Beside him, Bai Ning Bing stood silently.
Both of them were in rags and utterly exhausted.
Just a moment ago, they had managed to shake off the pursuit of a family of five Qi Steel Pigs.
Qi Steel Pigs are very special beasts. They aren't numerous, usually living in family groups of no more than ten members. However, any adult Qi Steel Pig is at least a Hundred Beast King!
The family of five that had been chasing Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing consisted of a grandfather pig who was already a Thousand Beast King, a father pig and a mother pig who were Hundred Beast Kings, and even the son and daughter pigs who had parasitic Rank One Gu growing on them.
Five days had passed since they seized the Monkey Wine. After a grueling journey, White Bone Mountain was now in sight.
The Southern Border was vast and mountainous. Ordinary hills did not qualify as mountains; only landforms at least a thousand zhang tall could be called mountains.
Bai Ning Bing stood on the hillside, gazing into the distance.
This was the first time she had seen White Bone Mountain.
Green Grass Mountain was surrounded by hills that served as its foils. But White Bone Mountain stood like a solitary general, the terrain around it very flat. It rose abruptly from the ground, towering into the clouds, a ghastly pale white.
This white was not the white of snow, but the white of bone.
As the name implied, every rock on White Bone Mountain was bone. People also called them bone stones.
White Bone Mountain was not a lifeless wasteland. Strange vegetation grew on the mountain, bone beasts roamed in great numbers, and there were many wild bone-attribute Gu.
As Bai Ning Bing looked, she began to frown.
Any high mountain or long river was a gathering point for the essence of primordial qi. White Bone Mountain bore no traces of human presence; it was a completely wild mountain. It teemed with wild beasts, Gu Insects, and lethal plants. The danger level was undoubtedly even higher. What was Fang Yuan's purpose in insisting on entering this mountain?
Or rather, what was it that attracted him so strongly?
Fang Yuan, meanwhile, was lost in thought.
White Bone Mountain was currently an uninhabited wasteland. However, this would change drastically in ten years.
A large mountain village would relocate their entire tribe here and grow mighty.
Their surname was Bai. The Bai Family Village.
In the future, they would center themselves on White Bone Mountain, radiating across thousands of li to become the local hegemon.
What impressed Fang Yuan the most wasn't the soaring influence of the Bai Family Village. In this world, the power of an individual could entirely surpass that of a collective.
Rather, it was a pair of siblings in the Bai Family Village.
Bai Sheng and Bai Hua.
At the age of eighteen, these siblings competed on the back mountain of White Bone Mountain and stumbled upon a cave.
Inside the cave, they opened an inheritance. The complete inheritance of a Righteous Path Rank Four Gu Master.
The name of this Gu Master was lost to time, only his title remained— "Flesh and Bone Master."
Bai Sheng and Bai Hua benefited tremendously. After accepting the inheritance, they became the rising twin stars of the righteous path. Nearly a hundred years later, they both advanced to Rank Five and took over the Bai Family Village.
The strength of two Rank Five Gu Masters pushed the family's power to its peak.
"A complete inheritance surely includes Gu covering the six main aspects: attack, healing, defense, movement, storage, and investigation. If I obtain this inheritance, I can gain a firm foothold and advance or retreat as I please."
Previously, Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing had fled from Green Grass Mountain with insufficient cultivation and incomplete Gu sets. It was like sailing in stormy seas or walking on a cliff’s edge. If their luck turned sour by even a sliver, they could face death.
After drifting from place to place, an opportunity came. They killed a severely wounded demonic female Gu Master and seized her Gu. With the Rice Sack Grass Gu and the Jumping Grass Gu, they could barely survive.
But there were still flaws.
Not only were they lacking a healing Gu, their cultivation was too low.
Even if Fang Yuan had advanced to middle-stage Rank One, so what? Bronze Primeval Essence was still Bronze Primeval Essence.
For now, he relied on his A-grade aptitude and the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus’s ability to rapidly recover primeval essence, barely allowing him to cope.
But in truth, his combat strength was negligible. If not for Bai Ning Bing, he would have died in a crocodile's belly when he was stranded by the river.
He had made it this far relying on Bai Ning Bing.
But relying on others was not as good as relying on oneself.
"If I obtain the White Bone Mountain inheritance, many problems will be solved," Fang Yuan thought to himself.
First was the Jade Bone Gu. With this Gu, he could transform his bones, shedding the weakness of mortal bones and making them harder and tougher. His current body could only bear the strength of two pigs. With the Jade Bone Gu, he could add the strength of a crocodile to that.
Next was the healing Gu. Fang Yuan remembered there was a famous Rank Three healing Gu in this inheritance called "Flesh and Bone Regeneration Gu" (Rou Bai Gu). In his past life, it had been obtained by Bai Hua, making her a renowned healing Gu Master.
Finally, there was the Gu Fang Yuan valued the most — the "Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu."
This Gu was the Flesh and Bone Master’s original creation, the only one of its kind in the world. Its wondrous uses were extraordinary, and in his past life, it had drawn the attention of the major Southern Border powers.
If classified by function, the Gu of the world could be roughly divided into seven categories.
One: Attack, Two: Defense, Three: Healing, Four: Investigation, Five: Storage, Six: Movement, Seven: Cultivation.
Whether it was the Liquor Worm, the Four Flavor Liquor Worm, the Man-Beast Burial Ground Gu, the Relic Gu, or the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, they all belonged to the cultivation category.
This Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu was also a wonder Gu in the cultivation category.
Like the Yin Yang Turnabout Gu, it was a pair of Gu, each one affecting a different Gu Master. It allowed the two Gu Masters to engage in dual cultivation, advancing their cultivation together, achieving more with less effort.
"If I get the Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu, relying on Bai Ning Bing’s strength, my cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds! After the third rank, it will skyrocket at a terrifying pace! Especially in the early stages, the effect will be far better than the Liquor Worm. I must obtain the Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu at all costs!"
Thinking this, Fang Yuan glanced at Bai Ning Bing from the corner of his eye.
Bai Ning Bing, unaware of his thoughts, was still looking at White Bone Mountain.
Fang Yuan sneered coldly in his heart. He was about to set off when suddenly several figures flew over rapidly.
"Hm? Righteous Path Gu Masters!" Both Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing were shocked.
A total of four Gu Masters approached quickly. When they were a hundred paces away, they landed on the ground and converged on Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing.
The leading old Gu Master radiated an obvious Rank Three aura. The other three were Rank Two.