Gu Zuo stared distractedly: “This is an Earth Worm?”
Gongyi Tianheng ruffled his hair: “After this, we’ll have to be even more careful.”
Shen Yuanbai opened his mouth: “That’s right. This thing is an Earth Worm.”
Gu Zuo couldn’t help remarking: “It looks tiny. Wouldn’t it be difficult to keep our guards up during ambushes? Though, when I used my psychic power to chop it up, killing the Earth Worm wasn’t hard.”
At this time, Lan Wenxi smiled, and said: “Don’t focus on how this Earth Worm is thin and small. It’s only because this thing is so young and the outer skin is so weak. But if it’s an Earth Worm that has matured for a few years, there are differences in its physical state. The outer skin would be much more tough and durable, and dealing with it would be harder.”
Gu Zuo paused: “This is only a young worm?”
Lan Wenxi nodded his head: “That’s right. When they’ve matured, their appearances will be different… Once some time has passed, you’ll understand when you encounter them. It’s just that, from now on, we can’t treat these things lightly.”
Shen Yuanbai supplemented accordingly: “All martial artists must properly protect their pharmacists. After the worms mature, they’re rather repulsive and weakly poisonous. While it’s not very harmful to martial artists, if it latches onto a pharmacist’s psychic power, it’ll be easy for the pharmacist’s Tianfu Acupoint to collapse and their psychic power to disintegrate.”
What happened to a pharmacist who didn’t have psychic power?
To use a modern phrase, it was brain death.
— Of course, martial artists also possessed mental energies. Some powerful pharmacists could even use their own psychic powers to deal with martial artists, but the physical bodies of martial artists were resilient. The qi energies, which covered their entire bodies, defended them. Whether or not an ordinary pharmacist could break through that layer of a martial artist’s defense and burrow their psychic power into that martial artist’s mind depended on the gap in strength between both parties.
However, the Earth Worms of this place had no way of breaking through the defenses of a martial artist’s physical body. As a result, although a martial artist couldn’t kill the beasts, those Earth Worms basically couldn’t harm a martial artist.
Shen Yuanbai’s idea was simple. If an Earth Worm came to launch an attack and the pharmacist couldn’t react in time, the martial artists would hurriedly use their own bodies to block the ambush! They absolutely couldn’t allow the pharmacists to have their brains eaten by Earth Worms.
Gu Zuo was speechless.
Okay. He would be even more careful.
Gu Zuo didn’t want his family’s big brother to put himself in harm’s way at all.
Matters that had to be explained were made clear. Following this, the group needed to start looking for stone ova.
Gu Zuo placed that Earth Worm’s corpse into the storage space. Soon after, he earnestly listened to Shen Yuanbai and Lan Wenxi’s introduction.
As mentioned previously, stone ova were produced by leylines. The things that were born from the stone ova depended on the environment of the land as well as the nourishment provided by the leyline. The reason why everything in this leyline had stone appearances wasn’t because it had all dried up. Rather, it was a type of camouflage for spiritual objects. Why would the leyline allow people to find and freely take away the stone ova it painstakingly nurtured? The countless stone forests, dragons, beasts, and coral reefs automatically took shape to conceal any traces of the stone ova.
Anyone who wanted to find the stone ova needed to release their psychic power and explore bit by bit. Using the naked eye to look for them would be very difficult.
Shen Yuanbai stated: “The rest of you will split into three groups, but don’t stray too far from each other while searching.”
Lan Wenxi smiled: “This little brother will follow your orders.”
Tianheng also agreed: “We understand.”
Hence, everyone formed groups of two so that they could keep their promise to watch each other’s backs and to search for spoils.
Gu Zuo and Tianheng were naturally in one group.
Tianheng still held Gu Zuo’s hand: “Ah Zuo, you can search with peace of mind. Your elder brother will protect you.”
Gu Zuo’s heart warmed. He returned the grip, and said: “Big brother should also take care.”
After the pair exchanged a sentence of concern for one another, Gu Zuo released his psychic power.
Presently, because he had been refining medicinal pills of considerable difficulty for a long time, his control over his own psychic power had become as free and effortless as moving his arms and fingers. At this moment, his psychic power was meticulously split into innumerable silk threads, which were weaved into many giant nets. These nets were cast towards the closest dozen or so stone corals. After that, these silk nets continuously expanded in all directions.
Within Gu Zuo’s consciousness, he “saw” everything within the envelopment range of these silk nets. Every inch was brought into crystal-clear focus, and nothing could be hidden from him. It was like flowing water. As his psychic power flowed through the land, it would flit across areas that were flat and smooth, while whirlpools would form in places with obstructions.
However, Gu Zuo consciously exercised control over the direction of the silk nets, and didn’t crowd the other pharmacists. If he carelessly bumped into their psychic powers, both sides would quickly move out of each other’s way.
After a while of this carpet-style searching, Gu Zuo suddenly sensed the presence of a whirlpool.
Gu Zuo subconsciously paused.
After that, he lightened the psychic power silk nets in other areas, gathered his attention, and carefully distinguished the location of that whirlpool. Then, he discovered that there was something that was repelling his psychic power. It gave off a feeling that was different from the other rocks.
Gu Zuo abruptly opened his eyes: “Big brother.”
Tianheng focused his attention on Gu Zuo. Hearing what was said, he responded: “What is it?”
Gu Zuo said: “I want to go over there.”
Tianheng raised an eyebrow. Reaching a hand around Gu Zuo’s waist and holding his pharmacist close to his chest, Tianheng rushed out just like this. Within a short couple of breaths, they arrived at the place Gu Zuo pointed out.
This area was a stone dragon’s front claw. Its five talons pressed against the ground, and its might was extraordinary.
Gu Zuo patted Tianheng’s forearm, and Tianheng let him go. Immediately following which, Gu Zuo walked closer to the claw, reached out a hand, and felt around a small crack between those five talons.
Sure enough, a hint of a sweet scent overflowed from within that small crack.
Gu Zuo’s complexion was elated: “Big brother, come take a look!”
Just as his voice fell, Tianheng extended a hand once more. His fingers were like pincers as they tightly captured an ashen-white creature that was as thick as an arm.
When Gu Zuo turned his head and called out to Tianheng, he saw this scene.
— Those mandibles filled with sharp teeth were directed straight at his skull!
Naturally, it wasn’t really aiming at his head. Rather, it was aiming for the psychic power that he hadn’t completely put away. Fortunately, the instant it drew near, it had already been grabbed by Tianheng. Otherwise, it would’ve definitely taken a bite out of his psychic power, which would’ve caused him to suffer damage.
This was a mature Earth Worm!
Looking at its form, it was two meters long. Compared to that young worm just a while ago, this one was much bigger.
Gu Zuo didn’t hesitate. An invisible dagger was promptly sent out from the space between his brows, and slashed at the Earth Worm. However, the first strike wasn’t able to slice it in half. On the contrary, it could only cut open a large wound, which caused the Earth Worm to struggle even more fiercely. If it wasn’t for Tianheng’s incredible strength, perhaps it would’ve gotten away!
After that, Gu Zuo produced a few more blades, which simultaneously targeted one location. In the end, the Earth Worm was chopped in half and perished. Gu Zuo collected its corpse, and placed it inside the storage space.
Tianheng moved closer.
Gu Zuo didn’t let this brief interlude negatively affect his state of mind. He now realized that the Earth Worm probably hadn’t been sensed by his psychic power because both were natural enemies of each other. He just reminded himself to pay more attention to this fact. Afterwards, he stretched out his fingers, and finally fished out the round object that had been stuck in the hollow of the dragon’s claw.
At this time, that faintly sweet scent suddenly became dense and rich.
What appeared in Gu Zuo’s palm was an ashen-white ovum. It was exactly the same as the Snowy-Jade Cicada’s stone ovum that Shen Yuanbai gave. This one was somewhat larger, and was the size of a clenched fist.
Finding one this quickly was indeed a good start.
Gu Zuo grasped the stone ovum, and examined it carefully. This stone ovum had only partially transformed into jade. Therefore, it overflowed with a medicinal fragrance, but the specific type of wondrous medicine inside couldn’t come out — It had to be cut open.
The medicinal fragrance was pleasing and delightful, so it ought to have been rather precious. In any case, one didn’t need to think about it too much.
Gu Zuo placed the stone ovum inside the storage space, and discharged his psychic power once again.
Shen Yuanbai, Lan Wenxi, and the others weren’t considered too far away, and they naturally saw Gu Zuo and Tianheng’s movements. At this moment, they couldn’t help glancing to this side, and notice the stone ovum in Gu Zuo’s hand.
Lan Wenxi laughed and said: “Sure enough, a pharmacist with heaven-level potential has sharper senses.”
Shen Yuanbai nodded his head, but didn’t have much to say.
Upon seeing this, the remaining pharmacists felt their heartstrings stretch taut.
It would’ve been fine if everyone couldn’t find a stone ovum, but Gu Zuo located one so quickly. This caused feelings of urgency to rise up in their hearts.
Subconsciously, they started searching with even greater concentration.
But when it came to psychic power, this thing, every pharmacist would have different levels of sensitivity.
Why were the potentials of some pharmacists at the profound level or earth level, but others could actually reach the heaven level? In addition to the inner cultivation methods that each person practiced, it was said that there was the factor of one’s medicinal beads — There was a big relationship between the sharpness of an individual’s psychic power and the positions of the medicinal-bead acupoints on the palms.
Only those who possessed medicinal beads could practice the path of spirituality, become pharmacists, and utilize psychic power. However, the medicinal beads of each and every pharmacist weren’t in the same acupoint locations. And there were a total of twenty-eight palmar acupoints that could store medicinal beads.
On the Central Continent, many pharmacists knew that the closer one’s medicinal beads were to the Daling and Yangchi Acupoints, the better that person’s talents in medicine refinement. And if one’s medicinal beads were set precisely in the Daling or Yangchi Acupoints, the pharmacist’s potential was generally at the heaven level.
Gu Zuo knew that when he refined medicine, his internal qi would pass through his medicinal beads and discharge during his hand seals. However, he never carefully distinguished which acupoints his medicinal beads were located in.
He naturally didn’t know that, because his medicinal beads were special, his initial psychic power had received the nourishment of his medicinal beads and was incredibly keen. Later on, he used an extremely exquisite inner cultivation method for training. It was to the point that, after continuously refining medicine, his sensitivity had far surpassed that of numerous pharmacists at equivalent spiritual path realms!
As a result, Gu Zuo easily sensed the existence of these whirlpools. Though, because the other few pharmacists weren’t sensitive enough, they would often have difficulties sensing any whirlpools. Naturally, they had to search over and over again before occasionally detecting clues.
Tianheng accompanied Gu Zuo. Half of his attention was focused on his pharmacist releasing psychic power, and the other half remained vigilant of their surroundings. This was in case an Earth Worm launched a surprise attack to gobble up the psychic power.
Fortunately, those Earth Worms weren’t able to recklessly swallow Gu Zuo’s psychic power. If the psychic power became slender and spread out, it appeared quite thin. Even if the Earth Worms jumped at it, the creatures wouldn’t be able to devour anything.
It didn’t take long for Gu Zuo to “see” everything within a kilometer radius, and he didn’t once detect a second stone ovum. Shen Yuanbai, Lan Wenxi, and the others were similarly left empty-handed.
Gu Zuo dwindled his psychic power, and pretended to rest.
Lan Wenxi sighed and said: “As expected, the search won’t be easy.”
Gu Zuo made a suggestion: “What if we move somewhere farther away?”
Shen Yuanbai and the others didn’t object: “Very well.”
The vastness of the leyline extended as far as the eyes could see.
Because they stood very close together, they were actually able to arrive at the same place after entering the leyline. But once the Gate Opening Pearls were stimulated, even those who were a slight distance away had been delivered to locations that were far from their current location.
To put it simply, no one else could be seen within a kilometer radius, but traveling farther away didn’t necessarily mean that they would run into others.
Gu Zuo felt that this was good.
If they really did meet someone, on the off-chance that both parties weren’t able to come to an agreement, the collision of psychic powers would be unfavorable to pharmacists like them.
The group gradually moved beyond the kilometer mark.
They stood in front of a dragon head, and what greeted them was an enormous stone tree. The tree trunk was large enough for dozens of people to encircle it. Every branch of the tree was incredibly thick and solid. The surfaces of these branches were densely-packed with stone leaves — While they were called stone leaves, they were better off being called thinner stems and twigs. This created a type of scene that seemed to hide the sky and cover the earth.
Gu Zuo raised his head to look around, but he wasn’t able to see the crown of the tree at all. When he released his psychic power to extend his senses, he realized that his psychic power, which smoothly swept through the stone dragons, corals, and other things just a while ago, was only able to spread around ten meters out on this enormous stone tree.
…This couldn’t compare to how far the naked eye could see. That was because psychic power was even more detailed when it could envelop things.
Lan Wenxi lamented: “This is the great work of Greater Emperor Medicine Sage. Back then, she could form such magnificent scenes after sealing the leyline. If it wasn’t sealed, these sights of stone forests and dragons wouldn’t have appeared. At that time, the leyline probably would’ve erupted, and many abnormal environments might’ve clashed against each other to take shape. And if we wanted to harvest the stone ova, we would’ve had to go through those environments and endure many dangers.”
However, risks and benefits went hand in hand. The current hazards were small, but without the guidance of abnormalities, it was difficult to judge what was in the stone ova based on the external environment — This was because the environment was just a big pile of rocks! There basically wasn’t anything special!
If someone to make a judgment about a stone ovum obtained in this way, they would either have to cut open the stone ovum or rely on a pharmacist’s knowledge and psychic power to distinguish it.
After sighing with sorrow, Lan Wenxi said: “An ancestor once mentioned that, within the leyline, most stone ova appeared on these trees, but there were dead ova among them. It was extremely difficult to see through the exterior appearances of these dead ova. Perhaps, the wondrous objects inside had already rotted and wasted away due to excessive maturation. Or maybe, the things being nurtured were wicked, and would turn around to bite the handler once they broke through their shells.”
Gu Zuo was curious: “Could it be that there aren’t any dead ova among those produced by the stone corals, dragons, and beasts?”
Lan Wenxi smiled, and said: “There are very few. Usually, there would be just one dead ovum among dozens of stone ova. But if it’s on the stone trees, the number of dead ova is around eighty percent.”
Gu Zuo understood clearly.
The risks of plucking stone ova from the trees really weren’t small… There was only a twenty percent chance of gaining a useful stone ovum. Wasn’t this pit a little too big? Going through so much trouble to get one, only to open it up to find trash. Wouldn’t that be upsetting? Moreover, it was one thing if the ovum had wasted away, but it was pure, rotten luck if the thing inside ended up attacking the person.
But these kinds of stone trees were opportunities that everyone entering the leyline wouldn’t miss.
After several people exchanged glances, Shen Yuanbai stated: “Let’s split up and search.”
They all responded: “Okay.”
Soon after, everyone divided into the same groups as before. Each person climbed up along the side of the enormous stone tree. As they climbed, they also looked around.
Tianheng grabbed Gu Zuo’s arm, and tossed his pharmacist onto his own back. Gu Zuo was caught off guard, but his movements bespoke of an even stronger tacit understanding. Just like when they were on the Road of Heaven’s Chosen, he swiftly wrapped his legs around Tianheng’s waist, and folded his arms around Tianheng’s neck. He responded: “Big brother, this is?”
Tianheng said: “Since this task needs strength, it’s naturally easier for a martial artist to do it. This elder brother will climb, and Ah Zuo can search. If we coordinate with each other, we’ll find some more stone ova.”
Gu Zuo heard this, and felt that it was reasonable. He answered positively: “Okay, big brother.”
Consequently, Tianheng’s long arms stretched out to grab the tree bark that protruded from the stone tree. Following this, his long legs exerted strength, and his feet stamped out. He had already leaped over a dozen meters up.
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