Xiuxian: I studied abroad in modern times

Chapter 563 The Secrets of Gu Dao, Intercepting and Killing the Demon Ancestor
The small courtyard was packed with people.

The high-ranking members of the Nine Mountains Sect all came to the courtyard and watched Gu Chang for quite a while.

Gu Chang looked anxious, while Zheng Fa stood to the side with a smile, feeling that he had finally understood the elder's joy.

"Could Gu Chang have cracked part of the secrets of the Gu God?" Uncle Pang stared at Gu Chang, his expression somewhat incredulous.

"Gu Chang, you tell me yourself."

Zheng Fa had no intention of overshadowing his eldest disciple. On the other hand, he also hoped that Gu Chang could establish a certain level of prestige so that he could take on important responsibilities in the future.

Seeing the encouragement and pride on his master's face, Gu Chang took a deep breath and said:

"This disciple may have discovered how the Gu God controls the swarm of insects."

"Tell me! Start from the beginning!"

Uncle Pang said urgently, "For the Nine Mountains Sect, which is facing the pressure of the insect swarm, this discovery is of utmost importance."

On the other hand, he still seemed somewhat skeptical that Zheng Fa's eldest disciple, who had not yet condensed his nascent soul, could actually decipher the secrets of a true immortal.

Zheng Fachao nodded to Gu Chang, signaling Gu Chang to explain in more detail—after all, this matter concerned the entire war situation, and the purpose of bringing everyone here was to examine whether the theory was valid and what loopholes it contained, so as to avoid any mistakes.

It's like giving an academic presentation on the battlefield.

"My junior sister and I were researching Gu worms when a question arose..." Gu Chang thought for a moment and slowly said, "What is Gu?"

"Later I learned that those without spiritual energy are insects, while those with spiritual energy are gu."

"But I have another question: why can Gu absorb spiritual energy?"

Senior Sister Zhang was taken aback. She glanced at Zheng Fa, her eyes conveying only one message: So many questions. No wonder you are my disciple, Junior Brother.

Zheng Fa's smile deepened, and then a Nascent Soul stage disciple asked, "Is there anything wrong with Gu absorbing spiritual energy?"

The academic discussions at the Nine Mountains Sect have always been quite free, so Gu Chang wasn't annoyed. He simply explained, "Think about it, we humans absorb spiritual energy through a complex neural structure. Even demons need to have corresponding spiritual energy circuits in their bodies to cultivate."

“Even Gu worms rarely produce such a complex structure.” Gu Chang added, “Actually, I haven’t found any Gu worms with the corresponding structure, but perhaps the Gu God has cultivated one.”

After hearing his words, everyone from the Nine Mountains Sect nodded, also feeling that the matter was a bit strange.

If Gu worms can cultivate, then that contradicts the previous research of the Nine Mountains Sect on spiritual energy and spiritual roots.

If not, they still clearly possess spiritual energy within them.

"So our previous conclusion was wrong?" Uncle Pang frowned.

"This disciple believes it is correct." As the main contributor to the theory of spiritual roots, Gu Chang said firmly, "Not only that, I deduced the Dao of Gu from the theory of spiritual roots."

"what?"

Everyone was a little scratching their heads, but Zheng Fa's smile only deepened.

“Spiritual roots are essentially the structure of nerves.” Gu Chang spoke with increasing ease about what interested him. “But nerves are, at their core, individual cellular tissues.”

"They mostly communicate with each other using various hormones."

Senior Sister Zhang looked slightly enlightened, as if she understood.

But most people still seemed confused.

"Although the structure of Gu worms is more complex than that of cells, do they also communicate with each other through similar substances?"

“I consulted some books that Master brought and discovered the pheromone theory, which matches my idea.”

"Later, I found some substances containing spiritual energy in the petri dish. After experiments, it was confirmed that these Gu worms seemed to fight, mate, and move because of these substances."

"What can cultivate is not a single Gu worm, but... a swarm of worms."

A moment of silence fell over everyone. After a long pause, Uncle Pang slowly said, "You mean, the insect swarm uses some... matter to transmit information and has established a complex organizational structure to replace our spiritual roots?"

“That’s right.” Gu Chang thought for a moment and then said, “In fact, to go a step further, our human body is itself a collection of various ‘insects,’ but these ‘insects’ have a simple structure and do not run around randomly.”

Everyone understood what he meant.

According to Gu Chang, human cells are very special 'insects'—although they don't crawl around randomly, they can actually be regarded as a kind of organism.

"So, the transformation of an insect into a Gu is similar to how our body cells change due to cultivation?"

"exactly."

"Gu God..."

"The Gu Goddess should be the collection of all Gu worms; those Gu are all her cells."

Zheng Fa looked at Gu Chang, his expression showing a hint of regret.

This disciple gave me a pleasant surprise, though not in a big way.

The pheromone theory is easy to come up with, and modern research on insects is actually quite in-depth.

However, it takes some thought to explain the truth of Gu Dao through pheromone theory and the spiritual root system.

To put it bluntly, based on this theory, the Gu God's physical body is actually a swarm of insects, or rather, each Gu worm is equivalent to one of its cells—which is why the Nine Nether Emperor said that his physical body is special.

The consciousness of the Gu God is probably a collection of the consciousness of the insect swarm, which is very similar to the human body. Through extremely complex interactions between a large number of simple cells, information is transmitted, and intelligence is generated.

Gu Dao is a cultivation method that uses the complexity of population organization to replace the complexity of biological structure.

Looking at the Gu worms in the laboratory, Uncle Pang seemed to feel a chill run down his spine: "So, we've been being watched by the Gu God all along?"

"Uncle-Master, as long as we cut off the communication between the Gu worms, the Gu God will naturally not be able to sense us."

"Oh yes."

Uncle Pang let out a long sigh, then said with a troubled expression, "So, if the swarm of insects isn't wiped out, wouldn't the Gu God be immortal?"

“Uncle-Master, what you think makes sense…” Zheng Fa’s expression also turned serious, but he shook his head and said, “However, I think there is another possibility.”

"what?"

"The swarms have a division of labor, and each different swarm is equivalent to a different organ in the human body... So, it is very likely that there is a brain swarm."

Everyone nodded in agreement with these words.

Senior Sister Zhang spoke up: "You mean, we need to find the Brain Clan and try to destroy the Gu God?"

He did have this idea.

Zheng Fa already wanted to go to Haori Mountain, but the Gu God's methods were too strange, and he was a little worried.

“Our understanding of Gu Dao is still relatively shallow, so we may not be able to completely kill the opponent,” he said to Senior Sister Zhang. “But at least we should severely injure it so that it cannot pose a threat to us in the short term.”

Uncle Pang asked, "How do we find this brain worm swarm?"

"Gu Chang, please continue."

“If my deduction is correct, then as long as we figure out the hierarchy of information transmission between the swarms, we can find the corresponding swarms,” Gu Chang said confidently. “Or, as long as we have more different kinds of Gu worms, we can determine the relationship between the various swarms, trace back layer by layer, and finally find the swarm that can command other Gu worms.”

"Samples, for bug detection?"

Zheng Fa nodded slightly and said, "I'll go collect it."

Uncle Pang looked at Gu Chang for a long time before slowly shaking his head, a smile on his face as he sighed, "Your disciple makes me suddenly feel old."

Zheng Fa gave Gu Chang an approving look, but before he could speak, the old man leisurely said:

"My grand-disciple? Oh? You have a grand-disciple?"

"..." Uncle Pang gritted his teeth and said, "I have it!"

"Then shall we compete in the future, comparing grand-disciple skills?" The old man thought for a moment, shook his head, and then, with great compassion, said, "Forget it, that's too much of a rip-off for you. How about I give you a generation's advantage and have your disciple compete in the grand-disciple skills?"

"You surnamed Yuan, you're just relying on Zheng Fa..." Uncle Pang was cursing when Zheng Fa took out the Creation Jade Tablet, glanced at it, and looked puzzled.

Everyone knew that something unexpected had happened, so they all fell silent and looked at Zheng Fa.

It is a message from the Nine Nether Emperor:

“Someone from the Four Sects will enter the Profound Mystery from the Underworld.”

"Your Majesty, you have already released the people once."

Does the Nine Nether Emperor have after-sales service?
"This time it's true."

"Ok?"

"Leiyin Temple and Taishangdao sent a message to the underworld, asking me to open the reincarnation channel so that people from the four sects can enter the Xuanwei."

Zheng Fa felt a pang of unease; this was not a good thing for him.

How could the Nine Nether Emperor agree to that?

“They will also connect the heavens under their jurisdiction to the cycle of reincarnation.” As if knowing he would have doubts, the Nine Nether Emperor explained, “This is very beneficial to the perfection of the cycle of reincarnation... Moreover, this is a necessary step for the development of the Underworld, and I cannot reverse it.”

Recalling the chaos in the underworld before, Zheng Fa had to understand the choice of the Nine Nether Emperor.

Essentially, the foundation of the underworld is the Wheel of Reincarnation and the Book of Life and Death, not the Nine Nether Emperors—the power to control this matter may not be in the hands of the Nine Nether Emperors.

“Thirty years,” the Nine Nether Emperor continued, “I can only give you another thirty years at most.”

"I understand, thank you, Your Majesty."

Zheng Fa put away the Zizhi Tongjian, his face slightly somber.

"what happened?"

Zheng Fa relayed the message from the Nine Nether Emperor to everyone, and everyone's expression turned somewhat grim.

"Does the Emperor mean that in thirty years, the Golden Immortals of the Four Sects will be able to enter the Profound Mystery realm through reincarnation?"

"Yes, it seems that Xuanwei's membrane of heaven and earth can still block Golden Immortals... forcing them to use the Netherworld as a route."

The underworld, through reincarnation, has the ability to connect with all realms, which naturally becomes a passage for Golden Immortals to enter the Profound Mystery.

Silence fell over the courtyard.

"Within thirty years, we must have the strength to contend with Golden Immortals." Zheng Fa smiled. "Within the sect, the training of the Heavenly River Sword Formation cannot be stopped."

Everyone nodded slightly. The power of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation was only one step away from the Golden Immortal level, and it had always been highly anticipated by the Nine Mountains Sect.

“I need to go to the Nine Luminaries Heaven as soon as possible,” Zheng Fa continued. “According to the Nine Nether Emperor, the essence of the Fusang Tree should be at the Taiyi level. If we can perfect the Fusang Tree, it might give us another trump card to fight against Golden Immortals.”

Zheng Fa's idea was simple: to take a two-pronged approach.

He couldn't say for sure whether the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation could be upgraded within thirty years, so they had to find another insurance.

Even though Jiuyaotian is in some danger now, he can no longer hesitate.

Seeing the worried expressions on everyone's faces, Zheng Fa smiled and comforted them, "I have the ability to transform into the Three Pure Ones, so at least your lives are not in danger."

Senior Sister Zhang nodded and asked, "When do we depart?"

"No rush, let's give the Gu God a surprise first."

……

In a valley within the Haori Mountain region, several Lu Clan disciples were "delivering goods" to the Gu God.

The mountain path was deep and secluded, and a disciple of the Lu clan looked back.

Behind them followed a long line, each person bound by ropes, one leading another, their faces ashen and filled with despair.

The Lu Clan disciple felt depressed and said, "We've almost caught all the rogue cultivators."

"……Shut up!"

A middle-aged man in front of him said in a low voice.

It's unclear whether he was afraid of disturbing the Gu God in the valley, or if he shared the same fear with him—

Now that the rogue cultivators have been caught, who's next?

They followed the mountain path, going lower and lower until they felt as if they had entered a huge, deep pit, where all they could see when they looked up was an oval-shaped sky.

A hard texture came from the soles of my feet, and it hurt my feet.

The Lu Clan disciple looked down and saw that the ground was bronze in color and had a few slivers of cold light.

He looked around, gazing at the sloping mountain path they had come from, and suddenly shouted, "This isn't a valley, it's a cauldron!"

We're inside a cauldron!

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked around. The captured rogue cultivators were so terrified that they could barely stand.

"listen!"

A rustling sound came from ahead, and then one after another, Gu worms crawled out of the darkness.

They crowded together in the valley, layer upon layer, fighting each other desperately and devouring their companions.

Upon seeing strangers enter, the ferocious Gu worms became even more excited, turned around, and surged towards them, forming high waves of insects.

"Your Excellency!" the middle-aged man finally couldn't hold back any longer and cried out, "Your Excellency, spare my life!"

"Alright, they won't eat you, they're just hungry." The Gu God sat on the wave of insects and said coldly, "That Zheng Fa is truly despicable."

"Zheng Fa?"

"This person is still searching for me everywhere. When he can't find me, he captures my descendants." The Gu God's eyes were filled with hatred. "This person is skilled in a method of capturing enemies. He can capture a large number of them at once, causing heavy losses to my descendants."

"This... Your Majesty, what if he finds you? Wouldn't that be disastrous?"

"Find?" Unexpectedly, the Gu God laughed. "Let him find!"

The Lu clan members lowered their heads, and then they heard the Gu God say, "Back then, when Tianhe killed the Demon Ancestor and destroyed the Holy Dynasty, wasn't he still completely outmaneuvered by me?"

The Lu clan members exchanged glances. They had also learned about the affairs of the underworld and knew that Venerable Tianhe had indeed failed to kill the Gu God back then.

"Tianhe not only searched for me himself, but also sent his disciples to search everywhere," the Gu God said arrogantly. "No one can find me. I am omnipresent and omniscient. The disciples he sent are nothing more than food for my descendants!"

He was beaten so badly that he dared not show his face, yet he was still quite proud of it.

But considering that person was Venerable Tianhe, the confidence of this Gu God can be understood.

After Gu Shen finished speaking, he looked at the hundreds of rogue cultivators behind them and said, "Release them and let the children have a good meal."

The Lu clan members exchanged glances, untied the ropes binding the rogue cultivators, and then set up their magical artifacts and ran out of the valley.

Most of the rogue cultivators were quite clever. Although they had no spiritual power and couldn't fly, they still ran as fast as they could, trying to escape with them.

Only three people, as if terrified, ran towards the swarm of insects like three headless flies.

Those who witnessed this scene couldn't help but feel sorry for the three people, and also grateful—the insects were busy eating them, which allowed the others to run further away and have more time to escape.

Even the God of Gu turned his gaze to these three fools who were panicking and running away, with a smile in his eyes, as if he found it quite amusing.

But after glancing at them for a few moments, her expression suddenly changed, and she shouted, "Who are you!"

A golden flame ignited in the hand of an unassuming man, striking the Gu God directly in the face, followed by a cheerful greeting:
"Zheng Fa of Jiushan greets the God of Gu."

(End of this chapter)