Vol 6 Chapter 15: The Trembling Ice Soul Gu
Of course, from Lin Jing's perspective, he also felt that his Gu Grandma wasn't exactly virtuous.
Its Void Mystical Domain was a sea of insects, with the space filled entirely with its offspring Gu. The Ice Soul Gu's Immortal Dao Primordial Spirit derived immortal energy by absorbing the life force of these offspring Gu.
But the problem was, its Void Mystical Domain was fundamentally different from those of Lin Jing and the Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse.
Lin Jing could make the mosquito beast clan endure for countless generations just through the cycle of life and death mechanism and his own longevity immortal blood.
The Wood-attribute Pine Leaf Mouse was similar—its primordial spirit space was perfectly suited for plant growth, and these plants could naturally reproduce through pollination, essentially converting its own power through multiple transformations into immortal energy.
But for the Ice Soul Gu, the simple offspring Gu had short lifespans, and recreating them required enormous consumption. It couldn't efficiently contribute massive amounts of life force like the mosquito beasts that reproduced through longevity blood with their cycle of life and death, or the long-lived pine demons.
Therefore, its offspring Gu still needed to devour others' life force to sustain their own. While this was sustainable development in theory, in practice, its method of deriving immortal energy resembled the Dragon Carp's more—unable to form a complete cycle.
However, compared to the Dragon Carp, the Ice Soul Gu's advantage was that it didn't need to personally involve itself like the Dragon Carp did. It had a gentler approach—it only needed to act as a "loan-sharking" demon to continuously gather life force.
It could lend its offspring Gu to cultivators who needed power, having them pay with their lifespan in exchange for strength—a reasonable transaction.As for the Star Longevity Crane, well, it remained the most honest.
After all this time, it still hadn't been corrupted by Lin Jing and the others, creating only a Time Dao Void Mystical Domain with different time flow rates.
Its method of deriving immortal energy was the simplest and most brutal—consuming its own lifespan to convert into immortal energy.
This was extremely convenient, and honestly, Lin Jing wished he could do the same to avoid troubling the mosquito beasts. However, although both he and the Star Longevity Crane were long-lived species, they were fundamentally different.
The Star Longevity Crane, having inherited Time Dao Rare Beast Divine Abilities and nourished by vast amounts of supreme immortal energy, could already reverse its own time flow. This meant it could consume its own lifespan to convert into immortal energy one moment, then use its Rare Beast Divine Abilities to recover the consumed lifespan the next.
Thus, it only needed to expend some basic spiritual power to independently derive immortal energy.
Although Lin Jing's Time Dao attainments were now considerable, he clearly hadn't reached the Star Longevity Crane's level yet, especially since it had directly inherited some immortal's Time Dao legacy while Lin Jing had cultivated from scratch.
"Dragon Carp, how long would it take to repair this plaque?" Lin Jing summoned the Dragon Carp and tossed it the mid-grade immortal artifact that the Spell Elemental Mushroom had retrieved.
The Dragon Carp was completely overwhelmed—it hadn't even crafted lower-grade immortal artifacts before, and now it was being asked to repair a mid-grade one right away?
The Dragon Carp stared wide-eyed, indicating that if supreme immortal energy consumption wasn't a concern, it could only promise to try its best and complete the repairs as quickly as possible.
"You should understand better than me—this immortal artifact has just rusted from lacking immortal energy nourishment for too long, not truly damaged. I'll place you in the Time Dao massive array next, with unlimited supreme immortal energy available. Repair it as quickly as possible."
"If its effects prove truly remarkable, this could be the key to our breakthrough in seeking the Dao!"
Lin Jing planned to inscribe phrases like ["Rapid Progress"], ["Leaping Advances"], and ["Beast Taming Ascension"] on the plaque to accelerate both his own and his pet beasts' cultivation speed.
Then, with the help of cultivation golden cores and Time Dao formation banners, they could achieve higher cultivation levels in the shortest possible time.
The Heavenly Demon Physique... after all, could only be used by himself, not by the pet beasts. Since they were facing a life-or-death battle against Demon Emperor Tianchou, Lin Jing naturally chose to fight together—the higher his pet beasts' realms, the better.
"Alright, you'll cultivate the artifact right here then. Make sure to hurry."
...........
Early the next morning.
Lin's Mother had prepared breakfast and called the Dragon Carp to wake up early, although... the Dragon Carp actually hadn't slept all night.
One day on Earth equivalent to one year in the Tianyuan Realm—sleeping through one night would mean wasting unknown amounts of time. The Dragon Carp couldn't bear to close its eyes for even a moment, wishing it could use the Time Dao formation to split one night into countless fragments.
These past few days, the Dragon Carp's self-assigned tasks were: spending daytime with its parents, and nights delving into the Lin Jing's realm within the Time Dao formation banners.
After breakfast, Lin Lan found Lin Jing: "My master wants to meet you. Is that convenient?"
"Of course it's convenient. I mentioned before that I wanted to thank the Mount Lu Recluse. This is... perfect timing to express my gratitude."
Lin's Father and Mother took Lin Jing and Lin Lan's visit to the Mount Lu Recluse very seriously, as she was their lifesaver after all. They insisted the two bring plenty of gifts.
To protect Lin Lan and Lin's parents at a moment's notice, the Mount Lu Recluse lived nearby, so it didn't take long for Lin Jing's group to reach her.
"Heavenly Spirit Physique..."
At first glance upon meeting the Mount Lu Recluse, Lin Jing understood why she could cultivate to the early Foundation Establishment stage despite her age in such an environment—she possessed the renowned Heavenly Spirit Physique that wasn't affected by age in cultivation speed.
Lin Lan beside her also had this physique, likely the reason why the Mount Lu Recluse had taken her as a disciple.
"Master, we're here. This is my cousin, Lin Jing. Quite handsome, right?"
Upon seeing the Mount Lu Recluse, Lin Lan immediately introduced him. Lin Jing beside her also performed a greeting ritual—a Void Mystical bow that no Foundation Establishment cultivator should receive, but since she had saved his parents, Lin Jing was willing to offer this respect.
"Thank you for saving my parents' lives."
"Hehe... no need for thanks. This was fate between Lan'er and me." The Mount Lu Recluse was very amiable, but then frowned deeply: "Strange, I can't see through your cultivation level either. Could it be that corpse cultivation doesn't use true energy? No, I don't sense any corpse energy or evil energy either."
"See, I told you." Lin Lan said from the side: "Master, you can't figure out his situation either?"
Lin Jing was speechless—why were they back on corpse cultivation again? It seemed he should just disguise his cultivation level from now on.
"Never mind. Since Lan'er accepts you, I won't interfere further. The reason I called you here today..."
"Is it about the cultivator gathering?" Lin Lan asked.
"No. Something else." The Mount Lu Recluse's expression turned extremely serious: "Do you remember when I told you before that your parents were injured by Gu poison?"
"You asked me before who did it, which organization poisoned them. I didn't tell you then, claiming I didn't know, because I didn't want you seeking revenge. After all, that group has enormous influence—even the Dao Alliance doesn't dare provoke them lightly."
"But I recently received news that... that entire organization seems to have been completely annihilated!!! Wiped out by some unknown powerful expert."
"If that were all, it would naturally be cause for celebration—such cultivators who harm ordinary people deserve to die. However, I recently heard that the sect had one False Core ancestor still in seclusion. After emerging and seeing his sect destroyed, he flew into extreme rage and launched indiscriminate retaliation against anyone who had ever had grievances with the sect or potential hatred toward it."
"Although your parents were victims—probably just among countless targets persecuted by the sect's outer disciples—they still have motive for revenge. Anyone with even the slightest motive for revenge, no matter how minuscule, could be targeted by this False Core ancestor's indiscriminate retaliation. I'm worried your parents might get dragged into his revenge."
"I have friends in the Dao Alliance. I was thinking of using connections to have your parents stay at Penglai Immortal Island for shelter temporarily. Once the Dao Alliance deals with this demon, they can return to the city. What do you think? This would spare them... from suffering this unjust disaster."
After the Mount Lu Recluse finished speaking, Lin Lan immediately became extremely tense and anxious.
But at this moment, Lin Jing beside her narrowed his eyes, making the Ice Soul Gu inside Lin Jing's body tremble with fear.
"It's not exactly an unjust disaster, since I was the one who had my subordinates wipe out that sect..."
"Little Bingzi, did you actually carry out your mission properly? I told you to eliminate everyone involved. Where did this False Core ancestor come from? Give me an explanation."
As Lin Jing finished speaking, both the Mount Lu Recluse and Lin Lan looked at him with incredulous expressions, while the Ice Soul Gu exclaimed that it was impossible—how could it have missed someone? There must be something fishy going on, most likely the other party had some treasure concealing their presence!!!