In the secret chamber, faint starlight permeated the air.
Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and began refining Gu.
After parting ways with Bai Ningbing, he had visited the shops once more, purchasing everything needed for the refinement. Of course, to prevent his secret recipes from being exposed, he had also bought a number of unnecessary items as a cover.
With a thought, he summoned a Gu first.
This Gu resembled a spherical air bladder, about the size of a fist, orange-yellow in color. Its surface was wrinkled and somewhat thick to the touch, not particularly pleasant.
It was a First Transformation Stink Gu.
Its sole function was to emit a foul stench — it had no offensive capability whatsoever.
Don't look down on this Gu for seeming useless. It was widely employed as one of the common refinement materials.
Fang Yuan silently infused pale silver True Essence, causing the Stink Gu to slowly swell its entire body and float in the air.
At the same time, he reached out and pried open a clay jar before him.
Immediately, a putrid stench spread through the room.
The jar was filled to the brim with rotting swamp mud, dark and mucky. This type of mud was also a widely used auxiliary refinement ingredient.
"Rice Bag Grass, go." With a thought, Fang Yuan shot a seed from his Empty Orifice.
The seed flew into the clay jar. As the surface of the True Essence Sea within his Empty Orifice dropped, dark green vines burrowed through the rotting mud.
The vines kept extending, creeping out of the jar and spreading across two feet of ground before sprouting branches and growing large, lush leaves.
These green leaves were plump as buckets. At first tiny, they rapidly swelled to the size of bowls.
Fang Yuan peeled open the top of each leaf one by one, revealing the pristine white grains of rice inside.
But he did not take them. Instead, he dumped all the rice grains into the rotting swamp mud. Then he slowly lowered the Stink Gu. Working with split focus, he simultaneously activated the Stink Gu and the Rice Bag Grass.
The Stink Gu emitted an orange-yellow glow, and the Rice Bag Grass radiated a green light. The two colors gradually blended together.
The mingled radiance grew more restrained, sinking deep into the clay jar.
The jar trembled continuously, then finally went still. From within, a new Gu flew out.
Its entire body was yellowish-brown, like a glob of mud, giving off a faint stench — resembling nothing so much as a lump of excrement.
This was the Shit Gu.
Don't judge it by its ugly appearance. It could cause violent diarrhea, and many physicians used it to treat ailments and purge toxins. It held genuine practical value.
Fang Yuan's expression didn't change.
Gu insects numbered in the tens of millions, like people of every sort. There was the holy and elegant Heavenly Origin Treasure Lotus, the Spring Autumn Cicada steeped in philosophical zen, the sinister and ghostly Blood Skull Gu — and of course there were also ones that looked disgusting, smelled disgusting, and felt disgusting to the touch, like the Shit Gu and the Stink Gu.
Refining the Stink Gu up to the Second Transformation Shit Gu was only the first step.
Next, Fang Yuan took out a Brute Strength Gu, also purchased from the shops. This Gu could double a Gu Master's strength within fifty breaths.
Using the Brute Strength Gu and the Shit Gu, Fang Yuan refined them together into the Brute Strength Shit Gu.
The Brute Strength Shit Gu was a Third Transformation Gu insect. Its function was the same as the Shit Gu, and its appearance was similar, but its actual effect was more than three times as powerful.
The Brute Strength Shit Gu was not as popular as the Shit Gu.
It wasn't the case that higher Transformation Gu were always better.
A Third Transformation Gu consumed far more than a First Transformation Gu. Although the Brute Strength Shit Gu was more powerful, using the Shit Gu several extra times could achieve the same result. There had even been cases of incompetent doctors misdiagnosing patients and abusing the Brute Strength Shit Gu, causing them to suffer diarrhea and die from exhaustion.
Having the Brute Strength Shit Gu meant the second step was complete.
Next, Fang Yuan brought out a Lion's Roar Gu.
This Gu was shaped like a lion's head. Once activated, it could project a phantom lion head the size of a millstone and unleash a powerful roar. It was generally used for sending signals, attracting or startling wild beasts, and in combat, if employed well, it could throw an opposing Gu Master into disarray.
Fang Yuan simultaneously activated the Lion's Roar Gu and the Brute Strength Shit Gu.
In the air, a scene unfolded: the phantom lion head opened its massive jaws and began to swallow the Brute Strength Shit Gu.
But after consuming a third of it, the Lion's Roar Gu could eat no more. The phantom lion head even showed signs of collapsing.
With a thought, Fang Yuan summoned a Paper Crane Gu he had purchased from the shops.
This Gu came in pale blue, deep cyan, pink, and several other colors, and was used exclusively for sending messages.
The pale blue Paper Crane Gu wobbled through the air toward the Lion's Roar Gu, then was swallowed in one bite by the phantom lion head.
Three-way focus!
If any outsider had witnessed this scene, they would have cried out in shock.
For an ordinary Gu Master, two-way focus was already remarkable. Those who could manage three-way focus were exceedingly rare — it was a powerful talent that could elevate a Gu Master to the level of a refinement grandmaster!
And ordinary refinement masters had to rely on auxiliary Gu insects to achieve multi-focus work.
Fang Yuan simultaneously drove the Lion's Roar Gu, the Brute Strength Shit Gu, and the Paper Crane Gu using nothing but his own ability.
But for him, this was not talent — it was the accumulation of experience.
Anything could be mastered through practice. Fang Yuan had spent five hundred years slowly building up his skills, training bitterly for centuries. From single focus to dual focus, then to triple focus, and at times he could even reach quadruple focus!
Of course, pushing any further...