Beast Tamer Ascension

Chapter 55: Baiting the Enemy

“Oh, you don’t think I can solve this case?” Gao Sheng was visibly upset at Lin Jing’s dismissive attitude.

“If you’re also investigating this matter, let’s see who cracks the case first!” he declared before storming off, leaving Lin Jing bewildered.

“He seems earnest about solving the case, but I have a feeling he’s not cut out for it,” Lin Jing remarked.

The Divine Pine interjected, “He’s a young human fledgling and still needs to grow. However, having a heart devoted to exterminating demons and defending justice is commendable, even if I am technically a demonic cultivator.”

“Senior Divine Pine, could you refrain from your hellish jokes?” Lin Jing replied dryly. Then, focusing back on the case, he said, “So, Senior Brother Ouyang’s poisoning and the disappearance of spirit beasts in Snow Moon City—this isn’t the work of people?”

“It’s likely the work of an unclaimed Gu insect,” Divine Pine confirmed. “The missing ice-elemental spirit beasts were probably devoured by the Gu insect. If a Gu Master were controlling it, there’d be no reason to stir trouble in Snow Moon City. There are plenty of unowned ice beasts on the Snow Plains. Inviting conflict with the Beast Taming Sect and Snow Moon City would be suicide.”

“As for Senior Brother Ouyang, he was probably just unlucky… Maybe his yang energy was so strong that it irritated the ice Gu, causing a reaction. Yang and yin energies clashing, perhaps?”

“Or maybe, since ice Gu are yin-aligned, it tried to balance itself by absorbing his yang energy,” Lin Jing mused.

“You’re on par with Gao Sheng,” Divine Pine quipped.

Lin Jing protested, “I’m at least a bit stronger, right?”

“Either way, if this is an unclaimed Gu insect, it’s much easier to handle. Be it a regular insect or a Gu, they’re not known for high intelligence,” Lin Jing said confidently. “Senior Divine Pine, can you locate it?”

“If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have accompanied you,” Divine Pine replied. “But your method of finding it might be faster than mine.”

---

Before long, a snow-white rabbit with blue eyes was hopping through the snowy terrain. It was none other than Lin Jing, transformed using the Thousand Transformations technique.

The snow rabbits raised in Beast Valley were generally at the first level of Qi Refinement and lacked sentience. Such rabbits were sufficient to attract the ice Gu, but Lin Jing upped the stakes.

Though he had disguised himself as a Qi Refinement rabbit, this rabbit had a faint wound on its leg, exuding a subtle aura of longevity blood. For beasts, this blood was an irresistible temptation. For Gu insects, it was no different.

“Hop~ hop~” Lin Jing sang softly as he bounced around in the snow.

Through a night of icy winds, Lin Jing’s face turned purple from the cold. He glanced into his Beast Space and saw the Pine Leaf Mouse resting comfortably, polishing its Mechanical Bamboo Rifle, completely at ease.

“Come out,” Lin Jing grumbled, dragging the Pine Leaf Mouse out. Using illusions, he disguised it as another rabbit. “You’re not going to need to fight with Senior Divine Pine around. At least help me play bait.”

The Pine Leaf Mouse emerged reluctantly, its face filled with complaint—it disliked both extreme heat and cold. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before reality spared them further misery.

After Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse played the role of a legendary pair of rabbits for some time, Divine Pine stirred.

“It’s here.”

Snowflakes drifting from the sky suddenly coalesced into white threads, resembling serpentine strands, and began reaching toward Lin Jing’s rabbit form.

Before the threads could touch him, the pine cone Lin Jing carried emitted a gold-green spiritual energy pulse. A golden resin emerged, enveloping and consuming the incoming threads, suspending them midair.

“Senior Divine Pine, how’s that?” Lin Jing asked, staring at the resin trapping the intricate white threads. “Huh? Threads only?”

“We failed,” Divine Pine admitted. “As expected, this is no ordinary Gu insect.”

“It hasn’t been born yet.”

“An unformed entity cannot be captured.”

The Pine Leaf Mouse squeaked in disbelief, suspecting Divine Pine was just making excuses for its failure. An unborn Gu can eat snow rabbits? Ridiculous!

“Do you know how a Gu insect is created?” Divine Pine asked.

“You place several venomous insects in a container and let them fight until only one survives, absorbing all the others’ toxins. The last one standing becomes the Gu,” Lin Jing recited the basic process.

“Correct. Gu insects are not born naturally; they are cultivated by human hands. This is why their forms vary widely. Among the countless Gu insects created by the Gu God Sect, ten are considered extraordinary.”

“These rare Gu insects take the form of venomous creatures but are composed entirely of elemental energy. They are immortal—each time one is destroyed, it doesn’t truly die. After centuries, it can regenerate in a location rich in its elemental affinity.”

“Although they lose all memories during rebirth, akin to reincarnation, their bloodline power remains intact. Each one is a king among Gu insects. If my judgment is correct, an ice-elemental rare Gu is about to be born here,” Divine Pine revealed. “The white threads are its initial organs, absorbing nutrients to transform from formless to physical.”

Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse were awestruck. No wonder the Gu God Sect managed to survive the Great Demon Purge that eradicated many other demonic sects in the Ancient Celestial Kingdom.

“What should we do? Wait for it to be reborn and then capture it?” Lin Jing asked.

“That’s the only option. But for now, you should focus on finding the real culprit behind your Senior Brother’s injury,” Divine Pine advised.

Lin Jing froze, suddenly realizing something was amiss.

“An unborn Gu insect only possesses primal instincts for feeding. Gu poison, however, is a deliberate attack mechanism of a matured Gu.”

“Could there be a Gu practitioner here waiting for the Gu’s birth? Was my Senior Brother indeed harmed by a demonic cultivator?” Lin Jing speculated.

“Not necessarily a Gu God Sect practitioner, but definitely someone knowledgeable about Gu techniques,” Divine Pine replied. “Newborn Gu insects seek a host to parasitize, entering a dormant state to grow stronger. Few cultivators would willingly become such a host due to the immense drawbacks.”

“But for those willing to endure the consequences, a Gu’s power can be harnessed. This mutual dependency gave rise to Gu Masters. While this practice isn’t inherently evil, most Gu Masters resort to using others as hosts, unwilling to part with the Gu’s power.”

“Each type of Gu insect requires a specific parasitic environment. If someone knew a rare Gu would be reborn here, they could prepare their body to suit the ice Gu’s needs, becoming its ideal host.”

“Furthermore, if this person obtained the method to refine a lesser Gu related to the rare Gu, they could first host the lesser Gu to improve compatibility with the ice Gu. The rare Gu’s birthplace would also be the perfect site to refine its lesser counterpart.”

“An ideal host for an ice Gu…” Lin Jing immediately thought of the City Lord’s innate Ice Spirit Body. Could Gao Sheng have been right?

No, something didn’t add up. While the ice Gu and Ice Spirit Body were compatible, why would the City Lord target Senior Brother Ouyang? As a Golden Core cultivator, he could easily defeat him. Furthermore, it was the City Lord’s people who discovered the injured Ouyang and treated him promptly.

“Could the optimal host for an ice Gu actually have fire or yang attributes?” Lin Jing wondered aloud. “If a cultivator with such a physique learned of the rare Gu’s imminent rebirth and saw Senior Brother Ouyang as a threat to their suitability as a host, they might use a lesser Gu to harm him preemptively.”

“Could Gu insects be playing some yin-yang balancing game? Or is it simply that fire-aligned hosts don’t freeze to death too quickly, giving the Gu a stable home?”

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