To advance to beyond-mortal required a huge amount of the Gu God’s power. If they seized that power, they could effectively curb the growth of the gu insects in the Abyss. It really was a perfect solution.
But if each tribe produced one beyond-mortal expert, that would be seven beyond-mortals in total. How could the birth of beyond-mortals be so easy?
Shamans also had bottlenecks, and there was likewise a distinction between prodigies and mediocrities.
The speed of a Shaman’s cultivation mainly depended on three aspects.
The first was the density of the Gu God’s power.
The shaman clans drew their strength from the Gu God. Other systems needed to absorb spiritual power through breathing exercises, but the shaman clans absorbed the Gu God’s power instead. Since the Gu God slumbered in the Southern Marches, if a Shaman wanted to advance steadily, they couldn’t remain away from the Southern Marches for long.
The denser the Gu God’s power, the faster the cultivation speed.
But this had its limits, and that limit was the life gu.
So the second aspect was the compatibility between the life gu and its host.
Why was someone like Xu Lingyin, a born glutton with naturally strong sinews and bones, praised by the Strength Gu Tribe as a heaven-sent prodigy? Because a physique like hers was highly compatible with the Strength Gu. The higher the compatibility, the greater the potential that the life gu could unlock.
Compatibility was the talent Shamans valued.
A Shaman with low compatibility was destined to have no hope of reaching the high ranks.
The third aspect was the nurturing of the life gu.
Some of the gu’s negative effects were actually part of the nurturing process, such as being fed poison every day, or hiding in a pit every day, and so on.
It was like how martial artists had to circulate their qi every day and temper their bodies.
In this regard, diligence could make up for shortcomings.
At present, the elders of each tribe who were under fifty had the best chance of striking at third rank, but the success rate was still less than ten per cent. Throughout history, when shaman clan elders attempted to break through to third rank, they either died from bodily collapse, or from their life gu mutating and devouring the host.
The former happened because the compatibility between life gu and body hadn’t met the requirements. The latter happened because the life gu’s potential was limited, and it couldn’t bear the infusion of power from the beyond-mortal realm. It failed to transform successfully, mutated, and became a monster like the gu insects in the Abyss.
“The situation’s already extremely grave. If we can’t dispel the Gu God’s power shrouding the Abyss, then within half a year, beyond-mortal gu beasts will definitely appear. When that time comes, not only will the chiefs be in danger, it will be a disaster for ordinary tribesmen as well.”
An elder of the Desire Gu Tribe spoke in a low voice.
Heaven Gu Grandma swept her gaze over the elders.
“Which of you is willing to attempt a breakthrough to beyond-mortal?”
In truth, this was sending seven people off to die, but there was no other choice. If by some stroke of luck one of them succeeded, the problem of the Gu God’s power could be resolved, and that person would also advance to beyond-mortal.
If they didn’t try, the situation would only get worse.
The Gu God had slept in the Abyss for endless ages, and now it was finally about to awaken. Such a situation had never appeared before in the history of the shaman clans.
The elders of the various tribes looked at one another, but no one spoke.
“Elders under fifty, prepare to attempt beyond-mortal. For the sake of the shaman clans, this is a risk that must be taken.”
The Great Elder of the Strength Gu Tribe spoke.
Longtu frowned.
“I can try to break through to second rank. Give the Strength Gu Tribe’s quota to me.”
But Heaven Gu Grandma rejected his proposal outright. Leaning on her walking stick, the old woman said flatly:
“Beyond-mortals mustn’t take risks. The shaman clans can’t bear such a loss.”
If a fourth rank died, there would be others in future.
But if a beyond-mortal fell, then perhaps for ten or even several decades, there might not be another to take their place.
The Fifth Elder of the Strength Gu Tribe stepped forward and said loudly:
“I can attempt beyond-mortal. I reached fourth rank ten years ago, and my age still qualifies. I’m not too far past fifty.”
With the Strength Gu Tribe taking the lead, after a brief silence, the elders of the various tribes whose age and cultivation were suitable all stepped forward in agreement.
Heaven Gu Grandma looked around at them and said slowly:
“Tomorrow, gather the clansmen and hold a sacrifice, to pray for your success in advancement.”
Amid the somewhat heavy atmosphere, everyone nodded silently, then dispersed under the leadership of their chiefs.
On the way back to the Strength Gu Tribe, Longtu looked at the grey-haired Fifth Elder, his gaze deep, and said:
“When you get home, finish saying whatever needs to be said.”
People of the Strength Gu Tribe had always spoken bluntly.
The Fifth Elder gave a “heh”.
“When a man’s dead, he’s dead. What’s there to say? Besides, this old man might not necessarily die. Maybe I’ll advance to beyond-mortal.”
But all along the way, the Fifth Elder remained extremely silent.
…
Boom boom boom!
A deafening sonic boom rang out over the great plain, and the Strength Gu tribesmen toiling “industriously” in the fields all looked up at the sky.
A figure descended from the heavens and landed beside a field ridge, stirring up a fierce gust.
“Where are the experts of the tribe?”
Xu Qi’an swept out his divine sense and immediately realised that the tribe’s experts were not in the main camp.
The grey-haired old man whose speed in ploughing fields surpassed that of beasts pointed in the direction of the Abyss and said:
“The chief and the elders are in the Abyss, clearing out gu beasts.”
Then he pointed in another direction and said:
“The other clansmen are up in the hills building a dam. The Southern Marches get a lot of rain. The dam has to be finished before the rainy season arrives, or mountain floods will wash away the farmland.”
The great plain which the Strength Gu Tribe was relatively low-lying. The advantage was that it was convenient for irrigation. The disadvantage was that once there were several days of heavy rain in a row, water easily accumulated. If mountain floods came, the farmland would be submerged.
The Strength Gu Tribe was a tribe that lived only at the level of having enough food and clothing. They valued farmland even more than prey.
“How’s the situation in the Abyss?” Xu Qi’an asked again.
The old man shook his head.
“Not good. The elders and chief have been frowning every day. They say beyond-mortal gu beasts may appear soon, and the Gu God’s power in the Abyss is growing denser and denser.”
As he spoke, a sturdy auntie carrying several sandbags over her shoulder walked over and joined the conversation.
“Every time gu beasts appear in the Abyss, lots of people die.”
Anxious worry showed on her dark, coarse face.
Although the last time gu beasts appeared had been a long time ago, and people of their generation hadn’t experienced it personally, the shaman clans had passed it down by word of mouth. The clansmen all knew how terrifying and frenzied beyond-mortal gu beasts were.
After finding out that Xu Lingyin and Lina were repairing the dam, Xu Qi’an shot into the sky and, amid a piercing explosive roar, flew towards the back mountain.
In barely two seconds, he saw the Strength Gu Tribe’s reservoir, set within a mountain hollow on higher ground. The algae in the water made it look faintly green.
More than a hundred Strength Gu tribesmen were busy on the dam. Some held iron hammers, chisels and other tools, shaping irregular stones, while the others were mixing mud.
Xu Qi’an swept his gaze around and saw Little Pea and Lina on a rugged mountain path in the distance. Along with more than a dozen tribesmen, they were quarrying stone.
Clang, clang, clang!
Amid the pounding of hammers, a long iron spike prised loose a block of stone. Lina picked up a huge boulder weighing six or seven hundred pounds and set it on Little Pea’s shoulder.
“Off you go!”
Once the giant stone came down onto her, Xu Qi’an could no longer see Little Pea’s upper body. All he could see were two short, thick little legs, as if they had grown out of the stone itself.
“Master, when are we eating? My tummy’s hungry.”
Xu Lingyin’s voice came from beneath the rock.
“When the sun sets, we can eat.”
As she spoke, Lina also hoisted a massive stone weighing over a thousand pounds. Master and disciple strode swiftly along the rugged mountain path.
A daughter of the Xu family, just coming into bloom, with strength to uproot mountains and spirit to tower over the age… Xu Qi’an silently covered his face. If Auntie ever found out that her youngest daughter, whom she’d been determined to raise into a refined young lady, had turned into a heroic giant-slaying heroine who could carry a cauldron on her shoulders, what would she feel?
“Heave-ho, heave-ho!”
Xu Lingyin pumped her short little legs while chanting a rhythm for herself.
Then a familiar voice suddenly came by her ear:
“Tired?”
Xu Lingyin froze for a moment. Her two short little legs stiffened, then the six or seven hundred pounds boulder was tossed aside, revealing a round-faced Little Pea.
“Big bwother~”
Xu Lingyin cried out, her silly little face breaking into a smile. With both hands tucked behind her waist, she lowered her head and launched a wild bull charge at Xu Qi’an.
Thud thud thud… Two rows of little footprints were left on the ground.
“Did you miss your big brother?”
Xu Qi’an grabbed Little Pea by the back of the neck and lifted her into the air.
“Mm!”
Xu Lingyin nodded hard, then added:
“And I missed mum and dad, and big sister, and also, also…”
“And second brother!” Xu Qi’an reminded her.
“And second bwother.”
Xu Lingyin accepted the correction readily.
On the other side, Lina set down the huge boulder on her shoulder and said in surprise:
“So fast?”
She’d sent a message to Xu Qi’an near lunchtime, and the sun still hadn’t set, yet he’d already come from the capital to the Southern Marches, crossing more than a hundred thousand li on the way.
Xu Qi’an set Little Pea down. She really was fine. From body to consciousness, there wasn’t the slightest abnormality, and her life gu was the same as before he’d left, at most much stronger.
She didn’t look as though she’d been corrupted by the Gu God.
Little Pea’s life gu looked like a miniature python, one finger long, with knotted muscles.
“Lingyin, you said that in your dream that big bug was teaching you how to fight?”
“Mhm!”
“How did it teach you? Show Big Brother once.”
“I forgot.”
”…”
Xu Qi’an thought to himself, If the Gu God really wanted to take you as a disciple, then It must be blind.
Since this concerned his little sister’s safety, he didn’t waste any time. On the spot, he took out the Confucian cap and put it on, then pulled out two sheets of paper. He first ignited one of them with his qi.
Sizzle~
The page recording the law-following command burned up. Xu Qi’an flicked the Confucian cap lightly and recited:
“At this moment, the power of ‘Shifting stars and changing constellations’ must not exist.”
The moment the words left his mouth, circles of clear light rippled out from the Confucian cap, filling the present moment with righteous spirit and strengthening the power of the law-following command.
Pain stabbed at Xu Qi’an’s neck, and he sensed the Sevenfold Gu shrinking in fear, suppressed.
Then he saw Xu Lingyin cry out, clutch her neck, and shout:
“A bug bit me.”
She feels pain too… Xu Qi’an’s heart sank. He picked Xu Lingyin up again and pressed his palm against the back of her neck. This time, he saw that Little Pea’s life gu had changed.
It had turned from a miniature python into a blood-red seven-segmented insect.
It looked exactly the same as the Sevenfold Gu.
The difference was that the Sevenfold Gu was jade white, while the seven-segmented insect inside Lingyin was bright red, the colour of qi and blood.
Also, the red seven-segmented insect only had the shape. It didn’t possess the other six Gu arts.
Fuck… Xu Qi’an swore inwardly. Is the Gu God trying to raise Lingyin into a vessel?
Sizzle!
The second sheet burned. Using a Warlock’s divination and aided by Xu Lingyin’s horoscope, Xu Qi’an cast a prediction on her recent luck and misfortune.
The hexagram showed that for quite some time to come, Xu Lingyin’s fortune would be smooth sailing.
That let Xu Qi’an relax slightly. He knew the Gu God could block divination, and the timespan shown by the hexagram wouldn’t be very long, but that was enough. It was good enough that nothing would happen in the near future.
He would be taking Xu Lingyin away soon anyway.
Still, to be safe, he definitely needed to consult a professional.
“Well? Well?!”
Lina fired off questions one after another. After not seeing her for so long, the little white skin showed signs of evolving back into little dark skin.
“Come on, hold on tight to Big Brother!”
“It’s hard to explain in a few words…” Xu Qi’an shook his head.
“I’ll take Lingyin to see Heaven Gu Grandma first. I’ll explain it to you in detail later.
“Come on, Lingyin, hold on tight to Big Brother.”
Xu Lingyin was no longer the little child who used to climb up his leg. With a light leap, she wrapped her arms round Xu Qi’an’s neck and hung herself from his chest.
With a boom, Xu Qi’an shot into the sky like a cannonball and disappeared in an instant.
Xu Lingyin’s vision blurred, and she found herself in a somewhat shabby old house, with a square open courtyard above her head.
Then she felt her internal organs shift and churn, and stomach acid surged up.
“Big bwother, I’m gonna be sick…”
The moment Little Pea announced it, she vomited a great mouthful of sour water onto Xu Qi’an’s chest.
After vomiting, Little Pea looked at the sour water all over her big brother’s chest and said loudly:
“Eh, how’d the meat I ate turn into this?”
She deliberately put on an exaggerated expression, trying to distract her big brother and make him forget that the mess on his chest had been vomited up by her.
Xu Qi’an rubbed her head, while looking towards Heaven Gu Grandma as she walked out of the house.
“Congratulations!”
Heaven Gu Grandma smiled and said:
“Since Emperor Wuzong, the Central Plains haven’t produced another first rank martial artist.”
Xu Qi’an nodded in acknowledgement and casually tossed Little Pea over. “Grandma, have another look at her.”
Heaven Gu Grandma extended her staff and guided Little Pea slowly to the ground. Her withered right hand probed at the child’s neck, and her expression changed at once.
“Is this the Sevenfold Gu?”
Xu Qi’an asked.
Heaven Gu Grandma said gravely:
“The Gu God wants to cultivate the Strength Gu inside her body into a Sevenfold Gu, just like the one inside you. But this is only the beginning, the foundation has only just been laid. It’s still far from complete.”
It only has the form. In essence it was still a Strength Gu, but it had gained the basis to contain the other six Gu arts… Xu Qi’an flicked away the filth on his chest and said:
“You didn’t notice it before, Grandma?”
Heaven Gu Grandma shook her head gently.
“The Gu God’s rank is above mine. I can’t see through Its concealment. How did you discover it?”
Xu Qi’an briefly explained what he’d done, then asked:
“What exactly does It want to do?”
At first he had guessed that the Gu God wanted to cultivate Xu Lingyin into a vessel, a carrier for the descent of Its consciousness.
But on second thought, something didn’t quite add up. What was wrong with that idea?
First, even if Its consciousness descended, so what? A vessel like this wouldn’t withstand a single slap from a first rank martial artist. What would be the point?
And why choose Xu Lingyin as the vessel?
No matter how gifted Xu Lingyin was, she was still a child, far inferior to adult Strength Gu warriors, people like Lina, a genius among Strength Gu cultivators.
“I can’t give you an answer.”
Heaven Gu Grandma shook her head. Then she said:
“However, if the Gu worm inside Lingyin continues to grow, it will become a true Sevenfold Gu, the Gu God’s genuine inheritance.”
“What do you mean?” Xu Qi’an frowned.
Heaven Gu Grandma lightly stroked the tender flesh at the back of Lingyin’s neck with her fingertip and said:
“The Sevenfold Gu inside you uses Heaven Gu as its foundation, with the other six kinds of Gu led by Heaven Gu. That’s why when you first obtained the Sevenfold Gu, the increase to your combat strength wasn’t very high.
“You could only cast one high-level spell, ‘Shifting stars and changing constellations’. It turned out that way because the one who found the Sevenfold Gu in the Abyss back then was the old man.
“He changed the Sevenfold Gu. The true Sevenfold Gu doesn’t have Heaven Gu as its foundation.”
She looked at Xu Qi’an and said slowly:
“Among the Gu God’s seven great abilities, if you had to choose one as the foundation, which do you think it would be?”
In Xu Qi’an’s mind flashed the Gu God’s huge body, like a mountain of flesh, and his heart stirred.
“Strength Gu!”
Heaven Gu Grandma nodded, giving him an affirmative answer.
She withdrew her finger and rubbed Xu Lingyin’s head.
“Take her back to the capital first. Once she leaves the Southern Marches, no matter how many schemes the Gu God has, Its reach won’t be long enough. As for what comes later, we’ll deal with it later.”
I suppose this is all we can do… Xu Qi’an let the matter rest and brought up the other reason he’d come here:
“Lina said the Gu God’s power in the Abyss is unusually dense. I’ve come this time to push the Sevenfold Gu to beyond-mortal.”
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