The early summer night sky was beautiful.
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The clear, glittering stars shimmered with a heart-stirring radiance.
The sandalwood crickets took the stage, replacing the dragon-ball crickets. In the grass, by the mountain streams, on the branches, they sang their plaintive, lyrical songs.
The scattered lights within Gu Yue Village flickered, as if they were trying to reflect the splendor of the starry sky.
The verdant bamboo buildings stood tall in the night wind, creating an exceptionally serene and tranquil atmosphere beneath the stars.
Fang Yuan, however, was not inside the village. He had snuck into the secret cave hidden in the stone crevice.
He knelt on the ground, his right hand pressed against the Shadow Wall. A cluster of blue moonlight emanated from the center of his palm.
The original image on the Shadow Wall had long since vanished, making it indistinguishable from the surrounding rock. If Fang Yuan hadn't clearly remembered the location of "Chapter 60: The Shadow Vanishes, the Wall Cracks, Revealing a Passage; the Inheritance of the Demonic Path is Hard-Earned," who would have known that the legacy of the Drunken Flower Traveler was hidden beneath this wall?
Over a month ago, the Shadow Wall had suddenly transformed, revealing the Drunken Flower Traveler's secret cache. First, the image of the Drunken Flower Traveler, drenched in blood, appeared on the wall, declaring his intention to leave behind his inheritance. Then, a line of blood-red text appeared, instructing the one who came after to break the Shadow Wall, which would reveal an opening. After that, the blood-red characters disappeared. The power of the Image-Sound Recording Gu on the Shadow Wall was completely exhausted, and the wall reverted to an ordinary rock face.
Although he knew about the Drunken Flower Traveler's inheritance, Fang Yuan never had the time to explore it.
Because of this incident, he had killed Jia Jinsheng on the spot and spent the rest of that night busy covering up the scene. Afterwards, in order to deal with the impending interrogation, he meticulously set up his countermeasures and confined his movements to the village.
It was only after Jia Fu left and the academy elder called off the secret investigation, after more than ten days had passed and the heat died down, that Fang Yuan was finally able to sneak back here in secret.
The Bronze Primeval Sea within his aperture was slowly receding. Fang Yuan mobilized streams of Primeval Essence, continuously channeling them into the Moonlight Gu in his right palm.
The Moonlight Gu emitted a soft, shimmering glow. Under its effect, the stone wall was continuously ground away, causing large amounts of stone dust to fall.
This was a testament to Fang Yuan's precise control over the Moonlight Gu. It was the same technique he had used back when he was cutting Gu stones.
Compared to cutting stones, this method was actually rather crude. However, against this thick stone wall, the method was far too gentle.
This was already the sixth consecutive day that Fang Yuan had been using the Moonlight Gu to grind down this wall.
A thick pile of dark red stone dust had accumulated on the ground.
By all logic, the soil of Qing Mao Mountain should be blue-green mud. But the mountain soil here was oddly crimson and gave off a faint light.
Fortunately, this provided a light source, saving Fang Yuan from having to prepare a torch.
To avoid attracting any suspicion as much as possible, Fang Yuan did not use any tools. A hammer and pickaxe would have undoubtedly made it much easier to break through the stone wall, but then the sound of breaking the wall would reverberate through the summer night.
Whether the sound heard from outside would be faint or loud, Fang Yuan had to eliminate any of these potential points of suspicion.
Details often determined success or failure.
For Fang Yuan, caution was less of a virtue and more of a habit.
In his past life, he had been carefree, but he was soon taught a cruel lesson. People often said that the older one gets, the more timid one becomes. Actually, it wasn't about being timid, but about being cautious and patient. Five hundred years of time had caused the principle of "caution" to settle deep into his very bones.
"Heaving a deep sigh, Fang Yuan slowly stopped channeling his Primeval Essence.
He plopped down onto the ground, truly exhausted.
The entire half-person-tall Shadow Wall had been ground down by a full three inches.
He wiped the sweat from his brow, rolling his shoulders and stretching his legs. Because he had been crouching for such a long time, waves of numbness and tingling continuously shot up from his legs.
Thump, thump, thump.
Fang Yuan curled his fingers and knocked on the stone wall again.
Hearing this sound, a faint joy welled up in his heart, knowing that the wall was getting thinner and thinner.
He closed his eyes to calm his mind and checked the situation within his aperture.
Less than twenty percent of the Bronze Primeval Sea remained.
"Keep going!" Fang Yuan gritted his teeth, then reached out his right hand again and pressed it against the stone wall.
The aqua-blue moonlight shone continuously for a quarter of an hour. Fang Yuan suddenly paused. He moved his right hand away and was overjoyed to find that a small hole had been broken through the stone wall.
He immediately stood up and kicked it.