Fairy, don't be afraid, I'm about to begin my strategy.

No one knows the content of Shen Mo and Wang Rui's conversation that day, and the two of them have remained silent about it ever since, as if it had never happened.

Shen Mo miraculously walked out of Wang Rui's cave alive, drawing gasps of amazement from everyone present.

Aside from losing some spirit stones, no one suffered any other losses, and they gradually forgot about the matter.

The outer sect returned to its usual tranquility, with those who needed to cultivate continuing their practice and those who needed to earn spirit stones working diligently as usual.

After all, the excitement belongs to others; getting the spirit stones into our hands is the real priority.

Having resolved this major problem, Shen Mo secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He and Wang Rui have now reached a tacit understanding, with each having leverage over the other, creating a strange balance.

"The Soul-Devouring Yin Gu is a common method used by the Demonic Sect to control others. After this Gu worm enters a cultivator's body, it will hide in the dantian and enter a dormant state. At this time, the host being parasitized will be perfectly normal and can cultivate with peace of mind without any impact."

"Once the Gu worm is activated, it will devour the host's spiritual energy to grow rapidly, then slowly consume the host's flesh and blood, eventually transforming into an adult worm to be used by the person who raises the Gu. This Gu worm is extremely insidious and vicious. Those who are infected by this Gu worm often have no hope of survival and die in agony, or become puppets controlled by the demonic sect, never having a peaceful day."

Shen Mo closed the travelogue titled "Tales of Immortals" written by Xia Yin Zhenjun. After reading the introduction to the Soul-Devouring Yin Gu, he was not gripped by fear of being parasitized; instead, he was unusually excited.

This Soul-Devouring Yin Gu is truly a wonderful thing. Its most amazing feature is not only that it can be used to control others, but also that those afflicted by the Gu dare not forcibly kill the one who cast it.

The Gu keeper implants his own soul blood into the Gu worm. Once the Gu worm loses its connection to its master's soul blood, it will immediately awaken from its dormant state and begin to devour its host.

It can be said that the cultivator who invented this Gu worm was simply a remarkable person.

While controlling others with these Gu worms isn't as powerful as having complete control through a game system, it's still a formidable tool. Shen Mo really wanted to get a few Gu worms to study.

Of course, being afflicted by this Gu worm is not entirely hopeless. If a True Monarch with the cultivation of the Golden Core Realm were to help, they could use their superior cultivation to forcibly remove the Gu worm, and the person afflicted would be safe and sound.

However, the price to pay for asking a Golden Core Realm True Monarch for help is unimaginable.

In this world, the cultivation of immortals is divided into three major realms: self-cultivation, truth-seeking, and enlightenment, and nine minor realms: Qi refining, foundation building, crystallization, golden core, spiritual possession, nascent soul, deity transformation, ascension, and immortality.

The three minor realms make up one major realm. Those who have reached the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Crystallization stages are called cultivators; those who have reached the Golden Core, Spiritual Awakening, and Nascent Soul stages are called True Lords; and those who have reached the Deity Transformation, Feather Transformation, and Ascension to Immortality are called Dao Venerables.

A Golden Core Realm True Monarch is a true disciple of the Lingyun Sect. Shen Mo can't even dream of meeting him, let alone ask him to remove the Gu.

Once you swallow a golden pill, you will be forever separated from the mortal world, and only then can you truly embark on the path of cultivation.

In addition, those afflicted by the Gu can break through to the Crystallization Realm, using the crystallization of spiritual energy during the breakthrough to forcibly seal the Gu worms and then detach them from their bodies.

This method, summarized by Xia Yin Zhenjun based on several cases, is considered quite reliable, but there have been no successful cases to date. After all, the person who casts the Gu can sense the state of the person affected beforehand and awaken the Gu worms.

No matter which method is used to remove the curse, it is extremely difficult.

According to the records of "Tales of Immortal Travels," the method of cultivating and raising Gu worms originated in the wild lands of the Xuanqiong Realm, and was perfected and studied by an indigenous tribe over countless generations. Later, it was stolen by a peculiar figure from the Demonic Sect. This person combined Gu worms with immortal techniques and devoted himself to research for decades, finally writing the book "The True Explanation of Immortal Gu."

With this book, he founded the Immortal Gu Sect, but it also grew increasingly powerful. He used the peculiar Gu insects to expand the sect's influence, which led to countless tragedies.

Due to the unique nature of Gu worms, and the fact that most cultivators knew very little about them, the Immortal Gu Sect developed rapidly. Not only did righteous cultivators hate them to the core, but even the demonic sects were filled with apprehension.

Later, the righteous and demonic sects cooperated to kill this person and disband the Immortal Gu Sect.

However, "The True Explanation of Immortal Gu" was torn to pieces during the scramble and collected by those with ulterior motives.

From then on, this method of raising Gu spread. Although both the righteous and demonic sects strictly prohibited it, some people still cultivated it in private, and it was impossible to stop it.

The description of Gu worms in "Tales of Immortals" is very detailed, showing that this True Monarch Xiayin is quite interested in them. Shen Mo happens to be very interested as well, and will definitely seek out this person to learn more about them in the future.

"Is Junior Sister Chen here?"

A sudden knock on the door interrupted my silent contemplation.

"You must be Senior Brother Bai, please come in."

"Junior Sister Chen, this is the 5000 spirit stones you entrusted me to win from betting." Bai Xiaofeng handed a bag of spirit stones to Shen Mo and stood somewhat awkwardly in the room.

"Senior Brother Bai, please have a seat!"

Shen Mo noticed that Bai Xiaofeng was acting strangely, so he poured him a cup of tea and asked him to sit down and talk.

"I won't sit down, Junior Sister Chen... um, that..."

"Hmm? If you have something to say, just say it. Why beat around the bush? Are you complaining that the commission is too low?"

Ever since Shen Mo launched the shared spirit horse project, Bai Xiaofeng has been busy helping him. Because Shen Mo is generous, he has also earned a lot of spirit stones, at least more than he earns by recruiting people to join study groups every day.

Bai Xiaofeng is smart, quick-witted, and efficient. Shen Mo would be happy to have such a follower, as it would save him a lot of trouble.

In particular, the fact that Bai Xiaofeng's character card clearly stated "Favorability: 15 points" reassured Shen Mo.

The 5000 spirit stones were earned by Shen Mo through Bai Xiaofeng placing bets on his behalf. Although he knew his chances of winning were high, Shen Mo only dared to win 5000 spirit stones; any more and he might incur someone's resentment.

Of course, this is also a test for Bai Xiaofeng. If he is determined to steal the 5000 spirit stones, Shen Mo will be unable to do anything about it.

It seems that the game system is reliable. Bai Xiaofeng kept his word and returned the 5000 spirit stones to Shen Mo without missing a single one.

"Junior Sister Chen, could you lend me some spirit stones? I... I urgently need them!"

Bai Xiaofeng spoke with great difficulty, constantly rubbing the hem of his clothes with his hands.

"Oh, why do you suddenly need to borrow spirit stones? Could you explain why?"

With a heavy sigh, Bai Xiaofeng told Shen Mo everything.

Bai Xiaofeng has a younger sister who joined the Inner Sect's Martial Arts Hall.

This Yingwu Hall is very similar to the real-life junior class. Every three years, Lingyun Sect selects a group of exceptionally talented children to join the class and receive intensive training from the sect.

This sounds like a good thing, but reality is often not that simple.

Young prodigies who join the Hall of Heroes will be ranked based on their strength, and the sect's resources will be provided according to their ranking, with a bottom-ranking elimination system implemented every year.

This easily leads to a situation where the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker, ultimately forcing everyone to pool their family resources for support.

Those powerful families with a long history of cultivating immortality are fine; they can afford to compete. But what can an ordinary family like Bai Xiaofeng compete with?

This is also why Bai Xiaofeng, despite working tirelessly to earn spirit stones for many years after entering the outer sect, still has a low level of cultivation.

Although Bai Xiaofeng's sister is very hardworking and dedicated, places like Yingwu Hall are not lacking in either geniuses or hard work; in the end, resources are still the deciding factor.

Her ranking is in jeopardy; if resources are not increased, she could face elimination at any time.

Although she could continue cultivating in the outer sect after being eliminated, having been immersed in the martial arts hall since childhood, her cultivation speed and resource supply would be significantly worse when she returned to the outer sect.

Most of these prodigies who grew up from the inner sect could not bear the huge contrast before and after, coupled with the hardships of the reality of cultivating immortality. After such a blow, their Dao heart was often shattered and they became just ordinary people.

Bai Xiaofeng didn't want his younger sister to suffer the same fate, so he desperately earned spirit stones, sacrificing his own path to immortality to support her.

In this world, cultivating immortality is seen as a ladder for families to advance their careers. Shen Mo couldn't agree with this, but when he looked at Bai Xiaofeng, he understood the bitterness and resentment hidden behind the obsession.

"How much do you need to borrow?"

"1000, no, 500 is enough!"

Bai Xiaofeng wasn't sure if Shen Mo would lend him the spirit stones, since the path of cultivation was inherently difficult, and who would be willing to lend extra spirit stones to others?

Of course, he could choose to borrow money, but the high interest rates would only make him sink deeper and deeper into debt. He had seen this kind of thing many times over the years in the outer sect.

Shen Mo counted out 10 mid-grade spirit stones from the bag and handed them to Bai Xiaofeng.

Bai Xiaofeng was so moved that she couldn't speak. She kept thanking Shen Mo and finally managed to get him to leave.

Shen Mo wasn't acting out of a saintly impulse, but 1000 spirit stones wasn't a lot for him. Besides, it was worth it to win over a loyal follower. If his sister achieved something, Shen Mo could establish connections within the inner sect, which could be considered an investment in advance.

[Favorability: 20 points]

Bai Xiaofeng's favorability rating actually increased by 5 points. In a word, it's worth it!