Chapter 438 - 436: Change
"You’re *the* Shen Changchuan, Immortal Master Shen?!"
When Shen Changchuan arrived outside the city and was about to enter, he was stopped for a routine inspection by the Cultivators guarding the gate.
Shen Changchuan didn’t think much of it; they were just following procedure.
After all, it wasn’t just him.
Everyone else entering or leaving the city was being inspected as well.
According to the passing Cultivators, a few days ago, a Demon Cultivator had used a Secret Technique to disguise themselves and slip into the city, causing significant losses for Broken Soul City.
That was why the inspections had been stricter these past few days.
Shen Changchuan, however, paid it no mind.
But when one of the Cultivators performing the inspection recognized Shen Changchuan, he couldn’t help but cry out in alarm!
"What? He’s Shen Changchuan?!"
"That’s right! I’ve seen a circulated image of him. That’s what he looks like!"
"HISS! So young! I heard he’s only in his twenties, yet he’s already reached the Soul Emergence Fourth Layer—a realm many can’t hope to reach in a lifetime!"
"Reaching the Soul Emergence Middle Stage in just over twenty years is incredible, but such prodigies aren’t unheard of in more prosperous Immortal Cultivation Realms. They say the blood descendants of those Profound Pill Realm ancestors progress even more terrifyingly... But to be able to improve a Secret Technique at such a young age and with such a Cultivation, and in doing so change the course of a battle involving a Divine Travel Peak Realm expert—he’s probably the only one!"
"To see with my own eyes a peerless prodigy, the likes of which the Tian Nan Domain hasn’t seen in a thousand years... even if I die now, it would’ve been worth it!"
A commotion rippled through the surrounding crowd.
Pair after pair of eyes converged on Shen Changchuan, filled with respect, envy, and even fear.
Murmurs of discussion rose from all around.
Shen Changchuan: ?
A series of question marks popped up in Shen Changchuan’s mind.
’What’s going on?’
’I’ve been in seclusion for three years.’
’Have I become a superstar or something?’
"Fellow Daoist Shen, long time no see!"
Just then, the Soul Emergence Realm Cultivator stationed at the city gate to prevent any incidents noticed the commotion here,
and he quickly walked over, smiling and clasping his hands in a salute to Shen Changchuan.
"Fellow Daoist Pei, long time no see."
Shen Changchuan nodded and returned the salute,
his mind quickly searching for information on this person.
Pei Yong’an.
That was the Soul Emergence Realm Cultivator’s name.
They were acquaintances and had crossed paths before.
A few years ago,
when Shen Changchuan had left the Tian Nan Domain to escort a group of Outer Disciples from his Sect to the Nanyue Kingdom,
he had traveled with this man.
At the time, the other party had been hired by the Ten Thousand Spirits Pavilion to escort two thousand Qi Introduction Realm Cultivators to Barbaric City.
They were on the same path back then.
Their three Flying Ships traveled together, and they had worked alongside each other for a month.
"It’s been several years, Fellow Daoist Shen. Your bearing is even more impressive than before!"
"In the blink of an eye, you’ve become famous throughout the land!"
Pei Yong’an said with heartfelt emotion.
At the same time, he looked at the gate inspection Cultivators to the side and spoke to their captain:
"Since Immortal Master Shen is here in person, he’s obviously not some Demon Dao thief in disguise. You all get back to your duties. I will receive Fellow Daoist Shen."
The captain of the guards subconsciously glanced at a fist-sized, pale-gold toad squatting on a nearby table.
The toad sat placidly on the table,
its eyes closed as if it were fast asleep.
It showed no reaction whatsoever.
He then turned to Pei Yong’an.
"Yes, Immortal Master Pei!"
The captain clasped his hands in a salute and then stepped back.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, this way, please."
Pei Yong’an gestured for him to follow.
Shen Changchuan withdrew his gaze from the pale-gold toad and followed him.
"Fellow Daoist Pei, I was wondering about that toad just now..."
Walking a step behind Pei Yong’an as they entered the city, Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but ask.
This gate inspection, they called it an inspection,
but it seemed to just consist of asking for a name and origin, then having the person walk a circle around the pale-gold toad before being allowed to pass.
Clearly, that golden toad was the key.
Shen Changchuan had noticed this from the very beginning.
’Does that golden toad have the ability to identify people?’
Moreover,
if Shen Changchuan’s senses weren’t mistaken,
that pale-gold toad was a Gu Insect!
Furthermore, it was a Poisonous Insect King, raised in a manner similar to how Shen Changchuan had raised Xiaojin!
"Ha, speaking of the Golden Toad King, we have you to thank for it, Fellow Daoist Shen!"
Pei Yong’an laughed openly and began to explain the details to Shen Changchuan.
It all began,
with Shen Changchuan’s improvement of the Gu-controlling Secret Technique, which allowed Cultivators to have simple Divine Thought communication with their Gu Insects.
What Shen Changchuan didn’t know,
was that his actions had a far greater impact on the Tian Nan Domain’s Immortal Cultivation Realm than he ever imagined!
The influence of that Gu-controlling Secret Technique didn’t just change the tide of battle at Broken Soul Mountain.
Because of the spread of the Gu-controlling Secret Technique,
Cultivators no longer had to worry about the enemy’s Gu Dao Secret Techniques when facing Demon Cultivators. It almost completely neutralized the majority of the enemy’s Gu Insect Secret Techniques!
This allowed the Cultivators of the Tian Nan Domain’s Immortal Cultivation Realm to finally gain the upper hand when facing Demon Cultivators from the Nanyue Kingdom out in the field.
Not only that,
but due to the fact that the vast majority of Middle to Low Tier Loose Cultivators came from humble origins, lacked legacies, and had few opportunities to access other Secret Techniques,
when Shen Changchuan, for strategic reasons, provided this Gu-controlling Secret Technique and the method for industrialized Gu-raising to the alliance—and the alliance in turn made it available for exchange at an extremely low contribution cost to the masses of Middle to Low Tier Cultivators—
almost every Loose Cultivator who didn’t have other auxiliary skills exchanged for this Secret Technique.
With the Gu-controlling Secret Technique,
Cultivators could communicate directly with their Gu Insects.
As a result,
the barrier to entry for practicing Gu Techniques was drastically lowered.
It even meant that as long as a Gu Insect could be successfully refined, it could be controlled via the Gu-controlling Secret Technique, which massively reduced the difficulty for beginners!
For those low-level Loose Cultivators from humble backgrounds with no other skills to their name, the allure was immense!
And as more and more people cultivated this Secret Technique,
it was only natural that some with ingenious ideas would appear, who even began to modify the Gu-controlling Secret Technique.
Although Middle to Low Tier Cultivators didn’t have the ability to make major changes,
they didn’t need to.
Their method of modification was to reference the methods for industrial centipede farming to raise other Gu Insects. They combined this with corresponding Gu Insect refining and breeding methods to alter the Gu-controlling Secret Technique to a certain extent, making it compatible for communication with that specific type of Gu Insect.
Of course,
a mere three years wasn’t enough time for the Gu-controlling Secret Technique to undergo any drastic changes,
and the mainstream Loose Cultivators still primarily paired the Gu-controlling Secret Technique with the Centipede King.
But with such a large number of people practicing it,
some geniuses were bound to emerge,
and some results were bound to appear.
This Golden Toad King is one of those results!
Its purpose,
is to identify a person’s aura,
and recognize the aura of a Demon Cultivator.
That’s why it was assigned to the city gate to act as a biological detector.
"For Loose Cultivators like us, what you did back then, Fellow Daoist Shen, was truly a deed of immense merit!"
Pei Yong’an exclaimed with emotion.
Throughout the entire Immortal Cultivation Realm of the Tian Nan Domain,
among the hundreds of thousands of Cultivators participating in this war, most of the Middle to Low Tier Cultivators had benefited from this Secret Technique of Shen Changchuan’s!
And that was precisely why,
Shen Changchuan’s reputation was so great that just being recognized could cause such a huge reaction from the people around him.