Aside from consumable Gu, the first type of Gu a Gu Master chooses becomes their lifebound Gu.
The relationship between a lifebound Gu and its Gu Master is the most intimate — practically a symbiotic cultivation of life and death.
If one side suffers a severe blow, the other will also be implicated.
The greatest advantage of a lifebound Gu, one that no other Gu can match, is that even if the Gu refinement fails, no matter how severe the backlash, the original Gu will be preserved.
For this reason, the vast majority of Gu Masters treat their lifebound Gu as their core Gu. Generally speaking, the Gu Masters' strongest Gu is their lifebound Gu.
Once a lifebound Gu is formed, it is difficult to change.
However, this situation is not absolute.
If a Gu Master obtains a very good Gu and wants to make it their lifebound Gu, they must destroy their original lifebound Gu.
But this act is extremely dangerous.
Once the lifebound Gu is destroyed, the Gu Master will suffer a huge backlash. In a mild case, a severe injury; in a severe case, death.
After his rebirth, Fang Yuan's lifebound Gu was the Spring Autumn Cicada, sleeping in the center of his first aperture, unable to be moved anywhere else.
Now that he had a second aperture, he had an opportunity to choose a second lifebound Gu.
Although he could make some guesses from the Gu recipe, actually realizing that he had this opportunity to choose filled Fang Yuan with delight.
Which Gu should he pick to be the crucial second lifebound Gu?
Immortal Gu were the first to be ruled out.
The second aperture was only a Rank 3 mortal aperture, difficult to contain an Immortal Gu. The Spring Autumn Cicada was a special case.
Besides the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fang Yuan had two Immortal Gu: Fixed Immortal Travel and Harmonious Mud.
But Harmonious Mud could only be used once. If he used it as a lifebound Gu, after it disappeared, Fang Yuan would surely suffer a severe blow. Naturally, Fang Yuan would not do such a stupid thing.
As for Fixed Immortal Travel, it was far away in the Corrupt Poison Grassland, so there was no need to mention it.
Without hesitating for long, Fang Yuan made his decision.
It was the Rank 3 All-Out Effort Gu!
He wanted to walk the path of both Strength and Slave. The All-Out Effort Gu was necessary and was the most ideal core for the Strength path.
Previously, Fang Yuan schemed for the Bay of No Battle Gu specifically to ensure the safety of the All-Out Effort Gu during the refinement process.
But due to a twist of fate and the pressure of the situation, Fang Yuan was forced to use the Bay of No Battle Gu to refine the Immortal Gu Fixed Immortal Travel.
Once the All-Out Effort Gu became his second lifebound Gu, Fang Yuan no longer had to worry about losing this precious Gu after a failed refinement.
Two days passed in a flash.
Leaving the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, Fang Yuan returned to the Northern Plains through the Star Door Gu.
The Fox Immortal Blessed Land was separate from the outside world with a fivefold time flow. Fang Yuan spent two days there, while in the Northern Plains, it was only one night.
At the break of dawn.
The sky showed a soft light purple and the white of a fish's belly.
As the sun slowly rose, the distant wild grass shifted from its original pitch-black to a glossy green.
Crescent Moon Lake shimmered with a dazzling golden light.
The morning light shone on Fang Yuan's face. He smiled and looked beside him.
The sparse wolf pack had been replenished, filled with many white wolf shadows.
These were Water Wolves. Their numbers had already surpassed ten thousand. They were led by a single Water Wolf Ten Thousand Wolf King, with six Thousand Wolf Kings under its command.
As for the other Red Flame Wolves, Night Wolves, and mutated wolves, Fang Yuan hadn't brought them out.
Bringing them all out at once would be too conspicuous and too abrupt.
Fang Yuan was disguised as Chang Shan Yin and wanted to carefully manage this identity, so he had to avoid such revealing actions.
The Water Wolves, however, were different.
On this trip, Fang Yuan's public excuse was that he was going to recruit wild Water Wolves. The appearance of the Water Wolves was easy to explain. But if a Night Wolf Beast King or those mutated wolves appeared, it would be inexplicable.
"Next, I need to continue recruiting wild Water Wolf packs." Fang Yuan mounted his Camel Wolf. With a thought, the entire wolf pack set off again, valiantly charging towards the next destination.
Three days later, by a certain lakeside of Crescent Moon Lake.
Two families of Gu Masters glared at each other.
"Zhong Feiyou, your Zhong family is going too far! These five Black Armored Fat Beetles are clearly from our clan, and you openly snatch them in broad daylight!" roared Chai Zhang, the clan leader of one side.
"Bullshit! There was an agreement long ago that our two families live side-by-side and this Wolf Lair is the boundary. So this is our Chai family's territory. These five Black Armored Fat Beetles ended up on my Zhong family's territory, so they are naturally my Zhong family's!" the Zhong family leader Zhong Feiyou sneered repeatedly.
Upon hearing this, the Chai family Gu Masters were filled with extreme anger.
Chai Zhang was so angry his face turned bright red as he scolded, "Shameless! Our Chai family is breaking camp today to head to the Hero Assembly, so naturally we must pass through your territory."
Zhong Feiyou's eyes flickered with a cold light, and he grinned, "So, this is your Chai family's fault. You could have gone around, so why did you have to pass right in front of my camp?"
The Chai family Gu Masters were furious. The Zhong family camp was cunningly positioned, occupying a strategic passage. If the Chai family took a detour, it would be much more troublesome, passing at least three ten-thousand-beast packs. The Zhong family's actions were essentially deliberate blackmail.
"Zhong Feiyou, isn't this a bit too ugly to look at?" Chai Zhang gnashed his teeth, forcing the words out from between them.
Zhong Feiyou shrugged indifferently and sneered, "If your Chai family isn't convinced, our two families can have a contest."