Crack, crack, crack...
Bean-sized raindrops fell in dense curtains, striking the verdant bamboo building with crisp, sharp sounds.
In the pond before the building, the water surface was pelted by the downpour. Fish darted happily through the water while aquatic weeds swayed gently along the bottom.
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and the entire view was obscured by a thick, heavy curtain of rain.
In the somewhat dim room, the window was open. Fang Yuan quietly watched the downpour, a soft sigh escaping within him: "Three days and three nights already."
Three nights ago, he had carried two jars of wine, left the stockade, and continued exploring the surrounding area.
But deep in the night, a torrential downpour had begun.
Being drenched to the bone was one thing, but the real issue was that under such conditions, he could no longer explore freely.
Rain could wash away the smell of wine in short order, and if he forced himself to go exploring in the rain, it would likely arouse suspicion.
He had previously been pretending to be a dejected drunkard to disguise his true intentions. But one must never underestimate the wisdom of others — often only fools believe everyone else is stupid.
Left with no choice, Fang Yuan had to abandon his exploration.
And once the rain started, it had continued without cease — sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes sparse, sometimes dense, but never stopping.
"With this, the Wine Worm won't be found anytime soon. To be safe, I should start refining the Moonlight Gu first. If I happen to come across the Wine Worm during the process, that would be ideal. If not, I'll just have to make do. But this is all quite normal — fortune is unpredictable. Who in this world can expect everything to go smoothly and perfectly?" Fang Yuan's mind was perfectly calm. Five hundred years of experience had long since washed away whatever little impetuousness he once had.
He closed the window and the door, then sat cross-legged on the bed. Slowly closing his eyes and steadying his breathing, he sank his consciousness inward.
The next moment, the image of his own Empty Orifice manifested in his mind.
Though the Empty Orifice resided within the body, it was extraordinarily mysterious — infinitely large, yet infinitely small.
On the outer side of the Empty Orifice was a layer of Light Film. The white Light Film gave the impression of being extremely thin, yet it genuinely supported the Empty Orifice.
Within the Empty Orifice lay an ocean of True Essence.
The sea was bronze-colored, its surface calm as a mirror, the water level roughly half the height of the Empty Orifice. The entire Yuan Sea occupied forty-four percent of the Empty Orifice's volume.
This was the bronze Yuan Sea of a First Transformation Gu Master. Every drop of seawater was True Essence — the vital life force of Fang Yuan, the crystallization of his spirit and vigor.
Every drop of True Essence was precious, for it was a Gu Master's foundation and the source of their power. Only with True Essence could a Gu Master refine and command Gu Insects.
Withdrawing his consciousness from the Yuan Sea, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and took out the Moonlight Gu from within his robe.
The Moonlight Gu lay quietly in Fang Yuan's palm, looking like a curved blue moon — exquisite, delicate, and crystalline.
With a mere thought from Fang Yuan, the Yuan Sea within his Empty Orifice immediately churned. A stream of True Essence broke through the surface, channeled outward, and poured entirely into the Moonlight Gu.
The Moonlight Gu suddenly erupted with a deep blue radiance, trembling slightly in Fang Yuan's palm as it resisted the influx of his True Essence.
Gu were the essence of heaven and earth, the code of the Great Dao, the vessels of natural law. They were also living beings, born free and autonomous, possessing their own will. Now Fang Yuan sought to refine it — to erase its will. Sensing this crisis, the Moonlight Gu naturally resisted.
The refinement process was exceedingly arduous.
The Moonlight Gu resembled a curved crescent. As the bronze-colored True Essence flowed into the crescent, it first dyed both tips green.
Then this bronze-green hue began spreading toward the middle of the crescent.
In less than three minutes, a pallor crept onto Fang Yuan's face. Massive amounts of True Essence continuously surged into the Moonlight Gu, causing waves of bone-deep, marrow-sapping exhaustion that assailed him without end.
One percent, two percent, three percent... eight percent, nine percent, ten percent.
Ten minutes later, Fang Yuan's Yuan Sea had been depleted of a full ten percent of its True Essence. But on the surface of the Moonlight Gu, which gleamed like blue crystal, the two spots of bronze-green at the crescent's tips had barely spread a tiny fraction toward the middle.