Chapter 34 Processing the loot

It took me hours to refill my primeval sea essence. During that time, the rank 4 Gu master never came back to me, nor did anyone else come to disturb me. Only my variant selves returned from time to time.

Some of the goods they brought back were metal from a blacksmith shop, some beautiful vases and paintings, and even some cages holding very long centipedes. But that was all they could find from the surface. There must be some hidden vaults and a primeval spring somewhere, but I have no clue where they are. So, I gave my Featherman self well-stored Gu to store what I could.

I decided to stop looting, though. I had more than gained what I deserved. Just living sacrifice Gu alone was a huge gain, let alone everything else I took. Standing up, I recalled all my variant selves except my Featherman self and teleported back to the clan. Only this time, as I returned to the large room full of Gu masters who looked depressed, I instantly got all their attention.

"Shuidi... What happened?" Ji was the only one to speak to me, but her question only quieted the whole room as they waited eagerly for my response. "Fuile was killed by the Slin clan leader, but he didn't stay—he ran off. So, the other rank 4 leader told me to bring you all back to do the cleanup, as she put it."

My words put them all through an emotional rollercoaster. At the news of Fuile's death, they all looked shocked, but when they heard that the threat was gone and that they were to return, they all looked eager to go back. I guess they didn't care much for Fuile and were more concerned about what they could gain from the Slin clan.

"Alright, everyone, hold on to each other and let's go," Ji told everyone, and they all did as she said as she put her hand on my shoulder, giving me the go-ahead look. So, I did as she said and teleported back to the Slin clan.

Once we were all back in the Slin clan, everyone ran off immediately. Only Ji stayed with me. "Do you need me to guard you while you refill your primeval sea essence?" she asked.

"No, I'll go back to the clan and refill there. I'll return tonight to bring back anyone who needs to return."

"Okay, that's fine," Ji said as I activated Living Gu and went back to the clan. I was dangerously low on primeval sea essence, but I had no plans to use my Gu anytime soon. I left the building, carrying the cages of centipedes that I looted, and went back home where my human self and my new guest were sitting in my courtyard.

She got up, but I told her to sit as I took back in my human self. I gained all the knowledge that he had obtained while out. "Oh, interesting. I've got a lot to do, but first let me refill my primeval sea essence." For about three hours, I refilled my primeval sea essence. Once I refilled enough, I looked up to see Li, who was still sitting at the table.

I summoned out my human self and had him cook dinner for us as it was already getting late. "So then, Li, allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Shuidi Zhide Hu, but you may call me Shu. My human self has given me all the information you've given him."

I began to lay out on the table the Gu I looted and the caged centipedes, but it wasn't the normal Gu that could be bought from any Gu shop. No, it was the Slin clansmen's soul path Gu—Soul Specter and Soul Detector Gu. There was a good amount of them. Since it was their academy's Gu vault, it had many of their trademark Gu.

Unfortunately, they were all rank 1, so I need to learn more about them. I had Truth Shines Gu fly over to Li, and it landed on her forehead. She looked surprised but didn't react against it. "Now then, do you know their Gu recipes?" I asked.

She looked at the Gu on the table and then spoke. "No, but I know how to advance them to rank 3, though."

Truth Shines Gu indicated that she was telling the truth. If only I had the Gu recipes for them, it'd be a huge boon. But still, with what I have, it's still a huge help. "Do their rank-ups require more than one of each Gu?" I asked. I know some Gu fuse with another of the same type to advance—maybe these two are one of those.

"No, but if you want to refine them further successfully, you'll need more than one unless you let someone refine them as their vital Gu."

She spoke the truth yet again. Hmmm, I'll first get at least two of these Gu to rank 3 before I sell any extra. Even if I end up using them all, I don't mind that. These Gu are quite dangerous, especially Soul Specter Gu. I summoned out Hito, causing Li to look at him.

"First thing tomorrow, I want you and Hito to begin the refinement for both these Gu. I plan on using them, but first, it's been a long night for the both of us, especially you. So let's eat first, and you can call it a night."

My human self walked in, bringing dinner for the both of us as Hito began to put away the Gu. We ate our meal in silence as neither of us spoke. Even as Hito came with paper and pencil to have her tell him the refinement process for the Gu, she didn't speak much as Truth Shines Gu flew back to its natural resting place on my forehead.

It wasn't until then that she asked me something. "What kind of Gu is that?"

Right, I had used it plenty on her. I'd be curious too. "It's a pretty famous Gu in my Hu clan. It's called Truth Shines Gu, and it can tell if someone lies."

She nodded with understanding. "It sounds really useful. I'm surprised I didn't see others with it."

"Most can't use it because they can't feed it. Only a person who's never told a lie in this world can feed it, as it seems to feed off their honesty. I've personally only seen a handful of others with this Gu."

She was a bit surprised by my words. "So, you've never told a lie before?"

"I have spoken the truth since I was a baby in this world, and that's why you should believe me when I say I mean you no ill intent. So long as you help me, I'll help you. I'll most likely set you free, as long as you do as I say. Though there will be restrictions even after I free you, but that's for the future."

My words shocked her even more this time as she set her utensils down. "You'll... free me?" she asked, with strong emotion attached to the last words.

"As long as you help me with what you know about the soul path, there's a high chance I will let you go."

She was silent for a bit after that, but then she spoke up. "I'll do my best. I promise."

With that, I had my human self take away my plate as I picked up one of the long centipedes from the cage and had Hito hand me a Gu that looked like a dark blue claw. It was called Centipede Enslavement Gu—a one-time-use Gu that allows the user to enslave a centipede as long as the user's soul is stronger.

Refining this rank 1 Gu was no issue for me, and I used it on the centipede in my hand. I felt my mind, no, my soul, go over to it to enslave it. It resisted, but how could a mere bug's soul be stronger than mine? It quickly became as docile as a loyal dog and wrapped itself around me like a sash.

"Now, tell me more about this bug known as Soul Distiller," I asked.

"I don't know where it came from, but supposedly my clan leader found it and began raising them in our clan. Everyone helps raise them, and everyone has one to help with their soul cultivation."

I took in her words as I wanted to know more about these soul path beasts. "Do you have one too?"

She nodded and slightly raised her shirt, showing a Soul Distiller wrapped around her waist like some sort of belt.

"And how does it help with soul cultivation again?"

Her Soul Distiller climbed up her body and went behind her back, with half of its body over her head. "It eats away slowly and very painfully at a target's soul, further refining it. Once it eats away at enough, it produces a soul dew drop. If eaten, it can strengthen the soul a bit, but it's also a great refinement material for our soul path Gu."

As she said that, the Soul Distiller began to bite at the air as her body began to sweat and her face showed great signs of pain. I was glad I took these bugs. They're a rare soul path beast that can help refine my soul and even produce soul path resources.

"These beasts are the reason your clan got destroyed then, right?"

"I don't know what you mean by that," she said, confused.

"The large group of mortals in your clan must have been used to get more soul dew drops, am I right?"

She nodded her head in agreement. "Then that must have been the demonic acts my clan used to eliminate the Slin clan."

"Is that why you all attacked us?" she asked with a new pain in her voice.

"It must have been one of the reasons why we did. I don't know the whole truth, so I can't say for sure. All I can say is you've got some bad luck. If I were in your shoes, I would have become a soul path Gu master too. But unfortunately, soul path is hated by most righteous path cultivators. Anyways, enough about that. I'll be right back."

I stood up and activated Living Gu, teleporting back to the Slin clan, where a large amount of my clansmen were going through some things all around my Featherman self.

"Finally, you're back. Alright, everyone who's ready to go, get up. Those tasked to stay back will have to come back on their own," the rank 4 Gu master, whose name I didn't know, yelled out.

Just like that, the mission was considered to be over. Bringing everyone back home had yet again drained me out of almost all my primeval sea essence. Tomorrow, I'll have to refill my primeval sea essence and Beggar Moth Gu too.

........

A week passed since Li started living under me. With her help, Hito was able to rank up Soul Specter Gu and Soul Detector Gu to rank 2. As for rank 3, we decided not to attempt it anytime soon—at least not until we get a good amount of soul dew drops to help in their advancement.

Everything was going well with Li, though she did freak out a bit when Initel's will came out and sat in her usual spot. As for the loot, I sold off any unnecessary Gu and food, earning me about 3,200 primeval essence stones, which I needed very much as I now had to feed all the Gu I planned on keeping.

Centipede Enslavement Gu eats the shed skins of centipedes, so I got that covered with the Soul Distillers. My variant humans had found a bag of stored shed skins too. Soul Detector Gu eats the spore dust of a mushroom called Rotwood, which grows on rotten wood. I had a bunch of them, thanks to the Gu vault I looted. Now, all I had to do was grow them. Worst-case scenario, I go back to harvest a bunch and store them in my Well-Stored Gu.

As for Soul Specter Gu, it ate the Rotwood mushrooms themselves. I found out the reason the Slin clan lived where they did was because it was an excellent place for the mushrooms to grow. They were able to grow them everywhere in their area, making the process of feeding their Gu easy.

I put Li in charge of growing new Rotwood mushrooms. Since her Gu were rank 3, they required more food. I'm sure she'll work diligently on it. Just in case, I told her to let me know if she's running low on food. The only other problem I had was raising the Soul Distillers themselves.

Li had information and experience raising hers, but when it came to breeding them and raising new Soul Distillers, she had no experience. She said that they were raised in a large man-made cave in her clan with plenty of soul path resources. I didn't really need more than two of them—one for me and one for Li—but I would like to have a way to get more soul dew drops to aid my soul cultivation.

As I was thinking about ways to use my excess Soul Distillers, my human self came in to serve me my dinner. Would the Soul Distillers work on my variant selves? I sent my Soul Distillers over to my human self and told it to do its thing, but as it hovered over him, it just stared. Well, I was expecting that to happen; they don't have souls.

I could go out and capture a Beast King to use it and extract soul dew drops, but then I'd have to get a Gu to subdue it and feed it, and most Beast Kings aren't cheap to raise. There are a few smaller Beast Kings that aren't expensive to raise, but finding them would be a problem. As for buying them, they'd be too expensive, and that's if I can find a seller.

Should I go visit Linghun? Her branch excels in soul path and most likely has connections with enslavement path Gu masters who could help me produce soul dew drops by using their beasts to feed my Soul Distillers?

As I was thinking, my human self came in with two guests. Normally, my human self reports to me first, but these guests were special.

"Father, aunty, what brings the both of you here today—and at the same time, no less?"