Fang Tian clapped both hands toward the mass of light floating in the air, and from his palms emerged several fireflies radiating rainbow-colored lights as they entered the mass of light.
The sphere of light spun rapidly on its own, and Fang Tian hurriedly threw dozens of primeval stones. After the hundredth primeval stone, the sphere of light contracted into a Gu worm shimmering with all kinds of colors. This Gu worm resembled a wingless butterfly, and colors flipped across its body from blue to red to purple. Fang Tian caught the Gu worm in his hand, wiped the sweat from his neck and face with his other hand, a happy expression on his face.
"A flash of inspiration—this is a wonderful Gu worm. Although only the Rank three version exists on the market, and those are sold at an extremely high price, in Li Hua's Refinement Path inheritance there was a recipe for this Gu worm, but at Rank two instead. If I sold this recipe, I could reap hundreds of thousands of primeval stones, or even a million… but that would put me in danger as well."
Fang Tian had already refined sixteen Rank two Flash of Inspiration Gu, and this Gu worm was the seventeenth. Out of twenty-nine refinement sets, only seventeen were successful.
But for Fang Tian, this was already very good. He had not practiced refinement for a while, and with his skills somewhat rusty, this success rate was quite good for him. Moreover, he was improving with every refinement attempt, making his speed faster and his efficiency better.
"Now that I've used White Boar Gu, Feathered Elephant Strength Gu, and half of Bear Strength, my foundation in the Strength Path is already excellent. But my physique has already reached its limit with Bear Strength; I can't add any more Strength Path Gu worms, or else my Wood Path cultivation will be affected and thrown into complete chaos."
Nine days had already passed, and only five days remained before his duel with Wu Ji. During this time, he had been using Strength Path Gu worms to enhance his physical body; while nurturing his aperture, he had already reached the threshold of the peak stage. Besides this, he tried to complete his killer move and found a solid foundation with Wood charm Gu.
He would have refined Flash of Inspiration Gu in large numbers anyway to advance his killer move, but when he thought about it, he found that Wood charm Gu fit perfectly with his conception of the killer move.
His conception of the killer move he wanted was a purely Wood Path move, although there would be some supporting Gu worms from other paths—and that was the problem. As the number of Gu worms increased, the expenditure of primeval essence increased as well, but he had been thinking of a solution that might have been possible if he had more time.
He had thought about incorporating Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu and using it as a battery to supply the Gu worms with energy instead of supplying them himself. This concept was extremely brilliant; if he were not a transmigrator from Earth who knew the concept and function of a battery, he would probably never have thought of it.
However, with time, he discovered that this was not feasible. If Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu were used as the core of a killer move, the orientation of the killer move would shift from offense to cultivation assistance. After that last idea, Fang Tian stopped thinking about killer moves until he obtained Wood charm Gu.
"Wood charm Gu is an excellent Gu worm—it solves the problem of primeval essence and the offensive power of the killer move by transforming the user into a tree spirit, allowing them to absorb primeval essence from the air. That is to say, if I use this Gu worm, the problem of required primeval essence will be solved. Coupled with Vine Garden Gu, I'll gain offensive power, and perhaps I can pair it with Wood Origin Gu and Willow Arrow Gu. If I want to integrate the foundation of my Strength Path with this, maybe I can add Exert Strength Gu?"
Inspiration was slowly taking shape in Fang Tian's mind, and a preliminary framework of the killer move gradually formed.
"Standing here won't help me; I need to go back and turn this inspiration into a killer move!"
Fang Tian recalled all the Gu worms he had refined and headed to another closed cultivation room. After sitting down, Fang Tian closed his eyes and focused on his aperture and the inspiration he had obtained.
"Wood charm Gu will be the foundation, with Wood Origin Gu as support."
A thread of primeval essence shot toward Wood charm Gu in Fang Tian's aperture, then another thread of primeval essence shot toward Wood Origin Gu. The effect was good and stable. After confirming that the connection between the two Gu worms was maintained, he linked them to Vine Garden Gu. However, this time the connection was fragile and quickly broke, causing Fang Tian's entire body to shudder. Blood seeped slightly from his seven orifices, while some of his hair permanently turned into leaves.
"Cough, cough… why did the connection between Wood Origin Gu and Vine Garden Gu break?… wait a moment."
An answer was slowly forming in his mind, but Fang Tian didn't have time for this, so he used Flash of Inspiration Gu, which gave him the answer immediately.
"Oh, so it's the rank—right, how could I forget! Wood Origin Gu can only be used with Gu worms of equal or lower rank. Why did I make it directly link with Wood charm Gu?"
After healing himself and resting for a while, he tried again. This time, he activated Wood charm Gu first, then Vine Garden Gu. A stronger connection formed than the one between Wood Origin Gu and Wood charm Gu, making Fang Tian certain that this was the correct path.
"And now Wood Origin Gu will link directly with Vine Garden Gu, while linking indirectly with Wood charm Gu."
Another thread of primeval essence shot toward Wood Origin Gu, forming a stronger connection than before, indicating this was the correct approach. Then Wood Origin Gu linked with Seed Swallow Gu. This connection was weaker than the previous one and quickly collapsed when Fang Tian tried to link Exert Strength Gu. As before, he suffered a backlash, but this time it was severe enough that he had to heal himself and rest.
After resting, he left his courtyard and went to a Gu worm shop, purchasing several Rank one Wood Path Gu worms to reinforce the linkage of Wood Origin Gu. After returning to the wing, he repeated what he had done before, but this time used Wood Path Gu worms, and the linkage became much better.
Fang Tian prolonged the linkage between the Gu worms to ensure stability, and once he was sure, he decided to do something rather dangerous—yet he still went ahead and did it.
"Flash of inspiration upon inspiration! Inspiration upon inspiration!…"
Fang Tian used ten Flash of Inspiration Gu at once! Visions appeared one after another in his mind, and from them he chose the path he deemed best.
A thread of primeval essence surged toward Seed Swallow Gu, forming a strong connection, and from Seed Swallow Gu another thread of primeval essence surged toward Exert Strength Gu. A mysterious and powerful linkage formed among the Gu worms, as if an echo of something was resonating between them.
Fang Tian's joy increased, and he poured his primeval essence into Wood charm Gu, then Vine Garden Gu, and following the order in which the connections had formed, he channeled his primeval essence.
Fang Tian's seated body slowly rose, and the form of an illusory tree began to take shape around him, while hundreds of vines surged up from below, writhing like octopus tentacles. But before his killer move could be fully activated, an explosion erupted in his room, and the illusory tree form and the frenzied, writhing vines vanished.
He failed.