Chapter 1210: The Past; The Dao of Withering and Flourishing (I)

The arts of Gu originated in the Southern Frontier. Throughout the cultivation world, merely hearing of them could make people's expression change, while seeing them could strike fear into one's heart. Much of that reputation, however, came from inexperienced rogue cultivators who knew little about them. Someone like Luo Chen, whose cultivation was profound and whose knowledge was extensive, understood that nothing in the world was inherently righteous or wicked. What mattered was how it was used, and from what he knew, many Gu could be extremely useful to cultivation.

For example, there was a first-tier Gu known as the Moonlight Gu. Despite its low tier, it possessed the remarkable ability to guide qi and open the meridians. Some people were born with spirit roots but could not cultivate because their meridians were blocked. By refining a Moonlight Gu, they could overcome that obstacle and step onto the Dao like anyone else. Even cultivators without such problems often chose to refine one when given the chance because of how useful it was during the early stages of Qi Refinement.

Over in the Central Continent, the Dao Sect had once purchased Moonlight Gu from the Southern Frontier on a massive scale. For a time, they circulated widely throughout the region until the Southern Frontier grew increasingly isolated and trade between the two lands slowly dwindled. In fact, the Moonlight Gu deserved at least some credit for the large number of cultivators who later flourished across the Central Continent.

And that was merely one of many strange and useful Gu insects. The Spirit-Link Gu implanted in Luo Chen, and Sima Huiniang was another, though its origins were far more extraordinary. According to legend, the Spirit-Link Gu was a simplified version of the ancient fifth-tier Life-Bond Gu. That Gu could bind the lives of two cultivators together so completely that even an Ascendant and a mere Qi Refinement cultivator would share life and death. As the ages passed, however, the Life-Bond Gu gradually vanished from the cultivation world and eventually faded from memory.

The Spirit-Link Gu survived, but some of the varieties derived from it took a far darker path. In fact, one branch eventually gave rise to the third-tier Devil's Heart Gu, a devilish Gu that once caused an enormous upheaval throughout the Southern Frontier. At the time, certain crazed cultivators refined Devil's Heart Gu in large numbers and implanted them into low-tier cultivators. Once the Gu matured, they turned on their victims and devoured their cultivation for their benefit. Because of that disaster, the Devil's Heart Gu was banned, and even the related Spirit-Link Gu became increasingly rare afterward.

That history was precisely why Luo Chen had been so cautious with the Spirit-Link Gu. Before setting out on this long journey, he had worried that he and Sima Huiniang might lose contact entirely. For that reason, he carefully analyzed the Gu and confirmed that nothing was wrong with it before implanting one in her.

As later events proved, that decision had been worthwhile. No matter how far apart they were, the Spirit-Link Gu allowed their hearts to remain mystically connected, and that connection has also helped Sima Huiniang pull through Luo Chen's long disappearances. It sustained her through the two years he was trapped in Bai Ye's pocket world on the Thundernet Mountains, then through the three years he spent imprisoned in Azure Phoenix Mountain, and even through the century he wandered the Northern Sea without so much as a word back to the sect. No matter how long Luo Chen was gone, the Spirit-Link Gu gave Sima Huiniang enough reason to believe that he was still alive and also the confidence to keep waiting for his return!

Without that confidence, the Luo Tian Sect might have fallen apart long ago. A handful of exceptionally talented disciples might have caught the eye of other sects and found new homes, while most ordinary members would likely have abandoned the sect and joined other forces rather than remain aboard what seemed to be a sinking ship. After all, not everyone could roam the world as a rogue cultivator like Luo Chen and somehow thrive more with every passing year.

Later, after Luo Chen returned from the Land of Fallen Devils and underwent Nirvana of Flesh, both his mana and the Spirit-Link Gu disappeared completely. For some time afterward, he worried about what that might mean for Sima Huiniang. Because of that, while staying at the Myriad Manifestation Tower in Divine Origin City of the Northern Sea, he purchased a large number of low-tier Gu insects for research.

Then, after he reached the Central Continent and the pocket world competition came to an end, he happened to speak with Heavengazer, who hailed from the Southern Frontier, and took the opportunity to ask him about the Spirit-Link Gu as well. Whether based on his own research or the judgment of someone well-versed in Gu Dao, there had never seemed to be anything particularly dangerous about it. That was why, until now, Luo Chen had believed that treating Sima Huiniang's injuries would not be especially difficult.

But now, something had gone wrong! Under his divine consciousness, the Golden Core formed from the Spirit-Link Gu within Huiniang's body seemed almost alive. Not only was it connected to her heart, but it had also established a link with the divine soul inside her sea of consciousness.

That was why Luo Chen had said that the Spirit-Link Gu connected souls as well. Those two bonds had become so deeply rooted with Huiniang that he did not dare destroy the Golden Core by force. If he did, not only would Huiniang's heart rupture, but her divine soul would be extinguished at the same time.

That discovery also explained all the changes Gu Caiyi had described earlier. Huiniang's physical decline came from the Spirit-Link Gu continuously draining blood essence from her heart. As for the pain that even an Adept could barely suppress, it had only begun to ease after she started practicing Divine Breaker of Malevolence. Clearly, that technique had strengthened her divine soul enough to endure the erosion, allowing her to barely hold on.

But the real question was how things had reached this point.

For a moment, Luo Chen thought of asking Chu Kui whether there had been some hidden flaw in the pair of Spirit-Link Gu he had given them all those years ago. However, he dismissed the thought almost immediately. Given Chu Kui's character, he would never have kept such a danger from them. More importantly, nothing from Luo Chen's experience over two centuries, his research, or Heavengazer's assessment suggested that there had ever been anything wrong with the Gu itself.

Then the problem can only lie with Huiniang... and me!

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, and a drop of blood formed at his fingertip.

The Spirit-Link Gu was refined with blood essence and sustained by the blood qi circulating through its host. Aside from the initial refinement, it normally had little effect on cultivation. But Luo Chen's blood was anything but normal.

The droplet resting on his fingertip was crystal clear and radiated extraordinary vitality. Even before Luo Chen had fully comprehended the transformations of blood qi, a single drop of his blood had been no less potent than blood Wang Yuan had tempered hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of times. And for years, the Spirit-Link Gu had been feeding on blood like that. Little by little, it had grown from the first tier all the way to the third.

My blood... Blood Nightmare said the Primordial Slaughter Sword liked it. Black King also said that he likes clinging to me because the aura I give off makes him feel comfortable. And the Spirit-Link Gu was always soaking in it too. I got so used to having it around that I stopped thinking about how much it had changed. Then, when I underwent the Nirvana of Flesh, the Spirit-Link Gu shattered and took some of my mana with it. It seems that Huiniang's revived after that, and it even formed a Golden Core. But Huiniang's body can't support it the way mine could, so it's feeding on her instead. Her heart, her divine soul... It's using her to keep growing!

At last, the entire chain of events came together in Luo Chen's mind. As that realization settled in, he lowered his finger toward the woman sleeping beside him. The drop of blood touched her pale lips and stained them red.

Under the watch of his divine consciousness, the Golden Core inside her sea of qi trembled faintly, but the restrictions Luo Chen had placed on it held it firmly in check. Yet the moment he loosened them, a strand of mana surged out, swept up the drop of blood, and drew it inward.

Almost immediately, the color of the Golden Core deepened. Along with that, the tension in Huiniang's delicate brows finally eased.

Seeing that reaction, Luo Chen fell silent. Only after a long moment, he lowered his gaze and let out a soft sigh. "I should've caught this sooner."

***

Zhou Yuanli died in the Howling Moon Mountains when the beast tide broke out. Bai Meiling escaped, but her soul scattered while she was fleeing. Xing Zhonghan forced himself to cultivate with the Fine Dust Primordial Art and suffered cultivation deviation. Later, when the sect was forced to retreat, he stayed behind to cover everyone else's escape. Until now, no one knows if he made it out alive.

Mi Li and her son, Qu Jiu, remained in the sect waiting for Qu Lingjun to return. They waited ten years, but he never came back. In the end, both died without ever seeing him again.

Duan Feng and his wife were both very good at identifying ores. When the fighting reached the Two Poles Tin Forest in the Limitless Domain, Sage Golden Plume sent them there as reinforcements. Neither survived, and they left no children behind.

Xu Haizhen died at the Three Crossings River.

The Falling Cloud Sect is in bad shape now. Its Supreme Elder is missing, the Howling Moon Mountains are gone, and many of its disciples are dead. Things were already difficult after Han Zhan used up a huge amount of the sect's resources trying to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Then they lost the Frontier War, and the sect started falling apart from within. It eventually split into three sides: one followed the sect leader, one followed Han Zhan's grandson, Han Zheng, and the last followed Grand Elder Cheng Yan, who had stayed behind on the Heavenly Drum Plains. The three sides have been fighting ever since, and even more people have died because of it.

Qin Yuanjiang sided with the sect leader. During the fighting, his Dao Companion, Ruan Huan'er, was killed, while his mother, Murong Qinglian, was badly injured. After everything that happened, he wanted nothing more to do with the Falling Cloud Sect. He took his mother with him and joined the Luo Tian sect instead. Murong Qinglian later passed away here.