A day later.
Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed.
A massive sphere of white light hovered silently in mid-air, one arm's length from his face.
Fang Yuan reached into his money pouch, pulled out Yuan Stones one after another, and continuously tossed them into the ball of light.
The white light slowly contracted, yet grew increasingly dazzling.
When it shrank to the size of a fist, the white light became blinding, forcing Fang Yuan to squint as he observed.
"This should be the last one." Yuan Stone in hand, Fang Yuan knew they had reached the critical moment.
He fed the Yuan Stone into the ball of light.
Faintly visible, the Yuan Stone floated within the light, as if ice had been dropped into boiling water — constantly dissolving. Large quantities of stone powder cascaded downward.
Once the Yuan Stone was fully consumed, the ball of light suddenly exploded!
With a soft pop, three Gu Insects shot off in three different directions — one landed on the bed, while the other two struck the wall before falling to the floor.
The Moon Radiance Gu refinement had failed!
Fang Yuan's heart sank. He hurriedly curled his fingers to recall the Gu Insects.
The Moonlight Gu and one Little Light Gu wobbled upward, slowly drifting into his hand. But the remaining Little Light Gu did not respond.
It lay still on the floor, its milky-white, five-pointed-star-shaped body gradually dissipating into the air.
In just a few breaths, it had completely vanished, leaving behind not a single trace.
This was the cost of a failed refinement — depending on the recipe, Gu Insects could be injured, and in the worst cases, they would die outright.
Even with Fang Yuan's vast experience, single-minded focus, and the correct recipe, failure was still possible.
Fang Yuan didn't let it discourage him. He had seen this kind of thing too many times. He had done his best, and if the result was failure, it could only be attributed to bad luck.
"Fortunately, it wasn't the Moonlight Gu that was destroyed. Losing one Little Light Gu — I can just go to the shop and buy another. Easy to replace. If the Moonlight Gu had been destroyed, that wouldn't be so easy to replenish." He had plenty of money now; losing a Little Light Gu just meant purchasing a new one.
Next, Fang Yuan inspected the Moonlight Gu and the remaining Little Light Gu. Both insects' surfaces had grown somewhat dull — a sign that the failed refinement had damaged them.
"Once a Gu Insect is injured, the probability of a successful refinement drops. I should wait until both insects have recovered before attempting it again." Fang Yuan knew well the principle that haste makes waste, and stored both Gu away.
He estimated that at least three days would pass before he could attempt the refinement again.
His cultivation was not over.
Fang Yuan spread open his right hand.
His left hand was fair-skinned, and on the palm there was a green grass-shaped mark, like a dark-green tattoo.
With a thought, True Essence from his Empty Orifice surged forth like pale-red vapor, flowing along his arm into the mark.
The green mark instantly came alive. A blade of grass sprouted from his palm, followed by nine round, emerald-green leaves, and finally a translucent, jade-like stem. As for the rootlets that resembled ginseng tendrils, they remained hidden.
On his palm, the original dark-green tattoo had disappeared. In its place remained delicate threads of dark-green veining — representing the roots, intertwined with the lines of his palm.
This was the Second Transformation Grass Gu — the Nine-Leaf Vitality Grass.
At this moment, Fang Yuan's palm was like a plot of earth, and a Nine-Leaf Vitality Grass grew upon it — as exquisite as a jade carving.
Fang Yuan extended the fingers of his right hand and began plucking the leaves one by one.
Each time he picked a round leaf, he felt a slight sting — similar to the sensation of having a single hair pulled out.
After all nine leaves were plucked, he set them casually on the bed, leaving only a bare stem in his palm.
Fang Yuan continued channeling True Essence. The pale-red Second Transformation True Essence rose steadily from his palm like mist, enveloping the jade-green stem.
The stem steadily absorbed the True Essence, and gradually a tender sprout emerged from its base.
The sprout was pink-green, delicate and tiny, so fragile it would crumble at a pinch.
Fang Yuan kept channeling True Essence. The sprout gradually grew larger, its color deepening. In the end, it matured into a single, dark-emerald leaf.
"Consumed twenty percent of my True Essence." Fang Yuan inspected his Empty Orifice and reached his conclusion.
His True Essence sea only held forty-four percent, which meant he could only produce two vitality leaves in one go.
After growing another leaf, Fang Yuan grabbed a Yuan Stone and quickly restored the True Essence in his Empty Orifice.
When the True Essence sea rose back to forty percent, he resumed growing vitality leaves.
Going through this cycle repeatedly, over the course of half a day he restored all nine leaves to the Nine-Leaf Vitality Grass.
He stopped picking the leaves. With a thought, the Nine-Leaf Vitality Grass shrank back into his left palm, reverting to the green mark.
He placed the nine harvested vitality leaves into a small pouch and kept it close to his body.
A single vitality leaf was a First Transformation Gu Insect, each worth fifty Yuan Stones on the market. That meant these nine leaf Gu alone would net Fang Yuan four hundred and fifty Yuan Stones.