All-out Effort Gu

Fang Yuan forces the secret of a stellar stone out of Wu clan spy Li Ran in Shang clan city, then opens All-out Effort Gu from that fossil at Lan Chao gambling den three days later. It is a near extinct ancient Gu that can summon a beast phantom every time it is used. Li Ran had received the sealed Gu from Wu clan, and Fang Yuan takes it through that staged fossil dispute rather than by open clan purchase. ^{ch. 285}

Appearance

It is shaped like a rhinoceros beetle. Sitting in a palm, its body is almost the size of that palm, and quite heavy. It is oval, with a strong armor exoskeleton. There is a strong horn on its head, looking heavy and powerful. It has three pairs of legs, all strong and thick. Its body is dark brown, and glistens with a metallic surface. ^{ch. 286}

Form and rank

In Wei Yang’s hand it looks like a rhinoceros beetle: oval, palm-sized and heavy, with strong armored exoskeleton, a heavy horn on its head, three pairs of thick legs, and a dark brown body with a metallic sheen. Fang Yuan states it is rank three. ^{ch. 286} Li Ran prices that rank three copy as unique now because it comes from the Olden Antiquity Era. ^{ch. 287} The English chapter text used here does not print Chinese characters or a glyph for the name.

Effect

Once used, it summons a beast phantom that moves according to the Gu Master’s will. ^{ch. 286} It is a support Gu, not an attack Gu, yet using it can still produce a devastating blow by bringing out the user’s stored beast strength as a phantom behind the strike. At rank three it can activate only one beast phantom at a time. ^{ch. 288 ch. 297} The activation can be started or stopped at will, so phantoms appear when the Gu is on and vanish when it is revoked. ^{ch. 318} Its primeval essence cost is very small; the phantoms themselves do not spend essence. ^{ch. 291}

Current strength path Gu Masters treat it as long extinct and built habitual strength Gu as a later substitute. ^{ch. 316}

Fang Yuan’s early use

Wu clan had given Li Ran both the sealed Gu and a recipe that only covers raising it from rank three to rank four. After Fang Yuan keeps the Gu, Wei Yang names it the undoubted core for assembling a strength path set and urges him to make it a vital Gu before later refinement. Fang Yuan already plans that set with All-out Effort Gu as core and self-reliance Gu plus bitter strength Gu as support. ^{ch. 286 ch. 296}

His first public test is a staged battle against Li Ran: vertical crash Gu plus a wild boar phantom from All-out Effort Gu breaks Li Ran in one pass. ^{ch. 286} In training he confirms the gap between ordinary blows and the same blow with a brown bear phantom active, and that he still cannot stack two different phantoms at once at rank three. ^{ch. 288}

Path

Wei Yang and Fang Yuan both place it on the strength path as the core Gu of a strength path set. ^{ch. 286} Fang Yuan later restates that it is his core while he still lacks bitter strength Gu. ^{ch. 296}

ranks and Immortal Gu attempts

Rank four appearance