Starting with the Corpse-Eating Worm, he worked his way up to become the Left-Winged Immortal Lord.

After eating until he was half full and stuffing a flatbread into his pocket, Gu Qing headed straight for the cemetery.

Because Li Fu wasn't there, the young Taoist boys who were picking mushrooms weren't as gloomy as they had been the day before, and they greeted Gu Qing quite politely. However, the paleness on their faces lingered, which was alarming to see.

"Fellow Daoist Gu."

"Fellow Daoist Gu."

Clearly, these people had inquired about him yesterday.

"Fellow Daoists," Gu Qing returned the greeting politely.

Then the group took the opportunity to introduce themselves, clearly intending to get to know him.

"I am Yang Shaoping from the Yang family of Changping County, the same Yang family that sells cloth in our county."

"I am Liu Zaiyan from Fumanlou Restaurant in the north of the city. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I am..."

Hearing that the group all came from wealthy families surprised Gu Qing.

Logically speaking, their family background should have been sufficient to send generous gifts to Wufeng Temple, but they still had to endure the daily toil among these tombs.

It seems that even if one is wealthy, if one's spiritual cultivation is not up to par, giving gifts at Wufeng Temple is futile.

Fortunately, he had a daily evaluation panel, and he mastered the Subduing and Controlling Insects technique that very day. Otherwise, even if Li Fu had accepted his gift, he might not have shown him much favor. At most, he wouldn't have used him as a target to make an example of the young Daoist when disciplining him.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, even though Li Fu hadn't arrived yet, the group didn't dare say anything more and buried themselves in harvesting the leyline corpse mushrooms.

Only after asking did they learn that they had to collect as many corpse mushrooms as possible before nightfall, otherwise the earth vein corpse mushrooms would rot after nightfall. If Li Fu found even one rotten corpse mushroom, they would be fined.

One person was fined over three hundred taels of silver for this, and his family had to buy an ancestral restaurant to barely pay the fine.

If the fine cannot be paid.

They may very well have to choose their own grave.

Over the years, Li Fu has buried no fewer than five or six Taoist boys.

Upon hearing this...

Gu Qing didn't linger any longer and hurried to the gravesite where the work had been completed the day before.

"It seems I'll have to make a good impression on him again in a few days, otherwise, even if I gain some favor, I'll still be extorted for money." Gu Qing thought to himself, then made a hand seal, chanted an incantation, and commanded the insects to enter the grave.

……

soon.

Most of the day has passed.

Gu Qing's head started to ache again from frequently using the insect-controlling technique.

They had planned to examine one more tomb before resting, but as soon as the maggots entered the tomb, they sensed an unusual aura.

It's not the aura of a corpse.

It's not yin energy.

It was an aura that terrified maggots.

No matter how Gu Qing used his insect-controlling technique to force the maggots to burrow inside, they would rather have their bodies torn apart by the technique than go inside.

"What's going on?"

Gu Qing held the corpse-suppressing incense in one hand, wary of any zombies or the like inside.

Corpses fear the daylight, but the graveyard is shrouded in white mist, so if a zombie were to rush out, the daylight would not harm it.

After failing to use the insect-controlling technique again, Gu Qing could only start searching for other kinds of insects on the ground.

After searching extensively, Gu Qing found a beetle the size of a thumb.

After repeatedly digging a deep hole in the grave mound with bamboo, Gu Qing used his insect-controlling technique, focusing on the tearing pain in his head, to urge it to burrow deeper. However, the result was the same; after reaching a certain depth, it dared not go any further.

However, it did penetrate deeper than maggots.

This also allowed Gu Qing to truly feel what that special aura was.

虫。

The scent of insects.

The reason why maggots and beetles dare not enter is simply because mice are like cats.

"Could it be another anomaly from the list?"

Gu Qing felt a surge of anticipation.

If ordinary insects dare not enter the tomb, then we can only use corpse-eating insects.

Thinking of this, Gu Qing looked around, made a mark on the ground, and prepared to leave under the pretext of resting.

That way, even if they run into Li Fu, they'll have an excuse.

Upon arriving at the hiding place of the Corpse-Eating Worms and not finding Li Fu, Gu Qing immediately took advantage of the white mist to let the Corpse-Eating Worms crawl out through a hole.

Gu Qing originally wanted to put it in his pocket, but when he thought of the palm-sized blood-refining insect breeding jar in his pocket, he simply put it in there. The wild one had two big lumps in its pocket, which Li Fu saw and questioned.

Carrying the corpse-eating worms, Gu Qing quickly walked to the tomb.

After placing the corpse-eating worm and having it dig a hole, Gu Qing quickly covered the hole and then steered it to continue burrowing inside.

soon.

The carrion-eating worm burrowed into the spot where the beetle had been.

The oppressive aura of the insect remained, but it only made the corpse-eating worm feel a little uneasy.

However, as he continued to crawl downwards, the sense of oppression grew stronger and stronger, and he even felt a terrifying aura. This feeling was not like the fear of a mouse seeing a cat, but it was like Big Yellow seeing a Tibetan Mastiff.

"What kind of insect is it?"

Gu Qing controlled the corpse-eating worms to continue walking inside until they encountered a wooden coffin, and the worms' aura emanated from the wooden coffin.

Just to be on the safe side, Gu Qing first moved a hundred feet away to avoid the corpse-eating worm suddenly emerging after breaking open the coffin.

however.

When the wooden coffin was gnawed through, the expected scene did not occur.

The insect didn't make a sound.

Even when the corpse-eating worms entered the wooden coffin, it remained motionless.

"Isn't it alive?"

Gu Qing had a thought.

soon.

When Gu Qing used the Corpse-Eating Insect to dig the worm out of the corpse's chest, what came out was a dead worm.

A dead insect the size of a thumb.

Because the corpse-eating worms have no eyes, only senses, Gu Qing could only perceive their general outline.

It has eight legs, no eyes, and a body about the size of a thumb covered with tiny antennae.

next moment.

A message pops up on the panel.

[Eight-legged Heart-Eating Worm - Stage Two]

[Ranked 1000th on the Zerg List]

[Originating from the Boundless Realm of Southern Xinjiang, this creature is extremely rare because the mother insect lays only one egg every ten years, and only one egg at a time. Furthermore, its cultivation is extremely difficult; it requires the heart of a Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator to reach adulthood.]

[Dead!]

"What a pity."

Looking at the simple information about the eight-legged heart-eating worm, Gu Qing felt nothing but regret.

"Looks like it can only be used as food for corpse-eating worms... This should generate significantly more corpse energy than eating corpses."

With anticipation, Gu Qing immediately swallowed the corpse-eating worm whole.

however.

Once the eight-legged heart-eating worm entered his stomach, Gu Qing did not sense any signs that the corpse-devouring worm was refining him.

Previously, the corpse-eating worms ate corpses, and the refining reaction of the corpse-eating worms was very intuitive, just like chewing food.

"Can't refine it?"

Gu Qing was somewhat surprised.

However, Gu Qing wasn't in a hurry. He first tried to put the Corpse-Eating Worm into the Blood Refining Insect Jar to see if he could use the Yin Artifact to assist in the refining process. Unfortunately, while it did have an effect and the Blood Refining Insect Jar reacted, it just couldn't refine the Eight-Legged Heart-Eating Worm.

Is it because it is second-order?

Although it is unknown what level of strength the second tier is, it certainly possesses strength far exceeding that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.

"It seems we can only try again tonight after the corpse-eating worms have molted into adults."

Gu Qing immediately put away the Blood Refining Insect Breeding Jar and waited for tomorrow.