Six turns of the spring and autumn cicadas!
During the refining process, Fang Yuan encountered the backlash of the Gu insect!
The Wine Insect, inheriting the powerful will of the Drunken Flowery Walker, invaded Fang Yuan's aperture and fiercely retaliated against him.
This immense willpower surged downwards, attacking the bronze primeval sea at the bottom of Fang Yuan's aperture.
The bronze primeval sea roared in response, waves surging violently. Under Fang Yuan's will, a large amount of primeval essence surged upwards, converging into a massive wave, clashing fiercely with the Wine Insect's will.
The two forces were about to collide fiercely in the center of the aperture when, at that moment, a faint shadow of a Gu insect appeared in the empty space between the two forces.
It was a cicada.
The cicada was not large. If the Moonlight Gu was a crescent-shaped blue crystal, then this cicada was a delicate craft made from brown wood and leaves by a master artisan.
Its head and abdomen were brownish-yellow, with tree ring-like patterns on the surface, as if it had witnessed the passage of time.
Its wings were large and semi-transparent, resembling overlapping leaves. Each wing had veins similar to the typical reticulate venation of leaves, with a thick central vein radiating outwards.
Spring Autumn Cicada!
It had been startled awake.
Like a giant beast slumbering in a mountain cave, suddenly awakened and discovering its territory had been invaded.
Who dares to trespass on my territory!
As if its dignity had been offended, the Spring Autumn Cicada became enraged, emitting an aura.
This aura, though faint, was incredibly powerful. It was like a torrential heavenly river, surging forward, waves crashing mightily, threatening to sweep across a thousand mountains, to inundate the vast deserts!
Compared to this aura, the will of the Wine Insect was like an ant before an elephant!
The aura expanded in all directions, like an invisible, unparalleled tsunami. The invading will of the Wine Insect was utterly overwhelmed by this aura, unable to resist and completely devoured.
Fang Yuan felt a tightness in his chest.
The bronze primeval essence he had mobilized, surging upwards, encountered this aura and shattered like a wave crashing into a mountain. The condensed primeval essence scattered like rain, falling back into the primeval sea.
The primeval sea's surface surged violently, as if a storm had just passed, adding to its turbulence.
But within a few breaths, the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura spread out, pressing down on the primeval sea.
Boom!
Fang Yuan seemed to hear a buzzing sound. In an instant, the tumultuous primeval sea fell silent.
The Spring Autumn Cicada's aura pressed down on the entire primeval sea like an invisible mountain, suppressing any waves, making the sea as calm as a mirror.
It was like a crumpled piece of paper being smoothed out by an immense invisible hand.
This was an unparalleled force!
Fang Yuan felt as if a massive invisible mountain was pressing down on his mind, like the Monkey King being crushed under the Five Elements Mountain, unable to mobilize even a sliver of primeval essence.
Despite his shock, he was not afraid. Instead, his heart was filled with intense joy.
"I never expected the Spring Autumn Cicada to be reborn with me! It turns out it's not a one-time consumable Gu, but can be used repeatedly."
The Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank 6 Gu, Fang Yuan's first and last Rank 6 Gu from his previous life. To create it, Fang Yuan had used all his means and resources, struggling for thirty years to succeed by sheer luck.
However, shortly after his success, before he could fully utilize the Spring Autumn Cicada, the righteous heroes, sensing the threat Fang Yuan posed, united to kill him.
Reborn, Fang Yuan initially thought the Spring Autumn Cicada had perished, but it had actually been dormant in his body.
Reversing time by five hundred years had greatly weakened it, making it too feeble for even Fang Yuan to sense.
Now, although the Spring Autumn Cicada had appeared, its condition remained dire.
Since rebirth, it had been recuperating in hibernation. Its appearance now was triggered by the crisis in the aperture, awakened by the Wine Insect's will.
It was extremely, incredibly weak.
In Fang Yuan's memory, the original Spring Autumn Cicada was vibrant, its body glowing like polished wood, its wings tender green like newly sprouted leaves.
But now, a thick aura of death and decay emanated from the cicada. Its body was dull and rough like dead wood, and its wings were a withered yellow, like autumn leaves on the verge of falling, with the tips curling and damaged.
Fang Yuan felt both heartache and relief.
Heartache for the severe damage to the Spring Autumn Cicada, leaving it on the brink of death, like a step away from a cliff.
Relief that it was so weak; otherwise, he would be in big trouble!
A Gu Master and their Gu must complement each other, ideally being of the same rank.
A Rank 1 Gu Master using a Rank 1 Gu is the most suitable.
If the Gu's rank is lower than the Gu Master's, it's like a strong man wielding a small stick, very ineffective.
If the Gu's rank is higher than the Gu Master's, using it would be like a child trying to wield a heavy axe—having the desire but lacking the ability.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was a Rank 6 Gu, while Fang Yuan was merely a Rank 1 novice Gu Master. To use an analogy, the Spring Autumn Cicada was a mountain, and Fang Yuan was a squirrel. Asking the squirrel to carry the mountain and attack enemies would result in the squirrel being crushed by the mountain immediately.
If the Spring Autumn Cicada were in peak condition, Fang Yuan's small Rank 1 aperture would not be able to contain it, and he would be killed by its immense aura.
Luckily, it was extremely weak, allowing it to be housed within Fang Yuan's current aperture.
"I gave up on the Moonlight Gu, going to great lengths to find the Wine Insect, all to refine my life-bound Gu. But in truth, I already had a life-bound Gu—the Spring Autumn Cicada is my life-bound Gu!" Feeling the intimate connection between himself and the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fang Yuan was filled with emotion.
A life-bound Gu is the first Gu a Gu Master refines, and it is immensely important, significantly influencing the Gu Master's future development.
If the life-bound Gu is well-chosen, the Gu Master's development will be smoother. If its quality is poor, it will hinder the Gu Master's progress, causing them to be surpassed by their peers. Most crucially, it affects life-and-death matters such as combat.
Fang Yuan understood this deeply, which is why he was unsatisfied even with the Moonlight Gu, the treasure of the Gu Yue village. He went to great lengths to find the Wine Insect.
In his memory, for a novice Rank 1 Gu Master, the Wine Insect was already an excellent choice, while the Moonlight Gu was only slightly above average.
But life is enchanting because people never know what awaits them in the next moment.
In his previous life, Fang Yuan refined the Spring Autumn Cicada. After being reborn, the Spring Autumn Cicada fell into slumber, but the bond from the refining process remained.
And seemingly, through the washing of the river of time, Fang Yuan found that his connection with the Spring Autumn Cicada was even more profound and intimate than in his previous life. It was only because the Spring Autumn Cicada was too weak that Fang Yuan had not sensed it.
Therefore, in the true sense, the Spring Autumn Cicada was the first Gu he refined.
However, the Spring Autumn Cicada was not refined in this life, but was the result of his five hundred years of effort in his previous life.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was Fang Yuan's life-bound Gu.
A Rank 1 Gu Master, possessing a Rank 6 life-bound Gu!
If this were told to others, it would be hard for anyone to believe! It defied the limits of common knowledge!
But this indeed happened.
Facts are indisputable.
"The Wine Insect is an excellent choice for a life-bound Gu, but compared to the Spring Autumn Cicada, it is nothing but dirt! In this life, my life-bound Gu is the Spring Autumn Cicada, hahaha…"