Chapter 496

The moving ink lines settle into a terrain map centered on a gently sloped rise with a tunnel-like opening, labeled with the two words Di Qiu, surrounded by swamp and forest with a river at its southwest corner. Lower on the map sit four cryptic lines, verse-like but not clearly a poem or a Gu recipe, which Fang Yuan cannot decipher but recognizes as a clue placed there on purpose. The map fades from the slab soon after, leaving it blank. Fang Yuan can still recall every detail with total clarity, the work of a painting idea Gu once used on the slab to etch an image permanently into a Gu Master’s memory. ^{ch. 496}

He reads the find as a Gu Master’s inheritance, keyed by its maker to the exact combination of appraisal Gu, crystal clear Gu, sunshine Gu, moonshine Gu and the rest, that Fang Yuan happened to use while testing the slab. He reflects that inheritances like this are common to both righteous and demonic Gu Masters alike, ranging from Gu Immortal grade down through rank four or five to lesser rank two, three or even rank one work. Most searchers come away disappointed, since many inheritances have already been destroyed or claimed, and some are demonic traps set by dying Gu Masters bent on revenge. Weighing his own workload against a lead with no way yet to locate Di Qiu itself, he sets the matter aside. ^{ch. 496}

In the following days he works through his cultivation and, drawing an improved recipe from the spoils taken off Zhong and Chai tribe, refines the rank three eagle wings Gu he had bought earlier from local markets during his travels from poison grassland through Hong Yan valley to Ge tribe camp into the rank four eagle rise Gu, after two failed attempts. Since Chang Shan Yin was never known as a flying expert, Fang Yuan holds the ability back as a trump card rather than use it openly. Chang Shan Yin went missing for more than ten years, leaving room to explain away any newfound gift as something found during that stretch. ^{ch. 496}

Ge Guang brings word of the wider contest. Ma tribe has fully absorbed Fei tribe to become the leading force at the Tian Chuan heroes assembly, Meng Qiu heroes assembly’s Nu Er tribe is represented by rank five Gu Master Nu Er Tu, and among Cao Fu’s Zhao tribe, Fang Yuan recognizes Zhao Lian Yun, still an ordinary young woman for now, as the one who will marry Ma Hong Yun and rise to become a wisdom path Gu Immortal in the years he remembers from his previous life. He recalls that in that life Ma tribe’s early strength and morale won them a string of victories that drew the notice of the Huang Jin family’s seasoned tribes, and that the costly fighting which followed weakened Ma tribe before Hei Lou Lan brought his own troops to besiege them. Ma tribe’s fortifications held even against Hei Lou Lan in person, and the coming blizzard forced him to relent; Ma tribe then submitted to Hei tribe and won entry into the Imperial Court, where Ma Hong Yun’s luck brought him a partial inheritance of an Immortal Venerable inside the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, an inheritance that became the foundation of his rise. Fang Yuan wonders whether Ma Hong Yun will appear at all this time. ^{ch. 496}

Ge Guang reports that at their own Yu Tian heroes assembly, Liu Wen Wu and Hei Lou Lan are the two strongest, with no other force able to compete against them, and that Ge tribe is now the last tribe still camped at crescent lake, with every other force already departed. Though Ge Guang remains tribe leader, Fang Yuan’s word has carried final say in Ge tribe’s decisions since he became supreme elder. He judges the tribe’s stability as only surface deep, with enough hidden dissent that going to battle now would not bring its full strength to bear, and tells Ge Guang there is no need to rush, since he already knows from memory how late the Yu Tian contest will run. He directs the tribe first to onion valley, a wide valley whose beast groups live at a larger scale than crescent lake’s. It is also more dangerous, home to the rank two onion explosion Gu, a red onion-shaped worm whose released odor drives nearby beasts into an irascible, more aggressive state. His real reason is that he seeded wolves there long ago and wants to see what has grown from them, since a larger wolf group will carry more weight at the heroes assembly. He explains the practice behind it: enslavement Gu Masters commonly leave beast groups to grow unattended in a favorable spot rather than bear the cost of raising them directly, checking back occasionally, even though most such seedings shrink away or die out rather than succeed. Ge Guang agrees, and Fang Yuan sets their departure for that same day. ^{ch. 496}