“Of course, anything worthy of being called a great skill isn't simple.”

Seeing Hu Ma's interest in the question, Old Abacus became enthusiastic and explained in a low voice, "The Wu people's Gu refinement, in the beginning, was indeed just taking advantage of the poisonous nature of these snakes and insects. Being familiar with and utilizing these poisons was enough to harm people."

"Of course, understanding them also allows you to undo the Gu and save people."

"But that's just the outer layer of the art. In the eyes of ordinary people, these snakes and insects only have poison, but in the eyes of skilled people, these poisonous insects also have spirits."

"They are born in these mountains and fields, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and their bodies contain some mysterious and strange power of Yin and Yang. Some bring disaster, some generate wealth, some can bewilder people, and some can make people encounter ghosts, and some can even make the dead move."

"Whether a Wu person has entered the door of Gu refinement depends on whether they have seen the evil or spiritual nature of these insects and begun to integrate them into their own Gu path."

"..."

This explanation was the first time Hu Ma had heard it, but thinking about it, he felt it made a lot of sense.

He didn't know about other things, but when he escorted Xiang Yatou home, he encountered someone on the Pingnan Road who took out a two-headed snake and instantly destroyed the surrounding feng shui, filling the entire area with evil.

The art of causing harm and the art of Wu Gu have some things in common. In the eyes of the Gu people, that two-headed snake is actually a treasure.

As for attracting wealth, isn't that the golden toad?

Although he doesn't know how deep the water is on this blood food mine, he suddenly realized that this is a good opportunity to broaden his knowledge!

If the U Gong patriarch hadn't come to his door, he wouldn't have seen such a mysterious method of refining Gu!

He simply sat down outside, watching from a distance. He just lacked a jar of wine, but he really didn't dare to put it out. Old Abacus had said, "Refining Gu requires tranquility."

"If you bring the wine over, the smell is too stimulating, and something might go wrong."

"Some people who refine Gu can't take a few baths in their entire lives in order to raise Gu worms. Why? Because when they take a bath, the smell on their bodies changes, and the Gu worms don't recognize them, so they may backfire!"

"..."

"..."

After waiting for about half an hour, the U Ya girl and the pale-faced Wu youth returned from outside the valley.

They each carried a bag, which looked like it was made of leather, and was bulging, occasionally bulging up, as if something was struggling inside.

The two came to the Gu altar and poured the contents of the bags into the Hundred Gu Basin held by the U Gong patriarch. From a distance, there were snakes, toads, and centipedes, entangled in a ball, making a gesture to hurt people when they first came out.

But strangely, the basin held by the U Gong patriarch didn't seem deep, only two or three fingers shallow. The snakes and insects seemed to be able to climb out at any time, but these snakes and insects, which had just been poured out and wanted to hurt people, suddenly calmed down when they entered the basin.

It was as if the basin had some magic power that made them lose their violent intentions.

The U Gong patriarch placed the basin on the ground, stood up, took out a machete, lifted his clothes, revealing his dark skin, and then slowly cut open his belly, rummaged inside for a long time, and took out a bloody bamboo tube.

He carefully opened the bamboo tube and poured a round, clear thing the size of an infant's fist into the basin, and then immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

"That is..."

This bloody scene made Hu Ma frown, and he quickly looked at Old Abacus.

"That's the Gu egg he wants to refine..."

Old Abacus also frowned and said in a low voice, "Some Gu worms are powerful, but they are also very delicate. They must be hidden in your body. Since he wants to refine this Gu, he first nourishes it with his own essence and blood, and then takes it out when it enters the basin."

"No wonder he said that refining this Gu would cost him half his life. Now that he hasn't even started refining it, he has already lost half his life..."

"But this also shows that what he said is true. Ordinary Gu refinement only requires poisonous insects found outside, but he chose so many poisonous insects, but they are only auxiliary. The real use is to refine the Gu worm he brought!"

"A hundred insects fight for kingship, the human body is the sac. This Gu worm is definitely extraordinary. Even before it is born, it already exudes a sense of evil..."

"..."

As he spoke, the U Gong patriarch kowtowed a few times to the Gu basin, then stood up, then took a few more bamboo tubes, unplugged the stoppers, and poured strange liquids into them.

After that, he, U Ya, and the pale-faced Wu youth all cut their palms at the same time, clenched their fists, and dripped their blood into the basin.

"This is feeding the Gu."

Old Abacus watched from the side and said in a low voice, "Using your own blood, or some special poisons, to feed the Gu worms is to cultivate the evil spirit in the Gu worms."

"However, this U Gong is also determined. He actually uses black tai sui to feed the Gu worms. Ordinary insects that touch black tai sui may become evil. He uses it directly to feed them. What's the difference between that and directly using blood to feed zombies?"

"The basin he uses to refine Gu is also a good thing. No wonder it can be called a sacred object."

"The most important thing in refining Gu is that basin. The more Gu you refine, the more evil the basin itself becomes. Ordinary insects that are refined from it will be full of evil spirits. If they are already evil, then refining them will make them even more evil and powerful?"

"..."

Listening carefully to what he said, he saw the U Gong patriarch feed the Gu worms, then kowtow to the Gu basin again, then sit down cross-legged and chant in a low voice.

He had a small white bone hammer in his hand, and every time he chanted for a while, he tapped it lightly on the Gu basin.

"Chī chī chī..."

Inside the copper Gu basin, there began to be chaotic sounds of crawling and biting. Clearly, the shack was far away from everyone, and the hissing and biting of the insects wouldn't be too loud, but everyone could hear it clearly.

It was as if the sound was ringing in their ears and drilling into their hearts.

"The Gu fight has begun..."

Old Abacus groped in his pocket for a long time, took out two yellow talismans, dipped them in saliva with his tongue, and pasted one on each of his left and right ears. He also kindly said to Hu Ma, "This sound is evil, it's probably not good to listen to it. Do you want two?"

"One blood food pill for two... one?"

"..."

Hu Ma sighed helplessly, shook his head, and said, "No need, this Gu fight is..."

"Let these Gu worms kill each other, and the one that survives will be the most poisonous, the fiercest, and the most evil Gu worm."

Old Abacus said in a low voice, "Moreover, this is not only to pick out the most powerful one, but also to stimulate its ferocity. When it kills other Gu worms, it will also concentrate the poisonousness and evil of other Gu worms on its body, making it difficult to defend against when used to harm people."

"If you are hit by the Wu Gu method, the person who released the Gu can cure it, but outsiders can hardly save it. That's the reason. It's根本 impossible to distinguish the types of toxicity that promote and restrain each other."

"You still think you were just bitten by a snake and go to buy snake medicine, but maybe you were poisoned by toad poison. Using snake medicine will kill you faster."

"Of course, this is just a metaphor. The real thing about being hit by Gu is much more troublesome than this."

"..."

Hu Ma nodded slowly when he heard this. He had heard similar things before. Watching the U Gong patriarch, U Ya, and the Wu youth chanting incantations, he began to feel a little curious:

"The first day is to fight Gu. Could it be that the Gu will be completed in one day?"

"..."

"Far from it..."

Old Abacus shook his head and said in a low voice, "Refining Gu requires seven steps, and he is only in the third step now..."

"First is the Gu fight, to pick out the real poisonous insect, and then to worship the Gu, burn incense and feed blood, and kowtow piously. This is to make the Gu worm and oneself, body and mind united, and 收放由心 (shōu fàng yóu xīn - control at will)."

"After worshiping the Gu, is the fifth step, taking the Gu. You have to take out the Gu worm that has taken shape in this basin, help it get out of the Gu basin, and raise it by your side. Some rely on some small utensils, and some raise it directly on their bodies. In short, it must be convenient."

"After taking the Gu, is releasing the Gu."

"Gu worms are inherently poisonous, evil, and ferocious, and they are born to harm people. After they are refined, if you don't use them to harm people, they will backfire on their master."

"Therefore, before refining the Gu, they have already thought about the target they want to harm. As soon as the Gu is completed, they must release it to harm people and eliminate its戾气 (lì qì - evil spirit), so that it can be safely raised by their side and be safe and sound with themselves."

"..."

Hu Ma was even more surprised when he heard this: "It sounds like you have to find a living person to sacrifice to the Gu as soon as it is refined..."

"What about after releasing the Gu? After harming people, is the Gu still not complete?"

"..."

"Of course..."

Old Abacus said, "After releasing the Gu to harm people, you have to 收蛊 (shōu gǔ - collect the Gu). Being able to release and collect is complete. A real Gu worm, if it can be released but cannot be collected, this Gu is actually a failure and will suffer backlash sooner or later."

"And now, this old patriarch is actually still in the Gu fighting stage. After the Gu fighting, he will worship the Gu, and some Gu feeding methods will be mixed in the middle."

"The most important of these is the Gu worship. Whether the Gu is successful or not depends entirely on how well it is done here. I estimate that he will have to worship for at least seven days, otherwise, he may not be able to control such a fierce Gu."

"..."

"..."

"In other words, there's not much to see in the process later?"

Looking at the actions of the U Gong group, Hu Ma sighed and got up.

Old Abacus was a little curious: "Listen a little longer, just give me some blood food pills later, I won't ask for much... it's still early, what are you going to do?"

Hu Ma didn't look back and said, "Sleeping!"

Today I will definitely add another update, to pay back last month's, I will post it when I finish it.

(End of this chapter)