"11% primeval essence, this means two moonblades or sustain the monkey king's sneak attack twice. Relying solely on the Moonglow Gu or White Jade Gu will not do. My only chance is the instant where the monkey king attacks me, I have to grasp the opportunity and shoot the moonblade, instantly killing it!" Fang Yuan's thoughts sparked like flint, thinking of the most optimum strategy.
Stone monkeys did not have outstanding defense, and since the monkey king chose a sneak attack approach, it revealed that defense was its weakness.
One moonblade could slaughter five or six jade eye stone monkeys. Even if it couldn't kill the monkey king, it can still heavily injure it.
But do not think that this is easy; getting to this point is difficult, even if a group of Gu Masters came, without a stealth removal type Gu they would still lose their lives.
"This monkey is cunning, choosing not to attack, is it waiting for my primeval essence to be used up? Nevermind, I shall trust the Spring Autumn Cicada once and bet on this chance!" Fang Yuan instantly decided, his eyes shining with a cold and ruthless light.
He stood on the spot, both hands hanging beside him, holding the collar of his shirt. At the same time, he closed his eyes, only leaving a slit of visibility. What is more shocking is that he removed the defense of the White Jade Gu.
The expenditure of the primeval essence in his aperture, finally stopped. At the same time, he was no longer under the protection of the white jade light.
The rock forest continued to reverb with the cries and anguish of the monkeys, but Fang Yuan could feel that these noises were getting closer and closer to himself.
A type of calmness enveloped his heart and mind.
He was silently waiting for the stone monkey king's attack.
When it attacks, that is when the match is decided!
Waiting...
Waiting...
Suddenly, the Spring Autumn Cicada vibrated in the aperture.
Pew!
The very next moment, Fang Yuan heard an explosion and the stone monkey king appeared on his left!!
"White Jade Gu!" Fang Yuan's eyes shone with brilliance as the white jade light covered his entire body.
Bam.
The stone monkey king hit Fang Yuan's body with a strong force, almost causing him to topple, his primeval essence dropping by 5%, only left with the other half!
Seeing that his attack did not finish Fang Yuan off, the stone monkey king tried to escape!
Fang Yuan had no time to counterattack, but it was enough for him to flick his upper shirt.
Suddenly, he felt that there was someone on his upper shirt, tugging towards the outside direction.
The shirt was not made of steel, and to prevent it from tearing, Fang Yuan let go of both hands, seeing the floating shirt fly around the place at a shocking speed.
"Now!" Fang Yuan's eyes shone with cold light as the battle's outcome would be decided with this moonblade, his heart cold and calm as ice.
The monkey king was afterall a wild beast, and after having its face covered by a shirt, it flew into a panic.
It emitted a shrill scream, calling its stone monkeys to help. At the same time the shirt continued to move around, changing directions and going all over the place.
An eerie blue moonblade flew out and hit the stone monkey king.
The monkey king cried in pain as its camouflage was exposed.
Its appearance was the same as a normal stone monkey, but its body size was three times bigger, and at the same time its eyes shone with a bloody red light.
A long and deep wound stretched from its chest to its left leg, blood continuing to pour from it.
Although not dead, it had already suffered a heavy injury, and the aura of death permeated its entire body. It covered its wound in shock, going invisible again.
Fang Yuan's upper shirt was cut open by his moonblade, falling onto the ground. But the blood traces exposed the monkey king, and it hurriedly retreated, no longer having the idea of killing Fang Yuan. With such a grave injury, if it did not deal with it, it would lose its life.
At this time, Fang Yuan also retreated to the rock door. After activating the moonblade, his aperture only had a little bit of primeval essence left, and his battle strength dropped drastically.
Although it looked like a draw, Fang Yuan had won.
The monkey king's injury could not be recovered shortly. The more blood it lost, the weaker it felt.
But Fang Yuan could use the primeval stones to recover his primeval essence and recover his battle strength.
Even without a stealth removal type Gu, nor a wide area attack method, with his rich fighting experience and the will of steel in the face of danger, Fang Yuan could beat the strong in a weaker state.
"Monkey, fox, bei(1), these wild beasts have extraordinary intelligence compared to ordinary wild beasts, and are more cunning. Because of this, they lack the wild courage and often retreat while injured. If it were a wild boar or bull, they would go into a frenzy while injured. This monkey king seems to only have one Gu worm. Although the Gu worm could grant stealth, it cannot hide blood traces, and if my guess is correct, it should be the Rank one stealth rock Gu."
Fang Yuan pondered in his heart, and relying on his memories, the monkey king had no more secrets in front of him.
"The results has been decided." Fang Yuan returned to the rock room, closing the door and replenishing his primeval essence.
A moment later, his primeval essence went back to its peak state, and Fang Yuan opened the rock door, being in the rock forest once again.
The rock forest was still a mess, but better than before.
"After this chaos, the entire rock forest's forces will be reset. The stone monkeys will relocate and regroup, and the roaming and isolated stone monkeys form into new monkey gangs. The path that I painstakingly created would thus vanish."
Fang Yuan's heart sank, he needed to kill the stone monkey king before this path is completely gone.
If not, opening this path would expend much of his time again, and by the time he got to the center again, the monkey king would've completely healed.
He shall chase after and annihilate lingering enemies with bravery, rather than be easily contented with fame and compliments like Xiang Yu(2).
Fang Yuan trailed along the opened path, invading the rock forest. The stone monkeys who appeared in his way were all exterminated.
Fifteen minutes later, he appeared at the central pillar once again.
The stone monkey king laid on the ground; it had turned into a statue and was already dead.
A jade eye stone monkey was stepping on its corpse, screaming about.
Replacing the title of king, with the death of the former king, a new king takes its place. Regardless of the beast group or human society, this was the cruel elimination system.
"Saved some effort of mine." Fang Yuan slowly got closer.
At this moment, a Gu worm slowly floated from the corpse of the stone monkey king, flying towards the new king.
Moonglow Gu!
Fang Yuan shot out a moonblade just in time, chasing away the new stone monkey king, then walking up and grabbing the Gu worm.
This Gu looked ordinary like a grey rock, with an uneven surface that was not even squarish nor spherical. If this Gu was thrown on the road, no one would notice it based on appearance.
But in reality, it was the essence of a rock, a natural Gu nurtured by Mother Nature.
It seemed like an inanimate object, a rock. But in fact, it was the real deal, a living being with its own consciousness and thought.
As Fang Yuan predicted, it was the Stealth Rock Gu.
Grabbed by Fang Yuan, it desperately struggled, trying to be free of his demonic grasp.
Spring Autumn Cicada.
Fang Yuan called in his mind, and the Spring Autumn Cicada appeared in his aperture, leaking a trace of its aura.
The Stealth Rock Gu instantly went dead, not daring to struggle, like a mouse meeting a cat.
Fang Yuan's red primeval essence activated and instantly refined it.
Another Gu in the bag!
The Stealth Rock Gu was kept in the aperture and sunk to the bottom of the primeval sea, side by side with the White Jade Gu.
The stone monkey watched helplessly at the side, and on seeing Fang Yuan keep the Stealth Rock Gu into his body, it frantically jumped about, screaming incoherently.
It had just gotten the new position, so not many monkeys obeyed it.
With another moonblade, Fang Yuan took a few more monkey lives. Those that gathered around their new king instantly dispersed.
The new stone monkey king gnawed its teeth at Fang Yuan.
"Scram." Fang Yuan stared at it, saying a word, with his expression cold as ice.
The monkey king shuddered, feeling the intense killing intent from Fang Yuan. It stared at Fang Yuan blankly before gulping and turning around to escape, showing its superior intelligence compared to wild beasts.
Fang Yuan chased these stone monkeys away and ignored them, getting to the bottom of the rock pillar as soon as he could.
As he got close, he found a cave below the rock pillar.
The cave was not big, and some rock stairs extended downwards into the darkness.
Fang Yuan had no investigative Gu worm, so he could not tell what was down there.
With the situation unclear, Fang Yuan did not enter the cavern and walk down the stairs. He had barged his way in earlier, and his body condition was not at its prime. Furthermore, the chaos in the rock forest was disappearing and was stabilizing.
He had spent much effort and time to open the path, but many stone monkeys were starting to reside in the pillars along the way.
"Haste brings no success. Now that I have found the inheritance clue, I have achieved my goal. It is time to return." Fang Yuan controlled the urge to investigate, and returned via the same route.
On the way, the pressure intensified but eventually, he endured the pressure as he was chased by hundreds of monkeys, tragically rushing out of the rock forest.
TIme passed quickly, and summer replaced spring.
Unknowingly it was the scorching summer again already.
Fang Yuan spent every second of his time cultivating diligently. Using the red steel Relic Gu, he instantly caught up to Fang Zheng's cultivating speed.
He did not have a special Gu that could hide his middle stage aura. After killing the monkey king and obtaining the Stealth Rock Gu, a day later, his cultivation level was exposed.
The clansmen only knew then that he was the one who obtained the red steel Relic Gu; it was actually Fang Yuan!
At the same time, he intentionally revealed the Black Boar Gu.
Fang Yuan sold such a huge amount of assets to get the Black Boar Gu and red steel Relic Gu. Many people could not understand his thoughts, calling him a 'fool', 'dumbass', 'maniac' and 'short-sighted', as they became his new nicknames.
With a rise in attention, Fang Yuan had to reduce the number of times he ventured into the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance.
He continued to nurture his aperture as he steadily moved towards Rank two upper stage, while collecting the ingredients to fuse the Liquor worm as well as the Stealth Rock Gu. At the same time, he used the vitality leaf to earn primeval stones, sustaining his cultivation.
July, the start of autumn.
At the foot of the mountain near the village, a wild Rank five Gu suddenly appeared, causing a huge tremor at Gu Yue Village!
-x-X-x-
A solemn and serious atmosphere filled the conference hall.
A group of elders silently sat on their seats; their faces were either indifferent, gloomy or serious.
Clan head Gu Yue Bo was sitting on the main seat, his gaze also filled with unconcealed worry, "Three days ago, a River Swallowing Toad appeared near the village by the foot of the mountain. This toad flowed along with the Huang Long River(1) and accidentally reached here. Right now, it is blocking up a river channel and sleeping there. If we ignore it, the village will constantly be in danger. So I would like to ask the elders if you have any good ideas to drive this toad away?"
The elders looked at each other; for a moment, no one spoke.
River Swallowing Toad was a Rank five Gu; it had an enormous might and could spit out a river. If this was not handled properly and it was provoked, over half of the Qing Mao mountain could be submerged with water and the whole village would be destroyed.
After a long silence, Gu Yue Chi Lian spoke, "The situation is grave, and we need to resolve this as quickly as possible. If this news gets leaked, we can't say for sure if those with evil intentions might not secretly go and intentionally provoke this River Swallowing Toad to entrap our Gu Yue clan."
"Elder Chi Lian is right." Gu Yue Mo Chen nodded in agreement. Although he and Gu Yue Chi Lian were political enemies, but at such a critical time for the village, he let go of his past prejudices.
He continued speaking after a moment, "There is another more serious problem. If the River Swallowing Toad floods the Qing Mao mountain, the wolf lairs will be submerged and for their survival, the wolf hordes will move up the mountain. At that time, the wolf tide will break out before its time. And we will have to fight with countless wild beasts to fight for the space at the top."
The elders' complexion turned pale when they heard this.
Gu Yue Bo spoke with heavy tone, "Everyone, don't forget the foundation of our village. The first generation ancestor set up the village in this place because of the underground spirit spring. If Qing Mao mountain gets flooded, this spirit spring might also be destroyed."
"What should we do?"
"Sigh....even if we withstand the beast tides and survive at the mountaintop. After the flood subsides, the spirit spring will have disappeared, many beasts will have died, our surroundings will turn to a wasteland and we will be lacking cultivation resources."
"If we are to die, then why not ask help from Xiong and Bai villages? We are three boats tied with one rope, I don't believe they won't help!"
The elders whispered to one another with panic hidden inside. Some had already started thinking of asking for reinforcements.
"It is too premature to ask for help now," Gu Yue Bo shook his head and denied this idea immediately. "It is not the most challenging period now. When the first generation ancestor had just established the village, a Rank five Blood River Python attacked the village, but the first generation clan head killed it. Compared to the Blood River Python, the River Swallowing Toad is just so much more adorable."
"It has a warm temperament and is harmless to ordinary people. Only if it senses the aura of other Gu will it be alert. If it receives serious injuries, it will be angered and spit out a river. By chance, I heard the previous clan head talk of a rumor about the River Swallowing Toad...."
Gu Yue Bo's composed and calm voice resounded within the conference hall.
The group of elders listened attentively; their nervous and panicked expressions eased up.
"He is really worthy of being the clan head. He calmed their hearts with just his words." Gu Yue Yao Ji sensed the change in the atmosphere. She gave a profound look at Gu Yue Bo and praised him inwardly.
"If we follow what clan head said just now, chasing away the River Swallowing Toad wouldn't be a difficult thing," An elder spoke.
"We can't say that." Gu Yue Bo shook his head, "These are only rumors, I haven't personally seen it or even put it to use. The important thing is that we can't be careless. I suggest we first send a group of Gu Masters to test it."
All the elders agreed.
Gu Yue Chi Lian spoke, "Then how about I send a member of my Chi family. If he can't do it, then no one among our clan might be able to do it."
Everyone knew who Chi Lian was speaking of, and they approved of it one after another.
Clan head Gu Yue Bo smiled, "Since it is so, then we shall just assign it to the Chi Shan group."
It was early autumn, the weather was gradually turning cool. @@novelbin@@
On a table by the window of the tavern, Fang Yuan was sitting alone, calmly tasting some wine.
The tavern shopkeeper was standing beside him, bowing his head.
"Shopkeeper, is there progress on the matter regarding bitter shell wine that I asked you to look into a few days ago?" Fang Yuan asked.
Fang Yuan was lacking a bitter wine for the liquor worm fusion.
However, bitter wines were difficult to find and because of the matter regarding the red steel Relic Gu, people had been focusing on him. Wherever he went, people would point him out. Thus, it was not easy to make inquiries of bitter wines.
The disturbance had settled down only recently, and maybe because extreme sorrow turns into joy, Fang Yuan had accidentally found a clue regarding the bitter wine.
The old shopkeeper promptly replied, "Young master, the bitter shell wine you wanted me to look into, someone had drunk it in Bai village. The raw material of this wine is a type of conch found in deep ponds.This type of conch is completely black, with circles of white lines on its shell resembling a tree's growth rings. We call it a bitter shell. Normal conches can form pearls. The bitter shell swallows the sands and stones in the water, dissolving them and forming bitter water instead. Someone pried open its shell and obtained this bitter water, using it to brew wine, making the bitter shell wine. Its taste is very unique; bitter and fragrant."
Fang Yuan slightly raised his brows upon hearing this, "Does that mean Bai village has this bitter shell wine?"
The shopkeeper hurriedly bent down, "I don't dare to guarantee it, I have only heard people talking about it occasionally. However, the truth is Bai village is famous for its white grain liquid. This wine along with our clan's green bamboo wine and Xiong village's bear gall wine are called the three wines of Qing Mao. Bitter Shell wine.... I think even if the Bai village possesses it, there wouldn't be much."
"Even if there is little, I have to find it," Fang Yuan said in his mind.
But this matter was troublesome; Bai village had been gradually showing signs of coming to emergence these years, starting to shake the Gu Yue village's position as the overlord.
If Fang Yuan wanted to enter the Bai village without permission, the patrolling Bai village's Gu Masters might kill him before he even sees the village gate.
Even if it was so, Fang Yuan still wanted to attempt it. After all, getting this bitter shell wine was more reasonable that the green Ai wine that was immeasurably far away.
As he broke away from his contemplations, Fang Yuan found that the old shopkeeper was still standing beside him. He waved his hand, "Alright, you can leave, there is nothing for you here."
The old man didn't leave, his face revealed hesitation, not speaking out what he was about to say.
He finally summoned his courage, "Young master, could you please take back this tavern again? All the waiters and I want to work for you. You don't know that when the old landlord came back, he deducted most of our wages. With such little primeval stones each month, it is really difficult for us to support our families."
Fang Yuan shook his head, his face without any expression, "I have already sold this tavern to him. I can't take it back according to the contract. Moreover, I don't want to engage in this tavern business. You can leave now."
"But, young landlord....." The old man still didn't move.
Fang Yuan frowned in annoyance, "Remember, I am no longer your landlord!"
He had previously increased their salaries, only to arouse their passion for their work. It was all for himself. However, these people mistook it for his tolerance and wanted to push their luck.
Right now, by selling the vitality leaves, he could only fulfill his own needs. On top of that, he was feeling vexed due to the bitter wine. So why would he take back the tavern for these people?
"But young landlord, we really can't keep on living like this! Please show mercy and have pity on us." The shopkeeper knelt on the ground and implored.
The sound immediately attracted the surrounding guests.
Fang Yuan laughed coldly. He picked up a wine jar from the table and smashed it on the shopkeeper's head.
Kachak.
The jar shattered; the wine splashed all around and blood flowed from the old man's head.
"Did you think I won't dare to kill you? You tactless fool, get lost." Cold light flashed out from Fang Yuan's eyes.
The old shopkeeper's whole body trembled from this killing intent; he was startled and hurriedly left.
No matter which world, there will always be a group of weak people who will brazenly and indiscreetly ask charity from the strong. As if helping them was the manner of the strong and not helping them was wrong.
The weak should have the manners of the weak; they should either resign to their fate and act like slaves or try hard while keeping a low profile.
The strong helped the weak only as a charity when they were in a good mood.
The weak refuse to work hard, shamelessly begging from the strong, and even demanding definite results, acting like a leech; they deserve getting rejected.
People who were content with being weak, who don't put their own effort and only think of begging from the strong, simply aren't deserving of sympathy.
"Shopkeeper..."
"Quick, bandage the wounds."
The waiters hurriedly surrounded the old man whose face was covered with blood.
The old shopkeeper was only a mortal, it wouldn't be a problem even if he was killed on the spot.
Such an ending took away the interest of the surrounding guests; they turned back and continued with their discussions.
"Do you know? Something big happened recently!"
"Are you talking about that River Swallowing Toad? Right now, who wouldn't know of this?"
"This is a Rank five Gu, if it isn't dealt properly, the village might fall into crisis!"
"It is said that this River Swallowing Toad's food is water. When it is hungry, it opens up its large mouth and directly sucks a river in!"
"If it is angered, it can release the water into the Qing Mao mountain, its power is extremely horrifying. We might die!"
"Then what should we do?"
"Sigh, we just have to see how the clan's higher-ups will deal with it. After all, we can't escape, where can we escape to?"
Bewilderment and confusion pervaded the air in the tavern.
"River Swallowing Toad...." Fang Yuan inwardly smiled when he heard this.
Fear was infectious, it increased the more it is spread.
Actually, the River Swallowing Toad was very gentle and was not dreadful. Its natural disposition was to sleep and people would often see it flowing with the river. The toad would lie down on the water surface with their white bellies facing up, and sleep soundly.
When it wakes up, it would swallow the river water up to its fill and return back to sleep. They had no interest towards fighting and killing; if they meet an enemy, their first reaction would be to flee. Only if they fall into an impasse and couldn't escape will they make fierce counterattacks.
They were very powerful and could release torrential river from their mouths, engulfing the lands instantly and turning them to marsh.
"This River Swallowing Toad probably fell asleep, then drifted along the Huang Long river and accidentally entered a tributary, reaching the foot of the Qing Mao mountain." Fang Yuan guessed the truth.
-x-X-x-
It is said that every single River Swallowing Toad's stomach carries a river.
Fang Yuan did not use the River Swallowing Toad in his previous life, but he has a strong impression of this Gu, because of one person.
A normal person, a family servant.
Around two hundred years later in his previous life, a very special Gu Master will appear— Jiang Fan.
His existence shocked numerous Gu Masters, and his story would be spread around by the mortals.
Once he appeared, he became a legend.
His entire success was attributed to a River Swallowing Toad.
Jiang Fan was a mere family servant, single-handedly taking care of a fishery for his master. One day, a River Swallowing Toad arrived at the coast with its belly side up, lying in the water, asleep the entire time.
Jiang Fan was initially scared and shocked, but slowly, he felt that this toad was dead, why was it not moving at all?
The "toad corpse" blocked the upflow of the river water, and this caused many problems for Jiang Fan who was taking care of the fishery.
Jiang Fan tried many different methods and ways to move this "toad corpse" away. But he was just a mere mortal, how could he move something as heavy as the River Swallowing Toad?
His master was stingy and cruel, and if he could not meet the monthly quota, his head will be decapitated. Jiang Fan did not dare to report it, as someone not too long ago did not manage to fulfill his quota and reported it with a proper reason, but ended up getting killed on the spot.
Seeing that the due date was getting closer, and the corpse still remained there blocking the water, it greatly affected his revenue. Gradually, Jiang Fan became more frightened, and his temper became more abusive and frustrated.
Although he knew that he could not move this corpse away, he would still go to it everyday, to punch and kick the "toad corpse", crying and making a din. Letting go of all the fear and anger he had in the face of death.
But one day, the River Swallowing Toad woke up, and with its half-opened eyes, stared at Jiang Fan.
Jiang Fan's legs went soft from the shock.
The River Swallowing Toad was half asleep and half awake, but it still laid there like it was a "corpse". After some time, Jiang Fan regained his composure.
He was not afraid, he was going to die anyway, what is there to be afraid of?
He climbed to the top of the River Swallowing Toad's belly, and lied down face up. Staring at the sky, "Toad, oh toad. You are the same as me, with only one last breath left in you, you're about to die too huh?"
He did not know about the characteristics of the River Swallowing Toad. Looking at its half dead state, he thought that it was going to die. After saying so, Jiang Fan's face flooded with tears.
The River Swallowing Toad squinted its eyes, listening to Jiang Fan's words while staring at the sky.
For the next few days, he continued to lie on the River Swallowing Toad's white and soft belly, crying while talking, complaining about the pain and the repressed feelings of a mortal.
Finally, the deadline was here. The person-in-charge came down from the village to the fishery to collect the fish. @@novelbin@@
Where could Jiang Fan find fish to meet the quota? Left with no choice, he could only give an excuse that he needed to do some packing, and ran to the River Swallowing Toad to bid farewell.
He patted the River Swallowing Toad's belly, "Old toad, to think that I'm going to die first. It must be affinity that led to me knowing you. I hope that in your remaining days, you will have a better life."
At this moment, the River Swallowing Toad started move.
Jiang Fan was taken aback. Seeing that the River Swallowing Toad's actions were becoming larger, he quickly jumped off.
Plop!
The River Swallowing Toad turned around, with its belly side down and back facing upwards. It had fully woken up.
Jiang Fan's body was drenched, and on having seen this scene he became angry and stomped his foot, "Old toad, oh old toad, so you can still move? Ahhhh, you have caused my death, if you had moved a few days ago, I would not have to die!"
The River Swallowing Toad ignored his words, it had just woken up and felt hungry.
Half of its body was submerged into the water as it opened its mouth, starting to suck in the river water in order to sate its hunger.
Seeing this, Jiang Fan was dumbfounded. He shockingly saw that the water level was receding, dropping at an observable pace, rapidly falling.
Large amounts of river water were swallowed into the toad's belly, but its belly did not even expand a bit, it was almost like a bottomless hole.
A moment later, the River Swallowing Toad stopped its meal. The river water had already dropped to an extreme level, and the bedrock was exposed. If a person stood in the river, the water would only reach their knees.
Jiang Fan stood at the coast, at a lost for words.
The River Swallowing Toad glanced at him and suddenly burped. Its stomach expanded and contracted, its mouth opening wide as it and it vomited out a large amount of seafood.
Fish, prawn, turtle, crab, snails, eels, everything!
The River Swallowing Toad only ate water as its food, but did not consume these seafood, hence it vomited all of them out.
At this point, it seems like it was raining seafood.
In the blink of an eye, the seafood gathered into a mountain, and Jiang Fan upon seeing this, was overwhelming exhilarated. He screamed loudly, "I'm saved, I'm saved! These seafood is enough for me to hand up for three months. Old toad, oh old toad, it is all thanks to you!"
He packaged those seafood, and quickly handed them to the person-in-charge.
The person-in-charge was both shocked and suspicious, how could there be so much? He quickly reported it, and the Gu Masters in the village also found out that the water level had changed drastically.
After investigating, they found out about the River Swallowing Toad's existence.
It was a Rank five Gu!
The village fell into a panic and they formed into large groups, trying to expel the River Swallowing Toad.
Jiang Fan did not want the River Swallowing Toad to be harmed; these days he had treated the River Swallowing Toad as his only friend.
He kneeled in front of the Gu Masters and pleaded hysterically. But why would Gu Masters care about a mere mortal? They kicked him aside and were about to murder him.
But at this moment, the River Swallowing Toad arrived.
Nobody knew if it had treated Jiang Fan as its friend, or felt that being with Jiang Fan was interesting and could cure boredom.
The point is, it struck.
It carried Jiang Fan and vomited out a stream of river water that engulfed the whole village and drowned half the hill.
This battle startled the entire southern continent!
Thereafter, Jiang Fan's name spread throughout the one hundred thousand mountains. With the River Swallowing Toad staying by his side, it meant that he owned a Rank five Gu worm!
After all, even a Rank five Gu Master, might not have a Rank five Gu worm.
Rank five Gu Masters were rare, even in the Gu Yue clan's history, there were only two people — the first generation clan leader and the fourth generation clan leader.
But he Jiang Fan did not have an awakened aperture, yet as a mere mortal he had a River Swallowing Toad.
His existence stunned the entire Gu Master world.
After that, Jiang Fan built a hamlet at the village's location. He was endearing to people and sympathized with mortals, aspiring to reach equality among all people. It was a village without oppression.
He became a flag, and the mortals in the surrounding villages came to him and wanted to depend on him.
But eventually, he was still assassinated.
With just a River Swallowing Toad, it could not make him truly powerful. He was not a Gu Master after all, and after his death, the River Swallowing Toad left.
Gu Masters razed his hamlet to the grounds, and slaughtered the mortals who dared to oppose them.
With his mortal self, Jiang Fan challenged the entire system of society, and that brought forth the rage of the Gu Masters.
"I wonder if Jiang Fan will still appear this time after my influence." After his recollection, Fang Yuan laughed.
But Chi Shan could not laugh.
His face was grim as he returned.
The villagers at the mountain foot were waiting for the Gu Masters to deal with this problem.
But the great Gu Yue Chi Shan arrived and still could not solve the issue. This caused the villagers to panic, and the panic spread and reached a high point.
They dragged their families, brought big and small bags, and rushed up to the village. They naturally did not dare to step inside, thus more and more villagers kneeled outside the village's doors, begging the Gu Masters to have mercy and let them in.
In the hall.
"What? These lowly commoners dare to surround the main gate. Atrocious, they are getting more and more daring, kill, kill them all!" The punishment hall clan elder screamed.
Medicine hall's Gu Yue Yao Ji's face was also grim, "Although these lowly commoners deserve death, killing a few is enough to threaten the rest and chase the group away, but it would be like a joke for the other villages to observe."
Gu Yue Chi Lian said, "The important thing now is not this. If even Chi Shan cannot wake this River Swallowing Toad, who else in our clan can? It seems we have to get reinforcements, the Xiong clan specializes in strength." He sighed and continued, "for the safety of the clan, we should get them to do it. Even if we have to pay a price, it is worth it."
These words got the consent of the other clan elders, and even clan leader Gu Yue Bo was moved.
"Clan leader and the other clan elders, this junior has something to report." Gu Yue Chi Shan had been standing in the hall, listening to the clan elders, but suddenly he bowed and said spoke.
Gu Yue Bo nodded, he had an appreciative attitude towards Gu Yue Chi Shan, "Chi Shan, if you have any ideas, you might as well say it."
Chi Shan asked instead, "Elders, to push this River Swallowing Toad awake, does it really need one person's strength?"
Gu Yue Bo said, "According to the previous clan leader's words, the River Swallowing Toad has a mild temper and loves to sleep. Even if it is awakened by someone pushing it, it would not rage. Thus, we asked you who has the greatest strength in the village to wake it. But it ended in failure."
Chi Shan said, "Then can clan leader grant me a Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu? With one bull's strength and my inborn strength, I would be able to push this River Swallowing Toad awake."
"You definitely cannot use a Gu worm's strength." Just as Chi Shan finished speaking, a clan elder denied his request, "A Gu worm's aura will invite the vigilance of the River Swallowing Toad. If this causes it to feel threatened and rampage about, who would face the consequences?"
"That's right." Gu Yue Bo nodded, "By using a Gu worm, even if we wake up the toad, we cannot get its approval. It has to be a single person, using his own strength to wake it and get its approval."
Gu is the spirit of heaven and earth, but it behaved more like wild beasts. Wild beasts have their territories, and roaming wild beasts when encountering the king of a territory, would have a battle. The victorious takes the territory and the loser roams.
The formation of a beast tide is also based on this wild beast instinct. Strong beast groups will invade and conquer neighbouring land. Weaker groups would be exiled and this forms the beast tide.
To chase the River Swallowing Toad away, they have to abide to its habits.
River Swallowing Toad has a mild temperament, not enjoying conflict, and as long as the territory's "beast king" can be recognised, it would leave.
Thus, using Gu worms is a no-no, the Gu worm's aura will be sensed and cause the River Swallowing Toad to take unpredictable actions. Using everyone's strength was not possible too. Once there are many people, even if it is moved, the toad would not leave.
That is because everyone acting together was not fair, and would not be recognised by it.
Thus, the clan leader got Chi Shan to go ahead, as he had the greatest strength in the village.
"So that's it, I understand." Chi Shan finally understood the situation, he cupped his fists, "In that case, I will recommend someone to the clan elders, he has greater strength than me."
"Oh, who?"
"There's such a person, why did we not know?"
"Chi Shan, don't keep us waiting, quickly say it!"
"This person, is Gu Yue Fang Yuan." Chi Shan said a name.
-x-X-x-
"Gu Yue Fang Yuan?" The elders couldn't help but look at each other upon hearing this name.
They clearly recognized this name. In fact, from the beginning, Gu Yue Fang Yuan's name would occasionally reach their ears.
Especially after the Awakening Ceremony, when his Gu Master cultivation started, this lad had been getting restless; he frequently caused some disturbances that attracted attention.
"Ah, I remember him. Isn't this kid the one who sold his family assets and bought a red steel Relic Gu?" An elder came to realization.
Gu Yue Chi Lian and Gu Yue Mo Chen's faces turned ugly.
If Chi Shan or Mo Yan had used the red steel Relic Gu, they could ascend to rank two peak stage and be equal to Gu Yue Qing Shu.
This would reflect towards the higher-ups — whether it was the Mo faction or Chi faction who got the relic gu, it would be a political victory. But to think that this prodigal kid had ruined it all!
"Returning to the main topic, this kid is truly strong. At the arena previously, he used his bare fists to shatter Jade Skin Gu's defence and pummeled Fang Zheng down, achieving the championship," an elder recalled.
This time, it was the clan head Gu Yue Bo's turn to be embarrassed.
He had especially nurtured Gu Yue Fang Zheng, thus Fang Zheng's defeat - in some sense - was his, the clan head faction's, defeat.
As long as one entered the system, anyone would be labelled with factions. There were neutral political factions, but absolutely not a person without any faction.
"But in terms of power, his strength shouldn't be comparable to yours, right?" Chi Lian doubtfully asked Chi Shan.
Chi San respectfully answered, "Elders, perhaps you might not know, Fang Yuan not only bought red steel Relic Gu, he also purchased a Black Boar Gu. These few months, he has been buying pork to nurture the Black Boar Gu and increase his strength. Once, I even saw him moving a huge rock in the mountain to measure his strength. I am not sure how much strength he has, but from what I have seen, his strength absolutely doesn't lose to mine."
"So it was like that. To think this kid, Fang Yuan has grown to this stage." Gu Yue Bo nodded his head. "Then let's assign Fang Yuan's group to give it a try."
Hearing this, the internal affairs hall elder awkwardly stood up from his seat, "Lord clan head, this Fang Yuan is a loner and hasn't joined a group."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Gu Yue Bo frowned.
"The thing is - after the first beast tide, his group was completely annihilated and the only survivor was him, alone," the internal affairs hall elder replied.
"Even if it is so, why was he not considered during the group reorganizing?" An elder curiously asked.
"Sigh!" The internal affairs hall elder gave a heavy sigh, "I also urged him about this, but he didn't have any intention to join any groups. Honestly speaking, I don't approve of this kid. He is very good at goofing around, it might be that he has lost the will to fight after inheriting that inheritance."
"Goofing around? How can that be, he hasn't joined any groups so how could he complete the monthly clan missions?" An elder doubted.
The internal affairs hall elder's face sank, "Every month, he receives the compulsory mission but the results are all failure. I haven't seen records worse than his; almost all the missions are recorded as failures. I have already tried talking with him several times, but he still wants to continue in his way, without any repenting. However, he hasn't violated the clan rules, so I can only give light punishments to this unruly and crafty kid!"
The elders looked at each other; they had never seen such a younger generation who didn't want to advance forward.
Mission failures represented a narrower career progression within the clan.
"This kid has become muddled....."
"Hmph, he is too unruly!"
"He is destroying his own future!"
"If I had such an indolent child, I would directly slap him to death!"
"Enough." Gu Yue Bo raised his hand, putting a stop to the elders' private chats; one couldn't tell if he was happy or angry.
Gu Yue Bo's gaze moved around and finally stopped on the internal affairs hall elder, "Send a compulsory command, let Gu Yue Fang Yuan try his strength on River Swallowing Toad. This kid is stubborn, rebellious and unruly, he needs to be polished. If he fails, we can use this pretext to give some punishments."
"It will be as lord clan head says." The internal affairs hall elder promptly agreed.
There was a racket in the tavern.
"Do you guys know, the clan sent the Chi Shan group to the foot of the mountain but they ended up returning in defeat."
"The villagers living at the foot of the mountain are all kneeling in front of the clan's entrance, blocking the gate."
"Hmph, these lowly commoners don't even have a bit of knowledge. River Swallowing Toad is a Rank five Gu, do they really think they will be safe in the village?"
Although this was said, the air was dense with panic. These Gu Masters were all forcefully calming themselves.
Fang Yuan listened for a short moment before no longer paying attention; this was no longer fresh news. He stood up and was about to leave when a person entered the tavern.
This person was tall with a thickly built body. The upper half of his body was naked and his muscles were the color of bright red, seemingly wanting to erupt.
It was Gu Yue Chi Shan.
The chatters within the tavern immediately stopped. Countless gazes landed on Chi Shan.
Chi Shan ignored these gazes; he glanced around and found Fang Yuan.
"You were here." Under the numerous gazes, he walked in front of Fang Yuan, "Let's go, the clan has already given a compulsory order. Let's head to the foot of the mountain, I will tell you the details on the way."
Fang Yuan's gaze flashed, he couldn't refuse a compulsory order. Moreover, there was not much danger when facing the River Swallowing Toad, thus he agreed.
Only after Fang Yuan and Chi Shan left the tavern did the racket start again in the tavern.
"Shopkeeper, the heavens have eyes. Look at this, such a quick karmic retribution! That is a Rank five Gu, even other lord Gu Masters are helpless facing it, whereas he is so young, isn't this just losing his life in vain?!"
"We thought young master Fang Yuan was different from other Gu Masters and would empathize with us mortals' pain and sufferings. Hmph, to think he would also be of the same mould. Screw him, we wouldn't have any regrets even if he dies."
"Shopkeeper, you didn't suffer this wound in vain, getting a Gu Master's life for it is absolutely a profit."
The old shopkeeper's head was bound with circles of white bandages. Right now, he continued to groan, leaning weakly against the corner.
Several waiters were by his side, consoling him.
The old man's eyes flashed with resentment, but his mood slightly eased up upon hearing these words.
However, after a while of listening, he hypocritically berated them in a low voice, "Shut your mouths, is this something we can talk of? Aren't you afraid of losing your lives if the other Gu Masters hear it?!"
The waiters giggled, "Shopkeeper, you are too worried. It is so noisy in the tavern, who could have heard our whisperings?"
They had just said this, when a Gu Master sitting nearest to them spoke, "I heard it."
The shopkeeper and the waiters' complexion changed greatly; they were extremely terrified.
"Lord..." The old shopkeeper ignored the dizzy feeling in his head and hurriedly walked towards the Gu Master to ask for forgiveness.
This Gu Master raised his hand and stopped him. @@novelbin@@
"You all spoke very well, I liked what you said. Fang Yuan, this bastard, even if he dies, it shouldn't be regretted! Speak more, I will give you great rewards if I like what you say!" The Gu Master took out a primeval stone and slammed it on the table with a bang.
If Fang Yuan was here, he would recognize this person. This person was that healing Gu Master of the previous small beast tide. Fang Yuan had used the girl this Gu Master sought after as a shield to cover his body. Thus, this Gu Master had a deep hatred towards Fang Yuan and it was irreconcilable.
The waiters looked at each other. One of them with more guts started staring at the primeval stone on the table with wide-eyes.
The Gu Master's three companions frowned, but didn't stop him. They could only listen to the waiters scolding Fang Yuan as if they were in a competition.
It was early autumn and the scenery was good.
In the forests, some leaves were of dark shade and some were of light. Green leaves had started changing to yellow and yellow leaves faintly showed red.
In the paddy field, fields of yellow-orange rice crops waved along with the autumn wind.
In some lush vegetable fields, the vegetable leaves were fat, tender and pleasing.
Fang Yuan sped all the way from the middle of the mountain, following the Chi Shan group down to the foot of the mountain where he saw the Rank five River Swallowing Toad.
It was huge and resembled a small hill. It lay belly side up in the riverbed and blocked the river channel. The upstream of the river was already filled with so much water that it was almost spilling to the riverside. And there was almost no flow of the river downstream; only a shallow moist riverbed could be seen.
The River Swallowing Toad's belly was exquisite snow-white and was covered with a layer of luster. Its back was clear sky blue color and also had a glossy shine to it, with no warts like the ones found in common frogs and toads.
It was sound asleep at this moment. But there were no sounds of snoring; it was sleeping very quietly.
Sensing its aura, the two Liquor worms in Fang Yuan's aperture curled up into a ball. The Black Boar Gu's lively appearance seemed to have been wiped out as it flew down. The Moonglow Gu that resided in his right palm hid its glow.
Only the Spring Autumn Cicada was still sleeping peacefully.
Fang Yuan withdrew the Moonglow Gu into his aperture. As long as he didn't take the initiative to use these Gu, their aura wouldn't leak out. Putting them in the aperture was very safe and reliable.
"Fang Yuan, it's your turn next," Chi Shan spoke from the side.
He had already explained most of the details on the way.
Fang Yuan also approved of this method. Of course, the simplest way was to use Spring Autumn Cicada; once a Rank six Gu worm's aura leaked out, this River Swallowing Toad would be frightened and immediately flee.
This was also because the River Swallowing Toad didn't like fighting. If it was a vicious Gu like the Blood River Python, Spring Autumn Cicada's aura would instead cause it to go berserk and retaliate madly.
Fang Yuan stood at the riverside, trying out to push at first. The River Swallowing Toad's skin was slippery, making one feel that his strength has been nullified.
In addition, it was extremely heavy, one simply couldn't even budge it.
"Can you do it?" Chi Cheng sneered from the side.
Fang Yuan ignored him and said to Chi Shan, "Although I have the increased strength from Black Boar Gu, my strength is probably only a little more than yours. As for pushing this River Swallowing Toad, it is not hopeless, but I need your help."
"What help?" Chi Shan immediately asked.
Fang Yuan slowly explained it. Chi Shan was doubtful, "If we do this, wouldn't it be teaming up? Even if the River Swallowing Toad wakes up, will it still acknowledge you and then willingly leave?"
Fang Yuan smiled, "You don't have to worry about it. As long as you guys keep a distance and not let it detect you, it will be possible. After all, it is a Gu, don't think it as too intelligent."
-x-X-x-
At the height of autumn, the air was refreshing, and the breeze moderately flowed under the beautiful sun.
The blue dome of heaven was clean and clear like a crystal.
The wind blew gently, brushing Fang Yuan's appearance into motion.
Looking from afar, the nearby villages had little people. Nearby, the hill-like River Swallowing Toad was slumbering, blocking the river bed. Fang Yuan who was standing at the river edge looked like a tiny monkey beside a large elephant in comparison to this Rank five Gu.
Fang Yuan's heart was calm as water, without a trace of nervousness, thinking internally, "I used the White Boar Gu and the Black Boar Gu to enhance my body and raise my strength, having the strength of two boars. Together with my own strength, I have around the strength of five or six adults. But to push this River Swallowing Toad, I need to have around two bull's strength. With just my current strength, it will not do. But, if I borrow the power of the tides... it's here."
Swish swish swish...
Fang Yuan turned his body around and saw that waves were crashing and approaching, causing a huge movement in the peaceful river water.
The tides got bigger and continually crashed against the River Swallowing Toad, causing the waves to fly high into the sky.
Fang Yuan only stood for a while before he got drenched.
He did not mind it, and began to push the River Swallowing Toad with vigor.
The River Swallowing Toad was still dead asleep. It was originally a Gu worm that lived in the rivers and sea, and to it, the force of the waves was normal and could not awaken it.
With the force of endless waves, Fang Yuan tried for some time and finally managed to push the River Swallowing Toad away from its original location. @@novelbin@@
The riverbed was wider as the river got downstream. Along with the flow of water, it made Fang Yuan's pushing easier.
After about three hundred meters, the River Swallowing Toad opened its sleepy eyes.
A pair of deep green eyes, in its sleepy state, gradually contracted and stared at Fang Yuan who was beside it.
Fang Yuan was fearless as he matched its gaze.
From its dark eerie eyes, Fang Yuan could see his own reflection.
"Jiangaaaang!" River Swallowing Toad raised its head, suddenly opening its mouth and emitting a strange croak.
The cry spread out and reverbed throughout Qing Mao mountain.
At once, Fang Yuan could feel his ears going deaf from the ringing noise.
River Swallowing Toad lowered its head, its mouth sucking at the river water that was approaching.
Swish swish swish!
The river water flowed at ten times the original speed as it was all sucked into its stomach, and the water level could be seen decreasing at an observable pace.
Fang Yuan stood beside the River Swallowing Toad, clearly seeing a large amount of seafood also being sent into the River Swallowing Toad's stomach along with the river water.
Sensing the river water's change, the Chi Shan group also hurried over, and as the three observed the River Swallowing Toad who was ingesting water, they were stunned.
"What a spectacular sight!" Chi Cheng observed, unable to hide his shock.
"You succeeded?" Chi Shan looked at Fang Yuan.
"Seems so," Fang Yuan nodded lightly.
The water level decreased until the water stopped flowing, and the River Swallowing Toad raised its head once again, its stomach expanding and contracting, vomiting out numerous fish, prawns, turtles etc.
At once, a large amount of seafood fell onto the ground, emitting a crisp sound.
A fish splashed on the ground, a turtle fell on its back confused, the crabs walked away horizontally, and then they were smashed by the falling seafood.
Fang Yuan did not mind it and only looked casually, but suddenly he smelt some wine fragrance.
"Strange, why is there a wine smell?" Chi Cheng sniffed, a face of surprise.
"It should be the Hundred year bitter shell," the female Gu Master in the group said and pointed at a disc-sized broken black shell.
This shell was black as ink with white round markings on it, like the rings in a tree trunk.
"That's right, bitter shell can turn the sand and rocks into bitter water juice. Hundred year bitter shell's bitter water, after the accumulation through time, can turn into wine. Bai clan's current clan leader loves to drink this bitter shell wine," Chi Shan added on.
He needn't go into detail; Fang Yuan had already long taken up this seashell, starting to collect his bitter shell wine.
Not too long ago, he was still worried about how to get this bitter shell wine, but to think it appeared in front of him like this.
Truly the phrase 'spending lots of effort looking for something fruitlessly, but it appears in front of you when least expected'!
The River Swallowing Toad had pretty much swallowed all the water in this river. Deep in the river bed, there had been some Hundred year bitter shells buried in the soil, and because of the River Swallowing Toad, the shells were exposed.
Fang Yuan quickly collected six little Hundred year bitter shells. Two of the shells were broken, but the other four were intact.
"I've finally collected the bitter wine, this way, I can start refining the Four Flavor Liquor worm!" This moment, Fang Yuan was overjoyed, but had no one to share the joy with.
"Jiangang!"
After the River Swallowing Toad vomited the seafood, it croaked again, and then looked at Fang Yuan once before moving its large body to swim downstream along the river.
"He really succeeded!" Chi Shan muttered, his heart feeling relief. He observed the River Swallowing Toad leaving until its shadow was completely gone, away from his vision.
"What, he scared it away so easily. If I knew this earlier on, we could've done it ourselves, but now we let Fang Yuan become a hero so easily!" Chi Cheng pouted, his tone full of jealousy and indignance.
"Fang Yuan, no matter what, this time you have done a good deed, you are the Gu Yue Clan's hero!" Chi Shan stared at Fang Yuan with a complicated expression.
"Oh," Fang Yuan replied absent-mindedly, giving a half-hearted feeling. At the same time, his gaze shone as he continued to rummage and search for Hundred year bitter shells among the seafood.
What hero, it was merely a title.
Between praise and slander, they were all views and expressions of others onto oneself.
What opinions others had of him, Fang Yuan did not give a damn.
You can think all you want, I live my own life.
Hero? Zero? Hehe, I rather have a bitter shell.
News of chasing away the River Swallowing Toad reached the village at once.
Gu Yue Bo said "Good" three times continuously, and the solemnness in the hall was swept away at once.
Only the internal affairs elder's face was complicated, he did not think well of Fang Yuan. Not too long ago, he even criticized Fang Yuan, but now that the village was in danger, Fang Yuan was the one who resolved the issue. With these two issues coming together, wasn't it a slap in his face?
"Gu Yue Fang Yuan has the credit of chasing away the River Swallowing Toad, we'll make an exception to promote him to team leader and reward him five hundred primeval stones."Gu Yue Bo thought, before giving the order filled with a special meaning.
In the wine tavern.
"What, Fang Yuan actually succeeded?!"
"Strange, he's just a newbie, how can he chase away a Rank five Gu worm?"
"Even Chi Shan failed miserably, but he did it..."
The news spread, and everyone was filled with shock.
"Fang Yuan became the savior of our clan? This..." The male Gu Master who had animosity with Fang Yuan was lost for action after hearing this news.
His group leader suddenly shouted, pointing at the clerks in the tavern, "You mere mortals, you dare to slander our clan's hero, you deserve execution!"
Even before finishing his words, he shot a moonblade.
The elderly shopkeeper did not expect that such a life-threatening situation would occur, and after being hit by this moonblade on his neck, he was beheaded.
"Lord, spare us!" The clerks upon seeing this were first stunned but quickly kneeled on the ground, begging for mercy loudly.
"Group leader, what are you doing?" The Male Gu Master stood up.
"What am I doing huh?" His group leader moved his brows, sighing solemnly, "Times have changed, Ah Hai. Fang Yuan has turned into a hero suddenly, the higher-ups will pay attention to him. If words of our slander towards him spread, what do you think will happen? There are lots of detection-type Gu Masters around, and if someone wants to harm us and said several bad things to the clan elders, our future would be ruined!"
The male Gu Master broke out in cold sweat from fear.
It was indeed like this, clan relationships ruled above all. Fang Yuan had gone and dealt with a Rank five Gu worm, risking his life to defend his clan. At the same time he was slandered and insulted by them. What mindset was this? This was ungratefulness, coldness, emotionless and utter disregard for relationships!
Like history on Earth, Yue Fei fought in the battlefields, defending his country, but Qin Hui framed him as a spy in court.
Although these Gu Masters did not go as severe as framing, but if this matter was spread out, would the higher-ups feel safe with these people around?
If it was Mo Yan or Chi Cheng, people with tough backgrounds, that would still be alright. But these few were people without backing.
Trying to climb up the system's ladder, it was push and shove, stepping on each other. If others used this incident and attacked them, to their future, it had a destructive influence!
"It is still not too late to salvage the situation, we just have to express our attitudes, and outsiders won't say much. These mortals have cheap lives, so be it if they die. But they can be sacrifices for us, and this is their honor. You guys should immediately strike, each one of you must kill one each. After killing you should praise Fang Yuan and express our stand!" the group leader shouted.
"Dammit!" The male Gu Master cursed; between hatred and his future, he unhesitantly chose the latter.
With a moonblade, a clerk died on the spot.
"Lord, please spare us." At once, all the other clerks were paralyzed on the ground, scared until they peed their pants.
The male Gu Master did not care about them, and under everyone's watchful gaze, he pointed at these pitiful clerks righteously, shouting, "You lot deserve death. Gu Yue Fang Yuan is a hero, and with his own strength, he defended the clan, what gave you the courage to slander him!"
The male Gu Master said this while frowning.
This was his true emotion. Fang Yuan was someone he deeply hated, but he had to praise him in public; he felt a strong sense of disgust and irk for himself.
"Lord, didn't you ask us.... Urgh!" A clerk felt feelings of injustice deeply, shouting out loudly.
But he could not finish his sentence before he stopped.
A moonblade went flying, splitting him in half.
"A bunch of lowly slaves, not only slandering Fang Yuan, but also wanting to implicate us!" A female Gu Master struck, her expression cold as she shouted fiercely.
Other Gu Masters seeing this, felt like they were watching a soap opera.
Some smirked, some were indifferent and some continued chatting, but nobody stopped them.
So what if a few mortals died?
Just compensating a few family servants would do.
Everyone was part of the clan, they were family. No one would interfere or pursue the matter for these outsiders, causing conflict for themselves.
-x-X-x-
"Gu Yue Clan...." Xiong Li stood at the mountainside and gazed at the distant Gu Yue village; a complicated expression on his face.
Cool autumn wind was breezing gently.
The color of autumn dyed the mountain.
Tree leaves were a mix of yellow and red, with wild fruits growing all over the place. Only the Qing Mao bamboo remained green and erect.
"Not long ago, Gu Yue Clan was like these Qing Mao bamboo, evergreen all the year, the overlord of Qing Mao mountain. Now, they are actually falling behind," Xiong Li's lips curved with a cold mocking smile.
But quickly, he thought of the Bai village and the curve of his lips smoothed out; his mood turned serious.
Bai village's uprising had already broken the old balance of Qing Mao mountain. The traditional hedgemon, the Gu Yue clan had weakened; Xiong village's operations were not running properly; all these were pushing the situation in the Qing Mao mountain towards an upheaval.
Xiong Li knew this upheaval hadn't erupted yet because of the pressure from the wolf tide. The three villages needed to collaborate if they wanted to overcome this wolf tide, thus they tacitly maintained peace and threw away grievances for the time being.
"Once the wolf tide is gone, Qing Mao mountain's old structure will be shattered. Bai Ning Bing has already reached Rank three in only a couple of years. It's really terrifying....." Xiong Li recalled the figure of a white-clothed youth, and he felt stifled as if he was pressed down by a huge rock.
He, Xiong Li, was the top amongst the Xiong village's Rank two Gu Masters. He had fought all sorts of battles and won most of them, establishing his name. He held the Grand Bear Gu and could erupt with a bear's strength. He was also known as the strongest person in Qing Mao mountain.
He had already made his debut and had personally seen the rocket-like emergence of Bai Ning Bing, so he was clearer than others regarding the terror of this youth.
"Group leader, that is Gu Yue village! It's still far away, why are we stopping here?" From the side, Xiong Lin raised his two hands and clasped them behind his head as he curiously asked.
In this five-person group, Xiong Lin was the youngest and was a newbie who just made his debut. He was the same age as Fang Yuan and was this year's top genius of Xiong village.
His stature was short and he had shaved his head which seemed to shine under the sunlight.
Xiong Li looked at this new talent of the clan, his heavy mood eased up a little. He answered in a deep voice, "We are here on a diplomatic mission and not on a scouting mission. This area is already the warning area of the Gu Yue clan, and we will probably be treated as enemies if we boldly enter."
"Oh, so it was like that." Xiong Lin realized.
"We have two objectives this time. One is to hand the clan head's personal letter to Gu Yue's clan head. Another is to investigate the matter regarding the River Swallowing Toad. Gu Yue village is not our area, so make sure to keep your temper in check when we get there. However, you absolutely can't degrade the prestige of our Xiong village, understood?" Xiong Li's gaze swept all around and shouted.
The rest of the Gu Master's expressions all turned serious and silently nodded.
"Group leader, someone's here," the scouting Gu Master in the group suddenly spoke.
"We have revealed our movements for so long, they should be here by now. But who would it be...hmm? So it was Chi Shan." Soon after, Xiong Li also discovered Chi Shan group; his eyes flashed.
"Wow! That person is so tall, is he Chi Shan? He is even taller than the group leader. Such muscles, piece by piece...group leader, isn't he the guy born with super strength who has been trying to seize the title of the strongest person of the Qing Mao mountain?" Xiong Lin immediately looked straight at Chi Shan.
"Hmph, it had to be him....." Xiong Jiang spoke gloomily and twisted her lips in disdain.
"Xiong Li!"
"Chi Shan."
The two groups were fifty steps apart from each other. The two group leaders came face to face, their gazes clashed in the air and seemed to form sparks.
"Looks like you are Xiong village's special envoy this time," Chi Shan snorted coldly; he had fought many times with Xiong Li.
"That's right. Has the special envoy from the Bai village arrived?" Xiong Li's expression steeled up.
"Why ask so much? Follow me," Chi Shan cautiously turned and invited.
Meanwhile.
In the second secret room, four wine jars were in front of Fang Yuan.
Sour, sweet, bitter and spicy, four flavors of wine. Sweet belonged to golden honey wine; spicy was white grains liquid; sour came from redberry wine; bitter was from bitter shell wine.
Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground. He then willed the two Liquor worms to fly out of his aperture.
The fusion process of Four Flavours Liquor worm was slightly different from normal fusion.
The two Liquor worms followed Fang Yuan's will and entered the redberry wine jar.
They started the fusion within the redberry wine. A white ball of light formed in the wine jar, its majestic light pierced out of the wine jar and shone on the wall.
Fang Yuan threw primeval stones in the wine jar; one piece, ten pieces, fifty pieces.....
When it reached the hundredth piece, the light ball shrunk to a fist's size and floated in the wine jar.
The redberry wine was completely used up. Fang Yuan picked the second wine jar - golden honey wine - and poured it into the jar.
The white ball of light was immersed in the honey wine, suddenly swelling up to its original size.
Fang Yuan's head was soaked with sweat; he was constantly maintaining the fusion of the two Liquor worms' consciousness, and such multitasking was extremely taxing on the mind.
He continued to throw primeval stones towards the wine jar.
Every piece of primeval stones caused the ball of light to shrink by a bit, until it condensed to a fist's size again, reaching its limit. @@novelbin@@
Fang Yuan followed the pattern and successively poured the bitter shell wine, then the white grains liquid.
When the four types of wine were completely used up, the light in the wine jar suddenly flourished before disappearing completely.
"Success." Fang Yuan knew he had succeeded without even looking in the wine jar.
He willed and a Gu shakingly flew out of the wine jar.
It was the Four Flavours Liquor worm.
Comparing it with the Liquor worm, there wasn't much change in its external form, except that it was slightly bigger.
It also resembled a silkworm and had a tiny pair of shiny black eyes.
The difference was that the Liquor worm's body was completely white, but this Four Flavours Liquor worm's body continuously flickered with four colors; red representing spicy, blue representing bitter, green representing sour and yellow representing sweet. Fang Yuan couldn't help but associate it with the neon lights on Earth.
"Huff..." Fang Yuan let out a big sigh of relief. His luck was good this time and didn't encounter failure, succeeding the first time.
If it failed, the Liquor worms could suffer serious damage and one of them could even die, or the bitter shell wine might be used up. Either of these outcomes would be troublesome.
Fortunately, this situation didn't occur.
A Gu Master needs to use, nurture and refine Gu; none of them were easy. And in the aspect of fusing Gu worms, many Gu Masters would go through a lot to look for recipes and collect materials.
There were various recipes and they might not necessarily be suitable. As for collecting materials, Gu Masters might even spend over ten years of efforts on it. Even if they find the recipe and collect all the materials, if the fusion failed, the materials would be used up, and all their previous efforts and preparations would go down the drain.
"Gu Master's cultivation is difficult....." Fang Yuan sighed.
Fusing Gu worms were easy at the beginning stage of the cultivation. But the success rate for Rank four and Rank five fusion would often not reach even one in ten times.
Rank six fusion success rate was even as low as one percent. Every failure when fusing high rank Gu worms meant a loss of a great sum of resources.
However, once succeeded, the benefits would be extremely high.
Taking Fang Yuan's newly refined Four Flavours Liquor worm into account, it could refine Rank two primeval essence and increase it by a small realm.
Fang Yuan used a red steel Relic Gu to advance to middle stage. Now, with the Four Flavours Liquor worm, he would have upper stage primeval essence.
His fighting strength was now doubled. At the same time, the Four Flavours Liquor worm would nourish his aperture which meant faster cultivation speed.
However, with advantages comes disadvantages.
Using the Four Flavours Liquor worm to refine his primeval essence would definitely lead to an increased consumption of primeval stones. Just by relying on the income from selling vitality leaves was already not enough to maintain his cultivation expenditure.
"Next, I need to fuse the Stealth Rock Gu into Stealth Scales Gu. This will add on to another expenditure."
Fusion, whether success or failure, used up primeval stones every time. Fang Yuan had used up over four hundred primeval stones earlier for refining the Four Flavours Liquor worm.
The clan had awarded him with five hundred primeval stones for chasing away the River Swallowing Toad. Five hundred primeval stones was enough for other Gu Masters to spend for a long while, but Fang Yuan had almost used it completely.
Fortunately, from the reselling of the assets, after using up most of it to purchase the red steel Relic Gu, some of it still remained. There was no need to worry for a short period of time.
But it was necessary to refine the Scales Stealth Gu.
Fang Yuan had obtained the Stealth Rock Gu after he killed the stone monkey king. However, it had no practical use.
It could only conceal the body. That meant, once Fang Yuan used it, his body would be concealed and be invisible to people.
But the clothes on his body - his wrist guards, leg wrappings and bamboo shoes would still be visible to the naked eyes.
The stone monkey king had no worries about this; it was a wild beast and didn't need clothes.
But Fang Yuan would be in an awkward situation. To use the Stealth Rock Gu to the best of its ability and be invisible, he would need to take of all the clothes on his body. Otherwise, even if he concealed his body, others would see a set of 'walking' Rank two Gu Master's uniform.
Stealth Rock Gu was a Rank one Gu worm. Once it advanced to Rank two Stealth Scales Gu, this problem would be resolved.
Stealth Scales Gu could conceal even the clothes. If the stone monkey king had Stealth Scales Gu, then even if Fang Yuan's shirt covered its body, the shirt would also become invisible.
Supposing that the stone monkey king had Stealth Scales Gu, then the matter of whether Fang Yuan could defeat it was rather suspenseful.
Refining a Stealth Scales Gu naturally required other materials other than the Stealth Rock Gu. These materials were quite common and Fang Yuan had already requested Jiang Ya's help to gather them.
"If I could refine Stealth Scales Gu, it will become very convenient for me to enter the secret cave. Moreover, during the wolf tide, I could easily attack and retreat with this method," Fang Yuan pondered.
It was getting late, he retrieved the Four Flavours Liquor worm into his aperture and exited the cave, walking towards the village.
He had instantly attracted a lot of attention after successfully chasing away the River Swallowing Toad. It was not easy moving about these days, so he was slightly worried that if he stayed for long in the secret cave, people would harbor suspicions.
At the village gate, a bout of strength contest had concluded.
Xiong Li's group was proudly standing whereas Chi Shan's group along with the Gu Masters guarding the gate had heavy faces.
Xiong Li wasn't as tall as Chi Shan but his gaze seemed to be overlooking everything at this moment. He slowly spoke, "Chi Shan, you are indeed blessed with super strength. But I have Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu and I possess the strength of a bear. You saw from the battle just now that you are still not my match."
"Hmph, wanting to get the title of the strongest in Qing Mao mountain, dream on," Xiong Jiang sneered from the side.
Chi Shen's face was ashen, he knew the other party had intentionally challenged him and their conduct was filled with political intentions. His loss now was no longer just his personal affair; rather, it was tarnishing Gu Yue clan's name.
"What are you being proud over defeating me? You don't know that I am no longer the strongest person in the clan. If you have skills, then speak after defeating Fang Yuan," Chi Shan had no choice but to mention Fang Yuan.
"Oh, Fang Yuan? I heard an A grade genius emerged in Gu Yue clan and his name was Fang Zheng. But who is this Fang Yuan?" Xiong Li asked, doubtfully.
Chi Shan sneered, "Fang Yuan is Fang Zheng's older brother, he is also blessed with innate super strength and similarly possesses a strength-increasing Gu worm. Previously, he alone pushed the Rank five River Swallowing Toad over a hundred meters, finally driving it away. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone in the village."
Xiong Li group's expressions couldn't help but change.
Rank five River Swallowing Toad!
Fang Yuan!
This name was instantly engraved in their minds.
-x-X-x-
Whizzzz!
Three face-sized moonblades slashed through the air, carrying an eerie blue light.
Screeeech!
Instantly, sixteen to seventeen jade eye stone monkeys were killed on the spot.
The stone monkey groups chasing after Fang Yu were instantly cut down by a small half.
Fang Yuan stood on the spot and didn't retreat. Instead, he lifted his right hand and slashed the air three times. @@novelbin@@
Three moonblades ran through the stone monkey group, beheading any stone monkey in its way.
The corpses of the stone monkeys fell on the ground, shattering into countless pieces. Their eyes turned into jade pearls and rolled on the blood-filled ground.
Fang Yuan inspected his aperture; he still had greater half of dark red primeval essence remaining.
The Moonglow Gu required ten percent of light red primeval essence to use a moonblade. Fang Yuan could only use four moonblades repeatedly at Rank two initial stage. The number increased to eight when he reached the middle stage. And at the upper stage, the number doubled once more, reaching sixteen.
Fang Yuan wasn't really at Rank two upper stage, but with the Four Flavours Liquor worm's refining of upper stage primeval essence, he could be considered to be at false upper stage; his fighting strength was rising sharply.
Before, he would have needed to fight while retreating when chased by these seventy or eighty stone monkeys. Now, he just attacked with the moonblades, rapidly killing most of them. The remaining stone monkeys had escaped.
"I cleared up three stone pillars within just two days. This speed is many times faster than before! If this goes on, I will be able to re-open a path to the central area in about half a month," Fang Yuan pondered.
"From the Flower Wine Monk's style, the underground cave in the central pillar should be the next barrier. It is very likely that there will be another Earth Treasure Flower Gu at the barrier. I reckon the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance is almost over. After all, he was seriously injured and his state was far from good, thus he hurriedly set up this inheritance. At most, there will probably be two more obstacles remaining."
Fang Yuan recalled the scene on the image wall; the blood-soaked Flower Wine Monk on his last breath. With his previous life's deep experience, he reached this conclusion.
Flower Wine Monk had too little time to set up this legacy, there was no way for him to do more. However, this was a special case.
Gu Masters normally used years to set up their legacies. There were some large scaled legacies that would only open once every ten or more years. Some legacies were even divided and scattered across different areas and could even be at the different ends of the world.
The latter generations would need ten or more years or even decades of time to go through all the tests of such legacies.
Some legacies might not even be explored completely throughout a Gu Master's life; the Gu Master would often leave this incomplete task for their descendants.
"Flower Wine Monk's inheritance can be classified as a micro-scale legacy; its shortcoming being the small amount of inheritance items. But this also has its advantage — the first barrier is arranged according to the local conditions and is thus simple. I have successively obtained White Boar Gu, Jade Skin Gu and Liquor worm from this inheritance. Stealth Stone Gu can be barely considered as the inheritance. Next, there are probably only two more earth treasure flowers remaining. I hope that the Gu worms in them will be related to scouting or movement-type!"
Time passed quickly, autumn went and winter arrived.
Early winter, the first snowfall had come.
The sky was grey, snowflakes floated and fell on Qing Mao mountain.
Fang Yuan was moving alone through the snow. He had just come out from the secret cave in the stone crack and was hurrying towards the village.
"Over two months have passed, but my progress in clearing the stone pillars has not been good." Fang Yuan's countenance carried a dark scowl.
It was not because he hadn't put in effort, but rather the prelude to the wolf tide had already shown its signs.
Food was scarce during the winter; the growing wolf packs started to increase their hunting scale to gather enough foods to eat their fill.
The wild beast groups in the surroundings were purged due to this. Small beast tides frequently started to occur due to the disorder; similarly, there were also the crippled wolf packs.
These crippled wolves were expelled from the nest. These wolves gathered together and formed a group; they had started making frequent movements near the village.
It hadn't reached the wild stage of attacks on the village yet, but the hunter families no longer went up the mountain to hunt. Similarly, there were occasionally some villagers who lost their lives to the wolves.
Gu Yue village mobilized many Gu Masters to carry out a clean-up operation. Due to this, there were many people moving about, along with lot of scouting Gu Masters among them. Thus, Fang Yuan sensibly decreased the amount of times he went to the secret cave inside the stone crack.
No doubt, this caused the speed of his progress in the stone forest to fall steeply.
The cold wind was getting stronger; snow was also falling heavily.
Houuuuu...
A deep beastly howl suddenly spread through the wind and snow.
Fang Yuan swiftly stopped and looked around, alert.
A small scale wolf pack with about twenty or more lightning wolves quickly appeared in range of his sight.
"Here we go again....." Fang Yuan muttered, this was already the eighth beast group he had encountered this month.
However, this time was somewhat different.
"The wolf packs are starting to make their moves so near to the village. Next, the clan's Gu Masters will make their moves more often. The stone crack's secret cave is not far away; looks like I can't go there for some time." Fang Yuan's heart sank upon this thought.
The journey was difficult, there would always be some obstacles preventing people from progressing.
The wolf pack closed in on Fang Yuan.
Houuu! Houuu! Houuu!
They howled before charging at Fang Yuan, coming at him one after another.
"Moonglow Gu," Fang Yuan willed; a moonblade flew out from his hand.
The eerie blue moonblade slashed through the wind and snow, going through the sickly wolves. It instantly beheaded three wolves, but when it reached the fourth wolf, the wolf suddenly rolled and cleverly dodged the moonblade.
Although most of these crippled wolves were handicapped, blind or missing their tails, they had plenty of battle experience and were very cunning.
A normal Rank two middle stage Gu Master would be in intense danger if they ran into such a group of crippled wolves and especially if they were surrounded by these wolves.
But Fang Yuan was calm.
His plentiful battle experience and the refined upper stage dark red primeval essence were the source of his confidence.
Kill, kill, kill!
He nimbly moved under the joint attacks from the crippled wolves, calmly dodging and decisively attacking.
The wolves continued to die by his hands.
After a short while, the number of the lightning wolves in the pack had sharply decreased by half.
Houuu—!
A wolf gave a mournful howl; the wolf pack immediately stopped their offensive attacks and began retreating.
This was the cunningness of these wolves.
When they discovered that Fang Yuan was a tough bone, they decisively retreated, giving up their plan to hunt Fang Yuan.
These old, sickly and injured wolves weren't in a perfect state but being able to live till now showed their survival wisdom.
Fang Yuan stood on the spot, calmly looking at these crippled wolves disappearing into the wind and snow. If he could hide his strength, then he didn't feel it necessary to reveal it.
After confirming that the wolf pack had completely escaped, he promptly collected the items on the wolf corpses.
Wolf skin, teeth and so on were all valuable.
Although their market price was on the low end, it could be made up by the quantity.
In these two months, Fang Yuan had made some earnings from the spoils of war from eradicating these crippled wolves.
The blood flowing from the wolf corpses were still warm. There were some crippled wolves who still had some breath left, their eyes showing a trace of vigor.
"In this world, not only humans but all living things are struggling to survive. This world is using life and death to unfold a brilliant stage!" Fang Yuan sighed before ruthlessly killing off these dying wolves.
A crippled wolf's fighting strength was higher than two jade eye stone monkeys. Under the coordination with the pack, their fighting strength would double.
"I can still deal with these small-scale crippled wolf packs. But it would be troublesome to handle large scale crippled wolf packs or a small scale healthy wolf pack."
Fang Yuan could feel a faint pressure.
"The wolf tide will break out soon and the whole clan will be mobilized. I won't be able to act aloof. If I want to hunt the lightning wolves by myself, I must have a scouting or movement-type gu. Otherwise, I will fall to the wolf tide."
Fang Yuan clearly recognized his shortcomings due to his ample experience.
His fighting strength had increased sharply after getting the Four Flavours Liquor worm. With the Moonglow Gu and Jade Skin Gu, he had both offense and defense. With his previous life's deep accumulation, he could totally be ranked along with Qing Shu, Chi Shan and Mo Yan.
One could say, he was barely, but already able to stand in the top ranks among the Rank two Gu Masters of the clan.
Why it was barely, was because he was not truly at the upper stage, and at the same time his aptitude was also only C grade and was thus very limited.
Being able to accomplish this much with his fighting strength was already the best result, but fighting strength was only one aspect in surviving the wolf tide.
"I must have a scouting method. If I have a scouting Gu worm, I will be able to sense the movements of the wolf pack and quickly retreat or move through another route. Or use movement-type Gu worms to quickly run and escape from the wolf pack's besiegement," Fang Yuan pondered.
His survival rate would greatly increase if he had just one of these two Gu worms. If he had both, then he would be able to move about easily.
"I hope Flower Wine Monk's legacy contains such Gu worms. It's not a problem even if it doesn't. From my memories, the three clans would jointly establish contributions list during the wolf tides and put their stored Gu worms out for exchange. There were many precious Gu in the list. At that time, I can use my contributions and exchange them for Bai or Xiong village's Gu worms."
Fang Yuan planned in his mind and stood up.
He had swiftly arranged the spoils of war in a short period and packed them in a bag which he then carried on his back.
The snow continued to fall and soon froze the wolf blood, covering their corpses.
"Look, Fang Yuan is back."
"He is carrying a bag, did he go out to hunt the crippled wolves again?"
"It was him that saved our village?"
"Hey, it was only by a stroke of luck. We both know how it went, if I had such great strength, I could also do that. It's no big deal."
As Fang Yuan walked through the village, the people made way for him; there were praises, curiosity and also envy.
"Fang Yuan!" Chi Shan suddenly appeared from a corner and shouted.