Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 381 Heart-Eating Gu

"Heart-eating Gu?"

Li Xiangming frowned. Although the Li family had a lineage of medical Gu techniques, it was not extensive, and there was no record of the name "Heart-Eating Gu".

Ma He explained, "The earliest record of the Heart-Eating Gu comes from the infamous cult of the Middle Ages—the Wuwang Immortal Sect. Later, the Wuwang Immortal Sect disintegrated, and the Heart-Eating Gu also fell into a long period of silence. It wasn't until the late ancient period that another cult used the Heart-Eating Gu extensively to expand its power, triggering the Second Great War between Good and Evil, which made the cultivation world truly understand its terrifying nature."

"However, as time went by, Taoism flourished, while cults almost disappeared, and that history was gradually forgotten. The little Heart-Eating Gu became even less known. Of course, the main reason is that Taoist scriptures were unwilling to record cult items and deliberately neglected it. Unless you are a specialist in Gu magic, you have almost never heard of this name."

"I only learned about it by chance, but I had never seen this thing before, so I never thought about it in that direction."

Ma He continued, "But the disciples of the Tongbei Sect are becoming increasingly wicked! Especially the children I taught myself, they could communicate normally for the first few months, but as time went on, they became increasingly strange, which is when I thought of these legendary Gu worms."

At this point, Ma He took a deep breath: "The Heart-Eating Gu has the effect of bewitching the mind. If these children are infected with the Heart-Eating Gu from a young age, and then specific Gu techniques are used, they can be turned into blank slates. At this time, no matter what you say, they will agree and believe it without a doubt. I suspect that the mysterious force behind the Tongbei Sect is using the Heart-Eating Gu to brainwash these children over the years, thereby cultivating them into weapons of war."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Xiangming grabbed the child from Ma He's arms and stared intently at the writhing flesh mark on the child's neck.

After a while, he released the child, his brows furrowed into a knot.

Although he knew nothing about Gu magic, he could tell that the fleshy marks were not natural and were most likely caused by Gu worms!
If what Ma He said is true, then the mysterious force behind the Tongbei Sect has already cultivated countless obedient gray-clad youths based on the Heart-Eating Gu.

Seeing that Li Xiangming was very concerned about the flesh marks, Ma He added, "Children who have recently been implanted with the Heart-Eating Gu have more obvious flesh marks on their bodies, while those seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys have almost no flesh marks. This is because the Heart-Eating Gu has already burrowed into their brains. However, the Heart-Eating Gu is different from other Gu worms. It can only survive for about ten years. Even if nothing is done, the Heart-Eating Gu will eventually die in the human body."

"What happens after death? Will these children return to normal?"

Li Xiangming immediately pressed for more information.

Ma He shook his head: "What turned them into this state was not the Heart-Eating Gu itself! This Gu worm is just a seed. If it were planted in you or me, nothing would happen."

"Nothing will happen?"

There was a hint of doubt in Li Xiangming's voice.

"Yes."

Ma He frankly stated, "The Heart-Eating Gu is not as powerful as you imagine. It can only affect children whose minds are not fully developed. I may be being a bit arbitrary, but the Heart-Eating Gu is not enough to affect us adults, especially cultivators with firm Dao hearts! What truly turns the Tongbei Sect disciples into weapons is their brainwashing rhetoric."

As she spoke, Ma He glanced at Li Xiangming and said, “Vice Hall Master Li is a member of the family, so he must be well aware of this. Even if the Li family has not deliberately cultivated your loyalty, the family members around you will tell you that you share the same bloodline with them. In short, your sense of identity with the family is far greater than that of us rogue cultivators, and this comes from the environment you are in.”

“The disciples of the Tongbei Sect are indoctrinated with a large amount of carefully selected rhetoric from a young age, and their companions are all cut from the same mold. Their way of thinking has long become singular: “we” are all right; “enemies” are all wrong. In their eyes, you are the wrong one, and as long as the order is given, they will not hesitate to eliminate you, including me, their instructor. Therefore, years of brainwashing are the root cause of why they have become like this.”

"Of course, without the Heart-Eating Gu, the effect of these words would be less than one-tenth. When they step into the outside world, all sorts of novel things will quickly break the 'cage' woven for them by those mysterious people. But the existence of the Heart-Eating Gu makes the cage world unbreakable!"

Hearing this, Li Xiangming breathed a sigh of relief, finally understanding why the Tongbei Sect disciples could endure any torture rather than betray their companions and the so-called "leader".

Under the influence of the Heart-Eating Gu and more than ten years of brainwashing, they have only each other left, are only used to obeying orders, and have completely closed their "eyes" to seek color from the outside world.

Li Xiangming subconsciously glanced at the child beside him. The child had only recently gained the ability to breathe and his magical power was extremely weak. However, there was no fear in his eyes, and he showed no reaction to Li Xiangming and Ma He's manipulation; only numbness and calmness remained.

Even children who have only recently been infected with the Heart-Eating Gu have already turned out like this.

Not to mention the gray-clad youths who attacked Baolong Valley.

Even if a celestial being were to come, they probably wouldn't be able to persuade them.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiangming slowly asked, "Wouldn't the effect be less pronounced if older children were implanted with the Heart-Eating Gu, given their resistance to it?"

"I've never seen anyone resist it, but the later you plant the Heart-Eating Gu, the worse the effect will definitely be!"

Ma He pulled out another, larger child from behind the iron gate, touched him all over, and said, "Judging from the marks on his neck and his bone age, this child was probably injected with the Heart-Eating Gu at the age of nine, and is now eleven, just two years old. The child in your hand was only injected a few months ago, and is now seven years old, but the degree to which he has been brainwashed is almost the same as this child."

"From my observation, the children here are inoculated with the Heart-Eating Gu at different times, but the latest ones have flesh marks before the age of eleven. Therefore, I boldly guess that children over twelve years old are not suitable for being inoculated with the Heart-Eating Gu. After all, this legendary Gu worm is definitely not easy to cultivate, and as for planting it on adults like us, it would be a complete waste."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming fell into deep thought.

That boy named Zihong must have also been infected with the Heart-Eating Gu.

But compared to the other gray-clad boys, his eyes were more expressive and more in line with the image of a normal person.

He could even remember his own name—Yuan Bin!
This is something that the other gray-clad boys completely lack.

This may be because Yuan Bin was inoculated with the Heart-Eating Gu after the age of twelve.

The Tongbei Sect—no, the Tongbei Sect was merely a puppet sect.

It should be said that the mysterious force behind it did not discover this!
Of course, there is another possibility.

According to the accounts of Long Yang, Yin Feng, and others, the Tongbei Sect disciples who chased Li Xiangcheng and attacked Baolong Valley were of similar age, between fifteen and twenty years old, and their cultivation levels were also similar. Apart from one "leader" who was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining and several experts at the late stage of Qi Refining, they were basically all at the middle stage of Qi Refining.

This suggests that they were most likely trained in the same batch.

Besides them, the Tongbei Sect disciples who stayed behind in the stronghold were even younger. Needless to say, the children who were imprisoned in front of them were basically at the first or second level of Qi Refining, far from being of any real significance.

Li Xiangming had reason to suspect that the so-called "leader" and the captured Yuan Bin were actually the first batch of Tongbei Sect disciples cultivated by a mysterious force using the Heart-Eating Gu.

Perhaps at that time, the mysterious forces had not yet reached a consensus that "only children under the age of twelve should be implanted with the Heart-Eating Gu," which led to the emergence of an imperfect gray-clad boy like Yuan Bin.

However, it is impossible to simply give up on these "imperfect" children.

Because cultivating a spiritual root seed from scratch requires a considerable amount of resources.

Especially Yuan Bin, who has both good aptitude and cultivation.

Therefore, Yuan Bin was still entrusted with important responsibilities.

Perhaps even the mysterious forces never expected that Yuan Bin would betray the Tongbi Sect so readily?

Having figured all this out, Li Xiangming didn't feel relieved; instead, he became even more frustrated.

The gray-clad youths were all pawns, and the Tongbei Sect was also a puppet.

Therefore, the pursuit and killing of Li Xiangcheng, as well as the incitement of Li family retainers to rebel, could not have been their spontaneous actions, but rather the orders of a mysterious force behind them.

But ironically, this mysterious force did an excellent job of keeping it secret.

So much so that he is still completely confused.

Looking at the children before him, Li Xiangming knew that interrogating them was pointless, so he turned to Ma He and asked, "Fellow Daoist Ma, is there anything else you would like to add?"

Ma He was stunned for a moment, a bitter look on his face: "I've already cooperated so much, and Vice Hall Master Li still wants to kill me?"

"Fellow Daoist Ma has misunderstood."

Li Xiangming's eyes flickered. In fact, before entering the well, he was already determined to kill Ma He.

Despite Ma He's innocent-sounding words, he didn't cause any real harm to the Li family like Yu Chong did.

However, Ma He's presence in the Tongbi Sect is an undeniable fact.

Did a mysterious force lure him here because it admires his swordsmanship?
No!

From beginning to end, the mysterious force's target was the Li family.

Ma He's value lies in his understanding of the Li family.

This guy was able to become a swordsmanship instructor in the Tongbei Sect simply by exchanging information about the Li family.

In other words, even Li Xiangming's own identity, family status, and past deeds may have already been laid out on the desk of the mysterious force.

How could this not arouse his murderous intent?
But it was too late; killing Ma He couldn't undo the leaked information.

Ma He served as a swordsmanship instructor in the Tongbei Sect for two years, and was able to control a portion of the younger Tongbei Sect disciples to a certain extent; this was his value.

Li Xiangming slowly said, "Fellow Daoist Ma, select those children who were over ten years old when they were inoculated with the Heart-Eating Gu, and who have been inoculated for less than a year. Then come back to the Li family with me, and I will grant you a way out."

After leaving the well, Li Xiangming personally inspected the ruins of the mountain stronghold.

The Blackwater Serpent was very destructive, but the floodwaters couldn't drown the cultivators. Li Xiangming quickly discovered several survivors who had hidden themselves. These people were basically "instructors" like Ma He.

They are also the only outsiders in the mountain village.

They were unaware of the "Heart-Eating Gu," but two of them had arrived earlier than Ma He, and from their accounts, Li Xiangming gained a clearer understanding of the mysterious force's outline.

Without a doubt, the Tongbei Sect was created by a mysterious force.

At first, they only sent gray-robed youths with a certain level of cultivation to this mountain stronghold as a base to constantly attack passing cultivators and surrounding minor forces to amass wealth.

In recent years, the mysterious forces seemed to think that the Tongbei Sect had gained momentum, so they began to send young children over continuously, so that these children would be brainwashed and trained in the Tongbei Sect, and then transformed into gray-clad youths.

This is why the mysterious force hired Ma He and others.

These outsiders, though possessing considerable cultivation, are only capable of guiding the Tongbei Sect disciples in their cultivation; under the supervision of the "Sect Leader," they are insufficient to explore the secrets of the Tongbei Sect.

They know very little about it and will not reveal the identity of the mysterious force.

In the end, Li Xiangming's efforts were all in vain.

However, a single leaf can foreshadow the coming of autumn.

Judging from the number of these "instructors," their salaries, and the methods they used to teach.

The mysterious force is by no means insignificant.

As Ma He said, the gray-clad youths were all brainwashed war machines; since they were weapons, they could be used at will. In the entire Pu County, there were only a handful of forces qualified to cultivate over a hundred unofficial cultivators.

In Pudong and Punan, the truth is even more obvious.

Li Xiangming already had a vague idea.

At this moment, Long Yang leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "What should we do with these people?"

Looking over, Li Xiangming saw that a large open space had been cleared out around the gate of the mountain stronghold.

Nearly fifty gray-clad teenagers were kneeling in the center, with more than twenty children of varying ages standing on the left and several instructors, including Ma He, and fewer than seven or eight children standing on the right.

Although they were all disciples of the Tongbei Sect, the degree to which they were subjected to the Heart-Eating Gu and brainwashing was completely different, so Li Xiangming could not treat them all the same.

After hesitating for a moment, he said softly, "You can have the middle one; I'll take the rest with me."

After saying that, he gave Ma He a wink.

Ma He hurriedly pushed the children around her, while the remaining instructors nervously chased away the children on the other side.

Soon, the thirty or so people disappeared into the mountain stronghold.

The gray-clad boy in the middle watched this scene silently, and no one spoke.

Li Xiangming turned around, paused for a moment, and then left.
-
"what?"

In a lavishly decorated room, a disheveled young man suddenly sat upright in a wooden tub filled with medicinal bath water, exclaiming in surprise, "You mean Zeng Sheng is dead?"

Standing before the wooden tub was a young boy dressed as a page, who cautiously replied, "That's right, Master is furious and demands that you, Fourth Young Master, go see him immediately."

The young man with disheveled hair frowned, then relaxed and lay back down in the tub: "Zeng Sheng is dead, what does that have to do with me? I've said it before, it's too early to get involved in Pudong."

The pageboy quickly said, "Zeng Sheng's soul lamp was extinguished not long ago. The master may want you to go and check on the situation, and at the same time try to protect the Tongbei Sect."

"late!"

The young man with disheveled hair looked up and said, "The one who could kill Zeng Sheng is most likely a Foundation Establishment cultivator. How many Foundation Establishment cultivators are there in Pu County? Their backers are not simple."

"This"

The pageboy was speechless for a moment, then secretly glanced at the disheveled young man and advised again, "Even so, if you, Fourth Young Master, continue to remain in seclusion, I'm afraid it will displease the Master..."

Upon hearing this, the young man with the loose hair sighed, scooped up some flower petals from the wooden bucket, and gently rubbed them, seemingly deep in thought.

After a while, he suddenly asked, "Has Mr. Xu arrived yet?"

The pageboy paused for a moment, then did not answer.

The young man fell silent.

The page hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking, "Fourth Young Master! Xu Zibu is just a rogue cultivator, why do you value him so much?"

True friends are hard to find!

The young man with the loose hair waved his hand and said, "Since Mr. Xu is unwilling to see me, then go and inform my father. I will be there immediately."

"Yes!"

The page boy bowed and slowly withdrew.

(End of this chapter)