Chương 115: 1.111 It's wormin time~

Ning sank deeper into the bath until the warm water reached just below his shoulders. The water wasn't there merely to wash away the sweat and impurities expelled during his breakthrough. Several medicinal powders had been mixed into it, turning the otherwise clear water a faint green and filling the room with a subtle herbal fragrance.

The mixture helped draw out the stubborn impurities still clinging to his skin while soothing the meridians that had remained under pressure for so long, making it one of the standard treatments following an important breakthrough. Once again, Ning was reminded that there was apparently a correct way to do everything when you had enough spirit stones. Still, he wasn't going to complain.

"Panel." Ning leaned his head against the edge of the bath and finally turned his attention to the interface before him.

[Ji Ning Spiritual Root: Mid-grade Attributes: Five Elements Talent: Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity Realm: Seventh Stage Qi Condensation (Liquefaction: 1/3400), Marrow Refining (359/600) Mind: Ferrying Mind (Clear Heart ++) Cultivation Techniques: Pure Qi Sutra (Completion), Jade Skin and Icy Meridians (3rd Level), Medicine King Technique (Second Stage: Alchemy Qi Infusion), Food Qi Nourishment Method, Beast King Technique (Beast Heart Communion) Martial Arts: Bone Forging Fist (Mastery), Shadow Steps (Mastery), Turtle Breathing (Mastery), Pure Eyes (Clear Sight: 262/300), Falling Leaf Spear (Unity), Spiral Arrow (Unity), Cold River Spear (Starting: 128/300), Phantom Veil (Starting: 28/300), Lightning Cry Arrow (Starting: 43/300) Techniques: Small Cloud Rain (Mastery), Soil Refining (Mastery), Hidden Ice Mist (Great Accomplishment: 121/400), Scorching Purge (Great Accomplishment: 59/400), Golden Finger (Great Accomplishment: 12/400), Withering & Flourishing (Great Accomplishment: 389/400), Fireball (Great Accomplishment: 43/400), Crimson Flame Control (Twin Flame: 4/400), Spring Breeze Seedling (Minor Accomplishment: 10/200), Eternal Severance Art: Season-Reading Eye (Starting: 5/300) Esoteric Arts: Infinite Circle (Accumulating: 1/100), Soul Ferrying Scripture (First Merit Petal)] Ning stared at the increasingly ridiculous wall of information for several seconds.

He really had come a long way. Back when he first discovered Know Thyself, there had barely been enough information to fill half of this thing. Now he had cultivation techniques, martial arts, spells, esoteric arts, and, finally, the words he had spent the last several years working toward. Seventh Stage Qi Condensation. He had finally stepped into late-stage Qi Condensation.

More importantly, reaching this stage meant Ning had finally crawled his way out of what could generously be called the bottom-feeder portion of the cultivation world. The majority of independent cultivators would spend their entire lives somewhere within the first six stages, held back by mediocre spiritual roots, insufficient resources, stubborn bottlenecks, or simply never getting the opportunity to advance further. Of course, Ning knew he had been fortunate.

He had managed to enter the Pure Qi Sect, found people willing to teach him, and gained access to resources an independent cultivator could only dream of. Still, luck could only give him the opportunity. He had spent years making sure he didn't waste it. And now all that effort had finally paid off. Just like that, he had gone from being one among countless ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators to standing above the majority of them.

According to the rough estimates he had read, reaching the Seventh Stage alone was enough to place a cultivator somewhere within the top twenty percent of Qi Condensation cultivators. As for how Ning felt about this grand accomplishment? Surprisingly, not much. He was happy, of course. It would be ridiculous not to be after working toward something for years. But there was no sudden rush of pride, no overwhelming feeling that he had finally made it. If anything, his first thought was much simpler.

Would it be arrogant to think I'm still nowhere near my limit? Ning pondered the question for a moment before deciding that, arrogant or not, it was probably true. His attention then settled on the new line beside his realm. (Liquefaction: 1/3400) Unlike his previous stages, advancing further wasn't simply a matter of accumulating more gaseous qi until he reached another bottleneck. The Seventh Stage marked the beginning of liquefaction.

From this point onward, the qi he accumulated would gradually be refined and condensed into a far denser liquid state within his dantian. His other techniques had progressed considerably as well. Withering & Flourishing was only a small step away from Mastery, while Pure Eyes was also progressing nicely. Aside from that, most things were advancing steadily. At least none of them were regressing. His panel didn't make his progress permanent.

If he neglected a technique for long enough, his proficiency could still fall. It simply didn't happen very often. Cultivators possessed far greater control over their bodies and spiritual energy than ordinary people, and once something had been practiced enough to become instinctive, forgetting it wasn't exactly easy. If anything, Ning had noticed the opposite happening lately.

As his cultivation rose and his control over spiritual energy improved, many of his techniques seemed to progress slightly faster than before. Of course, the breakthrough had also brought a few changes to Know Thyself itself. The most obvious was the new category. Esoteric Arts. The term roughly referred to specialized arts that didn't follow the normal progression of ordinary techniques. Both the Infinite Circle and Soul Ferrying Scripture fit neatly into that category.

Ning had already mastered the actual methods behind them; what remained was accumulation. The Infinite Circle grew as qi continuously cycled and accumulated within it, while the Soul Ferrying Scripture progressed through the heavenly merit he gathered by ferrying souls.

"Well, that's neat." Ning nodded to himself. As his understanding of Know Thyself had grown, the panel had become increasingly responsive to what he actually wanted from it. He focused on the martial arts section and mentally pushed away the proficiency labels he no longer cared about. Bone Forging Fist. Shadow Steps. Turtle Breathing. They disappeared. Ning brought them back, and then removed them again. A small smile appeared on his face.

It wasn't exactly a heaven-shattering advancement, but considering how crowded the panel was becoming, this was pretty good. The biggest change, however, was something else entirely. Ning had expected Know Thyself to improve after the awakening of his spiritual sense. Considering how closely the talent was tied to his perception of himself, it would have been stranger if nothing had changed. Still, the extent of the improvement went well beyond his expectations.

With another thought, a translucent human figure appeared beside the interface. Ning's expression immediately became more focused. The difference from the model he had first unlocked at the Fifth Stage was obvious. Its basic form hadn't changed, but the interior had become considerably more intricate.

Meridian branches that had previously appeared as little more than vague extensions were now clearly represented, while the greater circulation created by the opening of the Ren and Du meridians could be followed without difficulty. His dantian, the movement of qi around it, and even some of the subtler changes left behind by the breakthrough possessed a clarity the previous model had never been capable of reproducing. Ning circulated a small amount of qi. The model responded immediately.

He felt the current moving through his meridians with his newly awakened spiritual sense, and almost simultaneously, its passage appeared within the translucent body before him. Ning watched for several breaths before allowing the circulation to settle. That was new. Ning's own ability to perceive himself had taken an enormous step forward, and the talent had simply grown alongside him. Even better, the numerical panel remained floating beside the model the entire time. Ning stared at the two for a moment.

Previously, switching between them had meant waiting six hours before he could change back. Now, apparently, he could have both open at once. Was it because his spiritual sense had awakened? Had his consciousness simply become strong enough to maintain both? Ning didn't know, but that seemed like the most reasonable explanation.

"Multitasking," he murmured with satisfaction.

"Sometimes it's the little things that are the most useful." His attention naturally turned toward the reason for that progress. Spiritual sense. Ning let his newly awakened perception spread outward, and the medicinal bath suddenly became strange in a way he still hadn't completely grown accustomed to.

He could see the wooden wall in front of him with his eyes, yet at the same time he was aware of the edge of the bath behind him, the folded robes resting nearby, the faint movement of medicinal water around his shoulders, and the tiny fluctuations of spiritual energy within the limited area surrounding him. None of it quite resembled sight, sound, or touch. The information simply reached his consciousness directly, carrying shape, position, movement, and traces of spiritual energy along with it.

It was awesome, but also a little annoying. There was something deeply unnatural about gaining an entire extra sense after two lifetimes of getting by on the usual ones. The strangest part was the overlap with his spatial sensitivity. His spatial sensitivity had always been instinctive, almost too natural for Ning to notice unless he deliberately paid attention to it. Distance, position, trajectories, even the space between two moving objects simply made more sense to him than they probably should.

Spiritual sense was much more tangible. Within its short range, Ning could actively perceive his surroundings regardless of where he was looking, with spiritual energy appearing especially clear. What surprised him more was how precise that perception became whenever space was involved. He didn't merely sense that something was behind him. He knew where it was, how far away it was, and how its position changed as it moved.

When several strands of qi passed close to one another, he could distinguish the tiny gaps between them and notice almost immediately when those distances began to change. His spiritual sense shouldn't have been particularly impressive yet, considering he had only recently gained it, but anything involving position or movement felt strangely easy. Ning had a fairly obvious suspect.

[Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity] Apparently, giving him another way to perceive the space around himself had also given his talent considerably more to work with. Ning wasn't particularly surprised. If a talent literally named Extreme Space-Time Sensitivity couldn't give him even a small advantage with spiritual sense, that would have been more surprising. For now, he just wanted to train and learn about it. He already had several ideas.

After brainstorming for a while, Ning dismissed both interfaces and finally focused on finishing his bath. By the time he changed into a clean set of robes and stepped outside, he felt considerably better. He had barely made it down the corridor when voices reached him from ahead.

"... and you didn't tell anyone."

"I was busy."

"For two months?"

"It came up suddenly, okay?" Ning slowed. Ah. He had a feeling he knew what was happening. Rounding the corner, he found Ling Xin sitting there with an expression of remarkable innocence while Ling Yinran stood in front of her. His senior sister did not look amused. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"You disappeared into seclusion without properly explaining what you were doing, then suddenly left with the Grand Elder, and the first thing you did after seeing Junior Brother again was try to make him swallow a worm." Ling Xin opened her mouth, paused, then muttered, "When you put it that way..."

"You should be more responsible, you know." Ling Yinran sighed.

"You're already approaching the peak of Foundation Building. There are plenty of cultivators in the sect who consider you their senior." Another sigh escaped her. Somehow, despite being the junior here, she was the one lecturing her own aunt about behaving like a proper senior. Ling Xin, naturally unwilling to sit through any more of the scolding, immediately spotted her means of escape.

"Ning!" Ling Yinran turned as well, and the sternness in her expression eased when she saw him standing there in clean robes. Ning looked between his master, his senior sister, and the tiny white worm that was apparently still very much the subject of discussion. For some reason, he had the distinct feeling that his bath had merely delayed the inevitable.

"So, about the worm..." Ning's gaze returned to the little white creature in Ling Xin's hand. Ling Yinran glanced at her aunt before giving Ning a rather unhelpful answer.

"Ask her." For some reason, that immediately made him suspicious. Then Ning remembered something Ling Yinran had mentioned before. His master had apparently been looking into ways to keep track of him so she would know if he ever found himself in danger. At the time, Ning had assumed she meant some sort of spiritual mark or even a pill for that matter. His eyes slowly drifted back toward the worm. Surely not. Right?

"Master." Ning stared at the tiny creature.

"Don't tell me your solution for tracking me in case I'm in danger is literally putting a worm inside my stomach." Ling Xin blinked at him. Beside her, Ling Yinran's lips twitched. A moment later, Ling Xin burst out laughing.

"No. That's not what it's for." Ning relaxed, only to watch his master's laughter gradually fade as she looked down at the worm with a surprisingly thoughtful expression.

"Although... that's actually not a bad idea. If the creature lived inside you and continuously absorbed a small amount of your qi, I could use that connection as the basis for a tracking art. The difficult part would be maintaining the resonance over long distances, but if I modified-""Master," Ning called out before his master went off to the deep end. Ling Xin looked up.

"Hmm?"

"Please forget I said anything."

"Hmm..." Ling Xin smiled.

"I don't think I want to." Ning immediately regretted opening his mouth. There were certain people in this world who should never be given strange ideas, and his master, whose first instinct was apparently to investigate whether those ideas were technically feasible, ranked rather high on that list. Ling Yinran seemed considerably more accustomed to dealing with this problem.

"Aunt, explain what you actually brought him before you decide to invent a spiritual parasite."

"Oh, right." Ling Xin lifted the little creature between two fingers, immediately abandoning her new research direction.

"This is a Jade Frost Gu."

"Gu?" Ning's expression changed as he studied the translucent white creature more carefully. He had certainly heard of Gu before, though they were uncommon this far from their place of origin. The Southern Miasma Marshlands were famous for vast wetlands, poisonous forests, miasmic valleys, and enough venomous creatures to make Ning wonder why anyone had looked at the region and decided it would be an excellent place to establish civilization. Naturally, cultivators had done exactly that.

Then again, perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised. After all, cultivators and seeking death go hand in hand. Besides, when he thought about it, the cultivators themselves were probably the most dangerous creatures in any given region. The South was practically proof of that. Over countless generations, the cultivators of the South had developed an entire cultivation tradition centered around Gu.

From what Ning understood, they took insects and other unusual creatures and refined them using various secret methods, gradually transforming them into living cultivation tools with all manner of strange supernatural abilities.

"So it's a specially refined spiritual insect? Doesn't that mean it's quite similar to beast taming?" Ning asked. He was quite curious about the concept of Gu Cultivation.

"Not necessarily," Ling Yinran corrected.

"Many Gu originate from insects, but that isn't what makes them Gu. Some begin as ordinary creatures, some as spiritual creatures, and there are stranger varieties created through refinement methods whose original forms aren't even obvious anymore. What matters is the process of refinement and nurturing." Ning considered that.

"So a spiritual beast develops mostly according to its own bloodline and cultivation, while a Gu is deliberately refined toward particular traits?"

"Yes. That would be a better way of putting it." Ling Xin nodded, unsurprised by her disciple's ability to always distill a conversation down to its key points. Rather than simply raising a spiritual creature and waiting for its natural potential to emerge, Gu cultivators actively interfered with the process, using specific resources and refinement methods to push the creature toward the abilities they wanted.

Judging by what he'd read, Gu could continue developing even after their initial refinement, sometimes transforming into entirely different varieties. There was a lot of room for customization. Ning could already see the potential.

"Master, did you go into seclusion for this?" Ning asked. As far as he knew, his master had never mentioned knowing anything about Gu refinement.

"Not really," Ling Xin explained.

"After I came out of seclusion, I met with Master, and the two of us had something else to take care of. While we were away, I heard that someone nearby had obtained an immature Jade Frost Gu. They're extremely uncommon this far from the Southern Miasma Marshlands, and rare even there, so naturally, I went to have a look."

"And without sending a single message," Ling Yinran added.

"I told you, it was unexpected, alright?" Ling Xin said, trying to pacify her niece. Ling Yinran's expression suggested that excuse had already been used several times and had not improved with repetition. Ning looked between his master and the worm. He could understand the sentiment, although being told that a woman had seen an exceptionally rare worm and immediately thought of him was probably something best appreciated with context.

Fortunately, Ling Xin provided that context before he could think too deeply about it.

"Jade Frost Gu are cold-attributed host Gu. They can absorb cold spiritual energy, refine part of it within themselves, and return it to their host as Jade Frost Essence. They're particularly valuable to body cultivators practicing cold-attributed techniques because that essence is much gentler on the body than directly refining the same amount of raw cold qi." Ning's amusement disappeared as he immediately began considering the implications.

"Wouldn't that become more useful the deeper my body refinement goes?" Ling Xin's eyes brightened.

"Exactly! Tempering the skin with cold qi is relatively simple, and even the meridians can gradually adapt to it. But the deeper you refine the body, the more dangerous excessive cold becomes. You're already refining your marrow, so the Jade Frost Gu can help regulate the cold energy entering your body while refining part of it into something your marrow can absorb more easily." Ning finally understood.

"That's why you chose it for me." His body-tempering technique was, after all, the Jade Skin and Icy Meridians. From the very beginning, the technique had relied on cold qi to temper his skin and meridians, gradually molding his body toward an increasingly yin and frost-aligned constitution. Now that he was refining his marrow, however, forcing that same cold deeper into his body naturally carried far greater risks. In that regard, the Jade Frost Gu was practically tailor-made for him.

Ling Xin nodded enthusiastically.

"Once it's properly bonded to you, it'll gradually adapt to your qi. You nourish it while cultivating; it refines part of the cold energy you absorb, and the Jade Frost Essence it produces helps temper your body in return. As it grows stronger, that effect will improve as well." So basically Fenghuang, except smaller, ice-attributed, and considerably more worm-shaped. Ning wisely decided never to make that comparison in front of the bird. He had grown rather attached to having an unpecked face.

Ling Xin held the Gu a little closer to him.

"Gu can be nurtured, refined further, and even transformed. The Jade Frost Gu itself isn't especially powerful, but it has several known advancement paths. What it eventually becomes depends on how it's raised and what resources are used during its transformations." Ning's thoughts immediately began moving. Different resources could produce different transformations, which meant the Gu's current form wasn't necessarily its final one.

If its development could actually be influenced through diet, environment, refinement materials, and even the characteristics of its host, then there were potentially dozens of variables worth testing. He wondered whether the Jade Frost Essence itself would change depending on-"Junior Brother." Ning looked toward Ling Yinran.

"Learn how to raise it properly before you start experimenting." Ling Yinran spoke sternly.

"I haven't even done anything yet." Ning blinked.

"You had that expression."

"What expression?" Ning asked, genuinely confused.

"The one you get before you do something Aunt will encourage." Ning paused. He hadn't realized he had a specific expression for that. He had always thought his expressions were like flowing water, changing naturally with the situation. Maybe I should use an Image Stone to see what expression I'm making. His thoughts naturally shifted toward identifying the tell and correcting it. Ling Xin immediately sided with Ning.

"Experiments are important."

"Aunt." Ling Yinran only needed a single word. Ling Xin promptly fell silent, though the look on her face made it clear she remained firmly on the side of scientific progress. Ling Yinran sighed and rubbed her forehead. Keeping a conversation on track around these two was remarkably difficult. Ning could take one simple idea and somehow discover ten different questions hidden inside it, while her aunt's first instinct was rarely to stop him and far more often to wonder what would happen if they actually tried them.

Their thought processes weren't exactly normal. Worse, they were unfortunately compatible. After a moment, Ling Xin cleared her throat and returned to the original subject.

"Anyway, that's only part of why I chose this one. With its help, you should reach the Fourth Level much sooner." Ning immediately understood why that mattered. The Fourth Level marked the next major transformation of Jade Skin and Icy Meridians, finally granting him a true defensive application. Ling Xin's expression softened slightly.

"You have plenty of ways to hurt people, and you're quite good at avoiding attacks when you have room to move, but when something actually hits you, you have very little to fall back on." Ning couldn't argue with that.

"I thought you would eventually buy one," Ling Xin continued, "but Yinran explained why you hadn't. Since you're already this close to the Fourth Level, I thought helping you advance your body-refining technique would be better than having you divide your attention again." She held the Jade Frost Gu out toward him.

"This way, you can reach the Fourth Level sooner, and until then, the Gu itself should make cultivating the later stages safer." Ning looked at the tiny creature resting in her palm. So she hadn't simply seen something useful and bought it on a whim. She had remembered the gaps in his cultivation, considered what he already had, and chosen something that could address several of them at once. His master had put quite a bit of thought into this. For once, Ning didn't feel any particular need to make a joke.

"Thank you, Master. Really." Ling Xin immediately smiled.

"You like it?"

"Of course I do." Ning nodded.

"Good! That's a relief." Ling Xin's smile widened before she suddenly turned toward Ling Yinran.

"Of course, I also brought something back for my lovely niece."

"Hmph. I'm glad you remembered your lovely niece after disappearing without saying anything." Ling Yinran turned her face slightly to the side, though the small upward curve at the corner of her lips betrayed her. Ling Xin's eyes narrowed with amusement.

"Are you blushing?"

"No."

"You definitely are." Before Ling Yinran could respond, Ling Xin smugly pulled out a rectangular wooden case and held it toward her. Ling Yinran gave her aunt one last look before accepting it. The moment she opened the lid, however, her attention shifted entirely to what was inside. Several pieces of unusual metal rested in the case alongside bundles of extremely fine silver thread, translucent crystalline joints, and a dark wooden core covered in naturally formed spiritual patterns.

Ling Yinran's expression changed almost immediately.

"Puppet materials?"

"See? I remembered." Ling Xin pointed excitedly toward the crystalline pieces.

"You said the joints in your new puppet couldn't handle the amount of qi you were trying to push through them. Those should work much better, and that spiritwood is suitable for the central control core. I found both while I was away." Ling Yinran picked up one of the crystalline joints and examined it carefully, turning it between her fingers before placing it back inside the case.

"Thank you, Aunt." Ling Xin immediately leaned closer.

"So you're not angry anymore?"

"I didn't say that." Ling Xin's hopeful expression fell.

"You still disappeared without properly telling me where you were going." Ling Yinran paused before adding more quietly, "Next time, at least tell me beforehand."

"Okay." Ling Xin nodded seriously, then glanced toward Ning and discreetly gave him a thumbs-up. Ning returned it. The ancient art of gift-giving had once again proven effective.

"Right!" Apparently deciding it was best to move on before Ling Yinran remembered anything else to scold her about, Ling Xin quickly placed the Jade Frost Gu onto a small jade plate.

"Ning still needs to bond with his Gu. I've already fully refined it, so the difficult part is finished. You only need to establish the final bond."

"That's quite thoughtful." Ning was genuinely impressed. Had his Social Fu teachings really been that effective? His master had grown so much. He could almost shed a tear at her progress.

"Hehe! Master helped me at the beginning since I hadn't worked with Gu before, but I completed the rest myself." Ling Xin spoke proudly. She also felt she had done quite well. Ning looked at the tiny creature with renewed appreciation. He knew enough about Gu to understand that refinement wasn't simply a matter of feeding it spiritual materials until it became obedient.

Wild Gu possessed their own instincts and resistance, and suppressing that resistance too forcefully could damage the creature or even ruin its future potential. The stronger and rarer the Gu, the more troublesome the process became. Ling Xin had taken care of all of that for him.

"So it's already completely subdued?"

"Refined," Ling Xin corrected.

"Don't think of it as having no will of its own. It's still alive, and it'll still have its own instincts. I've simply removed its resistance to forming a contract and prepared it to accept a master. That's why you won't have to fight it with your spiritual sense." Ning nodded.

"What do I need to do?"

"Give it three drops of blood first." Ling Xin handed him a small needle, and Ning pricked his fingertip before holding it above the Jade Frost Gu. The first bead of blood fell onto its translucent body, and the previously still creature immediately raised its head before moving toward the blood. Ning watched with interest as it drank. A faint crimson thread became visible through its nearly transparent body before slowly disappearing.

He gave it another two drops as instructed, after which the Gu became noticeably more active, crawling toward the edge of the jade plate closest to his hand.

"Now give it a little qi," Ling Xin said.

"Be careful not to give too much. Let it become familiar with your spiritual signature." Ning extended a finger and released a thin strand of refined qi. The Jade Frost Gu stiffened when the energy touched it, and Ning instinctively prepared himself for resistance, but the reaction disappeared almost immediately. The creature slowly relaxed and began drawing the qi inward. With spiritual sense, Ning could perceive considerably more than his eyes alone revealed.

The Gu possessed a faint spiritual presence of its own, surprisingly clear despite its tiny body, and as his qi entered it, that presence gradually became less foreign to him. It wasn't consuming the energy in quite the same manner as a spiritual beast eating food; rather, some part of the refinement within its body seemed to be familiarizing itself with the characteristics of his qi.

"Now use your spiritual sense," Ling Xin instructed.

"Don't force anything. Just make contact." Ning carefully extended his awareness. The moment his spiritual sense touched the Gu's spiritual presence, the tiny creature twitched. Its cold presence simply brushed against his awareness, carrying with it a vague sense of recognition that grew clearer as the blood and qi it had already absorbed responded to him. Then, almost without warning, Ning felt the relationship between them change.

The Jade Frost Gu was no longer simply another living creature sitting in front of him. Somewhere beneath his ordinary senses, he could now feel its presence through the faint connection that had formed between them. Curious, Ning moved his hand to the side. The Jade Frost Gu turned toward it. He moved it the other way, and its tiny head followed.

"It's kinda cute." Ling Xin smiled proudly.

"See? It already likes you."

"It consumed my blood and qi within the first few minutes of our relationship. I'd hope we're getting along."

"Good. Now swallow it." Ning's smile disappeared.

"Master, surely the Southern Miasma Marshlands have developed a more elegant method after however many thousands of years they've been doing this."

"They have." Ning's expression immediately brightened. Ling Xin continued cheerfully, "You aren't strong enough to use them." Ning stared at her for a moment before looking toward Ling Yinran for support, only to find his senior sister very deliberately looking elsewhere. Traitor. With no rescue forthcoming, Ning picked up the Jade Frost Gu. The little creature curled around his fingertip without resistance, its body surprisingly cool against his skin. Ning stared at it for another moment.

He had eaten enough unusual cultivation resources that swallowing a small worm really shouldn't have bothered him this much. The problem was that none of those had been a live worm. Still, Ning had already come this far, so it was not in his nature to give up. He opened his mouth wide and swallowed the white worm. Almost immediately, he closed his eyes and turned his spiritual sense inward. Ning quickly discovered one disadvantage of awakening spiritual sense that nobody had bothered to mention.

Being able to perceive something alive moving through your own body was deeply unpleasant. He suppressed the thought and concentrated on the useful part. The faint connection formed through the contract made the Jade Frost Gu surprisingly easy to follow, and as it encountered his circulating qi, Ning felt its cold spiritual presence gradually become more active.

"Circulate Jade Skin and Icy Meridians," Ling Xin instructed from beside him.

"Don't try to guide the Gu yourself. It'll respond to the technique." Ning followed her instructions. Cold qi began flowing through the familiar pathways of his body-refining art, and the reaction was immediate. The Jade Frost Gu stirred the moment it sensed the energy and began following the cold circulation on its own. Ning watched through his spiritual sense as it moved deeper into his body, eventually settling near one of the major junctions along the pathways used by Jade Skin and Icy Meridians.

Once there, it curled in on itself and became still.

"Master, it's stopped moving," Ning informed Ling Xin.

"Good. That means the first part is done." Ling Xin nodded.

"A host Gu needs time to acclimatize to its master before choosing the most suitable place to establish itself. Don't force it anywhere. Cultivate normally, use your qi, move around, and let it learn how your body works." Ning nodded. That sounded simple enough. Ling Xin clapped her hands together.

"As for the second part, it'll settle in faster if you move around a little and give it a chance to experience your qi under different conditions." She paused, then smiled.

"How about we spar?" Ning blinked.

"Spar?"

"Yes." Ling Xin was already getting to her feet.

"The Jade Frost Gu has another useful ability, but it'll be easier for you to understand once you've gotten comfortable with it."

"... Another ability?" Ling Xin's smile widened, and Ning suddenly realized that this was probably a question he should have asked before swallowing it. Had she been this thoughtful today on purpose? Did I teach her too well?... Thanks for reading~