The narrow underground cave was pitch black, with occasional sounds of suppressed coughing and the chattering of teeth from the cold.
The droplets of water formed on the surface of the stone walls showed that the temperature inside the cave was extremely low.
"..."
"Something happened to Meng Hong..."
A hoarse and low voice spoke, causing the others in the cave to sigh. Despair had already shrouded their hearts.
Just as they fell into silent despair, a crack appeared in the cave entrance, and light from outside shone in.
A crippled man with unsteady steps crawled into the cave. He was holding a wild rabbit that had just died. After removing his footprints, he hurriedly closed the massive stone blocking the entrance.
The man's entire body had varying degrees of decay, and his right arm was even missing a section.
The condition of the people inside the cave was even worse. Most of their bodies had already begun rotting, and some of their exposed internal organs could even be seen.
They were all people-insects of the Insect Nest, but they had escaped the control of the Heavenly Dao insect person.
As a result, lacking the oils needed to maintain their insect bodies, their bodies developed indescribable rejection reactions, and they could only watch themselves slowly die.
The Heavenly Dao insect person had never cared about the people-insects.
Because they knew that the Gu refinement technique had huge flaws. Without the oil secreted by the Heavenly Dao Insect, even escaping would only allow them to live for another month or so.
"Meng Hong..."
"He's dead..."
He Si could not help but mutter again. Half of his head had already become like rotten mud, but his insect brain could still function to some extent and sense his close blood relatives.
He could clearly sense that Meng Hong had been placed inside a prison cart and transported to a busy street, where he was beheaded amid the disgusted discussions of the civilians.
The man's name was Yan Zhen. Among the people-insects, he appeared to be the youngest. He tore the rabbit into pieces and distributed the meat to his companions one by one.
Only a few people-insects devoured the meat greedily. The others had little appetite, showing that the rejection of their insect bodies had already affected their internal organs.
Yan Zhen slightly shook his head. He had implanted the insect body for the shortest amount of time, so after his body developed rejection, he still retained some strength.
His main responsibility was to search for food, but judging from the situation, he would soon no longer need to do so.
Yan Zhen thought about his future plans. If nothing unexpected happened, after all his companions died, he would probably still return to the Mother Nest.
Although large numbers of people-insects died in the Mother Nest every day and were sent to various cities to die, it was still better than being left exposed in the wilderness.
Yan Zhen took out some rabbit meat and handed it to He Si.
"He Si, eat something at least."
However, He Si was frightened by Yan Zhen's actions and became panicked. After his brain was damaged, even his mind had started becoming unstable.
In He Si's eyes, the people inside the cave were like evil ghosts demanding his life, constantly whispering beside him.
He screamed crazily and scratched open his own scalp with both hands. Blood mixed with pus flowed out, and even his skull became visible.
He Si pushed Yan Zhen away, then somehow found the strength to move the massive stone blocking the entrance. He crawled out of the underground cave.
Yan Zhen wanted to stop He Si, but by the time he reacted, the latter's figure had already disappeared.
In the desolate wilderness, there were beasts lurking in the darkness and strange Gu insects of unknown origin. He Si definitely could not survive there.
Yan Zhen searched outside for a while, but eventually chose to give up.
The crack in the cave closed again. The people-insects were like filthy insects struggling to survive in a crack between stones. The only thing they could do was wait for death.
Every seven days, Yan Zhen would go out hunting once and occasionally bring back some prey, but he still could not stop the number of people-insects from gradually decreasing.
He tirelessly carried the corpses away and buried them somewhere farther away. This was one of the few things Yan Zhen could still do.
No one knew how much time had passed before the number of people-insects decreased until only five remained.
Yan Zhen had already lost the strength to go hunting. He lay in the cave with a bitter expression.
He realized that he was not an exception. It was only that the decay had started from inside his bones, and the impact on his body was relatively low at the beginning.
In the end, all the people-insects would become a pile of rotten flesh, without exception.
Yan Zhen closed his eyes and waited for death to arrive. Only at this moment did he finally gather a tiny bit of courage to develop a faint hatred toward the Insect Nest.
Clack clack clack clack...
The massive stone blocking the entrance slowly moved aside. Under the shocked gazes of the people-insects, He Si, who had disappeared for many days, walked back inside.
He Si's skin had actually become gray like limestone, and even the missing part of his head had been filled with a material similar to rock.
"I found it..."
Yan Zhen asked in disbelief, "How are you still alive?"
"Stone Heart Gu can turn flesh and bones into stone."
He Si's voice was filled with fanaticism. After removing the Gu insect's possession, his skin gradually returned to normal, and the injuries on his head had healed considerably.
He took out a book from his chest. The cover clearly had the words "Gu Immortal" written on it.
"After refining Stone Maggot Gu, once the heart rate slows by half and you consume three jin of limestone, you can advance into Stone Heart Gu."
He spoke endlessly. The book in his hand opened its sharp teeth and saliva continuously dripped from its mouth, clearly showing its extraordinary nature.
He Si spread open his palm, revealing several blue-green dragonflies.
"This is Dragon Eye Gu. Grind them into powder and swallow them, and they can suppress injuries..."
While speaking endlessly, He Si crushed the Dragon Eye Gu repeatedly with stones and then fed them to the other people-insects, muttering to himself in a crazed manner.
"As long as we have the Gu cultivation scripture, we can escape Jingzhou and go... go to Xiangxiang. Old Tang always wanted to go to Xiangxiang before he died."
He completely failed to notice Yan Zhen's terrifying gaze beside him.
"I'll help you..."
Yan Zhen also grabbed a piece of broken stone, then slowly walked beside He Si and smashed it heavily against the back of his head.
Blood immediately flowed from the wound.
He Si looked at Yan Zhen in disbelief. Tears streamed down Yan Zhen's face, and his expression became extremely twisted with guilt and resentment.
"They cannot die for nothing. How can they escape Jingzhou? They shouldn't..."
Yan Zhen muttered incoherently. Seeing that He Si did not move, he used the stone to kill the remaining people-insects as well, laughing like a madman.
He Si staggered back up. His stone-like arm slammed toward Yan Zhen.
The sound of bones breaking rang out. Yan Zhen's fragile spine was completely shattered, and he let out a scream before falling to the ground.
Yan Zhen's laughter still did not stop. Deep satisfaction appeared in his eyes, but it was not directed toward He Si, because he did not blame him at all.
He Si looked at his hands in disbelief. The warmth of the fresh blood caused his stomach to churn.
Blood flowed from Yan Zhen's teeth as he gasped and said, "He Si, you cannot return to Xiangxiang. The Insect Nest is our mortal enemy. They are not some Insect Immortal. There is no such thing as an Insect Immortal in this world..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Zhen died. His corpse still twitched slightly.
When He Si walked out of the underground cave again, the book's cover had already become blank. Under the unseen influence, his mentality changed, and he developed a bone-deep hatred toward the Insect Nest.
The book stretched out four limbs and transformed into a shadow-like form before entering He Si's Mud Pellet Palace.
He Si covered his head. The intense pain coming from his soul made his memories blurry, but his understanding of Gu insects became increasingly clear.
After a long while, he finally opened his eyes and could not help muttering, "Who am I?"
"You are Gu Immortal..."
"Originally, I was Gu Immortal, a cultivator reborn after achieving mastery of the Gu Dao."
Gu Immortal's gaze swept across the scattered Gu insects around him, but information about advancement methods and techniques surged into his mind.
He immediately fled into the forest, heading toward an environment where Gu insects were active.
Far away, hundreds of miles away, Ren Qing also used Spirit Division to observe Gu Immortal and influenced his thoughts through Zhili Technique.
This was also a method of last resort. Without giving the people-insects a shortcut, it would be impossible for them to become a third force capable of influencing the balance of the battle.
Although the Insect Nest Mother had not come to Jingzhou, there were still many Heavenly Dao insect people at the Yang God realm.
Ren Qing also used the mountain bandits controlled by bacterial soul to head to an underground lair where people-insects were raised and had the mountain bandits attack the Heavenly Dao insect person guarding the place.
Soon, a people-insect escaped from the underground lair and, under Ren Qing's subtle influence, encountered Gu Immortal "by coincidence."
At this moment, Gu Immortal had already completely walked onto the path of evil in order to increase his strength.
He implanted a Gu insect called Elephant Armor Gu into his abdomen, causing his upper body to swell several times while his skin became covered by insect armor.
Elephant Armor Gu
A host parasitized by Elephant Armor Gu would become like elephant hide and gain half the strength of an elephant. Every day, they had to smear elephant blood over their entire body.
By consuming giant elephants to nourish Elephant Armor Gu, it could advance into Flesh Body Turning Elephant Gu.
Gu Immortal's strength rapidly reached the Half-Corpse realm. Of course, Ren Qing felt that it was more accurate to say that the Gu insect had reached the Half-Corpse realm rather than the host.
Ren Qing also pulled Gu Immortal's consciousness into Dream City. Otherwise, the people-insects would simply be unable to gather enough resources to support the Gu insects and advancement.
He opened the tea house window and looked at the star-filled night sky.
The Taoist temples and Buddhist temples in the city were still brightly lit. Ancient cultivators at the Yang God realm would not easily attempt Gu refinement techniques and were certainly still searching for answers.
If the path of Gu refinement failed, the person behind the scenes would definitely choose to continue making moves.
Ren Qing had just thought of this when a spell fluctuation suddenly flashed from a Taoist temple called Three Dragon Temple, although it only lasted for a few breaths.
"Hahahaha..."
"I have become an immortal!!!"
Inside the room of Three Dragon Temple's master, Celestial Void Daoist, a mad voice rang out. A young Daoist boy wanted to open the door and check the master's condition, but he saw the reflection in the window. It was something indescribable.
It was like a pile of rotten flesh, with countless tentacles extending outward and dancing wildly. Faintly, the strange cries of crickets could be heard.
"I observed the Heavenly Dao day and night and finally comprehended the method of ascending to immortality. Where is Wei He?"
"Disciple is here."
The Daoist boys trembled in fear, their fingers moving uncontrollably.
"Send my message. Invite the masters of the various Taoist temples and Buddhist temples in Sanxiang City to come to Three Dragon Temple. This old Daoist wishes to explore the method of becoming immortal together with fellow cultivators."
Ren Qing looked at the undercurrents surging among the various forces of Sanxiang City. It was obvious that the person behind the scenes could no longer hold back, but they still had not revealed any flaws.
"Having ancient cultivators use their powerful souls to possess Gu insects is indeed finding another path."
Such a method could only be used in Jingzhou. The strange entities formed from Gu insects were neither living nor dead and would not create forbidden zones, making them relatively stable.
Ren Qing began preparing. He once again refined the corpse restrictions through zombification and helped some demon-kind remove the strange entities inside their bodies.
Jingzhou visibly became chaotic. Although the various forces still remained behind closed doors, their demand for flesh and blood greatly increased.
It was as if the evolution of civilization had been compressed into only a hundred days, leaving people unable to keep up.
'Lifespan nearing its end, seventy-one days.'