Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: The Human Pig Insect Gu—Cultivation Technique Perfected

As Li Yan entered his Cave Mansion, Daoist Tranquil Void, though headless, trembled violently, betraying his seething rage.

At the peak of his fury, a cold, mocking chuckle echoed from Tranquil Void’s abdomen.

“Insolent brat! You’ve sealed your fate.”

“Daring to trespass into my Gu Cave… little do you know, the cave itself is a living Gu!”

With that, the headless Daoist formed a hand seal, his abdomen emitting a series of cryptic, guttural sounds.

Within the darkened Cave Mansion, countless eyes flickered to life in the shadows.

Meanwhile, Li Yan strode down a long stone corridor and stepped into the Cave Mansion.

His gaze swept across the chamber. Stone shelves lined both walls, piled high with countless jars and vials.

Li Yan struggled to suppress a grin as he took in the room brimming with Insect Gu and poisonous concoctions.

“Nothing but toxins here!”

“And… Alchemy Notes!”

Li Yan hurried over to examine Daoist Tranquil Void’s notebook.

Take the finger bones of a newborn infant who died at midnight on the third day of the third month. Simmer them gently in a bronze cauldron over low heat for seven days, until the bones turn ink-black. Then add the tail of a three-year-old venomous scorpion and the shed skin of a hundred-day-old snake. Temper with yin fire. The resulting elixir resembles jade-green blood; it corrodes flesh on contact and dissolves completely within seven days.

Collect three dou of rotten soil from a mass burial ground. Sift out a hundred white worms and feed them rice soaked in human blood in earthenware jars. Once the worms turn black, add severed fingers and braids of hair. Seal the jars and bury them at the damp base of a wall. After forty-nine days, unearth the jars and select the worms that have devoured their kin. Rear those survivors for three days…

Leafing through the Alchemy Notes, which detailed the secrets of Gu refinement and poison brewing, Li Yan knew he had come to the right place.

From the memories he had extracted, he recalled Daoist Xuan Ye often concocting medicines for Daoist Tranquil Void in this very chamber.

“Mo Mo, quickly store all this in your Storage Ring! Hurry!” Li Yan urged, raising his finger to activate his own ring.

He swept the entire shelf-lined stone wall clean in one swift motion. Vials of poison and jars of Insect Gu vanished into the ring—such a massive stockpile was truly exhilarating.

For decades, perhaps even a century, Old Daoist Tranquil Void had painstakingly refined these various Gu creatures and poisons. Now, in an instant, they all belonged to Li Yan.

Seeing her Master’s delight, Su Mo grinned foolishly and raised her own Storage Ring, beginning to clear the shelves on the opposite wall.

Each niche carved into the stone wall was filled with the culmination of Daoist Tranquil Void’s life’s work.

Just as the pair were thoroughly plundering the treasure trove, stuffing treasures into their Storage Rings, a faint rustling sound emerged from behind a massive stone door ahead.

“Hmm?” Li Yan immediately tensed, his gaze fixed on the colossal stone gate.

What was that noise?

From Daoist Xuan Ye’s memories, her Master, Tranquil Void, had strictly forbidden her from ever entering that door. It seemed to conceal some hidden secret, one that even Xuan Ye wasn’t privy to.

Within the desolate Cave Mansion, Li Yan heard a strange scraping sound, as if something were dragging across the ground.

“Mo Mo,” he called out, alerting his Corpse Puppet Su Mo to prepare for action.

He retrieved the Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp and focused his gaze forward.

The sound grew louder, like countless insects crawling across his scalp, sending shivers down his spine.

The stone door trembled.

As the heavy stone door creaked open, a cloud of dust and sand poured through the gap.

Li Yan was prepared, eager to see what lay beyond.

His confidence stemmed from the tens of thousands of medicinal bottles lining the stone walls—his ultimate safeguard!

“Probably just some insects that old Daoist Tranquil Void has been raising,” Li Yan muttered. “I’ll take a look.”

Li Yan steeled himself, but the sight that greeted him as the door swung open made his pupils shrink in shock.

The instant the heavy stone door was pushed open, Li Yan saw a crowd of people!

A crowd of figures crawling on the ground!

More precisely, a group of disheveled, limbless individuals—human pigs.

Without hands or feet, they could only crawl like maggots.

Painful wails erupted from their mouths as they cried out to Li Yan:

“Kill me!”

“Kill me!”

The anguished cries of countless voices echoed through the Cave Mansion, pounding Li Yan’s head like a drum.

Before him stood a group of people, their limbs severed by Daoist Tranquil Void to transform them into Human Pig Insect Gu—living vessels for his vile gu cultivation. The old Daoist was nurturing gu within their living bodies, using them as living gu pots.

These living corpses, now mere shells of their former selves with only faint consciousness remaining, were entirely controlled by the Insect Gu writhing within. One after another, they lunged forward, throwing themselves at Li Yan like waves crashing against a shore.

Seeing this, Li Yan instantly understood.

“That old bastard Tranquil Void thinks he can exhaust me to death here?”

“Too bad for him—his scheme’s about to backfire.”

Nearly all cultivators in this world needed to consume food to replenish their Blood Qi. Legend held that only those who had reached the Ascension Realm could sever their mortal cravings for mundane sustenance. Bathed in the essence of Dao, they sustained themselves by absorbing the refined energies of the sun and moon through breathing.

Until that point, regardless of their cultivation stage—Blood Condensation, Blood Shifting, Blood Core, or Blood Cocoon—even as cultivators ascended through the realms, they remained tethered to the single word: “food.”

Though their Dantians could absorb trace spiritual energy from the world, their gnawing hunger still demanded the nourishment of cooked meals.

Even cultivators in the Blood Cocoon Realm, who could abstain from food for seven days during secluded cultivation, still needed to replenish their vital energy with flesh and blood upon emerging. Ultimately, they remained bound by their mortal dependence on mundane sustenance.

Only when a cultivator shattered the Blood Cocoon in the Ascension Realm, breaking free from the shackles of earthly sustenance like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, could they attain true transcendence.

“Heh, Tranquil Void doesn’t know I don’t need food or drink—I can replenish my Blood Qi by drinking poison!”

Li Yan held the Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp in his left hand and with a flick of his right hand retrieved a bottle of Heart-Burning Elixir from his Storage Ring.

He gulped down the entire bottle in one go, the searing sensation of the elixir assaulting his tongue.

The bitter, spicy, and acidic taste of the Heart-Burning Elixir burned down his throat like fiery liquor, searing his chest.

Side Effect Detected: Host has consumed Heart-Burning Elixir, a highly toxic substance that will incinerate internal organs.

Side Effect Reversed: Initiating replenishment of Yang Sacrifice Power for the host!

Feeling the surge of Blood Qi in his Dantian, Li Yan tossed the empty bottle aside and formed a hand seal with two fingers.

“Yin Shadows Doubled, ignite the flame!”

“Burning Lamp Technique!”

Whoosh!

Flames erupted from the Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp, and three shadows rose abruptly from the ground as if summoned from thin air.

Host has activated the incomplete Ancient Burning Lamp Technique through haphazard practice. Despite the flawed practice, the technique’s cultivation speed has increased a hundredfold!

The host has activated the Blood Shadow Immortal Art, summoning the shadow of Death Yin. The effect has been reversed, transforming it into a Golden Body Dharma Idol!

“Go!”

Three twelve-zhang-tall Golden Body Dharma Idols thundered toward the swarm of Human Pig Insect Gu.

Their colossal fists slammed into the earth, shaking the ground.

“Perfect! Time to refine my Immortal Art!” Li Yan thought, controlling all three Golden Body Dharma Idols simultaneously. He could feel himself growing more proficient with the spell.

As the relentless bombardment continued, faint fourth and fifth shadows began to materialize beneath Li Yan’s feet.

“Blood Shadow Immortal Art at Great Accomplishment?”

The number of Sub Shadows had doubled from two to four!

If I keep practicing, could I double it again to eight? Li Yan’s heart skipped a beat. The more shadows I have, the greater the energy consumption…

But as long as I have enough poison, I have nothing to fear!

With four Sub Shadows active, the rate at which Yang Sacrifice Power was being consumed doubled. The golden light in his Dantian gradually dimmed.

Undeterred, Li Yan popped the cork off a Heart-Burning Elixir bottle with a thwack and drained it in one gulp.

The fiery elixir burned down his throat like potent liquor, leaving a thrilling, spicy aftertaste.

“Again!”

A carefree grin spread across Li Yan’s face.

Controlling one Main Shadow and four Sub Shadows, Li Yan unleashed five Golden Body Dharma Idols upon the hive!