The translucent light membrane, faint red Primeval Sea and the surging waves.
On the sea surface, two fat white Liquor worms were absorbing the water. In the air above the sea, a black ladybug-like Black Boar Gu was shaking its wings and hovering around the red steel Relic Gu.
The pebble like White Jade Gu had sunk to the depths of the sea and was motionless.
Spring Autumn Cicada had concealed itself; it was in a deep slumber to recuperate.
"It is time." Fang Yuan willed; the sea waves paused, and a portion of primeval essence surged up and poured towards the red steel Relic Gu.
The red steel Relic Gu immediately shook and flew up, giving off bursts of red rays of light.
It was like the slowly rising sun, its rays of light shining upon the aperture wall.
The rays of light were as hot as fire and as dazzling as a sword.
The Black Boar Gu was soon unable to bear it and fell down to the Primeval Sea.
The two Liquor worms also sunk down to the depths of the Primeval Sea.
White Jade Gu was flashing inside the sea.
For Fang Yuan to advance to rank two middle stage with normal methods, he could only use the method of grinding; using his light red primeval essence to cleanse the light membrane aperture wall.
But now, red steel Relic Gu gave off majestic red light which replaced the light red primeval essence and poured directly into the aperture wall, giving astonishing results.
Fang Yuan could see the whole light membrane thickening at an astonishing pace.
The light on the light membrane condensed into streams of light, gradually changing to a water membrane. The white shimmering rays flowed continuously; becoming clear one moment and dark in the next.
Right now, Fang Yuan had advanced to middle stage!
However, the Relic Gu was still bursting with red rays of light.
The rays of light filled the whole aperture; it replaced the primeval essence and continuously injected its essence and foundation into Fang Yuan's aperture.
The water membrane accepted it all and the shimmering rays of light on it was like water as it flowed freely.
This continued on for about fifteen minutes.
Red steel Relic Gu had thoroughly exhausted all its energy; its body turned transparent and disappeared in the red light.
The penetrating red rays of light also suddenly dissipated with its disappearance.
The aperture recovered its tranquility once again.
However the water membrane had become much thicker. Using the red steel Relic Gu had saved Fang Yuan from wasting a lot of time and effort.
A thread of scarlet red primeval essence appeared in the Primeval Sea.
This was the rank two middle stage primeval essence. It was more condensed than the light red initial stage primeval essence. It sank to the depths of the Primeval Sea and lingered around the White Jade Gu.
A red steel Relic Gu could directly strengthen the foundation of the aperture. To a Gu Master, this meant advancing by a small realm.
This type of Gu worm was naturally better if used early.
To a Gu Master, higher cultivation meant stronger fighting force, better survival rate, more mission completions and also more primeval stones earnings. It had a great influence on every aspect.
After reaching the middle stage, Fang Yuan took several primeval stones and started recovering his primeval essence. He stopped only after the 44% percent Primeval Sea in his aperture had completely filled with middle stage scarlet primeval essence.
Half an hour later, he once again stepped into the stone forest, heading towards the central area.
He stepped into the warning zones of the monkey groups; immediately, furious jade eye stone monkeys came out of the stone pillars.
They screeched and pounced upon Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's expression didn't change, most of his attention was on that cave at the highest layer of the stone pillar.
When encountering a common jade eye stone monkey, there was no need to be nervous as long as you weren't surrounded by them. The main problem was the stone monkey king.
What Gu worms resided on it? Fang Yuan didn't know.
Fang Yuan slowly retreated while cautiously observing, but the stone monkey king didn't appear.
Fang Yuan was baffled, "Is there no monkey king in this monkey group? If there was a monkey king, then it would no doubt be the first to come out if someone infringed on its territory. Hold it, maybe it has already come out!"
Just as he thought of this, the sleeping Spring Autumn Cicada in his aperture suddenly floated into appearance. Its body was trembling as it gave a weak startled cry that resonated only within Fang Yuan's mind.
The vital Gu's warning!
This appeared only when the vital Gu felt there was an intense threat against the Gu Master's life.
In that split second, Fang Yuan's hairs stood up. Without thinking twice, he directly used the White Jade Gu.
A layer of bright white jade light covered his whole body.
In the next instant, the stone monkey king—who was three times bigger than a normal stone monkey—suddenly appeared on the left side of Fang Yuan and fiercely struck out with its sharp claws at Fang Yuan's left shoulder.
Bang.
The stone monkey king's attack was blocked by the White Jade Gu's defense; its attack failed.
In the instant Fang Yuan received this attack, the White Jade Gu in his aperture suddenly lit up and consumed five percent of the scarlet primeval essence.
If it was when Fang Yuan was at the initial stage, ten percent of light red primeval essence would have been used up.
From this, one could see how sinister and vicious the stone monkey king's sneak attack was.
Despite Fang Yuan having a calm character, he couldn't help breaking out in cold sweat at this moment. If it were not for him sharpening himself these days and polishing his condition to a peak combat state, he might have really been hit by the stone monkey king's attack.
Had his reaction been just a bit late, his left shoulder would have become crippled and unusable. Fang Yuan would then end up miserable just like Gu Yue Man Shi not long ago.
"There is actually a wild concealing-type Gu worm residing in this stone monkey king!" Fang Yuan hurriedly retreated, he had no way to detect a concealing Gu worm and ended up in disadvantage all of a sudden.
The stone monkey king seemed to be more cunning than normal stone monkeys. After its attack missed, it again hid itself away.
This undoubtedly was a huge mental pressure on Fang Yuan.
He used the White Jade Gu to form a defense around his whole body. Such a method used primeval essence every moment and it was impossible for him to maintain this defense.
Even when he had fought with the stone monkey troops before, he would only use the White Jade Gu at the crucial moment.
If he continued to maintain this state, then his primeval essence would completely dissipate not long after.
Over five hundred stone monkeys encircled Fang Yuan aggressively.
Fang Yuan used his greatest speed to retreat and pull some distance.
Some stone monkey's momentum became weaker, whereas some stomped on the ground and began to head back to their homes.
"Chirp!" Right at this moment, the jade eye stone monkey king appeared and commanded in a loud voice.
"Chirp chirp!!" The stone monkey groups immediately responded; their confusion and hesitation disappeared and again started their chase after Fang Yuan.
Over five hundred jade eye stone monkeys were persistently chasing after him, but Fang Yuan didn't panic; his lips revealing a cold smile on the contrary.
This accident was already in his expectations.
He had chosen the easiest route towards the central area of the stone forest, opening up a passage. In the surroundings of the passage were large numbers of stone monkey groups.
Fang Yuan was very familiar with this passage.
However, with the low intelligence of these stone monkeys, how could they know? Under the supervision of the stone monkey king, they stormed through the stone forest, infringing on other monkey groups' warning zones and resulting in counterattacks from the other monkey groups.
The stone forest was in a great chaos!
Countless jade eye stone monkeys stood at their place, starting a massacre to defend their homes.
In ten or more years, the stone monkey king might even advance to become a thousand beast king and completely unify this stone forest. But now, it was only a hundred beast king and didn't have the ability to control so many stone monkeys.
The different groups of stone monkeys fell into a chaotic battle with each other.
For a moment, all Fang Yuan could hear was the screeching and screaming sounds of the stone monkeys.
Those five hundred stone monkeys that were chasing him were quickly entangled with the other stone monkey groups. But the stone monkey king still persisted on chasing after Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan was attacking and retreating. In this period of time, he suffered many sneak attacks from the stone monkey king and every attack would consume great amounts of his primeval essence. Luckily, he had advanced to middle stage before this. Otherwise, with the initial stage primeval essence, he wouldn't have been to handle this consumption.
Fang Yuan landed in absolute disadvantage; he had not found any weakness in the stone monkey king.
The only chance to attack lay in the moment the stone monkey king was about to attack. But even if Fang Yuan was able to react, he had no time to even make an attacking movement.
The stone monkey king possessed a concealment-type gu worm and firmly held the initiative. It could attack Fang Yuan whenever it wanted to attack. Even if Fang Yuan injured it, it could use the concealment-type gu worm to safely escape; it was in an invincible position.
"Without a stealth-removal Gu worm, the probability to win this battle is extremely low! If I had a wide area attacking method, maybe I could give it a try. But Moonglow Gu… I will only be able to hit this stone monkey king if I am lucky, but the probability is too low."
Fang Yuan clearly understood the battle situation and immediately retreated.
However, the stone monkey king seemed to be determined to kill him.
Fang Yuan retreated to about a hundred meters from the rock door when he suddenly stopped.
"I only have a bit over 10% of my primeval essence remaining. It won't be enough to cover this hundred meters of distance. And even if I am able to enter the second secret room and close the rock door, this stone monkey king might just break the door!"
Fang Yuan had thought that the stone monkey king would give up after chasing him for such a long period of time. Yet who could have thought that it still persisted on chasing him.
He was already out of the stone forest now and around him was a patch of empty ground.
Countless stone monkeys were fighting chaotically in the stone forest, causing an uproar. Their noisy sounds kept on echoing within this empty space.
Fang Yuan didn't budge; his battle intuition told him that the stone monkey king was hiding somewhere, waiting for him to show a gap before making a fatal attack.
Fang Yuan knew he had already fallen into an impasse.
Normal Rank two Gu Masters would have already fallen apart from this fear, unable to endure this formless pressure.
But Fang Yuan was still calm.
This situation was also within his expectations, though its probability was very low. According to logic, the stone monkey king should also possess the stone monkey's habits and be reluctant to leave its home. But for some reason, this stone monkey king was hell bent on chasing and killing Fang Yuan.
"If you choose to take a risk, you need to be willing to risk your life!" Fang Yuan's eyes flashed with a cold light; he then took off his upper garment.