What did Wealth Gu do?
In The Legends of Ren Zu it was said to enslave stupid people and temporarily blind the wise.
However, that was just metaphorical.
As per the inheritance that he had obtained, Wealth Gu's effect was that it could substitute for any material - even Rank 9!
This was incredibly useful. Being ostracized by the Shi Clan, this was his best bet to launch himself upwards.
Naturally, all of these experiments had to be done in secret. After all, he knew that they just wanted a reason to kick him out. And if it was found that he could do this, the benefits to doing so were immense.
Up until now though, he had had limited success. He had even considered expending what limited Lifespan Gu he had managed to collect in order to boost its refinement rate - something he would be loathe to do.
However, who knew that Heaven would send such an opportunity to him?
His Will in Yellow Treasure Heaven had detected that someone was selling Ambition Gu.
Naturally as another gu worm from The Legends of Ren Zu he was quite curious as to what they could do.
His divine sense, however, sensed something remarkable.
The gu worms were filled with Human Path dao marks!
Sensing that there was something to quickly gain from them, he had bought the first set, overbidding by an Immortal Essence Stone.
And the results spoke for themselves!
He held several Rank 4 and Rank 5 Wealth Gu in his hands!
The success rate with substituting Ambition Gu in the place of human slaves was higher by many times!
As Shi Zhong thought about it, it didn't seem that odd. What was ambition? It was what had allowed Great Strength True Martial to escape the crystal walls made by Fate to contain him. Fate was what had snatched Wealth Gu from Ren Zu's hands early on.
Moreover, people's ambitions varied greatly, but one of the most common ambitions was for wealth!
From this, Shi Zhong felt he had been granted new insight into The Legends of Ren Zu. It was truly a profound scripture - the greatest Human Path inheritance that was known!
Not only was the success rate far higher, but there was the additional benefit that it did not involve buying human slaves - something that would get him kicked out of the clan if he attempted to do so. Not that the Shi Clan didn't do shady things - but they were a Righteous Force, and would have to put up the veneer of being righteous. And Shi Zhong was not valuable enough among their ranks to take a blow to their reputation for.
With this though, that risk was completely mitigated.
As Shi Zhong glanced at the mortal Wealth Gu in his hands though, his elation slowly fell.
That was because although it was fine when it came to mortal Wealth Gu, the issue was that it would be insufficient to make Immortal Wealth Gu.
The reason was clear. Gu worms contained dao marks. Rank 5 gu worms had far more dao makrs than either Rank 3 or Rank 4 - and Immortal Gu contained massive numbers of dao marks! Trying to make Immortal Gu from Rank 5 Mortal Gu was a difficult process in the best of times, let alone one which was Rank 3 or Rank 4.
If he wanted to attempt to create Rank 6 Wealth Gu, he would need to get his hands on Rank 5 Ambition Gu at the very least. And not just a few - he would need access to a large number of them. That was why he had figured that it would be easier to just buy in bulk from the mysterious seller on Yellow Treasure Heaven rather than trying to refine it himself.
But, it seemed this seller did not have Rank 5 Ambition Gu. Either that, or they had recognized its value and kept it to themselves.
He was an Earth Path Gu Immortal, and as such his foundation in the Refinement Path was limited. He could take the help of a Refinement Path expert - but that might leak out the information of what he was doing to the outside world if he mentioned Wealth Gu.
He needed to find a way to refine Ambition Gu on his own. Now that he had several sets, that should have been easy enough, but his first attempts had been met with no success.
"But I have several Ambition Gu... I should be able to find someone who cand deduce the recipe with better success than I..." Shi Zhong thought.
The only issue was finding such a person. An ordinary person would've asked someone within their clan, but Shi Zhong could not do so because of his tainted reputation.
'Drat! What's even the point of being part of a Righteous Force if I cannot get aide for something like this? I have to plot and scheme on my own behind the scenes, constantly watching my back. I can't rely on any of my clansmen to get further insight into what is going on. It's no different than being a Lone Cultivator or a Demonic Cultivator...' Although he had such complaints, there were reasons why he chose to stick with the Shi Clan.
He attempted to use his own basic Wisdom Path methods.
He had numerous Wisdom Path gu worm from his prior attempts at refining Wealth Gu. Although there was some suppression from his own Earth Path dao marks, he could certainly try to see if basic methods would give a fruitful result.
Thoughts collided in his head as he analyzed the gu worms in questions, but he found that they resulted in nothing.
Information Path methods likewise gave him very limited information, only on what they fed upon - which was Human Qi.
"I need to find someone on Yellow Treasure Heaven then... either that or a Refinement Path Inheritance..."
He changed his moniker and began exploring Yellow Treasure Heaven. It wasn't that there weren't Refinement Path Inheritances available, but the asking price was steep. Shi Zhong had several things that could potentially move their hearts, but he did not want to part with them either.
He could potentially sell mortal Wealth Gu, but that would risk divulging his own recipe if someone analyzed it. And unlike with Fang Yuan where the method itself gatekept anyone from making more Ambition Gu, it would not stop them from making more mortal Wealth Gu. Additionally Fang Yuan already had Immortal Ambition Gu meaning another one couldn't be refined, so he didn't have to worry about selling mortal Ambition Gu and potentially leaking out the Immortal recipe.
And then what? What if they deduced the recipe for Immortal Wealth Gu? All of his plans would be ruined them.
"But there's no need to be too worried..." he thought to himself, calming his racing heart. He had made success, after all. The other main part of the recipe that could be altered was the Wisdom Path gu worms. That, and using Rank 5 Ambition Gu instead. "If only I could find the seller myself. Should I pay a Wisdom Path Immortal to deduce something about him? Hmm... it could lead to them figuring out what I was doing instead though, and if he is somewhere not in the Western Desert than it would be futile to try anyway... it is too risky to reach out to someone in my own tribe, but there are Wisdom Path experts that can be hired in the Eastern Sea for the right price. It might be safer to go with them. First though, I should try to find some more clues. Deductions are useless without clues. If I speak to this person a few more times, he might let something slip and let me catch onto him..."