Establishing the Gu Family.
Recruiting guards.
To expand a clan,
it's certainly not possible to rely on just two people.
After Gu Qingfeng demonstrated the strength of a Martial Artist in the Blood Refining Realm, many Martial World Wanderers willingly joined the Gu Family as guards.
After all, having the backing of the Gu Family, equivalent to having the support of a Blood Refining Realm Martial Artist, was certainly a desirable situation.
More importantly,
having a Blood Refining Realm Martial Artist at the Gu Family indicated that there must be martial arts inheritance involved.
If one could be favored by the Gu Family Master, it was possible to receive such an inheritance.
For Martial World Wanderers, the higher the martial arts inheritance, the harder it was to obtain.
The flourishing martial arts of White Stone Dao had many martial artists like carps crossing the river, but there was always a shortage of Blood Refining Realm Martial Artists, due to the lack of inheritance.
Even the major powers that controlled Blood Refining Realm martial arts inheritance would not disseminate it lightly, so for ordinary Martial World Wanderers, the Blood Refining Realm martial arts were highly coveted.
All the major families and sects with Blood Refining Realm figures were the target of these wanderers.
Not for any other reason,
they only sought the opportunity to break through to a higher level.
Despite the shallow foundation of the Gu Family established by Gu Qingfeng, there were still fifty to sixty martial artists willing to join.
Among these fifty to sixty people, the weakest in cultivation were at the mid-level of Refining Skin, and the strongest were around Refining Skin Perfection.
As for Martial Artists in the Blood Refining Realm, there were none.
After all, such high-level experts could carve out their own power, so why would they subjugate themselves to others?
Since founding the Gu Family, Gu Qingfeng had also been developing quietly and independently in various industries, but he had not made any drastic moves.
The same old saying,
the waters of White Stone Dao run deep.
Gu Qingfeng considered his strength to be considerable, but he had no plans to actively oppose the various powers of White Stone Dao.
At least,
not until his power was sufficient to suppress the entire White Stone Dao, so he kept a low profile.
However,
there was a condition.
That is, unless someone provoked him.
If that were the case, Gu Qingfeng would not be polite.
Since establishing the Gu Family, Gu Qingfeng had also secretly had someone investigate Lin County. However, disappointingly, Lin County seemed to have vanished into thin air, and no matter how he investigated, there was no information.
From this,
it was apparent that something different must have happened in Lin County.
But Gu Qingfeng did not plan to return to Lin County to investigate personally.
After all, given Lin County's strange circumstances and its involvement with the Evil Suppression Bureau, Gu Qingfeng preferred not to invite trouble.
On another note,
during his time in White Stone Dao, Gu Qingfeng had also quietly gathered some information regarding the Evil Spirit.
But much like in Lin County, ordinary people knew nothing about the Evil Spirit; it seemed that the major powers had some understanding.
However, these were not things Gu Qingfeng could inquire about directly.
From this,
Gu Qingfeng confirmed one thing.
That was that the Taixuan Dynasty seriously controlled the issue of the Evil Spirit and would not easily allow any leakage of information regarding it.
Upon realizing this,
Gu Qingfeng again took out the manual of Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills.
This was the secret manual obtained from the corpse of Shangguan Jiang.
Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills.
It described how to become a Magician.
Indeed.
It was about becoming a Magician.
From the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills, Gu Qingfeng had finally understood the state of Shangguan Jiang and the reason behind it.
By harboring an Evil Spirit within oneself, one could master its power and become a true Magician.
Once the Magician perished, the Evil Spirit sealed within would awaken.
Additionally.
After becoming a Magician, there were various restrictions and flaws.
Firstly, the Magician would be influenced by the Evil Spirit, becoming murderous and insane. The more they used the power of the Evil Spirit, the more they would be eroded by it, eventually dying and becoming a true Evil Spirit.
However, similarly.
Magicians also possessed methods to suppress the Evil Spirit, allowing them to better control its power and thus ascend to higher levels.
The Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills did not record much, only how to harbor an Evil Spirit called the Heart-devouring Demon and subsequent cultivation methods.
The method to harbor the Heart-devouring Demon involved first using gold as a vessel, suppressing and sealing an Evil Spirit, then watering it with the blood from the hearts of a hundred people atop the gold vessel, followed by a hundred days of bathing in human blood, then using the Five Internal Organs and other items as medicinal guides, thus finally being able to harbor the Evil Spirit.
Of course.
Such methods were not guaranteed to succeed.
If it failed, one's body would be devoured by the Evil Spirit.
If successful, one could master the power of the Evil Spirit and become a true Magician.
After becoming a Magician, it was also necessary to ingest fresh animal blood and Five Internal Organs to aid one's own cultivation; ingesting human blood and organs would yield the best effects.
These things.
Were all recorded in the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills.
"Magician… Evil Spirit, if one simply considers the methods in the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills, then what difference is there between these so-called Magicians and Evil Spirits? If I am not mistaken, those tragedies in Lin County must have been the work of Shangguan Jiang!"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head slightly.
From Shangguan Jiang's actions, it was obvious that a Magician was far more powerful than a Martial Artist. According to the records in the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills, he was considered the weakest among Magicians.
Yet even so, he possessed strength comparable to the Blood Refining Realm.
If a more powerful Magician was present, those in the Blood Refining Realm would likely seem no different from ants before him.
By comparison.
Martial Artists within the Martial World who could cultivate to the Blood Refining Realm were considered strong. On the turf of White Stone Dao, they could truly be regarded as powerful.
From this, one could see the gap between Martial Artists and Magicians.
But similarly.
It was extremely difficult to become a Magician.
Gu Qingfeng knew that if he were to release this copy of Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills, it would probably cause a huge uproar, as countless individuals would not be able to resist trying to seize it.
After all, the desire for stronger power is a common human sentiment.
However.
This thought was merely a consideration for Gu Qingfeng.
The Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills were related to the Evil Suppression Bureau, and he wouldn't naively believe that he could contend with this institution established by the Taixuan Dynasty, merely being a small practitioner in the Blood Refining Realm.
"If it were the me from the past, I might have indeed risked practicing the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills, as in this chaotic world, human lives are regarded as insignificant.
Only by possessing strong powers can one truly survive, and only the living have the right to discuss other matters.
However, for me now, the Spirit Summoning Treasure Skills are of no use as long as I acquire enough upgrade points; advancing to higher realms later on is as easy as turning over one's hand!"
Gu Qingfeng knew where his advantage lay—that was in training Gu Yang, enabling him to break through to higher levels.
Additionally.
Regarding the Golden Finger, there were still many aspects that Gu Qingfeng did not understand.
Now that he had established a foundation in White Stone Dao, he indeed had ample time to slowly study the other functions of the Golden Finger.