Fang Yuan examined the Tou Sheng Immortal Gu.
This Immortal Gu resembled a bee, roughly the size of an adult's fist, its body adorned with alternating gold and black stripes, entirely enveloped in a thin, scarlet halo. Once it began to fly and move about, this scarlet halo would flare brilliantly.
The most striking feature was the bee's stinger — extremely sharp and slender, far exceeding the bee's own body in length, reaching as long as an adult's forearm.
According to legend, the Tou Sheng Immortal Gu was the first Immortal Gu that Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had obtained in his youth — its origins were extraordinary.
As Fang Yuan gazed at the Tou Sheng Immortal Gu, his thoughts inevitably ran wild: "Speaking of which, Thieving Heaven was a Demon Venerable, but his temperament was actually quite mild. He had no taste for slaughter, completely unlike Phantom Demon Venerable. However, it was precisely because of this temperament that he managed to create the Theft Path as a school of cultivation."
Fang Yuan was quite familiar with Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable.
Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was an otherworldly demon who yearned to return to his original world. But he had a mild temperament, disliked fighting, and yet needed to accumulate resources and cultivate continuously, all in search of the possibility of returning home.
What was he to do?
Facing this dilemma, the Theft Path — that was the brilliant answer he had given!
The Ten Venerables were the most outstanding figures in human history.
After his rebirth, Fang Yuan had grown even more interested in and placed greater importance upon these Venerables.
It could be said that in his previous life, during the epochal war surrounding the repair of Destiny Gu, the Venerables had played pivotal roles. Every intervention by a Venerable had nearly overturned the entire war.
The Venerables' invincible power and their profound, far-reaching strategies had left an extraordinarily deep impression on Fang Yuan.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Fang Yuan's mind.
"Limitless, Star Constellation, Primordial Origin, Yuan Lian, Giant Sun, Red Lotus, Paradise — all of them had participated in the great chaotic war of the Five Regions in various ways."
"The remaining three — Thieving Heaven, Wild Barbarian, and Phantom — had not made their move."
"No, Phantom had already been captured, reduced to nothing but a wisp of soul. How could he possibly still have the ability to act? I inherited the Shadow Sect's True Inheritance and led them into battle on the Shadow Sect's behalf — that itself could be counted as his intervention."
"Phantom Demon Venerable, though incomparably powerful and first in killing intent, had after death accumulated his strength to reach the terrifying realm of at least Grandmaster in every single path. By realm alone, he could be considered the greatest in history, surpassing all other Venerables."
"But even he had to obey the most fundamental rules. Without Immortal Essence, without Gu Insects, reduced to only a wisp of remnant soul — even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. He was locked down tight by Heavenly Court."
"So then, had Thieving Heaven and Wild Barbarian, those two Demon Venerables, foreseen the great chaotic war of the Five Regions?"
"They should have been able to calculate it. After all, Primordial Origin and Limitless had both foreseen it and left behind contingencies. These two Ninth Transformation Venerables of equal cultivation, who were also later generations, how could they not have foreseen it?"
"If they foresaw this war, then had they left behind any means of intervention?"
"Thieving Heaven perhaps had his heart set solely on returning, but what about Wild Barbarian? In history, he too was a Demon Venerable who had attacked Heavenly Court. The likelihood of him having left behind means of intervention is quite high."
"In my previous life, nothing was revealed, but in this life, could I perhaps discover the means Wild Barbarian left behind and put them to use?"
When this thought crossed Fang Yuan's mind, his eyes lit up — this was a brilliant idea!
Facing a colossal existence like Heavenly Court, unless he himself became a Ninth Transformation Venerable, he would need to borrow power.
At that moment, Langya Earth Spirit, standing nearby, interrupted Fang Yuan's thoughts: "Fang Yuan, you've now obtained the Eighth Transformation Tou Sheng Immortal Gu. The number of Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu you have on hand already reaches five! Tsk tsk, truly incredible. You are only at the Seventh Transformation level of cultivation, yet you possess five Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu! In all of history, such cases can be counted on one hand."
Langya Earth Spirit clicked his tongue in amazement, sighing endlessly with admiration.
Fang Yuan had now obtained the Tou Sheng Gu. On his person, he also had Attitude Gu, Wisdom Sword Gu, Fleeting Time, and Soul Beast Command — indeed, five Immortal Gu in total.
This naturally did not count Zhi Hui Gu, since Zhi Hui Gu was a Ninth Transformation Gu!
Langya Earth Spirit had always paid close attention to Fang Yuan, so he was quite knowledgeable about his situation.
Fang Yuan smiled faintly but was unconcerned.
Was he supposed to tell Langya Earth Spirit that in the future he would also obtain Spring, Summer, Qi Atmosphere, and Regret — all Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu?
Would saying so frighten Langya Earth Spirit?
"However, this Tou Sheng Immortal Gu carries a flaw. Back when Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable left it behind, he feared this Gu would bring too great a calamity upon living beings, so he limited it to only three uses. In the previous life's Battle of Langya Guard, all three uses were expended — it killed Thunder Ghost True Monarch — and afterward, Tou Sheng Gu was directly destroyed by Chen Yi using the Karma Divine Tree Killing Move."
"But this was not Tou Sheng Gu's only deficiency. Using it alone, it could not distinguish between friend and foe. While it harmed the enemy, it also endangered the user. That was quite awkward."
"So after obtaining Tou Sheng Gu, I still need to devise some Killing Moves to at least mitigate this flaw."
"If possible, resolving the three-use limitation of Tou Sheng Gu would undoubtedly be even better."
Numerous thoughts flashed through Fang Yuan's mind in an instant.
However, he also knew that the three-use limitation was a restriction placed by Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable during his lifetime. Breaking it himself would be exceedingly difficult, with extremely slim hopes.
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan smiled slightly at Langya Earth Spirit: "Grand Elder, this Tou Sheng Immortal Gu seems to have only three uses, is that correct? Does the Grand Elder know why?"
Langya Earth Spirit was inwardly stunned.
Fang Yuan had actually seen through it!
How was that possible?
This was something Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had done — even he himself had been unable to detect it. From the outside, there was not the slightest clue, everything appeared normal.
Even the previous Earth Spirit, employing all manner of Refinement Path techniques, had been unable to discover Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's restriction.