Yun Huizhou nodded and said, “I did feel very small living things moving within my meridians. That is why I haven’t dared to use my internal energy since Senior Uncle appeared. If Senior Uncle hadn’t struck my acupoints to knock me out earlier, I would have found an opportunity to feign unconsciousness myself so they would bring me back.”
“Those insects must be drawn out,” the West Island Lord said. “If they aren’t, every time you use your internal energy, the insects will grow stronger. Once they are fully mature, they can use it to control you.”
Yun Huizhou frowned slightly and said, “That old fogey originally intended to hit Lian Li with that palm strike, but I forcibly intercepted it. Does that mean he originally intended to plant this Gu insect in Lian Li? No, that’s not right. If that strike had hit him, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand it at all; he would have died instantly.”
The West Island Lord pondered for a moment before saying, “It wouldn’t have been impossible for him to increase the strength of the palm strike the moment he saw you move to intercept it.”
Yun Huizhou’s eyes darkened. “In other words, his claim that he wanted to kill Lian Li was a lie. In reality, he wanted to plant a Gu in him to control him. If this Gu insect were inside him, he wouldn’t be able to detect it with his current level of martial arts.”
The West Island Lord looked at his fingers, seemingly admiring his newly dyed nails. “Furthermore… his internal energy can make this Gu insect grow even faster. He used his internal energy to treat you, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Yun Huizhou replied. “I hadn’t noticed it at first, but when he used his internal energy to treat my internal injuries, the Gu insect—which had been quiet—suddenly became extremely active. That was what made me realize something was wrong.”
“They were constantly chasing after Lian Li’s internal energy and even tried to entwine themselves with it. I was worried they would cause trouble and lead to a backlash from my own internal energy against Lian Li, so I had him withdraw it.”
“Later, I tried to regulate my breathing to force the Gu insects out myself, but I found that as soon as I circulated my internal energy, they became more vigorous. I stopped immediately.”
“You did the right thing,” the West Island Lord said. “If those insects were allowed to leave their larval stage, given how the two of you are practically inseparable, they would have found their way into his body sooner or later.”
“It’s a good thing his martial arts are weak right now, so only a tiny sliver of internal energy could enter your body for treatment. If his martial arts were any higher, I’m afraid these insects would have already matured past the larval stage and entered the growth phase. In that case, besides examining you, I would have had to examine him as well.”
Hearing the West Island Lord say this, Yun Huizhou finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was fortunate he had intercepted that palm strike. Otherwise, if the Gu insect were inside Lian Li, the trouble would likely have been immense.
However…
He hesitated for a moment before asking the West Island Lord, “Why would his internal energy…”
The West Island Lord knew what he wanted to ask and had no intention of keeping him in suspense. He spoke quite frankly: “It is a matter of his internal cultivation method.”
“Internal cultivation method?” Yun Huizhou didn’t understand. There were many cultivation methods designed for those with naturally weak constitutions; many sects in the Jianghu possessed them, and some people practiced them, yet he had never seen anyone else attract insects the way Lian Li did.
The West Island Lord propped up his chin and lowered his eyes, remaining silent.
Yun Huizhou grew a bit anxious and called out, “Junior Uncle.”
The West Island Lord raised a hand. “Let me think about how to phrase this accurately.”
Yun Huizhou nodded and stopped pressing him, simply sitting across from him in silence, waiting.
After a long while, the West Island Lord finally spoke. “The internal cultivation method he practices is different from those others. Others stimulate the vitality within a person’s body, but his method continuously creates vitality as it circulates through him.”
Yun Huizhou said, “I know this. For those methods that stimulate internal vitality, it’s fine as long as one doesn’t suffer a near-fatal injury. But if one is near death and chooses to use internal energy to hang onto life, it is, to some extent, overdrawing from one’s future lifespan. Even if the injury heals, it will damage their future longevity. Lian Li’s method, which can continuously create vitality through its circulation, will not deplete his lifespan.”
The West Island Lord said, “Exactly. The process of raising Gu is essentially a group of Gu insects killing and plundering each other’s vitality to make themselves stronger. Therefore, those Gu insects chase Lian Li’s internal energy because his energy inherently carries vitality. That old immortal from the Spirit Cult wanted to capture him for this very reason.”
The West Island Lord took a sip of tea, set down the cup, and continued, “If they captured him, wouldn’t that be equivalent to having a vessel for raising Gu that produces a never-ending supply of vitality?”
Yun Huizhou’s breath hitched.
The West Island Lord paid no mind to his reaction and continued speaking.
“If they really managed to capture Qu Tingquan and Lian Li and take them back, the Spirit Cult’s power would surge. Of course, I have no interest in whether the Spirit Cult’s strength surges or not; they can’t threaten our Drunken Dream Island anyway. The main point is that they wanted to capture people from our Drunken Dream Island, and that cannot be tolerated.”
The West Island Lord flicked his fingernails and said, “When you sent word back saying you were going to the Southern Border, I knew that once those two old immortals saw that boy, he wouldn’t be coming back if no one went to retrieve him.”
Yun Huizhou didn’t know what to say at this point. If he had known that Lian Li, having practiced this internal cultivation method, would be like meat to a pack of wild dogs in the eyes of those two old immortals from the Spirit Cult…
There was no way he would have brought Lian Li there.
Even if he had to knock the boy out and throw him onto Qu’s father’s carriage to be dropped off at the Qinghong Sword Sect, he never would have agreed to take him along.
While he was still lost in thought, the West Island Lord continued, “Furthermore, he cannot change his cultivation method.”
Yun Huizhou asked, “Why? Now that those two old immortals from the Southern Border know he practices this method, won’t he be in great danger? Even though they failed this time because Senior Uncle came, there’s no guarantee they won’t strike again in the future.”
Previously, they had Lian Li practice this type of method entirely because his foundation was too weak. Now that he had improved significantly, it should have been possible to switch to something else.
The West Island Lord, however, possessed no sense of consideration for his nephew’s feelings and continued to drop bombshells.
“The vitality within his body was once completely severed, but for some reason, it was reconnected. When you brought him back to see Nanrong, Nanrong saw this when he examined his aptitude, which is why he chose this specific method for him.”
Ignoring Yun Huizhou’s shocked expression, the West Island Lord continued, “If you hadn’t brought him back but had left him at another sect instead, that sliver of reconnected vitality would have completely vanished within three months at most. At that time, he would have died.”
“His martial arts have not yet reached mastery, and his internal energy is too shallow. The vitality in his body has not been fully replenished; he is relying entirely on the Wood Spirit Art to sustain himself. If he were to change it now, his vitality would be severed, and he would die in about five months.”
As he said this, Yun Huizhou suddenly felt his hands and feet go cold.
Back then, if Lian Li hadn’t insisted on following him, he really had intended to leave him at the Qinghong Sword Sect.
