AN :
New readers don't need to worry, the mistake was already edited.
I've edited the blood skull gu bit from the previous chapter, I made a few mistakes with it >.>.
In short, instead of going from 44% to 54% (rank 4 blood skull gu effect) Fang Yuan has gone from 44% to 84% (20% rank 5 blood skull gu + Dao Carver)
Didn't have enough time to write a full chapter today because of travel.
Li Ran POV
"Today is my lucky day, I'm just feeling it!"
The clerk does not deign to give a response to Li Ran, the man is a gambling addict, he is bound to come back as a customer regardless.
Li Ran watches excitedly as the workers slowly and carefully open his gambling rock. "Common, I know you have a gu inside!"
The workers finally open the gambling rock, revealing the sealed gu inside!
Li Ran jumps in excitement. "Yes! I told you today was my lucky day!"
The clerk stares dumbfounded at the revealed gu. It is the rank 4 Strength Qi Gu!
Strength path is declining, most the gu worms and materials necessary to cultivate strength path are extinct. The current method of cultivating strength path using animal strength gu is but a pale imitation of the power showed by strength path at its peak!
The rank 4 Strength Qi Gu is a gu worm from the peak of strength path, a strength path gu master that finds themselves possessing such a gu worm will have an enormous surge in their battle power!
Li Ran, a peak stage rank 2 strength path gu master, is more than overjoyed at seeing this gu. "With this gu I will now dominate Shang City's battle arena! There will be none capable of standing in my way! Clerk, here's five primeval stones, consider them your guys tip!"
The clerk and workers, who are all also rank 2 gu masters, feel a sudden surge of anger. Five primeval stones as a tip for all of them? Is this guy making fun of them?
Attacking him would be unwise however, the usage of gu outside of the battle arena is strictly forbidden inside of Shang Clan City, anyone caught doing such a thing would find themselves quickly exiled and blacklisted from entry into the city.
The clerk takes a deep breath before handing the rank 4 Strength Qi Gu to Li Ran. "Honoured customer, here are your winnings! Yúchǔn de dǔ tú gambling house is honoured to have you as a customer!"
This Gu has single handedly changed the course of Li Ran's fate. Without it he was merely another nobody, an idiotic gambler. With it he is now a person of interest, someone to be respected and whose development is to be observed.
Li Ran laughs. "Lady fortune smiles upon me indeed! Here's another primeval stone, make sure not to spend it all in one place!"
The clerk holds back from telling Li Ran to go fuck himself.
—
Li Ran's smile instantly disappears the moment that he enters the safety of his room.
'I cannot believe that such an opportunity has come! The all-out-effort gu combined with the strength qi gu will make me unstoppable in the battle arena!'
Li Ran is not his true name, this man's true name is Wu Ran. Li Ran is merely a false identity formed by him in order to successfully integrate into and infiltrate Shang Clan!
Shang Clan and Wu Clan are the two largest superforces in the southern continent. If one were to ask someone in the Wu Clan's sphere of influence who the overlord of the southern continent is, they would say that Wu Clan is the overlord of the southern continent!
Conversely, if someone were to ask someone in Shang Clan's sphere of influence who the overlord of the southern continent is, they would say that Shang Clan is the overlord of the southern continent!
The two clans are in a form of cold war. Outright hostilities cannot break out without a proper excuse, such is not the way of the righteous path. Wu Ran is a spy from the Wu Clan, seeking to infiltrate Shang Clan as deep as possible.
'I need to keep this strength qi gu hidden until the all out effort gu arrives! I cannot risk losing it before the Wu clan gives me the all out effort gu!"
All out effort gu has a simple effect. It makes the appearance of a beast phantom a certainty instead of a mere chance.
Instead of the gu master having to rely on mere luck to summon a beast phantom, all out effort gu is capable of forcing the appearance of a beast phantom, allowing a gu master to reliably plan the usage of their beast phantoms.
The strength qi gu's ability is to infuse phantoms with strength qi, turning them solid. The solidified beast phantom becomes akin to a familiar, joining the gu master in fighting their opponent.
'Combining the all out effort gu and the strength qi gu will make me unstoppable, all I need now is to wait for the all out effort gu.'
The plan was for Wu clan to discreetly send him the all out effort gu after he had formed a solid identity in Shang Clan City. The plan remains the same, all that he needs now is for the all out effort gu to arrive.
—
Gu Yue Bo pov
This beast tide will be the most dangerous one that Gu Yue Bo has ever experienced, he is sure of it. This many lightning wolves gathering this early can mean nothing else.
Gu Yue Bo stares thoughtfully at the eviscerated corpse of the frenzy lightning wolf in front of him. In all of the years that he has lived, this is certain to be the largest wolf tide in them. In danger lies opportunity however.
The Gu Yue clan is not the only clan on Qing Mao mountain. The Bai and Xiong clans will also have to face the beast tide just the same as the Gu Yue clan will. If the Gu Yue clan manages to successfully survive this beast tide and keep most of their strength then eliminating the Bai and Xiong clans will be trivial.
Yao Le gulps nervously. Gu Yue Bo killed the frenzy lightning wolf in less than two hits! 'So this is the power of our clan leader, how scary!'
Gu Yue Bo has brought the medicine elder's daughter with him, a display of the power that she will one day wield will serve to motivate her. Gu Yue Bo turns to Yao Le. "One day you will hold power far greater than this. The power that a rank 5 gu master can display far outmatches my ability. Your aptitude guarantees you to reach that level."
Yao Le stands ramrod straight. "y-Yes clan leader!"
Gu Yue Bo smiles. "Make sure to keep yourself diligent and humble. Pride and complacency are more often than not the killers of young talent such as you."
Yao Le bows to Gu Yue Bo. "This one thanks teacher for his wisdom!"
Gu Yue Bo turns back to the dead frenzy lightning wolf and frowns. Yao Le is to be protected at all costs, so long as she survives to reach her full potential the Gu Yue clan will have a prosperous future ahead of it.
Yao Le is to be kept guarded at all times, and there is no better security in Gu Yue village than his presence.
—
Shen Cui pov
The tension in the village keeps rising.
The price of food and drink continues to increase, lightning wolf attacks continue to rise. Merchants are becoming afraid of travel and outsiders are becoming afraid for their own villages.
Wang Luli tilts her head. "It's always been this way hasn't it? A lot of people used to die every time a beast tide came. I don't see how it's any different this time. We used to hide deep in the basement to wait out the beast tides."
Her family has clearly sheltered and hidden her from the dangers of the outside world. For a woman as beautiful as her to cross the path of a gu master would only lead her to tragedy, that she has had the luck to come under the protection of the young master is nothing short of a blessing for her.
I sigh. "Tensions would maybe reach these levels in the outside villages, but this is Gu Yue village, where gu masters live. For tensions to be this high here is extremely worrying."
Beast tides present an ever present danger to both mortals and gu masters alike, for mortals even more so. For every gu master that dies in a beast tide hundreds more mortals will perish. "Food and drink hasn't gotten this expensive during any of the previous wolf tides. Everyone, even some of the gu masters, is stocking up to hide themselves during the beast tide."
Hiding oneself deep underground is not an unusual solution to the beast tide for mortals. For gu masters however, if one is to be found hiding instead of fighting they will most likely be either severely punished or even executed depending on the severity of the beast tide.
Luli's eyes widen as she realises the true danger. "Gu Yue village is at risk of being destroyed?!"
Holding back the beast tide is the collective responsibility of the Bai, Xiong and Gu Yue clans. Of the three the Gu Yue clan is by far the largest, if Gu Yue village was to be destroyed then Qing Mao mountain would soon follow.
I give Luli a nod. "From the way everyone else seems to be behaving? They believe so at the very least."
Luli gulps nervously. "b-But what about Yuan? Isn't he in danger too?"
I feel a cold wave come up my spine. Young master is in even more danger than we are. As mortals no one would bat an eye if we were to hide ourselves away, young master would be executed if he were to desert the village.
I take a deep breath. "Young master is strong. Even without his physical strength he still has hidden depths. I believe in his strength, he will be safe."
Wiggles is a testament to that. A rank 2 gu master possessing a rank 4 gu is almost unheard of, a rank 2 gu master capable of having said gu act as a bodyguard for his mortal concubines even more so.
I may not be a gu master, but we mortals still talk, whisper and gossip. Most of the elders themselves do not own a single rank 4 gu, yet young master owns multiple.
Luli says. "I- I don't want to lose Yuan. I know that he's the reason my father and brother died, but… I just can't bear to lose anyone again."
Wang Luli is soft. I don't know whether it was her softness or her beauty that drew young master, but her softness can lead to young master's downfall. I cannot allow that to happen.
—
Bai Ning Bing pov
I really didn't expect human flesh to actually taste as good as it does. It tastes just like pork, except a little bit bitter and somewhat stronger. Still tastes like ass raw. "What do you live for?"
Fang Yuan raises an eyebrow. "Can you elaborate?"
I really, really like this guy. He's a demon, ruthless beyond measure. I don't know why he's killing and eating the Xiong clan members, or why he's collecting the blood of his own clan members, but anyone capable of doing something like that is nothing less than a demon. I'd never thought that I would find someone on my own level, but this guy has instead surpassed it.
"I live to experience. I want to feel alive. My life won't last forever, even if I find a solution to my extreme physique I will still die at some point. Not even the venerables could live forever, so I want to live life as fully as possible, without any regrets. What do you live for?"
Fang Yuan remains silent, even stopping from eating to ponder my question. "I… I honestly haven't given much thought to that. Until now I've just been focusing on growing stronger."
I take a bite out of the cooked forearm. "Becoming stronger is also a reason to live, that's what motivates most of us gu masters after all."
Fang Yuan shakes his head. "No, I don't want to become stronger for the sake of power. I want strength for survival…"
—
Fang Yuan pov
What do I live for?
I haven't given myself a clear goal for my life here. On earth I'd wanted to study virology.
It wasn't the subject itself that called to me, it was the concept of researching something that is almost alien when compared to our own biology.
What do I live for here? For power?
The concept of becoming more powerful is attractive just the same as the concept of becoming filthy rich is. But I wouldn't call it my reason to live, it's more like an added bonus, the cherry on top of the cake.
This world has a lot of mystery behind it, whether or not some of them are later explained in the novel is something that I am not aware of, but the idea of studying the world itself, of unveiling its hidden mysteries is something that calls to me the same that researching viruses had.
I turn my gaze to Ning Bing, who is patiently waiting for my response. "I want to know all that there is to know about this world. Every secret, every mystery, everything."
Ning Bing laughs. "That sounds like a good reason to live!"