The Arrowwood trees had gathered in small clusters, having strayed far from their natural habitat, yet they were still growing far from Mount Xiu Jian. In one of the open clearings between the Arrowwood trees,
three Gu Masters—one at Rank Three and two at peak Rank Two—were heading toward the mountain, dark hatred etched across their faces. They had buried the effeminate Gu Master, Luo Xin, who had been killed by the vile Fang Tian, and after some time, they decided to head toward their objective to investigate and return to the clan as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, along the way, they encountered more than one beast group.
They were forced to fight while fleeing from beast hordes to save their lives. Fortunately, they had Elder Mo Ling with them, whose cultivation was at the upper stage of Rank Three. She was strong enough to suppress beast groups led by Hundred-Beast Kings, but whenever they encountered a group led by a Thousand-Beast King, they fled like dogs with their tails between their legs.
"Elder Mo, forgive my rudeness, but how did you allow that demonic Gu Master to kill Brother Luo? What will Elder Luo Su Mei do to you?"
Mo Ling's expression had been gloomy ever since their encounter with Fang Tian. They had met nothing but misfortune along their journey. Now, with her robe half-torn from countless battles, Elder Mo Ling's charms were laid bare, yet even her once mysterious and dangerous beauty had vanished, replaced by coldness and dejection.
She had engraved the image of that demonic Gu Master deep into her memory and swore to repay him tenfold. In any case, their luck seemed to be turning around, for four days after encountering the demonic Gu Master, they found traces of a battle at the foot of Mount Xiu Jian.
Elsewhere, Fang Tian sat within a valley that could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful. A small waterfall of clear, cold water poured into a natural pool, and several juicy, sweet fruit trees sprouted from the ground. Fang Tian sat away from the waterfall under the shade of one of the trees, his eyes closed as he focused on using Horse Strength Gu. After finishing the slow and painful process, Fang Tian opened his eyes, now clear and filled with nothing but resolve and confidence.
"I've already gained a quarter of a horse's strength. I can even feel the power in my limbs, especially my legs—it feels like I could race horses on foot… ah, several days have already passed, yet I'm still trying to grasp that moment of enlightenment."
As people say, adversity reveals a man's true nature, and in times of hardship, one's mettle is laid bare. These hardships become trials that forge one's path and experience. When one confronts oneself with questions, the answers come from the accumulation of life experience and the tribulations one has endured.
When Fang Tian confronted himself in that moment, his emotions in turmoil, and obtained an answer that satisfied him, his foundation deepened, and he gained enlightenment to create something of his own.
"Even if the leaf falls far from the tree, it still belongs to it… what a wonderful inspiration. If I could condense this into a killer move, that would be amazing, but unfortunately, although the foundation is there, I still need a great deal of time."
Killer moves are usually composed of two or more Gu worms. The greater the number, the harder it is to activate the killer move, but the power of the move also increases accordingly. Linking Wood Path Gu with Vine Garden Gu could be considered a killer move, but it was still only in its most primitive form.
The difficulty of killer moves does not lie solely in finding suitable coordination between Gu worms; it also lies in the enormous amount of mental energy and thought required to activate multiple Gu worms at the same time. Even if one succeeds in activating several Gu worms simultaneously, there is still a success rate and a failure rate when executing a killer move.
Many Gu Masters die due to violent backlash from killer moves in the midst of battle, creating absurd situations. Thus, Fang Tian did not wish to waste time attempting something that might end in failure. Instead, he focused on his own cultivation.
Aside from this, he had been wandering everywhere in search of a city or village inhabited by humans. It was not a pleasant feeling to possess a large number of resources and Gu worms to sell or trade, yet have nowhere to do so.
However, his search yielded no results. Thus, when he found this livable valley, he decided to settle here for a few weeks until he finished his cultivation—fully using Horse Strength Gu and perhaps consuming a quarter or half of White Boar Strength Gu. That would be wonderful, and he still had Green Jade Bone Gu, which strengthened one's skeletal foundation, allowing him to use even more Strength Path Gu such as White Boar Strength Gu and others.
Thus, Fang Tian immersed himself in cultivation, using Horse Strength Gu, then spending half the day practicing with all the Gu worms he possessed, nurturing and feeding his aperture before sleeping.
Additionally, he attempted Gu refinement. He possessed a large number of refinement recipes and wanted to refine a Gu recorded in Li Hua's inheritance. He succeeded easily in refining Rank One Gu, but could not raise it to Rank Two due to the lack of materials.
"Well, I can't complain. I obtained half of the refinement materials from the Bao Clan caravan, but I missed most of what I needed due to the haste… ah, every time I think about the sea of refinement materials in the inheritance cave, my heart aches."
Fang Tian returned to using Horse Strength Gu, this time overdoing it to the point he nearly died from the pain. A sense of urgency surged in his chest, causing him to speed up his cultivation so much that he even injured himself while practicing with Gu worms.
Then, after feeding his Gu worms on the fourteenth day of staying in the valley, Fang Tian finally decided to set out once more.