Awoo——!
Four frenzied Thunder Wolves threw back their heads and let out piercing howls.
Splash, splash, splash.
Rain poured down in torrents, curtains of water intertwining beneath a sky choked with dark clouds. The gloom was oppressive, visibility severely hampered.
"Quick, there's a breach near the east gate! Sheng Nan's squad, move up!"
"The healers? We have a critically wounded person here!!"
"Kill, kill, kill! Slaughter every last one of those wolf pups!"
...
Competing with the wolf howls were the shouts of the Gu Masters.
Nearly everyone was fighting tooth and nail, drenched in blood.
Around the perimeter of the stockade, the battle line stretched on, blazing with intensity.
The cries of men, the howls of wolves, the roar of rain, and the howling wind all wove together.
Densely packed Thunder Wolves crashed against the stockade wall like a tide. The traps before the wall had long since been filled with thick layers of wolf corpses. Driven forward by the Mighty Thunder Wolves at the front, the wolf pack struck with tremendous force.
First and Second Transformation Gu Masters fought on the front lines. Moon Blades arced into the wolf pack in great numbers, overturning Thunder Wolf after Thunder Wolf.
But the wolves retaliated with bolts of lightning and balls of electricity constantly launched at the stockade, inflicting casualties on the Guye Clan.
"Elder Fang Yuan, this is the casualty report just compiled by the Medicine Hall. Please review it!" A messenger Gu Master came sprinting over, bowed upon seeing Fang Yuan, and presented the intelligence report with both hands.
Fang Yuan was now a Third Transformation Gu Master, elevated to the rank of Elder and assigned by the clan to command this western sector.
Fang Yuan withdrew his gaze from the battlefield, accepted the bamboo-paper report, and said to the Gu Master, "You may leave."
The Gu Master bowed once more before withdrawing.
He moved with great speed, utilizing a Gu Insect to accelerate, and quickly departed toward the next destination.
Any Gu Master assigned as a messenger would possess at least one mobility-assisting Gu Insect, and some even had two.
Fang Yuan unfolded the report and cast a brief glance over it.
The casualty figures on the battle report were nothing short of staggering.
By now, the wolf tide had slammed into the Guye Stockade nearly ten times. The Gu Masters of the clan had suffered severe casualties. The Elders were at their wit's ends, and Gu Yue Chizhong, who was serving as interim head of the Medicine Hall, bore an especially crushing burden. A man who had been middle-aged — a chance glimpse these past few days revealed that traces of white had begun to appear in his hair!
But Fang Yuan, armed with memories of his previous life, had been mentally prepared and was not surprised.
"This wolf tide is one of the most severe in the history of the Guye Clan. Such casualties are inevitable."
He thought to himself, and with a surge of moonlight from his palm, reduced the report to powder.
These reports were only for the eyes of Elders. If released to the public, they would likely trigger panic.
Though, to be honest, the Guye Stockade was already gripped by enough panic. Anxious unease grew heavier with each passing day.
At that moment, the moonlight in Fang Yuan's palm was no longer a pure ethereal blue — it had taken on a tint of blood-red.
This was the Third Transformation Blood Moon Gu.
Fang Yuan had failed once in refining this Gu. It was only on the second attempt that he succeeded.
As for the materials for the co-refinement, they had naturally been wrung out of Gu Yue Chilian.
Fang Yuan closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his Empty Orifice.
Inside the Empty Orifice, the walls shimmered with light, flickering bright and dim, yet utterly free of impurities — a sheet of pristine white.
Every drop of True Essence was white, suffused with a metallic silver luster — this was the Silver True Essence of a Third Transformation Gu Master.
Water pooled into a sea; within the Empty Orifice lay a vast ocean of silver True Essence.
Previously, a film of dark crimson scum had floated on the surface of the silver sea, but it was gone now.
The Jing Shui Gu he had extorted from Gu Yue Chilian had long since been used. The aftereffects of the Human Beast Burial Gu had been completely eliminated.
But this had not come without a price.
Fang Yuan's Aptitude had dropped slightly. Previously Grade C at forty-four percent, it had now fallen by two points due to the Human Beast Burial Gu — the Empty Orifice could hold a maximum of only forty-two percent True Essence.
But this price, too, Fang Yuan had already steeled himself for.
In the end, he owed a debt of thanks to Gu Yue Chilian. Without his Jing Shui Gu, if the dark crimson contamination had been left to pollute his True Essence over the long term, Fang Yuan's Aptitude would have deteriorated even further.
A large white-shelled ladybug with black spots danced through the air above the sea's surface. This was the Heavenly Canopy Gu.
The Hidden Scale Gu, shaped like a stone fish, rested on the bottom of the True Essence sea.
The Four Flavor Wine Worm frolicked atop the waves.
As for the Blood Moon Gu just successfully refined, its appearance resembled the Moonlight Gu. It now resided in the center of Fang Yuan's right palm, manifesting as a crimson crescent mark.
As for the Third Transformation Thunder Wing Gu, it resided on Fang Yuan's back — like two lightning-bolt tattoos.
Worth mentioning was the Spring Autumn Cicada.
Its condition was improving steadily, and its recovery speed was accelerating. This both secretly delighted and somewhat worried Fang Yuan.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was a Sixth Transformation Gu, while he was merely a Third Transformation Gu Master. With his current Empty Orifice alone, he would likely be unable to contain the Spring Autumn Cicada once it fully recovered.
The cicada's aura was growing stronger and stronger — like iron stone stuffed into a paper tube. His Empty Orifice might not hold.
"If there's truly no other option, I'll have to keep it free-roaming by my side," Fang Yuan sighed inwardly.
This approach carried enormous drawbacks.
A Sixth Transformation Gu Insect involved Dao Charm, containing fragments of the laws of heaven and earth. Left free-roaming for an extended period, it would trigger resonance with those laws. Unless it entered dormancy, the commotion would be considerable — producing all manner of phenomena that would attract the attention and covetous eyes of other powerful experts.