What changed in the foundation establishment realm?

Well, the promotion of his golden finger had brought about a hidden upgrade to his green Qi!

Upon a simple attempt, Bubai discovered that his strands of green Qi now had visible effects on all organic matter, whether living or dead!

This completely opened up a myriad of new possibilities for him, including the long-desired repairs on his mask, essentially making them permanent, and even the option of nurturing herbs for resale!

Of course, it’s still dubious whether he could revive dead spiritual herbs. Even if possible, the sales would still pose a similar risk as selling his scorpions… if not more.

After all, spiritual herbs were a strictly controlled and valuable resource of the sect

It’s not hard to understand why.

In the desert, even soil was a precious commodity, let alone the plants that required it for growth.

Spiritual plants were even rarer, as normal soil couldn't support their growth. They could only thrive on Qi-retaining soil – a type only found when regular soil was nourished by spiritual veins over many decades!

All of these precious soil were naturally locked up behind sect walls.

Thus, Bubai will count himself lucky if he stumbled upon some soil for planting, let alone Qi-retaining soil. Had he known he was going to be kidnapped to a desert, he should have packed some soil from the farm for sale.

Ahem- regardless, if his abilities could indeed bring dead spiritual plants back to life, it would definitely attract the attention of nearly everyone in the sect. At that time, he will either ascend to the heavens or sink into the fiery pits of hell.

Given the nature of a demonic sect, it wasn’t difficult to guess which outcome was more likely.

With insufficient strength, greed for wealth will only lead to his downfall.

In the past, he had risked it for the biscuit after considering his situation, but his circumstances had changed since his promotion.

His status was now relatively more stable, and he also possessed a backer… for as long as his knowledge didn't get exhausted.

Given this change, some risks had been minimized from big to small, and he could definitely be bolder now.

Be that as it may, he had no urgency to take big risks for small gains. He had other options…

“Small” risks, here and there, are fine, right?

Regardless, Bubai always believed in the creed of “Safety first.”

Thus, his main focus still remained on resolving the existing risks, particularly those endangering his life.

Once the last streams of Qi merged into his mask, Bubai turned his attention inward, focusing on his own body.

Internal insight!

His senses soon honed in on the blackish scorpion entrenched in his heart.

Most of the creature's body was dark as midnight, yet the tip of its stinger shimmered with a golden hue, the clear indicator that sets it apart from the Death Scorpion.

"The Sun Scorpion.”

Venomous? Definitely. Deadlier than the Death Scorpion? Not quite.

After all, for higher-level cultivators, unless the venom could infect Qi itself, other poisonous substances could be suppressed and expelled through true Qi.

However, the Sun Scorpion still stood out as a deadly popular choice for refinement into a heart Gu.

Why? Its unique innate ability as a saboteur.

True to its name, this small scorpion could, at the command of its controller, transform into a small sun, sacrificing itself to engulf the heart of its victim in flames!

The temperature reached by the flames was lethal enough to melt through the layers of a Qi-saturated physique from the outside, let alone from the inside!

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As a result, the heart was a goner with a single thought.

Even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the destruction of a critical organ like the heart equated to certain death!

Indeed, the Golden Core Elder Ma was optimistic about his growth.

The old man had clearly prepared well, even for the unlikely scenario of his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment realm!

For a typical genius, breaking free from this control seemed impossible... unless they could dig into their own hearts and extract the Sun Scorpion before its automatic explosive end could trigger or they managed to completely surpass the Golden Core realm without alerting the elder.

Jumping to the Golden Core realm… was definitely not on Bubai’s schedule anytime soon.

Fortunately, thanks to his almighty golden finger, there was still a glimmer of hope.

Unlike a normal Sun Scorpion, the one lodged in his heart seemed to have been affected by his green Qi!

A stark contrast to its otherwise ominous appearance, parts of its black exoskeleton was seamlessly blended with a dark forest green and vivid green veins traversed the scorpion’s body, clearing carrying his essence on its original dark exterior.

The transformation even extended to the scorpion's stinger, a deadly golden appendage that had now been mostly permeated by the same vivid greenness.

It was as if it had been... assimilated.

In fact, Bubai could already feel a connection with the dangerous enemy embedded in his heart.

He even sensed that he had initial control over some of its body parts and, if he wished, could effortlessly block its poison secretion, avoiding any painful punishment in the future!

Yet, Bubai knew he still lacked the core control over this ticking time bomb.

Deep within, at the very core of the creature where its explosion originates, he detected an intangible energy entrenched there - an energy he instinctively rejected but couldn't dislodge, clearly operating on a level above his own.

This should be the spiritual brand of the Golden Core Elder Ma.

Unless he could eradicate this spiritual brand, his life and death remained firmly in the hands of the old man.

Normally, it was impossible for a cultivator to clear away the spiritual brand of a higher-level cultivator... unless the other party had went to take the ferry in the underworld.

However, like always… there were geniuses with cheats - if life was a story, it would be known as the wonderful plot armor from the author-san.

He, Fang Bubai, was also this type of “genius”.

Through his experiments, Bubai discovered that he could gradually erode the spiritual brand over time using his droplets of green dew! Using enough green drops, it would only be a matter of time before he could rid himself of this control mechanism!

Of course, he realized that eliminating the spiritual brand could potentially alert the Golden Core old man.

Spiritual brands not only served as control cores but also acted as detectors.

If Ma Pei met him in the future and failed to sense the spiritual brand within him, the consequences could be heavy, to say least...

So, he must keep this spiritual brand for the time being and grasp the opportune time to remove it.

Unless he wants to rely on pure luck and plot armor, achieving this goal definitely required some good planning.

Moreover, this wasn’t the only thing that demanded his careful planning.

Through his internal insight, Bubai observed an illusory tree-like entity growing from his dantian and taking root in his body.

This was his spiritual roots.

Qi could pass through and be utilized via meridians, but only this unique root could actively gather Qi.

The origins of spiritual roots remained unknown, but only by possessing one could a mortal plunder Qi from the heavens!

Even with a spiritual root, cultivation will be besotted by “bottlenecks” if the grade isn’t good enough.

Thus, having a better spiritual root was naturally on every cultivator’s wish list. Bubai was no exception.

Though the miraculous birth of a lightning spiritual root did not occur, his golden finger did check off another desire from his wish list.

Unlike before, his spiritual roots had branched out even more, their pulsating veins forming connections with more pores to absorb Qi from the atmosphere, resulting in speeds multiple times faster than before. Now, it was even faster than dual cultivating with mortal women!

Although the speed was still almost negligible compared to his mysterious Qi-gathering formation, it remained a noticeable sign under scrutiny, both from others and even from himself.

This was a sign of a high-grade spiritual root of the wood-attribute!

Of course, a high-grade spiritual root, while desirable, usually wasn't enough for others to covet and plunder.

So, owning a high-grade spiritual root would normally not be a problem...

However, his spiritual root had been previously determined to be mid-grade, upgraded from its initial low-grade. Now, it was high-grade...

Anyone can see a problem.

The anomaly didn't end there - his abnormal physique is definitely a change that raised eyebrows.

His internal insight only rendered green tinges, but through his divine senses, he could actually detect fine particles of green spores mixed within his blood and other bodily fluids.

The effects of these spores were a mystery. Perhaps, his new regenerative powers could be attributed to them, but there is definitely more at play here.

Regardless, it was clear his physique was definitely no longer some simple Unsullied Body. Perhaps, even that classification might have been a misjudgment.

Even with his current extensive knowledge, he had yet to find any classifications for a physique with regenerative capabilities, overall enhancements, and strange green spores like his. He wasn’t sure if it could be qualified as a King Physique that others would covet…

In any case, these weren’t something he possessed previously. He couldn't gamble that Ma Pei wouldn't verify his qualifications again.

So, an elaborate story must be cooked up to prepare for the future.

That’s why he must understand more about the ones behind the scenes in order to ascertain the details for his lies.

Needless to say, one important step in this process is naturally…

The door to the room was pushed open gingerly and Wei Er's head peeked in, “Master, you called for us?”

Following her, Wei Yi pushed the door fully open, shooting her sister a helpless glance before pulling her hand, leading the way forward, “Master, Wei Yi and Wei Er are ready to serve you.”

Bubai grinned as he observed the ready twins, their skins still moist from their bath.

Time to practice his new technique and also solve some long-overdue mysteries.