Chapter 6594 Gu Cultivation Veronica could accept that her mother only chose to pass on a significant portion of her extensive knowledge to Helena, That did not mean she was pleased with the difference in treatment. The Cyborg Cat accepted the logic of Cynthia's explanation. She even agreed with her mother's argument to an extent. Veronica saw herself as a mech designer first and foremost. Since she was so committed to this career, it was best if she was able to develop her own insights and solutions, Giving her lots of knowledge related to qi cultivation would distract him and cause him to deviate too much from the mentality of a mech designer. As a powerful qi cultivator herself, the Oblivion Empress deeply understood the taboos related to contamination and forced inheritance. She took special care to prevent Ves from unintentionally following her path when Veronica was not suitable for her approach. It made sense for Helena to learn from their mother. The Daughter of Death was made in her mother's image. Helena was designed by Cynthia to fulfill certain roles, and therefore received all of the teachings she needed to become a True God aspected towards the death attribute. While Veronica could accept the reasons for the difference in treatment, she couldn't help but feel resentful at how much she was missing out on. A more petulant individual may even accuse Cynthia of playing favorites. That should not be the case. The Cyborg Cat believed her mother was above such infantile impulses. The Oblivion Empress was a lot more rational than she looked. Many of her decisions were based on cold and heartless calculation. There was nothing Veronica could do to change her mother's stance, so there was no point in wasting any further thought on this issue. She focused on what was important. What Veronica needed the most was a way to produce Middle Demons with the resources he was able to attain with the help of Helena. Only by establishing an independent supply of souls and developing a reliable production method of Middle Demons would Veronica be able to get rid of her dependence on the Demon Summoning Circle. There was no way that Veronica was willing to pay 100 AP just to summon a single Middle Demon! She would rather wait for Lucky to produce his yearly quota of gems and convert them into ingredients for Demoncasting. Meanwhile, Helena explained a theory taught by their mother one day. "Have you ever heard of the method of raising gu?" "No. What the is a gu?" "The word holds many meanings." Helena responded. "There is no word in standard language that can concisely convey the multiple meanings of gu. In this context, raising gu is an ancient process of producing deadly poison, or a creature that contains an unnaturally high concentration of poison. The fundamental method is simple. You collect numerous poisonous insects or other critters, place them in a jar and close the lid before storing it in a dark location. After enough time has passed, you take the jar and open it up. If everything went right, you will end up with a single living creature." Veronica immediately understood the hidden meanings and possible mechanisms behind this strange and cruel process. "I see. I think I get what is going on. Tossing several creatures in a small container will practically guarantee a fight to death. Even if they are cautious and timid at the beginning, their hunger and various other deprivations will drive them to desperation. They will begin to prey on each other with the intent to kill and devour their defeated opponents. If the winners continue to prey on others, the strongest will survive. This is basically survival of the fittest that is compressed to the extreme." Helena nodded. "It is not that easy to successfully raise gu. Our mother mentioned that there are specific cultivation techniques that can assist in the process and ensure that the ultimate winner will not only be able to remain alive despite sustaining so many wounds, but also absorb the bodies of its enemies and break past its life limits. The latter is the most crucial part. If there is a way to make the poisonous creature evolve and sublimate without going through such a tedious process, then raising gu is not that useful." Veronica recognized that there was another aspect about this strange poisonous creature rearing process that possessed great significance. "One of the core purposes of this raising gu business is the accumulation of venom. All of the poison carried by the critters will get injected or devoured by the surviving winners. If they don't die on the spot due to taking in so many harmful substances, the last survival may possess a level of venom that equals or maybe surpasses the total amount of poison carried by all of the individual creatures at the start." "That is true. Do you know how this is possible?" "No." Veronica frowned. "I guess it can't be done without involving the manipulation of E energy, Biologically speaking, any normal organism would have died from concentrating so much poison, especially if they come from different creatures. I think that all of this fighting that takes place in the jar represents a ritual of sorts that helps to evolve the winners just enough to withstand all of the increasingly more lethal poison." "I think that is the case as well." "You think?" "Mother never taught me any specific methods related to gu cultivation. She told me that it is a particularly specialized but also disgusting form of cultivation. It is completely unsuited for me. The advantages of gu cultivation is that it is mainly a test of knowledge, technique and resource acquisition. It has very little demand for natural talent, as gu cultivators mainly rely on the talent and powers of the gu creatures that they bond with or use as cannon fodder." That made a lot of sense. That sounded like a peculiar form of contract cultivation. As soon as Veronica framed it in this manner, it all made sense. She could also understand why Helena brought up gu cultivation in this conversation. "I see. You think that the principles of poison gu cultivation can also be applied to promoting the growth of demons."" "That is correct. Mother did say that the philosophy and principles of gu cultivation is more universal than it sounds. For example, the time she spent while she was a member of the Five Scrolls Compact was a human form of gu cultivation. The Great Temple constantly absorbed talents from the rest of the galaxy, only to pit them against each other in cruel tests and examinations. Those who failed to defeat their competitors will either get killed or reassigned. Over time, the most ruthless, brilliant, competent and luckiest of cultivators will rise to the top. Our mother was just one of a small group of high-ranking members of the Wood Shrine who won every battle that mattered and plundered as much wealth and other benefits from her defeated rivals." Veronica still knew far too little about his mother's past life. Her true life. What little she heard about the infamous cult painted a picture of needless cruelty. While the extreme gu cultivation approach might have allowed the Five Scrolls Compact to be led by strong and ruthless cultivators who knew how to scheme against others, there were very obvious disadvantages to this policy. Everyone who stayed a cultist long enough became completely nuts! No normal human would be able to retain their sanity after going through so much internal competition. The culling of the weak drove the survivors to desperation. They might work harder, but only so that they could outpace their peers and make sure they weren't next on the chopping block! It was no wonder the Five Scrolls Compact ultimately collapsed in such a spectacular manner. Humans weren't gu insects, and they could never stand to be treated in such an awful way. It use only fitting for the mamhare of the Metal Shrina to batch a grand coneniram: lethal poison." "I think that is the case as well." "You think?" "Mother never taught me any specific methods related to gu cultivation. She told me that it is a particularly specialized but also disgusting form of cultivation. It is completely unsuited for me. The advantages of gu cultivation is that it is mainly a test of knowledge, technique and resource acquisition. It has very little demand for natural talent, as gu cultivators mainly rely on the talent and powers of the gu creatures that they bond with or use as cannon fodder." That made a lot of sense. That sounded like a peculiar form of contract cultivation. As soon as Veronica framed it in this manner, it all made sense. She could also understand why Helena brought up gu cultivation in this conversation. "I see. You think that the principles of poison gu cultivation can also be applied to promoting the growth of demons" "That is correct. Mother did say that the philosophy and principles of gu cultivation is more universal than it sounds. For example, the time she spent while she was a member of the Five Scrolls Compact was a human form of gu cultivation. The Great Temple constantly absorbed talents from the rest of the galaxy, only to pit them against each other in cruel tests and examinations. Those who failed to defeat their competitors will either get killed or reassigned. Over time, the most ruthless, brilliant, competent and luckiest of cultivators will rise to the top. Our mother was just one of a small group of high-ranking members of the Wood Shrine who won every battle that mattered and plundered as much wealth and other benefits from her defeated rivals." Veronica still knew far too little about his mother's past life. Her true life. What little she heard about the infamous cult painted a picture of needless cruelty. While the extreme gu cultivation approach might have allowed the Five Scrolls Compact to be led by strong and ruthless cultivators who knew how to scheme against others, there were very obvious disadvantages to this policy. Everyone who stayed a cultist long enough became completely nuts! No normal human would be able to retain their sanity after going through so much internal competition. The culling of the weak drove the survivors to desperation. They might work harder, but only so that they could outpace their peers and make sure they weren't next on the chopping block! It was no wonder the Five Scrolls Compact ultimately collapsed in such a spectacular manner. Humans weren't gu insects, and they could never stand to be treated in such an awful way. It use only fitting for the mamhare of the Metal Shrine to hatch a grand concniracu gains to forcefully push past its limitations and break through the next major cultivation rank! "I will take care of the design of the application of life energy" Veronica promised. "I am not an expert in this matter, but I know enough fundamentals that I am confident I can form an improvised solution. I should also be able to design a mechanism for the application of death energy, but I could use your input to make it better." "You shall have it." The Helcat replied as she became increasingly more interested in this collaborative project. "There are still many questions and uncertainties. For example, the gu container may not work at all. It is possible that we lack the crucial secrets that can make the rituals work according to our intentions. Even if they are adequate enough, we do not know how many Minor Demons we should place in the gu container to accumulate enough critical mass for the eventual winner to make a sudden breakthrough. Then there is the time period. It may take weeks, months or even years for this process to finish." The Cyborg Cat grimaced a bit, but soon schooled her expression. "These are all valid concerns. I would ideally like to achieve quick successes, but I am fine if I have to wait a while before we can perfect the demon gu cultivation process. I do not require an immediate supply of Middle Demons as I still have an existing reserve from a different. source. Sooner or later, I will run out, so I hope I can get this supply chain of Middle Demons up and running by that time." "I will help you, little sister. I did not think much of it, but now that you have directed my attention to it, I think that I can harvest unexpected gains from this research..."