Chapter 56

Fang Yuan admits before Gu Yue Bo that he opened the sixth purple gold rock himself: after buying six rocks at the gambling den and opening five there for lack of enough primeval essence, he says he brought the last one back to the hostel, opened it to find a Liquor worm, recognized it from prior research as a Gu that could offset his weak talent, and refined it on the spot. When the clan elders question the luck of pulling two Gu worms from six rocks, some in the hall shrug it off as ordinary fortune, while others marvel that a rare Gu could be refined so easily, and are told that a freshly extracted Gu is weak enough to be near death, and refinable even by a lower rank. ^{ch. 56}

Fang Yuan continues that after refining the worm he visited the wine shop, where he witnessed Jia Jin Sheng try to pass off a smelly fart fat worm as a Black Boar Gu before Jia Fu stepped in to settle the dispute. He then gives an account the narration flags as only half true: that he returned to the wine shop, mentioned the Liquor worm to Jia Jin Sheng in high spirits, and that Jia Jin Sheng tried to force a purchase, offering an extra fifty primeval stones and threatening him before storming off when refused, after which Fang Yuan says he never saw him again. ^{ch. 56}

Jia Fu presses Fang Yuan on whether he killed his brother, reasoning privately that Jia Jin Sheng’s habit of chasing off a refusal with threats makes it plausible the two crossed paths again, but Fang Yuan denies it, and with no other evidence the interrogation reaches a stalemate. Gu Yue Bo interrupts to ask what leads Jia Fu has found, and Jia Fu admits the trail is dead, with a heavy rain on the day they left having likely washed away any blood traces. ^{ch. 56}

When Gu Yue Bo suggests using the Jia family’s Underworld Path Butterfly, a Gu that traces the scent left on a person’s own Gu worms, Jia Fu says he has already tried it without success, since the scent fades once a Gu worm dies, implying the culprit killed off Jia Jin Sheng’s Gu worms as well. Gu Yue Bo presses further, noting that a killer who spared neither the Gu worms nor took any primeval stones has no clear motive, and the hall falls silent over the question. ^{ch. 56}

Fang Yuan breaks the silence by suggesting Jia Fu himself had a motive, since the Jia family’s asset split would leave him more to inherit with a brother dead, drawing immediate outrage from the clan elders before he falls quiet again. The remark plants an idea, and an elder murmurs about the Jia family’s internal rivalry, at which point the room turns toward Jia Fu’s brother Jia Gui, a fellow rank four Gu Master and his rival for succession, as the likelier culprit, dispelling the elders’ suspicion of Fang Yuan even as Jia Fu’s own unfriendly look toward him only grows. ^{ch. 56}