In midair, fiery red clouds of smoke roiled and churned, bringing waves of scorching heat to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his eyes tightly shut, but his mind was already anchored within the fire clouds.
"It's almost ready," he calculated the time in his heart, slowly opening his eyes and taking out a wine jar.
The wine jar was filled with a dark blue liquid, radiating a luster like moonlight on the sea.
"Descend," Fang Yuan called out softly. The fire cloud in midair descended leisurely and completely poured into the wine jar.
In an instant, fire and water intermingled, producing thick black smoke. The black smoke spread rapidly, filling the entire room. Fang Yuan couldn't see his hand in front of his face, as if he were in a pitch-black night. With a thought, a suction force suddenly came from the jar. In just a few breaths, it sucked all the black smoke in. The room became clear again, with just a faintly lingering sweet smell.
Fang Yuan flicked his fingers, flicking Gu worms one after another into the jar. The jar began to tremble slightly. It continued for about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, before finally calming down.
Fang Yuan peered inside and saw that only black mud remained in the jar. The Gu worms he had just flicked in had perfectly merged together, forming a semi-finished product hidden in the center of the mud.
"Rise," Fang Yuan carefully infused his true essence. The surface of the black mud broke open, and a thin, tender sprout emerged. The sprout was a vibrant, oily green and grew extremely fast. In an instant, it grew into a small sapling. The sapling visibly grew thicker and taller. Conversely, the black mud in the jar rapidly decreased.
When the black mud had decreased by eighty percent, the small tree stopped growing. Its entire crown condensed into one mass, like a clenched emerald fist.
"Open," Fang Yuan shouted abruptly, simultaneously pouring a massive amount of true essence into it. The emerald fist slowly opened, revealing a Gu worm in its palm.
This Gu had a long, oval body covered in an armored carapace. Its back was a deep, dark brown and arched. Its head was crowned with a powerful horn, giving it a heavy and majestic look. It had four pairs of strong, long legs, and its entire body radiated an oily metallic luster. One look was enough to know that this was no ordinary Gu.
A flash of joy passed through Fang Yuan's eyes. This Gu was precisely the Wholeheartedly-Gu. He had failed three times before, and only on this fourth attempt was he successful in refining it.
Fang Yuan carefully observed, savoring the differences between the refining of the Wholeheartedly-Gu before and after.
The third-turn Wholeheartedly-Gu only had three pairs of long legs. Because it came from the Southern Border, it suffered from the suppression of a foreign region, so its aura was only that of the second-turn. The fourth-turn Wholeheartedly-Gu, however, had four pairs of long legs. Its size had increased, being more than twice the size of the third-turn one. Because it was refined in the Northern Plains, it had transformed into a Northern Plains Gu worm and was no longer suppressed by a foreign region, exuding a genuine fourth-turn aura.
"With this fourth-turn Gu, most of my strength path combat strength is immediately revived. However, I must prepare the fifth-turn recipe next. Fortunately, I now own a blessed land, am connected to Treasure Yellow Heaven, and still have some ties with the Lang Ya blessed land. There is still hope for obtaining the fifth-turn recipe for the Wholeheartedly-Gu."
Fang Yuan stored the newly acquired Wholeheartedly-Gu into his aperture, cleaned up a bit, and then left the Large Lizard House Gu.
Outside the house, the scenery was bright and beautiful. A large number of Gu Masters weaved between the countless tents, busy with their own matters. Some were going to the logistics camp to exchange for Gu worms, some were just returning from cleaning the battlefield, and others were building defensive fortifications.
Eight days had passed since that great battle with the Eastern Alliance army. During these eight days, the Hei Clan army was holding still. Every day, they were busy cleaning the battlefield, tallying military merits, and treating the wounded.
The complex and heavy affairs kept the high command of the army running around in circles. Hei Lou Lan's desk was piled high with official documents. Bei Jun Zi was entrusted with important tasks and was so busy he hadn't slept for three days and nights, his face turning pale. The clan leaders were even busier, running up and down to fight for the interests of their own clans. As those in high positions, they naturally had to bear the responsibilities and duties of their positions.
During this time, Ge Guang also looked for Fang Yuan a few times, hoping that Fang Yuan would step forward for the interests of the Ge clan. But Fang Yuan ignored him, simply cultivating and turning him away at the door.
At times like this, the carefree and unrestrained nature of the demonic Gu Masters became apparent. Most of them were not weighed down by any faction and only needed to take care of themselves. Apart from checking whether their own military merits had been docked, they only had to heal their own injuries, exchange merits for new Gu worms, and actively prepare for battle.
The healing power of this world was far greater than that of Earth. On Earth, severed hands and feet would only result in disability. Even if you cut off a finger, you had to preserve it and reattach it within a specific time frame. Reattaching a severed finger isn't always successful; there is a failure rate. But here, even if both hands and feet were severed, under the healing effects of the Gu worms, they could grow back directly. Basically, as long as a Gu Master's injuries were not particularly troublesome, they could recover.