Hearing this, the Grand Elder and the remaining elders finally shifted their gaze from the “little treasure,” their eyes transforming into green vertical slits, eerily scanning the surroundings.

Then, expressions of shock and bewilderment simultaneously appeared on the faces of these imposing old men.

In their vision, the surrounding air was remarkably clear. The Gu God’s power that usually floated like fireflies in the air now appeared only sparsely scattered, pitifully thin.

“A genius…”

Led by the Grand Elder, the old men trembled with excitement, all looking at Xu Ling Yin.

Had she absorbed all the surrounding “Gu God power”?

How did she do it… the elders were both amazed and excited.

“Wait, something’s wrong.”

The Grand Elder shook his head, examining Xu Ling Yin: “The little one’s strength has indeed surged, but she’s still at eighth rank. The Gu God power concentration here isn’t as high as near the Extreme Abyss, but it’s still beyond what she could bear.”

The elders frowned silently, their wisdom naturally yielding no insights.

So they all wore worried expressions.

At this time, Mu Nan Chi returned carrying the little white fox. The Grand Elder glanced at this pale-skinned ugly girl and asked in broken Great Feng official language:

“Where’s that young man?”

“He said he’s looking around,” Mu Nan Chi answered.

The Grand Elder nodded slightly, not taking it seriously, assuming the outsider was just curious about the Extreme Abyss and wanted to explore and observe, gaining experience.

As for safety, a Transcendent martial artist who could kill Jingang wouldn’t have problems whether in the primitive forest area on the surface or even deep in the Extreme Abyss.

…

Meanwhile, Xu Qi’an, who had ventured deep into the primitive forest, sat cross-legged atop a rock, absorbing the Gu God power floating in the air through breathing exercises.

The Gu God power concentration here was over ten times that of the outer areas. With each moment of absorption, Xu Qi’an’s blood qi grew stronger, progressing extremely rapidly.

Blood qi was unrelated to the qi mechanism—it represented physical power. The more vigorous the blood qi, the better the stamina and greater the strength.

At the same peak third rank, without using the qi mechanism, even two Xu Qi’ans might not match Long Tu’s strength.

“The more vigorous my blood qi, the more qi mechanism I can refine. If I can devour as much Gu God blood qi as possible for my use, then dual cultivate with Little Aunt and finally pull out the demon-sealing nail, I’ll be thoroughly at peak third-rank—no, I’ll be a third-rank martial artist who could break through to second-rank at any time.

“Even stronger than the former Garrison North King.”

He maintained his breathing posture, continuously absorbing Gu God’s power. After a quarter hour, the Seven Deadly Gu stopped absorbing.

It had reached its limit, unable to digest more Gu God’s power.

Xu Qi’an “examined” the Seven Deadly Gu, discovering that Li Gu’s ability hadn’t just caught up to Poison Gu, Corpse Gu, and Dark Gu, but had even surpassed them.

He gained Li Gu’s second ability: Berserk!

It could stimulate cells to burst out with power beyond the normal state for a short time. The price entered a weakened state after the burst ended, with greatly increased appetite—requiring massive eating to compensate for consumption, otherwise causing blood qi depletion and affecting lifespan.

Whoosh!

Just then, a whistling sound broke through the air.

A large shadow loomed as a massive rock spun toward Xu Qi’an.

He lightly moved aside, letting the boulder brush past him, crash into the ground creating a large pit, then continue rolling, breaking two mutated large trees.

The plants here had absorbed Gu God blood qi and undergone certain mutations, becoming tougher and more robust than ordinary trees.

Having avoided the boulder attack, Xu Qi’an looked ahead. In the dense forest under the tree shade stood a tall, mighty black-backed gorilla.

Its eyes were crimson, fangs protruding, muscles above its long mouth wrinkled as it stared fiercely at Xu Qi’an. Seeing the human look over, the black-backed gorilla shrieked and beat its solid chest.

Then, it grabbed a handful of rock fragments from the ground and hurled them forcefully. Instantly, like a rain of arrows, they shot toward his head and face.

This gorilla’s strength is terrifying… Xu Qi’an’s body dissolved, emerging from the shadow behind the black-backed gorilla.

He clenched his fist hard, finger bones cracking like exploding beans, his entire right arm’s muscles swelling, becoming fully twice as thick, completely deformed.

Bang!

Like a cannon firing, the air shattered from this punch.

The black-backed gorilla’s body split into pieces, chunks of flesh flying in all directions, blood and organs splattering everywhere, the stench instantly permeating the air.

“Now I feel the urge to arm wrestle with Long Tu…”

Xu Qi’an joyfully felt his bodily changes.

He didn’t delay, turning to head east. Walking thirty li east would take him into the area permeated with “Poison Gu power.”

Soon, he arrived at an area shrouded in miasma with dense foliage.

Xu Qi’an had thought the area shrouded in “Poison Gu power” would have relatively sparse vegetation, with only some highly poisonous plants surviving. Who knew the trees here would be tall, branches interlocking, almost impenetrable to the wind?

Crack!

He broke off a branch, plucked its leaves, and put them in his mouth, chewing several times.

“Poisonous, but poor quality.”

He then tasted shrubs and weeds, all containing toxins, though not very potent—they wouldn’t benefit Poison Gu much but could serve as snacks to alleviate side effects.

He walked along, tasting, occasionally catching some poisonous insects, picking some poisonous plants. The further in he went, the higher the quality of plants and poisonous insects, the stronger their toxicity.

Reaching a place where he ate with relish, Xu Qi’an sat cross-legged under tree shadows, breathing in the miasma and poison gas permeating the air, nourishing his Poison Gu.

Before long, the Seven Deadly Gu again reached its bottleneck, unable to absorb more poison gas.

Xu Qi’an mastered new Poison Gu abilities—Poison Body!

Poison Body had two major abilities: Transform and Absorb.

Transform: Turn all non-poisonous things into poisonous things; turn all poisonous things into non-poisonous things.

Absorb: Absorb all poisonous things for one’s use, including enemies’ qi mechanism, sword qi, and other attacks. Meanwhile, it could also repair the body by absorbing poisons.

Even with missing arms or legs, as long as there were enough poisons around, they could be absorbed and transformed into poison bodies.

However, for Xu Qi’an, this ability was somewhat redundant.

Crude martial artists feared missing arms and legs least of all.

He then went to the remaining five areas shrouded in Gu God’s power, not going deep but gaining a general understanding of the Extreme Abyss.

The Corpse Gu tribe’s area was full of walking corpses, both animals and humans, wandering in specific areas like zombies, swarming any living creatures that entered.

Not for food, but to transmit child Gu, turning living beings into walking corpses.

In the Love Gu area, the air was filled with aphrodisiac scents. Here birds sang and flowers bloomed, vegetation propagated madly, making plants extremely lush. “Group activities” could be seen everywhere.

Animals single-mindedly engaged in primitive gene-passing activities.

Bird calls and beast roars were the only melodies here. Xu Qi’an tried using Heart Gu methods to understand animal language.

The chirping bird calls could be classified into two types:

“Come mate with me” and “Holy shit.”

Truly a place of birds and flowers.

The Dark Gu area held deadly traps at every step, with Gu insects and beasts ready to leap from shadows for fatal strikes at any moment.

Xu Qi’an stayed longest in this area, unable to settle down for breathing exercises until he’d killed all surrounding Gu insects and beasts, finally creating a safe environment for cultivation.

Releasing the Transcendent realm aura had no effect—Gu insects and beasts only feared higher-ranking powers among their kind.

The area shrouded in Heart Gu power seemed most normal, but this was only appearance.

In reality, it was most dangerous because all animals and plants had a “unified” mind, like a vast army, working closely together to devour creatures entering the area.

For such areas, Xu Qi’an had no solution except activating Jingang Divine Art, letting Heart Gu-controlled beasts and plants attack while he absorbed the area’s Gu God power.

Once Heart Gu evolved further, suppressed by a higher-ranking peer, the area’s Heart Gu would no longer dare attack him.

When Xu Qi’an had successively absorbed the Gu God’s seven powers and Seven Deadly Gu reached balance, his neck suddenly tingled.

“Time to evolve…”

Xu Qi’an immediately sat cross-legged, carefully sensing the Seven Deadly Gu.

…

The Grand Elder led the Third Elder and Fourth Elder deep into the primitive forest, their pupils remaining green as they carefully examined the surrounding “Gu God power.”

“The Gu God power concentration hasn’t changed here…”

The Grand Elder looked around, his gaze pausing on the east side, saying: “Let’s check over there.”

The three elders walked for several minutes, stopping to find the “Gu God power” here slightly thin, only filled somewhat by Gu God power permeating from surroundings.

Fourth Elder stroked his chin, analyzing:

“Has a great Gu creature emerged?”

He meant a Transcendent realm Gu creature.

In the Gu tribe’s history, Transcendent realm Gu creatures occasionally appeared in the depths of the Extreme Abyss, gaining intelligence before coming out from the great ravine’s depths to hunt surrounding creatures, including the Gu tribe.

About every six or seven hundred years, a Transcendent realm Gu creature would be born.

The Gu tribe’s countermeasure was having leaders from each branch venture together into the Extreme Abyss every sixty years to eliminate powerful Gu creatures inside.

But this couldn’t completely prevent Transcendent realm Gu creatures’ birth, because the Gu God’s state was unstable—sometimes its dispersed power was overwhelming and rich, sometimes thin and scarce.

There was no fixed pattern.

This could lead to no powerful Gu creatures being born for several hundred years, and then suddenly in a few decades, a batch of powerful Gu creatures might emerge, some even reaching the Transcendent realm.

And the Gu tribe branch leaders couldn’t guard the Extreme Abyss constantly.

The Grand Elder’s gaze suddenly focused as he said gravely:

“Something’s happened.”

Third Elder and Fourth Elder looked where he was looking, seeing scattered pieces of flesh, blood, and organs splattered on the ground.

The Grand Elder strode over swiftly, grabbed a piece of flesh, and said:

“Still warm.”

Third Elder found the gorilla’s head in nearby bushes: “It’s a gorilla.”

Fourth Elder said: “Let’s collect the meat and take it back to make soup for the children.”

The Grand Elder and Third Elder happily agreed.

After collecting the edible meat, the three elders began their analysis. The Grand Elder raised a question:

“If it were a Transcendent Gu creature, why would it kill without eating?”

The third Elder answered:

“Maybe it was full?”

Fourth Elder objected:

“When have you ever been full?”

After a moment of silence, they decided to hurry home while the meat was still fresh.

Rejoining Xu Ling Yin and Mu Nan Chi outside, the Grand Elder vigorously patted Xu Ling Yin’s head, laughing heartily:

“Let’s go home and make you meat soup.”

Xu Ling Yin nodded happily, swallowing.

Watching this scene, Mu Nan Chi inexplicably suspected whether Xu Qi’an’s sister had been stolen from the Li Gu tribe and taken to the capital.

Though clearly an outsider, when she came to the Li Gu tribe, it was like coming home. Her harmony with the Li Gu tribe people was remarkably natural.

“Your big brother hasn’t returned?” Fourth Elder asked.

“Oh, where did Big Brother go?”

Xu Ling Yin seemed to just noticed her brother was missing.

The Grand Elder looked at the meat in his arms, suddenly froze as something occurred to him, and frowned:

“Did he kill this?”

Fourth Elder pondered:

“Possibly.”

The Grand Elder asked again:

“Then is the thinning Gu God power his doing?”

Fourth Elder pondered:

“Impossible.

“He’s not from our Li Gu tribe, Li Na couldn’t have passed tribal secrets to an outsider…”

As they spoke, the elders fell silent together, looking at Xu Ling Yin.

They suddenly remembered that their beloved disciple Xu Ling Yin’s Gu arts were taught by Li Na, justified by the child’s extraordinary talent.

What, if that young man was also a genius at cultivating Li Gu?

The Grand Elder’s expression changed: “Come on, let’s go ask Li Na.”

…

The Grand Elder’s group returned to the Li Gu tribe, heading straight for the clan chief’s courtyard.

“Li Na, Li Na!”

The Grand Elder shouted at the top of his lungs.

Li Na ran out carrying a wooden bowl nearly overflowing with secret recipe soup:

“What is it…”

The Grand Elder strode up close, eyes wide and vigilant: “Did you also teach Li Gu secret arts to that Xu Qi’an?”

Li Na answered while eating: “No, I only have Ling Yin as my disciple.”

The second Elder immediately corrected: “You’re just teaching on your father’s behalf, we are her masters.”

The elders sighed in relief, though somewhat disappointed.

Relief because Li Na, this not-too-clever girl, hadn’t recklessly leaked tribal secrets.

Disappointment because if true, Xu Qi’an might be an even more frightening genius than Xu Ling Yin.

“Why hasn’t Xu Ning Yan returned?”

Li Na looked back several times, her expression brightening: “Father’s back!”

Everyone turned to look behind them. Long Tu, barefoot, walked steadily toward them.

As he got closer, the Grand Elder and others saw his grave expression.

“Something wrong?”

The Grand Elder asked, leaning on his walking stick.

This required no thought, just sufficient familiarity with Long Tu.

Long Tu nodded: “An outsider came, saying he’s from Yun Province, hoping we’ll deploy troops against Great Feng.”

He carefully explained the meeting’s proceedings and the Yun Province spirit master’s conditions to the elders.

“What’s your view?”

The Grand Elder didn’t decide hastily, first asking Long Tu’s opinion.

“Definitely won’t fight. Fighting would lose the disciple, and who knows how many would die. Besides, what Supervisor’s senior discipline? We don’t even know him, no reason to foolishly obey just because he says so.”

Long Tu said irritably.

“But if it’s true, the other six branches will fight,” the Grand Elder concluded.

“If we don’t fight when they win, we won’t get benefits, and the Li Gu tribe’s position in the Gu tribe will decline,” Second Elder said.

Long Tu said in a muffled voice:

“Not afraid. When Ling Yin advances to Transcendent in the future, our tribe will have three Transcendents, our position will only rise, not fall.

“I’ve thought it through—even without fighting, we’ll be the strongest in the Gu tribe.”

The Grand Elder’s old face bloomed with smiles:

“As expected of you, you pup. Choosing you as clan chief wasn’t wrong. See how sharp my eye is.”

Mu Nan Chi held her forehead, stepping back several paces.

Long Tu grinned, then suddenly grew serious:

“They plan to hunt down Xu Qi’an. I said I wouldn’t interfere, but we can’t not interfere. This is tricky.”

Just as he finished speaking, his brows furrowed:

“They’re here.”

As his words fell, in the shade of the great tree ahead, shadows twisted, slowly forming a dark mass.

As the darkness dispersed, five figures appeared under the tree shade.

The cloaked walking corpse; Luan Yu wearing a white tube top and shorts covered by a thin gauze dress; Chun Yan with slender snake earrings; Ba Ji wearing beast skin robes; and the silver-haired, wrinkle-covered Heavenly Gu Grandmother.

As for the Dark Gu leader, he didn’t appear, keeping himself well hidden in the tree shadows.

The cloaked walking corpse said flatly:

“Where is the Xu fellow?”