A Small Test Run
In a secret room, Wei Yang examines the all-out effort Gu: shaped like a rhinoceros beetle, oval and palm sized, with a strong armored exoskeleton, a heavy horn, three pairs of thick legs, and a dark brown, metallic sheen. Fang Yuan explains it is rank three, and once used, summons a beast phantom that obeys his will. Wei Yang makes one last attempt to ask whether Fang Yuan is truly committed to the strength path, and reads his answer in his silent, determined expression. ch. 286
Accepting that the decision is final, Wei Yang gives his closing advice. Fang Yuan should convert the Gu into his vital Gu, since refining it toward rank four or five is too dangerous while it is not his vital Gu, and losing it in that process would collapse the whole set. He should also choose complementary support Gu with care, since most of the Gu that once paired with the all-out effort Gu in the ancient strength path have gone extinct, leaving little to copy. He needs a refinement recipe too, though most Olden Antiquity Era recipes have survived among recipe masters, and Wei Yang suggests he might also try his luck on an ancient strength path inheritance, as Wu clan did some years before. ch. 286
Fang Yuan has already planned all of it. He holds a recipe taking the Gu only to rank four, taken from Li Ran, who received it from Wu clan along with the Gu itself; since Fang Yuan is only rank three initial stage, a rank five recipe is not yet an urgent problem. His set will use the all-out effort Gu as core with self-reliance Gu and bitter strength Gu as support, reaching initial success within two to three years in Shang clan city, then greater success once the three kings inheritance activates and he can use his foreknowledge to add useful Gu, before the righteous demonic battle at Yi Tian mountain. ch. 286
His vital Gu will remain the Spring Autumn Cicada, which makes refining the all-out effort Gu more dangerous, since it is not the Gu his life depends on. He knows three ways to protect it anyway: the land of Bu Bai, a refinement sanctuary too distant to reach; the undefeated hundred battles Gu, an extinct rank five Gu that guarantees a hundred percent success rate and exists within the three kings inheritance; and green mountain remains, a rank four Gu held by a few refinement masters that preserves a core Gu even if the rest of the set is destroyed in a failed refinement. ch. 286
Having hoarded hundreds of thousands of primeval stones out of caution, Fang Yuan finally starts spending. He sorts through invitations from recipe masters hoping to study the ancient Gu, established Gu Masters wanting to spar or trade, and shops and clans wanting to buy it outright, and turns down every offer to sell. He meets a small number for other business, and in three hours settles a few deals. Two days later the Gu worms he bought arrive, costing several hundred thousand primeval stones and leaving the aged spirit inside his primeval elder Gu visibly pained by the expense. ch. 286
A day after that, Fang Yuan steps onto the battle stage before a crowd so large there is no room to walk. His opponent is Li Ran, who accuses Gu Yue Fang Zheng of despicably stealing his opportunity; Fang Yuan answers that Li Ran agreed to the compensation after colliding with him, and their public argument confirms the rumor for the watching crowd. Li Ran charges. Fang Yuan closes fifty steps in an instant with the vertical crash Gu, then summons the all-out effort Gu’s phantom, a black, sharp tusked wild boar. Li Ran dodges the full impact but is grazed as Fang Yuan charges past him; his arm breaks with a crack, his defensive light fails, and he collapses, unable to rise. The crowd, stunned that one hit ended it, agrees Li Ran was never a match for him. ch. 286
