A pack of sky-blue wolves galloped freely across the sky, chasing birds in the air or prey on the ground—not to hunt, but purely for fun and frolic.
Fang Yuan stood atop an earthen mound and slowly opened his eyes.
In the past few days, he had not only prepared everything needed for gu refinement but also recruited a large number of wolves.
Besides sky-blue wolves, there were also ordinary wild wolves on the ground, including turtleback wolves, water wolves, and night wolves, totaling over two hundred thousand.
"The wolves have been spread across a hundred li around; they serve as a considerable warning. Moreover, the sky-blue wolves in the sky have become my insignia as the Wolf King. Most gu masters will understand that it's me, Chang Shan Yin, hunting, and they'll proactively retreat three li."
If they don't take the initiative to retreat, it means they harbor malicious intent.
Such a gu master, once discovered by the wolves, will inevitably face a fierce encirclement and attack.
Of course, there are also innocent people who wander in by accident. But Fang Yuan couldn't care about that; if they were killed by the wolves, they could only blame their bad luck.
Fang Yuan then looked into the distance. Even though he was far from the Holy Palace, he could still see the brilliant sunset glow on the horizon.
Inside the Holy Palace, once again, the skies were filled with a magnificent, beautiful glow—a sign that the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was about to condense its second floor.
For Fang Yuan, this had a different meaning.
The small towers were sinking one after another, sacrificing the countless wild gu inside them, forming the great power to condense the immortal gu house.
These clouds of light marked that the accumulation of this power had gradually reached a tipping point where quantity turns into quality.
And for Fang Yuan to open the Earth Mound Inheritance, he had to borrow this power and make it flow back.
"Hei Lou Lan deliberately developed the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building to open the passage, causing an uproar. Gu masters flocked there. News spread, and gu masters scattered outside the Holy Palace are also coming one after another. Everyone's attention is already focused on the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. This is the perfect time for me to start the inheritance!"
Fang Yuan's eyes sparkled, and he smiled. Without hesitation, he acted.
"Go." He lightly patted his belly, and instantly, thirty-six gu insects flew out of his aperture.
These gu insects were strangely shaped. They were tiny, only half the size of a fingernail, shaped like five-pointed stars, emitting a faint milky-white glow.
These were all first-rank Small Light Gu, a famous Light Path auxiliary gu insect.
At Fang Yuan's mental command, these small light gu flew into the earth mound's cave, quickly driving away all the darkness inside.
Fang Yuan also summoned thirteen Grating Light Gu.
These gu were only third-rank. They also came from the Light Path. Once activated, they could transform into gratings to restrain and control the target.
The Grating Light Gu also flew into the cave, mixed with the earlier Small Light Gu, without any visible change.
Fang Yuan smiled and flicked his hand, releasing three fifth-rank Light Path gu.
These three gu were the Swift Electric Light Gu for increasing speed, the Endless Spring Glory Gu for healing, and the Blazing Sky Light Gu for attack.
The Swift Electric Light Gu, with a blue glow and flickering electricity, took the lead and flew into the cave.
The earth mound, which had been still, finally underwent a change.
Like an activated mechanism, the soil around the cave began to slowly expand and close in on itself.
The blue electric light scattered the previous small light gu, forming a diffuse pale blue halo that surged with a strong intention to rush out.
But at the same time, the grating gu connected together, forming a light barrier that barely covered the pale blue halo.
The halo was about to burst forth when the Endless Spring Glory Gu flew in, emitting an infinite emerald glow, gentle as water, suppressing the blue light. The two stalemated.
Finally, the Blazing Sky Light Gu flew into the cave, transforming into a rich crimson ray, piercing through the emerald glow and blue light, sinking deep into the cave.
With a rumbling sound, the cave entrance completely closed. Deep in the earth, three colors of radiance merged, undergoing mysterious changes that Fang Yuan himself could not fully understand.
Fang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had not misinterpreted anything. This was the meaning of 'light hidden in earth' from the secret message.
Although he was over eighty percent confident, he still worried about mistakes. After all, he only possessed the later part of the clues for the Earth Mound Inheritance. The first half was in the hands of the Central Continent gu immortals.
But this later part specifically described how to open this inheritance.
Relying on his foundation as a Refining Path grandmaster, combined with the information about the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, Fang Yuan forcefully deciphered this secret message, making possible an intervention to forcibly take the inheritance.
About half an hour later, the rumbling underground grew softer.
But the ground became scorching hot. Even wearing the North Plains' deerskin boots, Fang Yuan couldn't isolate this heat.
The ground cave entrance slowly opened, with no light inside, only deep darkness.
Seeing this, Fang Yuan was not alarmed but delighted.
After 'light hidden in earth' comes 'radiance a myriad zhang high.' If interpreted literally, it would be far from the truth.
This secret message was also a test of the gu master's Refining Path skill.
The secret message was about Refining Path, and 'radiance a myriad zhang high' was not a simple description of a scene but a description of the next steps in gu refining!
Fang Yuan unhurriedly released two fifth-rank Thorn-in-Back Gu for defense, three Far-Sighted Gu for reconnaissance, one Ten Thousand Arrows Piercing Heart Gu for attack, and nine specially auxiliary Raging Flame Gu.
In the cave, greyish-yellow dust billowed but did not overflow. The chirping of birds, like the whistling of arrows flying through air, could be faintly heard from within the smoke.