Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 646 Three Battles, Three Victories! A Nascent Soul Gu Cultivator!

Chen Fan had only been in the waiting area for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn when the second round of drawing lots began.

This time, his opponent was a late-stage Nascent Soul Gu cultivator from the Snake Gu Clan, whose natal Gu worm was a Nascent Soul early-stage Azure Phosphorous Snake Gu.

The snake-like gu was entirely emerald green, its fangs dripping with corrosive venom. Upon entering the arena, it eroded several fist-sized craters into the ground. Several gu cultivators from the Snake Gu Clan below the stage wore smug expressions, clearly confident in this particular snake-like gu.

The cicada only needed a single breath.

It transformed into a thin, dark gold thread, entering the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Gu's mouth the instant it opened to spew venom, and exiting through its tail.

The snake-like creature froze in mid-air for a moment, then its entire body visibly withered away, its emerald scales collapsing inch by inch until only an empty shell remained, limp and lifeless on the arena. The Golden Cicada devoured it whole, shell and bones, and its golden light intensified.

In the third round, the opponent was a Nascent Soul Great Perfection Gu cultivator from the Insect Gu Clan, whose natal Gu worm was a mid-Nascent Soul Ironclad Centipede.

The centipede was over ten feet long, and its carapace was as hard as refined iron. Even the fangs of ordinary Nascent Soul level Gu insects could not leave a mark when they bit it.

Jin Chan took ten breaths this time.

It first circled the armored centipede dozens of times, then moved through the gaps in the centipede's carapace at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Finally, it found a hair-thin seam between the centipede's head and the first segment of its body, and precisely pierced it with its mouthparts, draining the centipede's insect spirit power from the inside.

In the fourth round, the cicada had accumulated enough insect spirit power and spun its own cocoon before the battle.

Dark gold patterns flowed endlessly on the cocoon wall. After a short while, the cocoon broke open, and a stream of light shot into the sky. The golden cicada's aura had steadily entered the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

The newly born cicada had shrunk even further, now only half the size of a sesame seed. However, its carapace had changed from a reddish-gold color to a dark gold texture that was almost like glass, and the tentacles next to its mouthparts had turned completely black. When it flapped its wings, it caused the surrounding spiritual energy to become disordered.

The outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt; the opponent's mid-Nascent Soul stage Poison Spider Gu was drained of its life force by the Golden Cicada's three breaths.

With three consecutive victories and the Blood Scorpion Gu in the first round, Chen Fan has killed four Nascent Soul level Gu worms in a row, achieving instant kills in each round.

The Golden Cicada's fearsome reputation spread rapidly throughout the waiting area. The Gu cultivators who were originally eager to try their luck now looked at Chen Fan with fear in their eyes, and they were all inquiring about the origin of this golden Gu worm in private.

On the high platform to the north, the Gu woman's hand, which was holding a teacup, had stopped in mid-air at some point.

She had lived for hundreds of years and had seen countless strange insects and gu under the Gu King's throne, but none of them could be like this golden cicada, which could instantly kill a gu in the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage when it was in the Core Formation stage, and devour a poisonous spider in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul stage in a few breaths after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

What bothered her even more was that every time the golden cicada devoured a Gu worm, its aura would surge upwards!

This ability to sustain itself through war has a special name among the Gu cultivators of the grasslands: "Spirit Devouring".

Her gaze fell on the gray-blue figure below the stage. After a moment, she took out a token with insect patterns from her sleeve, rubbed it gently in her palm a few times, and then put it back.

By the fifth round of the draw, more than half of the candidates had been eliminated from the waiting area.

The elimination process in the Gu Insect Battle is extremely brutal, with half of the participants being eliminated in each round. After four rounds, the original team of over a hundred participants was reduced to less than twenty. Those who have survived to this point are all top-tier Gu cultivators from the grasslands, and the lowest-ranking Gu worm they possess is at least a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

When the divination stick container was handed to Chen Fan, he casually picked out a jade stick. The stick was engraved with an ancient-style character "three".

He looked up and saw his opponent.

He was a tall, slender middle-aged man dressed in a dark green snakeskin robe. He had a delicate face, long, narrow eyes, and an eerie emerald green pupil that gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

Early stage of Nascent Soul cultivation.

The Serpent Gu Clan, Serpent Spirit Child.

An uncontrollable commotion arose in the waiting area.

Snake Spirit Child is one of the top contenders for the championship in this Hundred Sects Tournament, and is known as one of the two heroes of the grasslands along with Blood Cicada Child of the Blood Gu Clan. His natal Gu worm is a Jade Phosphorous Snake Gu King that has been cultivated for over a thousand years. It has the cultivation level of a Nascent Soul cultivator at the Great Perfection stage, and its venom is so potent that it can even corrode the protective spiritual light of a Nascent Soul cultivator. It is infamous throughout the grasslands.

In this Hundred Sects Tournament's Gu Insect Battle, most people had already locked him and Xue Chanzi into the final two, but unexpectedly, he encountered Chen Fan, the dark horse, in the fifth round.

Snake Spirit walked slowly to the front of the arena, his steps were calm and his posture was elegant, as if he had come not to fight but to attend a tea party.

He stopped five steps in front of Chen Fan, looked him down at him for a few moments, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Chen Fan, is it?" His voice was soft and slow, with a hoarse quality characteristic of grassland Gu cultivators. "I've watched you, this Golden Cicada, for four rounds on stage, and you do have some skill. Devouring Gu worms of the same level as if they were drinking water—such talent is rare even on the grasslands. If I gave you another hundred years to nurture it and help it break through to the late Nascent Soul stage, perhaps I would have to be a little wary. Unfortunately, you're unlucky. You met me in the fifth round. Early Nascent Soul versus Great Perfection Nascent Soul—three minor realms apart. In the world of Gu worms, three minor realms are a world of difference, and even the highest talent cannot overcome that. You might as well just admit defeat in this fight, so this little thing you've painstakingly nurtured doesn't perish here."

The Gu cultivators from the Snake Gu Clan below the stage burst into laughter.

Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, "Zhao state eunuchs, did you hear that? Lord Snake Spirit is giving you a way out, so hurry up and kowtow to express your gratitude!"

Someone else chimed in sarcastically, "You think you're invincible just because your worm swallowed a few early-stage Nascent Soul Gu worms? If it runs into Lord Snake Spirit's Azure Phosphorous Serpent Gu King, it probably won't even know how it died!"

Several Gu cultivators from the Blood Gu Tribe also joined in the commotion: "Get out of here while you can! A mere outsider dares to run wild on the grasslands; he truly doesn't know his own limitations!"

Qin Zhan sat on the east side of the stands, his brows furrowed.

Although he didn't know much about Gu worms, he did know the name of Snake Spirit!

A Gu cultivator in the early Nascent Soul stage, whose natal Gu worm is at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, has long been famous on the grasslands. Although Chen Fan's Golden Cicada has shown amazing performance, the gap between an early Nascent Soul stage cultivator and a Great Perfection Nascent Soul stage cultivator is indeed too great.

Duan Wuliang, however, perked up again and stood beside Song Tianren, saying sarcastically, "This is going to be a good show. The Jade Phosphorus Snake King of Snake Spirit is a ferocious creature that even Nascent Soul cultivators are wary of. No matter how evil Chen Fan's insect is, it can't turn the tide against it."

Song Tianren stood with his hands behind his back, without replying.

His gaze fell on Chen Fan, a subtle scrutiny flashing in his dark eyes.

I figured that if it were anyone else facing a formidable enemy like the Serpent Spirit Child, they would all show some seriousness.

But Chen Fan remained indifferent, as if the person standing in front of him was not a Nascent Soul Gu cultivator, but an insignificant passerby.

This composure made Song Tianren very uncomfortable.

He was all too familiar with that expression; back at the Boundless Sea, this eunuch had used it to make a fool of him for half a month.