After two weeks of recovery and cultivation, Fang Tian returned to the peak of his strength, with no hidden or visible injuries remaining on his body.
He had suffered a violent backlash as a result of attempting to merge the effects of multiple Gu worms to produce a killer move to escape the crisis. It could be said that he both succeeded and failed.
He did manage to produce the effect of a killer move, but without paying the intended price. Instead, he suffered a severe backlash due to the forced use of the killer move, which resulted in minor injuries to his soul. Because of this, he remained lying down for three days before recovering. Moreover, his physical body had been in a miserable state, with its insides filled with thorns and green blood.
If not for the vitality of his body surpassing that of ordinary Gu Masters, he would have certainly died.
After spending a week and a half cultivating, recovering, and reflecting on his ruthless and lethal killer move used against the Hundred Beast King, Fang Tian discovered something strange.
During the battle, he had initially been mesmerized by the appearance of the tree to the extent that he neglected the transformation of its crown into a dragon head that nearly devoured him. If not for the fear of death, he would not have snapped out of his daze. Thus, Fang Tian attributed this effect to a Gu worm.
Therefore, after fully preparing himself, he stood before the charred door leading to the second inheritance hall. He extended his hands and pushed the door open, revealing the darkness behind it.
Fortunately, no strange dragon head rushed out of the darkness or anything of the sort. Fang Tian pulled out a torch wrapped in oiled cloth and lit it, illuminating the hall. He made his way to the location where he had killed the vine-crowned dragon head. Dozens of meters away, the structure of the head had withered significantly, with dead vines scattered around it.
Fang Tian stopped atop the ugly head, then hung the torch on one of the vines and began searching it. When he found nothing on the surface, he took out a stone knife he had brought with him and stabbed it into the center where the skull should have been, cutting through the vines until he revealed a solid substance, yellow-green in color, radiating vitality and wisdom. It was only palm-sized, so Fang Tian stored it in his leather bag.
"This looks like a refinement material, if I'm not mistaken."
After storing the material, Fang Tian continued searching the corpse, but found nothing else. He then stopped and picked up his torch, heading deeper toward the center of the hall—where the familiar tree stood. This time, however, it had lost its crown and looked to be in a very poor state.
"Hello, you little bastard… Ah, do you remember me?"
Fang Tian spoke to the Hundred Beast King like a madman, but as expected, he received no response. Instead, the tree began to tremble violently, causing Fang Tian to be momentarily stunned.
However, he quickly regained his focus. The effect of the wild Gu inhabiting the Hundred Beast King failed to succeed. The violent trembling intensified, but Fang Tian did not care. He activated the Small Buds Gu inside his aperture, sending out a light that covered a quarter of the tree's body.
The light transformed into small leaves that began to permeate the damaged areas, healing them at a visible rate. Soon, most of the injuries were healed, and the severe ones stabilized. When the healing effect ended, it was as if the Hundred Beast King—who possessed a bit of intelligence—began to realize what Fang Tian was doing. It stopped its violent trembling, allowing him to continue.
Fang Tian continued healing the Hundred Beast King until it was fully restored, except that it no longer possessed its proud crown.
"Alright, you're a new individual now, and so am I, you bastard. Let's forget our bad history and open a new page—without any attempts to kill each other."
Fang Tian lightly patted the Hundred Beast King's trunk, then headed toward the end of the hall, where the reward of this inheritance awaited him.
At the end of the hall stood a gate—not a door—eight meters tall, made entirely of strange dark blue stone that emitted an aura of comfort. This in itself was not surprising. What was strange was what stood beside it: a small stone chamber. When Fang Tian entered it, he was so shocked that he stood there for several minutes, staring dumbly.
Inside the stone chamber was a large bronze cauldron, along with material-processing tools made of refined iron, and even materials Fang Tian could not recognize—clearly indicating that they were extremely precious. Even more shocking were the shelves mounted on the walls and the grooves carved into the floor, all filled with refinement materials: strange waters with foul odors, colorful stones that emitted odd resonances, the bones of large beasts, and herbs with fragrant yet pungent scents.
What truly shocked Fang Tian was not just this—although that alone was immense—but the sheer abundance of these materials.
Fang Tian tried to regain his composure by observing more carefully and focusing on details he had overlooked the first time. Soon, his eyes landed on a strange stone placed on the table at the center of the refinement room.
With utmost caution, he approached the stone and brought his hands close, examining it carefully. He had no Gu for investigation, so all he could do was feel the rough surface with its sharp edges and tap it lightly.
"It's hollow…?"
The stone was indeed hollow, indicating that something—or perhaps nothing—was inside. Still, that did not stop Fang Tian from attempting to open it.
Fang Tian took out several crude tools from his leather bag, which he had crafted to meet his daily needs. From among them, he selected a small stone hammer and began grinding the stone with intense tension.
After half an hour, Fang Tian managed to grind away half of the stone, revealing what lay inside.
It was a weak Gu worm, lying in a dormant state.