Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat point - Chapter 294
Chapter 294: Chapter 287 Southern Border Gu Techniques_1
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The Puppet Gu Secret Technique, originally a love Gu cultivated by the Witch Gu Sect of the Southern Border, eventually mutated during its cultivation process and became a Puppet Gu capable of invading others’ brains and manipulating their consciousness.
It was known as the most sinister Gu insect in the Southern Border.
The Witch Gu Sect used this Gu to covertly control the upper echelons of various sects and families, which finally led to public outrage and resulted in their being besieged by all.
In the end, the Witch Gu Sect was completely exterminated, and all their secret techniques and Gu insects were destroyed in flames.
I was fortunate to discover records about the Puppet Gu in the ruins of an underground palace and recorded them into the Immortal Scrolls for future Gu-loving friends to study.
The Southern Border is considered one of the cradles of insect control.
Its earliest origins can be traced back to Empress Leizu.
As the Emperor’s First Consort, she raised silkworms and wove silk, which provided people with satin and brocade.
Empress Leizu brought the Insect Control Technique to the Southern Border, initially seeing that it was a region with high mountains and dense forests, full of poisonous insects and miasma. The locals not only lived in poverty but also suffered from poisonous insect bites while gathering herbs or chopping wood in the mountains.
At first, the Insect Control Technique of the Southern Border was only passed on to females and not to males.
It is said that this was a rule set by Empress Leizu herself.
Weak by nature, women began to learn the Insect Control Technique to defend themselves against being bullied by men.
Later on, an insect-controlling genius greatly advanced the Insect Control Technique and cultivated the love Gu that could control lovers.
Initially, it was a good thing.
Because the love Gu merely served as a means of monitoring to prevent lovers from being unfaithful.
One female Insect Master made a mountain pledge and sea oath with her lover, swearing lifelong commitment to grow old together, never to part.
But unexpectedly, the lover turned out to be a fickle-hearted philanderer.
He quickly grew tired of the female Insect Master and began to philander outside.
The female Insect Master gave the man many chances, but he never repented and repeatedly deceived her. He even assaulted her sister through despicable means, leading her sister to take her own life.
Furthermore, relying on his strength, the man persecuted her and her family.
Finally, driven by vengeance, the aggrieved female Insect Master transformed her love into hate and sought revenge against this vile man.
Under the power of hatred, the female Insect Master astonishingly took the Insect Control Technique to a higher level. She turned the love Gu into a heart-eating Gu, and the love Gu inside the man started to gnaw away at his heart.
Not long after, the man died a terrible death at home.
This must have been the earliest prototype of Gu art.
Gu art continued to progress over time, metamorphosing from tangible to intangible.
It became possible to manipulate Gu insects inside others’ bodies from thousands of miles away, killing people without leaving a trace.
There were even those who cultivated Gu insects that could help enhance one’s cultivation level.
For example, the Copper Skin Gu could significantly increase its master’s defense, making the skin as hard as copper and iron.
Another example is the Purification Gu, which could help its master detoxify.
When Gu art reached its zenith, there were even the existence of Immortal Gus.
Some people relied on Gus to become Immortal Masters.
This was a sensational event in the realm of cultivation. During that period, countless men married into the Southern Border, not for any other reason but to learn from their wives the arts of nurturing and refining Gu, and then to step through the Immortal Gate with the help of Gu insects.
For unknown reasons, after flourishing for a while, Gu art gradually declined.
Some say that the Gu Masters began infighting, killing each other.
Two exceptionally talented and beautiful female Gu Masters fell in love with a male disciple of the Immortal Sect and fought fiercely over him, which led to a vast sect conflict.
In that war, many powerful Gu Masters perished, and some formidable Gu techniques were forever lost.
Even so, Southern Border Gu art remained renowned in the cultivation world, and its residual strength was still formidable.
But later, Southern Border Gu Masters were drawn into a great war of the Immortal Sects. More tragically, the sect that the Southern Border Gu Masters supported in the war was defeated by the Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect and was completely wiped out as a consequence.
The Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect did not spare the accomplices of their enemies and thus eradicated the Southern Border Gu Masters as well.
Some speculated that the Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect exterminated the Southern Border Gu Masters because they realized how terrifying Gu art could be, almost indefensible even to Immortal Masters.
To avoid nurturing a threat, they thus resorted to such drastic measures.
Qin Niu leaned toward this latter explanation.
Whether it’s a new dynasty or a new sect, the first order of business is always to consolidate one’s position and eliminate any threats or elements that could destabilize.
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The Gu Master’s art is unfathomable, mysterious, and unpredictable, posing a serious threat to the dominance of the Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect.
Exterminating it directly would be the wisest course of action.
Qin Niu slowly digested the content inside the cultivation manual.
Some records about Gu art and the Puppet Gu’s techniques for nurturing and controlling Gu were eye-opening to him.
It was as if a new window to Insect Commanding had been opened.
Insect Commanding and Gu cultivation are entirely different worlds.
Gu art is characterized by being tricky and strange.
Insect Commanding is characterized by being ruthless, poisonous, and orderly.
A Gu’s emphasis is on being intangible, silent, and colorless. The enemy remains unaware even when struck by a Gu art technique—it’s about being unnoticed by gods and ghosts alike.
Insect Commanding, on the other hand, involves cultivating powerful insects, attacking the enemy head-on with their terrifying venom or numerical superiority, among other things.
The techniques of nurturing and controlling Gu within this Immortal Manual are worth learning and researching.
It seems that Gu art and the Insect Commanding Technique can complement each other.
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
“Could the insect eggs inside this glass bottle be Gu eggs?”
They did not resemble ancient objects, but rather, they seemed like modern high-quality bottles.
Qin Niu speculated to himself that Elder Jiu Yin most likely studied the content in the Immortal Manual and then attempted Gu cultivation, eventually breeding these Gu eggs.
Flipping through the thick “Insect Breeding Notes” left by Elder Jiu Yin, after some searching, he indeed found some records pertaining to Gu cultivation.
The insect eggs inside the glass bottle were indeed Gu eggs cultivated by Elder Jiu Yin.
However, Elder Jiu Yin had not completely succeeded in their cultivation.
These Gu eggs were still half-Gu, half-insect.
Furthermore, Elder Jiu Yin mentioned that his Taiyin Yaoyao had evolved a special ability to resist slashes from swords and knives, a breakthrough he made by learning from Gu art, which led to the successful cultivation of this unique ability.
The Four-Winged Demon Centipede that Elder Jiu Yin spat out from his mouth was also a result of insights gained from Gu art, allowing him to nurture it inside his stomach.
Moreover, the ability of the Four-Winged Demon Centipede to leap during flight was likewise a harvest from Gu art.
By such a token, Gu art should be more advanced than the current Insect Control Technique.
Qin Niu immediately grinned from ear to ear.
Acquiring this Immortal Manual was indeed more valuable than the Hundred Treasures Insect Bag.
He wouldn’t dare to mess with the Gu eggs inside the glass bottle.
He needed to finish reading all the notes left by Elder Jiu Yin and understand the Gu eggs inside before he dared to open it.
Otherwise, if the Gu were to backlash, disaster would ensue.
After securing all the treasures, he carried the body of Elder Jiu Yin into the mountains at night and threw it into the mystical formation surrounding the Ancient Banyan Tree.
“I often take your tree sap and cultivate under your branches; consider this some repayment,” said Qin Niu to the Ancient Banyan Tree.
This Ancient Banyan Tree likely lacked spiritual intelligence and probably couldn’t understand what he was saying.
After dealing with the body, Qin Niu went straight home.
He cleaned up all the traces of the fight—the bloodstains—as if Elder Jiu Yin had never been there.
The Nine Insect Gang surely didn’t know yet that Elder Jiu Yin had been killed.
If they learned of this news, it would certainly cause an upheaval.
After waiting for daylight, Qin Niu hired workers to dig a lotus pond in the backyard.
Because he normally paid very generously for labor,
when word got out that he needed people to dig a lotus pond, the robust workers in the village were eager to offer their services.
Many hands make light work, and with these people working energetically, the lotus pond would likely be completed within a day or two at most.
Qin Niu offered them twenty Wen Money a day for the job and didn’t provide meals.
He needed to finish the lotus pond as soon as possible and plant the Ice Lotus inside.
