Zheng Shanchuan turned around to face Old Man Qishan. His handsome features were adorned with a pair of clear, penetrating eyes. "Master, your disciple is unfilial. This time, I have to go against your will. Master, the opponent let me set the challenge. With such a huge advantage, I have no reason not to bet! If I still refuse to bet under these conditions, this matter will definitely become a thorn in my heart. What courage will I have left to continue walking the Refining Path in the future?"
Hearing this, Old Man Qishan fell silent.
He sighed deeply in his heart. "Disciple, you haven't experienced much of the world. You don't understand how sinister people's hearts can be. Since the opponent was willing to concede this much, he must be extremely confident and have other hidden trump cards. You've fallen into his trap! What a pity, what a shame. This old master is old and weak. The situation is already set. My heart is willing, but my strength is lacking. I cannot stop it."
On the surface, Old Man Qishan stretched out his aged hands and grasped Zheng Shanchuan's shoulders. "Disciple, your master knows your filial heart. Forget it, since you have your own opinion and insist on this, your master will fully support you. Let's use the Careful Gu to set the challenge. We won't bet on the success or failure of refining the Gu, but on time! Whoever refines the Careful Gu first will be the winner!"
"Master!" Zheng Shanchuan was so moved his eyes turned red.
The Careful Gu was a unique secret transmission of Old Man Qishan's personal inheritance, completely unheard of outside. To support his disciple, Old Man Qishan offered this precious Gu Recipe, not hesitating to let his competitor Fang Yuan look at it.
He also proposed to determine the winner based on the refining time. Fang Yuan was refining the Careful Gu for the first time; he was definitely not familiar with it. Judging the outcome based on time was more pressuring than judging the success of the refining. It just goes to show that old ginger is spicier.
Fang Yuan allowed his opponent to set the challenge entirely. His concession was too great. It put him in a very passive situation.
Zheng Shanchuan hesitated for a moment. He felt that his master's time-based standard was a bit too oppressive. Even if he won, it would be somewhat undeserving of his reputation.
But he immediately thought that this matter concerned his master's safety. Even if it was dishonorable, he still had to win the Green Dawn Gu!
So he turned around and stated his challenge to the elder of Feishuang Pavilion beside him.
Feishuang Pavilion quickly made the arrangements. The Great Offering, An Han, was overjoyed and voluntarily gave up his venue.
Fang Yuan and Zheng Shanchuan went down to the arena together to conduct the Gu Refining Duel.
The entire venue was completely silent.
The two parties faced each other, dozens of steps apart, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Zheng Shanchuan first handed the recipe of the Careful Gu to Fang Yuan to look at.
Soon after, the Feishuang Pavilion side announced the start of the duel.
A low murmur of discussion arose from the audience.
"I've never even heard of the Careful Gu. It's obviously an exclusive Gu recipe. That Fang Yuan just glanced at it for a few seconds, and the duel started. Isn't this too cheap?"
"Heh. This is also Fang Yuan's fault for being too arrogant. He actually let his opponent set the challenge completely. It's like he's missing a screw in his head!"
"That young Gu Master is no ordinary person. He was the second place in the last round, but actually had the results of the first place. Many people speculate that he has already reached the level of a Refining Path Grandmaster."
Upon hearing this, someone immediately scoffed: "How is that possible? How old is he to already be a Refining Path Grandmaster? If that's the case, have I lived all these years in vain?"
But as the competition continued, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zheng Shanchuan switched between nearly ten different Gu Refining techniques. His methods were extremely skilled, giving people a dazzling feeling.
Among the watching crowd, the shouts speculating that Zheng Shanchuan was a Gu Refining Grandmaster grew louder and louder.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was still studying the Gu recipe. He hadn't started the actual Gu Refining yet.
The contrast between the two greatly reduced the audience's expectations for Fang Yuan.
"Not good." Old Man Qishan frowned. "This person's mental fortitude is incredibly steady. He wants to thoroughly understand every step before actually refining the Gu. This is staying calm in the face of danger, a true master's demeanor! Fortunately, I set the standard as time. Whoever refines it first wins. The refining process of the Careful Gu is tedious. Unless the opponent is already familiar with this Gu recipe and has practiced it more times than Xiaochuan."
This was, of course, impossible.
Fang Yuan was also seeing the recipe of the Careful Gu for the first time.
Strictly speaking, the Careful Gu was a Wisdom Path Gu, but it played a huge role in the Refining Path. Fang Yuan guessed that this was very likely the core Gu of Zheng Shanchuan's inheritance.
According to historical records, the Gu Masters of the Shanchuan Hall were most skilled at refining those Gu Insects that had key steps, and these steps were all crucial for success or failure, hanging by a thread.
The Careful Gu's greatest strength was assisting Refining Path Gu Masters in handling these troublesome refining steps.
Fang Yuan read the Gu recipe over and over several times before he could fully understand it and merge all the steps. He was at the level of a Refining Path Quasi-Grandmaster; thoroughly understanding a Rank 3 Gu recipe was not difficult for him.
In fact, not only did he study the recipe, but he also cleverly observed the techniques of Zheng Shanchuan opposite him.
Zheng Shanchuan had already refined to the middle of the entire Gu Refining process. Fang Yuan had taken note of all the preceding techniques.
Even Fang Yuan had to nod involuntarily. Considering Zheng Shanchuan's age, reaching such a level was truly remarkable. However, in the eyes of Fang Yuan, who was a Quasi-Grandmaster in the Refining Path, his techniques were still not connected smoothly enough, and there were flaws in the way he handled the materials.
Fang Yuan slowly extended his hands and began to refine the Gu.
"He's finally started refining the Gu." A faint whisper of ridicule rumbled through the venue.