However, in his memories, Li Ran also participated in the martial arena. After obtaining the legendary Gu, he dominated all directions, sweeping the arena.
That made things easier.
Fang Yuan had the right to forcibly challenge, so using this pretext, he went to the special reception desk.
There were three people named Li Ran who registered for the martial arena.
Two men and one woman.
The woman was excluded first; the legendary Li Ran was said to be male.
Of the remaining two, one was an old man in his sixties with a modest reputation. He was a Third Turn cultivator; a few years ago he broke into the arena of the Third Inner City, but in recent years his condition declined, and he dropped to the Fourth Inner City. Obviously, this was not him; in his previous memory, Li Ran lived a very unsatisfactory life.
The other was a middle‑aged man in his fifties. He was a Second Turn cultivator, had been in Merchant City for nearly ten years, but still lingered in the Fifth Inner City arena district. He liked gambling on stones and lived in poverty. He once married and had children in Merchant City, but he and his wife were at odds and had been separated for a long time.
Fang Yuan secretly investigated and found that this person was the one he had seen at the stone gambling shop when he was cutting stones.
After following him for several days, Fang Yuan discovered that this Li Ran lived in extreme hardship, sometimes not even having enough for his next meal.
But this didn't mean he lacked skill.
On the arena of the Fifth Inner City, he earned primeval stones through battles to support himself.
Fang Yuan checked his combat record and found that he actually won more than he lost.
Logically, he shouldn't have had to worry about food and clothing. But this man loved eating, gambling, and whoring, spending money lavishly without any restraint. For stone gambling, he would likely use all the primeval stones on him, leading to the following half month where he had to borrow from everyone and survive on the cheapest meals.
Similarly, to have a big feast, he could go to the most upscale restaurant and spend most of his money. He even once ate and ran without paying, and still owed money to several restaurants.
“This man should be the owner of the legendary Gu in his past life. But if he doesn’t know how to control his desires, what’s the use of having the legendary Gu? No wonder in his past life he flashed by like a meteor, brilliant for a moment, then soon vanished without a trace.” Fang Yuan shook his head inwardly.
“He obtained the legendary Gu in his past life; will he obtain it again in this life? Following him like this is not a long‑term solution. The day of discovering the legendary Gu is approaching. Am I really not destined for this legendary Gu?” Fang Yuan frowned deeply.
These days of tailing Li Ran had wasted a lot of Fang Yuan’s time and energy. If he had used that time for cultivation, perhaps his improvement would have been greater.
The key was that Fang Yuan had no confidence that stalking Li Ran would yield results.
Moreover, tracking for too long might be discovered. Fortunately, Wei Yang was burdened with heavy responsibilities and only came when Fang Yuan was fighting in the arena; otherwise, Fang Yuan wouldn’t have been able to track Li Ran.
If Wei Yang found out he was tracking and investigating Li Ran, how would he explain it?
Now the biggest doubt was still why the legendary Gu was not in the Star Stone, which severely contradicted the rumors!
Fang Yuan couldn’t understand; it was simply unbelievable! All factors matched, but the most critical point went awry.
Perhaps because he was overthinking, Fang Yuan always felt that Li Ran’s behavior was somewhat unusual. But he couldn’t pinpoint where exactly the strangeness lay. It was just a feeling, vague and indistinct, that even Fang Yuan himself wasn’t sure about.
Thus, more than twenty days passed, and Fang Yuan fell into deep perplexity. That strange feeling grew stronger, but Fang Yuan didn’t know its origin.
Li Ran’s behavior was not at all improper.
He had lived in Merchant City for nearly ten years; if there truly was something wrong, others would have noticed long ago.
“I’ve been stuck in a fixed thinking pattern, overthinking. At this time, I need another person’s perspective to enlighten myself.” Fang Yuan had a clear understanding of his situation.
But he always trusted only himself. Although Bai Ning Bing had sworn a deadly oath with him, Fang Yuan did not trust her at all. He only used her for cultivation; the Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu was much more useful than the Wine Worm Gu.
No one to help, Fang Yuan could only rely on himself.
But he was used to relying on himself and liked to depend on himself for everything.
So he went to a shop: “Shopkeeper, do you have a Flash of Insight Gu?”
Fang Yuan asked at several shops, but none had it. Finally, one shop had stock, but when he asked the price, it was twenty‑nine thousand primeval stones.
The Flash of Insight Gu was a Third Turn consumable Gu; it was used up after one use. Who would spend so many primeval stones to buy such a thing?
But in fact, many people used it.
These people were recipe masters who specialized in deriving secret Gu recipes.
When they encountered a bottleneck, just one step away from success, they would choose to use this Gu. Once used, it would give them the most critical flash of insight, allowing them to pierce through the barrier and derive a new recipe.
The value of a single new recipe far exceeded twenty‑nine thousand primeval stones.
Thus, the Flash of Insight Gu was an item with demand but no market supply. If Fang Yuan hadn’t had the Zijing token, the shopkeeper would never have sold it to him.
Similar in function to the Flash of Insight Gu was the Immortal’s Finger.
But the latter was a unique grass Gu of the Tie family and was simply not circulated in the market.
Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and bought this Flash of Insight Gu.
The Gu looked like a blue sapphire tadpole, delicate, wagging its tail as it swam.
Fang Yuan channeled his true essence, and the Gu instantly
shot into his mind, transforming into a white flash of light, like a bolt of lightning, instantly clearing away the dense fog for Fang Yuan.