novelraw Chapter 317: The Heaven-Devouring World Toad Becomes a Gu
Chapter 317: The Heaven-Devouring World Toad Becomes a Gu
However, where there is benefit, there is always a drawback. No matter how extraordinary a Gu insect may be, it will inevitably have flaws.
Why is this Gu insect not called the Luck Gu but instead named the Doom Gu?
This is because the Doom Gu’s power is ineffective against strangers in its early stages. It can only grow by absorbing the fortune of close relatives and friends.
Luck does not appear out of thin air. The Doom Gu merely plunders others' fortune and gathers it for its host.
This results in a dire consequence: the host’s fortune becomes extraordinarily high, while those connected to the host suffer extreme misfortune.
When someone’s luck declines to a certain degree, it leads to calamity. They might be struck dead by a Gu King on the street or choke to death while eating.
Therefore, those who possess this Gu insect will bring death and ruin to their parents, siblings, and friends.
Anyone close to the owner of the Doom Gu is doomed to meet a tragic and miserable end.
The Doom Gu, being an innate spiritual Gu, is intangible and invisible. The host cannot perceive its existence.
People parasitized by the Doom Gu are unaware that their presence brings misfortune to their loved ones, nor do they realize they are the cause of death for everyone dear to them. As a result, their life is destined to be filled with tragedy and unbearable pain.
Only the higher-ups of the clan knew that Zhu Jiuge harbored the Doom Gu, yet they kept this secret from her.
Under the clan’s arrangements, she befriended many people, becoming the cherished "favorite" in her social circle. She had numerous siblings and lived a seemingly blissful life.
Even her parents and many others were complicit in this staged illusion. They were all actors in a game orchestrated by the clan.
To cultivate materials in the millions for a specific Gu insect, many members of the clan had been designated as sacrifices for this plan.
Zhu Jiuge’s fate was decided from the moment she was born. Everyone around her wore false masks.
Her entire life was fabricated. Everything she understood and knew was an illusion.
Her life was filled with deceit, and the day she discovered the truth would plunge her into unspeakable despair.
Zhu Yue, who understood this cruel plan, felt deep pity for Zhu Jiuge. To her, the plan was unbearably ruthless.
When a person experiences too much loss, pain, and suffering, they will inevitably collapse and descend into darkness.
If such a terrifying person were to embrace their dark side, the consequences would be unimaginable.
In response to Zhu Yue’s words, Zhu Yuan remained emotionless and cold-hearted, saying:
“This plan represents the great revival of our clan. The clan’s rise depends entirely on its success.”
“Sacrificing a small number of people for the collective benefit is absolutely worth it.”
“Only by making the clan stronger can we prevent more sacrifices.”
“If the clan remains weak, even more people will perish.”
“Do not let sympathy cloud your judgment.”
“It’s the others who are dying, while she is the one benefiting.”
“Many in the clan have willingly given their lives for the revival of our clan, granting her unparalleled power.”
“She should be grateful to us. Everything the clan does is for her own good.”
Zhu Yuan’s eyes shone with madness as he continued:
“Her accumulated fortune is still insufficient. I’m afraid we may not yet have the conditions to refine the Shadow Eye.”
“She needs to seize even more fortune from others.”
“Go and summon her. I will arrange for her to enter the Sacred Gu Academy.”
Hearing this, Zhu Yue’s pupils contracted, but in the end, she said nothing further. With a nod, she left.
Soon after, Zhu Yue entered a warmly decorated courtyard.
Seeing a young girl sitting on a beautiful woman’s lap, playfully acting spoiled, Zhu Yue sighed inwardly.
The little girl was adorable and at a lively age. At that moment, she looked blissfully happy, completely unaware of the tragedies awaiting her.
“Jiuge! The clan leader has summoned you!” Zhu Yue finally spoke, breaking the warm scene.
“Mother, so what if my attempts to refine a Gu failed dozens of times? I promise I’ll succeed next time! I’ll be back soon!”
The little girl waved her tiny fist at the beautiful woman and smiled sweetly before jumping off her lap and running out of the courtyard.
---
Six months later.
In a small cave, Long Xuan sat grinning, lovingly stroking a large toad in his arms.
This toad had an unusual appearance. Its back was sky blue, while its underside was earth brown.
Its right eyelid bore the imprint of the sun, with a radiant solar glow reflected in its right eye.
Its left eyelid bore the imprint of the moon, with a soft lunar glow reflected in its left eye.
Long Xuan had no idea how these marks had formed. He could only marvel at nature’s craftsmanship, which could produce such a strange and extraordinary creature.
This peculiar toad was none other than the Heaven-Devouring World Toad.
The treasure aura could accelerate the transformation of the Heaven-Devouring World Toad into a Gu. Even though Long Xuan had so many heaven-defying treasures, it still took him a year and a half to complete the refinement process, nearly exhausting his patience.
Today, the Heaven-Devouring World Toad had finally transformed into a Gu. Long Xuan was overjoyed.
He gave it a resounding name. Since its left eye symbolized the moon and its right eye symbolized the sun, with the sun and moon being bright—he simply named it "Da Ming" (Great Brightness).
After forming a blood contract with Da Ming, Long Xuan immediately activated his consciousness and eagerly entered the vast internal space within its body.
The terrifying power of Da Ming lay in its massive internal space, which could support living beings.
This enormous space could grow indefinitely by absorbing treasure aura released from devoured treasures.
When Da Ming used its 'Gigantification Technique', its size would also expand infinitely based on the amount of treasures within its body.
The more treasures Da Ming housed, the stronger it became. Its upper limit was directly tied to its master’s wealth.
Long Xuan, being in possession of countless heaven-defying spiritual medicines, even owning several unique 'Divine Trees', was wealthier than most. Da Ming, following such a master, could be considered fortunate.
After entering Da Ming's internal space, the first thing that caught Long Xuan’s eyes was the lush and vibrant spiritual herbs covering the ground.
These spiritual herbs had originally been transplanted from the Far West Herb Garden into the World Tree Seed.
However, the World Tree Seed was used as a material for refining the Gu. Long Xuan didn’t have the time to move all the spiritual medicines elsewhere, so he left them there, assuming they wouldn’t be damaged during the refinement process.
To be safe, he had transplanted the most precious Heaven-Grade and Earth-Grade Spiritual Herb out of the seed beforehand.
As it turned out, the refinement process indeed did not harm the contents of the World Tree Seed.
Not only were the spiritual medicines untouched, but even the internal terrain remained intact. The enormous lake inside was also perfectly preserved, with a school of golden dragon fish swimming gracefully in its waters.
However, the original wooden interior of the World Tree Seed had disappeared, replaced by a void-like environment.
Long Xuan now stood on a giant floating island, beneath which lay an endless abyss of darkness.
Above, sunlight poured down, seemingly originating from the 'Sun Imprint' on Da Ming’s eyelid. This ensured that the chaotic, void-like world wasn’t engulfed in darkness.
Long Xuan pondered for a moment. It seemed that Da Ming's expansion by devouring treasure aura only applied to the spatial environment, not the soil. Soil, being material, couldn’t grow infinitely due to the law of conservation of mass.
To expand the land area, additional floating islands would need to be created within this space.
Creating a second floating island here wouldn’t be difficult. As long as Da Ming grew large enough, it could simply swallow an island whole.
It could even devour a spiritual vein, a spiritual mountain, a spiritual stone mine, or a metallic ore vein, or even swallow the Far West Spirit Spring along with its soil and water.
In the future, Long Xuan planned to build a paradise within this space, featuring floating islands of various kinds.
His primary targets for collection would be different types of spiritual mountains. Spiritual mountains often featured in stories as weapons for protagonists to hurl at enemies. Perhaps Da Ming could do the same.
Da Ming might even spit out one spiritual mountain after another as an attack. The scene would surely be terrifying.
No enemy could remain calm in the face of such devastating assaults.
As Da Ming’s internal collection of spiritual mountains grew, its internal space and physical size would expand to unimaginable proportions.
Long Xuan’s eyes glimmered with anticipation, as a grand ambition took root in his heart.
However, for now, considering swallowing such massive objects was premature. Da Ming was still far from being large enough to accomplish such feats.
Long Xuan decided to begin a large-scale collection of rare spiritual herbs seeds to expand the herb garden within Da Ming’s space, providing a continuous source of treasure aura.
Compared to the Three-Legged Golden Toad, Da Ming's greatest advantage was its ability to absorb treasure aura from living beings.
Da Ming’s capability to house living beings within its body was a critical feature, and Long Xuan intended to make full use of it. This was the key factor setting Da Ming apart from the Three-Legged Golden Toad.
Long Xuan instructed his clone to transplant the most valuable spiritual herbs back into Da Ming’s internal space before leaving.
After relocating the Heaven-Mending Tree, World Tree, Soul-Nourishing Tree, and other divine-grade spiritual herbs into its space, Da Ming’s internal environment would expand rapidly, reaching an unimaginable scale.
It might even directly evolve into a 'Spiritual Gu.'
If Long Xuan’s current cultivation realm weren’t so low, suppressing its level, the consumption of these divine trees could allow Da Ming to evolve three times in succession, instantly becoming an 'Exotic Gu.'
This made Da Ming the least troublesome Gu to nurture. Its future evolution required no preparation—only the consumption of peak-tier treasures.
After finishing his work in the herb garden, Long Xuan began packing up his cave dwelling, preparing to leave.
After a year of diligent cultivation, he had successfully reached a bottleneck in his spiritual power, and he planned to head to the Central Lands to search for the Earth Spirit Fruit.
Using the Earth Spirit Fruit as the main ingredient, he intended to develop an Earth Spirit Pill, which would aid him in breaking through to the Spiritual Sea Stage.
However, plans often failed to keep up with changes. Originally, he had intended to team up with Di Xin for this journey.
But trouble had occurred with the Shenlong Ship, which had lost contact for a long time. Even the Suo Gu Hut had been disabled.
Uncertain of what had happened, Long Xuan had no choice but to make the trip to the Teng Clan alone.
The maturation of the Earth Spirit Fruit was time-sensitive. Delays would render the fruit unavailable.
With only a month remaining until the fruit’s maturity, he couldn’t afford to wait any longer. If he missed this window, someone else would claim the fruit.
Fortunately, the Hundred-Mile Talisman gave him confidence. Even if pursued by a Gu King, he could escape unscathed.
Theoretically, there was no risk involved in this trip.
Otherwise, without Di Xin’s assistance, Long Xuan might not have had the courage to venture into the Teng Clan alone.
Thinking of the Hundred-Mile Talisman, Long Xuan felt a twinge of annoyance.
The Repair Gu had managed to restore it, but only after an entire year. Worse yet, it had only repaired one talisman. Long Xuan was nearly driven mad, questioning whether it had truly been working all along.
He understood that repairing heaven-defying items required significant time, but this was far too long.
One Hundred-Mile Talisman was far from enough, meaning he could only use it once during his trip to the Teng Clan. He would have to exercise extreme caution.