Countless figures from the Demonic Path, the Righteous Path, and every stripe of rogue cultivator surged toward it in droves.
At first, the Shang Clan held control of the situation, continuously reinforcing their forces and seizing the entrance to the Inheritance, demonstrating an unyielding determination to claim it for themselves.
Then the Wu Clan mobilized, shattering the Shang Clan's blockade.
After that, word spread. The site of the Three Kings' Inheritance was in fact the blessed land left behind by a Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal from years past. The world erupted in astonishment, and countless people swarmed toward Trident Mountain. Several other supreme-tier clans were also shaken, each dispatching formidable teams of Gu Masters.
At that point, not even the Shang and Wu Clans could hold back such a massive tide.
The situation at Trident Mountain descended into utter chaos.
People died every day. To seize the opportunity to reach the Inheritance, members of the Righteous and Demonic Paths clashed with each other, Demonic cultivators fought Demonic cultivators, and Righteous cultivators fought Righteous cultivators — the battles were ferocious.
Every shift in the situation at Trident Mountain tugged at the hearts of countless people.
Fang Yuan, too, had been keeping a close watch on it all along.
The inheritance had been open for over half a month. Some had already gained benefits within it, further stoking everyone's enthusiasm to explore.
But these benefits, Fang Yuan did not yet take seriously. He possessed memories from his previous life and knew the true essence of the Three Kings' inheritance lay at its deepest depths. To reach that place, there were at least a hundred hurdles, consuming both time and effort. Sometimes one would get lost, trapped in the mist, unable to find an exit. Sometimes one would encounter packs of dogs besieging them; many Gu Masters died tragically in the dogs' tearing attacks.
The Three Kings were demonic cultivators; this was a demonic inheritance.
Demonic inheritances had always been fraught with danger. One often had to risk their life to explore them.
"Rushing to Trident Mountain now is still too early; the timing isn't right. Better to sit back and reap the rewards while conserving my strength. Wait until they break through the hurdles and clear the obstacles, then I'll go and plunder the fruits. For now, it's time to refine Gu." Fang Yuan had his own schemes in mind.
The Gu he planned to refine this time was none other than the Wine Worm!
A First Transformation Wine Worm could purify Bronze True Essence by one minor stage. A Second Transformation Four-Flavor Wine Worm could purify Red Iron True Essence by one minor stage. A Third Transformation Seven-Fragrance Wine Worm could purify Silver True Essence by one minor stage. A Fourth Transformation Nine-Eye Wine Worm could purify Gold True Essence by one minor stage.
Above the Nine-Eye Wine Worm, there was no Fifth Transformation Wine Worm. The recipe master who originally developed the Wine Worm's secret recipe had been a genius of extraordinary talent, very young, but was killed prematurely by a rival, cut down in his prime.
Genius only represented a possibility.
There were many cases where a genius was slain before they could grow to maturity.
But as things stood now, Fang Yuan and Bai Ningbing had already grown strong enough that eliminating them would be no easy task.
After Fang Yuan had refined the Wine Worms into the Four-Flavor Wine Worm, he had never used it again, simply feeding it with no purpose.
The reason was that he had the Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu, and with Bai Ningbing's help, the Four-Flavor Wine Worm had lost its practical value. But now things were different.
Bai Ningbing had advanced to the Fourth Transformation, and Fang Yuan was at the Peak of the Third Transformation. Before long, he too would break through to the Initial Stage of the Fourth Transformation. When that time came, their cultivation levels would truly be on equal footing.
The help that the Bone and Flesh Reunion Gu brought Fang Yuan would decrease significantly. At that point, having a Fourth Transformation Nine-Eye Wine Worm would be extremely convenient for his cultivation.
Refine the Nine-Eye Wine Worm!
While Shang Cici had begun recruiting Zhou Quan, Fang Yuan chose to enter seclusion and refine Gu.
Bai Ningbing did not know what Gu he was refining, so she also chose to enter seclusion.
To refine the Four-Flavor Wine Worm, one needed two First Transformation Wine Worms along with four kinds of wine — sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. To refine the Seven-Scent Wine Worm, one needed two Four-Flavor Wine Worms and seven kinds of spices.
When it came to the Nine-Eye Wine Worm, one required two Seven-Scent Wine Worms and the eyeballs of nine kinds of Hundred Beast Kings.
Fang Yuan was currently in Merchant City, where the geographical advantages were truly exceptional. If he were anywhere else, gathering the materials for combining and refining Wine Worms would require enormous effort in searching. But in Merchant City, as long as one had money, anything could be bought.
Fang Yuan already had a Four-Flavor Wine Worm on hand. He purchased two Wine Worms and first combined them to refine a second Four-Flavor Wine Worm.
Then, using two Four-Flavor Wine Worms, he combined them to refine the first Seven-Scent Wine Worm.
Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly. But when he moved on to combining the second Seven-Scent Wine Worm, he ran into difficulties.
He failed once each during the refinement of the third Four-Flavor Wine Worm and the Seven-Scent Wine Worm. The Yuan Stones consumed were all wasted, the supplementary materials had to be repurchased, and he had to start over from scratch.
Fortunately, in the end, the combination of the two Seven-Scent Wine Worms went very smoothly. Three days later, Fang Yuan obtained the Nine-Eye Wine Worm.
The Nine-Eye Wine Worm resembled a silkworm larva, its entire body white and delicate, like a pearl. It no longer had eyes on its head — instead, the nine eyes were distributed along its body, each a different color: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple among others, as if agates and gemstones had been set into its flesh.
The Nine-Eye Wine Worm could advance one's Golden True Essence by an entire minor realm!
For it, Fang Yuan had spent a great deal — close to two hundred thousand Yuan Stones.
The failure of Gu refinement was something no Gu Master could avoid. Although Fang Yuan had failed multiple times, his luck had been quite good overall.
His failures were concentrated during the refinement of the Four-Flavor Wine Worm and the Seven-Fragrance Wine Worm, occurring in the first half of the entire process. At the final crucial stage, he succeeded on the first attempt.
What Gu refinement feared most was failing during the later stages. Such losses would be devastatingly severe.