9 RI

Tonight's moon was especially round.

The moonlight shone splendid and like muslin, draping over the Qing Mao Mountain.

The Treasure Brass Toad would travel a hundred meters with every hop. Due to its leaping method to move forward, the precipitous and narrow mountain path was unable to serve as a limitation or hindrance to it.

Jia Fu and his crew sat on the back of the Treasure Brass Toad. After exiting the Gu Yue Village, they once again headed towards the merchant caravan's direction.

The wind blew past their ears, and their view followed the Treasure Brass Toad as it moved up and down.

The moonlight shone on everyone's faces and they all looked solemn, while Jia Fu's face was cold as ice.

After a while, a close subordinate could not stand this atmosphere and asked Jia Fu, "Master, what are we going to do now? Jia Jin Sheng's death, once master returns, how will you answer to old master? Should we find a scapegoat first..."

Jia Fu shook his head, but avoided the question, "Do you know the story of Ren Zu?"

The subordinate was stunned, not expecting this answer. At once he did not know how to reply.

Jia Fu continued, "Ren Zu had the Rules and Regulation Gu, and could capture all the ten thousand Gu in the world, obtaining strength but losing wisdom. At that point his net still contained three Gu. He opened and saw that they were the Attitude Gu, Belief Gu and Suspicion Gu respectively. Ren Zu was unwilling to let them go, thus the three Gu could only bet with him. Once Ren Zu opens the net, they would run out in three different directions, and whoever is captured by Ren Zu would be subdued. Guess, who did Ren Zu capture in the end?"

The trusted aide thought, and answered, "It's the Attitude Gu!"

"Do you know why?" Jia Fu asked. The loyal subordinate shook his head.

Jia Fu laughed, "Because attitude means everything. No matter if father 'believes' or 'suspects', I have already displayed my 'attitude'. Jia Jin Sheng went missing, and I immediately conducted investigations in the caravan. Once I had a clue, I rushed towards the Gu Yue clan without stop. At the village, I risked the danger of being attacked by them and interrogated them on the spot. I did not even sit down, and to prove Fang Yuan's words, I went as far as to use the Rank four Bamboo Gentleman."

"Once I get back, I will even spend a ton of money to employ the divine investigator, inviting Tie Leng Xue to investigate this matter. Regardless of whether Jia Jin Sheng is dead or alive, as his brother I have already done all that I should, my attitude shows everything! I have thought it through earlier, we do not need a scapegoat. We shall go back in this honest state, because I was not at fault for this matter! Finding a scapegoat, that might just be a trap by Jia Gui. If I can find a scapegoat, he can also find someone to overturn the case."

His subordinate was shocked and said, "Master, you really suspect that young master Jia Gui was behind this?"

"Hmph, who else but him can do something so perfectly?" Saying so, Jia Fu's face distorted, anger bursting from his eyes, "Before this, I was thinking about our blood relationship and did not do such a thing to him. But since he is so devious, I will have to pay him back an eye for an eye, don't blame me for being unscrupulous!"

He did not know that far away in a distant place, there were a pair of eyes sending him off.

Fang Yuan stood on the hillside as he silently watched.

The view tonight was truly spectacular.

The golden yellow, round moon was high up in the night sky, shining so brightly that the entire earth was lit bright.

The nearby green mountains were verdant and lush, all kinds of flora growing about. The Man Mountain's pine and cypress trees, as well as the Qing Mao Mountain's distinctive green spear bamboo grew in continuous clumps, cluster after cluster. A wide expanse of dark green colour poured down in torrents from the mountaintop and flowed down to the foot of the mountain.

Faraway mountains ranged endlessly, forming a muddled heavy black shadow under the moonlight.

The tortuous and entwined mountain road resembled goat intestines as it meandered into the distance, occasionally sheltered away by the forest, stretching out all the way.

Jia Fu and his group sat atop the Treasure Brass Toad, following the mountain road as they moved forward. As they continued on the leaping toad, their figures were finally covered away by the trees.

Although the mountain terrain could not affect the Treasure Brass Toad's speed, Jia Fu did not dare to recklessly cut through Qing Mao mountain, for if he barges into a monster horde, even with his Rank four cultivation he would still not come out unscathed. Hence following the mountain trail and moving forward is the best path.

Not long ago, Fang Yuan was standing on the hill holding an umbrella, sending the caravan off. But now he was here again, watching Jia Fu leave.

"The trouble from killing Jia Jin Sheng is finally settled." He eyes were dark and remote while his heart was calm, a bout of peacefulness.

Even since he killed Jia Jin Sheng that night, he had been considering how to tie the loose ends.

He was clear that without base or support, if the truth was revealed, the Gu Yue clan would definitely sacrifice him. But if he just hid it blindly, the truth was bound to get exposed one day.

A smart way to lie, is to have truth and lies, some truth in his lies, and some lies in his truth.

He had to direct the trouble elsewhere!

This incident was like a chess game with two sides against each other. One side is Jia Fu's caravan, while the other is the Gu Yue clan. In this incident, be it Gu Yue Bo, the academy elder or Jia fu, they were all pawns, heck even Fang Yuan himself was just a pawn.

To protect the pawn that represents himself, he had to use the two opposing sides and find a chance in between.

Few days ago, Fang Yuan had already started plotting.

He first made use of those two guards to come up with a good show with the academy elder at the academy. Next he hid the existence of the Liquor worm and stirred the curiosity of the clansman, gaining great attention, attracting the higher-ups. Simultaneously, he allowed the academy elder to hold private investigations. @@novelbin@@

Next, he extorted his classmates and expressed his rashness, wildness and displeasure towards the clan, "showing weakness" to the Gu Yue higher-ups.

Then he counted the days and waited for Jia Fu.

During the interrogation he displayed his immaturity and fear, which allowed him to lead the other's thoughts by the nose. Letting them find out the "truth".

Lastly he made use of the Gu Yue clan and Jia Fu's opposing interests, and turned the academy elder who was suspicious of him and held investigations, into his eye witness.

The Bamboo Gentleman was a small unexpected accident, but it was still a Rank four Gu and under the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, the Bamboo Gentleman ironically became Fang Yuan's greatest evidence.

Finally, Fang Yuan not only explained perfectly where he got the Liquor worm, but also pushed the blame to the innocent Jia Gui, while he himself got out of this incident without losing a hair.

"Academy elder was asked to stay behind, it seems that Gu Yue Bo is going to interfere in the academy's matters and get rid of the plan to pressurize me. With his nature, he does have this tolerance. But his real motive isn't me, it should probably be Fang Zheng. One of my motives for blowing up the matter was to stir a commotion and make the higher-ups notice. If Gu Yue Bo doesn't show up, there will still be Gu Yue Mo Chen and Chi Lian who would come out to defend their reputation."

"As for Jia Fu, he should be certain that Jia Gui is the culprit now. With the flames of revenge burning in his chest, hehe, I am looking forward to it. With my interference, their sibling conflict would be elevated. I wonder if that Gu Master competition would be brought forward?"

"Oh yes, there is still that divine investigator Tie Leng Xue. Tie Leng Xue... hmph." Fang Yuan repeated this name, and after half a beat, lightly smiled, "Among the righteous path, this is indeed a character. Unfortunately he is riddled with official business and has a tight schedule. For this matter, it is not easy to get him to come. Jia Fu wants to show his attitude thus he has to invite him, but the time is hard to gauge, at the very least it should be arranged in two to three year's time."

In two to three years, he would have Rank two or three cultivation. By then, life would be in a completely different sight.

The night wind blew over with the fresh cool air of the mountains, penetrating with a kind of fragrance.

Fang Yuan breathed in, feeling more refreshed.

He looked into the distance, his field of view wide. The unrestrained mountains were picturesque, looking tranquil and auspicious under the moon.

"The bright moon illuminates among pines, the clear spring flows upon stone." Fang Yuan lightly recited, he could not help but think of a verse from a fable from Earth.

There were a group of monkeys that pursued the moon. They saw the moon in the well, and they wanted to fish it up. The monkey from behind grabbed hold of the tail of the monkey before it, and the monkey before it grabbed ahold of the monkey in front of him. Thus this went on repeatedly until the first monkey was able to touch the water surface of the well.

Once it stretched out its hand, the water rippled and the moon disappeared.

People in this world were like this. They would see the reflection of the moon, and think that it is the real thing.

Not knowing it was just the moon in the well, the moon in their eyes, or simply the moon in their hearts.

"In this life I hope to become the real moon, rising above the mountains and heavens, toying with the clouds and seas, following the ancient times and walk in the darkness above the various heavens." Fang Yuan's eyes were crystal clear, and the beautiful green mountains were reflected on his pupils.

On the hill, the thin body of a teenager stood silently.

A golden moon wheel shaped like a disk suspended high in the night sky.

It has existed since ancient times, travelling through the night sky, casting the small shadow of the teenager faintly onto the limestones.

-x-X-x-

The night sky of early summer is beautiful.

There was not a single cloud floating in the sky, and the stars flickered like crystals, shining with emotionally moving radiance.

Sandalwood crickets appeared on stage to take over the place of the dragonpill crickets, and they sang their emotional songs in the grassy bushes, creeks and tree branches.

The Gu Yue Village was radiantly lit, as if it was reflecting the bright starry sky.

One by one the dark green bamboo houses stood in the night wind, and beneath the star dome it had a tranquil and peaceful ambience.

Fang Yuan was not in the village now, but he had snuck into the secret cave among the rock cracks.

He half-kneeled on the ground, his hand caressing the image wall, his palm emitting a lump of blue-coloured moonlight.

On the image wall, the original scene was already gone, and it was now no different from the other surrounding stone walls. If Fang Yuan did not remember this position, who else would know that hidden under this image wall was Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance?

On a night over a month ago, the image wall transformed and the Flower Wine Monk's secret hideout appeared. The image wall first showed a video of Flower Wine Monk bathed in blood, but proclaimed he was leaving his inheritance. Next was a line of bloody words, hinting for the discoverer to break the image wall and the cave opening would appear. Then the words vanished, and the image wall's Photo-audio Gu's strength was depleted, and the image wall went back to being an ordinary wall.

Although he knew about the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, Fang Yuan did not have the time to explore it.

As it was an unexpected occurrence, he had to kill Jia Jin Sheng on the spot and was busy that night getting rid of the evidence. Towards the impending interrogation, he had to plot carefully and had restricted his activities inside the village.

Until when Jia Fu left and after the academy elder stopped his investigations, about ten days later, the attention had waded and Fang Yuan could finally sneak back into the cave.

In the aperture, the green copper sea was reducing as Fang Yuan deployed his primeval essence into the Moonlight Gu on his right palm.

The Moonlight Gu emitted a gentle moonlight and flickered continuously. Under its effect, the rock wall was shaved off slowly, and large amounts of rock powder fell on the ground.

This was Fang Yuan's extensive control of the Moonlight Gu, the same method he used to open the gambling rocks.

Compared to opening rocks, this method was more coarse, but in breaking this thick rock wall, this method seemed a little too gentle.

This was the sixth day that Fang Yuan was using the Moonlight Gu to shave the rock wall.

On the floor was a thick pile of dark red coloured rock powder.

Logically speaking, Qing Mao Mountain's soil was all green-coloured. But here, the soil were strangely bright red and emitted a dark glow.

But fortunately so, because of this source of light, Fang Yuan did not need to prepare a torch.

In order to avoid being suspected, Fang Yuan did not use any tools. Steel hammers and pickaxe were undoubtedly better for breaking the rock wall, but if he did, the sound of the wall breaking would reverb all over the area.

Regardless of whether the outside world would hear a faint or loud noise, Fang Yuan wanted to eliminate all such possible suspicious points.

Fine details often decided in one's victory or defeat.

To Fang Yuan, being cautious is not just his good point, it was more like a habit to him.

In his past life he had been careless and carefree, but he quickly paid a hefty price. There is a saying that goes, 'people get more cowardly when they age'. Yet actually this is not cowardness, but patient cautiousness. 500 years of experience ingrained the word caution into his soul.

"Puff..." Taking in a deep breath, Fang Yuan slowly stopped the transmission of his primeval essence.

He plopped onto the ground, extremely exhausted.

He had dug around three inches of thickness out of the entire slab of image wall that was the height of half a man.

Fang Yuan wiped the sweat off his forehead while exercising his shoulders and stretching his legs. Due to long hours of squatting, a sense of numbness was felt from his legs.

'Knock, knock, knock'.

Fang Yuan bent his fingers and knocked on the rock wall.

Hearing the sound, he was slightly happy in his heart, as he could tell the wall was getting thinner.

Closing his eyes to meditate, he checked the situation inside his aperture once again.

The green copper primeval essence had less than 20% left.

"Continue working hard!" Fang Yuan grit his teeth and stretched out his right hand again on the rock wall.

The water-blue coloured moonlight sustained a glow for around fifteen minutes, then Fang Yuan suddenly halted his actions. He took out his right arm and found out that the rock wall had a small hole in it already.

He immediately stood up and kicked.

With a thunderous noise, the hole expanded and became as big as a bamboo basket.

Fang Yuan cautiously took a few steps backwards. He felt a sense of staleness emitting from the hole and permeating into this secret cave.

The secret cave's ventilation was not good. Fang Yuan thought about it for a moment and decided to leave the rock crack, returning to the outside world.

Only after a while did he return. @@novelbin@@

The stale feeling in the cave was slightly better than earlier, and Fang Yuan continued to expand the size of the hole, sometimes using the Moonlight Gu, and at other times using his hands to dig, or his legs to kick. After a while, he finally expanded the hole into a size that he could fit into.

Looking from the hole, there was a diagonal path downwards.

The path was initially narrow, but the deeper it was, the wider it got. A person must lower their head when entering at first, but towards the latter half of the path, they are able to take large strides with straightened backs.

The cave's walls were a weird red soil colour, emitting a faint red glow. This caused the passage's interior to be visible.

But the path was very long and extended beyond what the eye could see. Due to the angle, Fang Yuan could not see what was at the end of the path.

He stood at the cave entrance and did not immediately step in, instead squinting and standing on the spot.

A strength inheritance was not like a legacy inheritance.

Legacy was when a Gu Master died and left behind his belongings. Those who find this legacy can find the items on the corpse.

A strength inheritance is when a Gu Master who is on the verge of death and reluctant to let his legacy go extinct, or to benefit the future generations, or wants to leave behind his last trace of existence in the world, purposely set hurdles to test the people who arrive.

Taking the Flower Wine Monk for example, he set up this inheritance with a clear objective - it is to nurture an avenger, to take revenge on the Gu Yue clan!

If the person who comes along is able to pass these trials he(she) would obtain all sorts of benefits. The person who gets through the final test would obtain the entire strength inheritance.

According to the two factions, strength inheritance is split into the righteous inheritance and the demonic inheritance.

Righteous inheritances often had exquisite design, to test the nature and character of the person. Those who fail midway, would not be in any mortal danger.

Demonic inheritance was more complex.

Those demonic cultivators were often insane and persistent, cold-blooded, or a mass murderer, unable to be assessed by normal standards.

Some demonic inheritances had trials that tested the mind. With lots of mind-boggling decisions to make, a lot of people would fall into deep and painful thoughts without getting a single result.

Some demonic inheritances were extremely simple, being a secret room with Gu worms and primeval stones inside.

Some demonic inheritances were extremely cruel, and failure midway often spelled death.

Some were more extreme - a few demonic cultivator's inheritances were a huge lie, being a giant trap itself. They followed the rules of 'bringing someone down with them', and even right before dying, they would set up this trial and trick others.

"Which type does Flower Wine Monk's inheritance belong to?" Fang Yuan thought deeply.

With his previous life's memories, he was clear of any future famous demonic inheritances. But this one in particular, no one discovered it in his lifetime, and Fang Yuan was left unaware of the details.

"By right, the chances of a trap isn't high. Otherwise the Flower Wine Monk would not design this image wall. But is there a hidden mechanism?"

Fang Yuan picked up a rock and threw it into the cave.

The rock rolled in the path and quickly rolled out of Fang Yuan's sight; he could hear a series of colliding sounds echoing in the cave.

Fang Yuan fell into deep thought. The rock testing results showed that it was safe.

But he did not enter the path yet, and instead took out some rock powder and spread it around the entrance of the secret cave. At the same time, he spread a layer on the rock crack entrance.

Next, he squeezed out of the narrow rock crack and left the place.

Around a few hundred meters from the river in a hidden bush, he found the green bamboo wine that he had brought along this time. Opening the seal, he drank a huge mouthful and purposely spilled some of the liquor, getting it on his clothes and making him smell of alcohol.

Carrying the wine, he went back to the village, and upon reaching the school hostel, it was exactly midnight.

If he did not return at night often, people would get suspicious. This was better, going out early at night and returning late at night.

When finding the Liquor worm, Fang Yuan already did this, and with that background, such behaviour was not peculiar.

The stars fade and the sun appears, a night of silence.

-x-X-x-

The bright morning sun shone on Qing Mao Mountain.

In the academy, the elder spoke about important details. "Tomorrow, we are choosing the second Gu worm for refinement. Everyone here has experience in successfully refining Gu worms, and this time you can solidify your experiences. For the selection of the second Gu worm, consider it carefully. With the experience of cultivating these few days and understanding of your own body, consider it as a whole. Normally, it is best if you pair the second Gu well with your vital Gu."

A Gu Master's first Gu was known as the vital Gu, and once it was chosen it would be the footing stone of their development. After that, the second and third Gu worm would be nurtured upon this footing stone and decide the Gu Master's cultivating direction.

After hearing the academy elder's words, the youngsters began to ponder, and only Fang Yuan was sleeping soundly on the table.

He had worked hard for half the night yesterday, and after returning to the hostel, he still continued in his Gu Master cultivation, nurturing his aperture. When the sun had risen, only then did he sleep.

The academy elder looked at Fang Yuan and frowned, but did not say anything.

Ever since the clan leader spoke to him, he had adopted a 'let Fang Yuan do as he wishes, I am not going to give a care' attitude.

"Which Gu worm should I choose?" As the students thought about it, they subconsciously looked towards Fang Yuan.

"Speaking of which, Fang Yuan already has his second Gu worm."

"Yeah, that is but a Liquor worm; to actually get a Liquor worm out of gambling rocks, his luck is off the charts!"

"If I had the Liquor worm, I would advance to middle stage first too huh?"

The students' thoughts varied, having admirers and jealous people among them.

Ever since that day after the interrogation, Fang Yuan's Liquor worm was successfully exposed. The origins of the liquor worm did not raise suspicion. The clansmen were both enlightened and also exasperated at Fang Yuan's luck.

"Why don't I have such luck, sigh!" Gu Yue Chi Cheng who was also a C grade talent sighed deeply in his heart.

Quite a while ago, his grandfather had asked around and tried to procure a Liquor worm for him. To think that even as a family branch's inheritor, he was not able to have one; to think Fang Yuan managed to get the Liquor worm before him.

Compared to Chi Cheng's envy and depression, vice chairman Fang Zheng was full of spirit.

"Brother, I will definitely surpass you." He looked at Fang Yuan and said in his heart before looking away.

These days his eyes were shining with light, and he felt a sort of excitement towards life. His face was flushing red and his forehead was glowing, even his steps were quicker and lighter.

The academy elder saw all of it, and immediately understood that the Gu Yue clan leader had started secretly teaching Fang Zheng.

These underhand methods were obviously not for the public to know.

The academy elder turned a blind eye to this.

Soon it was night once more.

Fang Yuan entered the secret cave again.

Ring ring ring...

In his hand, a wild rabbit was struggling, and there was a bell was on its neck. @@novelbin@@

This was a wild rabbit that Fang Yuan caught on the mountain, the bell was naturally attached by him.

After a day, the stuffy smell in the secret cave has dissipated, and the air was fresh.

The cave's passage entrance was open; it was silent inside. Fang Yuan half-kneeled on the floor as he inspected the floor. Yesterday he had sprayed rock powder all over the area, and this thin layer of powder was inconspicuous.

"The passage entrance's rock powder is intact, thus it seems that during my absence, nothing strange has crawled out of it. The rock crack entrance does have a footprint, but that's mine, so evidently no one else had come here." Fang Yuan felt at ease after his inspection.

He stood up, using his hands to pull the dead vines from the wall. Next he sat on the ground and his leg was used to hold the wild rabbit in place, leaving his two hands free to weave the vines.

This was work that normal Gu Masters wouldn't know, but Fang Yuan had too much life experience. In his past life, many a time was he so poor that he couldn't afford to feed his Gu worms, leaving them to starve to death one by one.

For a time, he had primeval essence but no Gu worms; he became just like a mortal person, even living was difficult. Having no choice, he learned to weave the grass ropes into straw sandals, hats etc. and sold them in exchange for primeval stone fragments to feed himself.

While twisting the grass ropes in his hands, Fang Yuan's memories resurfaced.

The anguish and suffering from back then had transformed into his soundless laughter now. The rabbit underneath his foot continued to struggle, the bell ringing nonstop.

A pair of two strings touch for long, ten thousands of twists and thousands of returns make their inseparable love numerous. (1)

Delicately and slowly, with the passing of years, letting them converge. Complications, entanglements and turns present.

Weaving the grass ropes, isn't it just like experiencing life?

In the secret cave, the red light shone onto Fang Yuan's face, showing his youthfulness and experience intertwining together on his face.

Time seemed to have stopped too, silently appreciating the young man weaving his ropes.

Ring ring ring...

An hour later, the wild rabbit rapidly entered the passageway, the bell on its neck ringing continuously. In a few breaths it left Fang Yuan's field of vision.

Fang Yuan held onto the improvised grass rope that he wove temporarily, and on one end the rope was attached to the rabbit's hind leg, dragging into the tunnel with it.

After a while, the rope stopped all movement.

But this did not mean the rabbit had reached the end of the tunnel. It could have been killed by a trap or just decided to take a rest midway.

Fang Yuan began to pull at the rope, retrieving it. The rope gradually tightened as he tugged.

On the other end, a force of strength suddenly tugged back as the rope started to move towards the cave again.

Evidently the rabbit on the other side had felt the tugging force and in its fluster, started to move deeper into the cave.

After many attempts, the rabbit finally reached the end of the path, and no matter how Fang Yuan tugged at the rope, it only tightened and relaxed.

Maybe the rabbit had reached the end of the tunnel, or maybe it had fallen into a trap and got stuck.

It was simple to test and find out the answer.

Fang Yuan started to retrieve the rope. His strength surpassed the rabbit by a mile, and eventually he dragged the rabbit out by force.

The rabbit struggled at the other end, but the rope was made from materials acquired from the Wine Sack Flower Gu and Rice Pouch Grass Gu. Although it had been dead for years, it remained sturdy unlike normal grass.

The wild rabbit was once again in Fang Yuan's hands jumping about. Fang Yuan inspected the wild rabbit and saw that it had no injuries, then he finally breathed out in relief.

"For now, it seems that this segment of the passageway is safe."

With this result, the rabbit thus lost its value and Fang Yuan killed it instantly, throwing the corpse on the ground.

He could not let the rabbit go, for animals also had memories. If it came back again, and like the Liquor worm, attracted outsiders, that would be very bad.

He breathed in deeply. After several tries and probes, he finally stepped into the passageway carefully.

Even with the wild rabbit exploring, there were many traps and mechanisms that specially targeted only humans. A small animal like the wild rabbit would be unable to trigger it. Thus, Fang Yuan still had to be careful.

The tunnel was straight, diagonally slanting towards the bottom. The deeper it was, the wider and taller the passage became.

Fang Yuan had to lower his head when entering at first, but after more than fifty steps, he was able to take large strides with a straightened back, and after a hundred steps, he could walk while lifting his upper arms and brandishing them left and right.

The tunnel was not that long, it was only around 300 meters. But Fang Yuan spent around two hours venturing before he finally reached the end of the path.

On the way, he was vigilant and explored step by step. At the end of the path, he was already sweating profusely.

"It is so troublesome without a detection Gu worm." Fang Yuan wiped the sweat off his forehead and after confirming his safety, calmed down and inspected the area.

This time at one glance, he was stunned.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a huge rock. The rock's surface was smooth and protruded towards Fang Yuan's direction, resembling Jia Fu's belly.

This rock alone halted Fang Yuan's progression.

Other than this huge rock, there was nothing around Fang Yuan.

"Is it because of an accident that the tunnel path was blocked, causing this?" Fang Yuan squinted as he thought about the possibilities.

Before the Flower Wine Monk died, he was eager to set up the inheritance. He used the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider and created a tunnel path. The path led deep within the mountains and to guide the inheritor in.

After hundreds of years, the passage was unable to withstand the corrosion of time and at one point, one of the areas collapsed due to lack of maintenance.

All sorts of accidents often happen in life.

"If this is the case, won't I be stuck at this point?" He went forward and touched the rock. This rock was halting his progression, its size was like a door, one could only imagine its overall thickness.

Fang Yuan could use the Moonlight Gu to carve away at the rock wall, but if he wanted to grind off this huge rock, it would take at least a year or two.

"It seems like I'm forced to use tools, I'll need to use spades and pickaxes to break the rock. Except if I do this, I might reveal some traces. The construction sounds might also travel out." Thinking of this, Fang Yuan frowned deeply. He was weighing the pros and cons.

If the risk was too huge, he would rather give up this strength inheritance.

After all, if others found out this secret, all the plotting and acting that Fang Yuan had done would go to waste, and his life would even be in danger!

-x-X-x-

The sun rises, signifying the arrival of another day.

The students lined up properly, faces flushed with excitement as they stood before the academy Gu storage room.

Today was the day where they would pick their second Gu!

As the first to advance to middle stage, Fang Yuan had the priority in choosing, thus he stood at the front of the queue.

Behind him was Gu Yue Mo Chen, Gu Yue Fang Zheng and Gu Yue Chi Cheng.

Creak.

The Gu storage room's door was opened by the guards, and Fang Yuan was the first to set foot into it.

The Gu room was not big, but was a sight to behold. The surrounding walls had square holes in them, some were big but others were small, holding all sorts of containers in them.

There was rock pots, jade pots, cages made of weaved grass, and some porcelain ware.

All sorts of Gu worms, being all Rank one, were stored in these containers. The academy probably spent more than 1000 primeval stones every day just to feed these Gu worms.

Fang Yuan glanced through and found that in many containers, they were already empty, having no Gu worms inside.

The Gu worms in the storage room were replenished once a year. Previously when they were choosing their vital Gu, most of the youngsters chose the Moonlight Gu, thus the storage room had no moonlight Gu left at the moment.

The storage room had no windows, there was only a small skylight at the rooftop.

The sunlight shone in from the skylight and formed a rectangular golden image on the ground.

The first time when he entered the Gu room, Fang Yuan already had an objective and chose the Moonlight Gu immediately. But now, he had several possible targets in his mind.

Yet these targets also depended on whether there was stock in the storage room.

Fang Yuan moved along the left wall and strolled inside slowly while examining the catalogue.

Five steps later, he paused.

A square box frame near his shoulder had a bronze bowl inside, and within it was a Gu worm.

This Gu worm was like a bedbug, flat and wide with a small head, having an oval body. It was yellow-orange throughout, and emitted a faint bronze-like glow.

This was the Bronze Skin Gu, the choice for most close-combat Gu Masters. The academy's martial arts instructor raised such a Gu, and once activated, causes the body to glow yellow, greatly raising defense.

Fang Yuan's knowledge was deep and broad, so of course he did not have any urge for this Gu. He continued forward and saw a Stone Skin Gu.

The Stone Skin Gu and Bronze Skin Gu were similar in appearance, but the Stone Skin Gu's body was grey instead, like an art piece made of rock.

After six Stone Skin Gu, there was the Iron Skin Gu.

Iron Skin Gu and Bronze Skin Gu were outwardly similar but with only a tiny difference. It was silently staying in a iron bowl, unmoving. It emitted a black iron-like glow around its body.

As humans have clans, so do Gu.

The three Gu that Fang Yuan saw simultaneously were all from the same series. They were similar in appearance and had similar effects.

"Iron Skin, Bronze Skin, Rock Skin, Jade Skin Gu..... if there is a Jade Skin Gu, I might as well choose it." Fang Yuan mumbled as his heart felt a tiny flicker of expectation rising, and he continued walking.

However he was destined to be disappointed, for after the Iron Skin Gu, he saw the Beast Skin Gu.

The Jade Skin Gu and Beast Skin Gu belonged to the same series as the Bronze Skin Gu etc. But they had great difference in value - the Beast Skin Gu was the most common, even cheaper than the Rock Skin Gu, but it had more evolutionary lines and could fuse with more varieties of Gu.

The Jade Skin Gu was the most rare Gu in this series. Its market value was only second to the Liquor worm, and at times the price would fluctuate and rival with the Liquor worm itself.

Fang Yuan took a look, but he did not find a Jade Skin Gu. He was not disappointed, but laughed in relief, "Gu Yue village is just a middle-sized clan, the academy Gu storage room is only of middle tier quality. To have a Jade Skin Gu, that is rather impossible."

The left side of the wall had already been inspected, so Fang Yuan swapped to another wall and continued strolling.

On this wall, there was mostly the Longhorn Beetle Gu.

Similar to the Skin Gu series, Longhorn Beetle Gu was a large clan among the Rank one Gu worms.

Their outer appearances were similar - they had long and circular cylinder figures, the back area having many outlines. A large part of the body was a black colour, giving out a metallic luster. It had a pair of feelers that were long and exceeded the body size; its chin was strong and it gave out screeching noises, like the sound of timber being sawed. With this, a few Gu Masters from some places would call them as the 'sawing tree bunch'.

What first entered Fang Yuan's vision was a Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu.

Its entire body was a red metallic colour, and it had a pair of antennae that was coarser than the usual Longhorn Beetle ones. On the top surface of the antenna there was a bamboo joint-like growth with every small interval.

This Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu was highly sought after in the market; earlier the caravan that came to the Gu Yue village had people who sold large numbers of this Gu.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu gave Gu Masters temporary super strength. It had the reputation of the strength of one bull, and could sustain for five breaths.

But it had two weaknesses.

One was that every activation consumed too much primeval essence. Rank one middle stage required 10% primeval essence, but if converted to initial stage, it would consume 20%.

Another was sequela. If the Gu Master had a weak constitution, using this Gu a lot would cause their muscles to get injured, even experiencing muscle tearing. Only Gu Masters with a strong body would choose to use this Gu. A small-sized person like Fang Yuan was unsuitable for it.

Fang Yuan knew this too, and walked past the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, continuing to look around.

"Oh? This is not bad." He halted his steps.

It was a Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle Gu.

The beetle's figure was a tiny bit thinner and longer than the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, the entire body coated in dark yellow colour. Its pair of long feelers did not have bamboo joints, and the roots were yellow in colour, slowly fading into black at the tip.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu could grant a Gu Master temporary strength, and this type of strength was immediate, only lasting for five breaths. But the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle Gu could grant the Gu Master durability and allow their stamina expenditure to be greatly reduced, however it could only sustain for fifteen minutes. At the same time it had no repercussions.

Among the Rank one Gu worms, the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle had high market value, comparable to the Moonlight Gu and only losing to the Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm.

Fang Yuan inspected the surroundings and found that there was only one Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle.

"The Gu is not bad, but it is not compatible with me." Fang Yuan shook his head, giving up this Gu.

Very quickly he walked and reached the corner of the wall, having finished looking at the second wall, but he was not satisfied.

The Gu in the storage room were only of this quality, and if he wanted to get lucky or get a surprise Gu, the chances were slim.

Fang Yuan turned to the third wall and continued inspecting.

On this wall, the Boar Gu were dominant.

Boar Gu was a series among the Gu worm.

There's the Flower Boar Gu, Pink Boar Gu, Black Boar Gu and White Boar Gu.

Pink Boar Gu had the least value, almost no Gu Masters chose them. It only had one ability, and that is to gain weight. After a Gu Master injects their primeval essence, the Pink Boar Gu would change their constitution and cause them to get fat. No matter how skinny they were, they would be able to become a big fat person.

There was only two to three Pink Boar Gu in the storage room, obviously of no nurturing value.

The Flower Boar Gu was the most abundant, having a dozen at least lining into a row. These Gu worms had flower patterns on the surface, either white and black, black and pink, or white and pink. There were even some that had all three colours. @@novelbin@@

The Flower Boar Gu's use was similar to the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, temporarily adding strength to the Gu master.

The Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu gave one bull's strength, and the Flower Boar Gu gave one boar's strength. The Flower Boar Gu spent the same amount of primeval essence as the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu but could sustain for ten breaths, twice of the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu.

This was because the Gu Master gained lesser strength, thus lesser side effects.

"The Flower Boar Gu is the most common Gu worm, and it is sold most abundantly in the market. It's price is half of the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, truly value for money. But among the Boar Gu clan, only those two last Gu has greater value, being even more expensive than the Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm!" Fang Yuan's eyes showed a light of deep thoughts.

A Black Boar Gu or a White Boar Gu could sell for 600 primeval stones in the market. Once it appeared, it was often sold immediately.

The Black and White Boar Gu's ability was to change the Gu Master's body constitution and raise their strength permanently.

Although the Brute Force Longhorn Beetle could grant a bull's strength, it could only last five breaths, uses too much energy to sustain and had strong after-effects.

The Black and White Boar's strength increment, although little at a time, would be accumulative over time and once obtained, the strength would belong to the Gu Master wholly. Even if the Gu dies, this strength will still remain on the Gu Master's body.

This is the reason why the Black and White Boar Gu's value is higher than the Liquor

Worm.

The public recognises that the Liquor worm's value should be slightly inferior to the Black or White Boar Gu.

The Liquor worm can only refine primeval essence, and after an intense battle, a Gu Master's primeval essence is easily depleted. For the remainder of the battle, they can only rely on their martial arts and their physical strength. This is when the White and Black Gu show their worth; they are more reliable than the Liquor worm.

"If I can refine a Black Boar Gu or White Boar Gu, that would be good." Fang Yuan was just imagining the scenario, but with this type of Gu storage room which only has one Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle, how can there be White or Black Boar Gu which are so rare?

He walked another round and saw all the Gu worms the room had to offer. As expected, there was nothing that truly captivated him.

At last, he retrieved a Little Light Gu at a corner of the wall.

There were five Little Light Gu in the storage room.

This Gu was oddly shaped, looking like a pentagram, and only half as large as a fingernail.

The Little Light Gu was mainly paired with the Moonlight Gu, a common assistance-type Gu worm for the Moonlight Gu. To Fang Yuan had chosen this Gu, it was merely an average option, but at least it suited his development path.

"Fang Yuan is out."

"Geez, finally out after so long."

"I wonder what Gu he chose?"

"He already has the Liquor worm, this is his third Gu, maybe he won't be able to raise them properly. Hehe."

Fang Yuan leisurely walked out of the storage room. The students were outside for such a long time and had started to become restless.

"It's my turn! I wonder what Gu has Fang Yuan chosen?" Once Gu Yue Mo Chen saw Fang Yuan stepping out he hurriedly took big steps and entered the storage room.

He checked and found that the sole Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle was still there. Mo Chen could not refrain from becoming overjoyed, immediately taking it away.

Afterwards, Fang Zheng went in.

"I have the Moonlight Gu for offense, but I lack a defensive-type Gu worm." Gu Yue Fang Zheng after long consideration, decided to choose a Bronze Skin Gu.

Gu Yue Chi Cheng was the fourth to enter.

"I need an evasion ability, so in future battles I will be able to hit others, but others cannot hit me. I'll be virtually unbeatable." He looked left and right, and finally chose a Dragonpill cricket Gu.

-x-X-x-

The sun lowers and the moon rises, the signal of the arrival of nightfall.

This was one of the concealed courtyards in the Gu Yue Village.

A locust tree that stood with complicated branches and luxuriant leaves, its robust and spacious treetop that was like a jasper imperial canopy, enveloped the entire courtyard.

The moonlight was gentle like water, travelling through the leaves and branches of the locust tree, spilling into the courtyard.

A gust of wind blew over, sending the tree leaves rustling, the shadows of the tree swaying slightly.

It was under this tree that two people stood.

Gu Yue Bo used a gentle gaze and looked at Fang Zheng. "Fang Zheng, today you chose your second Gu, I wonder what it is?"

"Reporting to clan leader sir, today I chose a Bronze Skin Gu." Gu Yue Fang Zheng stood rigid, saying with a look of admiration.

Gu Yue Bo nodded, and after pondering he replied, "Not bad, it is a good choice."

Gu Yue Fang Zheng stood before Gu Yue Bo, his body tensed and tightened. Hearing Gu Yue Bo's praise, he did not know how to reply for a while, so in the end he only laughed, "Clan leader, I chose randomly."

"You think I'm not serious in praising you? No." Gu Yue Bo stared at Fang Zheng, a smile on his face, "Do you know? From choosing a Gu, it shows a person's disposition."

"You chose the Bronze Skin Gu for defense. Paired with the Moonlight Gu, it is both offense and defense. This shows your pure nature. In this world, offense and defense are like frontal and ambush, yin and yang, soft and hard, this is the king's path."

"Gu Yue Mo Bei chose the Yellow Camel Longhorn Beetle, this Gu grants stamina and allows him to sustain battle. This shows his stubborn and strong attitude."

"As for Gu Yue Chi Cheng, he chose the Dragonpill cricket Gu, allowing him to increase his dodging ability. This shows he does not like frontal attacks, being a witty person, good at tactics, but also showed the weakness in his character."

Gu Yue Fang Zheng was stunned after listening, for he did not expect that such a simple matter could reveal that much information and logic.

Consequently, his attitude towards Gu Yue Bo became even more respectful.

"Clan leader, what did my brother choose?" Fang Zheng thought of Fang Yuan and immediately asked.

Gu Yue Bo laughed, "He chose the Little Light Gu, this Gu is used to assist the Moonlight Gu and can make the moonblade attack stronger. This shows his extreme, active and invasive personality."

"Indeed, big brother seems to be like that." Fang Zheng muttered.

Gu Yue Bo took Fang Zheng's expression into consideration and etched it into his mind.

Those who were rulers had their unique ability. Although Gu Yue Bo and Fang Zheng did not interact for long, Gu Yue Bo's experienced gaze had already seen through Fang Zheng.

Him telling Fang Zheng about Mo Bei and Chi Cheng's decisions had deeper meaning.

It was to help Fang Zheng analyze these two people, for he anticipated him defeating the two of them and establishing the role of clan leader with his A grade talent.

But Gu Yue Bo would not say it out loud, and would not instigate Fang Zheng's actions.

As the clan leader, his every word and action had political implications. If he directly controlled Fang Zheng and dealt with Chi Cheng and Mo Bei, if words spread it might be misunderstood as the clan leader's political assault. If that's the case, the implication would be huge and it might even cause a clan dispute, harming the entire village.

There was another point - Gu Yue Bo was waiting for Fang Zheng to understand his intentions. He spent time and effort to nurture Fang Zheng, but it was not to nurture a Rank four or five fighter. A fighter without political knowledge was like a double edged sword. He needed the future leader for the clan!

"I analyzed Mo Bei and Chi Cheng's personality for Fang Zheng, but he did not notice my intention, instead asking about Fang Yuan's situation. It seems that he has great trauma regarding Fang Yuan, but he is also at his rebellious stage. He wants to beat Fang Yuan, that's understandable. Sigh, if only Fang Zheng had Fang Yuan's intelligence, I've seen many youngsters these years, but when it comes to political wits, Fang Yuan tops them all. It is a pity he only has C grade talent."]

Gu Yue Bo sighed internally but his smile got even more gentle.

He took out a Gu worm from his pocket.

"This is ----- Jade Skin Gu?" Fang Zheng on seeing this Gu worm, said lightly with his eyes wide open.

Gu Yue Bo said, "Compared to the Bronze Skin Gu, this Jade Skin Gu is much better, not only using less primeval essence but also gives greater defense. Fang Zheng, do you want it?"

"Clan leader!" Fang Zheng was shocked and he looked at Gu Yue Bo, stuttering, "I... of course I want it."

"I can give it to you." Gu Yue Bo laughed even more amicably, "But as the clan leader, I have to be impartial and cannot give it to you for no reason, thus I have a condition."

Fang Zheng nodded repeatedly, staring widely, "What condition?"

Gu Yue Bo's smile vanished, showing a stern expression, "I want you to be the first to breakthrough Rank one into Rank two, be the first place in terms of cultivation! And this Jade Skin Gu is your advancement reward."

"Ah, advance to Rank two?" Gu Yue Fang Zheng hesitated for a moment. He had just become Rank one middle stage; after middle stage was upper stage, and after that there was still peak stage.

But now Gu Yue Bo wanted to him to be the first person to advance to Rank two.

"What's wrong, are you afraid? Then I can only give this Gu to others." Gu Yue Bo pretended to keep the Jade Skin Gu.

Fang Zheng was incited by this sentence, immediately his brain heated up as he shouted, "No, I promise you! I will defeat everyone and be the first Rank two cultivator!"

"That's the way." Gu Yue Bo showed his gentle smile again, placing the Jade Skin Gu on Fang Zheng's hand.

He thought in his heart, "Fang Zheng, I know you feel inferior, but this inferiority complex is too harmful to your growth. The best way to dispel your inferiority is success. You have A grade talent, so advancing to Rank two first is your greatest advantage, and also the easiest success you can achieve. You must succeed, for if you fail even this, I would be too disappointed."

At the same time, Fang Yuan stepped into the secret cave behind the rock crack again, getting into the end of the tunnel.

This time, he did not bring any steel spade, pickaxe or hammer, but carefully observed the surroundings. He was discouraged by this setback the previous night, and on the way back to the village he felt something amiss. @@novelbin@@

Only today in the dormitory where he used the Spring Autumn Cicada to refine the Little Light Gu did he suddenly understand the weird part of this situation.

"This huge rock blocking my path is too round and smooth, this is definitely man made. That is to say, the Flower Wine Monk purposely set this to block to path, but why did he set this hurdle at such a place?" Fang Yuan pondered.

He looked at the surroundings again.

The ground of the path was smooth and the top was curved; the walls on both sides were red soil, emitting a red light.

"Eh?" When he looked at the ground again, he found a point of suspicion.

The ground near the giant rock was slightly darker in colour. This colour difference was not very obvious and not easily found under such a dimly lit environment.

Fang Yuan knelt down, touching the ground, feeling a sense of wetness.

No wonder the colour was darker, it was wet.

But this path was so dry, where was the water coming from?

Fang Yuan grinded the soil with his fingers, finding out that the soil on this patch of earth had issues. It was very soft and loose, not lumpy like the dry red soil.

Fang Yuan's gaze shone. Experience and intuition told him that this area had the 'key' that the Flower Wine Monk had hidden.

And this 'key' was the clue that would allow him to continue moving forward.

Fang Yuan began to dig the soil. It was loose so he did not spend much effort.

After digging for around an inch deeper, there was a peculiar fragrance rushing into Fang Yuan's nostrils.

"This fragrance is thick and luxurious yet not common, it seems delicate and elegant, could it be..." Fang Yuan's heart moved as he thought of a possibility, his hands moving even faster.

While digging, the area under the soil suddenly emitted a faint dark gold light.

"It really is what I'm thinking of!" Fang Yuan's eyes shone, his hand movement becoming more delicate, carefully digging the surrounding soil away, expanding this hole.

After a while, a dark gold-coloured flower bud that was buried under the ground appeared in front of him.

It was two inches deep in the ground, around the size of a stone mill, the bud's surface delicate and with the dark gold colour, it appeared to be mysterious and elegant.

"It really is the Earth Treasury Flower Gu!" Seeing this, Fang Yuan breathed out deeply.

He was not eager in peeling away the flower petals, but took a rest on the ground instead, wiping the soil off his hands. Then he slowly stretched his hand and pried open the dark gold-coloured petals.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu was like the combination of a lotus and kale. Its petals were tightly knitted together with numerous thick pieces, slippery when felt. As Fang Yuan opened the petals one by one, it was like revealing thick layers of silk.

Once it left the main body, the huge dark gold-coloured petals would disperse quickly. It was like snowflakes that melted into the air.

After uncovering around fifty to sixty pieces of petals, the bud had shrunk in half, revealing the flower core.

The core's petals were smaller and thinner, its texture becoming more smooth and fine. It was no longer like silk, but more like thin pieces of paper. .

Fang Yuan's movements became gentler and slower, only opening a piece of petal in a few breaths.

The petals became increasingly transparent, and after a while, when Fang Yuan had opened the pieces of thin paper-like petals, he stopped his movements.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu at this moment only had a last layer of petals left.

These petals overlapped each other, forming a fist-sized ball.

The petals were translucent, thin as paper. Inside these petals contained a golden liquid and in the middle of this liquid, a Gu worm was sleeping inside.

Fang Yuan looked intently, but he could only see a blurry shadow of the Gu worm, and he could not tell which Gu it was.

He was close to it, and his breath was blown on the flower core. The spherical flower core began to shake, the golden liquid also moving gently inside the petals.

Gu worms would die without food, and only a few Gu worms could seal themselves. To protect and conserve Gu worms, Gu Masters have had thought of many methods.

The Earth Treasury Flower Gu was one of them.

It was a one-time use type Gu, and once implanted on the ground, it could not be moved.

Its food was simple, which was earth energy. As long as it was planted on the ground, it would be able to survive with sufficient earth energy.

It only had one use, and that is to contain a Gu within the flower heart and immerse the Gu in the golden liquid.

This golden nectar could to an extent, imitate the sealing state and let Gu worms fall into hibernation.

"The Flower Wine Monk planted this Earth Treasury Flower Gu, so the Gu within has to be for the inheritor." Fang Yuan stretched out a finger and peeled the remaining petals carefully, revealing an opening.

The golden liquid flowed out along his finger, feeling like soybean oil.

The flower core began to soften with the loss of the golden liquid. Fang Yuan moved his finger and the petals were split, allowing him to retrieve the slumbering Gu worm.

It was a cute ladybug. Only the size of the thumb's fingernail.

Its body was a milky white colour, and if overlooked from the back, it was like a circle.

Its head only occupied a small area, while the rest of the body was its large fat stomach and bright shiny exoskeleton.

Its six tiny limbs were also cream coloured, hidden under its stomach.

"White Boar Gu!" Fang Yuan showed an expression of joy on his face.

-x-X-x-

The temperature these few days had gotten higher.

The sun shone intensely in the afternoon, hanging right over everyone's head.

The caravan left and the inn's business fell again.

Fang Yuan stepped into the cafeteria, immediately attracting the attention of the shop assistants.

A familiar face rushed over and gave him a flattering smile. "Oh, young master, you're here! Please take a seat!"

"Give me a jar of wine and cut me 600g of beef, and serve a few side dishes." Fang Yuan strode through the cafeteria and approached the window seat that he always sat at.

The shop assistant showed a difficult expression, "Young master, my apologies but during the last time the caravan came, the innkeeper sold all of the green bamboo wine. We do not have this wine here anymore."

Fang Yuan nodded, not feeling surprised, "Then give me a jar of rice wine and tell the innkeeper, brew more green bamboo wine this year, I am pre-ordering a hundred jars. As for how much the advance payment will be, you can count first and report to me."

Now that the Liquor worm was exposed and did not gather any suspicion, Fang Yuan did not have to be restrained in buying wine anymore.

"Alright, I will definitely convey your words! Please be at ease young master." The shop assistant patted his chest, sounding confident.

Soon, the dishes were served.

Fang Yuan drank and ate while staring out of the window.

In such hot weather, especially during meal times, there were few people on the streets.

The sunlight shone on the ground and the green coloured bamboo tall-houses.

A few barefooted mortal farmers carrying cement, steel spades or shoulder poles walked in front. They had just finished their farm work, and were heading home.

Two children held the bamboo frame of their windmill toy and ran about. The one behind chased while crying and shouting; it seems that the boy in front had stolen his windmill toy.

At this moment, two young Gu Masters wearing green belts walked hurriedly on the street.

"Get lost, don't block the way!" A Gu Master pushed the farmer in front of him.

The farmers frantically gave way.

"Hmph." The two young Gu Masters walked through arrogantly.

Fang Yuan looked with a distracted gaze in his eyes, as part of his mind was already focused on his aperture.

Within the aperture, the water wall continued to flow as his green copper primeval sea rose with raging waves.

The Liquor worm was playing around in his primeval sea, at times comfortably rolling around, and at times curling into a ball.

The Spring Autumn Cicada was in deep slumber, hiding its appearance.

The round body of the White Boar Gu spread its wings and drew circles in the sky.

The White and Black Boar Gu were equally well-known, both being precious and rare Rank one Gu worms. Their market value was even greater than the Liquor worm.

Although they had the same usage and similar appearance, their future advancement routes were greatly different.

The Black Boar Gu and the Green Silk Gu would combine into the Rank two Black Mane Gu, and then into the Rank 3 Steel Mane Gu.

But the White Boar Gu was most compatible with the Jade Skin Gu, where it would turn into Rank two White Jade Gu, and later into the Rank three Heavenly Mugwort Gu(1).

The Steel Mane Gu could let the Gu Master's hair become tough as steel, raising both offense and defense. The Heavenly Mugwort Gu allowed the Gu Master's body to become tough as white jade while at the same time reducing the damage from attacks such as the moonblade.

Fang Yuan was slightly happy over this.

Getting the White Boar Gu was just one aspect of it, but what made him truly happy was the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance.

"The White Boar Gu can increase strength. The Flower Wine Monk set a giant rock to block the way, so it seems I need to refine this Gu and with enough strength, push the giant rock away and continue forward. This must be the first test."

"With the Flower Wine Monk's meticulous setup, I can infer that there has to be future inheritance trials, a second or third hurdle. Most importantly, I can confirm that he set this strength inheritance not as a trap, but with true sincerity."

"With this inheritance, I can reach Rank three faster and leave this Qing Mao Mountain, and venture outside, gaining greater opportunities!"

What does a Gu Master need most in cultivating?

The answer is but one word — Resources. @@novelbin@@

Fang Yuan needs to cultivate, thus he needs resources. But the clan's resources are limited, so if he wants more, he needs to fight for it.

Not only fighting for resources, he also has to be victorious.

To him, the more he fights and the more victories he obtained, the more he would reveal more of his trump cards and make others more wary.

Wariness when accumulated to an extent, would turn into suppression and hurdles blocking his path.

Fang Yuan killed a family servant, but why did the Mo family stay indifferent? Robbing the classmates, why did their family not pursue it? Fang Yuan resisted the clan and refused to be part of the system, but why did the clan leader choose to be lenient?

It is all because he is weak, because he is C grade.

They feel strong and do not feel like bullying the weak. Under the family's system, being petty with the weak Fang Yuan not only causes them to face humiliation, it also makes others feel that the person is cold and unfeeling, ruining one's social relationships.

Weakness was a safety umbrella that Fang Yuan had for now.

But with his continued competition for resources, Fang Yuan would appear stronger. This would make everyone start being wary of him, and begin to try recruiting him. No matter which side he chooses, he would face suppression and troubles from the other factions.

Suppression and restrictions would drag down his growing speed.

Fang Yuan was aware of his predicament, he was in a delicate position. He seemed to have offended everyone, but he had not violated any law in reality.

Yet with time, his cultivation level will rise, and conflicts will arise and worsen.

Fang Yuan knowns that this conflict would escalate, but the later it escalated, the greater benefit he would gain.

Thus, the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was perfectly timed!

With this strength inheritance, he would have hidden resources. Using this, he could be free of the system's control and walk his own path, cultivating at his own speed and secretly accumulate strength.

Once he was adopted into the system, he would need to side with a faction. Even if he did not want to compete, he would definitely be dragged into the political strife.

Inside the system, one is a pawn. You first have to be a proper pawn for others to use you willingly. After they trust and use you, you have the chance to climb upwards, and even during that process, you have to be careful not to become a discarded pawn.

Fang Yuan was clear of this procedure, he knew it too well. Even with his vast knowledge, there was nothing he could do to this situation. These were the rules!

The more crucial part was his C grade talent. To the clan, there was no desire in investing in him. Often he would be treated as a discarded pawn.

The most optimum progress route was to work alone. This way, he could avoid most competition. Towards the higher-ups in the village, the image he had created earlier would be sustained.

"This world's matters, it is always easily done secretly, but difficult to do openly. Using the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, I can cultivate and gather strength secretly without gaining attention and suppression. But the extortion has to continue, for if it stopped abruptly, it would invite suspicion, and I also need primeval stones." Fang Yuan considered his future plans.

He really needed primeval stones.

Other teenagers of his age had only started refining and feeding a second Gu worm. He however, had also refined the Little Light Gu and recently acquired the White Boar Gu, thus having a total of four Gu worms.

Previously, he needed around one primeval stone a day just to feed the Moonlight Gu and Liquor worm. Now after calculating, he needed more than two pieces everyday just as expenditure!

If including his cultivating needs and living expenditures, he would need to use around five primeval stones a day!

Five primeval stones was enough to feed a family of three mortals for five months.

On hand at the moment, he had several hundred primeval stones, but it was not enough to sustain such an expenditure in the long run.

More importantly, the further he got, the greater his expenditure would be. Especially after advancing to Rank two, every time he tried combining Gu worms, it would be cost a huge sum.

Thinking of this, Fang Yuan felt troubled.

The matter of primeval stones was a problem, and by relying on just extortion and the resources on hand, he could only delay this problem from erupting.

Moreover, he had another problem, and that was the White Boar Gu's feeding.

The White Boar Gu's food was pork.

Boar, obviously referred to pigs. The Boar Gu series' food, was all pork.

Black and White Boar Gu had huge appetites. Every five days they would need to eat around one fully grown pig's amount of meat.

Pork in this world was not cheap, and mortals could only afford to slaughter one during the New Year celebration, and enjoy themselves. Without the large scale cultivation technique of Earth, the price of pork and beef was not something mortals could eat often. At the same time the topography of the Qing Mao Mountain was precipitous, the area of residence narrow, how much space could be allocated just for rearing livestock?

You eat what you can procure at where you live, the villagers were able to eat pork occasionally because of the hunters hunting wild boars in the mountains.

"It seems that I have to go hunting myself from now on, for pork." Fang Yuan's eyes shone with a glint.

Relying on the village to purchase pork, first was the expenditure of primeval stones, second was that it would attract attention. Even if you loved eating pork, how could a person eat so much in such a short period?

If he hunted himself, it would not only resolve this problem, but also alleviate his current financial stress.

"Shop assistant, bill!" Thinking of this, Fang Yuan hesitated no more, and after footing the bill, he left the inn.

These few days the academy was on break so that the students could refine their second Gu worm. Fang Yuan decided that he could use this time well. He would leave the village and scout the mountains, and then kill some wild boars and get himself some pork.

-x-X-x-

The mountain forest was boundless, and Fang Yuan walked through patiently.

The sunlight permeated through the huge and tall woods, shining and creating a ground of mottled and fragmentary tree shadows.

The green grass beside his feet was like a mattress, and the wild flowers bloomed with bright colours.

His ears picked up the sound of birds chirping, or the trickling of flowing water.

The further he got from the village, walking towards the outer surroundings, the more risky it was. Thus Fang Yuan was even more careful.

The wilderness was very dangerous, Gu Masters had to have at least Rank three cultivation to be able to venture the wilds alone and explore. But this did not mean they were safe, as many Rank three Gu Masters died in the wild, sometimes even Rank fours. Wild beasts, poisonous worms, human threats, and at times the weather, these were all causes of death.

However, Fang Yuan wanted to kill the wild boars which were often found around the village's peripheral. Otherwise, the village hunters would not be able to catch wild boars.

"The environment around the village, every now and then, Gu Masters from the clan would come out and clear the area. This environment to a Rank one middle stage like me, is still safe. But I still have to be careful, wild beasts and Gu worms like to move around."

With his experience from his previous life, Fang Yuan scouted carefully.

Time gradually passed, but Fang Yuan gained nothing.

"Damn, Qing Mao Mountain is still too big for the current me. I have no scouting-type Gu and I am not familiar with this environment, plus Qing Mao Mountain is periodically cleared up, so to find a wild boar, it is too difficult. Let's go to the foot of the mountain!"

Fang Yuan's scouting was unfruitful, thus he changed his mind and went to the mountain foot.

Qing Mao Mountain has three mountain villages. Gu Yue village, Xiong family village, and Bai family village. The Xiong family village was on the fore mountain, the Gu Yue mountain village was at the mountain waist, and Bai family village was at the back mountain waterfall.

Other than the three villages, there was also tens of tiny villages at the mountain foot, all being inhabited by mortals.

The three mountain villages split these small villages among themselves, being the ones controlling them behind the scenes. Once they lacked family servants, they would pick from these small villages.

But they would not choose Gu Masters.

Nurturing a Gu Master, they would only choose a clansman. Even if they knew that among these mortals were people with talent, although rare, they would still not use them.

This world was heavily sided towards bloodline, and holding power among relatives was the political stability that the clan needed.

In order to expand in size, many mountain villages had adopted outsiders into their system. Eventually their power flowed out and caused internal conflicts, thus causing the entire clan to breakdown or weaken.

No matter the world, political power was still based off military force, this is the truth.

And troops are the brute force department, representing strength. By controlling strength, one gains status and authority.

Of course, the clan's rules are not ever constant, they also adopt new blood. Every year, there would be outsiders marrying into the clan, leaving their servant status, and the children they give birth to would be a Gu Yue, a new generation clansman.

This is like connecting a tiny stream into a spring. Do not underestimate this stream, as without it, a spring would be still, and eventually rot. With it, there would be life, and the spring would grow even stronger.

Fang Yuan's previous servant Shen Cui was betting on this idea of marrying into a Gu Yue and leaving her servant status.

Fang Yuan left the mountain, and after thirty minutes, could see thick smoke rising from under the mountain.

After a while, he could see a wide hill in his vision, and a village around that area beside a small river.

The small villages around the vicinity were under the rule of the Gu Yue village. Although they were closeby, the small villages were not as safe, thus requiring regular clean up. For mortals to live in such conditions and manage to survive, to Fang Yuan, he naturally could accept such a fact.

"Oh?" On the mountain path nearing the village, Fang Yuan sensitively found traces on the ground. His past experience told him that this was a wild boar's traces.

"Chase!" Fang Yuan raised his spirits as he followed the clues, getting deeper into the mountains.

Green moss spread over the stones, ancient juniper trees and tall pagoda trees completing the great forest.

Under the strong light of the sun, the mountain woods of summer was even more profound and serene. The lush underbrush suddenly moved a little.

A few deer eating the sumptuous grass looked up, vigilantly staring at the bushes, their ears twitching.

The bushes that were half a man's height split apart, and a young man crawled out from within. His skin was pale and his black hair was short. He was wearing a modest linen shirt, it was Fang Yuan.

Swoosh.

A few wild deer were frightened, and their four thin limbs quickly moved, sprinting away. In a moment, they vanished from Fang Yuan's vision.

"These are female deer, their fur can be shaved to make warm clothing, and deer meat is also some Gu worm's food. If it's a male deer, the antlers are most precious, and some are even necessary ingredients for a Gu worm's advancement.

The wild was dangerous all over, and at the same time it had great treasures.

Fang Yuan looked at the direction that they were escaping in, and retracted his gaze. His target was wild boars, not these deer.

He continued moving.

There was the sound of buzzing.

Nearing these noises, Fang Yuan stopped in his tracks.

"Beehive." He looked forward and saw a beehive hanging on a tree.

The bee's nest was massive, the size was that of a wicker-basket. It appeared as a sort of greyish dark yellow colour. Outside the bee nest was a few dozen bee soldiers flying around; occasionally a few worker bees would enter and exit.

"Beehive has honey, and honey is the Bear Strength Gu's food. Thus, the Xiong family has great demand for honey. This beehive is only a small-sized one, and the chances of producing a Gu isn't high. If I had the Bronze Skin Gu, I could risk getting stabbed and collect the honey. What a pity." Fang Yuan thought.

In this world, not all insects are Gu.

Gu are the spirit of the world, the body of the laws, how can it be so cheap? Among a swarm of insects, normally only the insect king is a Gu.

But that depends on their size and development, so if the swarm is too small, there is no Gu either.

Taking the beehive ahead as an example, because it is too small, there is a low chance of having a Gu.

Fang Yuan routed around this beehive and continued forward.

The traces of the wild boar was getting more evident, and Fang Yuan knew he was getting close to it, thus he became more careful, as wild boars were very dangerous.

Wild boars are not reared pig. When a mature wild boar fights with a tiger, the tiger may not win.

In this mystical world, wild beasts are not simple too.

"Oh? This situation!" When Fang Yuan finally found the wild boar, he saw that it had fallen into a huge pit. A sharpened green bamboo was situated at the bottom of the pit, where it had pierced the wild boar and was causing it to bleed.

Seeing the accumulated blood in the pit, he could tell that the boar had already been in the trap for at least fifteen minutes.

But this wild boar continued to struggle, whimpering and howling, still full of life.

"This trap is obviously set by hunters. To think I'm reaping the rewards." Fang Yuan smiled but his expression was grim.

These traps threatened him too.

If he had fallen into it, after half a quarter of an hour, he would die.

Although the village surroundings were cleared regularly, the hunters often came to hunt and set many traps. Some could be discerned, while others were designed to be hidden, and if Fang Yuan could not discover them, he might fall into the trap.

"Any area in this mountain could have a trap buried by the hunters. But among hunters, with every trap set they would inform each other on the location. It seems I have to find an old hunter's residence and find out about the trap locations from him. Along with the surrounding wild beasts' activity area and with these intel, I would not have to search like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Fang Yuan thought internally.

This was the problem of not having a scouting-type of Gu worm.

But to find a good scouting-type Gu, it was not easy.

In a short time, he could barely make do with a hunter's intel.

With such a thought, Fang Yuan's wrist flicked and a moonblade flew out, easily hitting the wild boar.

Whoosh!

With a light ring, the entire moonblade cut through the boar's neck and caused a long and slender wound. Then with a plop sound, a blood fountain spewed out from it.

The spewing blood caused the wound to become bigger, and thus the blood fountain also enlarged.

The boar screeched, thrashing about with the last of its energy, until its movements became smaller and smaller...

Fang Yuan silently looked at the scene, his face calm.

The wild boar's life faded as its eyes were staring wide and perfectly round, the muscles on its body twitching and the warm blood filling the trap hole, a thick smell of blood permeating the surrounding.

"Survival or death, this is the theme of nature." He sighed in his heart.

At this point, human voices were heard.

"Second brother Wang, within our village, no one is better than you at hunting. Especially killing wild boars, your family's Old Wang is the hunting king in the entire region, who would not know of his great name?"

"That's right, second brother Wang inherited the old hunter's abilities. To hunt a wild boar, it is naturally as good as caught!"

"Second brother Wang, why didn't little sister Wang come with you today?"

After all the bootlicking, a grave and stern voice said, "Hmph! Hunting a wild boar, how can it show my true abilities? Today I want to kill three boars, you'll see! Er Gou Dan, stop lusting after my sister, or I'll thrash you!!!"

Er Gou Dan retorted, "Men and women marry when they're of age, what's wrong with liking little sister Wang? Moreover, I'm not the only one, which guy in your village doesn't also fancy her too? Second brother Wang, in my opinion you are also nineteen already, you should marry a wife and have kids already."

The voice spoke again, "Hmph, I'm a true blue man, how can I lust after such a small temptation? One day, I will leave this Qing Mao Mountain and explore the world and learn about everything under the sky, that will truly be fitting of my manly status!"

Saying so, the four young hunters walked out of the forest.

The leader hunter had a tall build, carrying a bow and arrow, his muscles bulging and his eyes full of spirit, showing a powerful aura.

When he saw Fang Yuan, he frowned and screamed, "Hmm? Which village are you from kid, how dare you try to take advantage of me Wang Er, quickly get lost!"

-x-X-x-

"Get lost?" Hearing Wang Er's words, Fang Yuan immediately broke into a cold smirk and he brandished his palm in front of him.

Swoosh.

With a light sound, a blue coloured moonblade shot forward.

At the same time, he put strength into his leg and rushed towards the four hunters.

"Gu Master?!" The hunters were stunned and shouted upon seeing the moonblade.

The moonblade had already fired over, and they rushed to evade.

Plonk.

A person did not evade fast enough, and his right forearm was hit by the moonblade. Immediately his bones and flesh split, the entire wrist and his forearm cut through and fell on the ground.

"AHHHH!"

He laid on the ground, screaming in fear and pain. His left arm was like an eagle claw gripping his right arm. His right limb spewed bright red blood non stop, quickly dyeing the floor red.

"Spare me!"

"We did not offend you intentionally!"

The other two mortals on seeing their companion's state, went pale without a trace of blood in their face. They hurriedly got on all fours and kneeled down, kowtowing to Fang Yuan nonstop.

"Hmph, a bunch of fags, what are you afraid of? It's just a Gu disciple!" Only Wang Er was still standing. Fang Yuan attacked without warning, and this had made him frightened and angry. His arms went behind his back, and with a swift action, he grabbed hold of the bow and arrow in his arms.

"Stop, come further and I'll shoot you!" Wang Er retreated as he readied the arrow while screaming.

"Oh?" Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes. This Wang Er was rather intractable. Normally when mortals saw Gu Masters, they would be cowering in fear. Yet this man was able to remain calm, he must be rather bold.

Pew.

Another moonblade shot out towards Wang Er.

"Unappreciative bastard." Wang Er snorted and killing intent rose from his heart.

He took a side step and evaded the moonblade while shooting an arrow. The arrow was fast, and with a swoosh, it reached Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan ducked, his head lowering slightly and evading the arrow as he continued rushing forward, quickly reaching Wang Er.

Wang Er bravely threw away the bow in his hand and clenched his bowl sized fist, rushing towards Fang Yuan.

He had a large build, his back strong like a wolf's and his waist like a bee's, and he was at least fifty centimetres taller than Fang Yuan. The sunlight shone from behind him, and as Fang Yuan rushed towards him, he could see a dark shadow hanging over his face, his eyes emitting killing intent like a wolf!

"No!!"

"Stop quickly!"

The two hunters seeing that the two were going to collide into each other, frightfully shouted.

"Die!" Wang Er's eyes were fierce as the muscles on his face twitched, showing his sinister and insane expression, like a bloodthirsty evil wolf.

Both his fists flew towards Fang Yuan.

Boom.

His fist was fast and heavy, even cutting the wind!

Fang Yuan could see the fist getting bigger in his eyes, but his expression was unchanging as he took a side step.

Swoosh.

At the crucial moment, he avoided the fist and forcefully rotated his body, knocking Wang Er's left hand away.

Wang Er laughed sinisterly as he waved his fist horizontally, his fist striking first, about to reach Fang Yuan's back.

But at this moment, a bright flash of sunlight entered his iris.

His back was originally facing the sun, and now that he had turned around, the eye-piercing sunlight temporarily made his eyes hurt, and his vision went blank.

Fang Yuan smirked as he backflipped in the air, dodging Wang Er's fist, at the same time waving his right arm.

Pew!

The third moonblade flew along the sunlight trajectory.

Wang Er's senses tingled as he felt unprecedented danger. He turned his head around and the next moment, the eerie blue moonblade flew past.

"Be careful brother Wang Er!"

"Did he avoid it?"

The two kneeling on the ground forgot to beg for forgiveness at this moment, staring widely.

The piercing sunlight shone on their face.

At this moment, time seemed to slow down.

The surrounding sound vanished, and the world was silent.

The afternoon's blazing sun paved a white background, and on this backdrop, Wang Er's body became a black shadow. His body was in the air at an arc, his muscular body stretching in a crescent shape like an open bow, full of masculine appeal.

His head lowered as he tried to avoid the moonblade.

The moonblade flew like a snail in the air, its eerie blue light almost invisible under the sun's rays.

The white background, the black shadow, and the blue moonblade — these three formed a brilliant stage for a moment full of life and death.

The moonblade flew over.

The shadow that represented Wang Er landed smoothly as it flowed with the trajectory.

He was safe and sound.

"Phew!" Seeing this, a young hunter breathed out a sigh of relief.

"He avoided it!" Another hunter was cheering internally.

But at this time!

A small piece of the shadow's head flew out along with red fluids, separating from the shadow and spewing everywhere.

The blue moonblade gradually dissipated in the air.

That black shadow was like a broken bow, as the energy accumulated within it disappeared at once. It turned into a beautiful but sad fallen leaf, silently landing on the ground.

The two hunter's irises shrunk into pin size.

Their mouths were agape, stretching to their bodily limits.

Splat.

The bright red fluid landed on their faces.

The two touched their faces —

Blood!

They jolted awake!

In their perception, time had returned to normal, and noise returned.

There were birds chirping, water flowing and their companion screaming while grabbing his broken arms.

"Second brother Wang...?" A hunter called, his voice full of horror. All this time, Wang Er was their leader.

"He's dead!" Another hunter cried out, his face grim to the limit. @@novelbin@@

"Brother Wang Er is our strongest hunter. A while ago he was still talking with us, but to think the next moment he's dead!"

"He should not have angered that Gu Master, we mortals are no match for Gu Masters!"

The two hunters were frightened and shocked, at once they were like statues kneeling on the ground.

Fang Yuan got up from the ground.

Earlier, to avoid Wang Er's fist, he rotated his body in the air and lost his balance. After shooting the moonblade, he fell to the ground. But this fall was worth it, as Wang Er's fist would've caused him to vomit blood on the spot. After all, Fang Yuan had no defensive Gu, and his body was only a fifteen year old.

Now, he stood up, other than his shoulders hurting, he had practically no injuries.

"This Wang Er is very strong, much stronger than that Mo family servant Gao Wan! If any other student encountered him, they would lose without doubt. Even a Rank one upper stage Gu Master would lose to him out of carelessness." Fang Yuan stared at the corpse of Wang Er deeply.

Gu Masters were still threatened by genius mortal martial artists when they are at Rank one stage.

This Wang Er was truly skilled.

His archery skill was fast and stable, just relying on this it could match moonblade. In fact, the moonblade might even be inferior, as the arrow has a larger range. His fighting skill has reached the peak of mortals — a strong body with tough bones, and he was also ruthless. With Fang Yuan's small body, it could not go head to head with him.

Thus, any other student would lose undoubtedly. Unfortunately for Wang Er, he met Fang Yuan.

Once he appeared, Fang Yuan noticed his bow and deduced that he could not fight long range with him.

The moonblade only had a range of ten meters. The bow had far greater range than the moonblade.

Thus, Fang Yuan ditched long combat. He quickly got closer and closed the gap between them, showing a physical fighting stance.

Wang Er had no choice but to discard his bow and fight physically with Fang Yuan.

But Fang Yuan did not really think of going close combat with Wang Er. He used the angle of the sun's rays and caused a weakness in Wang Er, before shooting out his third moonblade.

He was already middle stage now, and with the Liquor worm's refinement, the moonblade had the attack power of an upper stage Gu Master. At such a close range, with Wang Er's weakened vision, his defeat was guaranteed.

"But this Wang Er is indeed skillful. I wanted to decapitate him, but at the crucial moment, he relied on his senses and reflexes and evaded half of my attack, causing my moonblade to cut off only half of his head."

"Life and death is nature's law. All living beings are equal, and everyone has their right to survive and be killed. There might be royalty and lower beings, but in face of death, a person's death is no different from a pig's, what's the difference? They're both dead."

Fang Yuan took a final look at Wang Er's corpse and sighed in his heart.