"Serrated Golden Centipede..." Bai Ningbing extended her slender, jade-like hand and stroked the dark golden carapace of this Third Transformation Gu Insect, murmuring under her breath, her expression somewhat complicated.
She and Fang Yuan had fought fiercely, and she had suffered greatly at the hands of this Serrated Golden Centipede. She never imagined there would come a day when Fang Yuan would voluntarily lend it to her.
The way Fang Yuan had used the Serrated Golden Centipede left a deep impression on her.
Bai Ningbing immediately followed suit, swinging the Serrated Golden Centipede back and forth like a great sword.
From time to time, she guided it with her mind, and the Serrated Golden Centipede extended and contracted its body like a whip lashing through the air. The silver-edged serrations spun rapidly, tracing strange, twisted arcs of light.
"Heavenly Canopy Gu!" She stored the Heavenly Canopy Gu back into her Empty Orifice, raised her eyebrows, and secretly poured in Silver True Essence. Instantly, a suit of white luminous phantom armor blazed to life across her entire body.
"Fate is truly wondrous. To think that one day, I would actually be using your Gu Insect." She looked toward Fang Yuan and sighed.
Fang Yuan remained silent. Instead, he sat cross-legged beside the warm coal stones and closed his eyes.
He directed his mind into his Empty Orifice, and his Grade A Aptitude, full True Essence Sea, immediately manifested.
Ninety percent!
Previously, it had been just over forty percent, but now it had more than doubled out of nowhere.
"Although my cultivation has fallen from the Third Transformation to the First Transformation, and years of painstaking effort have been lost, it was all worth it!" Fang Yuan was very satisfied in his heart.
Throughout history, the cultivation of a Gu Master has always revolved around three key elements.
First, Aptitude. Second, Resources. Third, Gu Insects.
These three aspects are indispensable, forming the absolute foundation!
Previously, Fang Yuan only possessed Grade A Aptitude. He had to resort to tricks, using resources and Gu Insects in every way possible to compensate for his shortcomings. His years on Qing Mao Mountain had been quite difficult and arduous. Although his cultivation progress was decent, it was the result of him pouring his heart and mind into meticulous planning and daring risks.
If his Aptitude had been Grade A from the start, his life would have been an entirely different spectacle, and he would have long since reached the Third Transformation.
"Fate plays tricks... I have Grade A Aptitude now, but the stable growth environment of the mountain stronghold is gone. In terms of resources and Gu Insects, I'm worse off than before."
Now that Fang Yuan was wandering the outside world, his cultivation was far too weak, and he faced mortal danger at any moment. It naturally couldn't compare to the peace and stability of Qing Mao Mountain. Of course, there was also no stable trade to exchange goods and services.
"Luckily, with the Heavenly Origin Lotus, the biggest resource problem is solved—at least until the Third Transformation, I won't have to worry." Fang Yuan swept his mind inward. In the depths of his Yuan Sea, ninety percent filled with Bronze True Essence, a blue-white lotus was rooted at the bottom of his Empty Orifice. Its petals were full and plump, radiating a sacred, ethereal aura.
The Heavenly Origin Lotus was a Third Transformation Gu, with enormous developmental potential. To refine it, the Guye Clan had been forced to sacrifice their very foundation—the Yuan Spring.
It functioned as a miniature, mobile Yuan Spring. Back when Fang Yuan had been at the Third Transformation, it could continuously restore his True Essence, maintaining a recovery speed on par with Grade B.
At the Third Transformation, one wielded Silver True Essence. Now Fang Yuan was at the Initial Stage of the First Transformation, with Bronze True Essence. With the Heavenly Origin Lotus sitting in his Empty Orifice, his True Essence recovery speed had reached an extraordinarily high level.
"If I use First Transformation Gu, my True Essence recovery is astonishing—practically limitless. If I use one or two Second Transformation Gu, my Yuan Sea level will drop, but with constant consumption and replenishment, it'll remain relatively stable. If I use a single Third Transformation Gu, my True Essence plummets—the consumption far outpaces the recovery, and I wouldn't be able to sustain it for even a moment before the Yuan Sea dries up completely." Fang Yuan silently calculated.
After all, this was Bronze True Essence, and at the Initial Stage, it was a deep green grade—far too poor in quality.
Besides the Heavenly Origin Lotus, Fang Yuan also possessed a few other Gu.
First was his Life Gu, the Spring Autumn Cicada.
This Sixth Transformation Gu ranked seventh on the World's Wondrous List. Once it became a Life Gu, it could never be moved out of the Empty Orifice. Now it sat firmly at the center.
Having undergone yet another rebirth, its former imposing presence was gone. The brilliant yellow-green radiance had faded entirely, leaving it listless and extremely weak.
It concealed its form, silently siphoning the waters of the River of Time as the moments passed, commencing yet another cycle of recovery.
Fang Yuan understood clearly in his heart: "There is absolutely no way I can use the Spring Autumn Cicada again in the short term. In such a perilous state, using it would mean drowning in the River of Time — an utterly pointless death."
With the Spring Autumn Cicada no longer exerting its pressure, the other Gu Insects reverted to their natural inclinations.
The Second Transformation Four-Flavor Wine Worm, its plump little body cycling through four different glows in succession, frolicked across the vast surface of the True Essence sea, splashing about quite merrily.
The Concealed Scale Gu, which resembled a fossilized carp, lay quietly at the bottom of the sea, letting the True Essence waters wash over its scales.
A black beetle with a pair of iron pincers on its head beat its wings and flew above the sea's surface — this was the Forced Take Gu.
Circling and playing alongside it was the White Armored Yang Gu, the lone survivor of the Yin-Yang Transformation Gu.
The Fourth Transformation Blood Skull Gu had also sunk to the depths of the sea, its surface occasionally flickering with a vivid crimson bloodlight.
As for the remaining Gu Insects — the Blood Moon Gu had now transformed into a red crescent moon mark, hidden in the palm of Fang Yuan's hand. The Earth-Listening Flesh Ear Grass had become one of Fang Yuan's ears, invisible in everyday appearance. The Doushua Flower was lodged on the surface of Fang Yuan's tongue.
As for the Heavenly Canopy Gu and the Sawtooth Golden Centipede, they had just been lent to Bai Ningbing.
Counting them up, Fang Yuan currently had a total of twelve Gu Insects on hand.
That number was far too high!
Under normal circumstances, it was standard for low-level Gu Masters to have two or three Gu Insects. Only when one reached the Fourth or Fifth Transformation would the number rise to four or five. Even the great divine detective Tie Xue Leng possessed only around seven Gu Insects.
Never mind Gu Yue Yidai and Elder Tianhe — those were special cases, both ancient monsters with centuries of accumulated resources.
The number of Gu Insects Fang Yuan owned was three to four times that of an ordinary Gu Master. Having too many would place a heavy financial burden on a Gu Master, along with enormous logistical pressure.