Although he had planned to investigate the Flower Wine inheritance ground, Fang Yuan couldn't find the time to do so. With his elder status, many were watching him, and with the busy schedule of the wolf tide, many battles had to be fought and he did not have an opportunity to leave.
By the time he returned to the rock crack's secret cave, it was over ten days later.
The end of summer, night time.
The rain just stopped, bringing the atmosphere of autumn itself.
In the sky, a golden moon was hanging, round like a plate, high up in the sky.
Hearing vague wolf cries mixed with the remaining crickets, Fang Yuan stood on a slope, turning back and observing.
Gu Yue village was bright with numerous lamps lighted. The torn walls had been fixed over and over, losing the peace and tranquility it once had. It was almost like a huge beast that had undergone numerous battles, lying on the ground gasping for breath.
"After my rebirth, even the wolf tide's progress has changed much. In my memory, the thunder crown wolf arrived three days ago, but now it is nowhere to be seen."
Fang Yuan took a look, before moving his sight. Tonight he had managed to squeeze out some time, and had to make good use of it.
A moment later, he entered the rock crack's secret cave again.
The cave entrance was purposely covered with grey ash. There had never been any footsteps on it, showing that this place was yet undiscovered.
This small kind of detection method could not be called professional, but Fang Yuan's experience placed them to good use.
Of course, he did not only have one method of precaution, and after several layers of checking, he finally confirmed that this secret cave was still safe for the time being.
He breathed a sigh of relief. After all, since his rebirth, many things had been altered. Especially during the wolf tide, Gu Masters moved around more frequently, so someone might have discovered this place.
He entered the tunnel and went into the second secret room. Pushing open the rock door, he entered the rock forest.
In the rock forest, the path that he once excavated was filled with jade eye stone monkeys again.
But the Fang Yuan now, is already a Rank three Gu Master. Although the Blood Moon Gu did not have the highest attacking power among the Rank three Gu worms, it was definitely far superior than the Moonglow Gu.
Fang Yuan spent six hours, exterminating almost ten groups of monkeys, reopening a path for himself.
He came to the most central area and stepped down the rough rock stairs, entering the third secret room. A rock door blocked his path, and on the rock door there was a carving —"Golden Centipede's cave is precarious, Earth Communication is the way to avoid the disaster." Last time, he had been stuck at this step.
But this time, he opened the rock door with no hesitation, striding into the darkness.
He held a torch that illuminated the surrounding ten steps.
This centipede cave was wide, having a height of three metres, and breadth of two metres. There were also many narrow paths that extended all over the place.
Wherever Fang Yuan walked, the fire would proceed to light up the place and dispel the darkness. Initially the cave only had the sound of his footsteps, but soon all sorts of noises came from all over the place.
The sound gathered into one collective body, continuously sounding. At the edge of the lighted area, he soon saw a large number of centipedes.
They were ferocious. It was only due to the bright fire that they did not attack Fang Yuan. But Fang Yuan knew that as time passed, the centipedes would increase in number, and with the back pushing the ones in front, this stalemate would soon be broken.
But he did not mind it.
If he was still Rank two with only the White Jade Gu's defense, he would definitely not cause such a commotion, attracting the movement of the centipede group. But now that he was Rank three, the Sky Canopy Gu's defense was enough for him to withstand the bites of the insects, and his only concern was the insect king of the place—Chainsaw Golden Centipede.
It had appeared!
Fang Yuan purposely used a trace of his white silver primeval essence from his aperture, releasing it into the air, exposing his Rank three Gu Master aura.
This aura caused the Chainsaw Golden Centipede to feel a strong threat. To it, Fang Yuan had stepped into his territory, and this "wild beast" needed to be eliminated immediately.
Fang Yuan stood on guard against it.
This Chainsaw Golden Centipede was around a metre long, its body as wide as two fists. It first landed at the fringe of the lighted area, coiling its body around it, like python ambushing its prey.
But in the next moment, it moved slowly with numerous legs sustaining its weight as it gradually got closer towards Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's Rank three aura only made it alert, and not afraid. If he was Rank four, it would not pressure Fang Yuan like this. If he was Rank five and only revealed a bit of that aura, it would run for its life.
Fang Yuan raised the torch high. As the fire burned, it illuminated the surroundings and the shadow's movements.
Under the glow of the fire, the Chainsaw Golden Centipede's exoskeleton emitted an eerie light. At the side of its body, there were silver coloured sawteeth. As it got closer, the sawteeth moved as well, looking like a slowed chainsaw, emitting a buzzing sound.
The other centipedes gathered towards Fang Yuan from the walls and the ground.
Some centipedes climbed to the ceiling, then dropped down, landing on Fang Yuan's shoulder and back.
Fang Yuan did not mind it; he activated the Sky Canopy Gu, and a thick white crystal light appeared on his body, the form of an armor subtly showing as it covered him fully.
The centipedes' poisonous limbs could not do anything against this white crystal armor.
The twisting and turning centipedes climbed on his face or behind his ears; it was a little disgusting, but Fang Yuan's endurance level was way beyond this, thus ignoring them completely. In his previous life, he had eaten almost anything in the wilderness, and even non-poisonous centipedes were eaten raw.
In fact the taste was not that bad, almost a bit strange initially, but he got used to it after eating them for a while.
He only placed his attention on the Chainsaw Golden Centipede.
The Chainsaw Golden Centipede moved gradually, reducing the distance between Fang Yuan and itself.
When there was a distance of three to four steps between them, Fang Yuan stopped the white silver primeval essence from leaking and this caused his aura to instantly weaken.
The Chainsaw Golden Centipede acutely felt that, thus instantly increasing its speed, moving like a golden line.
Pew!
In the blink of an eye, it had shortened the distance, and coiled around Fang Yuan's stomach.
This speed was really fast. It first appeared motionless, then on the very moment it moved, it dashed through like a golden light.
When Fang Yuan managed to react, this Chainsaw Golden Centipede had already coiled around his waist like a snake, opening its mouth and attacking towards Fang Yuan's face.
Fang Yuan quickly stretched out both arms, grabbing the head of this golden centipede.
The Chainsaw Golden Centipede struggled, and Fang Yuan who had the strength of two boars, felt that his strength was insufficient.
Especially when the Chainsaw Golden Centipede's two bladed edges started to move rapidly.
Clank clank clank!
A strong pulling and slashing force grinded at the white light of the Sky Canopy Gu.
At once, Fang Yuan's white silver primeval essence was rapidly used up as the white light grinded with the chainsaws, causing sparks to fly.
Fang Yuan's primeval essence was only initial stage light silver primeval essence, and with only 42% in storage, it could not support such an expenditure.
However, Fang Yuan was unfazed; even though he could not get free from the Chainsaw Golden Centipede, he had a trump card!
Spring Autumn Cicada!
He willed in his heart and the Spring Autumn Cicada's shadow appeared from his aperture.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was gradually recovering; its two wings were tender and new like fresh leaves, and at the same time its body had a royal wooden lustre. But overall, it still gave off a withered feeling of death.
It had recovered around 20%, thus its aura was much stronger.
Once this aura was leaked, the Chainsaw Golden Centipede that was struggling intensely immediately surrendered!
It was only a Rank three wild Gu worm. Against the aura of the Rank six Spring Autumn Cicada, it did not dare to move at all.
Fang Yuan felt it most evidently. Previously he was still gripping the Chainsaw Golden Centipede like a poisonous python, using all ways to prevent it from biting; the next moment, it had become a soft and harmless rope.
Fang Yuan smiled lightly, using his white silver primeval essence onto the Chainsaw Golden Centipede that had basically given up. Fang Yuan's will worked without obstacles, completely eliminating the wild consciousness it had.
In a few breath's time, the Chainsaw Golden Centipede was already refined by Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan let go of both hands. The Chainsaw Golden Centipede's numerous segments moved with rhythm, moving across the white protective armor and around Fang Yuan's waist, finally twisting and coiling around his arm.
The surrounding centipede groups went away like a receding tide.
The wild Chainsaw Golden Centipede, because of its natural consciousness, was able to dominate the insect group. But now that Fang Yuan's will replaced it, the Chainsaw Golden Centipede lost its ability to communicate and control the group.
Fang Yuan did not eliminate these centipedes, instead letting them leave. Maybe in another dozen plus years, a new Chainsaw Golden Centipede might be born. But this no longer had anything to do with Fang Yuan.
He let the Chainsaw Golden Centipede hang on his shoulder as he investigated deeper into the cave.
This centipede tunnel had a lot of paths, and after moving for a while, the main path split into three branches.
Fang Yuan first used the Earth Communication Ear Grass, and after a while, he eliminated the center path. Choosing the path on the right, he moved for half an hour and found a dead end. He could only backtrack and go through the left path.
By keeping the Chainsaw Golden Centipede, he could deter the centipede groups and cause them to move away from wherever he goes with the golden centipede's aura.
This greatly aided his search.
Not long after he entered the left path, the centipede group that moved away revealed a cave, and he found some clues there.
"These are signs of human construction!" Fang Yuan's heart was moved.
Very evidently, this path was dug out by the Flower Wine Monk initially using the Thousand Li Earthwolf spider.
Fang Yuan moved along this path at a slow pace, patiently investigating.
There were a lot of centipedes in this path, and this was another piece of good news for Fang Yuan.
This is because areas with insect groups living there allowed him to eliminate the possibility of placed traps.
This tunnel was longer than he expected, Fang Yuan spent over twelve hours and walked over three Li worth of distance!
The slope gradually moved down as Fang Yuan approached a deep underground area.
Every once in a while, he stopped and used the Earth Communication Ear Grass to eliminate any possible threats.
Swoosh swish!
"What sound is this?" Fang Yuan eventually heard a weird noise.
Immediately, he noticed what it was.
"This is water… don't tell me?" His thought moved quickly as he had an idea.
At the end of the tunnel, he saw a crystal wall.
And behind the crystal wall, was water.
In the water, there was an ash-gray coloured river that flowed in a spiral, like a mini tornado, endlessly swirling in a self-sufficient system.
"As I thought, this is a natural essence spring!" Seeing this, Fang Yuan's attention was piqued.
Soon after, he saw that behind this watery crystal wall, there was something else in the spring.
A flower bud with the colours of blue and white following one another, was leisurely floating in the spring water.
"This… is actually the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus!" Fang Yuan was shocked!
Note: > This tunnel was longer than he expected, Fang Yuan spent over twelve hours and walked over three Li worth of distance! Li is 500 meters, I don't know why he took twelve hours just to walk 1.5km lol? It's not even an exaggeration.