Chapter 11: Eliminating the Hidden Threat

Seizing the opportunity while helping Li Qingyun clear up his questions, the others enthusiastically pitched their own business ventures:

"Junior Brother Li, if you ever need Minor Herb Pills in the future, come find me — I have connections, and it'll be two parts cheaper than the temple's own pill hall!"

"Qingyun, I've got some resources too. Those run-of-the-mill cultivation techniques from the Scripture Repository? I have cheaper channels!"

"Top-quality Talisman Paper, peachwood, even refined iron — I've got plenty in stock, and I guarantee Junior Brother the best price!"

"Qingyun, if you have a channel for Clear Yang Fish, you might as well sell to us first..."

Every one of them was a sharp operator with their own way of making money — no wonder they didn't even blink at the high prices in the dining hall!

Li Qingyun chatted and ate with He Xiao, Yin Huan, and the others, and they quickly grew quite familiar with one another.

As the Third Young Lord of the Marquis of Qinghe's Manor, he was naturally a prime target for their efforts to build connections.

What they didn't know was that Li Qingyun was, in truth, a "cast-off" — someone who could no longer draw on his family's support, let alone talk about any Clear Yang Fish.

Had they known, these Senior Brothers would surely have worn a very different expression.

After the meal, everyone left the dining hall.

Along the way, He Xiao and the others threw their arms around each other's shoulders, heading off to attend some kind of Dharma Discussion gathering that evening.

Li Qingyun, however, called out to Yin Huan, with whom he'd had a pleasant conversation.

"Brother Yin, you mentioned earlier that you have channels for obtaining techniques. I wanted to ask — is it possible to get hold of any methods for expelling gu worms, or any other means of dealing with them?"

A Soul-Devouring Gu had taken up residence in his heart, greedily devouring his power without end. Naturally, he needed to root it out as soon as possible.

"Expelling gu? There are certainly techniques for that, but from what I can see, Junior Brother, you haven't yet cultivated any Dharma Power. Even if you had the method in hand, you wouldn't be able to use it."

In the lamplight of the evening, Yin Huan studied Li Qingyun's pale complexion with a more serious expression. After a brief pause, he offered his suggestion.

"Qingyun, I know an Uncle-Master within the temple. If it's a matter of expelling gu for you, I could ask him to step in. It's merely an Unorthodox Path technique — he'd leave no hidden threat behind. But the cost is a bit steep: at least ten Spirit Stones, with the final price depending on the difficulty."

At least ten Spirit Stones!

Li Qingyun was momentarily speechless, and he sighed inwardly.

"Brother Yin, let me think about it. Actually, it's a friend of mine who had a gu placed on them — I just wanted to see if there was a solution within the temple..." He could only decline politely.

Li Qingyun understood the importance of Spirit Stones. They were the true currency and cultivation resource circulating among genuine cultivators.

A single Spirit Stone was worth at least ten taels of gold, yet no amount of gold was guaranteed to buy one.

In this world, the boundary between ordinary people and cultivators was not so clearly drawn — the two were intermingled. Many Unorthodox Path factions, Transcendent noble clans, and wandering cultivators all held dominion over parts of the mortal world.

Because demons and monsters ran rampant and strange creatures lurked everywhere, ordinary people simply could not survive and thrive without the protection of Transcendent cultivators.

As for the so-called Ghostly Realm of You, its imperial family was itself the most powerful Transcendent noble clan in the mortal world, reportedly backed by an exceptionally formidable Cultivation Sect.

Thus, over the long years, Spirit Stones and even Magical Artifacts inevitably trickled down into the hands of ordinary people.

In the years prior, Li Qingyun had leveraged the Marquis's Manor's influence, combined with the perspective and acumen from his past life, to manage local affairs and build up industries. He had even collected several dozen Spirit Stones — though they had all since fallen into the hands of Lady Cui and her faction.

The maple shadows swayed, their falling leaves red as blood, as the two parted ways at a fork in the mountain path.

Li Qingyun had no interest in wandering about and headed straight back to his bamboo quarters.

"I refuse to believe that no matter how much Dharma Power I generate, you can keep swallowing it all..."

With that thought in mind, he sat down to meditate.

The spectral figure in his mind — the Dao Effigy — immediately surfaced. Its expression was serene as it sat cross-legged, the illusory booklet of the Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art floating before it.

The Dao Effigy's eyes were cast downward, still as a stone carving, yet from the top of its head, wisps of pure qi began to rise in a continuous stream.

Within Li Qingyun's body, faint glimmers of Dharma Power began to stir one by one at the meridians and acupoints throughout him — a point here, a point there, with no particular pattern.

These tiny lights of Dharma Power illuminated the dark void within him.

This inner darkness and emptiness could not be measured by the standards of external physical space. Just like the meridians and acupoints themselves — judged by outward dimensions, how much capacity could they possibly hold?

And yet, for cultivators of profound attainment, the space within their acupoints was like the birth of heaven and earth — capable of containing surging Dharma Power and housing Magical Artifacts and treasures. Mysterious beyond all measure.

This inner darkness within a cultivator's body was described in the Dao texts and cultivation scriptures of this world through concepts such as the Inner Landscape, the Spirit Vault, and the Heart Mirror.

The Treasure Furnace Qi Absorption Art itself mentioned this inner darkness in passing:

"When the refinement of the Three Treasures bears fruit, one may observe the inner Spirit Vault and uncover greater potential..."

It said no more than that.

As Li Qingyun turned his gaze inward, he found the seemingly boundless dark void within himself profoundly mysterious and wondrous — and felt a measure of awe and unease toward the unknown.

In time, reading more advanced cultivation texts and Dao scriptures might reveal more.

For now, he could only hold onto that uncertainty.

Before long, the scattered glimmers of Dharma Power within Li Qingyun's body drew together once more, converging into a thin stream of Dharma Power.

Then, the Soul-Devouring Silkworm deep within his heart — now plumper and whiter than before — wriggled its body, opened its mouth, and greedily swallowed that stream whole.

"Its appetite seems utterly bottomless!"

He was inwardly alarmed, uncertain where the Soul-Devouring Silkworm's limit lay.

After all, before he had gone to the dining hall, it had already squandered one or two furnaces' worth of his Dharma Power!

But — then let it keep coming!

Dharma Power surged forth without cease, and the Soul-Devouring Silkworm never stopped feeding, devouring every last drop.

Its pale, pallid silkworm body continued to expand outward, growing rounder and fatter by the moment.

After some time, faint golden radiance began to crack and seep from the surface of the gu worm's body.

Li Qingyun's heart leapt — he had finally seen a glimmer of hope.

"This gu worm has been devouring without stop, and it's finally starting to reach saturation."

Under his watchful gaze, the bloated silkworm looked ready to burst — yet it still couldn't stop itself, continuing to gulp down every strand of Dharma Power with insatiable greed.

"This gu worm must have been enchanted — it can only keep devouring, without end."

"Lady Cui couldn't allow me to cultivate Dharma Power. But how could she have anticipated that now, every time I sit in meditation, my Dharma Power regenerates endlessly..."

Time passed. It was now deep in the night, the moon casting a desolate crimson hue over Maple Mountain.

At last, he noticed with delight that after the Soul-Devouring Silkworm's body had expanded several times over, the speed at which it devoured Dharma Power finally began to slow.

It even began to resist absorbing more.

But compelled by its directive, it could only continue devouring in anxious agitation.

Acting on instinct to save itself, the round, plump silkworm curled its head to meet its tail, coiling into a glowing golden ring, as if attempting to enter some state of metamorphosis.

Li Qingyun saw this and felt a surge of urgency. He knew he could not give it a chance to catch its breath.

Otherwise, all his efforts might come to nothing!

He had a premonition: if this gu silkworm completed its metamorphosis, its devouring capacity would surely increase dramatically, leaving him in an even more passive position.

"Tonight, you must be gorged to death..."

Four hours passed.

Li Qingyun had held his meditation posture for so long that he once again felt his muscles turn to mush and his bones go soft, his limbs numb, his meridians aching in waves, and stars beginning to flash before his eyes.

His physical body, even though it had just been nourished by a trace of Dharma Power, was still a wretched vessel — it could not endure the prolonged stimulation of Dharma Power.

But for the sake of his own path of cultivation, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and press on.

Between the Soul-Devouring Gu and himself, only one could remain standing tonight!

Hum!

Suddenly, as if from somewhere beyond, a deep, thunderous sound rang out.

The entire bamboo quarters shuddered at once, and dust rained down from the ceiling in a cascade.