were.

As usual, he lowered his head and entered the cave.

"Be careful! It seems a little restless today!"

The moment he entered the cave, Old Wan gave him a warning.

Old Wan was also one of the people responsible for feeding the Flesh Gu, though he was only in charge of supplying the fodder.

Zhou Feng, on the other hand, was responsible for the most dangerous part: delivering the fodder to the deepest part of the cave.

Because every feeding task was done in pairs.

Old Wan worked very well with him, and they completed their feeding tasks quickly every time.

Thus, the two had developed a trace of tacit understanding, as well as a trace of friendship.

If Zhou Feng carelessly got himself killed, finding another workmate who worked so seamlessly with him would be quite troublesome.

That was precisely why Old Wan had spoken up to warn him.

"Got it!"

Hearing that, his expression grew a little more solemn.

A restless Flesh Gu meant that it might eat someone at any moment.

Under normal circumstances, the Flesh Gu was relatively tolerant toward those who fed it, at most toying with them a little.

It would not directly swallow the feeder.

If it swallowed someone every time it was fed, the Three Gu Sect would not have enough Outer Sect disciples for the Flesh Gu to devour.

Of course, ending up covered in injuries was unavoidable.

That might be extremely painful for others, because every injury would slow their cultivation progress.

And after suffering too many injuries, hidden wounds that could not be detected would accumulate.

When they erupted all at once, it would be even more troublesome.

But Zhou Feng was different. With Old Skin and the passive effect of Self-Healing Physique—

He was practically unafraid of injury, and getting hurt also benefited him.

As he was injured again and again, triggering Old Skin's passive effect again and again, even he did not know how much defense he had gained.

The most obvious sign was probably that his skin had become increasingly rough.

Originally, his skin could not be called smooth, but neither could it be called rough.

Yet now it was dark and coarse. In a while, he suspected that his skin really would turn into old tree bark.

Of course, his defensive power had changed alongside it.

Zhou Feng had tested it with some simple blades and swords. Even when slashed with force, his skin could not be cut open.

It would only leave behind a white mark.

He did not know whether such defense counted as being impervious to blades and spears.

In any case, it gave him a little more confidence in his ability to preserve his life.

There shouldn't be any problem! My defense is still decent!

Zhou Feng directly encouraged himself in his heart.

Then he pushed the wheelbarrow filled with fodder deeper into the cave.

Because the Flesh Gu did not allow two people to be present when it ate, every feeding could only be completed by one person.

If two people could coordinate with each other, the difficulty of this feeding task would probably drop considerably.

After all, the Flesh Gu was fixed in place and could barely move.

After sighing over it once more, he began today's task.

The cave was deep and secluded, nearly pitch-black ahead.

Only after every long stretch of distance were there two oil lamps casting flickering firelight.

Simply walking along such a path was enough to bring tremendous psychological pressure.

The cave was very deep, and every trip required walking a long distance.

Moreover, one feeding was sometimes not enough; it took at least two or three trips.

Thus, this was also an extremely physically demanding job.

"I'm here!"

The dim environment was suddenly replaced by bright light.

Zhou Feng, thoroughly familiar with the route, softened his footsteps.

He carefully poked his head out and took a glance inside.

There, he saw a gigantic creature resembling a caterpillar slumped in the center.

This bizarre creature looked as though chunks of flesh, membranes, and blood vessels had been tangled together.

At the position resembling a head was a ring after ring of dense teeth.

Four tentacles constantly waved from the eye area above those teeth.

Apart from that, the most revolting part was the lumps of flesh covering its back. Those bright-red lumps were even constantly throbbing.

Blood continuously flowed from those lumps of flesh, and the ground was covered in patches of blood that had already turned black.