Seeing that Yuan Ling didn't even know that she was already dead, it was impossible to expect her to clarify who had killed her.
Jiang Li roughly figured out the general outline of the situation.
First, Yuan Ling killed all the people in the two small towns, controlled everyone with corpse bugs, and made them produce normally. However, with her abilities, she could probably only use Dantian corpse bugs to control the actions of the corpses, but not their thoughts.
Then, she killed Yuan Ling, controlled her with corpse bugs, and then had everyone fitted with mind-awareness bugs. This way, the people in the two small towns were no different from living people, and even when they reached the Nascent Soul stage, nothing would seem amiss.
The only thing that Jiang Li couldn't figure out was the purpose behind all this.
What was the purpose of this mastermind behind the scenes?
Jingxin smiled and ushered Jiang Li to leave, staying alone with Yuan Ling. Jingxin's laughter gave Jiang Li goosebumps as he walked away.
Even though Jiang Li was far away, his extraordinary insight allowed him to vaguely hear the sounds coming from the room.
The cries grew fainter and eventually disappeared. Jingxin used magic to clean the blood from her body, then walked out of the room with a smile, hearing the message given by Jiang Li.
"It seems there's a problem over on Du Xiner's side. I'll go take a look."
Jingxin quickly arrived at Xiahe Town, finding Jiang Li and Du Xiner in a kitchen, with the hearth steaming with something.
"What happened?"
Jiang Li grabbed a handful of rice, lost in thought, while Du Xiner stood in a daze, her eyes vacant.
"I've been watching here with my divine consciousness all along and found that Du Xiner was pouring these things into the already shelled spirit rice," said Jingxin.
This was contrary to common sense, as the eight small towns didn't directly give the spirit grains to the Pure Land of Red Dust. Instead, they shelled the spirit grains into spirit rice and gave it to the Pure Land of Red Dust, leaving the rice bran behind to increase the soil's spiritual energy content.
This process didn't require Du Xiner to do anything; she only needed to supervise. But not only did Du Xiner not supervise, she also brought out a pot of rice from the cellar and poured the rice into the just-shelled spirit rice pile.
Jiang Li pointed to the side, and Jingxin followed his gaze, finding that it was just a pot of spirit rice with no anomalies.
"I advise you not to use your divine consciousness to look at this tank of spirit rice; your heart won't be able to bear it."
If Jiang Li didn't say so, Pure Heart Saintess wouldn't do this either, but precisely because Jiang Li advised against it, she just wanted to scan with her divine consciousness.
Hmm, can it resist divine consciousness?
Pure Heart Saintess intensified her divine consciousness, trying to see what was hidden inside the spirit rice.
"Ugh..."
The Pure Heart Saintess turned pale and started to retch.
She had long been abstaining from grains and had no impurities in her body, so she couldn't vomit anything out.
This wasn't a tank of spirit rice at all; it was a tank of gu worms disguised as spirit rice!
"Sister Xiner, what are you doing!"
Du Xiner came to her senses, puzzled, "Isn't it a sect rule to pour this tank of spirit rice into the rice heap?"
"Who said that? Since when does the Red Dust Pure Land have such a rule?"
Du Xiner tried hard to recall, realizing that she only remembered this rule, but couldn't remember who told her.
Jiang Li used his fingernail to pry open a grain of spirit rice, revealing extremely tiny white gu worms inside, showing them to Du Xiner.
"Do you recognize what this is?"
Jiang Li's actions also puzzled Du Xiner: "Isn't this just spirit rice, is there something else?"
Jiang Li didn't say anything else and let Du Xiner leave.
"Someone has altered her perception to make her believe that this is just a regular tank of spirit rice, a method of the corpse gu."
Jiang Li lifted the steamer lid off the stove, revealing a bowl of fragrant spirit rice.
He picked up a grain of rice, pried it open, and likewise revealed a white gu worm, and it was alive, seemingly more vigorous than before!
"Somebody has added gu worms to the spirit rice, which the people of the Red Dust Pure Land have been eating, not knowing the purpose of the gu worms."
The Pure Heart Saintess turned pale as paper.
A communication symbol glowed in the distance, and Jiang Li answered.
"Jiang ge, I've found the people of the Gu Clan!" Zhang Konghu, who looked like a black bear, appeared in front of Jiang Li and said in a muffled voice, "They say they can cultivate corpse gu that can animate corpses to act normally, at least in the Foundation Building stage."
"But they're not sure; it's just speculation based on records, after all, there are no experts in the Gu Clan now, the most powerful are only in the Yuanying stage."
Speaking of this, Zhang Konghu sighed. He only knew that the Gu Clan was reclusive, but he didn't expect them to be so down and out. Back in the day, the Gu Clan produced some big names who ascended to the Immortal Realm.
"I also asked about who can cultivate gu techniques; they said they must read the ancient texts enshrined in the ancestral hall, and the gu technique ancient texts are strictly guarded and impossible for outsiders to cultivate."
"But I tried and could easily steal the ancient texts without anyone noticing, of course, I've already returned them."
"Oh, and they also mentioned that the forbidden cultivation of the mind-control gu has been lost in the Gu Clan, they can't come out of seclusion, so they hope that the People's Palace will issue a warning for everyone to be cautious."
"Mind-control gu?"
"Yes, the Gu Clan says that this kind of gu worm is extremely terrifying. Once consumed, even if a person becomes a god in the Foundation Building stage, the owner of the gu worm can control his mind without his knowledge! Therefore, the Gu Clan has a taboos against cultivating mind-control gu!"
"Take a look, is this the mind-control gu?" Jiang Li opened his hand and showed the white gu worm.
"Yes, yes, that's it. It's cocoon-shaped like a spirit rice, as small as a strand of hair, dormant in water, active in fire. Jiang ge, where did you find it?"
With a bang, the Pure Heart Saintess' legs went weak, knocking over pots and bowls, falling weakly to the ground.
How many years had gu worms been added to the spirit rice? How many junior sisters had eaten it? Had any of the abstinent senior brothers occasionally tasted it? How many people in the Red Dust Pure Land had mind-control gu inside their bodies?
The Pure Heart Saintess dared not ponder these questions at all!
"Did the Gu Clan say how to break the mind-control gu?"
"Like other gu worms, either the owner voluntarily releases it, or the gu worm inside the person is killed, so the mind-control gu is ineffective during the Tribulation Crossing stage; the Thunder Tribulation during the Crossing will destroy the gu worm."
"I'll explain more next time, it's cut off!"
Jiang Li hung up the communication symbol, with a very serious expression: "The mind-control gu hasn't been activated, the situation hasn't reached the final stage yet! Your junior sisters are still waiting for you to save them! With me here, there is still a chance to turn things around!"
Jiang Li's low and solemn tone carried an unquestionable confidence, gradually restoring the Pure Heart Saintess to her normal state.
Yes, the situation hasn't reached the final stage yet. The mastermind has been manipulating things behind the scenes for decades, and even now has not activated the mind-control gu, which indicates that the timing is not yet ripe for the mastermind.
Mistakes can be rectified, everything still has a chance!
"Jiang Li, thank you!" The Pure Heart Saintess looked determined, slowly got up, and flew back to the Red Dust Pure Land.
Jiang Li followed close behind her.
When the two were about to return to the Red Dust Pure Land, they were blocked by a light curtain formed by the Defensive Ancestral Array, and a person behind the light curtain was sneering at the belated arrivals.
The instigator, the Elder who was expelled from the Red Dust Pure Land, Xuanai Dao Nun!