The Wine Worm was silkworm-shaped, its entire body radiating a pearl-like white glow. It was a little plump and rather adorable in appearance.
It fed on wine and was capable of flight. When flying, it would curl its body into a ball, achieving considerable speed.
Although it was only a First Transformation Gu Insect, its value surpassed that of some Second Transformation Gu Insects.
If one were to take it as a Life Gu, it would be far superior to the Moonlight Gu.
At this very moment, a Wine Worm of this kind was clinging to a stalk of Green Spear Bamboo a mere fifty or sixty paces from Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan held his breath. Instead of rushing closer, he slowly retreated.
He knew that although this distance was quite close, actually capturing the Wine Worm directly was a task of immense difficulty for a Gu Master who had only just opened his orifices—or rather, it held essentially no hope of success whatsoever.
Though Fang Yuan's eyesight at this range could not yet make out the Wine Worm's appearance clearly, he could sense, in some instinctive way, the Wine Worm's wariness toward him.
Fang Yuan retreated slowly and gently, doing his best not to startle the creature.
He knew that if the Wine Worm decided to fly away, he could never hope to match its speed. His only chance lay in waiting until it had drunk itself into a tipsy stupor, when its flight speed would drop—only then would he have an opportunity to capture it.
Seeing Fang Yuan retreating farther and farther, the Wine Worm perched on the bamboo stalk could not help but fidget.
The powerful aroma of wine ahead was luring it, drawing it, haunting its very soul. If it could drool, a sizable puddle would have formed beneath it by now.
But the Wine Worm's vigilance remained high. Fang Yuan retreated a full two hundred paces before the creature finally contracted its body and sprang into the air.
As it drifted through the sky, it curled itself into a ball, resembling a small, white glutinous rice dumpling.
The dumpling traced a smooth arc through the air and landed in the patch of grass where Fang Yuan had spilled the Green Bamboo Wine.
With delicious food so close at hand, the Wine Worm's guard dropped considerably. Eager as a monkey, it scurried over to the wine-filled flower bud and thrust its head inside, leaving only its plump little tail sticking out.
It was starving, and the Green Bamboo Wine was exquisitely tasty. It gulped and sucked ravenously, quickly immersing itself in the flavor of its meal and forgetting all about Fang Yuan.
Only then did Fang Yuan begin to approach cautiously and quietly.
He could see the Wine Worm's tail protruding from the flower bud. The tail looked just like that of a silkworm—plump and round, its glow reminiscent of a pearl.
At first, the tail hung limp outside the bud, perfectly still.
After a short while, the tail began to twitch upward in little jerks—the Wine Worm was clearly enjoying itself.
By the time Fang Yuan had crept to within ten paces, the tail was swaying from side to side, rocking back and forth in a merry rhythm.
It was completely drunk on pleasure!
At the sight, Fang Yuan nearly laughed out loud.
He did not press any closer. Instead, he waited with patient restraint. A lunge right now would give him a considerable chance of capturing the Wine Worm, but Fang Yuan wanted the creature to lead him to the remains of Hua Jiu Xing Zhe.
Before long, the Wine Worm withdrew from the flower bud. Its body had swollen a size larger, and its head wobbled about like a drunkard's—it was entirely oblivious to Fang Yuan's presence.
It crawled over to another tender yellow wildflower and settled into the pistil, feasting on wine dew once more.
After this round of drinking, it finally felt full. Its body slowly curled into a ball on the petals, then drifted upward to about one and a half meters above the ground before leisurely floating off into the depths of the bamboo grove.
Fang Yuan hurriedly set off in pursuit.
The Wine Worm was thoroughly tipsy, its flight speed reduced to half the usual rate. But even so, Fang Yuan had to sprint at full speed just to keep the creature's silhouette in sight.
The night was clear as though washed clean. The youth darted swiftly through the bamboo grove, chasing a speck of pearlescent white not far ahead.
The moonlight was gentle, the breeze soft. The bamboo grove lay like shallow, luminous water. One stalk after another of lush Green Spear Bamboo flashed past before Fang Yuan's eyes and fell away behind him.
On the ground, verdant grass sprawled in every direction, dotted with wildflowers.
There were small moss-covered stones and tender yellow bamboo shoots that had not yet fully grown.
Fang Yuan's faint shadow raced across the ground as well, crossing the straight dark lines that the Green Spear Bamboo cast upon the earth.
He kept his gaze locked on that snowy speck, breathing in the fresh mountain air through the subtle fragrance of wine, his legs pumping as he kept close behind.
Because of his rapid movement, the moonlight on the ground below rippled and shifted like water—light and shadow flickering ceaselessly—as though he were galloping through a riverbed overgrown with waterweeds.
The Wine Worm flew out of the bamboo grove, and Fang Yuan burst out after it. A great expanse of flowers, white with faintly yellow hearts, sent petals swirling into the air in the wake of the wind from his legs.
A flock of Dragon Pill Crickets flowed ahead like a moving poem. Fang Yuan charged straight through, and with a burst of sound, a cloud of red mist bloomed before his eyes, scattering into a shower of crimson sparks and drifting fireflies.
A quiet mountain stream, its bed paved with smooth pebbles, murmured gently, reflecting the spring moon in the night sky. A few sharp splashes rang out as Fang Yuan waded through, shattering the reflection into ten thousand silver ripples.
Pity a stream of wind and moon, trampled into jade fragments.
Fang Yuan pressed on relentlessly, keeping tight on the Wine Worm's trail.
Following the stream upstream, he could already faintly hear the sound of a waterfall. After turning past a sparse cluster of trees, he saw the Wine Worm fly into a narrow crevice in a massive boulder.
A sudden brightness flared in Fang Yuan's eyes, and only then did he come to a stop.