After nearly an hour, fissures began spreading across the ground, and faint threads of crimson light shot up through the floor of the Torrent Society.
The Sacred Martyrdom Life-Offering Soul-Locking Array had not only sealed the Namo race here, but had also suppressed an Abyss rift on Mars. That was why no Abyss monsters had invaded this world through this rift after the Namo race.
Now that the Sacred Martyrdom Life-Offering Soul-Locking Array had dissipated, the suppressed Abyss rift was gradually recovering.
Yu Xian kept his eyes shut, completely unaware of the changes in the outside world.
Just then, a slender arm reached out from a modest fissure in the Abyss rift. Its palm pressed against the floor, pushing up with effort, and slowly dragged its body out.
It had a large head, a small body, crimson skin, stood barely half a meter tall, and was covered in sharp horns.
This was a lower-rank lesser demon.
It belonged to the lowest tier of demons in the Abyss, its strength roughly equivalent to lower Wolf rank.
Lower-rank lesser demons generally lacked names and possessed no special abilities; their composite physical parameters simply reached Wolf rank. Their combat habit was pouncing onto targets and clawing frantically. In the Abyss, they sat at the bottom of the food chain, easily preyed upon by all manner of Abyss creatures.
The moment this lower-rank lesser demon emerged, it immediately spotted Yu Xian standing motionless. Excitement flared in its eyes, and it lunged straight at Yu Xian without hesitation.
Although the Mantle of Falsehood had dissipated once his Falsehood Divine Power ran dry, Yu Xian was still protected by the Dragon Shield. Before the lower-rank lesser demon could even touch him, its head slammed heavily into the shield formed by reverse scales.
With a shriek, it flew back the exact way it had come, letting out another screech upon hitting the ground, the horns on its head cracking.
"Kaza!"
Letting out a strange cry, the lower-rank lesser demon scrambled to its feet, staring at Yu Xian in terror.
Then, in a panic, it turned and tried to flee. But the moment it dashed out of the stone doorway, a dark shadow struck in a zigzag pattern, instantly leaving a slash across its forehead and neck.
Thud.
Separated from its torso, the lower-rank lesser demon's head tumbled to the ground, and its body collapsed immediately.
Not far away, the Shadow Gu flowed over like liquid. Passing through the stone doorway, it rapidly seeped into Yu Xian's shadow—this was Cui Xianzhen's final command to it.
***
Among the extraordinary inheritances brought by the Forbidden Fruit, three broad categories were the most widespread. The first was bloodline inheritance.
Nine-Tailed Foxes, blood scions of Kuafu, vampires, and werewolves all belonged to this type.
The second was knowledge inheritance.
Ordinary martial artists, alchemists, and similar professions fell under this category.
The third was "seed-mark" inheritance.
Professions such as battle-qi warriors, mages, immortal cultivators, and Gu masters belonged to this classification.
This kind of inheritance often required an "extraordinary seed" or "extraordinary mark" before one could wield extraordinary power. For instance, no matter how hard an ordinary human trained, it was impossible to cultivate battle qi on their own.
However, if implanted with a "battle-qi seed," they could slowly incubate it through physical conditioning, letting the seed take root and sprout within their body, eventually transforming into their own extraordinary power.
Gu masters operated the same way, requiring an inheritance mark before they could cultivate.
Without an inheritance mark, one could neither manipulate Gu insects nor raise them. Even if someone controlled a Gu insect through other abilities, they could never draw out a hundred percent of its power.
The azure butterfly Cui Xianzhen had given Yu Xian was in fact the inheritance mark of a Gu master. Not only did this mark contain a vast wealth of Gu master knowledge, but it was also the core key to commanding Gu insects.
In essence, it functioned like an official token or military tally.
Three hours later, Yu Xian had thoroughly absorbed all the Gu master knowledge.
He slowly opened his eyes. The azure butterfly mark between his brows flashed briefly, and he instantly sensed the Shadow Gu hidden in his shadow, as well as the Spirit-Melting Gu insects and Barren Stone Gu insects in the distance.
In the past, many Miao people had wished to become Gu masters and made similar wishes upon consuming Forbidden Fruits.
This resulted in numerous distinct schools among Gu masters, each traceable back to a lucky soul who had eaten a Forbidden Fruit.
The legacy Cui Xianzhen had passed down to him belonged to the "Butterfly Metamorphosis school," which was why the profession was also called a Butterfly Metamorphosis Gu master.
The butterfly mark was named the Thousand Butterflies Mark, an exclusive brand of the Butterfly Metamorphosis Gu master. With the Thousand Butterflies Mark, Yu Xian could feed various insects his own blood, channel his mental energy into the mark, and guide the insects through "butterfly metamorphosis," causing them to transform into Gu insects.
Just like the Spirit-Melting Gu insects, which were originally fireflies that had undergone countless butterfly metamorphoses.
Yet every metamorphosis was a trial of life and death for the insects.
Dying during metamorphosis meant everything was lost, but surviving meant evolving into a far more powerful Gu insect.
The reason Cui Xianzhen had cultivated all the way to lower Tiger rank while possessing only four Gu insects was simply that the others had failed to endure their metamorphoses and perished.
"Thank you, Senior!"
Yu Xian knew very well how precious this inheritance was.
His eyes reddening slightly, he bowed deeply once more toward the remains of Hong Zheng and his wife.
Rising, he glanced at the cracks in the floor. Knowing he had to collect the remains of the Torrent Society seniors as quickly as possible, he vanished in the blink of an eye.
Ten-odd minutes later, he reappeared.
Coffin after coffin was retrieved from his storage ring. Countless palm bubbles began gently placing the surrounding remains inside.
Once all the remains were properly laid to rest, he first bowed to all the closed coffins, then stored them back into his storage ring.
Having finished all this, with a thought, a bubble appeared out of thin air before him.
An exceptionally large Spirit-Melting Gu insect was teleported into the bubble. This insect was the king of all the Spirit-Melting Gu insects, and one of the four Gu insects Cui Xianzhen had raised.
Yu Xian issued an order to it through the Thousand Butterflies Mark. Soon, more and more Spirit-Melting Gu insects were teleported over through bubbles. In just half a minute, the entire Torrent Society grounds were blanketed by Spirit-Melting Gu insects.
"Guard this place well!" Yu Xian commanded the insects.
Although the Spirit-Melting Gu insects were ineffective against the Namo race, against ordinary Abyss creatures they were relatively formidable. So long as it wasn't a greater demon like Deimos, the Spirit-Melting Gu insects had the power to put up a fight through sheer numbers alone.
Even if a greater demon truly emerged, as long as the Spirit-Melting Gu insects could stall for a bit, Yu Xian could call for backup and teleport over with them to wipe it out.
Next, Yu Xian walked back along the corridors of the Torrent Society, placing all the remains along the passageways into coffins. Although many of these fallen had been controlled by the Namo race and even forced to kill their own comrades, that had never been their intention, so Yu Xian treated them equally and gave them all a proper burial.
After tending to all the remains, he teleported back to Earth in an instant.
Upon returning to Silver City, the Thousand Butterflies Mark between his brows flickered. He sensed the location of Cui Xianzhen's fourth Gu insect—her natal Gu insect.
Immediately enveloping his body in red light, he teleported toward the sensed location.
In an instant, he appeared in a deep, secluded forest. A butterfly roughly the size of a tennis racket lay on the ground, completely devoid of life.
This was the Phantom Butterfly Gu, capable of taking on various appearances.
Cui Xianzhen had left it on Earth to transform into her likeness and handle Torrent Society affairs remotely. Little did she expect she would ultimately sacrifice herself on Mars, leaving the Phantom Butterfly Gu stranded forever on Earth.
"Come out!" Yu Xian called out, looking at the Phantom Butterfly Gu.
The next moment, an even tinier, faintly discernible butterfly slowly drifted out from the corpse of the Phantom Butterfly Gu.
Chapter 137