Steel Tendon Gu

While still planning after Iron Bone Gu, Fang Yuan aims at a body set of steel tendons with iron bones, using legendary Gu available at Shang clan city. ^{ch. 233} In Nan Qiu garden he decides his stacked beast strengths have hit what his body can bear and notes that he has already bought Steel Tendon Gu, without naming a seller or price. He returns to his secret room and begins using it to reform his tendons. ^{ch. 288}

Appearance

It is shaped like an earthworm, with a black body and an oily, shiny exoskeleton rather than soft flesh. ^{ch. 289}

Form and rank

In the aperture it looks like an earthworm with a black body and an oily, shiny exoskeleton rather than soft flesh. While active it swims in the primeval sea, drinks primeval essence, and emits a black light that reaches through the aperture onto the body. ^{ch. 289}

Fang Yuan had already used Steel Tendon Gu with Iron Bone Gu and copper skin Gu, all rank three body-transform Gu. ^{ch. 345}

Effect

Unlike Iron Bone Gu, which is expendable, Steel Tendon Gu needs continuous use over a period before the tendons undergo a qualitative change into steel tendons. Steel tendon and iron bones perfectly complement each other. ^{ch. 288}

Its effect is to reinforce the Gu Master’s tendons until they are tough as steel, and the remodel leaves those tendons carrying a matching fragment of natural law. ^{ch. 292} During use the light dyes muscles and tendons an oily dark color and makes them firmer. After repeated sessions the tendons take on a black layer with a metallic glow and become tougher. ^{ch. 289 ch. 292}

Activation is uncomfortable: numb, painful, and itchy, testing endurance. An ordinary Gu Master would need about half a year to finish. Fang Yuan compresses that plan to about a month by using the Gu about six times as long each day as an ordinary user would. ^{ch. 289}

While the remodel is underway, torn or pulled tendons heal more slowly under self-reliance Gu, because healing must also overwrite the steel-tendon law layer already in the body. ^{ch. 292} After using it, Fang Yuan expects he can raise how many beast phantoms his body can hold, though that further gain still takes months. ^{ch. 293}

No cited chapter names the calendar day the steel-tendon remodel finishes.

Fang Yuan’s use

After the Nan Qiu garden training he returns to a secret room to start the remodel, and keeps activating it through rest cycles while he also fights on Shang clan city’s battle stage. ^{ch. 288 ch. 289} By the time he has also used rank three bronze skin Gu, iron bones, steel tendon, and bronze skin together with golden shield Gu put his defense at an initial success stage for third inner city battle stage work. ^{ch. 301} In later matches the same iron bone, steel tendons, and bronze skin combination still gives him strong defense against heavy blows. ^{ch. 317}

Steel Tendon Gu is one of the rank three body Gu whose defense is already weak for rank four fights, which is why Fang Yuan looks toward higher body Gu next. ^{ch. 345}

Golden Steel Tendon Gu use