The Gu Yue remnants rushed along the Yellow Dragon River toward White Bone Mountain, encountering a Rank Three demonic Gu Master named Chen Cuihua along the way.
Several Elders joined forces to kill her, and the group subsequently obtained Chen Cuihua's Rice Bag Grass Gu, Iron Thorn Bramble Gu, Jumping Grass Gu, and other Gu insects. Among them was a Rank Five Time Path Gu insect, which Fang Yuan refined on the spot.
This Gu insect was none other than the third watch gu, a key Gu for refining Fixed Immortal Travel in the future, capable of accelerating the flow of time by three times!
On the way, the group encountered a Grass Skirt Monkey Group. The Gu Yue remnants acted to wipe them out, obtaining a large amount of Little Monkey Tofu Brains and dozens of jars of High Grade Monkey Wine.
It was also on this day that Fang Yuan used the bone flesh reunion gu to Breakthrough and step into the Rank Four Peak stage.
That night, the Gu Yue remnants encountered a Ten Thousand Beast King, the Xuan Yuan Divine Chicken.
Three Rank Four Peak experts, along with the Thousand-Mile Earth Wolf Spider and Cunning Lightning Wolf, attacked together, knocking the Xuan Yuan Divine Chicken down from the sky. It dropped equipment all over the ground, but the Gu Yue Clan also lost over a hundred people.
After many twists and turns, the Gu Yue remnants finally reached White Bone Mountain, only to find Gu Masters from the Hundred Families Village entrenched there.
It turned out that the Hundred Families Village's origin spring was nearing exhaustion, and they wanted to find a new origin spring on White Bone Mountain to prolong their survival.
The Gu Yue remnants clearly knew the location of the origin spring, but were blocked by the Hundred Families Gu Masters. The other party not only refused to let them pass but also built fortifications around the area to maintain a strict defense.
A Rank Three Clan Elder snorted disdainfully, "Hmph! Just a mere medium-sized Family."
At the slightest provocation, the Gu Yue Clan began a great war with the Hundred Families. Although the Gu Yue Clan was small in number, their high-level combat power was extremely formidable:
Forty-six Rank Three Gu Masters and three Rank Four Peak experts.
In contrast, the Hundred Families had only twenty-four Elders and two Rank Four Gu Masters. Among them, the Rank Four Gu Master named Bai Zhan Wen had only recently been promoted.
This battle was without suspense; the Hundred Families was utterly defeated and fled.
After occupying the origin spring, the Gu Yue Clan proceeded to wipe out the Hundred Families, capturing thirty thousand Mortals, as well as thirty-two Rank One Gu Masters, four hundred and twenty-seven Rank Two Gu Masters, and eight Rank Three Clan Elders.
The Hundred Families Clan Chief fled in the chaos, while the Elder Bai Zhan Wen died in battle after activating the Rank Four Fireman Gu. The Gu Yue Clan finally annexed the Hundred Families.
As for the losses on the Gu Yue remnants' side, it was merely over two thousand Electric Wolves, a thousand blood dropper swarm, and a dozen or so Gu Masters who "heroically died in a trampling incident."
(There was no need for Rank Twos to act at all; the high-level combat power could just go in directly.)
After the battle, Fang Yuan's blood dropper swarm surged to seven thousand, already possessing combat power at the Ten Thousand Beast King level.
Using the serfs from the Hundred Families Village, the Gu Yue Clan planted moon orchid flower and used the Flesh Sac Secret Chamber from the White Bone Legacy to put over a hundred Rank Three and Rank Four Gu insects into a deep sleep.
As for Rank One and Rank Two Gu insects like the moonlight gu, moonlight gu (Moon Glow), and Moon Whirl Gu, over a thousand were lost.
Those happiest were the Bone Path Gu Masters.
There was an inexhaustible supply of milk in White Bone Mountain; the bone spear gu could eat as much as they wanted without any restraint.
The originally lifeless Gu Yue remnants were thus revitalized, showing a scene of recovery and reconstruction.
The Gu Yue Clan rested on White Bone Mountain for an entire year. During this year, a mixed Caravan arrived at the Gu Yue Village on White Bone Mountain, intending to trade with the Gu Yue Clan Members.
This Caravan was jointly formed by several families, including the Jia Family, Zhang Family, Ou Family, and Chen Family, with over a thousand people.
Perhaps it was a layout of heaven's will; this Caravan should have set out a year ago but was delayed for a whole year due to the Qing Mao Mountain Wolf Tide.
Precisely because of this delay, Fang Yuan encountered an extraordinary figure in the Caravan.
Zhang Xin Ci.
Who is the future Shang Xin Ci, famous throughout the Southern Border.
Shang Xin Ci is the daughter of Shang Yan Fei, the flesh and blood of Shang Yan Fei and a certain woman from the Zhang Family. But at this moment, she did not yet know her father's identity and still used the name Zhang Xin Ci, merely following her mother's deathbed entrustment to go to Shang Family City.
As people often say:
"The hearts of the Shang Family people are all black."
Only Shang Xin Ci is an exception. She is famous in the Southern Border for her kindness; if one were to say there are still good people in the Gu World, Shang Xin Ci would definitely be the first.
As for her kind deeds, they will not be listed one by one here.
There are thousands upon thousands of beauties in the Gu World—Qin Bai Lian, Fairy Miao Yin, Ge Yao, Xue Er, Feng Jin Huang, and their like are innumerable—but those who can truly stand out are only a few.
Bai Ning Bing's aloofness, Hei Lou Lan's valiant spirit, Lady White Rabbit's purity, Xie Han Mo's kindness, and Shang Xin Ci's benevolence.
(The Black Rabbit after blackening is a different story; that's hardly human anymore.)
In short, Shang Xin Ci can be called a peerless beauty, an existence that can stand alongside Bai Ning Bing and Hei Lou Lan.
To be honest, when the Shadow Sect first came into Fang Yuan's hands, it was simply a case of the feminine eclipsing the masculine—except for Fang Yuan, Bai Ning Bing, Hei Lou Lan, Fairy Miao Yin, and Lady White Rabbit were all women.
There was also the neither-male-nor-female Ying Wu Xie, and the spy from the Lang Ya Sect, Mao Six.
Aside from Mao Six and Fang Yuan, the rest were actually all women.
(If Ying Wu Xie counts as a woman.)
In the original work, Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing joined this Caravan and subsequently escorted Shang Xin Ci to Shang Family City.
But in this life, Fang Yuan had no need to hide at all, because a Blood Path Gu Master could use Blood Path methods to know the blood relationship between Shang Xin Ci and Shang Yan Fei.
Moreover, during this year, Fang Yuan broke through the Rank Four Peak again and returned to the Rank Five Realm. The moment he saw Zhang Xin Ci, he activated Blood Path and Information Path methods without a word.
"You must be Zhang Xin Ci? I am the Gu Yue Clan Leader, follow me to the Clan Leader Pavilion; I have important matters to discuss with you in detail."
Shang Xin Ci heard that this was a Information Path Gu insect voice transmission, which others did not notice. She hurriedly looked around and saw a black-clothed youth standing not far away.
The youth looked eighteen or nineteen years old, with long hair and eyes as black as ink, exuding a sense of steadiness in every movement.
The youth beckoned to her, and Shang Xin Ci gave an instruction to her maid Xiao Die before stepping forward to follow Fang Yuan.
The Gu Yue Clan Leader Pavilion on White Bone Mountain was worlds apart from the one on Qing Mao Mountain. This pavilion was nine stories high, with red pillars, carved windows, and deep blue flying eaves, looking like an ancient high-rise building.
The lanterns hanging under the eaves were actually Lantern Gu; the deep blue roof was also transformed from Gu insects, numbering over a thousand, including:
moonlight gu, moonlight gu (Moon Glow), moon shawl, Moon Whirl Gu, Water Arrow Gu, Ocean Current Gu, Torrent Gu, water vapor gu, and Water Shield Gu.
These Gu insects turned into the deep blue tiles of the roof, all being Moon Path and Water Path Gu insects.
In the carved patterns of the windows, countless thumbnail-sized small light gu were embedded, which could amplify the power of the moonblades from the roof.
Hidden in the foundation of the building were Water Trace Gu, Jumping Grass Gu, Moon Walk Gu, and other movement Gu, as well as the Rank Three Evasion Gu, Rank Four Soaring Cloud Gu, and Rank Four Riding Mist Gu, which could make the entire Clan Leader Pavilion fly into the air.
The core of the Clan Leader Pavilion was the Rank Three heavenly origin treasure lotus and the Rank Five third watch gu. This combination was comparable to three heavenly origin treasure lotuses, providing a continuous supply of primeval essence for the Clan Leader Pavilion.
(It's not useful for combat at all, at most it can control the bright moon still water tower's movement; to fight, it must have hundreds of Gu Masters.)
The core area also hid treasure moonlight king gu and other Gu insects, which could form the "Stars Arching Towards the Moon" Killer Move.
On the ceiling of the Clan Leader Pavilion, a Rank Three Spring Rain Gu hung on every floor to collectively heal Gu Masters; many defense Gu insects were laid out between the bricks and stones, and the red pillars and walls were filled with Blood Droplets.
In summary, the entire Clan Leader Pavilion accommodated over ten thousand Gu insects, already a prototype of a mortal gu house, possessing the functions of attack, defense, healing, movement, and energy storage, and could also be lived in.
The furniture inside was also Gu insects, such as Table Gu, Wood Door Gu, Rosewood Cabinet Gu, and so on.
Its only flaw was that it did not have Food Path or Refinement Path functions, and the primeval essence consumption was extremely massive, requiring a large number of Gu Masters to inject primeval essence together to activate it.
Fang Yuan named this mortal gu house—bright moon still water tower. Although it was not yet a mortal gu house, it was already a semi-finished product.
At this time, the Gu Yue Clan's strength was already unprecedentedly powerful.
After Fang Yuan broke through to Rank Five, Fang Zheng and Clan Leader also successively stepped into the Rank Five Gu Master Realm; Gu Yue Qing Shu, Red Mountain, Desolate Dust, Red Snake, Medicinal Consort, and others also promoted to Rank Four Gu Masters.
Now, the high-level combat power of Gu Yue Village is clearly listed as follows:
Rank Five combat power: Fang Yuan, Clan Leader, bright moon still water tower (under the condition of hundreds of people fully activating it), and Thousand-Mile Earth Wolf Spider.
Pseudo-Rank Five combat power: Fang Zheng, Cunning Lightning Wolf, and the blood dropper swarm. (Fang Zheng has no Rank Five Gu, so his combat power is lower.)
Rank Four combat power: Qing Shu, Red Mountain, Desolate Dust, Red Snake, and Medicinal Consort.
As for Rank Three and pseudo-Rank Four Gu Masters, their numbers were even more countless.
Under the joint activation of Fang Yuan, Fang Zheng, Clan Leader, and hundreds of Rank Two and Rank Three Gu Masters, the bright moon still water tower could burst out with Rank Five Peak combat power.
Even against the likes of Shang Yan Fei or Tie Mu Bai, the Gu Yue Clan would dare to use this tower to confront them head-on.
Shang Xin Ci stepped into the classical bright moon still water tower, and the Evasion Gu at the bottom of the tower immediately activated, sending her and Fang Yuan directly to the ninth floor.
The newcomer wore a plain skirt of green cloth, her long black hair falling like a waterfall to her waist, with a few stray strands hanging by her cheeks, adding a touch of gentleness.
Shang Xin Ci was born extremely beautiful, her features as clear and moist as water, her lips carrying a faint smile, looking like a pure image untainted by any worldly dust.
But if one looked closely at those eyes, one would find a hint of subtle intelligence hidden in the depths of their clarity.
Just as she stepped onto the ninth floor, Shang Xin Ci saw several Rank Three Clan Elders in their respective small compartments, handling clan affairs. Passing through the office area, she entered a room filled with Information Path Gu insects:
paper crane gu were in charge of the Family's economy, Flying Pigeon Gu were in charge of the Family's military affairs, and various Information Path Gu insects each performed their duties.
Beyond the Information Path Gu room was the core area of the bright moon still water tower. The treasure moonlight king gu floated in mid-air, and several Rank Two Gu Masters were busy feeding the Gu insects of the Gu house.
A female Gu Master held a dozen moon orchid petals, and the male Gu Master beside her took one petal and fed it to the treasure moonlight king gu.
The treasure moonlight king gu ate very happily, but those two Gu Masters were clearly not happy; they had taken the task of feeding Gu insects in the Internal Affairs Hall and had to feed all the Gu insects on this floor today.
They were all exhausted.
After passing through the core, Fang Yuan led Shang Xin Ci into his private space, then revealed her life story in its entirety, claiming that he and Shang Yan Fei were dear friends and brothers, and was willing to escort her to Shang Family City.
Fang Yuan lied without even blinking: "Xin Ci, your father Shang Yan Fei and I have a life-and-death friendship! This trip to Shang Liang Mountain is extremely dangerous, but I will definitely protect you."
Shang Xin Ci was currently just a Mortal, and hearing about her background left her feeling lost and helpless. Fang Yuan, however, was kind and pleasant, taking out a Rank Two Food Path Gu insect, the Teapot Gu, from his aperture to pour her a cup of light tea.
"If what the Clan Leader says is true, Xin Ci really doesn't know how to repay you," Shang Xin Ci said softly.
"Then shall we set out tomorrow?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Thank you, Gu Yue Clan Leader. Your kindness, Xin Ci fears she won't be able to repay it in this lifetime."
"There's no need to call me 'Clan Leader' or 'you'; my name is Gu Yue Fang Yuan, nineteen years old. You can also call me Hei Tu."
Fang Yuan had a sincere expression on his face, but in his heart, he was already calculating countless schemes.