More than ten Gu worms had been placed upon the stone slab beside Li Hua's wooden corpse. Each emitted the aura of Rank Four, and one among them radiated the imposing pressure of Rank Five. Fang Tian recognized most of them—there was the Bookworm Gu, and the Heavenly Essence Treasure Monarch Lotus Gu.
He grasped the Bookworm Gu, but when he tried to pull it free, he found it tightly adhered to Li Hua's wooden body. Left with no choice, he refined it while it remained attached. Fang Tian leaned slightly forward until the Bookworm pressed against his forehead—only then was he able to release it. Wasting no time, he began reading its contents.
"Heir, if you have reached this place and successfully refined this Bookworm Gu, then it means I have failed in seizing your body and returning to life. It also means you have realized the ill intent I harbored toward you. But do not think me utterly wicked—hahaha…
The inheritance acknowledged you at first because your aura resembled mine. And if you forced your way here through strength rather than merit, then there is nothing I could have done."
"If you are truly the destined heir, you must understand that I did not choose you for overwhelming talent or the promise of great achievements. Perhaps you will accomplish such things—but that is not the reason.
The reason is simple: you are a wretched soul like me, walking the path of cultivation with the blade called 'talent' hanging above your aperture. I pondered for long why our extraordinary gifts always led to our deaths. In the end, I remembered a saying—many good things are not destined to produce good outcomes."
"But I did not surrender, Heir. I sought to break free from these shackles of a miserable fate that always ended in my death. I roamed across the Southern Border, fighting beasts and people far stronger than myself. Sometimes I won; sometimes I lost. I witnessed the wonders of this world—its beauty and cruelty, its righteousness and its demonic nature. All its colors… those days were truly exhilarating.
Yet I never strayed from my goal. And in the simplest thing that had accompanied me since childhood, I found the answer."
"You will not believe it, Heir. In my final days, I opened the book every Gu Master reads upon beginning their cultivation—the tales told to children about Ren Zu. I realized that Ren Zu's ten children all met early deaths: Desolate Ancient Moon, Verdant Great Sun, and the others… all perished young.
And so I thought—why not use Lifespan Gu to grant the aperture some 'lifespan,' easing the pressure upon it?"
"It succeeded…
But I was already standing at death's door and did not have the time required to refine the Gu. Thus, I left behind this inheritance so that a pitiful soul like you might one day find it—broken in spirit by the trials I arranged. At that moment, I would seize your body.
But if you have read this Bookworm Gu, then I have failed—and you have won. Most plans cannot keep pace with change."
"Below these words, you will find my complete Wood Path inheritance—Gu recipes, killer moves, whether perfected or not, my cultivation experiences, and the insights I gained. You will also find detailed explanations of resource names most suitable for my inheritance and methods to nurture them. After all, at the end of my life, I reached quasi–grandmaster attainment—this will be of immense help to you.
Additionally, you will find my Refinement Path inheritance. I was also a quasi–grandmaster in life; this inheritance is complete enough that even super clans possess no greater. There are two killer moves and a large number of Gu recipes from various paths, along with unique refinement methods."
"There are also records of numerous materials, their processing methods, how to use them in refinement, and how to guard against them. As for the Gu worms upon my stone, there is the Heavenly Essence Treasure Monarch Lotus Gu, the Forty-Year Lifespan Gu, and—"
"Finally, Heir… if you hold no grudge against me, and if the Yan Zu clan still resides upon Mount Gu Xian, I ask that you lend them aid should a crisis befall them. If the Yan Zu clan has vanished into the folds of history… then I leave behind nothing but regret."
Fang Tian stood there for hours as he read through the contents. It could be said that he had grown cold and detached because of this world—but he could not prevent himself from feeling a trace of sympathy for Li Hua.
She had wasted her entire life searching for a method to remove the curse brought by one of the Ten Extreme Physiques. After ten years of hardship, wandering across the Southern Border, she found no solution—until death stood but a hair's breadth away. Only then did she succeed.
Thus she laid down her inheritance in a place even her clan could not find. She devised peculiar methods to confirm whether the heir possessed the Boundless Forest Samsara physique.
If the heir indeed possessed the Boundless Forest Samsara, they would be thrown into an isolated spirit spring, forcibly awakening their aperture and becoming a Gu Master. Then they would discover the fabricated corpse meant to be Li Hua's—where her will would awaken, inject an enormous amount of information into the heir's mind, then hide deep within, subtly influencing their thoughts. Slowly, the heir would become nothing more than a puppet, making choices increasingly beneficial to Li Hua.
Everything had proceeded smoothly—until Fang Tian left Mount Gu Xian after looting the Bao clan caravan, was taken in by the Wu clan, and later inherited the Old Strength Ancient Blessed Land, where he self-detonated.
Because of that self-detonation, Li Hua's will-memories merged with Fang Tian's own before dissipating. Her hidden influence vanished with them.
Thus Fang Tian became partially aware of her sinister scheme—yet he still came to claim this inheritance, for it held the solution to the Ten Extreme Physiques' fatal flaw. Perhaps he could do no better than Li Hua had.
Did Fang Tian harbor resentment or hatred toward her?
No.
Li Hua was the reason he became a Gu Master and reached his current heights. Without her, he would have died within a day or two after his family abandoned him on the mountain.
On the contrary, Fang Tian felt gratitude—and even admiration.
He would fulfill her final wish. If the Yan Zu clan faced a life-threatening crisis, he would aid them.
"All of this… in the end, for the Aperture Lifespan-Extending Gu. Though it is only Rank Five, if the recipe is correct, its effect may rival that of an Immortal Gu."
The Aperture Lifespan-Extending Gu was the Gu Li Hua had devoted her entire life to researching. And now, the complete recipe—along with the Lifespan Gu required to refine it—was in Fang Tian's possession.
Fang Tian gathered the Gu worms from Li Hua's stone and stored her corpse. After all, her body was saturated with Wood Path dao marks—he could place it within the Old Strength Ancient Blessed Land and disperse those dao marks to create a suitable environment for Wood Path resource points.
After securing his spoils, he glanced toward the half-collapsed Gu House.
Once, this Gu House had been commissioned by Li Hua from a Formation Path Gu Master of the Chi clan in exchange for two services. It possessed nothing particularly impressive and could not be used by ordinary Gu Masters due to its immense primeval essence requirement.
Fang Tian could activate it using the single bead of green grape immortal essence he possessed—but it would be meaningless. It was merely a damaged mortal Gu House, incomplete and of no real value to him.
Thus Fang Tian exited the mortal Gu House.
The first thing that entered his sight was the phoenix perched nearby, gazing at him with an oddly gentle expression.
Fang Tian smiled cheerfully and lightly patted the bird's head, already weaving several sinister schemes within his mind.