Fang Tian moistened both his body and mind, relaxed his spirit, and entered an exceptionally good state. When he could no longer reach a better condition, he let out a breath and began reviewing the Gu refinement recipe.
"Rank Three Wood Origin Gu requires more than twenty steps to complete its refinement. Some of these steps are rather complicated and need more practice. But with the refinement-path Gu worms I obtained, I can guarantee a sixty percent success rate. It's not as if I'm inexperienced in handling materials."
He had received the promised contribution points from Wu Ji, amounting to thirteen thousand points. This was after deducting the contribution points he had already exchanged for primeval stones.
One could say that looting resource points was an extremely profitable venture. However, it carried enormous risks, and without a reliable channel to offload the resources, it was not something one could depend on for stable profit.
Moreover, such actions were considered demonic-path behavior. The final result was that he had to restrain his actions carefully, or else he would be targeted by the righteous path.
"It doesn't really matter. Once I raise my Gu worms to Rank Three, I'll accept a mission near Mount Ju Xian and sneak into the inheritance cave to finish what I started."
Wood Origin Gu flew into the air, appearing like a small but lively piece of wood. With a thought from Fang Tian, the Wood Origin Gu plunged into a cauldron filled with white sap and began slowly absorbing it.
Next, Fang Tian took out ten bundles of underground red grass and refined them with Solid Nature Qi. The Solid Nature Qi sometimes looked like a lump of clay, sometimes like a ball of grass, then turned as hard as metal or as light as the wind.
"Refinement Erosion Wind Gu!"
This was one of the refinement-path Gu worms he had obtained. Although most of them were Rank Two, they provided him with tremendous assistance.
The Solid Nature Qi gradually shrank. Once it reached a certain size, Fang Tian grasped it and mixed it with the underground red grass until the two materials mutated into a new substance. It resembled a slender mold the color of fresh spring leaves.
He then pulled the Wood Origin Gu out of the cauldron, now completely dried of white sap, placed it into the mold, and began the next step.
After several hours, a Rank Three Wood Origin Gu flew out, emitting a vivid spring-green glow. Its shape now resembled a thick tree branch, with several leaves growing upon it. A powerful and wondrous aura radiated from it, filling Fang Tian with joy.
After storing the Wood Origin Gu, Fang Tian cleaned his tools and put away the remaining refinement materials. Without resting, he immediately began refining another Gu worm.
This time, however, it was a Rank Two Gu worm.
A foul stench of blood spread through the room, making Fang Tian frown as he barely suppressed the urge to vomit.
"Using the blood of a Thousand-Beast King to refine a Rank Two Gu worm is truly wasteful…"
Yet he did not hesitate. Refining this Gu worm was necessary to upgrade Vineyard Garden Gu into Blood-Absorbing Vine Gu. This Gu belonged to both the blood path and the wood path, but the offensive power it provided was extremely strong. Even if it was associated with the blood path, Fang Tian would not hesitate to refine it.
It wasn't as if he had another recipe to upgrade Vineyard Garden Gu into something else.
Fang Tian activated a Gu worm, causing the blood of the Thousand-Beast King to float slowly into the air, spinning into a sphere. He then threw in the molten Blood Vein Stone and the Intimate Grass. After a mysterious transformation occurred within the mass of blood, he opened his mouth and exhaled a breath of icy air, causing the blood to coagulate.
Once the blood had frozen, the rest was simple. All he had to do was carefully control the temperature until cracks spread across the surface of the frozen blood mass.
Fang Tian waited patiently, gradually raising the temperature until he heard a cracking sound. He then frantically poured his primeval essence into the blood mass, which swiftly transformed into a sphere of red light and began to contract.
After a while, a blood leech fell into Fang Tian's hand, opening its mouth hungrily. He immediately stored it within the Stomach-Nourishing Gu to keep it half-full so it wouldn't starve to death, then left the room in exhaustion.
"The burden of refining Gu worms on my soul is far too heavy… I only refined two Gu worms, and only one of them was Rank Three, yet my spirit already felt agitated. That's why I gave up on refining Vineyard Garden Gu for now."
"Should I go get some Gu worms that strengthen the soul? …No, forget it. Most soul-strengthening methods—especially mortal ones—have many flaws. Sleeping will be enough to calm my spirit for now… But I still need to go obtain the White Silver Relic Gu."
Fang Tian left his white-brick pavilion and headed toward the mountain's core, where Wu Clan territory lay. The guards at the entrance did not stop him, as they recognized clan members. There was no one bold enough to attempt to sneak into their clan.
Inside the Internal Affairs Hall, there were only a few Wu Clan Gu Masters who recognized Fang Tian.
"Oh, isn't this the external member who joined recently?"
"Don't point at him, idiot! This person is ranked sixty-second on the clan's contribution board! Do you know what that means?! It means that above him in contribution points are only a handful of people of our rank and the elders!"
"So what if you're scared? He's just an external member of our clan. What can he possibly hope to achieve here?"
Fang Tian heard their chatter but paid them no mind. He had more important things to focus on.
"Damn it… There are only two White Silver Relic Gu, and the price is simply outrageous!"
White Silver Relic Gu usually sold for seventy to eighty thousand primeval stones at auctions. But within Wu Clan, demand far exceeded supply for Relic Gu.
Thus, one White Silver Relic Gu cost eight hundred contribution points, and two cost one thousand six hundred points. Fang Tian possessed a large number of contribution points, yet even he felt his heart bleed as he exchanged them for Relic Gu.
"Ah, forget it. I gathered contribution points to spend them anyway—why mourn their loss? Let's see… there are some decent Gu worms here. There's Rank Four Sword Qi Gu—its offensive power is incredible, but it's useless to me… Wait, are these soul-path Gu worms?!"
On the exchange list, several soul-path Gu worms were displayed, instantly exciting Fang Tian to the point he could barely restrain himself.
"Falcon-Man Soul Gu… Tree-Man Soul Gu—this one suits me well… Ohh, Soul Search Gu—I have to buy this! Soul Capture Gu. Soul Cry Gu. Spirit Language Gu. Soul Gathering Gu… And these Spirit Beast Cores can strengthen the soul's foundation, but they'll make a person closer to a beast than a human."
Fang Tian exchanged his contribution points for Spirit Language Gu, Soul Cry Gu, Soul Capture Gu, Soul Search Gu, and Soul Robe Gu, as well as Tree-Man Soul Gu to refine and elevate the quality of his soul. He also purchased Soul Detection Gu to locate spirits.
All in all, he spent an enormous number of contribution points on these Gu worms. Combined with his previous expenses, he had already spent three thousand five hundred contribution points!
After all, these soul-path Gu worms were a mixture of Rank Three and Rank Four Gu. He now had to spend another one thousand contribution points just to buy enough food to sustain them for two full years.
"But this is good. Now I have both defensive and offensive means in the soul path. I can capture the souls of others, communicate with them, and search them to gain their cultivation experiences. I can also collect souls of others or spirit beasts, and refine my own soul into a Tree-Man Soul. Then I'll gain even better effects when using wood-path Gu worms!"
"Am I some kind of favored child of humanity to possess such overwhelming luck?"
It was an utterly ridiculous thought—a demon from another world, somewhat freed from the influence of fate, gaining monstrous talent and fortune, becoming a so-called Child of Humanity.
Yet in this world, where luck itself held tangible power, perhaps it wasn't entirely impossible.
In any case, Fang Tian gathered the Gu worms he had purchased along with the White Silver Relic Gu and returned to his garden and the pavilion overlooking the lake.
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