sinovels Chapter 651 Rank 6 Guzhen! The Gu Woman is Back!
Chapter 651 Rank 6 Guzhen! The Gu Woman is Back!
Song Tianren stood with his hands behind his back at the edge of the stands. His pale, handsome face was expressionless, except that the fingers on his arm had tightened slightly.
He remained silent for a long time before finally squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth: "Sixth-grade Gu Formation."
Wang Zhenyue's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air, and for the first time, a genuine look of surprise flashed in his usually calm and unchanging old eyes.
What is the concept of a sixth-grade Gu formation?
That was a formation that even a Nascent Soul level formation master might not be able to set up even after a hundred years of painstaking effort, but Chen Fan set it up in less than half an hour using standard formation flags and array plates.
In his view, if this person is not eliminated, he will surely become a major threat in the future.
Qin Zhan suddenly stood up, threw his head back, and laughed loudly, the sound of which made the entire east-side stands tremble slightly: "Good lad! I knew it! Setting up a sixth-grade Gu array in half an hour, breaking a three-hundred-year record, this is the Chen Fan I know!"
The expressions of the other cultivators in the stands were even more fascinating.
The Gu cultivators of the Snake Gu Clan were all ashen-faced, and those who had been the loudest in mocking Chen Fan just moments before now wished they could disappear into the ground.
The Gu cultivators of the Blood Gu Clan were ashen-faced. Blood Cicada, one of the top Gu formation masters on the grasslands, was now being suppressed by a foreign cultivator from the Zhao Kingdom. The difference between third place and first place was a full eleven points, a gap so large that he had no room for rebuttal.
Chen Fan stood at the edge of the waiting area, his expression remaining calm and composed.
He cupped his hands in thanks to the Gu woman for her announcement before turning and walking toward the seats of the First Prince's entourage.
……
The noise in the square lingered long after the battle of the Gu formations ended.
The Gu cultivators from various tribes whispered amongst themselves, and the cultivators from the five kingdoms discussed amongst themselves, all their eyes intentionally or unintentionally following the thin, bluish-gray figure. Chen Fan ignored them, returning directly to the waiting area, sitting cross-legged on a futon, and closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.
The cicada gently fluttered its wings within the sleeve, emitting a satisfied buzz. The sixth-grade Gu array was a considerable drain on it, but it brought an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. Using the entire array as its shell, it integrated its Devouring Divine Power into every array pattern; the feeling was like a fish returning to the sea, a tiger entering the forest.
On the high platform to the north, the Gu woman sat in the main seat, her teacup already changed twice. Her gaze swept over the gray-blue figure below the platform, then turned to the jade slip recording the results of the Gu formation battle, remaining silent for a long time.
A sixth-grade Gu formation, containing a Soul-Devouring Gu embryo.
Others might not understand the intricacies, but she had lived for hundreds of years and seen countless strange insects and gu under the Gu King's throne. How could she not know what the Soul-Devouring Gu meant?
That is one of the three great secret Gu of the grasslands, a secret passed down only by the Gu King lineage.
The eunuch in front of them, an outsider cultivator, had quietly cultivated a Soul-Devouring Gu embryo.
She pondered for a moment, then took out a token with an insect pattern from her sleeve and played with it in her palm for a while before finally standing up.
"Someone come here."
A deacon dressed in a dark green leather robe stepped forward quickly, bowed, and accepted the order.
"Go and invite Master Chen. Tell him I wish to have a chat with him at the same place as last night." The Gu woman's voice was hoarse and flat, devoid of any emotion.
The steward accepted the order and left. The Gu woman put the token into her sleeve, leaned on her insect staff, and slowly walked down from the high platform.
When Chen Fan opened his eyes, the steward was already waiting outside the waiting area.
Upon hearing the message, he showed no expression, simply nodding before standing up. Han Cen hesitated to speak, and Ouyang Ye frowned, but seeing Chen Fan's composed demeanor, neither of them said anything more.
It was still the same mound as last night, and the same few strange trees with twisted branches.
There was no moon tonight, only low-hanging stars, and the wind on the grassland was even more biting than last night, rustling the dark green vines. In the distance, the faint howls of wild wolves echoed, sounding particularly desolate in the vast night.
The Gu woman had already arrived.
She still looked like a peerless beauty, wearing a dark green gauze dress, bare feet with silver bells, and her features were as beautiful as a painting.
But the tenderness of the previous night was gone from her dark green eyes, replaced by a restrained solemnity. She stood with her hands behind her back on the mound, the night wind making her skirt flutter, her aura as steady as a mountain at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
"Master Chen has arrived." The Gu woman turned around, not offering him tea as she had the night before, but getting straight to the point, "I have only one thing to say to Master Chen today."
Chen Fan stopped five steps in front of her, stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm and indifferent: "Please speak, Gu woman."
"Your Gu worm is a Soul-Devouring Gu embryo." The Gu woman stared into Chen Fan's eyes, her tone firm and unquestionable. "Although it's not yet complete, its Devouring Divine Power only has the form but not the spirit, lacking the core Soul-Devouring True Meaning. But its foundation is already established, and its rank has reached the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage. I have served the Gu King for hundreds of years, and although my understanding of the Soul-Devouring Gu is not as profound as that of the old Gu King, it is enough for me to recognize its origin."
Chen Fan neither denied nor admitted it, but simply waited quietly for what would happen next.
"Lord Chen." The Gu woman took a step forward, her voice less hoarse than usual, filled with sincere earnestness. "Although you are an outsider cultivator, since you have managed to cultivate a Soul-Devouring Gu embryo, you are destined to be connected with the Gu Dao of my grasslands. The Gu King has been in seclusion for hundreds of years, but I can promise you on his behalf that as long as you are willing to stay in the Great Desert Grasslands, the day the Gu King emerges from seclusion, he will personally complete the full inheritance of the Soul-Devouring Gu for you. At that time, you will not possess an embryo, but a true Soul-Devouring Gu. It is not that I underestimate Lord Chen's alchemy skills, but some things cannot be bought with spirit stones. The complete inheritance of the Soul-Devouring Gu is known only to the Gu King in the entire Tiannan Star. If you miss this opportunity, your Golden Cicada will probably remain forever at the embryo stage."
Chen Fan fell silent.
It must be said that the Gu woman's words really hit him where it hurt.
Although Jin Chan had already broken through to the peak of the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm and his Devouring Divine Power had begun to take shape, he knew in his heart that the records about the Soul-Devouring Gu in the Insect True Man's Notes were incomplete.
The Golden Cicada's current ability to devour is merely the most basic form of the Soul-Devouring Gu. A true Soul-Devouring Gu can not only devour spiritual power but also convert that power into something useful for its host!
This point was only mentioned vaguely in Master Chong's notes, without any specific cultivation method.
The silence lasted for less than three breaths.
Chen Fan raised his head, meeting the Gu woman's dark green eyes, and slowly spoke: "The Gu woman's conditions are indeed more practical than last night's. Let me be frank, it's impossible not to be tempted by the complete inheritance of the Soul-Devouring Gu. But I didn't come to the grasslands for the Soul-Devouring Gu, nor will I stay there for it. What I want is elsewhere, not on the grasslands. As for whether the Golden Cicada can complete the inheritance, that's a matter for the future. Whether it's completed or not is fate. I won't force it."